Beautiful Butterflies

Making cards for many occasions is a relaxing way to create with paper.

I also started playing with some lutrador, and while playing got an idea to make a butterfly. Cutting the veins on the wings was done really easily using a hot blade. And with this came an idea to do a study of butterflies. I have been searching for a focus for a group of works. So using different mediums over the next while it will be butterflies, beautiful butterflies

. The background is made from a batik quilted to cotton backing. The flower is luscious rasberry batik that was cut into smaller pieces with a rotary wave blade, then hand stitched with beads to the background. The Monarch was cut from lutrador, painted then backed with a marbled batik. The whole piece was covered with a matt and gloss gel.

More Mug Hugs

More Mug Hugs :)

Today I delivered more hugs for sale. These hugs were done with the Roastery's Logo. Fun to make as I made my own stamp from the logo with foamy. Impressed me how easily it was done and how successful the stamp worked. The logo was adhered to wool material with gel medium and then hand stitched to the knitted, felted mug hug.

Here is the same logo I made and then appliqued to fabric to complete a table cloth for a small table at the roastery.

The complete tableclothe.

1st Day of Spring and Exciting New Things

Well today was allot of fun as it has taken me months to ask Kat Tatham owner of Madhatters Coffee Roastery if she would be interested in seeing my Eco Mug Hugs. Go figure she was excited about them :) So we will see what happens, if they catch an eye or tw0. Made my day anyway just to have things out of the way!! Room to create somemore.

Since Kat was so positive I am working on a surprise for her. Thinking something in her Barista Logo might please. Will wait and see what she thinks Monday Am :) such fun!!!!

Wanting to create what I call Eco Art, anything that helps the enviroment and is pleasing to ones eye at the same time. Currently I have a challenge happening at our local fibre arts group; members are to come to the meeting with some type of eco friendly creation. Whether it is using old medium to create something new, or new but saves the enviroment, anything goes. I will post a blog after our meeting March 31 of 2009 and show you what they have been up to. I have seen some of the creations and am quite excited. Stay tuned!!!

Green Day

First green project to show, is a scarf easily knitted in a tight piece of garter stitch. Beads are added prior to knitting. When done knitting you cast off dropping every other stitch, which makes for a long, lacy, narrow scarf. Fun and fast!

A mug hug. I am sure you have seen them in different mediums, whether it be sewn, quilted, crochet or knitted. This mug hug was knitted with 100% merino wool, washing maching felted and then embellished.

Small green felted bowl. Simple. Knitted and machine felted.

Moebius Scarf. Cast on 140 stitches. Knit in the round 2 rows, then pearl 2 rows. Follow this pattern until scarf is the width you would like it and then cast off. Fun to wear as it can be dressy or casual.

The green bowl, again knitted and washing machine felted. 100% merino wool knitted with fine metallic thread. I plan to embellish with beads.

• Again we are off to another beautiful day. Though I was pinched before I was hardly out of bed for not sporting the color green. May the luck of the Irish be with you. And remember go green!

Its a New Day

Over the past year I have taken several classes via Quilt University. These are online classes and work really quite well if you have a busy or erratic work schedule. From the online classes a few of the regular students with common interests formed a Yahoo group and we follow each others works, life and play. This first piece was a challenge in the yahoo group, as we have been together for 2 yrs, so we were to complete an anniversary piece and post. Mine was of two trees, they are on opposite sides of the pond. Some of us live in North America and some are from Europe.

This piece of the mountain was from a Quilt University Class called Art for Quilters. There was no pattern, we were just instructed to complete a landscape or portrait from cutting pieces. It was allot of fun seeing it all come together.

This next piece was again a class from Quilt University called Fabric Portraits. Again there is no pattern, any photo of a person can be used. The class took us step by step through the process of completing a quilted portrait. This class is taught by Marilyn Belford

Flower Power" a Quilt University class taught by Susan Brittingham was allot of fun. You learnt how to take any flower picture and turn it into a pictoral quilt.

Playing with Tyvek. Several members of my online yahoo group had taken a class which involved using Tyvek a construction type fabric used under siding when building a house. Or it has use as a garmet fabric for work coveralls. This fabric is synthetic, very durable and will not tear :) but oooh it likes to melt. This leave was a piece of tyvek, painted and sewn to a background. Then a heat gun was directed at the tyvek and areas of the leave were melted. Fun!

Sunny Sunday in almost Spring

Blog photos are some of the fibres I have been working with as of late. Using 100% merino wool I have knitted in many styles, different bowls which I have felted by washing machine. This one was embellished afterwards with my babylock needle felting machine.

View from the top of the bowl At our local art studio we had a small arts show. You could submit in any medium you so wished, as long as the size of the completed piece was no larger than 4"x4". I did a small hanging of appliqued birches showing birches on both sides, the hanger was made of beads then hung from a stand. The 2nd piece I entered was called "Pot of Posies" and was completed by knitting, then felting the pot with my washing machine. I embellisher felted the fabric of wool and silk to be the base for the flowers.

I completed the piece by filling bottom of pot with tiny pellots, then stuffing pot with batting and hand stitching flowers into base. The flowers were embellished with beads.

Both pieces were sold through the art show.