Friday Finishes!

This week I experimented with colored pencils and tools for blending. I had an extra design drawn up, for the bee skep by Kathy Schmitz. I thought it would be good to use on the crackle fabric, as my first try. The fabric says, 100% cotton, but it has a silky, stretchy feel to it.

I use freezer paper to trace the design and a blue washable marker. The paper keeps the fabric from stretching as I draw on the design. I also keep it on, while I color it in with the pencils. I use Faber Castell Gold Faber pencils. They come in a variety of colors and you can buy them individually at Hobby Lobby or Michaels. The best time to buy is when you have a 20% coupon, then you get that off, of each one.

I usually dull the pencil a bit, by rubbing it on paper, it leaves less marks if it is dull. You also want to color with a light hand, in circles, or you will see streaks, which I do have on some of my pieces. On this piece, I used a blending stump to blend the colors into the fabric and I do like how it works. It is made of compressed paper, so it is hard enough to rub the color and blend if you want some shading. The other benefits are, you can clean it with an emory board, and they are cheaper.

I do like how this one came out, the colors blended into the fabric nicely, though I may have used a bit of solvent at the end. The downside of this fabric is, I had a hard time getting the blue marker off, I had to rewet it quite a few times, to get it to disappear, which faded some color, so I had to recolor some areas.

On the second test, I made some little bunnies for the boys. I modified the bunny pattern from Kathy Schmitz to make it work for a boy and added a little pail with their initials on it.

I did get lazy and colored in lines, in some areas, which you can see on the pants. The bunny on the left was done with a solvent blender. It is double sided with a brush and a hard point. I used the brush, which releases a solvent as you go over the colors. It breaks down the pigments in the color and makes it more like water color. The downside is, it can bleed if you use too much, but it is not hard to control, once  you get used to it. It is also harder to add more color, once you use it.

The bunny on the right was done with the stump blender. I think I had more control shading, with the stump. As you can see, I was more concerned with making them, than the quality of my work.

I decided the bunnies were too light, so darkened them up and added things I forgot, then brushed fabric medium, over the colors. I wanted to make sure they could be cleaned. Unfortunately, I didn't realize I had brushed my hand onto the bottle of black stain and it go on the pants.

I really don't like the fabric medium, it gives it a stiffer appearance. The other test, the blue marker came off with a dab from a wet rag, so working on muslin, is better with markers, than on other fabrics. But, the crackle has a nicer look with the pencils, not sure if it is because I did a nicer job on coloring or because of the fabric differences, so I will have to try some more on the muslin and take my time.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Monday UFO Finishes!

First I want to thank everyone for your comments and support. I have been trying to keep up by mailing each one, so if I forgot someone or you are a no reply, I do read all the posts and appreciate each one.

Today I decided to do some old pieces, that were sitting in a box. I wanted another pillow for my chest and knew I had a star piece and found the perfect one to offset the square pillows. It was a block for a nautical quilt that I was making and now that I have seen the other blocks, I will not finish, I will start over.

I realize how bad the stitching was on the appliqué, bad choice of backgrounds and the lighthouse is crooked, lol. I rather chuck the ugly blocks and make a new one. This piece was good enough to make a quick pillow and nice to have one more thing out of the box.

The pillow is 20" long and I stained the light fabric, when I finish stuffing it.

While I was going through the box, I found two more pieces I never finished and I had the perfect use for them. Two more lavender sachets. The pattern is from Sandra Cadwell of Babycake Designs. I won the design, years ago. Then I made these two pieces, years ago and they have been sitting, ever since.

I colored them in and then stitched around them, I like the outline look with color. Not sure how I colored them, looks like marker and maybe some watercolor. These I did not wet since I am not sure what is on it, and for sachets, they will be fine. I was thinking, this design is so fun, maybe I should paint it on some rocks.

Speaking of unfinished pieces, this is another one, I did years ago and it has been sitting in a closet. I have given up using hooked rugs in the house, the cats destroy them. I am not sure if I should continue with my rug hooking, I need to cut back on things, or I will never get anything done and I still want to quilt and sew, as well as punch and needle felt and now painting and rock art. I really have a problem, lol. So, I may start selling off my rug equipment, I have regular hooking materials, punch rug and locker hooking supplies. As much as I love them, there is not enough time in the day, so I may sell all or keep some to make small rugs and mats.

This rug is 52" x 24".

Friday Finish!

I hope everyone is safe and warm at home, with the weather that is hitting the east coast. We have horrible winds, my grill went flying across the porch and later I saw our wheelbarrow go up and over, so a good day to stay in. I decided to post early, just in case the power goes out, so far, so good.

With the nicer weather, I decided it was time to start painting rocks. I love leaving a few when we go out for walks. This time I made some simple bunnies. I like doing designs that make people smile and I am hoping, these will do the trick. I don't have as much control with my arm, but I didn't do too bad with that and my blurry vision, lol. If you would like to join in on leaving rocks or art items for others to find and spread the smiles, you can visit my group on Facebook, DSmiles4miles.

It doesn't have to be items that you leave anonymously, you can also bring smiles to those in nursing homes or hospitals with a gift of time.

We did have some wonderful weather this week, perfect for getting out to the local beaches and beach combing. The first day I found the most, I guess no one has been on the dog beach all winter.The large green piece on the bottom is the bottom part of a bottle bottom, our biggest find yet.

Of course Bean loved getting out and he even found a new friend. Someone as hyper as he is.
Have a wonderful weekend!

Make it Monday: Bunnies!

I have been wanting to make some little bunnies to add in my baskets and bowls, so today I tried a couple. The pattern I got the idea from is from a russian site, but it does have a translator on it. The site is called Full Moon: The Edge of the Soul and she shows you the ones she made and a little tutorial, but it is easy enough to figure out and I just drew up my own template and used that. I think it is a great design to have fun with and make with different fabrics and change it to make it your own or custom make it for others.

Another idea that I got from Urban Threads is to make little bunnies and give them as gifts. She makes up little bunnies and leaves them in places like a library shelve, for someone to find. She adds with a tag  on hers with a name and information on the bunny, sounds like fun.

You can find her bunny design and idea under freebies at Urban Threads.

Here are my two bunnies. I had to put the faces on after I made them, so next time I have to remember to do that first, then I can use buttons or beads for eyes. The bunny on the left was made from my old pant material and the one on the right is a felted wool that I found in a thrift store, so great for scrap fabrics too. I couldn't tell how much walnut stain I had on them so the one bunny came out with dark spots.

Chenille Bunny!

My friend Kelley sent me some of her older patterns and one had a doll with some bunnies. I wanted to make the bunny, love the shape and perfect for sitting on shelves or baskets. I used chenille for mine and made his ears bigger and floppy. The original had shorter, stick up ears.

Chenille is not easy to sew on the machine, especially the thick ones, but I love how it looks on this piece.
I made him grungy, to look like an old, well loved bunny and I do love him, lol. The pattern is by Indygo Junction, called Mildred and Murphy.

His nose got lost since I used a dark tan thread, so maybe I will dab a bit of java stain to darken that up.
The eggs next to him, are made from cheap plastic eggs, that I sanded down, the lay fabric over them with decoupage. Messy, but easy to do and fun for the kids too.

Bunnies and eggs, freebies and Giveaway!

I have been busy making and finishing up some small projects.
My machine is supposed to be done by midweek, so I sure hope it is ready tomorrow.

I also reached 200 followers today! I truly appreciate all of the comments I receive and try to answer questions when I can.
Tonight I started on a new punched piece, based on an antique rug. So, since we have hit 200 followers, time for another giveaway. Leave a comment on this post and I will draw a name to win my new pattern. I am thinking it would make a fun stitchery too, so a good pattern for quilters too. The contest will end on Monday, April 10 and I will announce the winner on Monday night. Once I finish the punched piece, I will post a reveal. Or if the pattern is not your thing, you can choose from any of my epatterns.

First I will show you a new freebie I found. It is from an Australian craft site and they have some wonderful free patterns. I could not find the actual pattern, so here is the link to the PDF File. I made mine into a stitchery pillow, but it was for punch needle.



I also made another egg, loved the little girl with the eggs in the apron. But, I forgot where I got it. There was no copyright on the printout.



Then I decided to use my bunny pattern and redo it into a cutout bunny. I used my cheater fabric and quilted it with batting, then sewed a whipstitch on the outside edge. I added a little extra stuffing when I got to the bottom to fill them out some more.



Then I decided to try some with my old sewing machine, that was not fun, lol. No needle down, so I had to stop and crank it down and turn and as you can see, lost a lot of shape, so they are definitely prim;) The new soft stuffing I got definitely makes the stain set in weird ways, but it gives it a true aged look sometimes. With these I used a watered down solution of tsukineko ink and brushed it on, to soak them, then I added extra spray after.

Primitive Easter Eggs!

I decided to finally take the rest of my Christmas items down and redecorate.
It has been a rough winter and still sore, but tired of my house, so cleaning a bit at a time and one way to make it fun, is to make new things to decorate with and as you can see, I am ready for spring and the first thing is Eggs to fill my baskets with.

I got an idea and it is something anyone can do, quick and easy and a great way to use up scraps.
I started by using card stock and drawing some egg shapes onto it. If you can't draw one, you can find them on the internet.

I used weavers cloth, I have a ton of primitive white that is no good for punching, but perfect for this.
Double your cloth and lay the egg shape on top. I used an art pen to trace around the egg, you can use anything, it won't show.
Then I marked the front and back, so that I used the right side which is important when you sew them together. My eggs are asymmetrical so I need to make sure that they fit when I sew the edges.

Next is the fun part. Get out your scraps and cut them into any shape you like and lay them over the fabric egg. Pin the pieces down and turn it over. Cut off the excess fabric around the egg, that helps when sewing. Now you can sew down your pieces. You can do a blanket stitch, whipstitch or make it fancy like a crazy quilt. You can tuck the edges of your fabric or sew over the raw edges. Once you have your pieces sewn, you can trim your eggs by following the white fabric.

Then you sew them, front sides together on your sewing machine, leaving an opening on the bottom. Stuff them and sew up the bottom and you have primitive eggs of your own. Another method I use is to sew scraps together until I have a size, large enough for the egg. Then I use a piece of batting and using black floss, stitch around the edges to give it a quilted look. Then sew them together. You can also use tea stained fabric or ticking and do a prim stitchery to make eggs. There are endless possibilities. I really think if you are adept with crazy quilting, this would be beautiful done with embellishments, as well. My method is the lazy way to do crazy quilting;)

I decided not to stain these eggs, they are darker in real life, but lighter in the picture. This is a dark area, so I like a little pop of color. The bunnies are ones I made last year, but I think some prim bunnies would look nice on the bench too. I am also adding a few more eggs to the pile.