a process

The bucket of tulips is for a project I've been working on.

This is my favorite type of work, I call it 3 dimensional applique.

The flowers and bucket are not finished and won't be until I'm ready to stitch them in place, but I thought I would show you a little of how I make the elements as I go along.

   Above you can see the bucket after I drew it onto the fabric using a chalk pencil. I made a template from my large drawing. It is shaded with fabric paints.

I put Misty Fuse only behind the bucket and fused it to a thin layer of cotton batt. I use cotton, silk or wool for this as I will want to press it.  A poly will flatten too much while the others seem to work fine.

 Once the bucket is stuck to the batting, I stitch the outlines on the front side.  Then I cut the extra batting away.  I like using applique scissors for this. But to be honest here- the applique scissors are usually hidden under a pile of stuff sew regular scissors works just as well.

Just be careful and watch what you are doing.

Once the batt is cut away, trim all the way around the bucket leaving enough to fold over the batting on the back side.

I like to use a wooden stick, my iron and starch.

 

Once the edges have been turned you have a 3 dimensional piece. 

Depending on my final design, will determine how I attach the piece to the background.  I don't do that until I have all of the elements made.  Not all will be 3 dimensional so they will be attached first.

   Here you can see some blue tulips made the same way.  In the top photo I have them pinned in place but not fully turned.  The leaves I made a similar way using a stiff stabilizer and not batting.

Have fun Creating!

:)

the Holiday tree

was made for, and will be sent to our American soldiers serving in Afghanistan for this Holiday season.

It was quick and easy to make.

And super fun to decorate!

Thanks for visiting. 

sketchbook fun. . .

A few thread sketches to add to my sketchbook for the Sketchbook Project.

I came up with a better solution to the wash out stabilizer.

I layered lightweight, tear-away stabilizer and a piece of Misty Fuse together. On the top, I layered the  fabric.

Before pressing the fabric to the stabilizer I finished the thread sketch and let the air erase marker disappear. 

When pressed together the stabilzer gave the fabric a great weight that will hold up to being stuck on the page and flipped through.

On darker fabrics I will use the BOHIN chalk pencil, which is my favorite white chalk pencil. 

(if you don't have one, you need one)

You can see the air erase marker on the pencil sharpener sketch.  I could wet it, but I'd rather not.  Eventually, it disappears.

So far, the thread sketches I'm putting in the sketchbook are taken right from my sketchbook. 

Although, it would be easier to just stitch out a sketch I like that I'm using my actual little sketches.  In some cases I will have to resize them, but that's okay.

It's fun picking which sketch to do next. . .

. . . will it be the Evening Grossbeak?

(he looks more like a hawk doesn't he?)

. . .the wren who set up home in the birdhouse I used for my first one?

. . . the laundry basket?

. . . or Terrance? who is right outside as I type.

thanks for posing, Terrance

The great thing about this project is you don't have to be an artist to play along.  And the end result, is this great little book that you've made!

Now, go get your pencils, markers, crayons, paints or whatever and get sketching.

It's fun!

the man clutch . . .

. . . so the 'ole man turned 51 yesterday. And I do say that endearlingly as I'm not far behind on the mark.

I custom made him a man clutch for his new iPad.

I fused a piece of black wool felt to a scrap of muslin and used all sorts of paints to add color to the felt.

I used foil, Angelina fibers, embossing powder and layered black Misty Fuse over the top.

The buckle is a vintage buckle upcycled from a bag of buckles I picked up at a consignment shop, dirt cheap.

(see honey? i do use that junk I bring in)

The iPad fits in nicely.

Below, is the back of the clutch and you don't see the gold blobs on the fabric. The gold blobs are covering a mistake.  I accidently grabbed a piece of tracing paper instead of parchment when I went to press over the flap... I had made this mistake before so I knew immediately what I had done. 

Misty Fuse fuses to tracing paper and releases from parchment.

Below you can see how the tracing paper looked when I pealed it off.

  I was almost finished and didn't want to have to start over by making more fabric. . .

. . . so I put some of this gold leaf stuff over the areas where I couldn't pick off the fused tracing paper and then added some more embossing powder.

I didn't have enough black Misty Fuse to do the back so that is the original fabric.

A one of a kind - man clutch.

repurposing...

...an old tee into a garden tee....

...by adding vintage dyed lace, buttons....

...and fabric petals using Misty Fuse and the Petite Leaves Galore Applique Template...

...easy peasy lemon squeazey!

Jacobean Shade Tree

I forgot to post a finished picture of this.

It's my Charity Challenge for MQX.  The donations this year are to benefit New England Quilt Museum.  The challenge was to use the MQX bear paw logo anywhere in the quilt. Also, to incorporate the luscious batik fabric pack.

I loved making this. It's simple, but it was fun.  

I used the Accuquilt Go cutter, cut shapes and then recut them with scissors into jacobean flower shapes.  Misty Fuse worked great for the fusing, it kept the little pieces light and not stiff,  I could easily quilt over and around them. 

The black fabric is a cotton sateen and I love the look, but the edges frayed like crazy when I had to zig zag stitch around the shapes, before quilting.  It quilted up nicely, though,  I used YLI silk threads, a silk batt with a Hobbs Poly on top.