Lucky Fish

 

 

 

I became a bit obsessed with making these little guys over the winter. Any car ride, 

TV show I didn't want to pay attention to, idle moment, I was stitching.  Going through 

fabric scraps, looking through buttons, matching up floss you get the idea.

 

 

Another pattern from Ann Wood. This was a freebie.

The possibilities are limitless on decoration. Making good use 

of the embroidery floss stash & scrap fabric bin.

 

Made myself a couple tools to help in the assembly.

For the tiny areas in the head & tail I made a stuffing tool from a big needle. 

Cut off the end so you have a little fork to grab the batting & twist it. 

Shoved the pointy end in a cork. Perfect.

Sharpened a small dowel to further coax stuffing into the right spots.

Size perspective. 

After accumulating so many I decided to give them to friends in sets of three. 

 

 

 They got to choose from the "bait ball".

 

   

Friends with a cabin on the Boardman River want me to make

several fish to be inside & out in front of this metal skeleton.

I have ideas of what they will look like. I figure about 15 fish should do the job.

 

Inside the cabin is this wonderful print. It may be my jumping off point 

for the consumed fish. 

What strange little thing occupied your time this past winter? 

I can't be the  only one who got caught up in something unexpected.

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.

Quilting Hero Carole Harris

Not long ago there was a wonderful exhibit at the Dennos Museum.

Carole Harris is a Michigan quilting artist. Detroit native.  

The link is to a great little video of her talking about her process. 

Describing her quilts as her children struck home with me.

 I dove into the details of her quilts. The hand painted sections.

 The earthy colors and contrast.

 

Her free motion stitching.

 Layering of fabrics with cut outs & hand stitching.

 

The texture she creates is stunning. Makes me want to go hand color a lot of fabric, 

cut it up, hand stitch it & layer.  I can only imagine the time involved.

What activities are taking you to a good place these days?

P.S. This post has been updated to correct the spelling of Carole's name. It has an "e". 

Emboidery

E is for Emboidery

 

Lots of hand stitching in my projects these days. It is meditative,
 makes you slow down. You can get lost in it.  This is a good thing.

I think the cosmos wants me to embroider. I have acquired LOTS of embroidery floss from
three friends. First was my close art pal who was given a huge
 neatly bagged pile of floss from a friend. Next one had an aunt who was
clearing out her stash of unused art supplies. Finally was my paper making mentor
who was  decommissioning her studio.

You can't let something like this go unanswered & unused.

 

Somewhere I ran across a suggestion to use spent thread spools for floss. Brilliant!
With all the sewing I do I had quite a collection. Trying to use floss from the skein you buy
 is maddening as it tangles very easily.

I have dabbled in embroidery since I can remember. I saved this piece from a chambray shirt I embellished in college. Not sure why. Maybe so it could show up in this post?

I took a lovely class in Petoskey with Christine Mauersberger this past summer.
She walked us through several exercises to help create lines & images
 to use in samples of techniques.

Riffing off our finger prints.

We scattered salt onto black paper
then used french knots to recreate the density of the grains on fabric.

Quite time consuming This is as far as I got.

I've been having fun making pin cushions from old sweater pieces I've felted.
I then embroider the pieces before stitching together. They are filled with rice.

Do you have a passtime that engages your hands, gets you to slow down, and absorbs you?
I highly recommend it in these times of being at home.

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.

Meet My New Friend

 

I've named him Whoratio. Couldn't help myself. 

This Dastardly Owl from an Ann Wood pattern was so much fun to create.

Taking advice from Austin Kleon, as I often do.

So here are some process pics and thoughts. 

Lots of hand stitching. Lots of layers. Fabric choices are key to 

his look, as are his talons & his eyes. I changed my mind on fabric for

 eyes & feathers several times. Being able to fray the edges is important.  

Ann's instructions for making the talons were perfect. I had all the supplies I needed

for every part of the project. Continuing my effort to use what I already have. 

Wasn't sure the eyes would turn out the way I wanted, taking my time proved fruitful. 

Again, the instructions were perfect. Nice thing about hand stitching, 

if it isn't what you want pull it out & try again. 

His horns add to his attitude.

On the advice of my hubby he will be getting a little friend (snack?)

 from another Ann Wood pattern. I will share that in a future post. Can you guess what it might be?