Tiny Books

I recently signed up to participate in a Pay It Forward deal that Linda at Olde Baggs 'n Stuft Shirts posted on her Facebook page.  I agreed to post on my facebook page an offer to give something free to the first five people who signed up and agreed to do the same.  Last year I participated in this and it was fun so I was happy to do it again.  I made these little folded paper books to give away that Maggi at Hand Dyes taught me how to make.

They measure 3 by 3 and a half inches. They have all these little pockets in them that I try to put tiny treasures in.

The treasure might only be a poem or a feather.  I already gave one of the books away so I need to come up with two more things to give away.

Dooleybobber  #?
 
At the end of last year I made this on my needle felting machine.  I haven't made a dooleybobber in so long that I don't know what number this one is!  I stitched it by hand using hand dyed threads that I got from Maggi.  You might like to hop over and look at her luscious threads and fabrics and  indulge yourself and buy some, they are gorgeous.  Tell her Jan sent you.  Oh and do you see that gold colored rectangular thing in the upper right hand corner?  That was a piece of a plastic tray that held chocolates.  I put it on top of my wood stove on a safe metal tray and let it melt until it became mostly flat.  It didn't even stick to the safe metal tray, just came right off.  I stamped the word "Create" on it in Stazon ink.  I was just experimenting a bit.

I put that dooleybobber #? on the cover of a 3 ring notebook that I use as my desk calendar.  I have a folder for each month and can put in my writing and cards that I receive or whatever.  I'm liking this so far.  I have some wonderful calendar images that my friends in my Stitch 'n Bitch group made for me.  If you click on the link it will take you to our group blog.

More recently I have been playing with a gelli plate that my friend Anne at El Milagro Studio sent to me.  Above you can see the gelli plate and two texture plates I made from fun foam.  Wow, is this fun or what!?!  Thanks again, Anne!

Here are some of my favorite papers I have created so far.  I have the 6 inch square gelli plate.

Here are a few more.  The dark spiral that you see is a resist I created from Tyvek and used.  It was so pretty I want to use it on a card or in my journal or something.  Bonus!

I made these papers by cleaning my brayer off on them.  Cool, yes?  They remind me of Madras plaids.  I have lots of papers to use somewhere now and I've only played with the gelli plate for a couple of hours!  I made a card out of one of my pullings already.  Nice!  They have plenty of video tutorials available on their blog, check them out here.

Well that's about all for today.  I shall leave you with this self portrait.  Until next time,

Be well.

Lately

I became enthused to try to make a little weaving on my small beading loom.  I strung it with red upholstery thread and began weaving in various fibers and ribbons and threads.  I wasn't sure what I was going to do with it once I finished it, I didn't have a plan.

After I put it on this piece of felt I had made, I liked it there so that is where I attached it.

This little silver decoration is a fork.  I've had it for over 20 years and now it seems to fit into this piece nicely.  By the way, the black background is not part of the piece.

Another thing I've been working on lately are these postcards that were mailed out to the other gals in my Stitch 'n Bitch group.  If you want to see what kinds of things we do you can check out our blog here: Fox On The Run.

Today I was playing with my needle felting machine.  I took some suggestions from Maggi at To Dream To Stitch and layered some silver foil on purple felt with Misty Fuse between the layers.  Then I needled silk and wool fibers on top. You can see the colors I used in the bundle to the right there. Next came some pale green organza, needled and then hit with a heat gun to melt the organza mostly away.  The photo below shows the foil fused to the felt, next to the left over foil.

Not sure what I where I will go with it from here.  Some hand work, for sure.

We did get some sun finally, and I was busy outside doing gardening and walking, enjoying the sun.  Today was back to pure clouds and a bit of rain.   I'm still here.  I guess I'm just an ol' backslider, not worth rapturing.

Be well.

Home again

"Portals"  20"X20" (Sold!)

I finally got in to pick up my fiber art pieces that had been on display/for sale in the cafe.  They left them up for a couple of months but now they are doing some remodeling and didn't want my work to get dusty.  After I got them all home again I decided to put these three up on the wall in my house.  This first one is titled "Portals".

Close up showing rusted scrim used in the garment, and the painted paper clay molded face.

I stamped the sun image and did additional painting on it.  The greenish clouds are made with painted and heat distressed tyvek.

The background is a hand painted old linen napkin.  Now that I think about it, this was really the beginning of my hand stitching direction I seem to be mostly sticking with these days.  This piece is entirely hand stitched.

"The Fire Within"   14"X16"

This second piece also uses a bit of heat distressed painted tyvek, and various fabric bits and couched fibers and beads.  Again, entirely hand stitched.

"Layers"  13"X13"(Sold!)

  This piece has lots of couched strips of dyed scrim and plenty of beads and bits of stone and shell stitched down.  Hand embroidery holds the layers together.

That is my little gallery of fiber arts in the prime showcase area in my house for now.  I like to rotate things, usually I put my most recently finished pieces there if they fit.  I hope you enjoyed this viewing of some of my older pieces.  They are all for sale if anyone is interested.

I'm concerned for all of you who have been hit by the big storm that is passing through.  I pray that you are all safe and waiting out the storm until things can get back to normal.  You all take care and be well.

Blue House Cafe

I received a call from the proprietors of a cafe in a nearby town last week.  They have rotating art work on their large walls, and wanted to know if I would be willing to bring some of my art quilts in for display.  I have displayed there once before, so they were familiar with my work and really like how it looks in the cafe.

Of course I said yes!  As you can see, the space is more like an art gallery than a restaurant.  The ceilings are very tall, the walls clean and white with little clutter.  They also have live music on weekends, and wi fi all the time.  Do you see that door?  It leads to a vault, this building used to be a bank. 

Above you see the entrance to the cafe.  Finally a worthy place to hang one of my larger pieces!

This is the outside of the restaurant.  It really stands out in this small town logging community.

Here is my helper. Chain Saw man.

He insisted on snapping a picture of me.  I look rather tired after all that hanging and climbing up and down ladders.

 This is such a nice place and the proprietors are wonderful people.

I love how they have it painted and decorated.  

So if you are going through Vernonia, Oregon in the next month, stop in and have lunch, view the art work, say Hello to Eleanora, the woman behind the counter.  The picture I took of her didn't turn out.  Too bad, she is a lovely woman.

Be well.

The Mare and Marie

I received a call from the gallery where I have my fiber art. They did a big switch around and took all my work down, could I please bring in some new pieces and pick up the old ones. I do have new work to put in but I don't have all the labels and pricing and paperwork done so I decided to head on into town and pick up my old work before it got lost in the shuffle.

This is one of the pieces that was there. Hello, Marie! Haven't seen you in awhile, welcome home. I wouldn't have minded if The Mare and Marie had found a new home somewhere, but that's all right. I put so many hours of work into the beading on this piece, I'm happy to have it back so I can enjoy it again.

What do you all do with your piles of art work? The ones that haven't sold? I don't have enough wall space to display it all, maybe I should loan some out.
Be well.