Photo dump - New Embroidery Hoops for my shop!

Ugh, why am I up before the sun today? Can't say...anyway, I just can't seem to get enough embroidery lately =) I made a few hoops over the last week to put in my shop. They'll be put up today (when the sun is out and I'm not sitting in the dark).

Narwhals!! What is cooler? I took the basic shape of a narwhal and created a zentangle design around it. Colored in with watercolors.







Another zentangle hoop - who fancies a cuppa? This is tiny at 4 inches, colored in with watercolors again.







Ok onto other stuff, I dug out a ton of buttons and fun with this one. My initial inspiration was sort of a Marie Antoinette hairdo, but with all the crazy color and stuff it makes me think of ridiculously large Carmen Miranda headgear. Oooooh, next hoop I need to pick up a bunch of fruit buttons!!!







This is just naughty. And fun.





This last hoop already has a home but I can finally share since it has been received. It was inspired by a beautiful piece of jewelry with a nautilus as the focal point, colored in with watercolors.



Edit: I forgot two more hoops that already have homes. =)

Changing Gears - getting back on the hoop train

I've had so many projects half done and laying around waiting to be finished so I decided to tackle a couple of them this week.

This is what remains of my childhood Christmas stocking. My grandmother made a stocking for everyone in the family out of felt and when my parents gave mine to me when I moved I couldn't throw it away. But it had some really unfortunate stains on it, acquired who knows when; I knew I was never going to actually use it again. Cue the bright thought to salvage the most important part which is the little felt design - it's me and my Grandmother's dog Deja (she was more of a family dog since my family was at my grandmother's house a lot). I mounted the felt bit on a piece of complimentary cloth, and now it hangs on my wall, no longer hidden away in a dusty box.



And this is a bit of a screenprinting project I did last year that I've always meant to hang up. I used a big quilting hoop, because the design is rather large and I did want to capture at least one repeat. I wish it could have been a little bigger but it's already pretty large.



Here are some things still in progress. I think they'll be destined for my etsy shop once they're done. Just for some variety =)



Ok, here's the moment where I admit that I like to think I'm pretty crafty and awesome in that way. But even then there are skills....like patience...that I lack. Here's the result of my impulse to do some pseudo-quilting last week...



The design itself is ok, but my level of skill in quilting shows...as not great. Admittedly, I was winging it as I usually do...but maybe I should just leave quilting to those that have the patience for it...Unless someone can tell me how to salvage this? Or if someone emails me their address I'll mail it to them and they can take on the crafty challenge of finishing this! =) I like that idea.

Pulling out the scraps and pins

Working on patchwork bags nonstop has burnt me out a little. I need to step back and take a break (don't worry, it's never for long). So in the mean time I thought I'd try to make a little quilty something. I'm not sure yet what it will become but I'm loving all the things I've been seeing lately.







The last one in particular doesn't seem too hard and looks nice so I thought I'd try that....

Here's some scraps cut out and laid out...I'm still not sure if I like it or should change it up.



...We'll see what it becomes.

Quietly Crafting Away

Hey, not to much happening around my neck of the woods. I've been focusing on trying to finish projects that have been sitting around or just need to get done. A few custom orders are in the works for my shop, to be done soon. =)

I did however finish this topography inspired piece a bit ago for a challenge on Craftster.









Made from a paper I love, Rives BFK cotton (have tons of this leftover from printmaking), it has a nice thickness and weight to it. I cut each layer out individually starting from the top, working my way down. Then I covered it with a liberal amount of modge podge. The last picture is weird - I'm not sure exactly how my camera and photo editing software managed to get that funky picture but I kind of like it in a weird way.

Doodle time

I told a friend from school I'd help her out with a small project a while back. She wanted people to make boobs, as many boobs in as many forms and medias as possible. She has a cousin who recently underwent a mastectomy for breast cancer and wanted to cheer her up with a flood of boobs in the mail. I had to help out.

Originally I wanted to do something more dimensional, maybe crocheted or some sort fiber art, but in the end I sat down with some watercolor paper and a pen and started sketching...and it was fun.

I have to be in the right mood to really make anything decent but I really like what I came up with.

This red one was started with an exercise I learned in my life drawing class, where you never look down at your paper as you're drawing. It made such an awesome organic unusual shapes, I almost am sad to see it go. I did look down from time to time but most of the outlines (not the shading) were done without looking.

EDIT: Apparently this picture is too graphic for Photobucket so they won't host it...yeah right. Do you know how many boobs appear in great art?? Anyway...
EDITEDIT: Craftster is wayyy cooler and I was able to upload the picture there. Here's a link to follow it since it won't connect the photo to the blog proper.

The yellow one is a bit more humorous. I saw a picture of some mountains and thought hey, those could be boobs...Not as great technically but I think it'd probably cheer her friend up.




I should really do some more drawing.