Free Motion Sewing

Ha! I am learning a lot of stuff!  If you haven't checked out my link to Ellen Lindner, you should.  I downloaded her ebook class on Color and spent some time working on it yesterday.  I probably have  a couple more days of work to finish it.  But by watching a video of her and looking at her quilts and looking up stuff on 'art quilts' I discovered this thing called free motion sewing. 

It turns out my sewing machine has a couple of other feet I've never used.  A 'darning' plate and foot, and a 'walking foot'.  If you use the darning foot, you can sew backwards, forwards, sideways, in circles, it's unlimited!  You have to be careful not to make a mess of the back (by pulling the threads to the top before sewing.  Anyway, here is my first try... you can see the possibilities.  You can use fabric to make pictures...  how fun!

I learned something else too... it's called 'hiding your tails'.   How could I have been sewing for close to 50 years and not know about this?  It's basically leaving a longer tail on a thread and then sewing the tail back into the piece instead of just clipping it off.

Last of the Cat's

OK - here's the other cat bag... also reversible, but one pocket in and one out no matter which way you turn it...  two projects finished.  I guess I think the pocket is too big.  The nice thing about this project was now I know how to make this bag in any size or shape.  good learning experience, and if nothing else you can use them for groceries...save the earth!

Cat's in the Bag

OK - making bags is really fun and addictive... this is a different kind of bag, made in a cat theme for a friend.  This was my first try and I made a few mistakes... but who knows, one girl's mistake is another girl's 'feature', so we'll see...

This is one side of the bag, featuring contrasting snap pockets, one on each side.... OR... the bag is reversible, moving the pockets to the inside.

So, pretty fun, right?   Look out friends, you are all getting bags based on your interests, whether you need them or not!

In the Bag

Today I amused myself by making a spring bag.  This is from a 'Lazy Girl' pattern.  It was my first time trying the pattern and of course I made several mistakes, but the next one will be easy.  I didn't really like the way some of the seams were visible inside the bag, so I may have to rethink the instructions a little.  Still, it's very cheerful and I like the 6 pockets on the outside...

Taking Flight 4

The second winged lady is done... it's much better, although not great...still don't seem to have all the right stuff - and of course there's that little problem with the fact that I can't draw!!

Also, I'm getting my own ideas, and I want to try a couple of those

now, then I'll move on to the next project in Kelly Rae Robert's book.

Taking Flight 3

Well, I did as much as I can on my 2nd winged lady today... now I have to wait for the oil paint to dry.  I forgot to sand the face area again before putting on the oil paint, and I still don't see how to put it on smoothly. I have to run out and get some linseed oil to clean my hands and the brush I tried to smooth it with. I tried heating it with a hair dryer because I heard it had a wax component and thought it might melt smooth. Didn't really work...

So, tomorrow, I'll be able to add the face and the hair.  I need some kind of pen to write a 'message' on it.  I'm not really sure what that message is, but I'm leaning toward 'try', or some kind of quote related to 'try'. Anyway, I like this one much better.  The background papers were from a hymnal and an atlas. The paints are a more subtle (not primary) palette.  I used my cheap acrylics, because I had a better variety of colors.  I put something more interesting under the skirt - just words from Oprah magazine, but better.    I also had the charcoal pencil, which smeared nicely!

Taking Flight 2

I finished my 'winged lady' this morning per the instructions in Kelly Rae Robert's book Taking Flight. 

I like her.  I especially like the gray hair... all the ladies I make will have gray hair, an homage to all us grandma's that decide to get creative a little later in life. 

This was my first try with the Shiva Paintstix... I was very pleased with how easy it was to blend them with my finger, I only had three, so the face is painted on, which is different from the instructions, but I thought it came out well.  I'll get black and red paintstix before the next project.  It's a good thing the art store guy told me about the 'skin' on the paintstix,  I don't know how long I would have tried to use them as crayons without getting any paint on the paper.

I didn't have a 'Stabilo' black pencil or a graphite pencil, so the wings are lined in black paint instead of a more charcoal like line.. The yellow body is huge! don't know what I was thinking... also, if you are going to wipe away paint to see what's underneath, you should put something interesting underneath! (duh) what was I thinking? So I improvised... Also, if you are going to wipe off paint, use thinner paint!  I used really thick paint and had a heck of a time wiping it off.

I still don't really get the smeared paint background... maybe it also needs to be thinner? I don't know... I think it's ugly,.  My favorite part (surprisingly) is the head.  Oh well, next project...