Friday Finish and Works!

This week Kathy Schmitz gave us an extra, free pattern for those who are in the club. She had made it up for the club and realized we would like to make it now. It was a fun pattern and worked up in a day, I think I might make more. Actually I wanted to make a boy bunny and she gave me permission to redo it as a boy, but I found one of my old patterns and made a couple to work on this weekend. I think it will be fun to make little cut out bunnies for the boys.

Not thrilled with my finish, so I may do two more, a boy and a girl in the method she used, as bowl fillers or shelf sitters. I used my Faber Castell art marker for the yellow and for the pink, I used my watercolor pencil. I was worried about it running, but I just dabbed my brush in the water, then dabbed it on a paper towel and it blended the color without going out of the lines.

I also made up some more stocking blocks. They are fun to do and I know I can actually put this together and finish it, so a good project to get me back into quilting. I am not sure on the middle stocking, maybe too bright, it is a gray check and my sewing skills were lacking this week;)

And I have been playing with my beach finds. I like trying them on different backgrounds and taking a photo to see how I like it. This way I can keep playing, until I get the look I want. I do like how it looks on the patterned paper, but I think the blue is too dark, so I will have to look for some lighter barn wood papers.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. We have nice weather and of course Bill has to work over time, so no beach combing. I think I need a break and it will be nice to relax and work on my projects. The angel and dog wings are brown sea glass, that we found last weekend.

Pebble Art for Nick!

Saturday we had a beautiful day to get out and comb the beach. The tide was out, so I was able to get a lot more glass and rocks for my collection. The bad thing was, the tide was coming back in, so I had to run out and grab before a wave came in and hit me. Another bad thing was, Bill went one way with Bean but wasn't paying attention and Bean came back to me for play.

Try bending over to grab rocks and glass, while holding onto a dog collar, every time someone came too close, not fun and it didn't help that Bill had the leash with him. I did luck out though and found some nice big chunks of sea glass, as well as smaller pieces to use in art.

I tried some shapes with what I had found, just some ideas to see what you can do with them.

Sunday was a rainy day, so a good day to stock up on supplies with coupons. I found these rustic pails to use for storing my rocks, that way I can have small, medium and larger ones, separated. Bill made me a base for my cubbies, but, I saw it and it is huge and too wide. After a while, he says, oh, I closed the wrong end, that's why it is too big, duh. So, he took off the siding and is redoing it, so it fits right.

I also bought a bag of black stones. I thought they might be fun to use since they were flat and smooth, but only half of them are, the rest are round and fat. But, I payed a few dollars with a coupon, so worth it to have the good ones. It was a good way to practice and see how it worked.

I got some mini canvases, this one is 5" x 3 1/2". I colored in the background, but watercolor pencils didn't work too good and since they are cheap canvases, I couldn't wet it as much, without ruining it. I think I like the plain white ones better, at least until I can make better backgrounds. I used tacky glue which was also a pain, especially with small pebbles, but it holds nicely. I penned in the seagulls and added jute for an edge. I decided this is Nick's piece; it represents all of us at the beach.

It was fun to try and get some practice with store stones, before I use my good ones. This one is a bit too much in a small space, I do like the simpler ones and will save more detail for larger canvas. I need to find a tiny pebble for Bean's nose.

This is something fun you can do or an activity with the kids. Most craft stores carry the smooth pebbles and I found that AC Moore had the best type and lowest price. You can also find smooth stones by the river beds, the tumbling motion will smooth them as nicely as the ocean.

Working on Weekend!

Not a lot got done this weekend. A bit of shopping, I found a Jan patek book at a thrift store and got some new, larger paint brushes to work on my angel. I also worked on a stitchery by Kathy Schmitz, it is one of the ones, I had picked out with my winnings.

It is a large one, so it is a nice project to work on a bit at a time and keep my hands busy. I am keeping the colors simple, so I am working in sections and deciding on some, after I do the rest, so I can keep it balanced.

We also went to the beach one day, caught it at low tide, so I was able to gather up some more rocks for my collection. I think I have enough now, time to try some pieces.

On Sunday we did another drive and watched a fishing boat come in, then hit the rocky beach for more rocks, but I realized most were rough and not the type I wanted. The ones on the steep sandy beaches are like being in a rock tumbler, they are smoothed by the sands, so perfect for little art pieces.

The seagulls were following the boat in, they know they will be treated when the fishermen throw their excess fish, over the sides.

Today was cleaning day, I would have rather been painting and creating, but it has to be done.