Call me crazy but I've signed up to do the April A to Z blogging 

challenge again this year.  It's been 2 years since I "played".

 

I am a fiber artist. It fills my spare time, my dreams, my studio,

 my friends shelves and my imagination.  It inspires me 

which is my theme for this year.

 

A few examples of what I do. 

 

 

There's so much more but this gives you an idea. 

I paint the base canvas, then embellish with stencils I cut by hand. 

The vessels are machine sewn with rustic zig zag edges. 

I'm looking forward to the journey in the challenge this year.

 

Back in the Saddle

Happy New Year!  Let's get 2021 off to a good start. Getting back into blog posts are on the list.

     Oh my, I haven't posted since April 30, 2020! The end of the A to Z Challenge. Just couldn't muster the enthusiasm. But I'm back! ready to share the artful things that inspire me, keep me going,          cause me to obsess.  

Made a list of "things I did during Covid" in my journal so I could see I haven't been idle. The art community has been out in force sharing, teaching, encouraging, raging...  I will share my list and work through stuff I've created. Are you ready to join me? 

What have you done over the past year? What have you cooked? Where have you gone outside to feed your soul?  Did you make something fun, interesting, wacky, useful, beautiful, ugly?  What are your plans going forward?  I'm willing to share it all. Will  you?

                This is the first of many things I will share that have occupied my time                                      as well as what is on the list to do now.

             There is a virtual art exhibit at Crooked Tree Art Center I am proud to be a part of.                             The flip book turned out great. Please check it out & let me know what you think. 

Each Guild member was allowed 2 pieces. These are mine. 

                                            I plan to do the April A to Z again.                                                            That should get the fires started again to blog. 

    The first image is some of my MANY "Lucky Fish" I have been obsessed with  for quite awhile. It was a free pattern from Ann Wood. As I have a huge bin of scrap fabric & a large cache of embroidery floss it seemed the perfect thing to use up what I have on hand, which has been one of the themes in my creations over the past year. 

 I have now give them away in threes to friends.

It's a spawning ground in my studio.

Made my own little tool for stuffing the teeny tail corners. Snip off the end of a big needle stick the pointy end in a cork, voila, a stuffing tool as good as what you can buy. 

This guy is one of my favorites. Already given away, so I will make another. 

Some perspective on size. 

I took a few online courses. I will share my clay "Fat & Happy Bird" creations next time.

C is for Cardinals

 

Spring is Coming and with it more birds for us to watch out the window.  

I love   

cardinals

They stick around all winter and are a beautiful sight on the feeder 

when all is white & they add their shock of color.  

  The top bird is from The Graphics Fairy. She offers links to an amazing 

treasure trove of vintage images for personal use.

This fancy guy is from Sarah Suplina. I follow her on Instagram and am amazed by her little 

intricate creatures from layered pieces of paper paper. You should check her out.

One of my favorite fiber artists, Ann Wood, has a pattern for little song birds.

She recently posted an add on to the pattern to turn them into crested birds 

such as cardinals. There may be a couple of these in my future.

 Need to raid the red fabric scrap pile. 

With no intention on my part my first 3 A to Z posts have been about winged creatures.

That is going to change tomorrow. 

Stay healthy & safe everyone.

All Dolled Up

Ann Wood is a fiber artist I follow. Love her sweet little hand stitched pieces of nature. 

Awhile back I purchased her pattern for the Dastardly Owl. 

Decided it was time to bring him to life. Here he is in progress.

I have a Pinterest board just for owls others have made
& some found in nature for design & color inspiration.

Her instructions for the talons was perfect. Fun to make. 

Lots of layers for the feathers. Fortunately I have a big stash of fabric to chose from. 

I've been making an effort to work on projects that all the supplies are already in my possession.

In this case I had the wire & florists tape for the feet, the fabric, stuffing, & buttons for the eyes.

I think I'll name him Whoratio. What do you think?

Here is my Pinterest Board devoted to dolls. 

Warning, my taste leans toward strange & creepy in some cases. 

There is another doll in the works I'll share another day.

Letter V in the A to Z Challenge

Another admiration post. This time a fiber artist.

Susan Vickery  

I was introduced to her work via TextileArtist.org

I've discoverd many amazing fiber artists through this quirky site.

 Detailed dolls galore. She uses lots of "free stitching" in her decoration.

Her videos are fantastic. I can only imagine how much time & planning goes into them. 

"Shopping Bags" is one of my favorites. About 2 1/2 minutes in 

the bank of sewing machines & seamstresses is what I particularly like. 

 

J for Jen Hewitt My Admiration for a Fellow Fiber Artist

This is Jen Hewitt. She prints fabric with hand carved blocks and silk screen designs.

Her Etsy shop has a whole selection of beautifully printed pieces you can buy by the yard.

 

She teaches classes you can attend in person in some wonderful locations as well as online.
I have been following her for a few years. She has done very well for herself
as a self employed solo fiber artist. Bravo! She puts her heart out there
 on matters of race & gender. She is working on her second book about crafters of color.

Fringe & Company

Jen's aesthetic appeals to me. Simple forms that repeat, many inspired by nature.


One of my recent creations that echos her design style.

I think along the same lines. No pun intended.

Her sweet little dog is a frequent subject of her Instagram feed.


Who do you admire from afar online? Do theyinspire you in your craft?

Aprons I Fancy #AtoZChallenge

 A is for Apron. A humble place to start the A to Z challenge. 

But a gal has to keep herself tidy while slinging paint in the studio.

 

As soon as I saw one of these aprons at a calligraphy conference I knew I had to have one.

 Truth is I love it so much I've avoided using it while painting. Love the big pockets.

 

Back view of the cross over. No ties to deal with.

            

 From Purl Soho a knitting site I follow. A free pattern for a cross over apron. 

My intention is to make one I feel comfortable getting paint all over.

 Haven't owned a pair of bib overalls for a few decades. A trip to Goodwill may be in order.

This is pattern I have saved from a free eBook from Cloth Paper Scissors.  

You can still download the instructions. 

 

A post of my thoughts on this free apron I inherited from my Dad that I altered 

to cover the awful graphics. Scroll down to see the stencil.

 To be honest this is my go to cover up. 

A sweatshirt from beloved Beaver Island that I've cut down, 

stitched up, & make a mess of regularly. 

See you tomorrow for B. Would love to see your comments as we go along.

It's in the Bag

My little stenciled bag is done. I will change the shape on the next one. I'd like a more rectangular shape, then the pattern form Jen Hewitt, or a less steep curve.  Her instructions in the video on Creative Bug were great.

Enjoyed doing a lining I haven't done a zipper in years! 

Dig out the bead box and found this lovely that goes perfectly with the ochre stencil. A little waxed linen thread a couple little beads to hold the knot & done!

Following a Common Thread

As I was playing around in the studio with a new fabric technique (more on that below) I decided I needed to create more storage for my growing thread stash. I looked at various plastic boxes available then ran across this on Pinterest.

 My version is the first one pictured above. I had the cute yellow jar that was the vase for birthday flowers from work this year. Yea, we each get a bouquet of flowers on our birthday from the 3 bosses. Rough huh?
So I marched to the hardware store, bought $2 worth of dowels, lopped them off with the pruning shears int he garage, used my pencil sharpener to make the ends pointy, wrapped a piece of rubber band around the end so the spools would stay on. Voila. Decorative, colorful, visible storage for lots of thread.

After that little adventure I tried my hand at "fabric slashing".

The link takes you to Fay Maxwell's video that I watched a couple times. There are great images of the results of this technique if you do a Google search. 

I grabbed lots of scraps and had at it. I learned some things along the way. I would use larger scarps next time and layer colors at random. I layered similar colors in each layer and the result is not a "colorful" Also I would space the lines of stitching a bit wider. Although I have yet to get the piece wet and scrub it to see what happens next.  A trip to the scissor sharpening guy was in order s cutting through all those layers is tough.

              The four little corners I turned back & stitched down really caught my interest. I'll keep you posted and take more pictures as the finished project emerges.