Wednesday, June 17, 2009

A Day of crafting disasters!

Today I got it into my head to make a painted quilt. I found a design that I loved from Pumpkiin Seed Primitives. I used a tea stained muslim and then traced the design onto the cloth with my light box. I decided I wanted a flag, so I just used the main design and then added the length for the stripes.

I used my machine to stitch over the lines and then decided the greenery, needed to be done in floss, so I did do that with a heavier stitch. I made a mess with my free motion, my hand had a mind of it's own today. I need to get the open toe free motion foot, so I can see where I am going. Then I used fabric crayons, fabric markers and watercolor pencils. It looked horrid. So, I took my acrylics and watered them down and repainted over the designs. It came out much better that way.

So, this is the result, my mess, lol. I think I will see if I can find some blue or red faded ribbon or binding at the store, nothing I had looked right with it. Of course, after I finished it, I realized I made my stripes wrong and needed another red at the end.
Even though the fabric is tea stained, I sprayed a ton of walnut spray on it. It is amazing how grubby prim, can fix the worst looking quilts;)



Then I decided to make a little rack for my dog and cat piece that I mess up. I got the board the way I wanted, then came the nails. I used antique square head nails, that my husband cut down to size, but not enough, so I ended up hitting the back too soon. Now one nail shows a bit of metal on the back and the others pushed a split in the wood. The good thing is it is in the back so it doesn't show, the bad, I cannot sell it.

I am working on another horse punch and will do another rack like this, for those who requested a piece on wood;)
I will have to get the nails right this time.

11 comments:

Pat / Silver Thimble Quilt Co. said...

Well it looks like the day wasn't so bad after all..I love it.

Pat

Gollywobbles said...

I think we are harder on our selves with our projects. I don't think your work here is as bad as you might think!! Some days are just better than others, and it's nice to see you have struggles too. Your work always appears effortless to me!

I also had a similar experience with with using square nails in a project.

I recently discovered "cheater quilts" by The Cart Before the Horse, and I'm fascinated. You have added to my desire to check it out. I loved reading about your experience, and have more courage to give it a shot! Thanks for the inspiration.

Jacque. said...

Love the little rack...very prim. A day full of learning is never totally bad, ya know.

Karmen said...

And we thought you were perfect! The end products are beautiful! You are bound to have a challenging day now and then. I am glad you persisted and didn't throw in the towel!

Joanne said...

Looks good to me - your mistakes are even good Debbie

Brenda said...

Oh my...I am lovin the board. I think the nails are nice but not needed. What if, say...you wanted to put it on a shelf among a group of other wonderful prims? HUH? Or on a little space right on top of a cubby way up on a wall???HUH??? Not that I have two open spaces that are just begging for a little PN! LOL! Oh to have a little horsie on my wall... how beautiful that would be, LOL!

Kathy (woolfind) said...

We definitely are harder on ourselves. I think it all turned out great! Lovely pieces, "your" mistakes and all!

Tammy ~ Country Girl at Home ~ said...

Well it's good to see somebody else is not perfect and has crafting disasters. Although, I don't think yours looks bad. I think it looks fine! Anything that would have to do with me and a sewing machine would be a total disaster! :)

Hope you have a great day!
Tammy

Penny @ Miss Pootsie's Primitives said...

Debbie... honey, you're just too hard on yourself. Both items were just prim perfect... and ... I honestly feel that if a piece is perfect (like no splits, no small imperfections, etc.)
They are great!
Penny

appleberrycottage said...

I love the flag idea! I stitched the same pattern last week,and made a candle mat. It's fun to see another idea come from that pattern.
Laura

primitivebettys said...

Even your 'messes' look great, Debbie! :)