Daisy a Day

This is a little art quilt that I created as a sample for a class I will be teaching at Pleasant Valley Quilt Shop in Armstrong, BC in April. The main focus of the class will be creating a piece of unique fabric from bits and pieces of fabric, thread, glittery bits and organza and then the participants will use that piece of unique fabric to embellish an art quilt, a purse or a greeting card. It is such a fun "play day" and I thought you might like to see how I translated it into an art quilt.

The centres of the flowers are heavily beaded with additional bead dangles and the dragonfly is adorned with a few tiny seed beads and black sequins for his big eyes ... the wings have been made from Angelina that has been stitched with silver thread.

The grasses blowing in the breeze have been created from organza that has been stitched and then the edges have been left to fray in order to create more wisps.

The stem of the plant has been created by layering two decorative ribbons and yarn and then free motion stitching to give even more texture. The leaves on the plant are made from another piece of unique fabric that I created in green tones.

The background has been stitched in midnight blue thread. The outer edge of the art quilt has been couched with shiny black cord.

This art quilt measures approximately 12" x 20"

Felted Wool Purse

I have spent some time playing with felting recently and came up with this purse which incorporates both needle felting and wet felting.

The background of the purse is black wool melton to which I needle felted some luscious plum and grey wool and silk roving ... leaving it trailing off into soft wisps. Next I used my sewing machine and black thread to free motion stitch a design over the felted fibres as well as the background. I added a few lines of iridescent thread drifting across the bag as well. In the next step I needle felted some pieces of hand dyed, hand spun yarn that I had been given by a spinning friend ... I love the thick and thin areas of the yarn as well as the little knobs that form where some of the thin areas twist on themselves. I didn't want to flatten the yarn too much so it is lightly felted and then I included a few judicious hand stitches (and a sprinkling of beads)to make sure that it holds in place. The back side of the bag has been created in the same way.

I wanted to make a jazzy flower for the lower corner of the bag so I set to work and made some wet felted balls from plum wool and from the wool/silk fibre ... I also made a few worm-y shaped pieces which I curled up a bit before letting them dry. These pieces were assembled to create the gorgeous flower, adorned with beads that graces the front of the bag.

This purse is lined with hand dyed fabric in plum and blue/grey tones and it has a zipper closure across the top with a wool tassel. The strap is cotton webbing that has been securely stitched to each side of the bag. The bag measures approximately 8.5" x 10" with a 17" drop from shoulder to bag.

This bag will be inspiration for a class that I will teach this spring, but in the meantime, this one might end up in my Etsy shop.

I wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Healthy and Happy New Year!