Lula's fabric

Lucky girl, wonder if she would autograph it!

Cheryl

Oh I'm so jealous - which one did you get? And what are you planning on doing with it? Yup - I'm nosey. :-))

Sharon

Sharon said

Most likely, I'll embellish the heck out of pieces for my 'gallery' of odd yet beautiful women ;-)

Wouldn't that make the cutest kid's quilt? I just love it. And now you've got my curiousity up - what is your 'gallery' of odd yet beautiful women?

Sharon

I don't even sew (I DO know where the sewing machine is) and I'm really tempted to buy some "just because". After all, my little pixie of a niece (also my God Daughter & stitching student, even though she's moved to Hawaii) just turned 17 & in 5 or so years the nieces & nephews will start having pixies of their own. The fabric is awfully cute & if I wait until I want it, it might not be available any more. Besides, if I bought a 1/2 yaard of each & brought it to my EGA meeting, I'm sure some of the others would also be tempted. One of our members does beautiful ebellishment work & it would be interesting to see what she could do with it. I'm not a fabric collector myself, but my mom & older sister were and I fear it is genetic. :-) After all, I don't use the sewing machine now, but who knows about the future??? :-) Maybe I should start collecting now just in case??? :-) Liz from Humbug (who really isn't buying anything until the wavy kitchen floor gets replaced (leaky water heater under the sink a couple of years ago)

Sharon said

I haven't been online much lately as I've been obsessing over finishing two xs projects. It's now more official than ever that I'm counting challenged!!! Each project looks ok but there are many, many errors that had to be compensated for. Pictures of some but not all of my women can be found at

Liz from Humbug said

That's what I plan on doing -- finding a few 'motifs' on each piece and then embellishing the heck out of 'em for wall hangings.

Wow, Anne. You are incredibly creative!! You use all these fibres and fabrics in such a unique and whimsical way!!

Gillian

Same here! In response to a question from Cheryl, I stopped at the store last night. For those of you who may be thinking of purchasing some, the pattern repeats every 12" and it's $6.99/yd at my Hancock's, which has only 3 of the 4 designs.

HTH!

Joan

Gill Murray said

Thanks, Gill. I'm too stupid or ignorant to know I shouldn't use something . I wish I had the eye and talent to create original pieces instead of merely adapting the heck out of others' work .

I had a hard time deciding what to stitch and finally decided on the bathing bovines for several reasons: first, I had an idea for finishing and needed a somewhat stand alone unit and second, there was a lot of different items that made it challenging.

From the git go, I envisioned a stumpwork-ish, trapunto-ish 3D applique, but instead of cutting around the applique's edges, there would be enough fabric to wrap around an appropriately sized 1/4"- 1/2" thick backing board. This tile would then be placed on a larger piece of Lula's fabric, smack dab top of the same design. Clear as mud, right?

I didn't have a clue how to do what I wanted to do and wasn't happy with my initial attempts but I had an epiphany For the rest of the story and to see the finished product, surf on over to

As always Anne....your project is delightful!

Mavia

Anne,

I have to post about how creative you are! You amaze me with all the clever ideas you've come up with to embroider and embellish designs your own way!

It's wonderful how you can take any design you like and change it so neatly by the addition of other materials to fit your creative urges to embellish and embroider! It's inspiring! You do a great job and I admire all your ideas.....it's great!

snipped-for-privacy@earthlink.net said

I knew there was a reason I liked this group :-) Thank you all for the kind words.

Not quite a year ago, I helped form a Free Style Interest Group for my EGA chapter. Today's meeting was absolutely mind boggling!!!!!!

First sensory overload item was the location -- picture an expensive house overlooking a golf club fairway furnished with old stuff that we were told had been picked up in junk stores or garage sales as opposed to highly polished dark wood antiques.

Second was the plethora of items made by our hostess. Jill doesn't stitch pictures; she embroiders and embellishes curtains, drapes, slip covers, purses, clothing. Her cloth covered boxes are to dye for (pun intended).

Third was the seeing what a stasholic she is -- at least two upstairs rooms plus the attic house her extensive collections of threads, wool, fabric, lace, trim, felt and felted items, etc.

Fourth was watching creative people in action -- the project du jour was creating Valentine cards. Each of the ten people, except me who wanted to observe and learn rather than do, picked fabric, fibers, embellishments from the materials that we had brought to share, moved 'em around until they were happy, and then finally started to stich.

Fifth was the lunch

Sixth was the exchange of ideas, tips, tricks, etc.

Lula, if you don't have a copy, you need to get the Winter 2005 issue of Quilting Arts, which despite having a '2005' designation is the current issue. It features an awesome collection of dolls made by very, very, talented and free thinking artists.

Ah - but you can have both! You should see what a little time, elbow grease and tung oil did for a thrown away maple table.

Dripping Drool now!

The best part

I wonder if my library carries this one!

Cheryl

Anne,

What a great home & creative hostess.....I was "seeing" everything and more that you described in that wonderful artsy house! Being surrounded by great stashes of creative materials is so inspiring.....makes the fingers itch to stitch, to create, to make something!

It's also great that you motivated the formation of a Free Style EGA group.....we need more groups like that to challenge & to see creative possibilities beyond the usual.

Yes, I have that issue of Quilting Arts......love that magazine.....wish it was a monthly! Their sister mag, Cloth Paper & Scissors is just as wonderful....the current issue is one of the most creative issues I've seen so far!

Those pages of art dolls in the current issue of Quilting Arts was pure eye candy! I looked at each doll's details to see what kind of embellishments were used as well as guessing how the embellishments might have been applied.