May Challenge

The word for this month was Motion. Again I struggled to think up something that I could use from my photos. I went to Google Images to get some ideas and there were a lot of pictures of vehicles in motion and then I remembered the incredible traffic in Viet Nam and Cambodia on my trip there a couple of years ago. I did take a lot of pictures and was particularly smitten by this one of a woman pushing her bicycle laden with fruits and flowers.

As always, I put a Posterize filter on it in Photoshop Elements and printed it on white cotton fabric. 

I outlined the woman, her bicycle and her load with single strands of embroidery floss.

I will be linking up with Off the Wall Friday.http://ninamariesayre.blogspot.com/2019/05/off-wall-friday.html

Monthly Challenge

I forgot to show you last month's word challenge which was layers. I struggled at first to find a picture of my own, as I am going to do for each word. Then I remembered my trip to Arizona, particularly Sedona, which had all those beautiful sedimentary rock formations.  I had taken a lot of photos and chose this one for showing off the layers so well.

I put the Posterize filter on it in Photoshop Elements then printed it on fabric and hand embroidered it to emphasize the layers. I mostly used a back stitch for the layers and French Knots for the shrubs on top. I used two strands of embroidery floss and after seeing this photo I think it would have been better if I used just one strand, as I am doing in the piece I am working on now. This is 4" x 6", as are all my other word challenges. I will show you my next piece, Motion, next week.

I will be linking up with Off the Wall Friday. 

Still Stamping

I've made quite a few cards since I last posted about it. I think that some people think it's not very creative since I am using commercial stamps, but I beg to differ. There are so many ways to use them and put them together that creativity does help to get an attractive finished product. I really don't care because I am having so much fun.

My new favorite ones to make are "fancy folds" and I will show you just my three favorites at the moment.

 This first one is a pop-up card and it will go to a friend whose birthday is next month and loves pop-up books. It involved a lot of stamping and folding. I really like it.

This one was very easy to make. I used some metallic card stock that I got on sale at Joanne's. It came in a pad of 6" x 6" and had several different gold and white prints.

This last one is called an easel card. This is how it looks from the front. Anyone who knows me knows my fondness for gingkoes. I have used them in many different fiber art pieces. This is a stamp I have had for ages and has been used many times. They were stamped from the same ink pad. The top one was straight from the pad, the next one without going to the ink again and the last using what was left on the stamp. The process is called "stamping off". I then cut them out andI popped them up on little foam sticky bits.

When you open the card you prop it up on the sentiment, which is also popped up and it makes a little easel. I think it's pretty cool and plan to make some more using different stamps and papers.

The last couple of days here have been glorious! Spring has finally arrived and I have been busy planting. I still have a fair amount to finish and I hope to get it done this week. I do love my flowers!

Fini

I really have been slogging along with this jacket, but now it is finished. Actually I will miss having it to work on. I already have my next jacket in my head, but that will be a winter project in Florida.

Here is the back, which I have shown you before.

And the front. I didn't want to do too much.

The ombre circle on the front shoulder. This took forever! I was trying to perfect my ombre technique and this was more successful than the smaller one on the back. I did some thread blending when going from one color to another. It must have a million French Knots. It also distorted a little and it is slightly oval. The jacket has a small amount of spandex and it stretched a little. If I had to do it again, I would put a very light iron-on interfacing on the inside.

I just did half circles on the front panel. I didn't think that this was the place for whole circles.

So that's it, folks. Now that it has finally warmed up a little here in the Northeast it is time for some gardening. So I won't be in the studio, altho I do have some projects in the works.

I am linking up with Off the Wall Friday.

Inspiration

There's nothing like a quilt show to get your creative juices flowing. As you may have noticed I have been pretty stagnant in the fiber art category lately. What with being away for the winter and other things, I haven't made a new art quilt in many months. I go to a huge Catholic church in Naples while in Florida that is very contemporary in design and has the most amazing stained glass windows. They also are very contemporary and abstract, just the style that appeals to me most in my quilting designs. Every Sunday I think that I am going to have to make a quilt inspired by these windows.

My original idea was to piece it in my hand dyes and then today at one of the booths at the quilt show I saw these incredible Dupioni silks, one of my favorites to use along with my hand dyes. These fabrics just sang out to me, so I bought a few quarter yard pieces. When I got home I had very similar colors at home, but that's OK. At least my brain in working now.

Can you see why I got so excited? How scrumptious are these colors? I have a LOT of Dupioni silk at  home that will play very well with these. 

The quilt show was the Northern Star Quilters Guild. I had been a member for many years, but dropped out this year because I miss so many meetings. The meeting are at night, not my favorite time to drive, and I am away so much. It's always a nice show and this year was no exception. 

Another group of which I am a member, FANE, always has a special exhibit at the show. It is always three dimensional and very different. This year we were asked to make 6 to 8 pieces of surface designed fat quarters, dip them in liquid starch and then drape them over objects. They were then arranged in a color sweep, attached together by those fabulous tiny very strong magnets. 

Very effective, don't you think. 

One of the good things about this exhibit is that when we get our pieces back after the show, we can just wash that starch out and the fabric can go back into our stashes. Pretty cool!