Mr and Mrs Santa Claus Paper dolls

By on 10-29-2010 in Original Pattern, Original Quilts

It’s Christmas and I have new paper dolls. Mrs Claus is now playing and working with Santa in the workshop and the elves are doing the cooking, cleaning and laundry. No more sooty clothes for Mrs Claus because she is curled up with a hot chocolate getting ready for her own long winter’s nap

We are back after a year’s respite and too much to do

By on 10-29-2010 in Original Pattern, Original Quilts

It’s been a while since I’ve posted. Other, more important things had taken my attention until now. I have been working on a new paper doll so there will be variations throughout the year … watch for them. I have also been working on Sebastian Michael’s Photoshop Artistry Course and will post my challenges here so you can take a peak at the progress you go through with a digital course. I have just picked back up the Life Book 2016 course again as well and of course summer is now here. Glad to be back after such a long time.

Digital challenges at the Just Art site for January

By on 10-29-2010 in Original Pattern, Original Quilts

So many challenges so far this year at the Just Art site, come and join in the fun here: Just Art Scrapbooking

B is for Ballet
We have a new year long challenge … A to Z … I haven’t done A yet. Loved doing this B – Ballet page.

D is for Dragon, Arty for short
This is my D page and here is my bubble blowing dragon, Arty once again. He keeps whispering in my ear that he wants another adventure.

C is for chickens
Isn’t this rooster a proud fellow? This page was a joy to do in the middle of our winter.

Dance
Dance was done for the main monthly challenge with a fabulous dance kit from Jilbert

Happy New Year
Of course we had to bring in 2016 with gold and glitter and a bottle of champagne with Gabi’s Turn of the Year kit

cooa
Coco Chanel has always been one of my favourite designers. She introduced us to the little black dress and the chanel jacket.

Blue Winter
Blue winter was done with Gabi’s wonderful template … brrrrr, glad winter is almost gone now.

Time challenge, Life Book Lesson 16 with Alena Hennesy

By on 10-29-2010 in Original Pattern, Original Quilts

What a great lesson with Alena. We got our hands down and dirty with paint creating marks and working the background and when we finished with that we then went on to bring out a drawing on top. I used a brush pen to create the flowers and sun. We were also to challenge ourselves with a 10 minute time deadline. Anybody who knows me knows I can’t do that …I am the proverbial turtle. I get things done but can’t do it quickly so I didn’t stress myself out trying to fit my art into the time frame.

time
time

Catnip Capers …. a summer quilt of kitties playing in the sun

By on 10-29-2010 in Original Pattern, Original Quilts

Catnip Capers was done for a woman who truly is the mother of these cats. Her favourite flowers are sun flowers and I thought what better than to put the cats in a sunflower garden enjoying the sun on a hot hazy day. The butterflies and dragonflies along with ladybugs are all present on this summer noon along with a hazy sun directly above. The cats are playing and rolling in the grass with one (there’s always one) looking down on them with humour.

catnip capers

These cats started as embroidery outlines. I painted and coloured them in Photoshop using a Wacom Bamboo tablet. Once they were fully drawn and coloured in I used filters to give them a soft furry look. The sunflowers have stuffed middles along with some of the petals that have been sewn down onto the quilt background. Other petals are double sided giving the flowers a 3D look. The stems are twisted cord, ribbon and embroidery floss. Large leaves were cut and sewn with a raw edge and then fray stop was used to keep them from fraying. The brown-eyed susans have button middles and the flower petals are simply a piece of gathered strips that has been cut with a pinking blade and doubled. The chickweed flowers were made on a daisy loom with ribbon and seed beads sewn for the centers. The little forget-me-nots are made with dark silk from men’s ties and mauve lame. Simple small yoyos turned backward and sewn down with more seed beads. The dragonflies, butterflies and ladybugs are buttons and embellishments. This quilt was an absolute joy to make from start to finish.

Fantasy Quilt….”Camelot rising through a misty dawn”

By on 10-29-2010 in Original Pattern, Original Quilts

Camelot in a misty dawn

Another challenge quilt with the Valerie Hearder Landscape Quilt Yahoo Group….what fun to do. The willow in the quilt was created in honour of our fallen weeping willow. It fell so hard this winter it has ‘drilled’ itself into the winter earth. I created the willow branches using untwisted poly/cotton strands. I tripled a strand, tied a knot in one end and then sewed each strand by hand onto the tree trunk. It took over 14 hours of work. I also couched the strands down with matching thread to keep the branches from spreading outside the working area. Although it was time consuming I think it was very successful….it does look like a willow tree. I also used ribbons, chain link, lace, crocheted cord, beads as well as watercolour pencils to add to the ‘fairytale’ look of the quilt.