Quilt Guild Challenge

I belong to my local quilt guild in Lexington, VA (Rockbridge Pieceworkers Quilt Guild) and this year we did the two-color crayon challenge.  This was a lot of fun because the two colors I got could not have been more appropriate for me...
PURPLE AND ORANGE!!!

What luck because my favorite holiday is Halloween!  We could also add black, white or beige to our quilt but at least 51% needed to be our chosen colors.

Anyone who follows my work knows that I'm an out of the box thinker when it comes to my artwork.  I have made traditional quilts in the past but I consider myself a textile artist who creates art quilts; wall hangings that incorporate various textiles and most of the time an "unusual object" of some sort.

With this in mind, I went to Pinterest for inspiration.  I found a watercolor and ink painting of a female in a beautiful ball gown.  That was it!! (Pinterest link)  Using my purple and orange colors, I was going to transform this girl from a stunning blue dress to a Halloween Masquerade Ballgown!

I first researched the artist that painted "my inspiration" and her name is Inslee Haynes (or Inslee Fariss).  She is a New York City-based artist and illustrator and she can be found at Inslee By Design.

I then graphed the design to the largest size I could without going over the requirements for the challenge (100" perimeter)

My next step was to cut out my pattern and quilt a background for her.  I found this chandelier fabric at Walmart (cringe!) and I went into my fabric stash for the realistic looking wood fabric.

The quilt peeking out from the right is my Steampunk quilt

Next, let's start designing her ball gown!  Ball gowns are traditionally "pouffy and sparkly" and I enjoy beadwork and embroidery so I knew this was going to be the focal point of my design.  I went through my stash of orange and purple ribbons, beads, embroidery floss, felt and paint.  I then sat for a few days looking at what I had... waiting for inspiration.  I always tell my husband that I could never be on Project Runway because they have no time to sit with their project, they just have to cut and sew and cut and sew.  I am a slower designer.  I have to do a few steps then let it hang there for a few days and even maybe a few months!

Then inspiration hit:

We traveled (from Virginia) to Indiana for Thanksgiving and to Wisconsin for Christmas.  I needed handwork for the car and this was the perfect opportunity to finish her ballgown.

I used beige felt for her head and arms and permanent brown and black markers for shading on her arms and to draw her face.  I initially cut and sewed brown felt for where I was going to put her hair but I knew I would be covering up most of the brown felt with "3-D hair."

And then came the hair...(which I hand sewed in place)

Over the Christmas holidays, I found a white chandelier ornament that I wanted to use.  I wasn't sure how I was going to incorporate it into my quilt but it looked just like the printed background fabric.

Next came the paint and the clay.  I painted the chandelier purple and orange and added the same color beads.  I then made a masquerade mask out of orange and purple Sculpey clay then glued sequins to the mask and the mask to the stick.

Next the chandelier.  I knew where I wanted to put it on the quilt but it was big and bulky.  I remembered a wall hanging I made 8-10 months ago where I cut a hole through the quilt and strung a spider web through it.  Problem solved!

I felt like her hair needed something else, like a hair clip so something.  So I made this out of Sculpey clay also, the same material as the mask.

The challenge isn't until March's meeting so this hasn't been seen by anyone in my guild yet.  I hope that it has enough of the two colors for the challenge but if not it was a blast making it anyway.

Thanks for looking!

The 2017 Newport News Fall Festival of Folk Life

I absolutely love this festival!  I grew up in Newport News so coming back to do the festival just warms my heart.  I have been on the juried side in the past, and my mom has been on the marketplace side BUT since they are moving to Wisconsin I decided that I wanted to be in my mom's place this year.  My mom has taught adult art classes through the NN Parks and Rec for 40+ years so she has a huge following in Newport News.  Since she is moving I wanted to do this for all of her students who want to keep up with her and my dad and their new adventures closer to my brother and his family.

Because I was on the marketplace side this year I was able to combine my sewing and painting talents under one tent.  Had I been on the juried side I would have to pick one category.  I realized a long time ago that my brain doesn't work like that, I am definitely all over the place when it comes to my artistic endeavors.  Here are a few photos of my tent at the Fall Festival:

 

 

Thanks for stopping by!

Reverse Wool Applique

Two weeks ago my mom and I went to the Quilt Convention in Hampton, Va.  We have done this for a number of years and I am always so inspired by other people's work.  There are vendors, quilt guilds displaying their guild challenges and anything and everything in between.  I took over 300 pictures but I'll save that for another post.  Tonight I want to tell you about this wonderful lady I met who does reverse wool applique.

Michelle May is the owner and designer at The Raspberry Rabbits located in North Carolina.  We had a wonderful chat in her booth.  I was initially drawn to her pumpkin pattern.  As I looked around Michelle started telling me the stories behind each of her works, for example, the pumpkin pattern was named "Peter's Pumpkin" from the nursery rhyme.  I did end up buying this pattern along with her adorable book called Fabled Fusions.  The Peppermint Tea pattern was inspired by Alice in Wonderland's Tea Party and Wish Upon A Star was inspired by Michelle's love of the Wonderful World of Disney show that she used to watch as a child.

As you all know I like working with upholstery because it adds texture to a piece of work.  I told Michelle that I was going to try to make Peter's Pumpkin out of my upholstery stash:

It turned out being a little bit more difficult to work with than I had anticipated because of the many layers of upholstery (including the batting).  It was THICK and this was all hand stitched.  The backing was a velvet paisley print.  I ended up changing the beige background because it was too hard to sew through (as it was leather).  In the next picture, you can see that it is off-white wool felt.  The first layer of the pumpkin, the brown part, was in fact leather.  The second layer was a tweed upholstery and the third layer, orange, was wool felt.  The stem was two layers which consisted green velvet and the same brown leather I used for the pumpkin.

In the above picture, the upholstery with a mustard color background had a raised wool design that I cut out and then used for the vine and the decorative pieces at the bottom.

This was so much fun to do!  I think my next project is going to be O'Ryan the Stargazer from her book Fabled Fusions; O'Ryan is the cutest little owl I've ever seen!

New ideas for my fabric bowls...

New fabric bowls that will debut at the Newport News Fall Festival held the first weekend in October.

I am now painting pedestals and attaching my fabric bowls to them.  If you are hosting a Christmas party and need more room on the table you could use this one to 1. give height to your table and 2. create more space on the table (mints could go in this basket)

But before Christmas let's talk about Halloween!   Here are two of my newest creations:

(I still haven't decided yet if I'm going to paint eyes on this cat, I kinda like it without eyes.  Can't you just imagine this on your dining room table with Snickers bars in it!)

You can't see the spiders legs too well from this photo but I made them out of wire and painted the eyes with a toothpick.

I have also come up with a new spin on the old jewelry box.  With this one I have incorporated my love of Zentangles.  In the bowl you can store your necklaces and watch and then on the hooks beneath you can hang your rings and bracelets:

 And with this one you can hang jewelry from the hooks at the top and store them in the basket below:

Here are a few more every day whimsical bowls I've created:

I have a lot more that will debut at the Newport News Fall Festival in Newport News, VA the first weekend (Saturday and Sunday) in NN Park so please come out and see me!

Great news!

First I want to apologize for being so negligent in posting but I have great news!   One of my dreams is finally coming true!  Secretly I have always wanted to be in the Newport News Fall Festival.  Here is a link to last year's show at Newport News Fall Festival 2012 My mom has been in this show for years and I thought if I could just get in I would feel like my art was validated.  I love what I do but it's a little on the "whimsical" side (I haven't posted a picture yet of my cat/pig or my bat/fish).  A few months ago my mom, in passing, said that I should apply to the Newport News Fall Festival.  She planted the seed but might not have known how much it meant to me.  My mom, an artist, was validating me!  Yesterday I found out that I had been accepted into the juried side of the Fall Festival! So if you're in the area please come out and see me this October in Newport News Park.

Next, I bought a dry erase board for my work area because I have so many projects going on that when I sit down to work on one I don't know which one to pick up first!  So here is a look at my list:

 

Here is a look at some of the dolls (and a bat like creature) I'm currently working on:

 



And last but not least I'm still working on my Hoffman Challenge doll.  I LOVE the way her skirt is turning out but I always have trouble painting faces so this is usually done last on my dolls.  Last night I sat down and painted her face.  I'm pleased with the way it turned out:

The green eye shadow isn't as bright in person as it is in the picture; and her gold blush is a lot more translucent too. I haven't attached her hair yet, I just layed her head in the hair so you could get the full effect.  She will probably be wearing earrings too.  I just went back to the only store in the area that carries the Hoffman fabric today so I can get started on her peacock this weekend.

So I think that's about it from My Art Room in Portsmouth, VA.  Thanks for stopping by!