My QA House and Postcards

I received two more postcards over the weekend. This one is from Anna. Isn’t it great?
















And this lovely one is from Mags.
















Quilting Arts magazine had a “Doorway to Imagination” challenge back in their April/May issue. Some of the entries are in the newest issue out now. I figured I would show the piece that I made.

Here’s what I did…

Once I chose which door I wanted to use, I went to work creating a surrounding for it. I manipulated a photo of a brick wall in PSP8 and then printed it onto cotton fabric.

Using PSP8 again I used a portion of another one of my photos and composed my own words on it. Through manipulation I made sure they were in place where I needed them to be so you would not see them until you opened the door and then printed it onto cotton fabric. This was fused into place behind the door frame.

The door frame is constructed of two pieces of painted stabilizer which I cut out and glued together to give it the 3-dimensional look. The stones around the door and the stone steps are painted peltex glued into place.

I manipulated an image until I got what I needed for the front and back door panels and printed onto fabric. A thin magnetic sheet is sandwiched between the door panels and another piece of the magnetic sheet is glued in place behind the background fabric to hold the door closed. The window in the door is a piece of acetate. I drew the wrought iron on using a permanent pen. The hinges and the door knob are pieces of faux leather. The hinges are glued to the door panel and then stitched to the door frame. The shrubbery and pathway are fused onto the background. I then free motion quilted the piece. The binding was fused then stitched into place.

as usual click on image for better viewing...





















With the door open….






















I had intended to do some hand embroidery where the shrubbery is, but time got short on me and I used the commercial fabric instead.

Now I am off to read through 150+ emails. Sheeesh!

Lutradur and Lace

As most of you probably know by now, Fibre & Stitch made its debut a couple of weeks ago. There are some really wonderful articles in the zine, written by some very talented ladies. If you haven’t seen it you should check it out. There is a yahoo group (you have to be a subscriber to join), and they are currently having a challenge based on the wonderful article Carol McFee wrote about lutradur and lace.

Following her instructions I lightly free stitched my scrim and lace pieces to the front and then turned it over and painted the back with dark purple acrylic paint that I thinned with water.












The front was painted first with watered down lavender acrylic paint. When dry I applied the dark purple. You can’t really see it in the photo but Metallic silver paint was applied after that. I also sparingly applied a little silver Rub ‘n Buff.













I then did some free machine stitching around the lace motif. Next I fused the inside fabric, added a pocket and cut the scallop and zig zag stitched around the outer edges.















The inside
















And the finished piece, a small padfolio.






















And one more piece of eye candy before you go. This wonderful postcard came in the mail Saturday from Francoise.

More Birthday Postcards

Two more birthday postcards arrived yesterday.

This one is from Suz. It is just beautiful. I love the beading.















This one is from Kim. As you can see, it is one of her wonderful 3-D postcards. I love that morning glory.

Thank you ladies for these delights.

Incoming Birthday Postcards

These started coming in a few days ago.

This one is from Carol.














This one is from Sue B.














This one is from Lynda.















She sent these three along also, so very nice of her.



















Are they wonderful or what?

This is from Helen.















This one is from Terri.




















This one is from Dianne.
















So wonderful and such fun to receive. Thank you ladies very much.

Mermaid

I recently finished an online class at Joggles where I created a “Wrapped Mermaid”. My attempt in doing this on my own some time ago resulted in a less than desirable piece; so I took the class to learn the correct way to make a wrapped armature.

First came the wire armature:

Then the wrapping:





















Her boobies are made of glue dots as I didn’t have any of those flat glass marbles.

She is more or less complete. I may give her something to hold later on if I come across the appropriate item.




















Sideways view:
















A close up pic. Her face is one that I made last year using polymer clay. I think her lips need a little more color.




















And the ribbon piece on the back of her head:


















She is not quite what I had in mind, but at least now I know what I like and don’t like about this type of doll making.

Another Purse

I’ve been trying to catch up on all my blog reading and a couple of small things after having been a little under the weather the past couple of days.

I finally got this crocheted bag finished. It is made from suede yarn. Actually the bag has been done for sometime now. I just needed a button for it. And I decided to make a tassel also.




















I was finally able to get out the polymer clay to make it.

The lining and pocket.














Now I am off to work some more.