Friday, November 26, 2010

Polar bear construction, sewing fun

First Polar Bear!
I've been sewing! The first one resembles a polar bear! lol. I'm sure they will all have their own personalities. The fabric was woven over the summer on my rug loom as it needed a heavy beat to weave. The most fun part is attaching the leather feet and ears! The construction was like a puzzle to figure out. The last two bears are put together better than the first. Now to finish sewing the feet, stuffing and embroidering the faces.




This is the sewing machine raiser my DH, sweetie that he is, made. It sits on an old antique school sewing desk. That our late friend Pee Wee LaRue had and gave to us.  An OT suggested it to decrease my neck and back pain. It works great! Another great tool I found is to cut that clear tubing they have a Lowes or Home Depot, put a slit in the cut piece and it fits around your sewing bobbins. It keeps those ends from tangling with all the others and becoming a mess. Are those threads trying to mate or what??

Saturday, November 6, 2010

Percolated art work

Took a Surface Design Class back in 2008. Had some subtly designed fabric from wallyworld, that I dyed using  stamps and silk screening. I took the darkest dyed piece, probably the first and used that as the center. Then cut all the rest in four,  to piece around it. Now the fun starts, I need to go thru my beads and threads and find what I can use. Found three embroidery threads that work well with it. The class was with Suzanne Gernandt and it was wonderfully freeing. I would definitely recommend her classes.

Funny how art works sometimes, it has to simmer or percolate for awhile. I've been thinking about this since I made the cloth but loved them and didn't want to cut them in 2008. Then they were lost up north for awhile and since I found them this summer I couldn't wait to cut and piece them


This one I did in 2008 in class; there is stitching, rust dye, stamps, painted dye and  hand embroidery on it. Both of these were just junk pieces of material. I found the above at Habitat for Humanity in Asheville it is upholstery fabric. I used junk material because I had no idea how any of this would turn out. I had done a color wheel warp quite awhile ago and found purple and orange were an interesting combination. The piece that I will be working on next is purple, yellow, orange and some red tinges. Guess is was a phase I was going thru!   This one I can take my time on and really embellish to my hearts content! The next piece is cotton material and will be easier to work on besides.