Watercolor Journal Class

In an attempt to learn some of her freewheeling journaling techniques, I enrolled in Jane LaFazio’s Sketching & Watercolor; Journal Style class at Joggles. It feels so strange to be working quickly with lots of intense color and water. My usual method for building up color is to lay down lots of glazes using only enough water to soften and diffuse the edges. This is much faster. Here are my exercises for week one and two.

Fun wuith FME

I have learned so many things in the Free Motion Embroidery class I took at Joggles. Most especially, I learned that I can adjust the tension on my bobbin case and, contrary to the warnings of the sewing machine dealer, the universe will not implode! That, alone, opens up a whole new world of stitch possibilities. Anyway, I’m still working through the lessons - and will be for quite awhile. Thought I’d show you one of the exercises I just completed – an example of cutwork.

WISP (Work in Slow Progress)

This still needs a lot more beads, but I’ve been working on it for awhile and wanted to show an update. The base is this monoprint painting I did in Susan Sorrell’s monoprinting class a few years ago. At the time, I didn’t own an orange cat, but now I have two! This quiltlet always makes me think of Briar, my little pumpkin-colored cat with tummy troubles, who insists on being spoon-fed. He has to have pumpkin or sweet potatoes added to his food for proper elimination. For some reason, he also likes me to sing Bobby Rydell’s “Wildwood Days” while he eats. And so I do...

I’ve been working on my FME lessons. The course is great and I'm learning things I would have never thought to try on my own.

A New Santa...

I’ve been really busy with a whole bunch of projects, one of which is taking Janet Clark’s fun and thorough free-motion embroidery class at Joggles. I have also been hand stitching and beading a couple of small art quilts begun in previous Joggles classes. And this afternoon, I finally finished a Santa that I started a couple of years ago. In 2008, I made a jacket out of some cool vintage upholstery fabric with little raised “needlepoint” flowers that my friend and neighbor, Linda, gave me. I never finished the doll because I couldn’t find just the right accessory for him to hold. A few weeks ago, while looking for something else, I happened to run across a little test of a faux needlepoint design I had stitched quite awhile back on my embroidery machine. I had forgotten that the motif was in the same exact colors as the jacket. So, I tea-dyed it, cut it out and hand stitched it to a small bag I made from a stained vintage towel. In my mom’s old sewing box, I found a piece of rust brown lace seam tape to tie the bag. Although this Santa can be displayed all year, he is especially nice for fall because of the harvest colors in his outfit.

Do you see the little hole in the gourd? That is a cat tooth mark - bad kitties!