Poisoned Apple - WIP

It's no surprise that my girls are huge Disney nuts.. Considering how much my Mum and I love the movies and the park, it was their destiny to be little princesses. And as much as I love Disney, sometimes when Tangled or Snow White seems to play endlessly in our home.. I tend to well, think darker thoughts..

I've wanted to do a poisoned apple clutch for awhile now and finally had some time this weekend to play. There are so many types of pigment on this Kona white cotton. I used my Inktense pencils, silk dye, dye-na-flow, lumiere paint, and good 'ol fabric paint. This picture is before I went free motion crazy on it.

I just couldn't bear to cut it up into a single purse. I wanted to keep it for myself, a number of friends have love for it and I wanted to offer it in the shop. What to do?

I decided to take a number of high resolution pictures of the fabric and I'm going to reprint them at Spoonflower. I have NO idea how I will like the end result..but experimenting can be fun.

As for the original? I've also been wanting to mix fabric art with encaustic techniques.. So that is what I will be working on tonight..

Inktense Fun With Machine Embroidery

Earlier this week I really wanted to play more with the Inktense pencils. And as much I as enjoy free motion sketching, I really wanted to just focus on playing with the pencils and not get caught up in critiquing my  thread sketching. I decided I would use my machine embroidery for a quick and beautiful canvas. This deer head pattern was purchased from Urban Threads.

I originally had intended for this to be a masculine gift item, but after having fun with the Inktense pencils.. I decided to go down a more feminine route. I simply can't get over how the pencils come alive with a bit of liquid. Right now I tend to paint over it with a 1:1 mixture of water and fabric medium -- it gives me great control without any bleeding issues.

I decided to piece it into an tote with an improv quilt style. I really wanted to keep it, but in the end I decided to list it on Etsy. If you are interested it is $35.00 and listed here. I'm not sure how much I'll be making items for the Etsy shop, but by request I am trying to create more artistic works into an item that can be worn or used.

Starting the Year Like a Zombie

Happy New Year! I have some serious high hopes for 2013. There were some highlights in 2012, but in general I was pretty happy to see an end to the year. In 2013 my parents will be moving to our state, we will welcome baby #3 and I have so many fun art adventures I'm ready to get started on. My word for this year is quite simply - JOY. Find it, embrace it, and above all give it. I hope this year has started on a fresh bright note for you too!

Back to starting the year like a Zombie. Well I mean like a Happy Zombie, of course! When I attended Spring Market last year, I picked up a fat quarter bundle of her Winterkist line. Ohh, the cuteness factor was off the charts! I loved the whimsical winter motif with bright colors and shiny, happy gnomes. I knew when I bought it that I wanted to create Christmas quilts for my girls. And well.. I've finished one so far..

This one is Kiddo's.. Green and blue are her favorite colors as she would be eager to tell you. I added the red colorway to add a more Christmas feel to it.

I created it with key blocks (which look way more involved than they truly are) and focus blocks of the gnomes with courthouse steps framing them.

Seriously, aren't those gnomes so adorable? They reminded Kiddo of Santa Claus and she loved to look at all their faces.

I used a white minky fabric on the back since Kiddo is on the sensory sensitive side and really loves to touch soft fabrics. 

I tried to create a swirling, swooshy wind quilt motif. I love how all the crevices get nice and crinkly after the wash.

It truly is her favorite quilt today, with the Halloween one taking a close second.

Baby's quilt took longer than I anticipated and is quite large! The pattern is from Material Obsession 2: More Modern Quilts with Traditional Roots . I love this book and was happy to finally create a quilt from it.

It still needs a pressing, quilting, and binding.. I went from planning it as a Christmas gift to now looking at Valentine's Day.. Oh well.. She is busy playing with her dolls from Santa anyways.

And last but not least, I bought Derwent Inktense Watersoluble Ink Pencils- Set of 24 Colors  with some Christmas money!

I need to finish a quilt for my guild and a quilt for a friend before I can break into these. I've read rave reviews about using them on fabric and can't wait to play. I'll post some pics once I have something to show.