A lovely gift

A while back, Vicki was having a blog giveaway and I just had to enter. And I won!! Look at the beautiful pastels that Vicki dyed for me and that great metallic fabric. I really have to find a nice way to use these. The pastels are perfect because I don't have a lot of lighter fabrics and it seems when I go to start a project I never have enough color combinations. A big thank you to Vicki for such a thoughtful present! It is really appreciated.

Also, I really admire Vicki's stash control commitment. Wish I could do this but I'm too weak.

Finished Sunflower

I finished the sunflower postcard and I actually like it better tailored down.

Catching Up

I wanted to get a head start on the Calendar Girls swaps. This gives me time to think about what to do next and catch up on some other swaps.

For January, I focused in on the sunflower. I first did a sketch of the flower I wanted to do. Then, I used hand dyed fabrics and also added to the color with pastel crayons. The center of the sunflower is dense machine stitching. I'll need to scale it down a bit. It is now bigger then 4 x 6.











































































For February, I thought it would be interesting to focus in on the design element of the vase pictured to the left. Here is a close up shot..


























So, I copied the "square like" design element within the red vase and used this as the backdrop using a blue/purple spectrum of color. I then added the red flower pictured in the calendar to the center. This red flower was machine stitched.

I also had to spend some time dyeing new fabrics to get some additional colors.























But, I really do just like this color combination on it's own as well...

Another Wish List Item

For all you Lonni Rossi fans out there, Lonni Rossi has a few new lines out. I've been collecting her fabrics for years and love them. One of them is called Paint Box and has some really great prints...including tire treads...how cool is that? I was thinking about studying tire tracks earlier this year and taking some photo's of tires...they have many interesting tread patterns.

So, if you are interested in a good price on this new line...visit this site.

And, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone!

I was selected!

I was one of the ten to be shown on the QA blog. How nice is this? Mine is the first creation of the mixed media cards. I'll be receiving some goodies in the mail. I'll be sure to show you all.

laura Breitman

I had the pleasure of seeing a lecture by Laura Breitman yesterday. Go check out the website. It was really amazing these collages she does. So detailed, she doesn't use stitching but she takes tiny pieces of fabric and cuts them out to create these really beautiful life-like works of art. She uses a canvas as a backdrop and uses Golden's gel to stiffen the fabric. Quite amazing! She also has an amazing stash of fabrics to be able to get the right color compositions. I'm thinking next year I might take a two day class with her since she is only about an hour and a half away from where I live.

Amazing isn't it?

Laurel Burch Tile Trade

I'm involved in a tile trade where I need to make 9 tiles in Laurel Burch style. I have a great fondness for her fabric so this was a nice challenge to try. Here is one of the tiles...now, I have 8 more to make. I think I may embellish this one a little more. The pattern comes from the LB book Legends. I took a small segment of one of the patterns for a quilt wall hanging. The size is 5 inches pillowcased.

Digging the Perfect Circles

I tried out the Perfect Circles today. Really cool and well worth the $12! I used sizing to stiffen the back and remove the plastic and wallah.. check out the little ones. These are all turned under. This will really come in handy in the future. I've also been dyeing fabric for a future project.

Tim Holtz

For those of you who are not aware, Tim Holtz has a blog. Really interesting ideas how to use the Ranger products by the pro himself.

I missed the twelve days of Christmas giveaways...darn! But, did you check out all those comments? Over 1,500 on one day? I don't know how he had any time to read them all...amazing for a $60 freebee.

Calendar Girls

I've been invited to join Calendar Girls, which is such an honor. We are going to interpret a picture each month into a fiber composition. I look forward to learning from all these fabulous ladies! I was unable to put the button on my blog linking the site. I have no idea why it wouldn't take. I also tried to upgrade my blog and it gave a lot of errors so I reverted back to the old blog.

Also, I was recently in Borders and I saw this book called "The Art of The Snowflake". It really is a beautiful book. My son and I have been looking through it together a few times already and he's only 3. It's interesting how symmetrical a snowflake is and there are lots of snowflakes to get inspiration from.

Got My Perfect Circles

I got my "Perfect Circles" in the mail. It was really fast. But, I just had to share the smallest one..it's too funny. Check out the size? I have no idea how you can fold over the fabric on this little guy. Stay tuned to see if I can do it.

On my want list

Check out this link...aren't these fabrics really neat? They are called fingerpaints. I can see a lot of uses for them. Hey, you could even create your own fabrics like this.

Perfect Circles

I took this class with Phillipa Naylor where she showed us how to make perfect circles with little templates. Anyways, here is an awesome tutorial on how to do by Susan Knapp! Well worth the try! And, I just ordered the templates from Karen Kay Buckley. Can't wait!!

FiberArts Magazine

For all of you interested, FiberArts magazine is having a call for enteries for valentines. Check out this link.