Around the Studio

On and off rain outside means a good day to get some craft stuff done.

First on the list was a painting of Lightening McQueen and his friends Fillmore and Mater.  This made for a happy little boy.

I've been wanting to try Quilling for a while now. Finally splurged on a Beginners Quilling set.  The art of rolling paper into designs. My very first piece was an incredibly simple, very easy flower, with sun and a single cloud.  I have a design in mind that I hope to accomplish before my Brother's wedding.  And thanks to Pinterest, I found a beautiful quilled fish that I someday hope to attempt as well.

Now it's off to buy some food and see out of town family this afternoon.

Have a wonderfully creative day friends!
                                                                                          ♡ ąlexąnʠяą

Overcoming creative distance

Have you ever taken a break from something for a while? You go back to "it" with some trepidation or fear? That's what happened to me this morning.

My sewing machine and I had a stare off for about 10 minutes. I have been working on a t-shirt for a few days now. I wanted it to be more than the usual t-shirt. Knowing my girls, so do they. So, I designed it and then took the leap of faith that I could figure out what to do with it, after I cut off the neck and the sleeves.

Walked over the my fabric supply closet, pulled out a jersey knit and thought, I need to use a special "foot" for this but which did I use?  Went back over to my sewing table, looked through my presser feet and found THE ONE.  Oh yes, the big chunky, slightly scary, takes a little manuevering presser foot.  My nice friends reminded me that it's called a "Walking Foot."

I attached that scary thing and continued on with my project.  Cut a piece of striped jersey knit, used my straight stitch spaced wide to make a soft ruffle and attached that to the bottom of the t-shirt.  Time to tackle the neck and sleeves (well, the holes that I made when I removed the sleeves that is!)  What is so great about the walking foot is because it feeds the fabric evenly, you don't get the pulled look on the jersey knits. So I was able to hem the neck and sleeves without any problem.

Isn't that such a cool contraption? Look at it eating my jersey knit so smooth and effortlessly! 

I thought about adding this striped knit to the sleeves and making a sort of flutter sleeve, but I gathered the shoulder seem instead and made it more of a tank top, which makes this more of a sundress.

My beauty is at school right now but when she gets home I'll take a photo of her with her new getup. She will probably need to put leggings as I dare say, the knit is slightly sheer. But she'll be looking all Punky-brewster-ish with her new attire! 

So, as I wait for school to end, I'll share some more of what I did today. Have a beautiful day everyone!

And School has ended, here is the final product. It's OK, I do need to work on making the sleeveless area a little less revealing next time, thank goodness for undershirts!

♡ ąℓexąnʠяą

......................................................

 

I was a little bummed with this project.  I designed the interior fabric, thought it would make a really cool keep-all and I paired it with this Premier Prints snazzy fabric from my fabric stash. But after I put it all together I realized that a portion of the white on the P.P. fabric had a stain that I just could not get out. SO, this has turned into my new fabric pen keep all!

And, I tried my hand at a simple wire wrapping this morning and I came up with these sweet, ever so feminine earrings! 

In Between Homes

We officially moved out of Tennessee. I recently attempted to update my Facebook location as "homeless in America" but go figure, FB did not recognized my silly attempt at humor.  This is our 10th move in our 13 years of marriage. They are not getting any easier, if I must say, they actually seem to be getting harder.  3 kids now, means more furniture, more piles of messes and clutter, more to pack, donate, and junk.  I'm glad that the moving "out" part is over and I anxiously anticipate the moving "in" part at our new home in Hawaii.  But for now, I shall relish in my time at home with my parents and the daily visits of my younger brother.  Tomorrow, we embark on our new journey. A 14 hour traveling day with an 8 year old, 7 year old and rambunctious 2 year old. Should be fun! I look forward to sharing our adventures in Hawaii with all of you. I am a photo whore, so brace yourselves.

I am anxious to get to Hawaii and start feeling settled again. At least settled enough to be able to be creative again in more than just my sketchbook.  While here in New England for the holidays, my father gave me a nice instruction to watercolors. I cannot wait to explore the possibilities with this new medium, learn new techniques and create! I do miss my sewing machine(s!) and look forward to being reunited with them again.  And I most definitely look forward to finding some cool beachy bead shops and make some jewelry.  I have a little bit of ADD, so many things that I want to do and it's hard to just focus on one thing. Sometimes I feel like "Incredible Ned" by Bill Maynard when he says:




                           The art teacher smiled. She could understand Ned.
                      And she knew why those things had shown over his head.
                       “Ned’s an artist, she said. “That’s what Ned’s all about.
                      When your head’s full of pictures, they have to come out.”


Just like my head, my post today is scattered with random thoughts and musings.

So I will leave you with the things I cannot wait to dive into:

• unpacking our suitcases once and for all.
• basking in the warm sun that Hawaii will bless us with
• uploading my pictures from my Canon Rebel and doing some photo editing
• learning how to print out my artwork to sell on Etsy
• bead, charm shopping in Hawaii
• getting my sewing machine back so I can do some textile art that I can picture in my head
• learning and practicing my hand at watercoloring
• decorating the kiddos bedrooms (again!)
• making some beach and warm weather inspired jewelry. Who doesn't love a splash of turquoise in the middle of a cold long winter day
• seeing "our" new home
• Creating a new blog, learning how to make it looks whimsical and pretty like so many of the blogs that I highly admire look and creating meaningful, fun and dreamy tutorials to share.

Until then my friends, stay warm and Happy New Year to you and your families.