Long days

I’m so sorry I haven’t been able to be more creative and show you more. As I said in past blog posts : this has been some hectic months.

DH and me have decided to take a well deserved break next week : we’re going to Deauville, France. For us : only a 3.5 hours drive with the car.
It’s time we have some quality time. The past months we only lived for our shop.
Men always think they’re able to do it all. Women also…
Since we know – for 2 years now - DH has the disease of Parkinson, I have the impression we run after time.
That’s why we try to take more quality time. Simply enjoy our company.
Believe it or not : now we love each other, when we were just married not. Strange.

I haven’t done much : some doodling after seeing some work from Marc Chagall,
some sketches in preparation of another flower fabric collage :

and some flower stitch exercises. Didn’t made I some progress ?

I also enrolled in Terri’s faces workshop new version.

some sketch, but with some details added and lines erased:

Sue and Terri had the luminous idea of changing their class format in on-going workshops.
They created a ning-ring and added all their workshops in that ring. No yahoo-group anymore and an easy to navigate site.
The positive about that group is that the pictures from the different workshops will be available for all the members. I’m in another ning-ring and saw myself enrolling in a class because of the pictures showed by other class-members. The general discussion forum is available for everyone becoming a member of the ring and not just the workshop members.

“I never feel age...If you have creative work, you don't have age or time.”
Louise Nevelson

Write you soon,
Nathalie

A long hot summer

When I say hot, I mean : just perfect : 25° C (79°Fahrenheit) with a little sea-wind.
Because of the nice weather, I was more often outside and I didn’t play that much with fabric and colours.
What I did was colouring the collage surface in all the different blues I have adding only a touch of yellow/orange.
I did a wash and now have to wait till the surface has dried in the sun :

While waiting I tried to play further with the flower stitcher.
I first prepared a surface to play with :
Black felt
Foil
Misty fuse
Rainbow organza

I ironed the misty fuse on the felt, added the foil and then fused the organza on top of it.
This became my play surface.

Well, it seems I’m not able to stitch ‘perfect’ circles :

I obtain ovals or spirals, but circles : no way.
What am I doing wrong ?
I’m sewing on a thick felt surface. I changed the feet pressure to the max.
The thread tension is correct.
I try to keep the place around the felt clear, I hold the felt to avoid the dragging.
The only thing it could be is the size of the felt. Could it be too large ?

I just tried on a smaller piece of felt.
Well, I still have the same problem.
I will have to exercise a lot.


"Motivation is when your dreams put on work clothes!"
Milton Berle

Write you soon,
Nathalie

Flower Stitcher

I ordered a flower stitch foot at Shoppersrule and wasn’t expecting the delivery to be quick because they asked me for my preferred shipping mode and I chose the less expensive.
What a big surprise it was when, after only 4 days and with a weekend in between, I received the flower stitcher.
I was surprised by the size, I had no idea how big/small it was.After reading the explanations, I started to play.
It’s not THAT easy to use.
I will have plenty playtime before I master that foot as Valerie Campbell-Harding did.


I finished quilting my collage background. I used an elongated wavy stitch pattern with a leaf accent.
After stitching two rows, I decided to add white tulle on top just because I don’t know if I will slice my work or not.

a detail :

My next task will be adding colour on this background.
Still listening to Fantasia !

“To know what you prefer instead of humbly saying Amen to what the world tells you you ought to prefer, is to have kept your soul alive.”
Robert Louis Stevenson

Write you soon,
Nathalie

Cold heart trapped

I finished an exercise from the holey moley club. I never thought a paper napkin would disappear so easily !
The yellow is all that is left from that napkin. I could have distress it a lot more but I didn’t want to.
I began a fabric collage using light coloured scraps :

My intention is to colour the fabric surface and then…
I still don’t know…
Well, I have an idea but I want to leave you with a curiosity feeling.
Let’s say
It will be a ‘pot pourri’ from all different workshop I followed over the years :
A bit of Ellen Lindner (instant art quilt), Terri Stegmiller (mixed media for the fiber artist), Pam Carriker (different workshops), Sue Bleiweiss (surface design), Jane Lafazio (mixed media for paper and cloth), Shelagh Folgate (her challenge).

I will also use the music from Fantasia (W.Disney) as musical inspiration. It’s my intention to make and have fun.

"If you limit your choices only to what seems possible or reasonable, you disconnect yourself from what you truly want, and all that is left is a compromise."
Robert Fritz


Write you soon,
Nathalie