She Paints & stuff

Some resent paintings and quilting projects.  :)

I made this from a painting from a friend KD Hardwood Sam's made the painting.

This another piece I made using a painting from a friend.  Michael Kanelos

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"The Artist"  Collectible Mohair Piggy

Here is my newest creation.  He's an artist just like I want to be called, but he really is!  He is sporting artist clothing designed just for him.  His beret has a hand cut filigree design on the top and his matching cape is made from a tweed black and red wool.  He sits at 8 inches tall and is made from mohair from Germany.  He is completely made by hand and is cotter pin jointed.  Hes facial features and hooves are felted by hand.  He is the cutest little thing right down to his curly tail!

I truly enjoyed making him and hope he finds a good home soon.

You can find this cutie in my Etsy online shop Here

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Having fun with redwork again

If you have never tried red work and like to have a project while you sit down in the evening to watch TV you must give it a try.  Red work is very fast to complete and the results can be a pillow or even a quilt.  I have several I've completed and haven't decided what to do with them yet.

Here are some I've done in the last couple months.

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Cloth Doll with Tentacles?

I'm guessing you sew too right?  You have people all the time that have requests?  Sometimes people even ask you..."will you make me a quilt"  my short answer is No and my long answer is to explain how expensive and time consuming a quilt is that selling them or giving them away is extremely difficult.  I rarely make a quilt for someone else any more...  If you get one from me then you must be super special to me.

Oh anyway that's not what this post is about, it's about a request for a doll...  A friend wanted me to make a doll to match a character she drew.  It was intriguing to me so I took on the challenge...

Well...I failed <<< laughing  mind you if I were to make it again it would be much better I assure you but since I was doing it for a trade and making a doll is expensive (of course she doesn't know that) I sent her the doll as is.  I might make another one just to see if I can but it will be for me or for me to sell...

So here is the doll I made....  He looks rather creepy but he is not supposed to be creepy.  His hair is suppose to look like suction-cup less tentacles not dread locks but now I know how to make dread locks!!!  I decided to let her paint his face since it is her painted character she would be better suited for bringing him to life.

Here he is before I put a clamp on his head to slim his face.

 These are after hours of clamping his head.

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Sewing Etui 

I've always wanted a little sewing box, a Antique French Etui with little antique sewing implements would be just the best thing ever to have.  Well, if you have ever looked for one you, like me have found that you need to have lots of dollars to get one.  Sad but true, and there is probably one in someone's attic sitting there getting all dusty waiting for someone like me.  One day, maybe just one day I will come across one I can afford.

In the mean time I got a bee in my bonnet again and this desire was on my mind.  I was looking online to see if I could find one I could afford and of course I couldn't so I rushed upstairs to make myself my very own little sewing box.  This is my first one, so of course after I made it I thought of many enhancements to this design.  I will be making more just so I get it perfectly the way I want.

But in the meantime here is my little sewing box.  I wish I had some really old things to put in it for my picture.  I found a few things around the house, so now I'm on a search of old sewing tools for my little box!

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Napping Kitty "Bertram"

Here is my latest 3D plushy.  I found the pattern here http://dollmakersjourney.com/kittykat.html.  She has lots of great patterns so if you love making dolls etc be sure to visit her page.
I still have to put the whiskers on this one.  I made this as a special treat for Tera, an Artist (and I mean Artist) friend who was so kind to send me a surprise painting.  Yes, she did something so sweet and "just because".  I love that, I wish more people were like her.  These little expressions of kindness make me smile.  You don't see this sort of kindness as often anymore.  Anyway, it made my day, and I wanted to do something kind in return.  Something she also would not expect.   I hope she like her new kitty...  it is also a pin cushion so if she ever decides dig out her needle and thread, well she will have something cute for her sewing room.
Anyway enough blabbering.... here is the kitten, with out whiskers.  I'll take another picture when I get those in.

Update:  Here is Bertram complete.  So so cute!

Here he is before whiskers and accessories.

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Learning to Paint watercolor, just dive in!

I'm really enjoying learning to use water color paint.  Mostly I have been doing ATC's which are the tiniest little paintings.  But since I've found watercolor canvas I've done a couple larger paintings.  I have many different mediums that I could use that would probably be much easier since there are tons of classes for acrylics and oils and pastels but no classes on water color that I've found in my area.
I just dove right in and am teaching myself how to use watercolor paint.  There are many techniques I have not tried yet but have heard of such as masking.  I will at some point give that a try.  Preserving white space is very difficult I agree.
Here is my second attempt at watercolor, while I'm not extremely pleased with it, I can see that I am getting better with practice.

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Tiny Dresses, oh so cute

You are probably tired of seeing my ATC's but I can't help myself.  I love these tiny pieces of art!  I wanted to share an ATC swap I've joined.  These are due in November but it's been on my mind to get them done.  I thought about drawing some dresses.... but then I though of those quilts people do with dresses on them and I though what a great idea to put tiny little dresses on ATC cards for the swap.  I hope you enjoy seeing my creations.  :)

And here are a few new hand drawn and painted ATC and my first canvas watercolor.

My watercolor on canvas.... 

You are probably going to laugh at me, I know I'm laughing....  well, I've yet again picked up another fun hobby.  Well, not sure you can classify my fun as hobbies, maybe more hobby hopping.
Anyway so I have fallen in love with making tiny little dolls, bears, elephants etc....  I love sitting while I'm watching some show I love on TV such as True Blood  (<<<  one of my favorites) all the while hand stitching up these little cuties.  I started out by making my own patterns cause I had NO clue that there were so many patterns out there.  Well not so much this tiny but you can always shrink any pattern down to palm size if you like.   So with some shrinking I've got some 3D ATC Pocket pals and just plain old teddy bears.

Okay there are so many art forms out there to try and for some reason I'm trying them all.  When will I learn....NEVER!
So there the documented life project...I'm working on figuring this one out and how to be creative enough to do this.  Not quite there yet.  Here are some of my practice projects so far from pencil to water colors.  Learning to use water color pencils but I have just ordered gelatos and I'm anxiously waiting for them to arrive.

And of course I was turned on to ATC or QATC to be exact... and I'm starting to finally really trade.  Here are some of the ATC's I've made so far.

This one here I'm mailing off today to a very dear friend.  I hope she loves it as much as I loved making it.

And this one, I left at the Retreat I went on a month or so ago.  A few of us made these for the proprietor of the Retreat "Retreats by Margie".   Carla Kennedy suggested we all make one and leave for her.  I enjoyed it so much I've sent Margie a couple more and have received a couple from her too.  What fun it is, and I must remember to thank Carla for turning me on to these little treasures.

I've made several more but never even thought of taking a picture....now I wish I had.  Oh well, such is life.  I love so many forms of art and I'm finding that the altered pages and ATC gives me a chance to incorporate a few of them all in one tiny little piece of art and that my dear is also a tiny piece of who I am that might be around long after I am gone if I do a good job!