Wednesday, November 04, 2026

A bit of Creation and Quilting

One day recently, perhaps it was Saturday, I pulled out some pieces of fabric from my "chunks and pieces" collection.  I was not using yardage for this.  I intended to use  what I made from this technique to make a quilted notebook cover.  That is one of my go-to projects when I just want to play with fabric.  

Cutting the fabric into strip - just a rough size, no need to measure exactly for this - I was thinking about color relationships.  I started with the aqua, lime green, yellow and purple. Then I decided to add some darker green,  a midtone violet, a hand dyed lavender and just a pop of red.  I started with all solid colors, but the darker green was a print.  I didn't have enough of the green, so I did some more digging and found a dark solid green. 
I used them both. 
As I laid out the strips into patterns, I was trying to find a design that made me happy. Two were laid out, considered and put away.  Then, instead of a "pattern" - I decided to had a "plan" that wasn't exact. 
I started in the middle of this piece and worked outwards on both sides. My plan was to keep the lighter colors in the middle in  a somewhat random pattern.  I came out with this and used the dark green solid to enclose the ends of the piece. 

I worked on that for a few days. 
Then it was quilting time. 
How should I quilt it?
What color thread?

I decided to try to make the thread match the fabric to some degree.
Here it is Quilted.
Essentially, I quilted inside each shape and left it at that. 

Now I need to figure out how I will finish it.  
I don't have enough of the dark green to enclose the sides without piecing it.
One possibility is a simple black binding around the entire piece. 
I don't want to distract from art.  
The dark purple would work also, but I used it up. 
Hmmm.... time will tell. 


Until Next Time,  
Stay Creative 


Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger"- I can not reply. Links in comments will result in the entire comment being deleted.

Friday, October 30, 2026

Owls -Altered Book Page

Just for fun, I ordered some acrylic gouache.  I saw it used in an art class video. 
Of course I took a piece of paper just to play with the paint and see how it works.  I had no plan but this is what I ended up with. 
The paint is matte finish just like watercolor gouache.  After I painted the colors and let it dry, I went back in with a black Zig brand pen and decorated those circle shapes. 
I was convinced I could have fun with these paints so I opened my altered book to a page that was prepped with gesso and painted these owls. 

I did go back in to add a bit with some watercolor crayons as the paints resisted a bit on the gessoed paper. I think it came out like a children's book illustration - and I like it. 
I will try the acrylic gouache on some other pages that haven't been coated with gesso another time. 


Linking to the Friday Face off.
Friday Face OFF


Until Next Time,  
Stay Creative 


Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger"- I can not reply. Links in comments will result in the entire comment being deleted.

Wednesday, October 28, 2026

A Quilt Finish - 2018-2026

In 2018,  I started a quilt.   I made the top in good time (all in the month of March, I think.)  Parts of it were likely crumb blocks or crumb pieces that I had started earlier, but they were just "playtime" pieces. 

A friend designed the layout for a crumb quilt and I decided to play along, knowing that I wasn't copying it really - just using a basic framework for my unique crumb blocks. 

Then the top was finished and somehow ended up in a pile.  I don't know when I decided to layer and baste it, but I did.  I used Elmer's school glue to baste it. It worked, it held well, but honestly the glue bled through the top and it looked awful.  I knew that the glue would wash out, but I didn't show any of the quilting process because of it. 
I quilted on it for a while and it landed in a pile one more time.  Somehow the tension got off and I had to rip out a section of it. Finally, a few days ago I started quilting on it once more. Once the quilting was finished, I let it sit overnight and trimmed it the next morning.  Then I cut the binding and finished it today. 
With the wildness of the piecing,  I decided to use a flamboyant print fabric for the binding. 
I wasn't sure how it would look but I just ran with the idea.  
I think the binding choice is perfect. 
Here are some close up photos of the quilting. 
It isn't perfect, but it is fun and most importantly
    IT IS FINISHED..



I have a couple of other quilt tops in a pile. 
But I also have some of my handwoven chosen to work with. 
hmmmm...what next? only time will tell. 
I have a painting in an altered book that I will be showing Friday.

Until Next Time,  
Stay Creative 


Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger"- I can not reply. Links in comments will result in the entire comment being deleted.

Sunday, October 18, 2026

Sunday, creating digitally

For Sunday in the Art Room I wanted to share a video with you showing stages of a digital painting. 
I had to upload it to YouTube since blogger isn’t cooperating with me today. 
I was going to embed the video, but that isn’t working today either. So I am sharing it as a link.

Link



If you watch, you’ll see that I started by importing one of my sketches. Then I traced over parts of it and even changed parts.  Procreate is an app for the iPad. It allows me to work in layers. For example, in this video and image the lips are one layer. That is right, just the lips. What this means is that I can hide the li layer and create a new layer to have different lips if desired. 
 I suppose I need a picture or two, so here is the lady.

Yes this is a different version. You can duplicate your work and create different images without repeating all of the work.
Here is the finished one from the video

Linking to Sunday in the Art Room

Until Next Time,  
Stay Creative 


Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger"- I can not reply. Links in comments will result in the entire comment being deleted.