Cyber Fyber

The internet has been a great resource in building communities that wouldn't exist any other way. Meeting people from around the world with common interests. Susan Lenz had a wonderful exhibit of small art in the form of ATC's and postcards called recently called Cyber Fyber. These AtC's & postcard started out similar to these -same velvet,plaid scarf,foil, sheers -different wool and sheer on top. The sheer is more reflective and called for a cheerier finish. I love the fuzzy multi-coloured yarn.

needlefelting

I like needlefelted work but prefer if all those little holes are not visible. Beryl Taylor always writes clear, concise instructions for projects that have such visual interest & depth. Her latest is in the Jan/Feb 08 issue of cloth, paper, scissors.
I had started working on my felt piece for Carmi's swap with a plaid mohair scarf. I bought the scarf at the Toronto Clothing Show but found it too itchy to wear. It was felted onto wool felt and felted to a piece of cotton velvet. circle of wooly yarn punched in & painted fusible ironed on.this is what it looked like at that point.
many more layers- copper & blue foil, punched sheer from an old skirt, a sprinkle of bo-nash & a layer of orange chiffon. then machine stitched, sliced & diced & the edges finished with yarn.
when I was cutting it up I realized it looks like rust or patinaed copper. Is patina a verb or a noun? both?
as a bonus the back looks great too.
this is the front scanned

and the back

ATC swap

I am participating In Lenna's ATC swap. She is the best swap hostess ever and I get to deliver my ATC's in person. We will both be in the same area at the same time - she is on holiday in Canada & I will be taking a summer course at a local college. These are my ATC's for her swap. check out some of the ones I might get on her swap blog.

1" square pieces of art

I got a fun little parcel in the mail today. 35 little pieces of art. so cute. They are fun to arrange. I'll think I will attach them to a piece of paper or fabric. My pieces are here.

paper inchies

I've finished my paper floral inchies for a swap. I started with a napkin in my favourite green colour with gold damask highlights. I made this more durable by adding a layer of cheesecloth with glue using Beryl Taylor's instructions in
Mixed Media Explorations.
added a backing then cut it into inch square pieces. the edges are done with a gold krylon pen. silk flower petal glued down and the centre done with micro beads in gold & copper. 40 of these will be off in the mail. It will be fun to see what I get back.

fabric inchies continued

what a great surprise. My fabric inchies were selected on a group to be the homepage picture for a week. Its a fun, creative group that holds an Artfest every weekend. You enter a picture and the previous weeks winner selects from the current weeks entries. cool eh? Anita picked my fuzzy little pieces. Anita's piece selected for Artfest was a journal quilt of one of her many animals -Mona. Her blog has lots of photos from her farm. I still think it is the best place to raise a family.

fabric inchies

I need to make some inchies to trade--some in paper & some in fabric. I don't mind making them because you can start with 1 larger piece then cut it up. This is the same wool and yarns I used for the charms. The free motion embroidery is granite stitch. It is easy to do, effective for texture. I can see why it is so popular.
I left the little tails of yarn used to trim the inchies. I quite like them that way. I've made 28 of these little guys. now off to make the paper ones.

fabric book continued

This is the page Sandi made for my book. I love the hand stitched leaves & the flower is from vintage ribbon. The real dandielions will be showing up here any day now!!

I *heart* zine

I've decided to join a zine swap organized by Alma Stoller. The topic has to be about a craft or art - shall I pick quilting or quilting?! But I really need to narrow it so it has a focused theme. I'm thinking of creating texture with thread for journal quilts. I've never made a zine before but I always have words swirling in my head when I'm working on something so this will give me an opportunity to get them out into the world!!

its a charming life

all thing small have taken over the swapping community. Inchies from paper and fabric charms. I need to get mine out soon. used the new toy to felt some yarns & wool roving to felt.Then free motion machine embroidery with variegated thread. The leaves are from felted organza then ironed to flatten.
The charms are about 1" wide & 1 &1/2" long with an eyelet. theme was Mother Nature & colours were blue,greens &sepia.

pins in the mail

since joining Fabric-olics I have gotten some terrific stuff in the mail. I was in a pin swap and these are the pins I got. The one on the left is from Sandi, metal mesh and copper wire and little glass bulbs very modern and cool. the middle on is from the host of the swap, Jessica and has a gorgeous clay face, the corset came all the way from Australia from Marg and will finally give me some cleavage on my chest!
Thanks ladies.

ArtChix quiltie

I received my quilt from the ArtChix quilt exchange hosted by Lenna.
I was made by Donna in California. I love the great humour in this little piece. The red checker tablecloth is perfect for a picnic. The ants look so sweet in their ArtChix hats and the cupcake looks good enough to eat. The balloon says Ant Party!!

ArtChix quiltie

This is a little quilt I made for a swap being held by Lenna. It uses supplies from Artchix and the theme is summer. The butterflies and one pear are from the garden collage collection. Paper sewn on to the quilt. Obviously not washable!! There is also a little brass tag on the basket that says 'grow'. It is not really in the Artchix style so I hope who ever receives it likes it.

ATC's

It was wonderful to see the hundreds of ATC's that were sent into cloth, paper, scissors magazine. hundreds of exquisite little pieces of art. I don't know how Pokey gets any work done on her magazine receiving such treasures in the mail every single day!!
I heard a rumour they will be publishing a book with all the ATC's. As I was admiring them on Thursday night a woman next to me pointed mine out to her mother. The woman was from Toronto & her mother lives in the very next town to me. Small world eh?! She goes to a monthly ATC swap with mostly fiber artists at the Gladstone Hotel on Queen St. in Toronto. We didn't get to pick our own ATC's for the swap. It would be very time consuming if everyone had to choose. The top row is the 5 ATC's from the magazine swap and the second row is from the additional swap with the staff from the magazine. These are my first ATC's in what could become a large collection. I can see how this can become addictive.

ATC's

Two of my favourite magazines are cloth,paper and scissors and Quilting Arts Magazine both from the same publisher. In the spring issue of cps there was a challenge for ATC's to be exchanged at the Chicago Quilt Show. I sent in my 5 cards. I took one of the first embroideries I did when I got my machine. I cut it up & coloured with water-soluble fabric crayson. I don't have a picture of the finished cards. These are them in progress.
Now Patricia 'Pokey' Bolton, the editor of these great magazines has raised the stakes in the card game!! She has offered to trade 200 more ATC's & offered great instructions on making cards with felt. I'll see your offer & raise you 5 more cards!! See you at the table in Chicago!!


This is on of 10 ATC's I made. Butterflies on collage, covered with inked transparency then black mesh sewn on the top. I made them to give to people in my class at Joyce's Studio when I teach this mesh tote bag.