Friday, December 26, 2014

Fabric cutter

Several months ago, soon after I got my silhouette cameo, I invested in a special fabric cutter blade. Actually, the blade is the same as the paper cutter except the plastic covering is blue. Just like I would never allow my sewing scissors near paper, the blue cutting blade is Only for fabric.

Today I broke the little blue cutter out of its packaging and used it. There is a new grand child due next month and two months ago I bought fabric to make this little addition a quilt. Other projects kept getting priority so the fabric stayed in its bag in the closet until today. No one knows if the baby is a boy or a girl including the Mom who specifically wanted to keep it a secret. Her rationale was that there are so few surprises in life, she wanted this one to be hers.

Anyway, she calls this child Baby Booth (its last name) and has decorated the room in greys and beiges. There is no animal theme, no color, just boring baby beige. So the quilt I am making is beige, grey, ecru, eggshell and white. Are there any other words that describe beige? No animals, just clouds, grey fields and snowy beige skies.

 

 

That is ok, it will be very functional. Maybe the baby's first birthday will be in color.

Thanks for stopping by!

 

Wednesday, December 17, 2014

Thumbnail sketches

You are never too old to learn. I have been considering going back to school for sometime. This semester I enrolled in a Composition and Design class at the local college. I enjoy art and I especially aspire to improve.

Our last homework assignment was to use a single image to create three different and distinct drawings. The objective of using thumbnail sketches allows you to quickly create a practice design before forging ahead on a major art initiative. It avoids the possibility of finding out too late you don't like the image and you have wasted time and product on a throw-away.

For my class I chose several photos from our vacation trips in 2013 and narrowed the search to this one:

This is a little town called Perkinsville in Arizona that was the end of our northbound journey aboard the Verde Valley railway. Since my maiden name is Perkins I found the little ghost town quite fitting. Using a view finder I selected three views.

I loved the look of this tree and the fence line, it made an excellent composition of lights and darks.

Secondly I chose the foreground as the roof, vehicle and field all had colors of reds that helped with eye movement.

My last image honed in on the high horizon of the bluff and s composition of the tree line.

 

Each of my three thumbnails were sketched in pencil and shaded with distress ink. I believe anyone of them would make a lovely painting should I decide to take the next step.

 

But what media should I create it with? Guess I will have to take another class before I decide.

Thanks for stopping by.

 

Monday, December 15, 2014

Winter Solstice

As winter approaches the days get shorter, frost stays on the ground a little longer each morning, tee times are delayed. Christmas lights are everywhere. Such a festive time.

 

And a perfect time to dust off the cast iron pot for soups and stews that warm the soul on these chilly days.

 

Monday, December 8, 2014

Secret Santa

I have been a follower of Studio Calico since this summer when I started a subscription for their card kits. Well, in October one of the members put together a world wide secret Santa program. A huge undertaking right?

I have been watching my mail and studying the postings to try to figure out who got my name, by process of elimination I thought I had knew who it was....

Today, the postal carrier got out of her car, so I knew I had a delivery.

 

LOOK AT MY HAPPY MAIL! Thank you Secret Santa. It was worth the wait. She really got me right. I am so excited to get so much fabulous stuff to play with. One happy girl!

 

Sunday, December 7, 2014

Feeling dejected?

Sorry I have not returned to my blog in weeks. I have not been sitting idle. Christmas cards are done and out the door. Composition and Design class has one more week to go. And I have been developing mini books for Christmas presents. These little books are so cute they don't need wrapping paper,

 
 
 
 
 

 

Just. Few more photos and embellishments and they will be ready to meet the postman.

They have been keeping me busy. There should be no question as to who each of their favorite Disney characters are...