Landscape Collage

It's a fairly mild day here in New England, with sunny skies and light breezes. I made this little landscape collage this morning for a card for someone special. It combines different papers, fabric, and hand painted cheesecloth and lace. 

I looked around my studio for the most textural bits I could find, and even tore the paper edges instead of cutting them.

It felt good to accomplish something so early in the day!

Hope your day is going well!!!

Saturday Sunshine

I have been meaning to share this wonderful paper pieced, fabric picture since Christmas time, when I received it as a gift from the talented Sharon at sallymomsprouts!! It makes me smile every time I look at this cheery cardinal, and I'm fascinated by the precision with which it is pieced!!

Isn't this the perfect thing to brighten up a dreary February day?

I love it!

Thank you so much, my friend!

Here's wishing everyone a wonderful weekend!

From My Sketchbook

This is a small fabric "sketch" that I snipped and fused this week, inspired by the yellow print background fabric. The little black dots had me looking for bright colors and prints with "motion" in them.

I glued the finished piece into the sketchbook I recovered last week. There is room underneath the picture for notations and the date. Now this is my idea of a "sketch"! Feels good to be creating again!

Frustrated!!

Honestly, I have been working on some projects and organizing my "stuff" (sewing, art and craft related), but I cannot seem to complete anything! It doesn't help that I've had a cold, feel like I'm in the Twilight Zone during this snowless winter, and feel a bit weighted down by obligations at the moment! This too shall pass, but meanwhile I'm calling a halt to my self-imposed Art Every Day for February! What was I thinking?

That said, I really meant what I wrote in my last post about loving fabric art, but right now I seem to have brain freeze! Hope to have something new to share soon!

 Hope everyone is enjoying a wonderful week!

For Love of Fabric

I was going through some old journals today and came across something I wrote twelve years ago:

"Someone I work with told me recently that she was so bored on her day off - couldn't find anything interesting to do. I couldn't think of a reply to this statement. I looked at my dining room table, covered with unfinished projects, thought of my sewing room with selections of fabrics set aside for future picture designs, and imagined the time I would spend that evening working on a fabric portrait of a customer's home. I thought of my sewing machine, countless pairs of scissors in different sizes, storage boxes brimming with fabric, my notebooks crammed with picture ideas and magazine clippings, folders filled with drawings, and various containers spilling over with beads, lace, embroidery floss, buttons and ribbons.


Bored?


Suddenly I had a new appreciation for the richness of my creative life. I just can't picture myself  bored as long as I can draw a picture and sew."


I'm happy to say that I still feel the same way. Sometimes I hold back, not from boredom, but rather from fear of not being 'good enough' - whatever that means. But I still have the same love for what I do. Another thing I wrote in the same entry was:

"There's something so appealing about making art with fabric. The texture. The colors. The prints. The punctuation of stitches. The accents of netting and lace."


I must say, I'm inspired by my own enthusiastic words from twelve years ago. So glad I unearthed that journal!

Saturday Night

Tonight I was working on a sketch from a photo of my mom as a young woman. I want to use it in a collage, but, after scanning it, I can see that I have more work to do. I was using a stippling technique and doing it while watching TV. I think I'll add some solid lines when I go back to it.

I also wanted to share some photos of flowers my husband gave me for Valentine's Day. These lilies were combined with red roses and baby's breath, but sadly the roses are already wilting. I separated the lilies to celebrate their beautiful color and graceful shape. 

These flowers lift my heart as the gray winter becomes tiring and I feel myself craving color!

Hope you're having a wonderful weekend!

Thanks for visiting!

Matisse inspired Sketchbook

My daughter Kate was home for the weekend, and what a lovely time we had together! Every time she visits, she pares down the belongings she has stashed in our attic a bit, and I seem to inherit a few things. Some are donated or recycled, but this time she found a few pads of art paper and a sketchbook which she didn't want, so I adopted them into my already overflowing stash!

Today I took the sketchbook and customized it a bit, making it a bit more appealing to pick up and use.

I covered the printing on the front with some green print paper.

And on the first page I put a print of a painting by my favorite artist, Henri Matisse, along with a copy of his signature from the internet. Now, just opening the sketchbook will be inspiring!

My creativity level has been a bit low for a month in which I planned to make Art Every Day, but I'm hoping to pick up speed in the second half!

Hope you are having a great week and finding creativity in your world!

Take care!

Loving Wishes

Wishing you and those you love a beautiful day!

And, speaking of love,

Would you call this "love overflowing"?

A Brief Intermission

After only a few days of Art Every Day, I'm taking a short break to spend time with my daughter Kate, who is home for the weekend! Comfy clothes, movies and chatting will be the extent of our activity!
Just the way we like it!
Thank you so much to all who left comments on my blog birthday post! Have a lovely weekend and...

See you again on Monday!

Happy Birthday, Hartfelt!

In January of 2007, I began a little blog called Fabric Art and Crafts. Throughout the last 5 years, the name has changed, I've tried out different templates and headers, and along the way I've met some wonderful bloggers who I now call friends. In my first blog post, I set my intention by writing "now I'll have a place to 'show up' with my work, express my thoughts about what I'm working on and, hopefully, get some feedback on the results." These intentions have been fulfilled in every way. I love my blog, my blogging friends and the opportunity to share my work with others. I appreciate every comment I've received over the years and I'm looking forward to being a blogger for a long time to come.

I guess I really should say,

 "Happy Belated Birthday, Hartfelt!"

Screen Printing

Today I had an adventure in silk screen printing with my friend Andrea. I brought a cut paper leaf design to Andrea's studio and, using a thermofax machine, she was able to make it into a screen for printing.

I was able to make prints on paper and fabric, practicing a technique I had never tried before. It was a lot of fun! In March Andrea and I are doing a demonstration of silk screening and collage, and I'll be using my leaf as part of a collage. I'll be experimenting with this throughout the rest of this month and will show my ideas here. Meanwhile - thanks, Andrea, for an enjoyable lesson!

Cleaning Spree!

Time to Purge!

Perhaps I should have been cleaning, instead of making a collage?

Have a great day!!

Flag, continued...

I finished the flag this morning, in time for the shop's opening. Lots of sewing last night and this morning, but I LOVE checking something off my to-do list! I have other projects lined up, but need to release a little creative energy first after a structured task like this. A bit of whimsy tomorrow!

Happy Weekend!

Open Flag

Today I'm working on an outdoor flag for a local gift shop which is opening tomorrow in our town. Right now I'm cutting out the letters and next I'll applique them on to the background fabic. As usual I'm running behind schedule, but I'll post a picture of the finished piece tomorrow!

Hope you're having a great day today, and that it leads in to a wonderful Superbowl weekend! 

Go Patriots!! (Can't help it - I'm a New Englander!)

Work in Progress

I'm about to go out for the day, driving an hour south to visit my sister. But before I left, I wanted to post about what I'm working on today. I had begun this textured landscape during AEDM in November, but felt that it needed something more. This morning I played around with fabrics and some wool roving, and now feel happy with this more complete picture, in the planning stages right now, but moving in a good direction.

Of course, the elements need to be sewn down and needle felted...

and maybe I will crop it and make it a vertical piece.

Time will tell, but I'll be working on this more when I get home later in the day!

Hope your day is going well.

Thanks for visiting!

Art Every Day in February

I'm getting a bit of a late start with this, but I've decided to make February another "Art Every Day Month".  I participated in Leah Piken Kolidas' AEDM yearly challenge for the blogging community in November, but right now the winter doldrums are setting in, I feel like I need a boost, and this time I'm challenging myself. So, every day in February I'm planning to post a bit of creativity. Let me know if you want to join in! By the way, this is a print of an applique picture I did many years ago. Tomorrow: something new!

Hope your week is going well!

Thanks for visiting!