Mini Gallery

This lineup makes my heart sing! This is Jane's bottle collection on the window sill at her beach home. I popped in yesterday to wish her a happy birthday...I think I photograph these bottles every time I visit.

Jane has a mini gallery wall in her guest bath with five of my pieces...two little mirrors...and two pieces from Regina Lord....an artist we both admire. My little bird collage on the lower left still needs to be hung. 

Yesterday I took her this felted piece that I mounted it on another piece of wool. It was an odd size to frame....so that was my solution. 

I also added this this doodle stitch piece to her gallery that I did a while back. I described my process (on a different piece) in this post.

https://joyfulputtering.blogspot.com/2023/06/rabbit-hole.html

Here's another piece I did at the time with decorative machine stitching.

I shared my process for framing both pieces in this post:

https://joyfulputtering.blogspot.com/2023/06/one-step-further.html

I remember having a lot of fun playing with the decorative stitches on my machine...then adding a little hand stitching. I think I will revisit this again sometime,

Here's a better photo of the felt and fabric piece.

Cherie, Dale and the flowers have had some much needed rest at Rita's in Illinois. In the next few days they will be in the final stretch as they head home. I copied and pasted Cherie's email below that describes this photo of Rita and her whole garden of gifted Chuck flowers. 

This is our former across the street neighbor and good friend Rita with the rest of  her Chuck flowers.  The large red one is a one of a kind flower. These arrived after the ferrous flowers and live in the house. Rita’s grand-dog, Petey, has to be watched at all times because he has been caught lifting his leg to pee on them….fortunately just in time! 

The yellow hummingbird flowers are a double flower that Rita got specially made for her. She was supposed to get the hummingbird flower that resides on our cabin table . Since I “commandeered” it my dad felt Rita deserved a special replacement. The white flower, which I call the floppy flower, I gave her from a group my dad gave me to give special people at work when I retired. Lastly, the flower Rita is holding is one of three garden flowers she made in Chuck’s shop when she came to the cabin to visit. Rita says she’s very blessed to be the recipient of so many flowers.

Knows Me Well

I got these adorable felted coasters from Sam for Christmas...he knows me well. 

I couldn't love them more.  Thank you Sam!

I'll keep a couple on the coffee table....one on the puzzle table....and one in the studio

And look what I found....just like the coral JOY Janice shared with me a few days ago.  

These were a gift from Janet a few years ago from a beach in Hawaii. She knows me well too. This is the first time I've seen it since the move.

I've put the joy on a shelf at the end of our entry hall....where I'm displaying some of my found nature objects.  Everyone who enters will be welcomed by JOY! Thank you Janet!

Story of My Day 9

Today was filled with color and connecting from beginning to end....too much for one sentence...so what I'll share now is my little felted acorns on “The Table”....5ftinf‘s table.

Colorful Little Acorns

Happy Valentines Day....and Happy Birthday Nancy!

These sweet little acorns caps came from Florida by way of Janice. I felted some for me a while back... and today I made a little set to take with me to England for Philippa.

I felted the heart in honor of Valentines Day....and my sister's Valentine birthday.

This gives you a better sense how small they are. Some of the balls of wool were so small it was hard to stab them with the felting needle. I wish I had a Florida connection....maybe they're found other places???  I nearing the end of my stash.                                                                           

Splash of Spring

I got the idea for these felted lotus pods at a craft show in Portland. I started making them with multiple colors in each one...but they were too busy so I kept the palette a little tighter. I've also been working on a few felted pussy willow branches. I pulled off the fuzzy buds...and with super tacky glue replaced them with tiny little felted ones for a little splash of spring.

 

I'm going to put the bouquet on the table in the waiting area to break up the long wall. One thing's for sure....it's going to be colorful. 

I've been walking by "The Piece" for a few days....something was off...not right...missing.  I finally decided that the rainbow strip was too "flat" compared to the rest....it needed to be quilted...it needed texture. Oy!

So off it came....thank goodness it was just hand stitched.  You have a little peak at my "hidden" binding on the back....more on that later.   

I topstitched the strip with gray/blue thread and settled in with HGTV and sewed it back on.  I think it's much better. Tomorrow I need to attach it to the canvas...and that worries me a little. 

Helpful Questions!

Even though I've been focused on the construction project in Maine...I've been working on pieces for my show.

I have a great group of supportive friends who are willing to give me constructive criticism and advise when I need it.  When talking about my little art show with my friend Becky....she asked me a couple questions that have been rattling around in my head.  Do you have a focal point?....and are you going to edit?

In terms of editing...I am narrowing my scope a bit. I can't do everything that's in my head....and it has to look good together. So several of my pieces are going to have a spectrum of color similar to the umbrella photo.  Some pieces will be more subtle...some a little more crazy.



My focal point is a little on the crazy side....here's just a little glimpse...it's still very much a work in progress. I will try and have a little restraint....but I think it would be fun in a kids room....so why not go crazy!

It actually started with this piece of driftwood I had wrapped a while back in some rainbow spectrum yarn....just because I could.  Not every quilt starts with the hanger...but this one did. And...I knew I wanted to make it narrow enough to use a garland of felted beads.

 

It goes nicely with my wool, felt and button piece....which I still need to figure out how to frame. Maybe this quilt will help me figure that out.

Mulling It Over

I often have a hard time figuring out framing....and I'm mulling over what to do with my little felt piece inspired by the beach umbrella horizon.

I did some loopy free motion stitching at the top...just to suggest water and sky and a blanket stitch along the edge. Per usual I may have gone a little overboard with the orbs....but it's too late now.  And for the sake of not overdoing even more...I opted not do add any embellishments on the bottom....although I have a few ideas.....

I stained a 6x8 paint panel and edged the top with strips of blue and white striped card stock....for interest and a nautical nod to striped beach umbrellas.  I haven't glued it down yet...because I'm still mulling it over.

Commets? Suggestions?

Sometimes it's good to put it aside for a while...I've got several other things brewing.

Rainbow Birthday Book

Connie's birthday was today...and I made this tiny little rainbow accordion book...with a mix of her artwork...and some of my little photo collages. It's only about 2 1/2 by 3 1/2 inches.

The little poms on each page...are needle felted and cover is collaged with tissue paper.

The back folds are covered with washi tape. Every color scheme has a copy one of her little pieces of art and a little collage.

I actually started this several years ago...but stopped in the middle because I thought it was a little too goofy. But I came across it a few weeks ago and decided to finish it for Connie's birthday. After all....a lot of my artwork is a little goofy...so why stop now.

There's a little snippet of her old curtains on the red page and a little piece of Paul's grandmother's tatting on the purple page.


Happy Birthday Connie!

 

 

The little bird images are cut from this sweet little planner/calendar I used several years ago by Geninne...an amazing artist from Santa Fe.  I have talked about her before....I just love her art...especially her birds.  I have spent hours and hours on her blog... check it out here.

I'm Going To Be Brave!

My mind was already buzzing....but that crazy "fork in the road" really got me revved up about all the possibilities for 2016. One of my goals is to be brave. 

My friend Becky told me about a site called "Folt Bolt" when she was here in September. It was started by a Hungarian artist living in Australia named Kriszta Kemeny. (you can read more about her on her website) Now that she is not making so much or her own art, she is featuring and celebrating artists from all over the world on her website, Facebook, and Pinterest.. In addition to her featured artists, she offers "show & tell" where she has two categories each month to feature. One is always a color scheme...and one is a technique or medium.  This month the color scheme is blues and greens and the category is felting....both close to my heart.

So yesterday I was brave...I joined her "Folt Bolt Club" and submitted a few things in each category. I woke up to an e-mail saying I was in. If you go to her website here....and click on the the sub-category "SHOW & TELL" you will see a few pages from my art journal with Ellen....and if you keep scrolling....a few of my felting projects.  And, she has chosen the mixed media vase of flowers to be one of the featured pieces at the end of the month on the Facebook Page celebrating the "show & tell" color scheme contributors.  (the Facebook page has almost 100,000 followers.)

In addition, she chose a few things to go on her Pinterst pages here, and here.


Needless to say I'm excited.  Yes...I'm going to be brave in 2016.

Felt Garland

Happy New Year's Eve!

I am quite fond of felt garland...and have a nice little collection going.  I loved the way they looked on the tree...part whimsy...part homespun. I tried several times to photograph them....but none of the photos did them justice.  Now that they're off the tree....I have a chance to show them off before I tuck them away for another year.

I have made some and bought some. The colorful one on the far left and the all red one are "Free Trade" products.

A Felted Forest

I started these little felt trees for my friend Jane a year ago...maybe two. My hold up was finding the right stand. (or at least that's my story)  But the little doll plates I bought for the paper trees from the last post worked well....I just stained them a little darker.

I used wool felt to make the tree....cutting a triangle shape and hand stitching it into a cone. Next I stuffed it with batting and stitched it closed with a round insert of felt on the bottom. I needle felted the red polka dots right onto the wool felt (you couldn't do that with regular polyester felt) and finally embellished them with beads and stitching.  The star is also needle felted and the trunks are painted skewers.

I hope there's a little spot in your forest Jane!

 

Here's one more that I'm going to keep....it has a whole different vibe.  I intended to paint the red and white stripes on all the trunks....but it was hard to get my lines straight so it's a little wonky. I decided to go with just the red on the others.  I'll have to work on that because I think the stripes are kind of fun.  I covered a wooden block with polka dotted scrapbook paper for the base.

I think at some point I'll make more felted trees.  They were kind of fun and the possibilities are endless! And...I just love trees.