Work in Progress: Hexie Quilt From Recycled Men's Dress Shirts

This is my slow quilt project. It's my first attempt at English Paper Piecing (EPP), which I was scared of but I LOVE it. It has a special feel to be doing all the piecing by hand, I love hand stitching and seeing the piece build slowly.

I also loooooove cutting shapes so this has been great fun. I probably have cut several hundred fabric hexagons.

I'm using hexagons with 1.5 inch sides. I found a template on Pinterest...which after using for some time I realized the sides of the hexagons in the template are not exactly the same length! Ack! This will teach me not to be cheap! Next time I will buy the pre-cut templates :( I have a workaround for now, I am just very careful to place all the hexies all facing the same direction. It's a little more of a pain though.

My process for this quilt so far has been:

1) Cut paper templates and also a paper "cutting template" with the seam allowance built in to use to cut the fabric around. I reused scrap printer paper which is nice because it is flexible enough to bend/fold when sewing pieces together.
2) Get used button-down shirts (more details below on shirt sources).
3) Deconstruct the shirts using Bonnie Hunter's awesome and efficient technique (discovered courtesy of Pinterest). This method helps you get the maximum usable quilt fabric out of each shirt.
4) Cut shirts into hexagons.
5) Pin fabric hexagon pieces to paper templates.
6) Baste fabric around (not to) the paper templates.
7) Stitch hexagons together as carefully and evenly as possible. Arranging them as you go is sorta fun to see the patterns. I'm keeping it somewhat random.
8) (This is fun too!) Pop out the paper hexagon once that piece is surrounded on all sides by other hexagons.

9) Rest hands. This has been a bit hard on my hands at times (Carpal Tunnel issues) so I can't do too much stitching at once.

I prefer using shirts that have some damage so that they're not wearable. I feel bad cutting up a nice shirt that could be donated to someone to wear. Although sometimes if the shirt is REALLY cheap and/or ugly I won't mind so much :) The larger the shirt, the better...it's more fabric. I love finding the ones that are like a men's 3X size. The shirts/fabric I'm using comes from a variety of sources:

• Flea markets (got a huge bag of shirts for $4!)
• Thrift stores. If you can find damaged shirts sometimes they will give you a bit of $ off the price...although it's going to charity anyway. Most of the stuff I have seen in thrift shops around here is in pretty good condition though.
• Shirting sample cards (for some variety). Can find online sometimes in large lots.
• Friends who had old dress shirts of their own around the house that were stained, holey, etc. This is my favorite! Because after it's done you will be able to say, "That blue hexagon is from Mark's work shirt! And that striped one is from my friend Ken!" So you get to keep a memory of your friends and family in the quilt.

More pictures soon!

Work in Progress: Pink Cotton Candy Stripe Quilt

I have three crib sized patchwork quilts I have been working on for some time, in various stages of completion. All three are of my own design.

The first one is my Pink Cotton Candy Stripe baby quilt, which is the closest to completion. I loved choosing and using these sweet fabrics from my fabric stash (I think they all came from a Joann's shopping extravaganza with Brie a long time ago). This would be so perfect for a gift for a new baby girl! The back of the quilt is a blue and white cloud print that reduces the girliness factor just a tiny bit.

I opted for no binding, because I currently (from past experiences) have a fear/hatred of binding my quilts, which I'm hoping to eventually get over when I find the right binding method. And it looks pretty without it anyway. I used Warm and Natural batting because it's thin and flat enough to be easy to work with while still providing some warmth. I pin-basted my quilt sandwich together right sides facing, stitched around the edges, and turned it inside out. Then I pin-basted it again...I don't like using a thimble so I did stab myself a few times :P

If you look closely you can see my big quilter's pins still in there because I haven't done the quilting yet...the only other thing I have to do is add my Picky Chicky labels to it (I made my own using some iron-on transfer paper and satin ribbons, thanks to the magic of Pinterest).

More pictures to come once it's finished. Next time: my English paper piecing hexie quilt made from recycled men's dress shirts!

Penguin paintings in watercolor

After doing the fox circle paintings, I wanted to do something similar with penguins...



















I think these also came out pretty cute :)  I love baby penguins...they're all fluffy and awkward. Here are my sketches beforehand:

 Some detail:






















I think I prefer this look for the sky:

Yay penguins!

Fox paintings

A friend of mine is expecting a baby boy this summer and her nursery colors are green and orange (sort of a woodland theme) so I thought I'd try painting a fox picture for her.

Pretty cute huh? 

The funny thing is, in my first few sketches the foxes looked kind of like birds (eg the sketch on the far right)! 

Owl watercolors for special occasions!

This weekend I celebrated both Brie's birthday and Mark & Rachel's baby shower...and I painted a sweet little owl for both. Edy helped by sitting on my knee and trying to eat the paintbrush.

 

I painted Brie's owl in the colors she has in her house, so she could put him in any room.

 

For Mark & Rachel, I wanted to make the colors of the owl gender-neutral since it will be a surprise whether they are having a boy or girl.
 

 

Didn't they come out cute? I'm surprised I hadn't painted owls sooner since I made like 8000 of them out of felt :P

 

materials: pencil, Prang semi-moist watercolors on Canson Montval Watercolor Block, Faber-Castell PITT artist pen (brush) in #177.

Even more tiny bird paintings

I made a little bird watercolor painting for my friend Amy for her baby shower (she's having a girl)...and it turned out so cute I made a few more similar ones. Which colors do you like better?

 

 

I really love painting these, they are so much fun. What other animals should I do?

 

materials: pencil, Prang semi-moist watercolors on Canson Montval Watercolor Block, Faber-Castell PITT artist pen (brush) in #177.

More tiny bird paintings...and other stuff I'm doing...

While I was sick a few weeks ago, I worked on additional bird paintings because they were just so much fun! I've found these are actually easier if you work on multiples at the same time, so you don't get impatient while some sections are drying off.

These are great for kids or babies' rooms, baby shower gifts, or even for adults! My brother liked these two so much that I gave them to him to hang above his computer desk in the living room. I love how the pictures are small but still feel generous in scale, and like bright little painted treasures :)

 

I'm sure I'll be painting more of these in different color combinations too. I was thinking about trying a red bird on a yellow or pale blue background. I love doing them while semi-watching tv :) Last time while I was painting these, I believe I was watching the recent movie adaptation of Jane Eyre, old episodes of Gilmore Girls, and What Not to Wear.

Tonight I'm getting to work on my newest project: hoot owl Christmas tree ornaments! I made my prototype yesterday and it turned out awesome--I stuffed it with quilt batting so it is all puffy and round and perfect. So, more felt owl ornaments in 8000 color combinations forthcoming! Pictures soon, I promise...

And I'm thinking for tonight's sappy movie marathon, I'll be choosing from: Anne of Green Gables (the sequel), Howl's Moving Castle, IQ, Little Dorrit, and perhaps the final episode of my newest (yet sadly short-lived) guilty pleasure, Breaking Amish!

Materials for watercolor paintings above: pencil, Prang semi-moist watercolors on Strathmore Wet Media paper, Faber-Castell PITT artist pen (brush) in #177, IKEA SONDRUM  frame.

Bird paintings for babies

Several of my friends have just welcomed new babies so I've been busy working on paintings for their gifts! 
 

 

 

 

 

 

I just love how cute they turned out!

 

materials: pencil, Prang semi-moist watercolors on Strathmore Wet Media paper, Faber-Castell PITT artist pen (brush) in #177, IKEA RIBBA frame.

Mini elephant watercolor

I haven't posted in a while, but that doesn't mean I haven't been making anything! I just got sort of wrapped up in the everyday chaos. Never fear, more crafty photos coming soon :)

Here's a sweet little elephant painting I made recently. Perfect for a baby's room!

 

Here's a closer look:

 

Isn't he the cutest elephant ever?

 

materials: pencil, Prang semi-moist watercolors on Canson Montval Watercolor Block (cold press), IKEA SONDRUM frame.

Not-so-simple Simplicity Christening gown

On Monday, Kate and I decided we should attempt to make our own christening gown for her newborn, Isaac. We had searched a bunch of thrift stores and consignment shops with no luck, and most of the gowns were ridiculously frilly (not to mention overpriced).

Neither of us has ever made a christening gown, but we figured it couldn't be too complicated, right? Kate found a Simplicity pattern and we used the sleeveless "slip" part of the pattern to make a simple gown.

I was NOT a fan of the instructions in the pattern. Lots of ambiguity and confusion. I ended up doing my own thing about halfway because there was so much cursing about the directions.

We did find some cute lace and other trim in my ribbon stash so I hand-stitched those on as an accent. Overall, it came out pretty decent. If I had to do this again, I'd use a simpler cotton fabric for the gown though...the stuff we used was stretchy and somewhat annoying.

And here's baby Isaac, tired from all the crafting...

aww...

Ahoy! Pirate treasure maps!

The last few days I've been working on more of my little map paintings (I sell some of these at ArtSpring currently). This time I had some Ikea frames purchased in advance, so I made sure the maps were sized to fit.

Which one do you prefer? I am partial to the second one.

These are so cute for a kid's room. I often draw these maps for children I babysit/hang out with, and they really enjoy using them to create a story or game.

I love drawing the little castles, ships, forests, huts, mountains, etc...and of course I made sure to add in a whaley for good measure!

If you are interested in purchasing one of these treasure maps, please convo me, as I'm not sure if I will be posting them to my etsy shop or not.

Shiver me timbers!

Underwater watercolor mystery revealed!

Here it is at last...drumroll please!

It's an octopus! Isn't he the cutest thing ever? He was a present for Kate & Eric, who are expecting a new baby in April. Yay!

This little piggy stayed home.

I've been sick the last few days with a cold, so there's been plenty of time to work on piggies! (Mostly while semi-watching Return of the Jedi and The Fugitive.)

Here are the latest:

Fat Piggy (aka Mr. Plumpy)

Slim Piggy

I hadn't originally planned to use such a thick marker to outline them but I like the way it looks...although it is more cartoony than I had planned.  I am a strong supporter of Slim Piggy in his fight against Mr. Plumpy.

Also, I just remembered this illustration I did in college as a birthday card design:

I love it--so cheerful and colorful! So I'm going to do a couple of more festive piggies today just to see how they come out.