Just Creating

I have a piece I've started that I'm not sure what it's meant to be.  You see, I had the need to be in my sewing room.  My de-stress room.  And sew. 

I started by taking two remnants from a very soft sheet and sewing them together.  Then I took some brightly colored red and pink scraps and began arranging them in a circle-swoosh.  I used a dab of glue stick to hold these in place.

The next layer added was fabric paint.  Swirls and swishes added with big chunky brushes.  Dots and circles. 

Feels like it shows the harmony of my normal.  I see my normal as my days filled with bright and cheery bits and pieces which are just so to compliment each other.  I crave my normal these days.  These last feel weeks have been filled with worry and have been darker, less harmonious.

I instagramed this a while ago.  The framing of the image just begs for me to continue on.  It begs for me to fill in the focal point in the middle. 

What's to come and where's this going?  I don't know.  And I'm ok with that. 

This is turning a bit in a mental dump or artist diary of the time.  Perhaps to finally become an art quilt?  Right now it feels a bit like security.  Like my safety blanket.  Like things will be ok as long I keep dumping out the stress into this container. 

The lesson I am taking from this?  Fiber, fabric, and paint are my therapy.  They help me make sense of things and ground myself so that I can be strong. 

I have a feeling you are going to see a lot more of this scrap as I grow and change it. 

Birthday-WIP-Catch Up-I'm a Slacker

Maybe if you stare in the pretty rainbow colored scrappy bottled rainbows blocks you won't much remember that I've been a total post slacker this week.  I am finally finding my first few moments this week and it's Friday.  When did the week slip by me?

There are a lot of things going on.  I had a big meeting at work which went amazing in the end, but took a lot of time and effort to prep for.  I have been going to dog training classes with both dogs.  Katie is in a nose work class one night a week and Sammy is taking intermediate obedience one night a week.  I still swear the training is mostly for me, they are just there to keep me company. 

And I got to volunteer as a quilt handler for quilt judging for the quilt show my guild is putting on this weekend.  It was amazing.  What an experience to be able to handle so many quilts and see them up close.  I was also able to listen to the judging and am really gaining an appreciate for all the things they look at.

And... I even got to hold my two quilts while they were being judged.  Talk about good luck!  It was nerve wrecking, but I am so happy with the positive feedback.  Yes, I have a lot to learn, and no I didn't place or get a ribbon, but I couldn't be happier.  And I am reminded that I am part of an amazing group of ladies!  Yes, they could all mostly be my mom or grandmom... but seriously I feel so loved with them!

I have manged to sneak in a few moments of sewing this week.  Not much, but this scrappy project is great for 15 minute snaps of sewing time.  And I'm happy to still be making progress.  I officially added the purple, pink, and deep blue blocks this week. 

I also made up a number of new color frames to fill in.  In this picture, you can see I've already completed the royal blue.  And once these are done I will move to the yellow, light orange, red, and light pink.  I feel like I am in the home stretch with this quilt.  And still loving every minute!

Sammy is still my sewing buddy.  Her favorite spot at the moment is under my desk.  It's like her bat cave.  And I'm happy she feels so safe there!

Here she is laying on my feet.  Does your pup do that?  Lay on your feet so you can't move without waking them up?  Such a smarty pants.

This past weekend we also noticed that there are now birdie residents in the bird house.  At different points there have been nesting materials poking out the front.  Fun to see them busy making a home.

You can see more pictures of the bird house from last year here, here, and here.

And the best for last?  Why yes, of course!  Our sweet Katie has turned 5 years old.  Her birthday was Monday and we spoiled her in proper goldie fashion!

Happy Birthday to my sweet sweet Katie, and many many more!

Festival Of Scrappiness!!

Yesterday kicked off the Festival Of Scrappiness over at Stitched in Color!!!  Whhohohooo!!


banner from Stitched in Color!

It's a celebration of the beauty and joy of scrap quilting.. and you all know how much I love the challenge of creating with my scraps!!  And... there are prizes... tons and tons and tons of really amazing prizes!!  So, if you are on the edge of participating I hope you give in and join us! 
I am going to be submitting two art quilts.. my two most recent top finishes... both done wholly from scraps which makes me beam with love!!

First up... At Sunrise, which is made from a confetti quilt style that uses toothpick sized scraps as 'paint' to create a scene.  My favorite part of this one is the texture that all those scraps and quilting creates!!  And .. I'm slacking.. still need to a fix the binding to the back... so close to calling this one done!

You can see the beginning of the piece here.

I am also going to submit my landscape quilt, called The Lake, that was done with freezer paper stencils and a bunch of yummy scraps!  I have had so much fun quilting this one... and I think I have the perfect binding picked out as well.  If I could only find a few minutes to put it on. 

You can see this art quilt coming together here.

And there you have it!!  Scrappy wonderfulness abounds.. make sure even if you aren't entering to hop over and take a look at all the other entries.  It's all so really inspiring and makes me want to whip out my scraps and start something new!

Happy scrapping!

Organized My Fabric Scraps

Like the title implies... I have finally taken back control of my sewing room (mostly, just don't look at my desk right now) and organized my tiny fabric scraps... by color.  Squeee!!

 Just lovely. 

A guaranteed smile every time I walk in the room and I just can't wait for every excuse to pull down a jar and start digging though it!!

Pink and Red in Jar #1
Orange and Yellow in Jar #2
All shades of Green in Jar #3

Jar #3 again
Blues in Jar #4
Purple and Mixed Colors in Jar #5

And my Neutrals... white, beige, browns in this awesome mushroom!

How do you organize your teeny tiny fabric scraps?  --also sharing at Fabric Tuesday with Quilt Story!

Confetti: Dog Path in the Woods {part I}

You may remember my small art quilt titled Confetti? 

Well, it recently re-inspired me to search (and I don't always know where I'm headed) through the internet.  Searching the words 'confetti' and 'quilt'... and then later 'thread painting'... well, I'm still not sure of the path I took, but I landed on this incredible video featuring Noriko Endo on an episode of Simply Quilts.  Noriko is an amazing thread painting artist and quilt maker.  Seriously ahh-mazing!

Go watch her youtube video... there are actually three of them; here are links to the second and third ones, and then come back and tell me that you aren't incredibly inspired.

I was so inspired that I ran out for tulle asap and dug right into my first project.  I started by picking my photo...which I will show in a minute...and then picking corresponding scraps in the colors of the photo.

Since this technique uses fabric 'confetti' I started to make my own little palette piles.  Noriko shows using a rotary cutter... I simply used scissors to get the toothpick shaped pieces.

I assembled a backing and batting which would be my 'canvas.'  So giddy at this point!!!

Here is the picture I am trying to translate to fiber.  Any surprise that it's the woods and the pups? 

I didn't think so.  Since I practically live there in those woods and spend every free moment with those pups.

So here, we go.  Time to strategically sprinkle those confetti bits onto the canvas to create fiber magic!  I admit, I started out a bit careful and hesitant. 

It took a bit to relax, but when I did, I found myself not only having a lot of fun, but also that the colors were nicely placed.  Somehow the chaos was translating into something meaningful.

Aside: are you noticing a theme in my art lately?  Chaos seems to have firm control --- and I like it !!

I took another glance at my arrangement next to the picture.  Hmm... messy and mostly not recognizable.  Scary, but I kept pushing through before I could mentally bailout.

The next step is to cover the confetti arrangement with tulle.  Noriko recommends black tulle.  Of course I couldn't find black tulle, so took a chance with this light gray. 

It also took everything I had not to drape this on Sammy as a wedding veil.  Although, I still might at some point.

Ok, tulle is on and pinned in place.

I began my free motion quilting or thread painting.  I blocked out the bigger shapes like rocks and tree trunks and also did a line around the outer edge to hold in all those little scraps in an off white thread.  That was a good move as it allowed me to remove all the pins.

Then it was color time.  Lots of greens.

I'm not sure if you can see the difference, but I made swirls of green in all the forest and moss areas.

Here is the doodle after I added a lot of brown for the dirt/rocky/mossy/leafy path and some tree trunks.

Ok.  I admit I got to this point about two weeks ago and stopped.  Normal creating dislike sunk in.  I found it silly and bad.  I had thoughts of throwing it out.  It was my cue to myself to put the piece aside and let it simmer in my brain a few days.

And, thank goodness for simmering.... I'm in love again.  Renewed vigor!!  I have since done a bit more coloring... and I felt like it was time to start adding the pups.  I have cut them out of a textured white fabric and am pretty excited to add them on and keep on rolling.

Looking forward to sharing part II of this journey shortly!!  Oh, and I have to laugh... I have already picked out the next picture I want to stitch and decided that it will be even bigger.

Happy smiling and stitching!

{Dog Path quick update!}
{Dog Path in the Woods Completed!}

Fiber Art Junkie in the Making

Monika, this is for you!  You've created a fiber art junkie!!

My sweet friend Monika, from My Sweet Prairie, put a magazine in my hands yesterday that really got my creative juices overflowing!  Thank you again for doing that... I am so lucky to count you as my friend!

It was the perfect reason to drop everything else (ironing included) and start making my first real fiber art piece.

And just so you know up front... it did pass it's first quality inspection!

So, how did I get there... first step was to pick a picture to work from.  I landed on this one of Katie to start with.

Next grab some fabric to be your background.  I am using a white linen as the base and then some khaki cotton -- it's just two strips I had left over.  I sewed around the edges of both of them. 

I did omit using a fabric stabilizer... as I'm still trying figure out what that even is... *blushing*  I did mention I have a lot to learn, right?

Next, I added a base body and head and sewed around those shapes.  I have used my normal walking foot so far for all of this.  This fabric is more burlap-esque.  Really cool texture and it has that perfect golden shine!

Next, I added the ears.  Here is one.  All the pieces are free hand cut using regular fabric scissors.  The ear is made from a more velvety fabric.

Here is an idea of what it looks like under the needle.

Before I started sewing, I cut a lot of the pieces I wanted out and laid them out together to see what they would look like.

I sewed the rest of the pieces down.  Aren't those eye brows just to die for!!

A closer look at the textures and shapes!

Time to measure it up to the real thing.  Katie did her normal two sniffs and then licked it.  Her mark of approval!

Hmmm.  Not a bad start.  I have a lot of ideas for other details I would like to add like the whites of her eyes, the wisps of hair on her ears, chest, and shoulders.  Whiskers, nostrils... all that good stuff that will make this more recognizable.

In the spirit of full disclosure.... this is a messy messy craft.  For some reason I didn't anticipate the amount if little fabric pieces I would have on my desk after.  Looks like I went a little scissor happy.

The last thing I did was to add two lighter shapes to Katie's body to reflect the lighter bands of fur she has.  I'm really liking the different textures together!

Tonight, I think I will be putting on my free motion quilting foot and starting to shade in certain areas to add fur detailing.  I'm really looking forward to the challenge and it's refreshing to work on a small piece before I dive into my next big quilt.

So, what do you think?  Have you tried any sort of fiber art?  Any tips you could pass on?  Should I eventually put batting behind this and sandwich it like a normal quilt?

Hug the ones you love dolls. 

I'll be back later today with a precious photo of flowers in the snow!  Yes, we got some snow yesterday.  But, this picture will make you want some, just you can photo flowers in the white stuff!

-- I am joining Fabric Tuesday at Quiltsory --
日本のための多くの愛
Much love for Japan

Breakfast Bar -done!

I forgot to share that our breakfast bar project is now officially done (1 or two weeks ago).  We still have to pick up bar stools... but I would still consider the bulk of it finished!  I am so happy with the results!

Just look at how nice the new countertop came out! (and ignore all the junk on the kitchen table)

Before

After

Before

After

Before

After

Such an amazing difference!! And I couldn't be happier with the extra light in the kitchen now.  Plus it's another awesome place to hang out in the house!!  Three cheers to finished projects!
On a side note.... have you see the SewSara Scrap Swap?? 

It's going to be a great time!!  The idea is that we will trade our scraps with each other; and who doesn't love playing with other peoples scraps!! 

Sign up at SewSara by this Friday March 4th or check out her blog for all the specifics!