Masks and Painting Progress

You are all probably growing tired of seeing all the mask tutorials circulating online, but I think we are gonna be wearing them for quite some time. So, why not have a design that is easy to make, functional and great fitting. I am not doing a tutorial here....instead,  I am going to direct you to the site of the amazingly talented Judy Coates Perez where she has posted a wonderful step by step tutorial, includes a link to a video by the original designer and as an added bonus, Judy has designed fabulous fabric that you could purchase to make these masks (each one is her incredible artwork)

I have made a few in this design and I have to say they are the best fitting yet, the shape gives you more breathing room and allows for a much better fit on the face. I originally made masks fashioned after the pleated medical type.....I like this newer design so much better.  I followed the instructions but I did make a couple of modifications. 

 

 

instead of a 3rd layer of cotton, I stitch a piece of non woven stabilizer to one of the cotton layers. ( its the stuff people use to stabilize/back machine embroidery work. It acts as an excellent filter.

 

for the nose wire.....I have been using twist ties. but sometimes they are pretty flimsy so I get around that by putting 2 or 3 (depends on what I feel it needs) together and then doing a zig zag stitch over top to keep them all together to serve as one solid bit. 

 this design also makes the masks reversible.....so you can use a vivid fabric print on one side and something a little more subdued on the other.  wear the one that matches your mood (or situation) that day. of course, be sure its been washed before switching it out.

Currently it can be difficult to avoid both news about Covid-19 and politics......while I strive to stay informed, I decided I also needed to find something positive to focus my attention on. Back in the spring I joined Anna Mason's School of Art. I have been working though a variety of skill building lessons

I thought I would show you my most recent paintings. This one was a lesson on how to handle painting glass.

and this Rose is an "advance" level lesson. I was concerned that I might not be ready for the complexities of this one, it took me a very long time, I worked slowly trying to capture the detail. I love that you can loose yourself and shut out the rest of the world as you put brush to paper

 

Knitting and Math

I recently ordered a sweater kit from Craftsy, I have in the past, purchased several classes and was curious about the physical products they offer. There was a promotion that gave 50% off some of the kits so it was an excellent time to give it a try.

Part of that promotion provided a 1 month free trial of Bluprint..... now I must admit that having the month long access to all classes with Bluprint I am taking advantage by checking out classes I may have not done otherwise.

In one of the classes, Wear What You Knit, Perfect Sweater Fit & Style with instructor Sally Melville, I learned a nifty trick for re-gauging a knitting pattern. If you are like me, you often see a sweater pattern that you would like to knit but either don't have ( or don't like) the size of yarn called for. A simple math formula can be used to "regauge" the pattern so that you can knit it using the yarn you want..... how excellent is that?!!....I mean....Whoa! you can do this? I could not wait to test this out, I needed  to see if the math would actually work for me.

I chose to use the math from the Sally Melville class to try knitting a sweater from the class Choose Your Own Sweater Adventure with Eunny Jang. The sweaters in this class called for a chunky yarn with a gauge of 12 stitches over 4". Personally, I do not like to wear or work with heavier yarns, I much prefer to knit with finer yarns.  The yarn I wanted to use is giving me 22 stitches over 4" and even with a lace pattern the math is working and the sweater is coming along great. I love that in this class you can knit so many variations of the pattern(s) provided

trouble is I now have 2 sweaters on the go  :-)

in addition to those classes I have also taken a number of classes about spinning and dyeing yarn and while I do not have a wheel, I find that I am able to apply much of what I am learning to the spinning I am doing on my drop spindles....as for the dyeing, well I am wanting to venture into dyeing my own fibre so you will likely see future posts on those experiments.

Here is a look at the fibre I have been spinning, the spindle on the left holds my spun singles, the spindle on the right contains the yarn as it has been chained plied (also referred to as Navajo plying)

and finally the finished yarn

here is a quick clip of me using my drop spindle

I have a few other things on the go as well so I hope to be back before too, too, long with another post

More Fabric Painting

I promised I would show you more of the fabric painting project that I have been working on. But I was scheduled to do a presentation at the Oxford Quilters Guild this week (well 2 actually, since they have an evening and morning program) and wanted to give them first peak at this work. I am not accustomed to public speaking and making presentations, but all of the guild members were so receptive, they welcomed me with great energy and made me feel at ease, it was a fabulous experience.
I mentioned that even though I have played with paint for a while now, I thought it was time to take a class. I signed up for an online class through Craftsy, for one called Painting Pictorial Quilts with Annette Kennedy.

This is one of the class projects. Here you see the beginning stage, the bloom is one piece of fabric, as is the leaf and then the stems are another. They are simply cut and fused to the background fabric. looking pretty plain.

then you see the drama unfold as depth and shadow is added, simply with paint. in this photo just the leaf and stem have had paint applied

here is the finished painted Calla Lily  (the background colour is more true in all of the other photos, not sure why this looks quite so purple)

 A very small amount of stitching is added

 and here is it bordered, quilted and bound.

This class was great fun, well laid out, and best of all you can pause, back-up and re-watch segments as many times as you need. I followed the instructions and did it all her way, for my first attempt, I am really quite pleased with the result, my plan is to now take what I have learned and apply this using my own photos. I can hardly wait to get started