Free-motion Sam

I am currently prepping for Sam's first birthday. The above is an embroidery I made using free-motion and Paper Solvy. The image was taken from a recent photo taken on our patio on one of the first Spring-like days. The embroidery was first used for Sam's birthday invitation, and eventually I will add more to it. It will likely end up on a wall featuring various photos of Sam. Once the picture is complete I will share on the blog.

I'm also making a birthday banner for the special occasion. We aren't going overboard for the festivities, but feel like we should continue hand-making things in all aspects of Sam's wonderful life. I never need an excuse to make things, but he is certainly worth it!

A stitch in dye: Mastering the Art of Fabric Printing and Design

Looks to be another book I need to add to my wish list.
Many thanks to the incredible Malka Dubrovsky for bringing it to my attention with her blog.

a stitch in dye: Mastering the Art of Fabric Printing and Design: Yoohoo! Remember me? I haven't been in this space for a couple weeks, but I thought I'd pop beck here today to tell you about a fabulous new...

Circus Quilt for Baby Stella

Quilt Detail

One of the girls from the book club I attend is having a baby girl any day now. She told me the nursery theme was circus with orange as the main color. This is what I fashioned together for her.

Completed crib-sized quilt

She seemed to really like the quilt, and the color choices I made were apparently spot-on. Her quilt is one of several baby quilts I will be making in 2012. The next baby quilt will feature the colors gray, yellow, and white. I'm also currently contemplating making a wedding quilt for another friend of mine. That will be a first.

Sam to help display the size of the quilt.

Sam makes a great model. I love that little man.
Til the next adventure- pillows...

Fabric WIPs

Circles WIP

I have finally started working with dye again after the baby-related hiatus. (Dye powders and  little ones do not mix.) My inspiration partially comes from knowing I will be attending a 2 day shibori workshop the last two weekends of March. The workshop, taught by Amber Coppings is hosted by the Fiber Arts Guild of Pittsburgh, which I recently joined as a member.

Squares WIP

The second inspiration comes from my long-term desire to fill my fabric stash with less commercial fabrics. I'm actually about to dump a load of PFD white cotton in the wash to get ready for a few more runs of color. The green and orange dyes are calling my name today for some reason.

Both of the above pictures fabrics are works in progress. Each have been dyed a shade of red, resisted with soy wax and over-dyed with another shade of red, and discharged. I'm currently contemplating adding another color or doing some embroidery work. Only time will tell...

Another Baby Quilt

"Modern Circus" Baby Quilt WIP

A wonderful woman in the monthly book club I attend, Bookish Babes of Pixburgh, is having a baby in March. Unable to attend her baby shower I still wanted to make something to help celebrate welcoming her first child into the world. Next week the book club is getting together so I am spending today and part of the weekend finishing the quilting and binding.

I contacted her when I learned of the shower to find out if she minded me making something and if she and her husband had selected colors or a theme. She told me there was a lot of orange in the nursery and in the end it ended up having a sort of circus theme. Inspired I selected a variety of bright solids and began piecing them together. The above is the quilt as a work-in-progress (WIP). Once it is completed I will post detailed pictures.

Project: Christmas Gifts

Screen Printed Flour Sack Towels

 For the last several years I have been making Christmas gifts for friends and family. This year due to some time constraints we decided to screen print most of our gifts and limit the amount of sewing time. This ended up being a good decision because my foot controlled died a week and a half before we left to visit family out of state. Making the screens still took a lot of time, but the actually printing was over in a matter of minutes.

Queen Anne's Lace

 We have been inspired by so many things since our move to Pittsburgh. This Fall I marveled at how beautiful Pittsburgh becomes as the leaves change colors. It reminded me of the time I lived in Canada. Ah... seasons. We designed the images for our screens based on some of the Fall foliage that stood out to us while we were traveling and walking all over the city. Looking out our window was also pretty inspiring due to the beautiful view of the park across the street. I took pictures of various leaves, sketched, and collected samples as they fell from trees.

Japanese Maple Leaves from the Yard

 We were able to complete three handmade screens using acrylic paint. My next challenge with these screens is layering the design with detailed accents. Ginko leaves have these fine lines that fan out to the ends of each leaf. I imagine lawn creatures using them as fans or shade when the sun is high.

Ginko Leaves from Our Yard

We heard our nephews were getting a kitchen for Christmas. They love to "make" food when they play together. Just the other day Sebastian was opening a candy store and made me soup out of blocks. I thought it would be fun to make them some play food they could use while playing in their kitchen.

Felt Bacon Strips

Se

Sushi Roll

 It seams like we rarely have a weekend breakfast without bacon; therefore, the boys needed to have bacon, too. Although the boys are young, 2 and 4, they have incredibly cultivated palettes. I think it is great they both enjoy eating sushi. The sushi was a little experimental, but I was happy with the results- especially the "mock-i". The place mats were an extra-special touch contributed by The Architect.

Different view of the sushi roll

Tuna "Mock-i"

Tuna "Mock-i"

We also made a couple of turkey legs just for fun. It was an opportunity for The Architect to practice sewing. That was a lot of fun. He did well, which makes me hopeful for our next sewing project- his new messenger bag.

Turkey Leg

Christmas Gifts in the Making

I have been home sick for the past two days with stomach flu, which has prompted me to update my poorly updated blog. I'm hoping stomach flu is not the only motivator I have in my life to a. update my blog and b. lose 5 pounds. No matter, both a and b have been achieved.

I haven't made a whole lot of things lately because I have been getting the studio organized. We have also had other things going on with the house, Sam, and family so making had to be put aside. Christmas is as good a reason as any to get back into making things. Over the weekend I spent some time preparing new screens for our Christmas gifts. I am hoping this weekend I will be able to start putting the images on the screen and get a few test prints made. Images to come.