Way of the Child

I've just finished my first altered board book. What a fun project. On this page I used water color crayons, a magazine page image, postage stamps, paper napkin, old book images and a fabric collage. I also used a stencil and rubber stamps. This was my first trial with embossing powders. The Title of the book is "Way of the Child" and has childlike images and colors. Every page has a rabbit of some kind and most of the pages have a shining sun. From this project I learned a lot of new skills with a variety of resources.

First

Here is the more even, regular end of the very long table runner sampler, my first weaving project on Jessie, my little rigid heddle loom. The other end is looser and much more irregular with uneven tension and wiggly edges. I used sock leftovers and other scraps and odds and ends. It was fun and I can't wait to warp Jessie, the loom for my next project!!

Painted Fabric Bag

I made this bag a few weeks ago following a class with some friends using a DVD called Mixed Media Painted Fabric by Judy Coates-Perez. Made with muslin, gel medium, paper images, translucent acrylic paint, rubber stamps, foam paint, free motion stitching. Giving it to my daughter because she said she loves it. :o)

Wise Insight

The past day has had its ups and downs, but I am feeling positive this morning - after being up most of the night - after being quite sick in the evening. I'm gathering data regarding fibromyalgia and finding many helpful pieces of information. This is giving me hope, and inspiration for my plan to focus on good self-care. A Mayo Clinic doctor named Amit Sood was quoted thus: "We may not be able to stop the pain, but there are ways to stop the suffering." This makes good sense to me and I hope I can remember it when I need to. The view to the East was glorious to my dog and me when we went out at dawn. The air is crisp. The birds are singing their new songs.

Chris' Blocks

Chris chose the multi-colored leaf patterned fabric. When some fabric is leftover from making the first block, it is fun to put together another. Can't wait to see the rest.

Blocks with Purple Batik

These are the blocks I made for Wanda using her chosen fabric - a dark purple that looks as though it is hand dyed. I look forward to seeing the other quilters' blocks as well as Wanda's finished product.

BeAdS

Decorating large wood beads with a wood burning tool is fun while watching boring TV shows and winding down for sleep time.

Altered Knitted Wall Hanging Thing

When all else fails, knitting with sock leftovers somehow brings me back around. Knitting doesn't hurt the arms and neck if I don't work too long. Better every day. And thankful.

Love Doll

Idea taken from Stitch Alchemy by Kelli Perkins, this little voodoo doll is made from dark fabric paper and lots of found objects, beads and fibers scrounged from all my boxes and drawers. She was the focus of my best energies for a few days and now I think she might be my muse.

Exotic

Trying to keep up with the "Take a Word" blog sharing.

This is the nearest I can come up with for the word

"exotic." It's not, but somehow to me, it is.

The collage created itself one day when the

blue dog tags landed on the tractor seat photo

beside the pile of zen rocks image. I attached

them all to a piece of elephant dung paper.

Hmmmm. Exotic.