Another basket of owls

Here is the latest batch ready for the gallery.     

Soft Pockets for big bucks

I started constructing some little cloth book covers - but mid way, they decided they wanted to be book pockets.  Actually they fit a Kindle reader or my  Samsung tablet.     I sure like them on the table rather than looking at technology pieces strewn about.     I used some of my favorite background fabrics and did not embellish the backs.  Seems more practical to leave them plain.    Anyway I love to look at the fabric!   LOL    

These seem so simple, I thought I could throw them together in an hour or two, but it acturally took several days to work out what to put where.   One of the images was printed on cotton, the other two are printed on paper.  One is coated with gel medium, the other covered with tulle.    

I was thinking about selling them in the gallery but with the number of hours it took, I'd have to charge at least $100 for my time and effort.  And they'd never sell for that.    Sooooo.... I think they may be gifts for friends, or donation for a raffle prize at the gallery.    I'm quite happy with being able to donate raffle prizes, and they always bring in a lot of ticket money.  The gallery needs all the help it can get.   

Actually they were so much fun, I think I'll start a couple more.   it's a grey rainy day.     Well, a few drops count as rain don't they?     In the midst of a drought, any little bits of rain are good.    

Here an owl, there an owl....

Okay, for the moment I'm owl obsessed - but dont' feel like you have to send me one.   Honestly these things do pass....




I made these little primitive owls as ornaments that can later be used as pin cushions or cat toys.      I now have a cookie tin full of the little owlets. Some of them have wings, some don't.     They are too young to leave the nest so it really doesn't matter.

I used an old cutter quilt, an old red plaid flannel nightgown and a scrap of upholstery fabric sent by a friend.    

Playing catch up

Oh my, I'm way behind in posting much here and I glanced around and found some things I'd like to share here.    Some are things I made, some are people I know and places I've been.     

This first pic is my granddaughter and her creation.     she cut up a red t shirt and pinned in the red white and blue ties as straps.    My job was to stitch it for her.    She'd better wash it by hand, it will never hold up in washing machine, but the look is cute.   

 This pic was taken of friend Charlene who did a demo of transfer techniques for photographs at the Stockton Art Leage this month.  there was a good turnout as usual, and I was totally surprised by how many artists didn't know anything about transfers.     They were very interested and appreciative.    Mixed media gals use transfers all the time, but for watercolorists, oil painters and photographers, this was unexplored territory.    

 these next two pics are from a trip to visit Pat and Char at Pat's house in Folsom.  The little plants are lantanas.   The colors look so good together I had to take a snap.

 Here's just part of the group that got together to make altered vintage tags at Pat's house.    I didn't get my camera out in time to catch the rest before they drove off.     Thanks to Rosemary our chauffeur for hauling us around and all our stuff.    It was a good time to visit in the car.   We took a road I had not been on in decades, so that was fun too.      Foothills are so lovely regardless of the time of year.  Right now they are golden.

 the post cards I swapped out with the Carving Consortium were done on the opposite side of recycled cards.  I just thought I'd show the address side of one.   these were all from my aunt's stash of cards from friends.    My art is on the other side.  I showed them earlier.

 this is a stitched face on an old napkin.      It's large enough I'm using it as a cover for my sewing machine which is always set up.  And it usually has red thread in it.    LOL    My favorite color for stitching on paper or fabrics.   

 this is a picture of the shoulder/arm area of one of my favorite blouses.  I bought it years ago at the White Pines Flea Market.  I bought it because I loved the linen print.  Seems to be made of tea towels.  Everyone is wild about it when I wear it.      My friend Rosemary made  me another one from a vintage tablecloth, but I loaned it to Pat so she can make one for herself.    I particularly like the splash of yellow under the arms.      

the next pic is me modeling and  taking a "selfie" for Rosemary, who plans to teach her sewing group how to make these shirts.   it looks pretty cute over a turtle neck also, but this one has such sweet summery/springy colors I just slip into it.   Looks really good with white pants or white skirt.

BTW it took ages for me to crop around this pic - the background was such a mess I didn't want it to distract.    I need to get out the pad and pen for doing this work instead of using the cursor to move the photoshop elements tools around.       I have not tried them with  my  new computer set up.       

An unespected visit from the Yucatan

One of our best volunteers at the Lodi Art Center is from the Yucatan.     We call him Pepe.     His mom and wife came for a visit last week, and he brought them to our mixed media meeting so his mom could show us her art work.     Here are pictures of Rose with her Mayan hand painted or stitched pieces.  

 Fortunately our newest member of the group, Netty, was there to translate for us, as Rose does not speak English, and none of us are fluent in Spanish.   Netty had not even met the others in the group before, and when askted to translate, she jumped right up and seemed to fit right into the  program like it was planned.    LOL    Believe me this was not a planned event, but it turned into a magical day.   I wish our visitors could stay longer and be part of our group.        

Surprise, two more in the mail box today

The California Art Girls swap brought in two more post cards today with fabric used on them.    The first one is from Beth, with the four photos and the words They Came t Stay stitched on.    It seems to tell a story - a story of two young men, two young women from a year book, I'd guess circa late 1950s.    What became of these people?    we'll never know. 

The second card that arrived has four trees on it. Terrie did not sew anything but used glues to attach the pieces.    It's adorable.    Another collage with layers and old fashioned writing mostly hidden with the fabric strips.    Very intriguing.    

Thanks gals, this is one of  my favorite swaps with our group.   I've loved every card that comes in.   

Mid November

It's November 23rd.   Black Friday.    Who's out there shopping?   Not me, for sure.      I thought I'd take today to finish up some things and also to update this blog.      I've been in another swap with the CA art girls, and this time the one requirement is that there is at least a little bit of fabric on our post cards, or they can be totally fabric.    No other theme.    So, I think the variety will be great.    So far, I had one card from Roberta, who does not sew, but is game to try using fabric scraps.    This one has a piece of one of her husband's neckties.     Interesting in itself, as she does not even have a stash of fabrics like so many of us.   So, she used what she had.   Good for you Roberta.     The fabric and collage elements all work so well together, it's a really nice card.

Debbie sent this lovely card on which she used a fabric background, a stamped leaf image with copper paint on another bit of fabric, a piece of yarn/ribbon, and stitched it all together with turquoise thread.    This is very lovely.   It only had to come less than 50 miles, and it took $1.95 worth of postage according to her post office.   

The next card is one from an online group challenge.  It had to come all the way from Canada , and it cost Mary Lou Curry $1.05 to mail it from there.     The theme here was two colors plus a button.    I'm particularly fond of her color choices, and all the different things she used to create this quilted card.    She mailed it in a clear envelope so none of the attached yarns snagged in the postal machinery.    

This next card with the line up of women, is the one I sent to Roberta.   I made 8 of them for the swap and didn't make an extra for myself.  Wish I had.   I guess I"ll have to dig out that special fabric again and do it later.      I've saved the fabric for several years, waiting for the right thing to use it on.  It seemed like a good opportunity to share it with some artist friends by using it on post cards.  

I made a fabric envelope to house a birthday present I made for my granddaughter in Boston.   I thought the fabric was so lovely I could not resist.   One the other side I stitched on the address labels, and a piece of paper where the postal stamp would be attached.     I wonder if she'll recycle the fabric?  

The next sample I'd like to share with you is a stitched piece of fabric which was done with a layer of paper napkin stitched to the front, then dampened and the paper napkin rubbed away except for close to the stitches.   I loved the sampled I'd seen of this technique online, but am not really happy with my results.   I'll be trying it again soon, and maybe I'l use a double stitch with the machine from Rosemary.    I think the lines would be more dramatic.    I'm showing the front and back so you can see the process better.      

The last one is using the same technique over fabric with a collaged paper element over it placed with gel medium, and then the whole piece was coated with a diluted white glue,, so it's sort of plasticized.

These are a few of the things I've been up to or have received.    Enough for one post.     More to come.

Looking for inspiration

What better place than a ride in the country with friends to a wonderfully colorful quilt show held at a premiere winery?   With the threat of rain coming in across the valley, we were lucky to have this one free day to enjoy the countryside.   We didn't see a lot of color, but enough to know that Fall is definitely here.   Here is a quilt done by my friend Mary, I tagged it as one of my favorites before I noticed her name on it.

   So, see, I was not prejudiced! 
   I also liked a zen tangle wall hanging.

I had not seen zen tangles in the quilt arts before.  

 In the wearable arts, there was a sweet little dress made of an old embroidered table cloth.   How sweet is this?

 

Since this quilt show is held in Calaveras County, the home of Mark Twain's Jumping Frog Jubilee, there are always some frog quilts.  Here is one sample. 

 I put that one in for Diane!     Here's a hello from Murphys for the gals at Cloth Paper Studio, one of my favorite Yahoo groups.    

Cloth collage

Having had so much fun earlier in the year with a torn paper collage of a face, I decided I should try it with cut fabric scraps.    I watched the DVD by Julie Fei-Fan Balzer "All About Faces" and this is something she did, only using larger pieces and with a much freer hand.   She recommended using batik fabrics.  I've got a lot of fat quarters of batiks.   All of us who love fabrics have little stashes of scraps, left over from other projects.    One year my sister in law let me go through her scrap basket and take whatever I wanted - it was a fabulous stash.   I'm still using them.   In fact I think there are some bits in this piece that came from her basket.    One little bit is from my art pal Jackie's stash.    We used to mail bits and pieces to each other.    The fleshiest tones are from Diane Ferguson in Texas who hand dyed a silk scarf years ago, which she sent to me.   Sorry Diane, but I just had to cut into it for this.    I drew the face with charcoal on watercolor paper, and then started digging for scraps.   Then placing them to complete it.    I used liquid gel medium to hold them.     When I was done it was a full face, but then when I went to see how it would look in a mat, I found this black one with a smaller opening and a lot of black mat.     That's they way I have it frames now, with only part of the face showing.    This was taken through glass with reflections, so use your imagination!   It's the best I could do.    Thanks to friends and family for your contributions to this piece.

Fabric flowers

The Cloth Paper Studio group online is having a fabric flower swap. I thought I'd signed up for it, but when I checked the database, I had not. The pictures posted by the swappers made me want to make some anyway, but Rachel emailed that I could still get in the swap. So, this morning I set out to make some. No pattern, no real idea, just messing about. At a quilt show last year I purchased a darling little green and pink fabric flower for my hat, and I thought I'd copy that idea. But then I remembered a cutter quilt in the closet and thought I'd make them with an old quilt. Well, that idea went by the way when I reached for a hot pad in the kitchen and noticed the edged which had been clipped and then washed to make an interesting edge. Thought it would work for flowers too, so that's the direction I went. First to the drawer of fat quarters, and picked out some fav colors. I used a single piece of the cutter quilt in each one, and about 6 -8 circles traced around the bottom of my gel medium container. Stack, stitch, and clip. Sew on a button or two. How easy can it get? I washed a couple in the laundry and they really curled up on edges. Here are some pics.

Post card swap

I finished two of these similar post cards today for an online swap. After visiting the Manteca quilt show yesterday, and purchasing a product called timtex for the interfacing of the cards, I threw myself into making them. I also bought the book, Post Cards: Make and Mail by Cheryl Haynes, Barbara Cooley and Beth Davis. It had the other clue I'd been missing. Cutting the interfacing 1/4 inch smaller all the way around makes the stitching of the edges much neater.

Lodi group exchange

the Lodi Mixed Media group decided to have a pot luck finger food brunch and a card/gift exchange. So we each made one thing. We gave each item a sticky note number and the corresponding number went into the hat to be drawn to find out who got which gift. I got this lovely piece by Barbara Schwartz. It is drawn on denim. I love it. "Santa" is Vivian modeling a woven kimono covered ade with a Chinese newspaper. It is covered with packing tape. She made this more than a decade ago. It is an amazing piece of work.

Quilt show inspirations

This week there was a quilt show right here in Stockton. The Tuleburg Quilt Show. You can bet I was there with some friends. We are all mixed media gals, and Sandy actually is the quilting arts diva of the Lodi Art Center. Her work took two ribbons in the show that is there now. Here are some pics. Bobbi, Sandy, and Phyllis are the friends you'll see here. The gal behind the table working is Elinor Peace Bailey of doll pattern fame. She was a kick. She was teaching people how to paint faces on fabrics. One of my favorite things was the self portrait quilt done by a group of friends. That puckered purse was done with a new product that when steamed, shrinks by about 30%. I"m going to get some of that for sure. Do you see the cats in the veggies? It was so clever we had to look twice before we noticed that they are veggies. I could not get a full pic the way it was hung. But, what I could see, I loved. I'm sure patterns for these things are available online.