Etsy and me

Hey! What's that in the right hand side bar? :) I've been selected as the Etsy Pick of the Day. I'm super excited about this. So, if you get a chance, head on over there and check it out.
I can't, however, post just text. I'm way too visually oriented for that. So, I'm putting up an image of a work in progress. My dear, sweet middle daughter, Rachel, has requested a pillow sham for her bed. She said that she wanted it to be like my Twinkle quilt. Unfortunately, she went out of town for the past week, leaving me to my own devices. I made a variation on that image.
I'm actually further along than this picture indicates. I've already done most of the quilting. The big circles actually came from a twin sized duvet set I bought at IKEA. The duvet is covered with numbers from zero to nine. I just loved it as fabric. And, it's actually quite the deal. The duvet set includes a solid colored top sheet, sham printed with the same image as the duvet cover and the duvet itself. There must be 5,6, maybe 7 yards of fabric there, all for $12.99. Pretty sweet.
I mixed in some of my own hand dyes and other bits and there you have it.
Rachel just got home last night, so we'll see what she says.

Sewing for ME

This past week, my two elder girls have been out of town with their swim team in California. (minor digression: the entire team, coach and chaperones had to spend the night last night in LAX because their flight back to Austin was canceled. They are, however, on their way back at this very moment.) Anyway...that left just me and Abi at home. So, I decided that I'd take some time to sew myself a few things. Now, I haven't officially taken the wardrobe refashion pledge, but I've been living by it for the past month or so. I'm thinking about taking the more official plunge for July. I'm really attracted to the idea of making my own clothes. My ears always perk up when I meet someone and, in the course of chatting with them, they mention that they sew their own clothing. Long story short(wait, too late for that) I've made myself two new summer shirts from the ever popular pattern Simplicity 4589.
I made this with some fabric I bought a while back at my local Joann's.
I loved the first version so much that I made a second top. This time I sewed one of the sleeveless views. I used some fabric that I had bought from Purl . This fabric was originally slated for more twinkle circles, but I really liked this top that I saw featured on Sew,mama,sew The article was about ways to use Denyse Schmidt's latest line of fabrics. What struck me, though, was the idea of using some of the terrific crafting/quilting fabric that's out these day to create garments. So, I decided to use this Rowan print for just that.

More twinkling

I had so much fun making my Twinkle quilt, that I decided I wasn't ready for my star to go super nova just yet. I've got a few more twinkle ideas. Plus, that's the way I work. One idea tends to lead to another. Trying one possibility makes me wonder what would happen if I added this or changed that. I don't think that's particularly unusual. It does sometimes hamper my ability to repeat an image. It's sort of like reading a book. I may love a book and thoroughly enjoy reading it, but I can't think of a time that I went back and reread a book.
No repeats, but I'm pretty good with variation on a theme.
I love these vintage buttons. There's a great resale store(euphemism for junk shop) near my house. I'm torn about how I feel about going there. On the one hand, I bought a bag full of amazing buttons there the other day for $5, but the place is such a wreck. Nothing is actually sorted. It's just piled up. I went there with Abi and she said that you couldn't work in the place if you were heavy set because the aisles are so narrow and everything is so precariously placed that you would inevitably knock stuff over. It's a bit creepy, but we go there anyway.

New Stuff

So, I actually managed to change my header. I can't tell you how happy that makes me. Of course, it took the better part of three hours and was accompanied by a series of words better left unrepeated, but I did it. I also managed to finish a few more items and start setting up my etsy shop . I don't have everything up in my shop (not even close), but I'm on my way. So, all in all, a very productive day. Here's some evidence :
A new little quilt.
Hand dyed and batiked coasters. Wait. Doesn't everyone need a set of these?
Another set of log cabin coasters. This time in blues. OK. I'm going to bed now.

Another One

I've made yet another challah cover. This one's for someone who's bought several things from me in the past. I really enjoyed mixing all the different fabrics in this piece. I used some of my hand-dyed cottons, new fabric that I recently purchased from Purl (I so love that place) and some thrifted fabric. Tomorrow this piece goes to it's new home. This is one of the last things on my to-do list before I can finish my prep work for my Etsy store. My plan is to open it on the first day of summer. That's June 21. That's this Thursday. Oh my!

Collages

A while back I made a series of collages. I haven't made any since then, but lately I've been thinking of investigating this medium again.Most of the collages I made incorporated photographs I took myself, xeroxed bits, old drawings and magazine clippings.Now, I'd really like to investigate all the different ways there are to transfer images to paper. I've also been so inspired by all the amazing works on paper I've seen on different blogs and flickr.It's interesting to think about how these images relate to the quilts I've made lately.
I'm so glad that I've discovered blogging and the community it fosters. It has taught me a lot and inspired me even more.

Bears on Stairs

This week I've been teaching a summer art camp at the Art Pad. The class is called Soft Sculpture, but it's basically making softies. I only have three students in my class(one of which is my Abi), but we're having fun nonetheless. Their first project was to make a felt bear using the pattern in the book, Toys to Sew. I was so impressed with how they did and their enthusiasm. We shot these pictures this morning.
If you're familiar with the book, there's a picture of a grouping of these bears between the rungs of stairs(hey, that rhymes!). The girls wanted to shoot their bears in a similar setting.
Here are the three crafty kids with their creations. Now they are busily working on creatures that they have designed. Stay tuned for pictures of those guys.

Twinkle, twinkle little quilt...

What an incredibly sappy title! Oh well. It all stems from my excitement at finishing Twinkle. As I was quilting it, I decided to take the border fabric off. To quote my youngest, "It just doesn't seem like you." Does that mean that she differentiates people based on whether would add a border to a quilt or wouldn't. No matter. According to her, I'm not a border-on-the-quilt-type and that's all there is to it.

Curious George

Now doesn't the mere mention of that mischievous monkey make you smile? The other day I was cleaning up my studio( a truly monumental task) and I ran across some Curious George fabric. I had used the fabric years ago to make Abi a pair of pants. Needless to say, she brought smiles to everyone's faces when she wore them. Anyway, the leftovers got put in some basket, only to be unearthed a few days ago.Well, after I stopped grinning, I decide to use the fabric in another set of coasters. These are not a gift, but rather part of the work I'm making in preparation for opening up an Etsy shop. I really am getting a kick out of planning what will go into my shop.
And making the stuff really brightens my day. It seems like a perfect summer activity.

Twinkle

It's been a while since I posted the first work in progress image of my discharged circles quilt . Well, I've finally finished the top and I'm ready to start quilting. Here's a view of this quilt:
From the beginning, I knew that it's name was Twinkle. I usually struggle to title my quilts , but this one was different. From the first discharged circle, I knew what the title was going to be.
I have a new stack of commercial fabric that I've just started to discharge and overdye. I'm thinking about making some twinkle pillows and this:
Made like Twinkle, but using a different shape and obviously inspired by all the ripples I've been seeing lately.

Re-Opening and Remaking

I've mentioned before that I teach classes at The Art Pad. Well, it's moved to a new location and celebrated this move with a Re-Opening celebration. I, along with several other artists, got to participate in the event.
Now, if you know anything about Texas weather in June, you know that being under the shade of a tree is life saving. Luckily, also, the coordinators of the event provided all-you-can-eat watermelon and snow cones. Along with selling my work, I was there promoting the art camps I'm teaching this summer.I sold my favorite log cabin pillow, and, although I'm happy it has a new home, I eagerly made a new one. This one in is in the same fabric/colors as my recent coasters, but it also has jumbo ric-rac. I love ric rac. I even like the word:ric rac.