Finally Finished

It always feels wonderful when a UFO (unfinished object) gets done.  This quilt, one I had pieced quite some time ago (maybe a year) is finally done.

It's not a huge quilt, maybe measuring around 52" on all sides, give or take a couple of inches.

It was laying on my "to finish" pile for a long time and I had originally pieced it to use as a background for an art quilt.

I used a wool batting and after I quilted it I washed and dried it to plump up the texture.

I decided I loved how it looked just like this and so I could not transform it into an art quilt with a painted design over the top.  It could be used for lots of things at this point...a lap quilt, a furniture decoration, a baby quilt, or a kitty quilt (yes, my cats love quilts!  Don't they all?).

Bags and Totes

I made two more bags from the painted cotton duck fabric.  There are four photos below, but not four bags...just sharing a view of both sides of each bag.

Handbag/purse - Side 1
SOLD

Handbag/purse - Side 2

Small tote/large handbag - Side 1

Small tote/large handbag - Side 2

I still have a small piece of the painted cotton duck that I will use for something, perhaps a zippered pouch or a mini padfolio cover or who knows.

Layers and Layers of Paint

I have been playing with acrylic paints a lot in the past couple of days.  I follow the blogs of many artists that paint in a way that they start out with layers of colors and shapes, then move on to adding some sort of focal design or abstract shapes while sort of blocking out other areas (did any of that make sense?).  A few that immediately come to mind are Flora Bowley, Michelle Allen, Joana Carvalho and Suzan Buckner.  I know there's more than those four but at the moment my mind is blank. If you know of more artists that paint this way, please leave their names in the comments section so we can check them out.

So I thought I'd give this fun, colorful, and sometimes quirky style of painting a little try.  I started out on a canvas panel, which I think measures 8" square.  Layering, layering, layering.....

acrylic paints and tumble tie dye sprays

After the first portion was done, I moved on and added a focal design....three flowers in a vase (well part of a vase).

This was so fun.  I want to do some more and I will, just not sure when.

In other news...I finished sewing two more bags/totes using up the hand painted canvas cloth.  I'll share those with you soon, probably tomorrow.  Happy Friday!

Playing with Mixed Media

I seem to rotate often when it comes to my extra curricular activities.   Most recently I've been working in my art journal.  Well I decided to put that aside for a while because I had a technique in mind that I'd been wanting to try and I decided it was time for that.

I don't remember exactly when I started following artist Lynne Hoppe, but I've admired her art for a long while now. Back in September, Lynne wrote a blog post sharing her techniques on how she paints her faces. I had always wanted to give her steps a try and while I did have some of the supplies she uses, I didn't have others. I knew that I could substitute a few items and I did, but there were a couple products that Lynne uses in her art that I definitely wanted to try and so I went out and got them....they are white gouache and a cream oil pastel. Oh and did I mention I love how she uses old book pages as her painting surface?

The first photo is my first attempt following Lynne's steps.  Not a typical Terri face, but hey, I was just trying to get the process.  I couldn't help myself and had to add some blue and purple to her face.

The next three attempts (shown in the order I painted them) are more my style of face and I was beginning to have fun with the supplies and experiment a little.

These four painted pages are all I've done so far. I'm enjoying playing with the white gouache and the cream oil pastel and will definitely be playing and exploring further with them.

In all, the different types of media I used on these pages was gouache, oil pastel, graphite pencil, charcoal pencil, acrylic paint, watercolor paint, Neocolor II crayons, and gelatos. I didn't use all of these on all the pages.

If you like to paint and are ready for some new supplies and techniques, check out Lynne's tutorial, you'll find the link to it in the side bar on Lynne's blog. I thank Lynne for so generously sharing her technique.

Happy Painting and Happy March!

Canvas Tote

I finished painting on the cotton duck cloth that I showed you the other day.  In my excitement to make something with it, I forgot to take a photo of the entire piece of cloth when it was dry.  

I made this market tote, also known as a green grocery bag because they are reusable. The pattern I used to make this bag is a free pattern called Fat Sack by Terry Atkinson. Click here to see Terry's web site.

I'm currently in the process of making a couple other bags from the remaining painted cloth. I'll share those when I finish. Here is what remains of the cloth. This gives you an idea of the overall painting I did. I might be able to make one more small item with this remaining piece....hopefully!

WIPs

Here are a couple of things I'm currently working on.  First is a small art quilt that I haven't trimmed down yet.  The main reason I haven't done that is because I'm not sure if I'm stopping with it where it is now or if I want to do more to it.  So I've slapped it up on the design wall and I'm waiting for it to speak to me.  I sort of want to do something in the striped neutral areas, but like I said, it hasn't told me yet what I should do.

Next is a four-and-a-half-foot length of cotton duck that I've started painting.  I don't have a plan on where this is going.  Just taking it a color at a time.

I'm enjoying the sunshine that is streaming in through the windows today.  We haven't seen the sun for a few days and it feels so nice.

Hope you had a splendid weekend!

Spiked Leaf

Today I completed the flying geese on a curve class that my friend Martha taught at the local quilt shop. All I had to do today was sew all the units together with the background fabrics.  It went pretty smoothly.  I do prefer to pin my curved seams.  I just feel more confident that way I guess.

I'm not sure what I'll do next with this.  Maybe I should add some borders?  Hmmmm.....

Three Leaves and Five Flowers

When you can't think of a great blog post title, the next best thing is to describe your art or photos. Right?

The first quilt shown here is based on a colored pencil illustration I created and shared way back in this post.

Three Leaves
28 1/2" x 29 3/4"
Mosaic collage technique (tutorial here), Mistyfuse, commercial cottons, batting,
free motion quilting, thread sketching, acrylic paint

The next quilt, which measures around 21" x 10", is something I created for a class sample.

Machine pieced commercial cottons, batting, free motion quilting, thread sketching,
water soluble crayons, Mistyfused binding

I don't know what it is lately, but I feel like I can't get a good photo of my artwork no matter what I do. Big sigh! It could be that I'm just a little too lazy to take the time to set up a well-lit photo shoot. Or it could be that my camera lens needs cleaning. Or it could be that I should find my tripod and use that instead of my shaky hands. Or I could blame the cat!

I've been wanting to make another video too, but it seems like I just can't get caught up with stuff lately. Hopefully one of these days.  We finally got some snow.  About two inches I'd say.

Flying Geese on a Curve

My friend is teaching a class at my local quilt shop and I decided to play along.  The class is based on Gail Garber's book Flying Colors: Design Quilts with Freeform Shapes and Flying Geese. The first session was two Saturdays ago and the final session will be this coming Saturday.  Our homework for the two-week period was to finish the paper-pieced units.  We each drew our own quilt design and my design is based on a leaf and includes not only paper-pieced geese, but paper-pieced spikes too.

I think I have some fabrics picked out for the remaining areas of the quilt.  This quilt will measure around 18 to 20" in size when done.  It's very exciting to see a design like this, that you've created yourself, come to life.

One Cat Two Birds

This is the latest spread in my art journal. I've been working on this one for a few days. I think it might be done, but I'm not totally sure. I can always move on and go back later to add something if I decide to.

We had such a gorgeous spring day today that I found it hard to believe it's not really spring yet. I hope you are having a great weekend.