Garden at the end of Summer

Picture turned upside down. It is still a little wet at this stage, so a bit darker than actual.

I was worried about the puckering which can be caused by not enough stabilizer or uneven stitch density. I was able to block most of it out. The uneven sides were intentional. Life doesn't fit into a neat box.

New piece started

I started this piece last week. I am working on some soluble with some wool roving. I am doing thread painting on top.

Onyx still looking for a home

Onyx is a two year old full bred husky. He has been with us for two months now and is still looking for a forever home. He is a special dog who needs special handling. He is very sweet and very smart, but needs an experienced dog owner who has the time to work with him. He can be fear aggressive and really needs someone who is willing to gain his trust as well as clearly be his pack leader. Although he was a handful when we first got him, he has now become an awesome dog who loves rough housing with our dog, Sunny.

Fiber Art Fusion Art Show

I have been a part of the Fiber Art Fusion group since it begin. This is my submission for our six annual show at The Art Place at Mountainview.

Meet Onyx - Needs a forever home!

This is Onyx.  He is a medium sized Purebred Siberian Husky.  He was an owner surrender from Columbus, Georgia.  I only picked him up yesterday, so I should have a lot more information about him over the next few days.  So far, he has shown himself to be a VERY sweet boy who gets along with both my other dogs.  If you are looking for a great new furry friend, please consider adopting Onxy.  Contact MUSH Rescue through Facebook.

FYI, Mojo was adopted by a wonderful family last week.  He is adjusting beautifully and is already a part of his new family. 

Drawing day one

It was actually hard to post this drawing. I am soooo out of practice. I am going to work at a drawing a day and this is day one. For so many years I really did art everyday, but over the past few, I have let work and other commitments get in the way, until now I can't seem to do a little sketch. To try and keep me focused, I signed up for the sketchbook project. I will post more about it in day's to come.

Vertical garden

Nasar and I took a class this weekend on making vertical gardens. I made two. They are so fun to make and I can't wait to hang them up. I will need to wait three weeks to hang them to allow the roots to take hold.

Mojo needs a home

I started being a foster Mom for Mush Rescue, a local husky rescue group. This is Mojo. He was found at the end of March near Noonday creek. So far no one has claimed this amazing dog so Mush rescue was called to take him. Hopefully he will find the perfect home soon.

Another fairy garden

This is another one that I made this weekend. The little house was purchased at an antique store in Ellijay. I made the bonsai tree myself.

Another fairy garden

This is another one that I made this weekend. The little house was purchased at an antique store in Ellijay. I made the bonsai tree myself.

Fairy Garden number Four

Here is Fairy garden number four. I want to Goodwill and got the wire container for $3. A trip next door to big lots for the coco liner for $2.50 came next. My friend Tammy had suggested that I try breaking a tile for the walkway as an alternative to the pebbles, so while at Goodwill I found a set of four white tiles for $2. I then went to Kelli Greens nursery. I spoke the wonderful gardener who works there and she told me bout some Elfin Thyme that she had growing in the back. I bought three of them for $3.75 each. It is on the left. I also used what I had left of the Irish moss. green's also sold the little fairy and the mushroom for $4.99 each. I added the small sand dollar and the small geode as well.

Bonsai miniature with elf

Today I took the spruce that I had started pruning the other day and did a little more. I also started wiring one of the branches. I haven't decided on its final shape yet, so I wasn't too aggressive with the pruning. Next I did a bit of the roots. I couldn't find the right size container, so I uses one that was a bit big. This is probably just temporary until it finds it's way into a larger garden scene, but it is cute now. I added a farmer elf that I found in an antique store last weekend in Ellijay. It was a set for $6 and these are only a few of the pieces.

Second Fairy Garden

So I stopped by Pike's on the way home from work to fill in plants for the first garden and they had smaller fairy garden kits ($33), and I couldn't resist. I also checked out other plants that I thought might be appropriate and came up with a few. The two big splurges was for a golden carpet juniper which I can start training as a bonsai and another angel vine which was already trained into a circle. I finished it off with more Irish moss, some moss from my front yard, and Georgia blue speedwell (the pretty little flower in front). I almost forgot the Powys castle artemisia. I pruned it to be tree like and it turned out really cute. I am addicted. I have more stuff now to make another. I just need containers.

Miniature Fairy Garden

I was visiting Blue Ridge this weekend with my sister. We passes a cute little garden/floral store called Penelope's. Besides having a collection of breathtaking orchids, they also sold miniature fairy gardens. I had never seen them before and fell in love. They are so precious. The one they had set up was over $200 so I bought the kit and decided to make it myself. I bought the lavender tree from them as I wanted the scale. I also bought the Irish moss there. I also bought the angel vine from them to wrap around the arbor. I bought more Irish moss from Pike's (same price double the plant).

Decolourant is fun!

I went to the Original Sewing Expo with my BFF Rebecca on Friday. We had so much fun looking at new products and watching them demoed by experts (most of the time). One of my favorite new purchases was deColourant and DeColourant plus. It is a discharge paste. I previously played with discharge paste which you have to mix up your self. It is safer and less toxic than bleach discharge. With traditional discharge paste you can add vat dyes (if I remember correctly) to discharge and add color back in one step. It was quite a process with mixing and a mess. What I loved about this is it was so easy to use. Since going back to work, my art time is precious and saving hours in mixing chemicals and clean up is important.
Here is my first try with it, I bought a purple batik fat quarter from Karen's shop, in Jasper, Quilting on Main. Using a stencil, I applied the decolourant. I now need to let it dry then heat it to remove the color. I will post the results.

Japanese Bead Embroidery, progress

I am still working on my phase four still. I have a month and a half to finish it. I still think it possible, but aim going to need to work a lot more than I did in February.

Japanese Bead Embroidery, Phase Four, Day Four

This is what I accomplished on Day three, our final day of class.  This is less than 1/4 complete as there is a lot more fabric to the left.  Luckily, this is a holiday weekend and I have two more complete days to work on it.  I have until mid-April to finish, so I am a little more comfortable that I will be able to do it.  Sitting next to me in class was Cindy who had driven up from Mississippi.  She was also working on Phase Four, but she was doing the Floral Melody Purse.  I have to admit that I had project envy - it was so beautiful. 

Japanese bead Embroidery, Phase Four, Day 2

This is what I accomplished after day two of my Phase Four bead embroidery at the Japanese Embroidery Center in Atlanta. This is the Peacock Mat. For phase four there were two choices, this one and the floral melody purse. Both are amazing but I decided that I could get more use out of the mat. Now, I want to do the floral melody purse also. Phase four is a pre-requisite for Phase five, which is the highest level in Japanese bead embroidery. This is so much fun, but my back is screaming.

Bead Embroidery

Happy new year! I am really committing to not allow my job stop me from making art regularly. This is a piece that I actually finished this past summer but really wanted to share. It was a kit from Ann Benson's website. I really wanted to see if there were any cool techniques. The bead embroidery was not anything new, but she has you work on paper that is fused to the stabilizer. The pattern is printed on the paper. This, I thought, was a cool idea. It also has the directions to add the clasp type handle which I wanted to learn.

Beaded necklace

My sister started beading this year and loves it. She came up to the mountains with me in October and we had a beading marathon. One of the things we did was each buy the same kit and make it. We decided on this one from Melanie Potter called Marsha.

French knots

Here is a sample of French knots only. It was fun and easy, but net time I want to do it with a plan or design in mind from the beginning.

Couched stitch sample

I am trying to create multiple sample pieces that explore a single stitch. This one only uses crouching, during the coming year I hope to do a few a month. Sharon boggin's Take a Stitch Tuesday's is a great source for inspiration. Many of the threads used in this piece were hand dyed in New Mexico.

Fiber forum piece, contemporary embroidery

Last April I attended the fiber forum retreat in Santa Fe. I was juried into the group the year before and have been very excited about attending. Jan Beaney and Jean Littlejohn led the workshop. This piece was created on a piece of fabric that I made from small scraps of sheers that are pieced together with an embellished. For more information about Fiber Forum, check out The Embroidery Guild of America.

Japanese bead embroidery, phase one

This is phase one of the Japanese bead embroidery. It turns in to glass case. The piece is pretty basic, but turns out nice. The point is to learn the structure of Jen and how it differs from other forms of bead embroidery.

Japanese Bead Embroidery, phase three

I haven't posted in almost a year. I mentioned to someone at work that I had a blog, so I decided that I had better get back to it. I am going to try and post some of the work from the last year. This is my phase three certification project for Japanese Bead embroidery. I plan on staring on phase four in January. This pieces had tons of couched lines (which needed to be straight), but the really fun part of this was the three dimensional aspect of the poppies.

Complex Stitched Design Four, Chapter Eight

Complex Stitched Design Three, Chapter Eight

Layer one: sheer machine stitched down

Layer two: painted wonder under

Layer three: machine stitched grid on Water Soluble

Padded layer of yellow (don't have a clue how it became so lopsided)!!!

Last, I hand stitched to bring out the yellow and to integrate the design. I also have been having computer trouble and no longer have my Photoshop! It was old anyway and needed to be upgraded, but in the meantime, it is hard for me to crop!

Complex Stitched Design Two, Chapter Eight

OKAY! I really tried to go complex on this one! I used kunin felt as the base with another layer of kunin felt pressed together using an embellisher. I then "created" a square of fabric with ribbon yarn using water soluble and machine stitching. This was then treated as a layer which is machine stitched down. The yellow layer is then padded with batting. The yellow felt triangles where added last.

Complex Stitched Design One, Chapter Eight

I really wanted to start simple with this chapter's assignments. My base layer is only machine stitching. I bourt a new computerized machine the year before and really haven't used the some of the special stitches "muscle" yet. I programmed a stitch size that I thought would be appropriate for the size and density. For the top layer, I purposely choose a computerized stitch what would work with instead of fight the satin fabric's tendency to fray.

Stitch Design Six, Chapter Seven

I really wanted to add a fourth layer to one of these samples; however, when it came time to add a top layer, I decided against it.

I used Kunin felt as a base and then my hand dyed purple burlap. The burlap really turned out wonderful and added great texture to the piece. I then added a piece of my stamped fabric on top. I really liked this sample.

Japanese Embroidery, Phase Two WIP

Here is the beginning of Phase Two for my Japanese embroidery class. I love this design. Soon I will be working with more goldwork which is gorgeous!!!!

Japanese Embroidery, Phase One complete

In April, I started taking Japanese embroidery at the Japanese Embroidery Center here in Atlanta. Most of the people who know me well, didn't think I would last a day. I am not quiet nor a controlled stitcher; however, I know that I am not focused or detailed in my art, which is one of the important parts of Japanese embroidery. I have surprised most people, especially myself, in that I really am enjoying it. It is peaceful stitching.

Coincidentally, I started my City and Guild stitching course during the same month. Both courses are very opposite, with one being all about creating your own designs and learning to think for yourself, while the other is imitate the master for years until you become a master yourself. I think that taking them simultaniously will keep me balanced - well hopefully!

Bead Embroidery

I finished this piece of bead embroidery this weekend. I started it in a class with Sheri Serafini. The structure is her's but the embroidery design is mine. I really wanted to get it finished as I am taking two Japanese bead embroidery classes this month at the Japanese embroidery center here in Atlanta. I can't wait. A master bead embroidery is coming from Japan for a few weeks to teach, so it is a wonderful opportunity!

Chapter Seven, Stitched Design Four

Stitched Design Three, Chapter Seven

Here is my third stitched sample. It is actually more like 5 by 9 inches as it is doubled. It is on kunin felt with purple commercial fabric and hand dyed (purchased in Japan) muted yellow on top.

Although I thought that I had centered the pattern on the felt, I made a mistake and only left 1/2 inch of felt on one side.

I really like the pattern created by doubling this design. The two together are much stronger than just a single repeat. I used a vanishing/wash away thread to baste again.

On the purple layer I used Splender #5 twisted silk thread. It was a 10 yard package and I barely had enough to finish! I used a chain stitch for a bold outline on the purple which I wrapped with a lighter purple.

Stitched Design Two, Chapter Seven

I really started having fun with this piece. I used the fused fabric that had been run under the Embellisher as the bottom layer. I love the texture. I stitched this down with two strands of Splender, a stranded silk in stem stitch with the inside shapes done with backstitch as it wasn't as bulky under the top layer.

I stitched the top layer with a muted lavender linen thread in backstitch. After cutting away, I added buttonhole and french knots in the center of the yellow to pull the purple into the middle and I added the buttonhole on the outside to try and integrate the design with its background. I also added tiny french knots in Sulky gold metallic thread around the "hearts" and then wrapped the outer points with it too.

Stitched Design One, Chapter Seven

I wanted to keep the first one on the simple side. I am not great at hand embroidery and so I have decided to really emphasis the hand embroidery on these samples. At the beginning of the exercise, I didn't understand why we were asked to transfer the designs on to the back of the muslim and then baste each layer on the top before stitching. This was is much more accurate with whole cloth cut-away. On the top, I hand basted with cotton thread on the bottom layer and hated pulling those basting threads out. On the top layer, I used YLI Wash Away thread to baste. I still removed most of the basting by hand, but those hard to get bits were dissolved with a wet Q-tip. On the bottom layer, I used a stem stitch and on the top I used a double row of back stitch.

Fused Designs, Set Two, Chapter Six

Both of the top two designs use the same fabric. The fused purple and the back of a commercial fabric. The right design is lost with the blue over powering the sheer instead of enhancing each other. The left design was my attempt to move away from a nice design plunked into the middle of a piece of background fabric.

The bottom right design uses painted wonder-under as the bottom layer.

Fused Designs, Set One, Chapter Six

Both designs on the left use the blue fused fabric; however, with the top design, the fabric has been needle-punched with the Embellisher to distress the sheer fabric while the bottom design was not.

The top row right design uses hand-dyed scrim as the bottom layer

The bottom right design was not that strong on an image until it was repeated. The background is an embellished kunin felt with fused tissue paper as the bottom layer. The top layer is the tulle with the painted wonder-under.

Module One, Chapter 6, Bonded Fabric

Far left fabric is a sandwich of light blue nylon tulle sprinkled with Bo-nash powder with small scraps from my paper cutting exercises. I didn't like the white spots created when the bonding powder melted so I took some gold foil and foiled the piece too.
The right fabric is two pieces of yellow nylon tulle with snippets of dmc stranded thread and gold thread held together with bonding powder.
Middle left piece is painted wonder-under on yellow tulle.
Lower left bonded fabric was created with a bottom layer of commercial purple fabric. On this I ironed some lightly painted wonder-under and then added a layer of snippets of blues and purples, as well as gold thread. I then added more bonding powder as the snippet layer was so thick, and topped it with a piece of nylon sheer. When I actually used this piece in my fused sample and again in my stitched sample, I used the embellisher to distress the sheer and remove the "high gloss".


The far left piece is a commercial print fabric with angelina fused with wonderunder. I then addded a layer of sheer on top.
Middle layer is a heavier netting with snippets and covered with tulle.
On the far right, is two layers of sheers with snippets of other sheers sandwiched between them.

Module One, Chapter 5, Painted Fabric Two

Here is a set of my painted fabric. I really like working with tone on tone and realized that the majority of my fabric was orange/yellow on orange/yellow or blue/purple on blue/purple! I made several new fabrics with the compliments. I really liked them.

I also experimented with different ways to color the fabric. I came close to using thickened fabric dyes, but decided that it would not be "learning" to use ways that I was most familiar with and so I used several Golden Fluid acrylic paints, Lumerie (another acrylic), Stewart Gill acrylic, and Dye-na-Flow. I really didn't like the Dye-na-Flow as it didn't keep the detail. I also tried Fabrico stamp ink. It advertises as being color fast on fabric. Both of the bottom two fabrics were done with these inks. I think they were not only the easiest to work with but also kept the most defined edges.

Module One, Chapter Five, Fabric Collection

Here is the beginning of my fabric collection. Most of the cottons I hand dyed for this module. I also dyed cottons, silk, burlap, and stranded floss together. The burlap didn't take the dye well as it had been pre-treated (I bought it off the remnants rack at the fabric store) and has blotches, but these can probably be worked into the design. The upper left piece is a gorgeous woven wool. Since this time, I have shopped for more fabric and purchased yellow, purple and blue tulle (nylon) and several colored nylon sheers.

Painted Fabric, Set One, Chapter Five

All of these fabrics are cotton and most were some of my own hand dyed fabric. I used fabrico inks and Golden Fluid Acrylics with my stamps. I really liked adding several colors and shapes together.

Colored Paper Cut Outs Set Two

Here is another set of my paired designs. I really do like them. I think the biggest weakness is that there isn't a lot of visual variations between the designs. They are all, except for third row middle, a centered motif, similar to a quilt square. As I develop designs, I really want to find ways to integrate the entire space. On the stitched sample that I worked on this weekend, I began to work with the background more to make it more of a part of the design, not just a pretty pattern slapped onto any old background. Suggestions???

Paper Cut Outs Sketchbook one

These are some of th images from my sketchbook for this chapter. I scanned the individual colored shapes into photoshop and manipulate and auditioned the different pairing on my computer. It made it so much easier to see more variations, and a lot faster.

I was also able to play with repetition and the patterns that multiples created. Unfortunatley, I did not have my printer on "contrain proportions" and it skewed them a little. Although I like the original patterns that were created, I also like these too.

Colored Paper Cut Outs Set One

Here is the first design sheet. Each is approximately 4 inch square. I ended up scanning most of the individual colored shapes into Photoshop where I was able to manipulate them on the screen. Because of this, I was able to quickly see lots of different variations and then see what would happen with repeating the pattern. I have included some of the print outs of these manipulations on another post.

Black Paper Cut Outs 3, Module One, Chapter Four

Black Paper Cut Outs Set three

I really liked this star shape and wanted to see if there were any good designs that I could make from it. The upper left design was cut from tissue paper. I wanted to see if I could make a more repeat pattern, but couldn't with the thicker black paper that I had on hand.

Black Paper Cut Outs 2, Module One, Chapter Four

Black Paper Cut Outs Set Two

These are some of the black paper cut outs. I REALLY enjoyed this exercise and could have spent months just making them. I am glad I finally moved on as the next ones were even better.