Poppet Work

It's funny. I think that my vision of myself differs from reality. My family is taking a course of DBT or dialectical behavioral therapy, and I am learning so much. In one lesson we learned that it's no good to ask for directions from Chicago if you live in Detroit but are simply in denial about it (apologies to my east side friends). Your directions won't work unless you are realistic about where you live. Well, I seem to have this idea about myself that I appreciate simple patterns. Realistically, I can't help but complicate things. I was going to just stuff these dolls, but I find myself embroidering them and beading them into oblivion. I may love to look at a spartan zen garden, but I'm more of a blowsy, overgrown garden myself. I can appreciate them in their simple state, but my hands must be from Detroit. I may try to stitch some up that are not embellished, but I'm going to have to admit that I am never going to create much that's not busy busy busy. If I have to ask for directions, I'm from busy (Detroit), not from elegantly simple (Chicago). Darnit. I'd hate to end up in Poughkeepsie when I was trying to go to Seattle.

Cheerful

This is the cheerful view of my desk on a slighly cloudy July 4 morning. Perhaps a little bit of stitching before I head off to a fireworks party on the lake. The colored fabrics behind the stuffed kitty poppet are some dryer sheets I dyed yesterday. It's a good thing my family is not very tidy, as I scored a bunch of these used ones strewn about the laundry room. From their disorganization arises art. Hah!

Complete Disregard

I believe that what we have here is complete disregard for the art. Hey, these pillows appear on season 4 of Quilting Arts TV, not to mention their foray into Cloth Paper Scissors. "Your pea is very comfortable but the pepper is crowding my style."

Quilted Boxes

I've been puttering around the studio and improving things. I'm working on a cover for my sewing machine and just finished these cute quilted boxes. The pattern is from the Sew Mama Sew website and the fabrics are all of my Spoonflower prints (all gorgeous btw). Now I've got all my miscellaneous supplies in them, which neatens up my work table. The pattern called for some nested boxes, but I made mine all 5" so I can line them up for supplies.

Funky Hat

Hubby and I have been going to some outdoor Mustang shows with our Bullitt edition. I needed something to shade my eyes a bit for sketching/reading etc. while we hang out, so I fancied up this cap from the craft store. I glued on some scraps of fabric and embroidered around them, glued on some small stuffed charms and painted some images.

Spoonflower Dolls

Here's my latest Spoonflower test--I'm going to get these dolls printed out on quilting weight cotton, then I'll cut them out and stuff them individually. They are about 12" high. If my margins are right, I'll get about 21 dolls out of a yard of fabric. My current thought is to embroider each one before I stuff it--adding some fun stitching. Oh, I could also thread sketch them too. Maybe some beading?? My mind is bursting with anticipation! This process was the same as for the bumble bees. I drew the doll outlines with a Pitt pen, scanned them all into the same document, then colored them in using GIMP, the free graphics program. Can't wait for these to arrive! If they turn out, they may need to find homes on Etsy.

Fabric from Drawings

In my latest batch of Spoonflower ideas, I sketched some quick drawings of whimsical bees, scanned them in and then added color with my GIMP graphics program. I've learned that you don't get much subtlety when you're digitizing things anyway. So here's where I started, and after I added color. Now I'm waiting for this to arrive as a fabric.

Fat Quarters

My first Spoonflower fabrics have arrived! They are even more beautiful than I imagined. Whatever will I make with them? I have two more orders yet to come and more thoughts on the way as I learn this process. These fat quarters are based on drawings, photos and paintings I photographed. See how saturated they are? And they were beautifully packaged too!

Fabric Design with Spoonflower

When I first heard of Spoonflower, I was entranced. Who doesn't love the idea of designing their own fabric? With Spoonflower, you can upload a pattern of your own making and have it printed on fabric in swatches, fat quarters or yards. I've been playing around and it's a good excuse to actually learn to use GIMP software. I've had this program for a few years, but it still intimidates me.

I'm still waiting for my first fabrics to arrive. They are simple block repeats of artwork I've already done. This pattern, Big Spools and Small Spools, was made from a journal painting/collage with the intention of using it for fabric. I'm still stuck in a regimented pattern, but at least I've broken free from squares. I'm going to work on a more random, free floating pattern next. Unfortunately, when translating art to fabric, much of the subtlety is lost. So I have to think more in terms of graphic design. So much to learn!

IQF Goodies

I always like to share the fun stuff to be found at the Quilt Festival. I like to stock up on colorful supplies. The top photo shows some Stewart Gill paints, Ricky Tims threads, Wonderfil threads, colorful ravelings, rusted fabric from RustTex, hand dyed cheesecloth, fabric from Wendy Richardson and some screen printed fabrics from Belinda Spiwak.

The bottom photo shows the new Stitch magazine from Interweave, Shiva painsticks, Tsukinenko Inks, hand dyed flosses from Laura Wasilowski and Wendy Richardson, Bohn sewing needles and needle threader and a couple of Quilting Arts Workshop dvd's. A great stash!

International Quilt Festival Chicago

I got to set up a table with art and talk to a bunch of fun people in Chicago.

Queen of Stitch Tiara

Pokey over at Quilting Arts spoke of tiaras, so I decided to alter one for myself. If you stop by the Quilting Arts booth at the Chicago International Quilt Show this month, you may catch me wearing it! I had fun adding some things that are personal, like an old wooden spool, a little birdie, some of my favorite vintage buttons and handmade paper beads. Queen of stitch!

Spoolology

This is a book I made out of dyed cotton batting. I've attached some of the spools (below) to the cover, then added a bunch of stitched printed images about thread/sewing and spools of delight. I thread-sketched whatever text came to mind...mostly nonsense verse. The dyed batting is so soft and nice to work with for a book form.

Spool Obsession

Yes, it's true. I've got spool fever! I'm in love with spools of thread. Here I've made some cute little wearable pins with embroidery and beading. They are pinned to cardstock for gift giving. They are just muslin, collaged and stitched and painted, then mounted on stiff interfacing.

Dye Pot Day!

It's about time. Spring is here and I felt inspired by the beautiful weather to dye some fabric. You can see that my method is casual and the kitchen's the perfect place. I took time to dye some sheets of warm & white all cotton batting. I'm thinking about making some books out of it and wanted some bright colors!

Mini Stitch Image Books

Continuing in my book theme, here are some smaller notebooks made of watercolor paper with fabric stitched images on the cover. I've colored the interior pages with washes of watercolors and bits of collage and sewing so they're inviting to write or draw on. The spine is bound with a basic running stitch in waxed linen cord. One is for a gift and the others are just experimental.

Sew Once Books

These are books I made as thank-you gifts. They're basic watercolor paper pages bound to a cover made of fabric. The image is printed on fabric and then painted and stitched. These are essentially blank books for the recipients to enjoy. And I hope they do!

Self Portrait Day

A creative friend at work inspired me to have a self portrait day with my daughters and niece, after hearing about her mother-daughter project. We used "Taking Flight" by Kelly Rae Roberts as our model, and spent the day building layers and creating our portraits. It was fun for everyone and so relaxing. Here are our finished works, done by three effervescent teens and myself (not so effervescent and only faintly remembering teenhood).

Stitch Imagery Workshop

My very own DVD is here, brought to you by Quilting Arts Workshops. I haven't seen it yet, but I did live it, lol. I feel pretty confident that *anyone* can create really fun images from photos. The cover image here mentions Photoshop, but that's a teensy mistake. You don't need editing software to do this technique. Personally, I use the GIMP, which is an entirely free software with all the delicious features of the expensive ones. The DVD is one hour in length and is available for pre-order from Interweave Press. It will be out on April 1. I've purchased a number of the workshop downloads and can recommend them.

Give Me Not Fame Nor Fortune...Make it Fabric!

Check this out! I got a fab stash of fabric goodies from Pokey's treasure, plus a beautiful hand-printed and stitched journal and some carved stamps from Lyric. These fabrics are all thermofax printed and they are AWESOME. Do I dare use them? They're so lovely!