Friday Face Off Post

Another week with no time to create a face.  My Uncle was in the hospital and then released to hospice care. So, it has just been busy. 

Therefore, today I will share (again) some of my older work. These are machine embroidery designs that I digitized (programmed for sewing by an embroidery machine.)  
I believe that 2014 was the year of the horse.  And I started creating horse embroideries. 

This is my horse of a different color.  

Isn't he fun?

He ended up as part of a notebook cover:

This one was still in the embroidery hoop - if you look in the upper left corner you can see the hoop. 

I am not sure what happened to this "stitch-out" 

And 

Here's Looking at you Kid!

This stitched piece still hasn't been used on a project. 

Joining the 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.

An old Creation For Friday Face Off

Welcome to Friday.  As you may know, I try to always participate in the Friday Face Off.  This week I have been a bit "less creative" as other things have taken up my time.  So, I dug into the archives and have a goofy face that I created in an embroidery program as well as a very old  photo of myself.  

Oops!  I forgot to turn off the centering lines when I exported the photo. 

From "back in the day"  when I had lots of hair and the bloom of youth had not yet fled. 

Joining the 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.

Friday - Another Face for FFO

This week has been pretty busy, but I do have some of my work to share with you.  This is not like the usual artwork you are used to seeing.  I visited my aunt who is homebound.  She desperately needed a change.  So, I got my scissors and did this transformation. 

I think that I did a pretty good job. 

Linking to the 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.

FFO - Are you Awake?

Happy Friday,  for folks that are in the USA, I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  The fellow below wants you to Wake Up.  Ha ha. 

I made this little art quilt back in 2012.  And as I have been busy with other things this week, 

I am sharing this old project for the Friday Face Off. 

The Rooster is thankful that he wasn't a Turkey dinner. 

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.

A Couple of Drawings and some Painting

Wow another Friday is upon us.  I have done a couple of quick drawings in Procreate -an iPad app that uses the Apple pencil to draw directly on the iPad. 

Since I usually draw more women, here are two male faces. 

I also painted two pieces of fabric for use in some of my other artwork.

There is only one photo because I layered the two pieces and they are almost identical.

I used fabric paints for this so it feels like normal cotton fabric. 

I think it will make something lovely. 

I am linking to the 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.

New Notebooks - one with a "Face"

This will probably be a short post.  I recently made two new quilted notebook covers.  

The Sugar Skull is my face to this week's Friday Face Off. 

So I am entering the Friday Face Off. 

The total outside of the other notebook cover is made of fabric that I painted with fabric paint.

The "white" was painted directly using brushes and other tools.

The "green" was painted using a diluted paint as a fabric dye. 

 I love both of these.  Contact me if you would like purchase info. 

Sorry, I can only ship within the USA at this time.

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.

The Faces of Creativity

I love to think of myself as a creative person.  I feel that I do have a creative soul.  For me creating is a "need" more than a hobby. I have a need to make things whether it is useful, or just because I can.  My need to create started when I was young - I think in the pre-adolescent years.  Certainly in my teen years I always wanted to make things.   This has continued in my my current "senior/elder" years.  

Over the years I have used my skills to make things for myself as well as for many other folks.  

So, today you are going to see some photos of me.  I will either be near or wearing one of my creations in each of these photos. 

A T-shirt embellished with a band of fabric that I wove on my loom.

Holding a lap quilt that lives with one of my dearest friends.  I love seeing it when I visit.

A vest made totally from material that I wove on my loom. 

Here I am wearing a shirt that I embellished with more of my woven fabrics.

I am standing in front to two pieces of art that I painted. 

And how about "creating a character" in a local play? 

By the way, I did NOT drink the elderberry wine. 

And in the play I had to use a product to make my hair that white.  Ha ha. Now that is the usual color.

For this same play, we needed a "stained glass window" for the door. So, I created this one. 

It is actually painted and created on a piece of plexiglass.  
I made two of these, one for each side of the door so that when the door was opened, 
the audience saw the "same" stained glass. 

I am linking to the 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.

Friday Face Off (and final October Finishes)

For October, I finished five new notebook covers. I love them all a lot. One of them has a "face" which is very appropriate for the end of October/first of November.  (Halloween/All Saint's Day) 

And here is a close up of the one on the right.

I love mixing machine embroidery quilting with hand guided free motion quilting. 

You can see that they play very nicely together. 

Now,  here is a "face" - or at least I saw a face as I was looking out the window at Mom's house. 

The tree and the open spaces seemed to be looking back at me. 

Do you see a face?

I am linking to the 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.

Friday - FaceOff and Notebooks

I have been working on a few things and haven't posted any of them.  I did post photos of some fabric that I painted. Today you get to see what part of that fabric became. 

This notebook cover uses some of that painted fabric. These notebook covers
fit a standard Composition Book. Those are readily available in the USA. 
I always sell them with a notebook inside ready to use, but the cover can be taken off
and placed on a new composition book when that one is finishd.

Inside the front cover of each one there is a pencil pocket and my label.

Of course the back is just as pretty. 



I have two more covers in progress. Here are photos of the fronts and backs of them.

Front 

Back

Front #2

Back #2

And now for my face creation.  This is the last Friday before Halloween, so I am sharing my Halloween "Face"  for this weeks Friday Face Off.

Happy Halloween

And for good measure,  here is another face that is not so scary. 

I am linking to the Friday Face Off with Nicole. 

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.

Painting Fabric Fun

Last evening, I had some fun.  I was ironing some fabrics to use for upcoming projects (time permitting) when I thought, I need to paint some more fabric with my fabric paints.  I saw a fat quarter (18"x21") that was a light tan with a white print over it.  I knew that this type of print will resist the paint. FYI it will also resist dye if you choose to dye it. 
I ironed it and took it to the painting area. I used most of the colors - because "Why not?!?!  

The front, showing the resisted pattern/print. 

Then:

The back, where very little of the resist shows.

Either side will work, and I may use some of both.

The plan in my mind is to cut it into three 7" strips to make into notebook covers. 

I will need to add extra fabric to each cover, so maybe I will cut a strip into two longer pieces. 

Perhaps I will use the front of one of those and the back of the other. 

I love how this came out and I plan to paint more fabric. 

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.

A little Project

Last week I was in a local shop chatting with the husband and wife team that own the store.  Somehow, the wife didn't know that I make stuff. Ha ha!  Honestly, I know them because I was in a play with the husband.   As the conversation went, she said " What do you make?" - Her husband said "Quilts" - I laughed and said "Yes quilts but lots of other things too."  I showed her some pictures from my website and blog.  When she saw my notebook covers, she asked pricing and we discussed it.  She said "I will take five of those."  I knew that I had some made, but I wanted to make a couple of new ones also.  
Hmmm..... family issues cut the time for that down to one.  I already had a stash of them - because I love making them and they are great gifts.   

I will be taking in 9 or 10 for her to choose from.  Here is the newest - and I am confident that she will chose this as one of her selection. 

Front

Full Cover

Front inside pocket with label. 

I love adding an inside pocket for a pen/pencil or other small trinket.   I hope that these move quickly in the shop.  It could become a nice little source of pocket money for me. 

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.

Frankie by Graham Norton, a book Review.

Frankie by Graham Norton is quite a story.  I don't feel that I read the book but rather that I lived it.   The story begins with the title character, Frankie, older and recovering from a fall.  A caregiver has been hired to look after her, but she is resistant.  Gradually, Frankie learns that this caregiver, Damian is from a place very near where her life started.  As Frankie warms to Damian, she begins to share stories of her life.  While the context shifts from present to past and back many times, it is handled so smoothly that you will never lose track.   

Mr Norton spins a tale that begins in Frankie's childhood and carries into her later years.  The characters are well developed and richly drawn. You are sure to fall in love with some of them - as well as wondering how some others can be so self-centered.  I found the book almost impossible to put down, reading it with a voracious appetite.  A few of the characters were so imbued with personality and richness of character that I wanted them to be real people that I could yet meet.  Kudos to Mr Norton for his newest book.  I feel that this book shows both his wit and the depth of his heart. 

You should know that I received an Advanced Readers Copy of the book. The scheduled US release date is January 14, 2025.  It is available for pre-order from both Amazon and Barnes & Noble.  It is likely available for pre-order from other book sellers. 

For those of you in the United Kingdom,  I see that Amazon UK has it available now. 

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 Face Off

I have two faces for you today. 

First another self portrait taken form a photo. 

Fun Fact, the original photo was one taken by my great-nephew.  I had gone to be a part of a television commercial for a local Brew Pub.  We got fed as part of the deal (but no pay.)  I never saw the commercial, but lots of people told me that they saw it.  I was eating a nacho as the camera zoomed in on me.  Haha.  My five seconds on screen 

original photo

Next up, is a simple face that I created from my imagination. 

Thanks for stopping by. 

I am linking with Nicole's 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.