Hello All,

I've  been drawing and painting and have 2 more journal pages to show for it.

This first one is a portrait of my late husband.  I used a photograph that is almost 20 years old.  I'm not totally pleased with it.  I think it is good for now and I should make another attempt.

This second one was inspired by the Mary I posted previously.  She just flowed and I was very pleased with the way she turned out.  So I made a copy and collaged it onto this art journal page which I painted first with red and purple. 

Hope you're all doing creative things and having fun.

Hello All,

I haven't done much sewing this week.  The Strathmore on-line class I'm taking with Jane La Fazio has inspired me to draw and paint.

This is what I've done this week.

These were collected while walking my little dog.

 Jane had us pick an object to use a a model.  This Buddha was drawn from the 3" Buddha head I've had for years.  I remember I bought it at the Bombay store for $1, amazing!

I collected devotional candles when I lived in Santa Fe.   The painting of Mary comes from the Sacred Heart of Mary candle.

I love faces.  Our lives are etched in our faces.

Hello All,

In addition to fabric and paint, I like to play with glass.  About 10 years ago I made a bird of paradise stained glass piece from a Tiffany pattern I simplified to 3 leaves and 2 flowers.

More recently I've taken classes at Phoenix Studio in Portland, Maine.  I have completed a calla lily and am working on a daffodil.  I used the same glass for the border and the inner background pieces.  The leaves and stem of the daffodil and the stem of the calla lily are the same opaque green glass.

I have a book on historical stained glass and there is a piece with 3 white lilies arranged like a fleur de lis.  I really like it and would like to work up a simple pattern to make a third piece with those colors.

The book was published in 1976.

It's full of the history of stained glass from ancient times to contemporary times.

Hello All,

Starting tomorrow I'm taking a Strathmore on-line class from Jane La Fazio.  It's for watercolor art cards.  I haven't painted in quite a while so this morning I got out my paints and made an art journal page.

I started with a yellow background and added the purple.  There are a couple layers of paint.  The yellow in the center suggested a hand so I went with it.  The squares on the left are from a  photoshop experiment from at least 10 years ago.  I printed them on tracing paper.  One edge of the paper got crumpled in the printer but I liked the translucent effect so I've kept the page.  The roses at the bottom of the hand are printed from a scan of a painting I did.  I tore them from the page and used gel medium to adhere them.  I love the purple diamonds, too.  I used a lead pencil container as the stamp. (I really liked the shape of the container so when it was empty I couldn't throw it away!)  The infinity sign and the heart are meant to convey infinite love.

Best of all, I had fun creating it.  Painting with acrylics is so immediate, instant gratification.

Hope you all take time to have fun!

Hello All,

I've finished the baby quilt, yeah!

 I've also done some free motion quilting practice white on muslin.  I really love muslin.

In this bottom photo I've practiced stitching my name.  It's hard to see but I want to be able to stitch my labels so practice is in order.  I would of, course, use contrasting thread so it's readable.

I'm linking up with Leah Day's Free Motion Quilt Project.  Let's go see what everybody else has been doing.

Hello All,

I've finished the wall quilt.  After taking the binding off twice, I finally got it right.  It looks good.

Originally I wanted to us a small black and white gingham check but I couldn't find it where I was shopping so I bought this small polka dot.  I think it was a better choice.

Here's a peek of the back.  All that's left to do is make a label.

Linking up with Leah Day's Free Motion Quilting Project.  Now, on to the binding for the baby quilt.

Hello Everybody,

I'm laughing at myself.  I'm doing the binding on my little wall quilt and I thought everything was going great.  I logged on to http://www.canoeridgecreations.com/2013/02/double-fold-binding-tutorial-part-one.html to refresh my memory as to the final step.  That's when I realized I had done my corners wrong!  (I was doing it from memory.)

Not sure you can tell from the picture but I flipped the fabric in the wrong direction then stitched the miter down and now I can't fold the binding to the back!  Good thing I know how to use my seam ripper!  I think I'll remember this for a while.

Good night all.  Happy Quilting!