Favorite Quote ATC

I am ahead of schedule for once. Maybe it is because my children went back to school and I have a moment to breathe. I almost feel guilty working on my art. I keep thinking that I should be doing projects around the house. But this two week break is my only time to myself for a very long time. So guilt be gone!!! LOL

So our next challenge was to create something about our favorite quote. Technically it isn't a quote but a line from a song by Jewel "Life Uncommon". Something about this line really struck a cord with me and so I went with it.


This is the first ATC created on paper. I used watercolor paper and added ink in yellow, pink and green. Then I added some gel medium to create some texture and when dry used a deep rose to tone down the colors. I fused a fabric heart onto the paper and added threads using the gel medium. I wanted the viewer to get the sense of emotions tying us up and keeping us from moving forward. I hand wrote the quote in and at the very last minute, I carved a little bird and stamped it onto each card. I seem to have a very yellowy looking card but it isn't quite that color - more golden. But a better representation than cards past!

Lily and Pads

I finished this piece a while ago but was agonizing on how to finish off the edges so I put it off to the side and forgot about it. Lark Books is looking for nature related photos of art quilts for a book series they are looking to do. So while I was looking through all my pieces, I realized that this would be perfect. I decided to just face the piece after consulting my critique group for their opinions. I was surprised they all agreed on no borders! Now that it is complete, I have to agree it looks great.

Call for Consideration
Art Quilt Portfolio – A New Series from Lark Crafts
First volume in the series to be published Spring 2012

Art Quilt Portfolio: The Natural World
An Inspiring Collection of Art Quilts
By Martha Sielman

So here is one of the pieces I submitted for consideration. I painted the fabric and then added details with dye pens and shiva paintstiks. I hand quilted around all the leaves because I wanted it to puff out - thinking it would add to the 3 dimensional look (it did!). The lily is three dimensional. I created a petal template and cut 2 different types of white fabric, stitched around and then reversed out to put the seams inside. I layered and stitched them in place. The center is done with embroidery threads. I beaded the background to add additional texture.

I really feel good about this piece. Wish me luck!

This and That

Well I have not been as busy as I would like to be creating art but I haven't been a total slacker either. I just finished my ATC's for the latest trade - Sew What's Buggin' You? Mine are dragonflies! The write up for them is on the blog - http://artsinthecards.blogspot.com/

I am also working to get some pieces ready for submission to Art O Mat. I have two ideas but need to get them sent off and have them ok'd before I post pics. Wish me luck!

Art In the Cards Trading Group

I was invited to join an ATC group a few months back and you have seen the pieces that I have done. Well now we are doing a blog so that you can see what the whole group is doing. Some pretty amazing pieces are coming out of such a tiny group! We will be starting with our All Cracked Up theme and going forward from there. I am thinking we should post our other pieces too because they are amazing!! Anyway, here is the link if you want to check it out!

http://artsinthecards.blogspot.com/

Cracked

So our artist trading card group had another challenge and the theme was Cracked. Hmmm. I decided I was going to do mine based on the Crack of Dawn!

So I used backings from a previous failed ATC attempt. I painted the fabric midnight blue and then went back into it with shiva paintstiks in yellow, orange and green. I sewed around the "clouds" to add more definition. I then drew on some yupo paper with colored pencils and ink. Once dry, I painted over it with gel medium in three layers. Once dry, I used gel medium to adhere it to the backing. It wasn't as transparent as I wanted. So I had to add more details back in with fabric dye pens. It has a rubbery feel to it and was hard to sew the edges to finish off the piece. The 6:08 is the time my husband keeps waking me up for some reason!

Rebirth Challenge piece

Well I have finished the third piece in our 12"x 12" challenge series. The theme this time was Rebirth and it could be interpreted any way we wanted. I created mine based on the butterfly. When the challenge word was revealed, we had just received our caterpillars at the preschool and we watched each day as they got bigger and then went into the cocoon stage.

I found some great fabric my friend Christine had given me and used it for the background. I quilted around the piece to give the feel of tree bark. I used rust dyed and hand dyed fabric to create tree branches. The leaves were two fabrics fused together and then cut out to look like leaves. The cocoon was from more fabric my friend Christine gave me - she thought it looked like mud and I of course said I would take it! I added some angelina fiber over the top and machine quilted it to add more texture. I then stuffed it with fiber. I created the butterfly wings by fusing to pieces of white fabric together and then drawing in the wing patterns using fabric markers. The edges were faced so there would not be a border (I hate making borders if you haven't noticed!! LOL)

Waiting

I have made an entry for the Stitch This! Challenge. Quilting Arts and Bernina are hosting. You can vote for as many pieces as you like but you can only vote one time for each.

I saw the photo and just fell in love with it so I had to enter. Not sure why but I really like swans. The challenge was to interpret the picture posted but showcase stitching. Uploads were to begin on May 3rd but I found out about it on May 5th. So I got to work and started creating!

First I drew the image on to white cotton fabric. I used the Neocolor II watercolor pencils and then blended the colors using the textile medium. Terri Stegmiller had used this instead of water so I decided to give it a try! LOVE IT!!! Going to do this again! Anyway, I then thread painted the entire piece. The feathers at the bottom were thread painted on separate fabric and then cut out and added to the piece. I love the colors and the entire piece.

Wish me luck!