Postcards

Postcards 

I ordered postcards last week from Overnight Prints and they have finally arrived. For a mere $5, you can get 25 postcards with your choice of 1 side only or 2 sides. Most of these are one side only. The top left is two sided, and the back side is in the next photo. Left to right starting at the top, Little Fish in a Big City (at Quilt National), Building UP (IQF Houston), Center Row A Few of My Favorite Things (Edges, at IQF), Falling Through the Cracks (IQF), and Duck and Cover (A Sense of Humor, SAQA, at IQF) Bottom Row Red Legged Bird with a Tale to Tell (Tactile Architecture, IQF) I like the postcards on the white background better. Without an exception, they all came out darker than my monitor (which was calibrated). This was a bit disappointing, but the quality of the cards was really nice and the price was exceptional. Just wish I could learn to manipulate my files better to get a more predictable and accurate color representation of my art.

First Batch, Half a Dozen Houses

First Batch, Half a Dozen Houses 

 Please accept my apologies in advance for this snapshot. I think I need to learn something new for these shiny surfaces... So, this is my first group. The quilts range in size from 3 1/2 " x 5" to 9" x 10" unframed. I have finished the edges in a variety of ways, satin stitch, fuse and wrap, and last, with facings. I like them all! A bright and cheerful group to start! Three of these have hand embroidery. And all have my original hand batiks and hand dyes. As for the framing....3 are framed in bright IKEA frames, one is framed in a small glass frame, one (the pink and blue one) is fabric wrapped around a canvas and painted (see previous post), and the last one (the largest) will use a hanging tube and a wooden slat. And, all have been signed (via sewing machine) by the artist, that's me!! Hopefully, this next week I will take individual photos (better than this one), and set prices, and decide on a venue to sell, either through a seperate blog, or maybe create an etsy shop. I will have to get back to you on that! Enjoy!

Little House #1

Little House #1 

quilt is 4.5" x 5.5" with frame 8" x 10" I have been inspired by Lisa Call's affordable art, and so I am making some small pieces for sale and experimenting with finishing techniques. The pink fabric is wrapped around a canvas and stapled to the back. I then painted the white dots and red stripes on the edges. This is the first in the series. I have 6 almost done and will be posting new photos soon. Then I just need to determine a price. It was strange working with such a small size, but so incredibly fun! I could try out a lot of different color combinations and quickly. Yum!

More Sewing

More Sewing 

What I've been up to....having tons of fun making more clothes for my daughter. I made two more versions of this dress. The first dress has pockets and a longer ruffle. I like the round pockets and the longer ruffle, but I think this might have been cuter to put the pockets lower, perhaps on the yellow ruffle? Also, I tried using a bias binding around the neck and sleeves (kindly suggested to me by a reader), and it worked wonderfully! This next one is another variation of the same pattern, but I made it into a shirt. I loved the pink flower print. So I took some of my fabric (the green checkerboard) and made a decorative pocket with a poppy coming out of it. If you look carefully, you will see that I just made a poppy similar to the print for the applique. I love applique! I also used my hand-dyes for the poppy. Enjoy the closeup! I also added a short ruffle at the bottom of the shirt from my coordinating green wavy stripe (from my stash of hand batiks). Last, I made a skirt to go with the shirt above. Sadly, it looked horrible together. The ruffle style of the skirt was just too full and the colors didn't quite work. I would have been really sad, except that my daughter had two lovely shirts in her closet already that went with the skirt! Now when does that ever happen?? The pink in this skirt is one of my hand-dyes. Last, was a cute red on red short sleeve shirt, but it was so UNcomfortable, and the goal was to make clothes that she could move in. I tried an alteration, but made the sleeves too tight. This one will get a re-design with some surface design on the front and new sleeves. I will post the original and the revision in another post. Thanks for reading!