Quilt Collage Class

Last night I went to my quilt collage class, with my vase of flowers cut out and glue-sticked on to muslin. I had simplified the design drastically when I saw how much work my original drawing would be, with so many pieces. I'll hold on to that drawing and some day make an appliqué picture out of it.

Original drawing

We cut our image away from the muslin and auditioned different backgrounds. This is what I came up with - both fabrics from my friend Barbara's stash. Nothing in my bag o' fabric seemed to work.

Meanwhile, our homework for next week is to make a quilt sandwich of our collage, glued on to the background, with batting and backing. Then we are to free-motion quilt it by machine. This is something I've done very little of, so it will be an adventure for sure! When that is done the real fun begins as we add beading and embellishments! Be warned - this will get very bling-y!!

Hope to get to those fabric sketches tomorrow.

Hope your week is going well!

Fabric Sketching or Sketching with Scissors?

I'm doing some quick 'fabric sketches' this month. just for the fun of it and because I have SO much fused fabric! I'm putting a time limit on this - say 1/2 hour, and using whatever scraps of fused fabric I come up with each day - mostly free-form cutting - I could call it "Sketching With Scissors" - just thought of that! If any come out well I can finish them with stitching. A challenge for myself!
Just trying to keep the creative juices flowing now that Art Every Day Month is over…

So, here is today's quickly cut sketch. I used leftover fabric from yesterday's piece. The leaves ended up being too dark for the background so I spent time fussy cutting lighter edges for them. Too much fussing!! All in all, it ended up taking almost an hour. I'll give it a B- .

Now I'm off to do some much needed house cleaning!

Hope you are having a great day!!

AEDM Day 30 - Fabric Sketch

I'm sad that this is the last day of Art Every Day Month!

I certainly didn't make something every day, 

but this challenge made me think about what I might create every day

and I followed up on a few of those ideas.

I felt as though I looked at my day in a different way, daydreaming

about design ideas and about trying different media,
walking around with a creative buzz going on in my head.

Many thanks to Leah for hosting AEDM, as she has done for over 10 years.

It is a great group of artists and I've enjoyed the exchange of greetings and comments.

Hope you're having a great weekend!

AEDM Day 28 - Giving Thanks

Throughout my life,

I have always had a lot to be thankful for.

Today I'm grateful for my life, my dear family, 

 my wonderful friends,

and all the blessings that surround me every day.

I wish abundant blessings for you, my blogging friends.

You make my life so much richer.

For you,

I give a heartfelt

Thank You!

AEDM Day 26 - Fused Flowers

I've missed a couple of days of AEDM, and today I was searching for a quick project to do.

I came across a box in my studio closet which reminded me of something I used to love doing...

Making cards!

These are some original cut-outs I've done, made with scraps of fused fabrics. I would have them printed on textured paper, mount the prints on cards and sell them in a craft co-op.

The box I found today contained backgrounds and vases which I had previously cut, along with "stems" and "leaves".

I used a linen background, chose some scraps of fused fabrics and started cutting.

Once petals and leaves are cut, it's almost meditative to arrange them in the fabric vase,  embroider the flower centers, iron everything down, mount it on colored card stock and glue it on a blank card.

This will make a nice note card for someone special!

Hope you're having a great day!

AEDM Day 23 - Quilt Collage Class Update

I had a great time at our class with Amy Ropple Wednesday night.

This is the drawing I'm working from.

Our next step was to trace and number all the pieces that make up the drawing on to freezer paper.

I have 80 pieces! I never thought about that when I was drawing!

After that we were to iron the pieces onto fabric and cut them out.

I never even got to that step, but will do it for 'homework',

since we have no class this coming week.

Amy brought one of her parrots, Cairo, to the class and he sat on her shoulder the entire time,

with only a couple of squawks ! Can you believe his beautiful color?

She also brought more of her own work for inspiration. 

Some of these are works in progress. This is one talented lady!!

One last thing - I began 'auditioning' some fabrics for my collage -

what do you think?

Thanks for visiting!

Have a wonderful weekend!

AEDM Day 22 - Three Days in November

I was 15 years old, in Latin class in the parochial high school I attended in Boston,

when Mother Antonia's voice announced over the loud speaker,

 that President Kennedy had been shot.

As high school girls, we idolized this handsome president, 

his beautiful wife Jackie and their adorable children.

We were frozen in disbelief, tears were shed, school was dismissed.

and we rode home on public transportation in stunned silence.

No iPhones then to call our parents, keep up with events,

divert ourselves with entertaining apps.

For the next few days we were glued to the TV, watching the continuous news coverage.

My sister on the left with her pouffy "flip",

I on the right with my curly bubble cut.

As we sobbed, we watched in awe as the dignified Mrs. Kennedy led the nation 

in honoring her slain husband.

Today's Boston Globe, with an insert replicating the front page of that historic day,

brought back a flood of memories. 

Where were you (or were you even around then?) when you heard the news?