Friday Favorites

These are not all my Sandy Blocks but are a sampling.  I volunteered to make 20.  I think I ended up with 23.  We are told not to send more than the number we volunteered but I have put together enough scrap quilts to know that a couple of extra blocks can let you have some choices in the arrangement of the blocks.  I will send all 23 and the volunteer putting them together can use them, donate them, or throw them away.

These are the last of the sock animals I will be making for the Maine Children's Home for Little Wanderers.  If you can't tell, they are a lion, giraffe, dog, and rabbit.  I didn't count how many I personally made in total but it was somewhere around 25 I believe.  Now I get to make one for a give-away on "And Then We Set It On Fire" and several for assorted grandchildren for Christmas presents.  The most exciting part of the sock animal saga was when I taught my 8 year-old granddaughter, Abby, to make them.  During my two day visit she made 4 of them.  Her stitches were close to mine. She is quite the artist.  Since every year their family makes things to donate in the name of one of their grandparents as a Christmas Present, Abby is donating them as a gift to her other grandmother.  Isn't my daughter doing a wonderful job of starting the children early to serve others!

Friday Favorites
Okay, I admit it.  I get PVA and PVC mixed up all the time.  One is a white glue and the other is plastic pipe.  When Working to Live-Living to Work talked about a new resist method using PVA glue, I thought she meant PVC glue.  Oops! My bad.  I have tried this resist technique using the gel type glue and it washes out very readily.  I like what she has done in her experiment!  While at her blog, I also checked out her paper-stencil technique with the silk screen.   I have tried just random paper strips but not a cut intentional pattern like she did.  I will have to give it a try soon.

It is not that Jane LaFazio needs me to hype her classes but I do like the tiny tutorial she wrote on sketch and watercolor.  She makes it look so easy! And while there, I checked out other tutorials she has on her blog and found this one on making a studio box.  While a lot of work, I think I might make a few to put the granchildren's sock animals in for Christmas.

So little time and so much to do!  I am back to the sewing machine.
Judith

Black Friday Favorites

Ever watch Wheel of Fortune when the challenge is Before and After?  I thought of that when I wrote this Friday Favorites to be posted on Black Friday.  Are you one of the people who has stood in line for two weeks to get a Black Friday Special?  Feel free to tell me all about your fabulous deals after I wake up much later in the day.

I am spending this Thanksgiving on the road to my daughter's house for the weekend.  I will be with my husband, enjoying his company, and looking forward to seeing my grandchildren.  May you also have a wonderful Thanksgiving wherever you choose to spend it.

Friday Favorites

Nina-Marie has chosen two of my favorite topics to blog about in this post--her cross series and why artists should work in a series.  She learned the importance of working in a series by practicing lessons she learned from a class with Elizabeth Barton.  I learned it from Elizabeth Barton too.  I had to chose an artist to research in one of my art classes and I chose Elizabeth.  I read years of her posts and found that all together they formed a great art class.

I have registered to make 20 Wonky Log Cabin blocks for the Sandy Quilt Block Drive.  I don't have a lot of time but then these blocks come together very quickly.  I have tons of scraps that I am always looking for a way to use. This opportunity seems a perfect match.  If you want more information about how you can help those affected by Superstorm Sandy, check out the link.

Kim from Kim's Hot Textiles has a post that shows student work from one of her newspaper workshops.  I am not a big fan of glitter but I love the way that she uses newspaper to make papercloth and then the various ways she uses the material.  I am going to be in an art show in Dec and I might try making some brooches like she suggests.  Don't miss watching her tutorials on Youtube.  The links are on the left.

I have always loved Wen Redmond's work but her current artwork is particularly inspiring to me in the way that she finishes it.  While her base fabric is a printed photo, mine tends to be deconstructed silkprints but I am never quite sure how to finish them and display them.  I like Wen's approach of adding stitching--not necessarily quilting-- and then displaying them on a painted canvas.  No mistaking these for a potholder or placemat!

Okay, I admit it. This is just my type of eye-candy from Diana Trout.  I really admire artists who can let the stitching meander and form its own shapes.  I have much more of a tendency to make the stitches say something specific or lead somewhere or highlight something.  I really need to post some examples of Diana's work in a notebook to look at before I start stitching.  I want her freedom and perhaps I will get inspired.

May gratitude fill your hearts and inspiration find you this week!

A new blog, sock animals, and Friday Favorites

I give up!  I have held this from last Friday hoping to find my camera.  I guess you will just have to use your imagination.

I have joined the Art Quilts Around the World blog.  I was really tired of deadlines when I finished a year of monthly art quilts at Interpret This!  But that was in 2010 and I am ready for the challenge again in 2013.  And for this blog challenge, I only need to finish a quilt once every other month.  That will help keep my stress levels a bit lower--or at least less often!

And here are some more sock animals that will go to Maine's Children's Home for Little Wanderers.  We have already turned in about a dozen and the staff loved them.  We have another dozen to turn in this Sunday including the bunnies, lions, zebras, horses, dogs, frogs, and skunk!

Friday Favorites

Just one this week.  I must be feeling picky.
Ann climbs on her soap box to tell us to be original in our fiber work.  I totally agree with her.  I do look at quilts made from wonderful published patterns, better than I can design or really want to put thought into designing, and think how beautiful they are. But they are not mine.  I like making my own.  I might use elements of other patterns but I will combine them with pieces that are all me.  I want my quilt to be a piece of art not a paint by number.

And each time I design something, I learn something. And my design skills are getting better.  My compositions are better.  My color combinations are getting stronger.  I am turning out art (sometimes) and not remaking the same block 100 times and measuring my corners to make sure the quilt police won't frown.

Friday Favorites and Sock Animals

I have been missing my Friday Favorites so I am starting them back up again but first let me show you some sock animals I have made to donate to a local nonprofit that provides Christmas presents to disadvantaged children in Maine.  Here are the links to the  Kitty Cat pattern I used although mine looks much different.  I am also making dogs, bunnies, lions, and a couple of frogs from free patterns on the internet or Brenna Maloney's books.  I love her book; it is full of wit and makes me laugh while I try to figure out the patterns.  If you are in the vicinity of Waterville Maine, feel free to come to a workshop to make the stuffed animal socks this Saturday, Nov 10, from 9 am to noon.

 

Friday Favorites
I have posted a 5-post tutorial on extreme texture on And Then We Set It On Fire.  One of the tips was to check out Sharon's blog, Pintangle, for very textural hand stitches.  Here is a tutorial of hers on creating an Open Based Needlewoven Picot.  It would be a perfect stitch to use in an Extreme Texture piece.

Nina Marie has started her 3rd Cross Quilt.  Take a look.  Isn't it going to be fabulous?  I love, love, love her blocks!  On the first quick look they simple--just slightly different crosses in slightly different locations on the block in slightly different colors. But then a closer look lets you see the additional piecing in each block that really provides the additional texture and depth to make the block unique.  That little extra work shows you that is is not a kit quilt but one created by an artist.

Lately I have started making hand bound books so I really got excited to see Diana Trout's free tutorial on making fabric cloth.  She has provided both the text and a YouTube video.  I have tried the technique once but it never occurred to me to use the finished cloth as a book cover.  Here is a picture of my first attempt and the history behind it.  I need to do some stitching on it and get it finished. Perhaps I will use it for a hand made book for my daughter to keep in remembrance of her father.

Clare at Threads of Loveliness lost her mother a couple of weeks ago and has also turned to her art for comfort. She has been sewing a beautiful small journal quilt using the poem, Do Not Stand By My Grave and Weep.  It is healing to make something beautiful out of our sorrow.