the emotional life of sølje

I am calling the last two postcards I have finished “Beach House”. I wish I had one I like how the 1st one turned out over the 2nd one. The whip stitch edge and stitching for the applique just look better in scale (to me) than the blanket stitch does on the second card. Perhaps it was just because my perle cotton was too thick for the size of the piece… regardless, I have a new idea in mind with a long-width quilt with a beach house subject. I am thinking about starting it tomorrow (after I finish the back to school shopping with son).

The mohair yarn wasn’t completely rinsed, so now I feel like the blue men group with my blue fingers. I have found that yarn dyers that I have bought from, haven’t been as strict on making sure the dyes are rinsed completely, as compared to fabric dyers. I don’t know if that is common or not with the yarn dyers, but it is sure frustrating to finish a garment with blocking, and finding the color running down the sink!

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Am I on a roll or what? I created two more fiber art pieces, 4×6″ each, that I will probably be submitting to the FFAC booth at the IQA show this year. I am pretty pleased with how these two turned out, and even if hubby says that he doesn’t particularly like the one with turquoise, that’s ok.

I started off with an idea in my mind of sort of a convergence (ala Ricky Tims) style, but that changed when I didn’t like the look. I started off with 3/4″ strips, finishing to a 1/4″. matching the strips for the tiny little squares was interesting, but not hard.

I am finding that I like the hand-wrapped edges, instead of machine finished. The yarns out there today have so much potential for adding to project edges!

The beading on the first card (Turquoise Sunset) has turquoise beading, and the second card (not sure of a title yet) has paua shell beading.

I wonder if I will accomplish another item tomorrow?

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Last night I created a little postcard with a print I made, along with using varigated embroidery thread, mohair/gold yarn and beading. I don’t think I am finished with it yet.

I love the fabric! It’s from Cherrywood Fabrics. Cherrywood Fabrics was a vendor at the APNQ show… I am glad I indulged at their booth

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Most people that know me, know that I have had a pretty hard time immersing myself back into quilting and discovery within mixed media over the last few years. It has been a forced effort more often than not–though I do have (infrequent) times when I am having no problem with playing and creating.

Today I thought I would check out some rubber stamps I bought months ago. I like the stamps, but the company I bought them from completely SUCK at shipping. They are local to me, but they don’t have a store front anymore, so shipping is “the” only way to receive. Can you believe it took over 5 weeks to receive these stamps… from a business that is only 30 minutes away?? Even my email took a week to get a response (”where are my stamps?”).

ANYWAY… so I pulled out some paint and my handy-dandy roller and played a bit. These stamps still need to be mounted on foam and wood (handle), but I had the urge to do a little play… so I will search for those things later. The top where it is a mish-mash of images, I still need to cut that rubber apart for the mountings. Afterwards, I won’t have to worry about them being altogether. I have various designs of coffee cups, sugar jar, mocha, coffee beans, a greetings stamp, and of course the Space Needle.

I like the reverse image that came out of the Space Needle. It makes a nice, uneven background that could easily be mistaken as clouds or rain. The plain printing is ok too, but the printing will be much better after the stamps are mounted.

So, now with those on my table drying, I have whipped out my journal to sketch a design that is stuck in my head.

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I went to the APNQ show yesterday. It was such a great day to get out, see some gorgeous quilts, and meet up with friends. This is Carolyn, a quilter that I have chatted with online for years who lives up in Canada.

We finally got to meet in person at the show! Yah! Our paths always missed at the other APNQ shows, so I am glad that we were able to meet up this year.

This quilt was my favorite. And definitely deserved the Best of Show prize. Called “Kitty Corner”, by Janet M Fogg from Lake Oswego, OR.

Oh, and if you squint to the right corner, you will see I got a picture of Terry Grant and Gerrie.

Of course, you don’t have to squint, just click on it and you’ll see the full-size version of the quilt (along with Terry and Gerrie). Also, seeing the full-sized image will show the quilting. I am glad that Ms Fogg quilted in a color other than black. It really added to the quilt.

And a snapshot of my purchases. Not a lot, but fabrics I loved. The flash made the fabrics brighter than in person. They are quite dark and rich in tone. Also, I added in the freebie little bundle I received from the vendor of the beautiful handdyes.

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I have been working on a few fiber art postcards. I am undecided yet whether to donate any to the FFAC booth at the Houston IQF show this year. We’ll see how I feel after I finish the beading and needlework that I will be doing on the pieces.

I want to work on more “coffee” type projects, and for these pieces I had an idea in regards to the “Kaffee Klatsch” concept, including flowing gossip. I do have titles in mind for the top two pieces.

The cat pieces were fun, and I have a title in mind for those two as well… not as serious as the top cards however!

I have an edge treatment in mind, and just need to raid my yarn stash to see what will work well with each.

We’ll see if I feel confident enough that they are worthy of the FFAC booth when I am finished.

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For the last couple of days I have been working on two cute little quilts. When I saw the patterns, I knew I couldn’t pass it up. The patterns are by McKenna Ryan (part of her “Cuisine Series”). There are two other patterns to this series, but I really liked these two the best. Now I just need to quilt it up.

There are times when a designer just comes up with a pattern that calls your name. This was one of them! Maybe it was because I needed my coffee at the time I love all things coffee

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