Tumblers

This week, not only have I been playing in the fabrics, but I seem to be having a bit of help especially matching stripes!

Just before Christmas, I broke down and bought an Accuquilt Go cutter and the first quilt that I wanted to make was from the tumbler blocks.  The smaller tumbler comes with 3 cuts on the die.

It's 3 1/2" and a nice size for a baby quilt, making purses and I actually wouldn't have minded even making a larger quilt from it.  At the moment, I have been cutting fabrics in groups of 10 per color to get ready for an exchange from the Accuquilt yahoo group.  Feb. we will be exchanging brights and there will be a black and white exchange that I am looking forward to too!

I have also already made a couple of baby quilts with this die and they were way too much fun!

I love these cool colors together.

These retro style fabrics in a mint and green make for a new color combo too.  

The new die has been chosen for my next cuts, so I am off to choosing fabric colors.  Sew until next time!

Artful Gatherings

I know it has been a long long while since I have last posted.  Too many things in my life had run together with quilting for others and having had cat and dog adoptions and doing dog transport that my blog life was left behind in the dust.  Then came facebook which was easier to post something quick. When I did go back to blogging, it was trying to time out and I was frustrated and decided it was one more thing that was taking so much of my time that I didn't have time for.  Well, I have missed blogging terribly and decided that it was something that I had to get back to doing in the new year.  I am hoping that my blogging friends haven't forgotten me as I feel that I have to start a new!

I decided to pick up after last year with some unfinished business.  If any of you recall, I had worked on a piece that wasn't completed and simply fell into place.  So I have included my first piece of art work into the new year.

Rather than hunt down the post, I will start by showing you how it all began.  I had bits and pieces of junk that accumulates on my desk.  I used an old greeting card box that I had saved (I mean I never seem to throw anything away!) and began to add all sorts of pieces for texture. 

I covered it all with foil tape that you can get from the hardware store.  I then burnished it as I worked on it.  You can use a Q-tip or the end of a pen or anything rounded to get into the crevices.  It now sort of reminds me of texture on the moon.



Then I took metallic acrylic paints and started playing with the surface for some rusted like metallic properties.  I didn't have a photo of the last step, but I applied a wash of some black paint after this was all dry and treated it like a stain and wiped it off before it dried.  You can see some black on the finished piece.
As for the figure, I spray painted a domino and adhered it to the center with E6000 adhesive.  The face and outer wings are from paper stock that I had stuck onto craft foam.  I made spacers underneath to have it stand out more.  The edges of the face and the wings were done with chalk ink.  Then I brushed on a layer of diamond glaze for a little sheen.  The neck is a metallic bead and the wire I wrapped around a crochet hook for the arms and a bead for the hands.  Embroidery floss was used for the waistline.  The inner wings were from some silk flowers and I added some copper eyelets.  The only other found object I used was an old watch face that I wanted to leave exposed.  I may later add a crown to the head, but for now I am lovin' this piece!  Hope you do too!