M&M's from Ingrid

Isn't this just wonderful?!!! I received this in a Surface Design trade from Ingrid who lives in Ontario, Canada. It is a 6"x6" block that has been stitched with metallic thread. We were to create a traditional quilt block & give it a modern twist. I think she did a GREAT job, don't you? I would have never thought to use M&M wrappers. We're in a few more swaps together & I can hardly wait to see what else she does in them! Thanks Ingrid!!

(I just realized that the M&M wrappers are partially in French, which makes them even more unique.)

Working in Black & White

Happy New Year!! I really don't work much in black & white so I thought I'd give it a try. All of these stitched round circles have been done with a Flower Stitch Foot. You attach the foot to your sewing machine like you would any other presser foot, pick the stitch & away you go. Most of these have been done with a zig zag stitch, however on my sewing machine, there is a heart shaped stitch which I used in the 2nd photo (in gray, up in the top left area). I'd like to try using a wash away stabilizer so the centers of these circles would be open & one could see through them.

Goodbye 2007, Hello 2008!!

I would like to wish you all a very Happy New Year & may 2008 be even better for you than 2007. I was never much of resolution maker but I do have some wishes for the upcoming new year .........

• that all of those dieters out there succeed
• that we're all able to spend a little bit more time with our families throughout the year
• that all of us are just a little bit more creative in our art & that show that we've entered our work into, we get accepted
• that more Boeing planes are sold than Airbus (sorry, hubby is an engineer at Boeing)
• that the havocs of mother nature (droughts, flooding, ice storms, tornadoes, etc) give us all a little "time out" from it all & may there be more sunny days
• and may this be the year that all of our soldiers come home!!

Here's to hoping you all have a very properous 2008, Cheers!!

Metals ATC

I joined a new group, Fiber ATC & the newest swap is to incorporate metal somehow into an ATC. I chose to use blue & white metal spiral clips & also used a light blue metallic thread, which is hard to see in this photo above. (I've included some closeup photos below.)

In these photos, I hope that you can see a better picture of the many layers created. The base material was a blue batik fabric. I added stitching with light blue metallic thread. This was then layered with a rubber stamped navy organza. (I really like how the black misty fuse makes the iridescence in the navy organza shimmer.)

The organza was then machine stitched haphazardly to create more depth with navy thread. (I think the third photo shows the zig zag stitching the best) I then followed up with more rubber stamping and finished the piece by adding the painted metal swirl clips.

I have plans to send off 2 sets of 5 Metal ATC's for the swap. Once I get the other set finished I will post these as well here.

Gift for a friend part 2

Ok so I'm still trying to figure out adding new posts. I set up a draft of a post back on December 18th but didn't post it until today since it was a Christmas gift & I didn't want my friend to see it here first. For some reason, after I posted it, it stayed in as a December 18th post instead of today. So, please look at the post below Hanging Doodads to see what I made for her. It's actually one of the biggest pieces I've made using the techniques I've learned over the last 3 months & I have to say I was really pleased with it.

Merry Christmas!!!

Hanging Doodads

I really didn't want to call these ornaments. When I think of ornaments, I think of items to hang on a Christmas tree & these are meant to hang around all year long. I had a lot of fun making these!!

They're each from hand-dyed bamboo & cheesecloth. Some were flower stitched & others were rubber stamped with lumiere paint & other fabric inks. Some I chose to bead & others, I left the surface as is.

The fabric squares are each approximately 3" x 3". Some are heavily stuffed as others are only lightly. What is kind of funny is what I stuffed them with. Recently I had purchased some bamboo fleece from Dharma Trading. When I dried it in the dryer, it filled the lint trap with this beautiful, very soft bamboo lint. I hated the thought of throwing it away, so I used it to stuff these little pillows.

I was inspired to create these from a past swap I did with FAT. We were to create small beaded prayer pillows & from this post, http://tracyborders.blogspot.com/2007/10/beaded-prayer-pillows-finished.html you can see what I did.

If asked which one from above do I like best, I'm not sure I could pick one. They each have different qualities that I like. The green one, I really like the overall color. I just discovered this color over the past 3 months & I've really grown to love it. The blue one, I have always worked in deep blues so this piece is just a nice comfortable piece for me. The orange "salmony" one I have to probably say is my least favorite. Every time I try to create a piece in this color, I struggle. I seem to have a hard time envisioning how this salmon color is going to turn out in the end. (I actually scrapped this piece when I first started working on it because I didn't think the colors I used were going to work.) I gave it another chance & this is how it turned out. I think it turned out ok?

The last 2 pieces are the front & back of one piece. I've never really worked with black as a focal color, so this is a first for me. I was really happy with how the gray cheesecloth & the iridescent lumiere paint worked on the black fabric.

Gift for a friend

I think it's safe to post this now. I made this for a friend of mine for Christmas & I think it's she's probably opened this by now. This piece without the mat & frame is approximately 8" x 10". Unfortunately, I didn't measure it with the frame before I sent it off, but I think it's approximately 11" by 14".

This fabric started off as a batik yellow. To give it some depth, I then added layers of stitching in multiple colors. It was then rubber stamped with Lumiere paint. With Misty Fuse, I then fused hand-dyed cheesecloth to the base fabric. (I bought 67 yards of cheesecloth from the RagLady, so I have to find many ways to use it in my work & prove my husband wrong that I really DID need that much). Before I matted the piece, I then adhered painted metal swirl clips & toilet tissue casts of swirls that I had dyed & painted. (below is a closeup picture)