Autumn

First day of Autumn.......what?.....wait....I wasn't done with Summer yet!
Don't get me wrong... Autumn is a lovely time of year....but the trouble with Autumn is, that Winter comes fast on its heels......and I do NOT like Winter!

This thinking inspired me to create a new snowflake.

here is the drawing I did on one section of the paper in preparation for the cutting.

 Staples hold the 12 layers firmly in place

To get the points of my scissors into small areas I usually use a hole punch, but these are some pretty small areas, far too small for a hole punch, so I used the tip of an awl to make holes. ( a piece of cork tile allows the awl to sink in but protects my table surface)

This is how it looked once the cutting was done but before I unfolded the layers of paper.

Colouring Page 002

I can hardly believe it....but it has been about 2 months since I last threaded a needle.....there has simply been no textile "anything" happening around here lately.
But since I did not want to ignore my blog completely....I thought I would post another free colouring page.

You can grab a downloadable, printable PDF here

Evolution of my Drawing Style

It was a little more than 10 years ago when a repetitive strain injury to my left arm drastically limited many of my activities. It was right around then that I took an introduction to drawing class and bought a couple of books.
I really am a "greyscale" monochromatic type gal and was quickly drawn to graphite work.
I learned to work from a photograph using a "grid" method.  I would place a small grid over the photo and create a larger grid on my drawing paper....one area at a time......observing....drawing.....slowly trying to duplicate the image.

The photo

drawing in progress with grid

Finished pencil drawing

I could do it with a certain degree of success, but it took me hours and hours, I would work on each drawing over the course of several days. I rarely showed anyone the finished drawings  ( I do what a lot of us do.....let that negative self-talk creep in.....you know the one....that says it is not good enough)
Drawing in this manner required time  (lots of time), patience and was not very "portable" for me

At some point after starting my blog, I joined a creative prompt group. The idea was to do something creative in response to a single word posted each week. I began doing quick doodles and posting them to the group (posting them quick before I lost my nerve) early ones were pretty rough, but the idea was to be creative...and by posting whatever I drew no matter what, I learned to let go of that negative talk (well mostly)
I could draw these anywhere, anytime.....always took a sketchbook with me and would draw where ever and whenever I found myself with a few minutes  What a fabulous way to bring about inspiration and while I have not posted to the group in quite some time Jaye is still posting those "prompt" words....last week she posted word number 324 .....Wow!

Those silly drawings continue to evolve. When Janome showed interest in turning some of those doodles into machine embroidery, I quickly learned to refine the doodle.
just take a look at the difference between the bee that they first saw and the bee I refined to work better in a stitched version.

and how it looks in machined stitches

Another example would be this early flower doodle

This is how I draw them today

Unlike those early graphite drawings, drawing this way allows me to NOT become obsessed over the details, always trying to get it "right" and it is great fun drawing things with quirky details instead of trying to achieve complete realism. 

A New Bed Skirt

I have wanted to replace my bed skirt for a while......just could not find what I was looking for. My old one was one of those "ruffled" things in boring cream.

When I could not find what I had in mind, I figured it was time to make one. The challenge was then to find fabric I liked that was not over the moon in cost.
The solution? a set of sheets on sale. By cutting away the elastic on the fitted sheet and the hems on the flat one, I had lots of yardage.

I did not document the process but here is a link to a wonderful tutorial. It is pretty much what I did (although, I did not use any other fabric....just the sheets) I even made my pillow shams using the sheet material and still have lots to make a few decorative pillows.

you can't really see the details in the photo above.....the sheets I used had a great pattern....it is a rich brick red with a nice little stripe

Colouring

Undoubtedly, you will have heard about the growing trend of Adult colouring books.....recently, I was directed to a Facebook post where members of a newly formed colouring club were discussing where one could find some free downloadable coluring pages. (from what I saw they had already purchased a number of books ....perhaps they were just looking for even more variety).

So......I thought.....why not post one here. I often play with doodling in a more abstract form, sometimes some interesting designs appear.

like this one

if you would like to grab it and colour....be my guest....you can get the downloadable, printable file (PDF) here.

Be sure you are printing with "non-running"ink if you want to use anything other than dry media.
Images printed on my ink jet printer will smear if I use a marker....but printers that use toner seem to be fine. If you really want to lay on a lot of colour, try printing on an art paper or cardstock.

I would love some comments on this.....will you download this file and colour?  would you like to see more like this one?  Enjoy   :-)

Garden Art

Have you seen this idea?.....making garden art from glass ware? when I did..... I just knew I had to make a few.
There are lots of tutorials all over the web.  I will give you a sort of "photo" tutorial....but Google it, and you will find lots and lots of variations

 gather some glass ware.......pretty colours and shapes especially...clean it thoroughly

play with different combinations till you find something appealing

you will need glue and some sort of rods (stems)

This glue, recommended on other tutorials, the rods - plastic coated, metal plant stakes from the Dollar store

Follow the package directions for the gluing process

you need something mounted to the back of the flower that you can insert your "stem" into.....for each one, I used an old hockey puck and drilled a hole to accommodate the rod ....hockey pucks are nice and flat and have lots of surface area for excellent adhesion......(but again, Google it and you will find many different ways to "mount" the flowers)

After the flowers were assembled and left to "cure", using the same glue, I attached the drilled hockey puck to the back and then left that to fully dry (cure)  Making these is not difficult but it does require patience waiting for everything to set up.

Last step is to insert the rod into the hole of the puck and pick a spot to plant your flower

I used coloured glass marbles for the ring of colour here

Citrus(y)

great for pots as well

International

A few months ago, I had the opportunity to contribute to an International publication.  Coloriage and Doodling #2  (Spring/Summer) contains a wide variety of coloring and doodling exercises and activities. Available in French speaking regions.....France, Belgium, DOM, Luxembourg, Portugal, French speaking Canada and online here.
I submitted 2 designs.......I am always so delighted to see my work in print.
Below, is a shot of the front Cover and contents page (small versions of my images also appear there on the bottom left of the contents page)

and a peak at "my" pages

Last days of Spring

I had intended to share this applique design this spring,....but I seem to be a little late....well actually, since Summer does not officially arrive until Sunday..... I am not late after all.

This block was designed as part of short article I wrote for CQA in early 2012,
In this article, I talk about auditioning fabrics and how to use interesting prints to your advantage.  The pattern is an applique block that can, of course, be done in whatever method you prefer. Mine is hand appliqued.

Perhaps you are looking for a project to work on while enjoying some lovely days on the deck.
You can view, download and print the file here
If you print the design at actual size, it will work nicely for an 8 inch block......if you would like it to fit a 12" block, you will need to enlarge it roughly 140%

A tutorial of my favourite method for freezer paper applique (including how I do those tiny 1/8" stems) can be found here

Abundant

It seems we have a bumper crop this year....they are everywhere. Guess the squirrels won't go hungry.

Coming soon

For quite some time, I have been toying with the idea of opening an Etsy shop. I think this is the year I will actually do it. While I have not yet anything to list, ( I am working on it )
So far, I have registered my shop name and created my banner.
Banner size restrictions meant I would need to work in a long narrow format.......I began drawing this mix of floral pattern

played and tweaked until I ended up with this

not sure when I will be ready to "open", but I have finally begun the process.