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!

ZOMBIEPLATE

Here's another pottery piece I painted recently...this one was a special request by my friend Ryan. I'd never drawn a zombie before so I wasn't sure how it would turn out but I FRIGGIN LOVE IT. Definitely one of my best pieces :)

My favorite part? The dead fish carcass!
   

Snow day art projects

I had off yesterday afternoon because of the snowstorm...and since I was stuck at home, worked on some pear collages that I'd been thinking about for a while.

I like how this one came out...it is pretty much how I pictured it...only I'm not sure it is "weird" enough...despite the odd bandage illustrations I glued on there in places.

materials: Strathmore Bristol (smooth), Plaid Royal Coat Decoupage Finish in 1401 Clear, Faber-Castell Pitt artist pens (#169 and #177), various books, magazines, paper tape, paper towels, transparencies (leftover from my Kaplan days) and other paper ephemera.

 

Finishing old projects: decoupage boxes

Recently I've been doing a lot of cleaning projects...and in the process, I found a bunch of old craft projects in need of finishing. Last night I knocked out two decoupage pieces: a set of drawers that would make a great jewelry box, and a shadowbox frame (courtesy of IKEA, of course).

I've been using a crap abridged illustrated copy of The Mutiny on Board HMS Bounty that I cut up and glue in pieces...for these two projects I was using just the text, no illustrated pages.

I love the look of black & white lately and have been wearing a lot of black/white/gray...no surprise that this theme continues here. It's sort of a wintry look :P

Sometimes I like to collage the book pages in small pieces for a patchwork effect, but for the drawers on this I wanted to use one solid piece of text...which was a pain in the butt (particularly with the little drawer knobs), but I like how it turned out.

More book ruining later, perhaps...

materials: IKEA wooden shadowbox frame, wooden mini dresser, black acrylic craft paint, books, Plaid Royal Coat Decoupage Finish in 1401 Clear.

PYOP (Paint Your Own Pottery) Coasters (well...half of them)

I finished two of the four PYOP coasters I started...then last week I went back to finish the other two but forgot to bring them with me! So I ended up working on some plates instead. But here are the two finished coasters!




On the backs I decided to put the little bees again with my initials...with a slightly different configuration on each coaster. The little white dots I painted worked out surprisingly well, they nicely camouflage the three little marks from when they put the pieces in the kiln.

 

 

Here are the "before" pictures--after I painted but before the pieces were fired. I used the same wax resist technique I enjoy so much. It's fun to paint the picture, and then color it in like a coloring book :)

As you can see we usually accompany our pottery painting with a fine meal at Qdoba...mmm quesadillas with extra queso...

 

 

Here are the other two coasters...a ship and an elephant! Totally random but that's what I felt like painting.

 

 And here are the two plates I started last time...

 

Lots of painting to do! Can't wait to see how these turn out. The whale and/or toucan plates are for my brother...we'll see which one of them he prefers.

Back to The Pottery Stop later this week to finish!

Paint your own pottery, Part 2

Brie and I went back to The Pottery Stop on Friday and finished up our new pieces (a rectangular vase in my case). Also,  we picked up the pieces that had been fired the week before and they came out AWESOME. I friggin love mine, it turned out pretty much exactly how I pictured it.

 

 

  

 

 

First I painted the jewelry box all black for a base coat. Then I used a diagram of a butterfly I googled to figure out what the wings should look like, and painted the outline on  with wax resist. I added some leaves to the top and while waiting for it to dry, painted a ribbon of flowers and leaves on the bottom piece using the wax resist. After that it was just a matter of coloring it in with paints.

 

Such a cool and unique piece, I'm so pleased with how it turned out!  It really has the stained glass feel I was going for. Yay!

 

Can't wait to pick up my vase next weekend and see how that turned out too :)

 

Outdoor owl photo shoot!

There are lots of pretty cherry blossoms near my place, so I figured I'd re-photo some of my owl ornaments outside.

 

Next: new red owls!

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.

Ornament sketches

When I'm super bored and sitting on an airplane I love to make lists and brainstorm project ideas.

Here are some sketches I made a while back of potential ornaments to make.

So far from these I've only actually made the owl ornaments...

 

 

...but I'm sure I'll come back to these sketches later when I need a new project to start!  

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.