Journal Quilt #48

I've been seeing many quilts, postcards and more popping up around the Internet with trees of some sort on them. You've all inspired me and so that was the theme of this week's journal quilt.

Today's Accomplishments

I did a little sewing today, and made this mini padfolio.

And I did a little painting this evening, and made this cat.

Making Bags

I've been busy making handbags. Here's the first one, hot off the ironing board. The poor girl on this bag heard a few swear words coming from my lips at one point. I usually make little marks where the handles will be sewn on, and for some reason I totally missed the mark for the handles on one side of the bag. Unfortunately, I didn't notice this till I had it done. Argh!

So I ripped out some stitches, said a few harsh words, moved the handles, and tried resewing just what needed to be redone. Well because I was trying to save some time, of course the resewing didn't work well. More harsh words! By this time I was throwing tools around and slamming drawers. I think the kitties scrammed from the room. So I put everything away and went to bed.

Everything always seems brighter in the morning, right? Well I got busy and undid all the sewing, in other words, totally removed the lining from the outer bag. Start over! No more harsh words. Done!

Journal Quilt #47

This journal quilt started with the center focal area. I fused some batik fabric strips to a piece of wool felt and then embellished wool roving to create a floral design. I then free motion stitched details over the flowers and leaves.

I attached this piece to a background of rust dyed fabric that I stitched some vertical lines onto. Next I played with something new to me. I tried my hand at some metal embossing and although it looks quilt primitive, I'm pretty happy with my first try. I do hope, however, that I get better with practice as I've seen some gorgeous embossed metal pieces. I had trouble machine stitching it to the background, so I ended up hand stitching it. My thread kept wanting to break when I tried machine stitching it.

Happy Thanksgiving

Today I am doing anything I want when it comes to creative work. So I spent some time working on the faces that I showed you in the previous post.


And the next photo is a couple of sketches I did within the last few days.


For all of you who celebrate Thanksgiving, I hope your celebrations and gatherings and whatever it is you do for the holiday are filled with laughter, health, and love. I am thankful that I can sit here and write this post and share my art with all of you. I am thankful for all of you who come here to read my ramblings and offer such wonderful and encouraging support. I am thankful for all of my family and friends. And I'm thankful for my kitties!

Squeezing Time

In between working on other things today, I managed to squeeze in painting time and I got some faces started. I need some faces for a couple of handbags I will be making soon and I thought I'd just make up some extras to have on hand.

New Painting

11" x 14" acrylic paint on canvas panel

I've been painting in the evenings lately after Bob goes to bed. I had started this particular painting before I went to Houston and I've been wanting to get it done.

I'm not sure where I got the idea for this. All of a sudden one day it just appeared to me. So I sketched it out and here is the result. Sometimes I wonder if my ideas come from art I've seen elsewhere and my subconscious is bringing those visions back to me somehow. I realize that I am very influenced by all the wonderful work I see in person and on the internet...so it's hard to say exactly where one's ideas come from. So many artists inspire me and I thank those artists for being such great inspiration.

Journal Quilt #46

The central image of this week's quilt was an embroidery I had done sometime last year in an online class with Susan Sorrell. It was one of those UFO's that has been lying around for too long...and actually I have come across it a couple of times since I made it, but evidently never had a use for it until now.

I've been a bit bummed lately. Not because of a lack of creative motivation, but because I've had other commitments that have taken me away from doing things I'd like to do. I'd like to be making some art just for me, for my own personal gratification. Things I want to make, not things I have to make. But for the time being I can only grab little bits of time here and there to do what I want to do. Ho hum!

And then the other problem I'm having is that when I draw in my sketchbook I always seem to gravitate to sketching things that I know and love to draw. But if I were to take these sketches further, then I feel like I'd be accused of mimicking the work of some other artists. Have you ever felt this way? I don't want to be a copy cat, but the drawings I do are what I like. I've been trying to figure out a way to make them different or 'my own'. But haven't had any luck yet.

Issue 2 of Fibre& Stitch

Issue 2 of Fibre&Stitch is available soon. On November 28! It's a great issue that also includes some fabulous articles by these talented artists: Carol Clasper, Marie Johansen, Sara Lechner, Gina Ferrari, Terry White & Linda F. You can see what's in this issue by visiting www.fibreandstitch.com and clicking the 'table of contents' link right under the image of issue 2.

Journal Quilt #45

Woo hoo! Number 45 already. Where has the year gone? The central flower of this quilt was first printed in black ink on my inkjet printer. Susan shared her Photoshop technique on how to take a color photograph and create a black and white image. So I played around with this and then printed my image directly on some prepared inkjet fabric. I fused my image to some heavy interfacing and stitched like crazy.

Hey Lookie!

Today I had a play day and I made some mini padfolios.



We had our first snow today. Ugh! But it pretty much melted away throughout the day. Yay!

Houston Goodies

I've done some unpacking of the great stuff I bought while in Houston. Most of the booths selling products at the show were geared more toward traditional quilting, such a piecing, applique, etc. Well after all this was a quilting show...right? But since I'm not a 'traditional' quilter and since I have most of the traditional quilting type tools that I need already, I didn't shop in these types of booths.

The first photo isn't a purchase at all. These items were gifts from the wonderful Tracie Lyn Huskamp and her mother-in-law Marilyn Huskamp. These two are such warm, caring, and giving women. I admire their work and now am honored to call them my friends. The journal book on the left is from Marilyn and the book on the right is from Tracie Lyn and contains her own poems and art. Thanks you ladies for such wonderful and beautiful gifts.


Here are my purchases. The next photo shows some of the beautiful fabrics I bought. The top two are from Wendy Richardson, who dyes linens and more in the most beautiful colors. The middle row are some beautiful hand-dyed silks with stitched pleats in them. And the bottom is some woven strips in the most wonderful colors.


I bought three books. I could easily have bought more, but since books are somewhat heavy I didn't go overboard so as not to make my luggage overweight.


Here you can see I went wild. I found some luscious laces, that I would never in a million years find at home. Some yarns and fibers. I purchased a Diva Cordmaker. Their booth was right next to ours.


And lastly are some Stewart Gill paints I bought. The book to go along with these paints is shown above. The book, by Rebecca Gill is wonderful in that it teaches you all about their paint line. Rebecca was in the booth and is such a bubbly, fun person. She was signing the books that people bought, but not in the typical way. She would paint a design in the book besides signing her name. I got an unmounted rubber stamp sheet of some great abstract designs, a metallic stamp pad, a squeegee tool, a stencil and a small metal oriental chop with a design that means 'dream'. I don't know if I spelled 'chop' correctly. You can barely see the metal chop down at the bottom of the photo.

Back from Houston

I returned home yesterday afternoon to windy, freezing cold temperatures. I almost felt like turning around and getting back on the plane and going back where it was much warmer. But I'll tell you, there's no place like home.

I had a blast in Houston, although we were tremendously tired at the end of each day. The convention center in Houston is so huge, it seems like 400 miles to get to any place in there, especially the restrooms...and then there were always waiting lines. UGH! I loved helping in the Mistyfuse booth, even though my poor feet were sore at the end of the day. I think I really need to see if a foot doctor can help me.

I met some wonderful people, and it was great fun to just chat with people in the booth. Helping Sue with her classes was also fun. The students kept commenting on how much fun they were having and that was great to hear.

And the shopping. Let me tell you about the shopping. Where I come from the quilt shows attract about 15 to 20 vendors, I think. Well there were over 1,500 vendors in this show. At least that's what we estimated when we looked in the brochure. Can you believe that? I was so overwhelmed and amazed. I'll show some photos tomorrow of some of the goodies I purchased.

Here are some photos that I took (don't look too close, my hair drooped and went limp and flat by 10:00 each morning, must have been the humidity):

Deborah (right) and I. It was so great to meet Deborah as I haven't known her very long, but I feel as if we've been friends a long time. We both are participating in the Twelve by Twelve group. She also came to one of Sue's classes and made a fantastic mini padfolio.

Liz Kettle and Debbie Bates. These great ladies are with Wonderfil Threads. Their booth was so beautiful and colorful. These are wonderful threads that I've recently started using and they have some beautiful colors and several styles of threads to choose from.

Sue and I. I have to tell you that getting to meet Sue in person was the highlight of this whole trip. We've known each other for just about two years now, but had never met in person. We were both tired and acting a little silly here.

Sue and Elaine. It was wonderful to meet Elaine. I've known her from being on some online groups together and she is such a lovely and fun person. She lives right in Houston, so didn't have far to travel.

Group shot. Taken Saturday night after a long, busy day at the show. Needless to say, I look like crap. From left back to front - me, Sue, Iris (owner of Mistyfuse and the most generous, giving person. She is so wonderful and I'm glad I was able to meet her). From right back to front - Vicki (I'm so glad to have met Vicki. She is so much fun and interesting and you can always count on laughing when in her presence), Vicki's mother (I can see where Vicki gets her sense of humor from), and Elaine (Elaine ditched her hubby that evening to spend time with us. Thanks Elaine, and thank your hubby too.)