Wednesday, April 27, 2016

Playing Around in the Studio

I spent a little time playing around in my studio this evening, making some card bases and flinging a little paint onto my current canvas.

First I did a little experimenting with Ken Oliver Color Bursts on watercolor paper, wetting the paper first and puffing the powder on and also spraying the powder after it was on the paper to make it spread and run.  I like these, although the results are kind of unpredictable.




 This last pair is actually done with some Distress Inks in the background, and then some of the Color Bursts on top.

I'll let all these dry overnight, and then cut or tear them up to make bases for cards.

I also painted a bit on my current canvas.  Right now this painting is kinda blah; I'll have to think about what to do to it to enliven it a bit.  Maybe some stencilling?


Then, as usual, I used up my leftover paint in my art journal.


I actually really like the way these color are working together.  Maybe I'll try another face on this spread.

Then I played a bit with some pattern paper, a little tissue paper, and this funny rooster stamp by Mary Vogel Lozinak


These are destined to be cards, but the gel medium I used to apply the tissue paper and the stamped roosters has to dry overnight.

So, for now, everything is quietly drying and I am almost ready to head for bed.  Happy Wednesday, everyone!




Monday, April 25, 2016

Card Making

I've been spending some time making cards recently.  I usually go ahead and make two of the same card, since that is just as easy and quick as making only one.

Here are some of my recent makes.






I'm pretty pleased with the way all of these turned out, but I think my favorite are the top two with the pears.  I just love that loose, watercolor-y background.

And I also worked on an art journal spread this evening, adding some paint to the face and gesso-ing over some of the rest of the page.



I like this pretty well, too, although I noticed that her eyes aren't level when I took these pictures!  Oh, well....

Sunday, April 24, 2016

A Finished Quilt

I put the binding on my quilt last night and finished hand-sewing it down this afternoon.  Yay!  A finished quilt!  I think I'm going to hang onto this one and keep it for napping under.



Here's the back.



And a close-up of the quilting pattern I used.


I also made a couple of cards the other night.


These were made with Distress Inks and a stamp from Unity Stamp Co.  I only had enough gold ribbon for one of the cards, so the other one got embellished with a white ribbon, which I don't think works quite as well.  Oh, well!  Sometimes you have to make do with what ya got!

Thursday, April 21, 2016

A Happy Evening in the Studio

I spent a happy evening in my studio this evening, doing a little painting, making a couple of cards, and working in my art journals.

I added another layer of paint to these two paintings, again using an old gift card to apply the paint.  I really like the way these are shaping up.  I'll have to think about what to do next.  I may do a little sanding on the top one, since it is on board.


I really like the way the orange and yellow layers I added tonight are transparent on this one.


 I added some of the same paint colors to this art journal spread--you can see that this is where I use up my paint!


Then I made a couple of cards, using some tag bases I had made several months ago and adding some stamps by Stampin' Up.  These came out rather Christmas-y, which I had not really intended, but I like the effect of these two cards.


Oh, and I trimmed the edges of the quilt I've been working on; I finished quilting it last night.  Now to get a binding on--I have to think about what sort of binding would look good.  Maybe just a scrappy binding, since it is a scrappy quilt.  I'm still not sure whether or not I'm keeping this quilt for myself, or am going to send it to my son.  I'll have to see whether it's really long enough for him, since he is 6'2".

Wednesday, April 20, 2016

Starting a New Painting

This evening I started a new painting and added some paint to one already begun.




I experimented here with applying the paint with the edge of an old gift card, and I really like this way of laying the paint down.

Then I tinkered around a little bit in a couple of my art journals, putting some paint down randomly and using some rubber stamps to add bits to a couple of pages.




And here's two more pages that I finished another day.



I like this art journal that I made from an old book, binding all sorts of miscellaneous paper into it for the pages.  I am trying not to be too precious about my work in it, but jut to go with the flow and create intuitively, adding images and using stamps that I like.  I like this chicken page and think it's pretty successful, the page above it with the woman's face less successful.  But I am letting it go--not going to fiddle with it any more.  For one thing, the paper it is based on is rather thin, and is becoming warped.  A good lesson for my next bookbinding project--choose thicker papers!


Tuesday, April 19, 2016

A Finished Painting!

I finished my vintage coffee lady painting last night.  I'm really happy with the way it turned out.  I was a little nervous about painting the lights and darks on the flowers, but I think they turned out really nicely.


Here's a few closeups.


The vintage image is from Create with TLC.



And one more gratuitous kitty photo--Hilda, doing a little investigating of what Mama was up to.




Monday, April 18, 2016

Sunday, April 17, 2016

A Lazy Sunday

I didn't get much done today fiber-wise, but I did have a nice. lazy Sunday.  Chris and I went out for lunch, and then I took a nice long nap.

Here's a picture of two of my kitties, Max and Dimbo, sleeping on my in-process quilt.  Here you can see the back of the quilt.


I worked a little bit on my Blossom Towel this evening.


I'm making slow but sure progress on this project.

Have a wonderful Sunday evening, everyone!


Saturday, April 16, 2016

A Productive Saturday

Today I worked a little bit more on my quilt.  I find I can't quilt too long or the quality of my quilting suffers and I get too tight and tensed up in my shoulders.  I have to remind myself periodically to relax!

I got the urge to spread the quilt out and view it as a whole; I've been feeling like the quilt top has really been shifting and spreading out of true, and I wanted to see if it really looked that way when viewed as a whole rather than as one little area at a time.  I don't think it looks too bad!  In any case, it is a scrap quilt, not meant as a showpiece, so I am not going to be too critical.



I just have one more corner to finish quilting; if you look closely at the pictures above you can see the safety pins in the upper corner.



I'm really liking the texture of the quilting over the entire surface of the top.

I also worked today on the Blossom Towel.  I'm on the last color of backstitching--the leaves and the curly tendrils.  This addition has really changed the look of the design.  I'm really happy with this one!



Happy Saturday, everyone!

Friday, April 15, 2016

Back to Quilting

I've been hearing the siren call of quilting again lately, and, as it happens, there is an unfinished quilt under my machine needle.  (Well, there are many unfinished quilts in my life, but this one is actually in the process of being quilted.)


This is a true scrap quilt, and contains many pieces from clothing I made long ago.  Clothing that is now but a distant memory...  And I hesitate to tell you how many years this quilt has been in the making.  Suffice it to say that I started on these 9-patch blocks when my son was just a baby (or was it even before that--hard to remember at this remove) and he is now a grown young man of 20.  So there you have it, my shameful secret of how long it really takes me to finish a quilt is out!

Anyhoo, I started quilting on this again tonight, on my Bernina home sewing machine.  I would love to have a longarm quilting machine, but for now I have to make do with my home machine.  I am far from being the greatest quilter ever, but I persevere, and I am getting better.  And after all, as quilters say, "Finished is better than perfect!"



I have about one quarter of the quilt's surface left to quilt--do-able in two or three quilting sessions, I think.  That is, if I don't get distracted by something shiny--focus, Sarah, focus!

I also worked on my painting last night and the night before, adding a retro woman image (a digi stamp--I didn't draw it myself!), and some stencilled flowers.  I think I'm going to go back in with some darks and lights on the flowers and punch them up a bit.  


I'm liking the direction this is headed now, but it's still a work in progress.