Sunday, February 19, 2012

Coneflowers . . .


I love batiks!!!  I kept looking at this beautiful teal one and wondered what it would look like as a canvas.  So I placed the fat quarter batik onto some low loft batting and stitched away.  I actually chose to use one of the stitches on my Viking and sewed grids which worked just as well.  When finished I had my batik fabric canvas . . .

This is how I chose to quilt it . . . curvy grid pattern . . .


What to "paint" on the canvas was the next step.  I went to my trusty notebook of ideas and found a beautiful coneflower pattern in the June/July 2011 Quick/Quilts magazine by McCalls Magazine.  I reduced the size of the templates and began to trace onto the back of my two-sided fusible.  Next step was to choose fabrics . . . auditioned quite a few colors and decided on a really pretty yellow with orange centers.  I decided I wanted the leaves to "jump" off the fabric canvas so I fused two fabrics together and satin stitched around the shape of the leaf, cut out closely but not on the stitched line, and put them aside to be the last addition to this project.

Next I ironed the fusible onto the reverse side of my chosen fabric and made petals and centers of my flowers.  I found some darker green fabric (actually I think it was Christmas fabric) and cut out stems on the bias so they would not ravel and I could curve them easily. 
After fusing the petals and centers down onto the fabric, I stitched around and around in both petals and centers. 

 I decided on a ziz zag stitch for the stems and stitched down the middle of the cut out leaves.  I wanted some of them off the fabric for added dimension.  Here's the finished project . . .

I like the finished project and hope it motivates you to start with a fabric canvas and create something, too.
"Dance to the music of your dreams;
the steps will bring you joy."
Anonymous

HAVE FUN!!!

 


Thursday, February 16, 2012

Black and White Doodlilicous...

Don't you just love the crispness of black and white??  It certainly appeals to me.  Below is the old cabinet door (I mentioned in my last blog as a work in progress) that I recycled, painted white, and doodled in black and white.  See what you think.


I must apologize for my poor photography skills . . . I really need to take a photography class, don't you think?

Also, I decided to take a "store bought" stretched canvas, added a coat of white acryllic paint and doodled with a Sharpie Paint Pen.  Here's the finished product . . .


This is a super fun art project where you can just relax and do your own thing.  There are NO mistakes, just pure FUN!






Sunday, February 12, 2012

Doodling. . . .

Do you ever doodle while talking on the phone, at church during the sermon, while you are listening to a lecture, watching television, etc.?  If you do, why not turn it into art.  Alisa Burke's book Sew Wild is a great start.  She gives many examples of doodling on canvas, fabric, etc.  On the sample below, I chose to doodle (using a permanent marker) all over a small stretched art canvas.  I had been doodling in just black and white but after talking to Jennifer (Jangles) Heynen who suggested adding color, I thought I would give it a try . . So I pulled out colored permanent markers, paint markers, watercolor crayons, and acryllic paints and "went to town" so to speak.  It is abolutely addicting.  I intend on doing more and using some Zentangles to fill in some spaces.  Will demo when complete.  This is my completed project ...

I decided to add a little bling and went through my scrapbooking supplies and found some specialty brads.  They work great on canvas.  Just cut a tiny spot, insert brad, and spread the back open.  I chose to fill in background with black
and painted the sides of the canvas with black.  I wanted to add a word so Bloom seemed appropriate.  I really enjoyed making this and will make many more.  I have made black and white doodle fabric and dyed with Rit dye.  As of right now, I found an old cabinet door, painted it white, and doodling it in a permanent black marker.  I will leave this one black and white.  Will blog about it when completed.
ALSO, I have quite a bit of OLD scrapbooking supplies and decided to go through them and recycle them in some way.  I got my husband to make me a picture frame out of some of his scrap wood.  I then painted and distressed it.  In my cache of supplies I found rub-ons and stickers and some really pretty paper.  I cut the paper and affixed it to a piece of foam board leftover from another project and proceeded to "decorate".  I added sticker quotes and glued on buttons (another of my favorites) for some added dimension.  Here is my finished project . . .


Be sure to check out Alisa Burke's book SEW WILD and her book CANVAS REMIX.  She is very creative and has a great blog . . .
alisaburke.blogspot.com
And Jennifer Jangles blogspot is always good . . .
jenniferjangles.blogspot.com

Start some doodling and always have FUN!!!