Things I like

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Back to school, and back to the studio for me...

I am planning to continue working on my art quilts, but also have some large collage paintings planned; all that stuff couldn't be brought into the house for the summer, so I will be spending most of my days in the studio starting next Monday.  The only problem is there's no bathroom out there, so that forces me to take breaks, otherwise I probably never would!

Because I am part of a collage group on Yahoo, I have collected some marvelous papers sent from all over the country and, actually some from Australia as well.  I can't wait to put them into paintings combined with my wood ornaments and maybe even some wax.

Journaling again would be nice, too.  I haven't done much of that this summer because I have been cutting strips of fabric and sewing them, then cutting them back up again; it's a new strip quilting method I really like.  Last night I spent a lot of time needle-felting fibers into some of the squares, and applying beads here and there.  I much prefer my own hand-painted fabric to commercial fabrics, but that doesn't mean I haven't accumulated yards and yards of the other stuff.

I'll have great pictures to show soon.  I hope.

Sunday, August 19, 2012

Got some help today....

Now finally all my UFOs have been photographed... so I can decide which one to work on next!  It was great to get help from my daughter (and her less-cluttered brain) to figure this process out.  So I will post some of these started-but-not-yet-finished art quilts.  Some will be re-cut and sewn to others, but most will have beads and fibers added before they are considered finished and ready for Etsy!

It's a quiet Sunday, and this week I found some fabulous fibers online and can't wait to see all the finished projects I have in my head turned into real pieces of art.  Last night I painted fabric until 2 a.m. with Sharpies and alcohol... amazing what tools I already have for the ideas I am finding in books on altered surfaces.  Matte medium?  Check.  Rubber stamps?  Check.  Rubbing plates?  Check.  Fabrics for transfer and inkjet printing?  Check.  Fabric paints and acrylic mediums?  Check and check.  So... back to work!

Thursday, August 16, 2012

A bit of fabric and beads

I finally got a few scraps of fabric collage done, enough to photograph.  I will share some of it here...  okay, just one.

I am learning to free-stitch with the sewing machine, and I actually wrote those words with the machine itself!  It can be done.