ALTERED FABRICATIONS

Alphabet Fabric Pages

2009-06-21T20:58:00.000-07:00

Fabric in Altered Art 2 has started an Alphabet Fabric Page swap. This will be the theme of our monthly fabric page/quiltie swap until we finish the alphabet. There will be other themes for the holidays or just because, but this will be our primary theme. If everyone sticks with it we will all end up with a really nice fabric alphabet book. This is our first month so of course the letter is A. I used this image for a calendar page a while back and as soon as I came across it I knew it was the one for this month. A is for Attitude!

If you would like to join our monthly swap just follow the link to the group and ask for an invite. You can join at any time. You can always make the pages for the letters you missed so you will have a complete book at the end.

In addition to this swap we almost always have at least one or two others going on. We have a new bird themed swap that will be announced soon. It was inspired by an article in the new Sew Somerset. Stop by and see what we are up to!

Honey Bee Tote

2009-04-21T12:42:00.000-07:00

Just a quick note to let you know that the first swap on Fabric in Altered Art 2 will be a recycled tote with a Honey Bee theme. Take an old tote and alter it using to fit a honey/bee theme. Add bee buttons, bee fabric, a honey pot, honey colored collage, bee collage, etc. Use an old tote. That's the recycled part. Or, if you just happen to have bee/honey fabric that you can repurpose, that would bee fine too! For more information, join FIAA2 and read the file that Pam has provided with all of the info in it. These will be due to her on June 1. There is a link on the left hand side of this page to join our group.

For those of you who don't know, Fabric in Altered Art 2 (FIAA2) is a remake of Fabric in Altered Art, a group that has been active for over 2 years. FIAA2 is new and improved in that it is not by invitation only (as FIAA was) and you can easily join the group by using the link.

I hope you decide to join us!

Valentine Postcard and Quiltie

2009-03-08T13:45:00.000-07:00

I am only about a month late posting but better late than never, right? These are my fabric Valentine postcard and Valentine quiltie/fabric page that I made for Fabric in Altered Art swaps. Fabric in Altered Arts is moving May 1 to Fabric in Altered Arts 2. Having the new group will give new members easier access to us. I hope to see many new members this year!

Cute Quick Clutch

2009-02-20T16:39:00.001-08:00

This is a quick easy clutch that I made the other day after purchasing a clutch pattern on Etsy. It is felt lined. The felt and fabric were fused together before the pieces were cut out which made it so much quicker. I printed the pattern on sticker paper so no pins, no slipping. The inside seams are stitched with a small seam allowance. The curved edge that folds down is finished with a buttonhole stitch. I think my favortie part is the pin! I have left it temporarily but it is really not functional that way. I will have to find a special button for it.

Halloween Fabric Postcard

2008-11-03T10:03:00.000-08:00

Well, I guess the 10th time is the charm! This is a fabric postcard that I made using fabric for the background and a few fun cardstock stickers and really cool brads as embellishments. I stitched around the stickers to add a little more dimension and decoration, punched a few holes and added the brads, and it was ready for the backing and finishing off of the edges. The lady at the post office said it would cost a little extra to mail since they could not run it thru the machine with the brads. She even checked with me the next week to make sure it had been delivered. Which it had, safe and sound. You never know when you mail something a little different. We are doing a "message in a bottle swap on Treasure Art Trends this month. We will actually mail in the bottles. It will be fun to see how many are brave enough to actually mail in the bottle without putting them in a box and how many are received in good shape. Always something fun to do in altered art!

Not able to add pics

2008-11-03T09:13:00.000-08:00

Well, I guess I'm not supposed to get caught up afterall. I have tried 2 different browsers and get kicked out each time I try to add a pic. I will have to give it another try later tonight. If it doesn't work then it will be the weekend before I will have time again. I think this is how I get so far behind.

Time to catch up

2008-11-03T08:54:00.000-08:00

It has been a while. I tried cutting back on hosting swaps in hopes of having more time for other things, including blogging. I think I ended up with less time somehow. That is going to have to change. I have been busy creating, just not taking the time to scan and take pics and post. That too has to change. Over the next few weeks I am going to try to catch up on posting some of the projects I have been working on. I will have to see what all I actually have pics of. I did take pics of my October quilties for Fabric in Altered Art. They are up next. I also have a scan of 2 of the 3 quiltlets that I did for Elizabeth's swap on ABC. They are all pretty much the same and only 2 fit in the scanner so that's what I have to share. We just finished up a Halloween chunky book on Treasure Art Trends. I think I have pics of that. I also have a really fun Halloween fabric postcard that is probably one of my all time favorites. I'm not sure why, but I really liked it. I hope Kathie enjoyed receiving it as much as I did making. Maybe it was a favorite because it went together so easy. A few weeks ago I had to make several ATCs, some chunky pages, and the postcard. I challenged myself to use up some of the supplies I have instead of finding an image and using it as the center of each piece. Not having to work around an image and being able to use up whatever ended up on the table was a lot of fun. I'll try to post pics of the ATCs and chunky pages before they go in the mail in a few days.

Fiber Fragment Shrines Link

2008-09-15T15:09:00.000-07:00

Here is the link that we have tried to post to Fabric in Altered Art for examples of the Fiber Fragment Shrines. Mixed Media Collage ( I believe that is the name) has some great examples.

First Itty Bittys

2008-07-20T10:22:00.000-07:00

These are my first Itty Bittys, made for Lenna's Creative Swaps. The theme is Summer. I used one of my favorite images, added some coordinating paper, and lots of stitching. I love to add stitching to paper projects. It just seems to add dimension and sometimes and unexpected touch. Don't you love those starfish charms? They were perfect for these itty bittys.

Row House Swap

2008-07-09T14:37:00.001-07:00

These are not fabric but I still wanted to share. These are four of the houses I did for the Row House Swap on Treasure Art Trends. I decided to make a few extras and choose the ones that I wanted to keep but ended up making 4 that I will keep for myself. I think one of the reasons that I enjoyed these so much is because they are all different. They were a lot of fun to work on tho they took a little time. We are swapping 15 for 15. They had to be 4" wide but the heights could vary. Some will bind theirs into a book. I think I am going to mount mine on something and hang on the wall. I may find a way to attach them to the mounting surface so that they can be changed out every once in a while. Maybe just 8 or 9 at a time. That will still be 3 feet wide and that is probably plenty. I also have some coming from another row house swap as well as some ATCs so I should have a very nice mix!

Quilted Western Purse/Tote

2008-06-29T19:17:00.000-07:00

This is a western themed quilted purse that I finished this evening. The construction is the same as the purple one that I made for the swap on Fabric in Altered Art. The main difference besides the theme is this one has more in the way of embellishments. I have a steer head/skull stamp that I really like and don't get to use much. I stamped it onto 2 different pieces of leather and stitched them to a few of the fabric scraps. I added several buttons and a few charms as well. I really like the purse but I am actually tired of all of the brown fabric that I have laying all over the place and I am ready to get out something bright and cheerful. This is the first purse that I have made that I am keeping for myself. I am really looking forward to using it!

Altered Tea Towel

2008-06-12T20:26:00.001-07:00

This is one of the tea towels I did for an altered tea towel swap on Fabric in Altered Art. The other one is similar with lace in place of the rick rack. I had some coffee themed fabric that seemed perfect for the towels. I simply cut strips for each end, pressed the edges under 1/4" and stitched them down. I had a fat quarter that had several images of pots, mugs and machines. I cut 3 for each end of the towel and zigzagged them on. Simple, tho a little time consuming. It was a fun swap and and ready to mail out tomorrow.

Latest Quilted Purse

2008-05-26T09:19:00.001-07:00

This is the purse I made for the quilted purse swap on Fabric in Altered Art.. I received a packet of 7 fat quarters from EQuilter.com, my fav online fabric shop, and wondered what I would do with all of the purple fabric. It was time to start my quilted purse so I decided that I would challenge myself to use those 7 fat quarters. I did add a few other scraps of fabric on top of the main pieces but the outside, lining and straps are all made from the fat quarters. I had received a quilted purse from Debi Minter that gave me the inspiration for my purse. She had used a piece of decorator type fabric and then stitched fabric scraps all over it. I created the pieces for the outside of the bag by sewing two FQs together and then cutting them to create the front and back. The lining is created pretty much the same way except one side of the lining is more of a print, the other is more of a solid. After creating the front and back pieces I cut rectangles, squares and triangles from some of the other FQs that were left along with other purple scraps I had. It was a really fun a creative project! I have everything together to make another one in the near future. I will be posting the directions from start to finish along with a supply list and pictures for anyone that wants to make one of these purses. If you would like to join us just let me know. Please e-mail me at the address in the upper left hand corner of the blog. If you just leave a comment make sure your e-mail address is included in your comment.

Learn to make a Quilted Purse/Tote

2008-05-18T14:41:00.000-07:00

Sometime in the next 2 weeks the members of Fabric in Altered Art is going to begin a new project. We are going to learn to make a quilted purse or tote. I have made a few in the last few months and I could not believe how simple they are to make. And I don't quilt! I can't even free motion quilt. Don't know why but I just can't get it. Thanks to a fellow member of Fabric in Altered Art, I found a very simple and colorful way to quilt a piece of fabric. I am going to write out the directions for a purse or tote that you can make simple changes to. I will add a few illustrations and make it as simple as possible. You will be able to change the shape and size of the bag very easily. You can add pockets or leave them off. Short handles or long. We will use one simple set of instructions and I am guessing we will all end up with totally different bags. I think you will be amazed at how simple it is. You know those totes that seem to have those perfect squared off bottoms and you wonder how that happens. It's soooooo simple. My daughter was really impressed until the turned the bag wrong side out and showed her how to do it.

If you would like to join us contact me at CathyJohnson42000@yahoo.com and I will send you and invite to the group.

Goodie Bag Challenge Wall Hangling

2008-05-16T16:21:00.000-07:00

My gosh! It's been a while. Time to get this thing rolling again. I have been creating, just not posting. I will try to get back on track. This is a wall hanging I made using the items that were sent to me by Debi for a Goodie Bag Challenge on Fabric in Altered Art. She sent me some wonderful batiks and the great DJ Pettitt fabric image. I had to find a way to make the image work with the batiks since it had the coral color in it and nothing else did. I found a batik that had turquoise and coral so that helped some. I finally remembered the color washes that I had bought a few months ago to try out on fabric. I used a dark red one , red pepper I believe, and it did the trick. It added a touch of the coral color in several spots on the batiks. Some areas took the color wash better than others but it was perfect since I just wanted a little here and there. I laid it all out on a piece of black felt and quilted everything down. All in all I was happy with the final project. I hope Debi enjoys it!

Postcards for swap

2008-03-15T20:07:00.001-07:00

These are my postcards for a swap. We were required to use Tallulah's college sheets from alphastamps.com. I had intended to make some of the cards with fabric but once I got started with the paper I just kept on going. The images, german scrap and victorian fans are all from
Alpha Stamps. I can't wait to see what I get in return!

Quilted Purse

2008-02-17T09:54:00.000-08:00

This is a quilted purse that I did for a purse swap. I have wanted to make a purse for years but never seemed to get around to it. I joined a purse swap because I knew that if I joined and had a comittment I would finish it. The pattern is from a Cindy Taylor Oates book. The book has 12 different bag styles including a yoga mat tote and a water bottle holder. I love the fabric that I used for the purse. I am not happy with the tie. It may be replaced before I send the purse out. The colors all worked before the purse was put together but now the green stands out like a sore (or green) thumb but it is the only piece of fabric that I had that was long enough to make the tie. It is lined with a pink/coral batik. I did not realize that all of the purses in the book were quilted. I have never quilted anything prior to this. I ended up drawing a grid pattern since my free motion quilting abilities are not the greatest. I have ordered something called a sew-slip for my machine that is supposed to make the fabric just glide right along. I will let you know how that works out.

ZOE

2008-02-12T15:19:00.000-08:00

I am trying to post more often so for today, you get Zoe....lol This is a picture of her on Michelle's bed. Those Dachshunds sure do enjoy their covers. She is a little more hot natured so has to wiggle part way out sometimes. Cute tho, right?

Button Cards

2008-02-10T19:38:00.000-08:00

These are the button cards that I made for Barb's swap on Fabric in Altered Art. I cut some Peltex to ATC size, fused my fabric to it, and finished the edges with a satin stitch. The buttons are fabric covered buttons. I have seen a few posts about a button maker that costs about $400 but I think I got a much better deal! I have always wanted to cover some buttons but for some reason thought it would be a real pain. It could not have been easier! There is a cheapo kit that you can buy for about $2 at Walmart. It includes 3 buttons and the two plastic "tools". You can also buy the refills which includes just 3 buttons. It is less than $1.50. I will definitely be buying more refills. These were a lot of fun.

New Swap on Fabric in Altered Art

2008-02-09T08:29:00.000-08:00

Signups are open for a new swap on Fabric in Altered Art! We are calling it the Goodie Bag Challenge. Each swapper will place 5-10 items in a baggie and send it to their partner. They can send fabric, buttons, lace, ribbon, thread, etc. Anything they love or anything they hate. But - remember- what comes around goes around.....lol Their swap partner will use the items in the baggie to create Whatever they like. They can make postcards, a quiltie, a doll, one of those wonderful crows, etc. They will then send that piece of art back to their swap partner. I think it will be fun to send out a baggie of goodies and have no idea what I will receive in return! If you would like to join us e-mail at CathyJohnson42000@yahoo.com and I will send you an invite to the group.

Valentine Postcard

2008-02-06T21:25:00.000-08:00

This is the Valentine Postcard I made for a swap. I actually made two for two different swaps but they are both similar. The two images are printed on an inkjet fabric sheet and the "true love" is a cardstock sticker. I love to sew on paper! The Feb.14 image was printed to the fabric from a transparency. Both images are from ArtChix.

Valentine Inchies

2008-02-04T12:16:00.001-08:00

These are some of the Valentine Inchies that I made for my Fabric in Altered Arts yahoo group. They all started out with a strip of Peltex that was 1.5" X 12" that was covered with fabric, both front and back. After stitching along each side of the strip I cut them into 1.5" lengths which made them 1.5" X 1.5". They are called "inchies" but we make them a little larger since it makes it so much easier to work on them with a sewing machine. The words "love" and "kiss" were stitched before the other two sides were finished with a zig zag stitch. The lips were printed on a piece of inkjet fabric and that fabric became the front fabric for those inchies. As you can see, buttons were added to some and the little fabric heart with the rhinestone was cut from a piece of fabric backed with a fusible and just ironed right onto the inchie. These have been swapped out and it's now time for the crows to be swapped out and fly off to their new homes!

Fancy Scrap Crow

2008-01-02T20:16:00.001-08:00

This is my Fancy Scrap Crow for a swap on Fabric in Altered Art. The crows were featured in the Nov/Dec issue of Cloth Paper Scissors and as soon as I saw them I knew I had to make some. We are swapping both the crow dolls and "flat crows". When I first saw them I thought they were flat and should be mounted on a background. After reading the directions - I tend to do that last instead of first - I realized that they were stuffed. We decided to swap both and it will be fun to see the differences in them. 4 of us have already completed our dolls and they are all so cute! They are cut from black felt, top-stitched togehter and "clothes", beaks, feet and other embellishments added. Very simple and a LOT of fun. There's still time to join us if you like! Just contact me via the link in the left sidebar.

Gothic Arches Joy of Children

2007-12-16T11:11:00.000-08:00

This is my entry for this week's challenge at Gothic Arches. The theme is Joy of Christmas/Children. I love this image of the children peeking around the curtain at Santa!

New Postcard Challenge Blog

2007-11-15T15:17:00.001-08:00

Hi all! I just wanted to tell you about a new postcard challenge blog. We will have our first postcard challenge Saturday, November 17 with weekly challenges to follow. New themes will be posted every Saturday, sometimes late Friday night. Please visit Saturday Postcard Madness and join in the fun when you can. If you want to mail your postcard to a partner there are instruction on the blog to tell you how to do that. I hope you join us soon!

Sewing Box Assemblage

2007-11-15T15:06:00.000-08:00

A few months ago Cloth Paper Scissors had an article on vintage sewing box assemblages. We loved those sewing boxes at Fabric in Altered Art and decided to do a sewing box swap based on the ones in the article. We are just finishing up and we have some really wonderful boxes to swap. Several of us are making more than one to keep or give as gifts. This is the outside top of my box and the inside full of vintage sewing supplies. This has been a really fun project and I can't wait to get this in the mail and receive the one from Jo, my partner for this swap.

Happy Halloween

2007-10-31T13:14:00.000-07:00

Just taking a minute to say Happy Halloween! This is a Halloween ATC Art Doll that I made for a Treasure Art Trends swap. Happy haunting!

Scrappy Crows Swap

2007-10-28T11:16:00.000-07:00

After seeing the article in CPS "Fancy Scrap Crow Dolls", I knew we had to have a crow doll swap. There is already discussion about it on Fabric in Altered Art. I think the swap there will be the actual dolls. I think we can also use the same concept for Treasure Art Trends but make them flat and attach them to a flat surface like a nicely covered heavy cardstock or even on canvas. Since they will be different dimensions it will be like two totally different swaps for me and I am looking forward to both. But - Treasure Art Trends members may surprise me and want to make the dolls also. If that's the case, I will give myself a few days just for me and create some on canvas for myself. A great Christmas project!

Christmas Inchies

2007-10-28T11:11:00.000-07:00

This is not the best scan but when they're chunky they are harder to control on the scanner....lol Unruly Inchies. Actually, they are Fat Inchies. They are 1.5" which makes them easier to sew on and embellish. This is only half of my inchies for Tammy's swap on Fabric in Altered Art. The other half has little gold bells on them, along with some gold Angelina. The bells made it impossible to scan them. It is not Halloween yet, and I have my Christmas Inchies ready to mail. Woo Hoo! I feel like I am ahead of the game but that is not the truth....lol Still lots of projects to complete for Fabric in Altered Art and Treasure Art Trends.

Halloween Fabric Postcards

2007-10-28T11:04:00.000-07:00

These are two of the Halloween fabric postcards that I mailed out last week. I made one for a friend, one for a swap partner on Fabric in Altered Art, and 7 for a postcard exchange that I joined a few months ago. We have to make 20 postcards for that during a 3 month period, so I am splitting mine up into Halloween, Fall, and Christmas instead of all one theme or 20 different designs. I used a variety of Halloween fabrics, cut them crazy patch style, machine stitched on each seam, and added a vintage Halloween image that was matted on another piece of fabric. I forgot to scan the back, but I used a really neat orange fabric with chunky swirls that I found at JoAnn's for the back. I usually try to find a fairly plain and not too dark fabric for the back since I would rather have some color on the back and not the plain muslin. The orange fabric was not really "Halloween" but it was perfect for the job. Now to decide on a design for the Fall Halloween cards. Just a few weeks to work on those! I think it will have to be simple and not too time consuming. Too many projects in the works right now.

Art Quilt Workbook Update

2007-10-28T10:56:00.000-07:00

We finally got started on our Art Quilt Workbook (AQW) project last week. Actually, we are getting ready to start week 3 and I am now realizing how far behind I am....lol We do have members that are actually working on the exercises thought, and have already posted some great pics of their work. I think this will be a great learning experience for all of us, even those who don't participate but just look at the photos and scans each week. I hope I will soon have a finished exercise to post.

Art Quilt Workbook

2007-09-26T13:46:00.000-07:00

A few months ago I mentioned that I had purchased the Art Quilt Workbook. It is wonderful! Full of great ideas as well as lessons and exercises. My Yahoo group, Fabric in Altered Art will begin working through this book as a group on October 15. I have created a complete supply list and lessons/schedule for the first 4 weeks. If you would like to join us, use the link at the top of the left hand sidebar to contact me or e-mail me at: CathyJohnson4200@yahoo.com. The group was set up as "by invitation only" and that setting can't be changed. For that reason you will not find a link to the group anywhere. Contact me if you are interested and I will send you an invitation or if you are sure you want to join I can just add you to the group. Join us for this fun journey through the book. It will be fun!

Slide Show

2007-09-19T12:06:00.000-07:00

The slide show at the bottom of the page contains a combination of both fabric and paper art. It includes several ATCs, fabric pages, and chunky book pages I have created over the past year or so. Since I do not have a blog for my paper art I decided to add it to the slide show here.

Western Gals fabric book page

2007-09-18T19:52:00.000-07:00

This is my page in Kyla's Western Gals fabric book. The western themed books are probably my favorites. Maybe because I have a lot of fabric and buttons that always seem to work. It's easy to gather everything I need quickly and get to work. I used three of the brown fabrics that I just got from Equilter.com. One of my favorites places to shop online for fabric. The buttons are glued to three little pieces of rawhide. The word Cowgirl is also on a piece of the rawhide and Bang is stitched directly on the image of the sharp shooter woman. I guess things were rough for women back in the day! Yeeeeee Haw!!

Asian page for fabric book

2007-09-18T19:43:00.000-07:00

This is the front and back of my page in Alyson's Asian themed fabric book. The front of the page was planned. The back was planned too, just not this plan.....LOL The back was supposed to be the purple print that you see under the pocket. When I tried to zigzag the front to the back using cotton batting all the edges wanted to do was roll up. I finally used the same fabric that I used for the pocket and cut it large enough so that it would fold over the raw edges on the front to form the border/binding. Then I cut the original back piece down to fit the black and gold back and stitched it in place. The pocket holds a Japanese calendar girl playing card and lucky coin. The embellishment on the pocket is a piece of bamboo with 2 fabric beads wrapped in metallic thread and a small bead on the end. In the end I was happy with this page.

"RED" fabric page for August

2007-09-18T19:37:00.001-07:00

This is my August page for the Fabric In Altered Art monthly fabric page swap. The theme was Red. I have been getting a monthly fat quarter pack from Equliter.com. They are usually color themed and the red package was just what I needed. The color for November is brown and the brown pack arrived right on time! I came across the Heart in Hand pattern a while back and have used it a few times. It is fairly simple to applique and I like the way it turned out. Just had to add some text, which I stamped on some fabric scraps, and it was finished except for the satin stitch around the edge. I have been using fast-2-fuse for my "batting" and I find it much easier to work with. Maybe not so much easier, but the edges are certainly quicker to finish.

New Fabric Postcard

2007-08-26T10:11:00.000-07:00

This is my August fabric postcard for Fabric in Altered Arts (info in the left sidebar). I found the fabric at JoAnn's. I just confess, I was buying for someone else and when I realized it was the only piece I had to find them something else....lol Had to have that fabric. I matted the image on a piece of gold metallic fabric. The words were printed directly on the fabric. I LOVE making postcards lately. In addition to the fabric one I also made 4 paper ones. I guess it's just a faze I'm going through.

A New Paper Crafts Group

2007-08-26T10:01:00.000-07:00

I just want to take a minute to tell you about a new paper crafts group that Keri Pettit and I just started. Keri leans way to the paper side of altered arts. I was over on the paper side, shifted to the fabric side and now find myself somewhere in between. I want to do both! I will not give up the fabric but I do want to play with paper a little. We belonged to a deco group that has fizzled out and we want to swap decos again. No just decos though. This group will dabble in altered books, altered clipboards, ATCs, chunky books, skinny books, metal? Maybe. We'll see how it goes and what everyone wants to do. We are starting off small but the group is open for invitations and we hope to grow our membership quickly. If you are interested, here is the link:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/treasurearttrends

If you are interested in paper crafts, I hope you check out our group!

Page for fabric book

2007-08-04T20:18:00.001-07:00

This is a page I did for Liz's Trees book in one of the RRs on the Fabric in Altered Art Yahoo group. I had planned on appliqueing leaves on various fabric pieces and attaching them all to the page. When I started looking for fabrics I found that I had several leaf themed fabrics and ended up sewing them to other pieces of fabric and then attaching all of them to the page. I added several leaf buttons to the front and a piece of fabric on the back that had a very neat black tree printed on some brown batik with gold script text. Sorry, I did not scan that but wish I had now. Liz is going to have a really beautiful book when it is completed in about four months. The other pages in it are just wonderful. We are over half way finished with a really fun round robin!

Finally, a new Postcard!

2007-07-29T14:45:00.000-07:00

I have been really bad about scanning and taking pics lately. I am usually so glad to be finished on time (or not too late...lol) and want to get things in the mail. Finally, I have a postcard to post. For some reason I just love this postcard. It is very simple, so it must be the colors. I like it so much that I am getting ready to make a matching fabric page for the monthly fabric page swap on Fabric in Altered Art. I may post it as well, depending on what I find to change it up a little.

Art Quilt Workbook

2007-07-29T14:40:00.000-07:00

Over a month ago I said I was going to review the Art Quilt Workbook". I have not posted since. Now it is catch up time. I will post a review of the book in a few days. However, I can say that my Yahoo group, Fabric in Altered Art, is going to go through this workbook together in October. It was suggested by one of our members, Sharon Griffith, and was a huge hit. Several of us have already bought the book and will be ready to go when the time comes. We haven't worked out the details but it will probably take us 3 or 4 months to work through it. I am really looking forward to it!

A new book

2007-06-17T19:26:00.000-07:00

I received a new book in the mail yesterday. I ordered it a while back and it is finally here. It is "Art Quilt Workbook" by Jane Davila and Elin Waterston. I have not had much time to look at it yet but plan on doing so in the next few days. If you already have this book, please let me know what you think about it. So far, it looks great!

1st page in my Asian fabric book for a round robin

2007-06-17T19:17:00.001-07:00

This is the front and back of my page for my Asian fabric book. We are starting a new round robin in Fabric in Altered Art and had intended for all players to have Asian themed books. We decided that everyone could pick their theme but I think we still ended up with 5 or 6 Asian themed books for the 8 players. One of the exceptions is a western themed book. Yee Haw! Love those wild west books!! The front of the Asian page is an image of Chinese shadow puppets. It is matted on a piece of Asian themed fabric that has gold metallic threads. Another favorite of mine. The embellishments include 2 Asian coins and an interesting embellishment that came in a set. It is stitched in place. The back has an image of a sketch of a village. I tried to scan or take a pic of the cover but not much luck with that. It is made of a brocade and has been made to be reversible. It has a button tab closure. I will try another picture later because it really is a beautiful fabric. This one is ready to go in the mail!

Vintage Fabric Page

2007-06-17T19:10:00.000-07:00

This is the front and back of my page I did for the monthly fabric page swap on Fabric in Altered Art. The front has an image from a vintage postcard. Since the woman is playing the piano, I used a small piece of fabric with musical instruments on it as a "mat". The image of the vintage couple on the back of the page is from a rubber stamp. The word "vintage" is also from a rubber stamp. It was stamped on the image of the woman on the fromand stamped on a small strip of fabric and glued on the back.

TAST Week 17

2007-05-06T15:53:00.000-07:00

I have some catching up to do. I will start with week 17 and try to go b ack and catch all of the stitches I have missed. This is my stitching and embellishment on Beth's block for our CQ block RR. We have 2 groups of 8 that made CQ blocks, our own choice of size, theme, colors, etc. We are sending our blocks around in a RR and each person will do at least one seam or area on each block depending on the size of the block. If this RR is a success we will continue to start a new RR each time one is finished. I used two rows of running stitches and then wove a piece of red ribbon through the rows of stitches. I used a piece of lace trim for the short seam. Can't wait for the next block to arrive in the mail!

Floral Fabric Page

2007-04-21T21:21:00.000-07:00

This is my Floral fabric page for the April fabric page swap on Fabric in Altered Art. I found the flower pot applique pattern in a magazine and decided to take the easy way out and make button flowers. I have sooooo many buttons that I have to find a use for them. Then my sister found a little pack of buttons that had butterflies and bees and of course I had to have them too. The bottom of the page did not photograph well but the top part sure is bright! Love those bright colors! I need to add a photo of the back. It is simple but has a bobbin work flower with little sparkley french knots on all of the petals.

Safari Fabric Postcard

2007-04-14T14:46:00.000-07:00

This is my fabric postcard for the April fabric postcard swap on my Fabric in Altered Art Yahoo group. I had out several Africa/Safari themed fabrics along with a new piece that I had just purchased and just had to use it for something. I love both the theme and the colors on this postcard. I just received an Africa themed fabric book from our latest RR in the mail today. Good thing those fabrics are still out - along with some other fun ones!

Crazy Quilt Block Round Robin

2007-04-03T16:56:00.000-07:00

If you think you would like to join a Crazy Quilt Block Round Robin, please let me know. Our Fabric In Altered Arts Yahoo group is going to start a round robin in May. It looks like we will have about 8 people in each group and mail every three weeks. This would be a really fun way to see several CQ blocks IRL if you are new to crazy quilts. If this round robin is successful we hope to have several more. If you are interested please leave a comment or e-mail me and I will get back to you quickly. Join us! It's going to be fun!!

Texture Texture Texture

2007-04-01T10:54:00.000-07:00

This is the front and back of the page I just finished for Barb's Texture themed book for the new fabric book RR in my Fabric in Altered Arts Yahoo group. The front is somewhat of a crazy quilt but my idea at the time I started was to use several fabrics with different textures and then add 2 or 3 items with different textures to each area. Because of the chunky button on the bottom it did not scan very well and you can't see that each block is a different fabric. The darker one is actually a fabric that I thought was too dark and a sheer piece of fabric was added over it. I wanted some subtle color but not too bright. The metal button on the left hand side is not really that dark. It sure stands out in the scan! The back is just two pieces of fabric cut in strips and woven. I laid them on a piece of fusible stabilizer and after weaving pressed with a hot iron and used a buttonhole stitch around the edges. Another project finished and I am off to work on a travel page with a safari theme.

Fabric Easter Egg ATCs

2007-03-22T21:36:00.000-07:00

These are my fabric Easter Egg ATCs for an ATC swap on my Fabric in Altered Art Yahoo group hosted by Sharon. The first 2 eggs were decorated with bobbin work. I made the middle one first, cut out the egg shape, and did the bobbin work. Since I was working from the wrong side it was hard to tell where to stop and start. On the one on the left I did the bobbin work on a square piece of fabric, then cut out the egg shape. The 3rd egg is made from ribbon. I printed the egg shape on a piece of lightweight cardstock, covered the shape with glue stick, and laid the pieces of ribbon across the egg shape. When the egg was covered and the glue stick was dry I cut the egg shape out. The easiest one for sure. They were all stitched to a piece of fabric with a decorative stitch, then cut to size and glued to the ATC sized cardstock. I covered the cardstock with fabric front and back and used a satin stitch to cover the edges. The little flowers are attached with a french knot in the center.

Vintage Babies

2007-03-10T14:12:00.000-08:00

This is the page I did for Barb's Vintage Babies book for our fabric altered book round robin in my Fabric in Altered Arts Yahoo group. Barb had the pages with felt batting already cut. I added an eyelet fabric as my base and then the cream and floral print over it. Added some trim on the right hand side with the little heart, button and flower. I used the same fabric on the back and added part of the words to a lullaby with a piece of the border from the cream and floral fabric which had images of sleeping children. This weekend I am working on Hilery's Alice in Wonderland book for the same RR and Barb's Texture/Touch book for our new RR. I plan to add a lot of embroidery and bobbin work to a cream colored crazy quilt block. Wish me luck!

Last Wild West Fabric Book

2007-03-06T20:58:00.000-08:00

Goodness, it's been a while. I am just about to get caught up and start having fun again. Taking a little trip always seems like a good idea at the time but catching up is a pain! This is my page for the last book I will work in for the Wild West Fabric Book RR on my FabricInAlteredArt group. Still love working with the western stuff. I saw the coolest altered cowboy boot that is in the current edition of Altered Arts magazine. I might have to give that a try.
Debbie had made denim pages for her book. I printed my image on a piece of muslin that was backed with a lightweight fusible. If you iron your muslin to a piece of wonder under and cut it to a size that will work with your printer you can print directly to the muslin. It takes a few minutes longer than the ink jet ready fabric sheets but it sure is a lot cheaper. It works really well with vintage themes or themes where you might want your image to have more of a worn look. I added a piece of lace, a few buttons and some heavy duty western themed alpha stickers. The back has the word COWGIRL with a suede look cowboy hat and a pocket with a leather looking tag. You can take a regular scrapbook tag or heavy card stock cut in a tag shape, crumple it up, ink it with a Tim Holtz distress pad, dampen it with a wet paper towel and smooth it out to dry. Or iron it dry. Then go over it with the distress ink pad again. It will have a nice leather look to it.

TAST Week 7 & 8

2007-02-19T20:10:00.000-08:00

I will be out of town most of the week so I decided I better add the fly stitch to my block before I left. I had trouble getting the fly stitch even. Other than that I like it but I want to practice it a lot more. The feather stitch is right above it. That one was a little harder for me to get going on. It took several practice rows before I realized that if I just made use of those "imaginary lines" I kept reading about that it is a really simple stitch. I am starting a new CQ block next week for a class and I am going to do a lot more with the feather and fly stitch. I will probably go back and add something to the feather stitch on this block.

Best Friend

2007-02-18T11:07:00.000-08:00

This is my February page for the Fabric in Altered Arts fabric page swap. I saw a quilt on Simply Quilts that was made up of blocks with a simple background and heart applique. On that quilt the background and the heart were a real mix of colors and themes. Very cool quilt. I wanted to do something similar and remembered my cute valentine dog fabric. The print on my fabric was so large that it was hard to get a whole dog and the text surrounding it into the size heart that I needed which was only about 5". The pages are only 6x6 so I just had to do the best I could. I had tried a different fabric (also dogs...lol) and had the same problem. I cut out the heart freehand and used a blanket stitch, raw edges, no turning. Need to learn how to do that. I added a few words using my machine and then filled in the blank spots with some decorative stitching. I realized about half way through the project that someone else in the group had also used a dog for her Valentine/February page. We are a bunch of dog lovers in that group! You can find my 2 doxies in the January archives.

TAST Week 6

2007-02-12T21:07:00.000-08:00

I added a row of Eyelet stitches with a French Knot in the center and Cretan stitches to my CQ block this week. I had planned to add French Knots between the stitches as well but they were just too close together. They were both worked with perle cotton. I am really looking forward to adding the Feather stitch to this block. I am taking an online crazy quilt block class for the next several weeks so a lot more stitching to be done!

Flapper

2007-02-05T21:28:00.000-08:00

This is a page I did in a fabric book with a Flappers theme. I just realized that I only scanned the back of the page. The black and green fabric was provided with the book. I have some old french postcards that I used for my flappers. I ink jet image is stitched to a piece of silk and then stitched to the fabric. I added the rose applique and feather along with the pink bead trim on the outside edge of the page but still need something else. I have until tomorrow to figure it out.

TAST Week 5

2007-02-05T21:12:00.000-08:00

These are my samples of the Chevron stitch for TAST, week 5 already. I have already taken one of Sharon's classes but am now convinced that I need to sign up for the Personal Library of Stitches. The more I do the more I like what I am doing. I had a little trouble with the mechanics of this stitch in the beginning but once I got going I really enjoyed it. I started out with the Aida cloth using Watercolours by Caron and a DMC thread. The bottom row is Anchor Metallic Pearl Cotton. And it was on clearance and my favorite metallic thread so far so I guess I better get some more before they run out. The crazy quilt square, which is my first also has the Chevron stitch with the same threads. I need to go back and add the second row of stitching on the CQ block like I did on the bottom row of the Aida cloth. I had some fabric that I really wanted to use for a crazy quilt block and did not realize that I just had too much in the way of prints and not enough in the way of solids. I will have to use some bright colors in my threads to make them stand out. I will continue with this block for several more stitches. The next one will have more solid colors.

Heart 2 Heart Postcards

2007-01-30T20:14:00.000-08:00

These are the postcards that I have made so far for the Heart 2 Heart postcard project. The message on the back reads "thank you for your service to our country". The postcards will be sent to the wounded soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, DC in time for Valentines Day. There is still time to participate as long as the postcards are received in Houston for distribution by February 7. For more information please visit Heart-2-Heart Postcard Project.

TAST Week 4

2007-01-29T23:23:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago when I was working on the white Aida I decided that the next time I would add some color to it. I got some new fabric dye and played with it just a little. The color was supposed to be burgundy so I didn't add too much hoping for a raspberry type color. When I added the dye to the water it was PURPLE and I mean purple. I may have rinsed a little too much because as you can see in the scan it almost looks gray. I had some trouble with the Cretan stitch. I think I am getting a little better at it now. The bottom row I stitched rather large with rayon thread, then added some detached chains which got cut off in the scan and some french knots on the other side. I liked it much better after adding the french knots. The yellow didn't go quite so well. I tried to make smaller stitches and they ended up all over the place. The top row I stitched larger again. I had a plan. First I stitched a row of orange cotton perle. Then I went back and stitched a second row in rayon between the spaces in the orange row, so really one row over the other. I think it is my favorite. On to the chevron stitch!

Page for Goddess Meandering Book

2007-01-24T18:19:00.000-08:00

This is a page for a Goddess themed meandering book for a round robin. The fabric is an embroidered batik. I printed the image on a piece of ink jet fabric and used a satin stitch on my machine after ironing it on. The stitching around the edge of the page is just a small zig zag with a little more decorative machine stitching. I wanted to the little paper flowers but could not decide how to attach them. Just gluing was too plain and flat and I didn't like the way the brad looked on the fabric. I ended up attaching them with a french knot through the center of the flower. It is hard to tell in the scan, but that little french knot really adds some dimension to the flower. There are several more on the back of the page which I did not scan.

WIP

2007-01-24T18:13:00.000-08:00

This is a piece I started for the Fiber Collage online class at Joggles.com. I got through the first 2 or 3 lessons, had to go out of town, and never got back on track. I think I am ready to work on it again. When I finish, most of the hand and the background will be filled in with embroider stitches. I did a similar fabric page a few months ago called "Heart in Hand" and machine stitched around the hand. I think I liked the hand stitching better and it was a great way to learn the blanket stitch. Now I just need to decide where to go from here. We'll see how far I get by next Wednesday. I do know there will be some cretan stitches in there somewhere.

TAST Week 3

2007-01-23T09:21:00.000-08:00

This is as far as I got with my embroidery this week. I must say I like the bright pink and orange stitches much better than the white. They hide my mistakes much better!...lol Actually, even though a few of my lines look pretty crooked I followed the lines in the fabric which is why I chose this fabric to practice on. The Aida cloth I had just wasn't helping me much. I want to start a crazy quilt block for this next week and wanted to get a little practice in on some fabric vs the Aida cloth or Linen piece that I have. The scan really shows me how much I need to practice getting my stitches even but at least I accomplished 2x the amount of stitches in less than half the time of last week. I know, I know. Practice makes perfect and speed is not the way to go. I didn't rush, just accomplished more. I will practice much more this week.

Winter Quiltie

2007-01-18T21:52:00.000-08:00

This is a fabric page I did for a swap on Fabric in Altered Art. We have a monthly page swap and our January theme is Winter. You probably guessed that. A few months ago I took a card making class and one of the cards we made paper similar to the snowflake and blue fabric. I decided I would recreate the card on fabric. Since I had a little more room I added an Artchix image. On the card the ribbon was attached with staples. I tried using eyelets instead on the fabric but they just weren't holding. I finally decided to just stitch the ribbon on with a zigzag stitch and actually liked that better than the eyelets. All in all I was rather pleased with how the page came out and will probably make one for myself.

TAST Week 2

2007-01-15T21:38:00.000-08:00

Here is my meager attempt at the buttonhole stitch. I had a limited amount of time since I had too many deadlines at a very busy time of the month. The bottom row was done with a metallic thread. I love the look but what a pain to work with. There must be something I am missing on that one. I will have to give it another go later but it was just too time consuming. The next row up was with DMC variegated thread. Much easier but the counting was slowing me down. The next row up was fun. I worked a bead onto the bottom of the stitch. The top row was the easiest. It was done with #5 Perle. I had a limited choice of thread and fabric to get started with but new stuff is on the way! After a few more weeks I am going to do most of my stitching on the projects I am working on. Just need a little more practice first.

Printing on Ribbon and Twill

2007-01-15T13:51:00.000-08:00

I forgot to add a note about the twill tape that my page title was printed on. It is really easy to print on ribbon or twill tape. You can use whatever program you use to create documents, photoshop, print shop pro, whatever you want to use to create your text. Print the text like you normally would on paper. Keep the size of your ribbon or twill in mind when you choose your font and font size. After printing on paper, use some repositionable tape or glue stick (I use glue stick) to adhere the ribbon or twill to the paper. Place it over the text and make sure both ends are flat on the paper with no loose threads hanging. You don't want the ribbon or twill to get hung up in the printer. Place the paper back in the printer and print again. When I print on fabric, twill, ribbon, etc., I change my printer properties and select "best" from the print quality. Your printer may give you that choice or you may have to choose between text, photo, etc. Choose whichever will give you the best quality. After printing I iron the twill or ribbon to set the ink since I am using an HP printer. My Epson is not that fond of the thickness of the twill but would probably be okay with ribbon. Give it a try. I think you will find it is an easy thing to do and adds a little something to fabric projects.

12x12 Challenge January

2007-01-14T16:32:00.000-08:00

This is my January page for the 12x12 Challenge for Quilt Studio. My theme is "Faces From The Past". I wanted to do some hand embroidery on each page but I signed up for the challenge only a week or so before my page was due and did not have time to do all I wanted to on this one. I hope that each page for the next 11 months will have at least some hand embroidery on it. This is my maternal grandmother. I do not have any pictures of my grandfather (that I know of) so my next page will probably be one of my parents. I am looking forward to seeing how each page developes.

Libby & Zoe

2007-01-14T16:00:00.000-08:00

I had to add a picture of Libby and Zoe, my two miniature dachshunds. Libby was 5 in July and born on the 4th of July. Her real name is Liberty, Libby for short. She has already had to have back surgery and it is still hard to keep her still. She has soooo much energy! Zoe will be 5 in March and is a little more laid back. Lazy is more like it. While Libby runs around acting crazy Zoe grabs a toy and stands there watching. They are quite a pair. Both so sweet and so entertaining!

Paris Page in RR Fabric Book

2007-01-08T18:04:00.000-08:00

This is a page that I did in a fabric altered book for a round robin in my yahoo group. I scanned the page before I added it to the book because my scanner does not scan bulky items well. I am buying a new digital camera and hoping that will help out some. The Eiffel Tower was made from buttons that I collected for a few months. I love the polka dot ones! And the fabric as well. I did not add any images or embellishments to the right hand side. I did a lot of machine stitiching to add some dimension which is hard to see in the scan. I stitched around the waiter, the awning, a table, and added some little dogs that are close to the top of the awning and just to the right of it. I love travel, especially Paris, as a theme for altered books.

Meander Book

2007-01-07T10:35:00.000-08:00

This is the first page in my Meander Book for ClothPaperStudio Yahoo group. I chose an Asian theme and covered my book with oragami folded fabric. This is the first page in my book. It has a fabric background with a transfer image. The tranfer was created on a piece of sheer fabric using liquid polymer clay. The fabric tranfers are tricky sometimes but well worth the trouble when they turn out well. The last tranfer I tried did not turn out well. I think it had something to do with the printer I used. Black and white copies from a toner copier turn out very well. I can't remember if this one was from my HP or Epson with the durabrite ink. Must try again and find out.

Last Wild West for tonight

2007-01-04T21:58:00.000-08:00

This is one of my favorite Wild West pages. The scan is not very good because there was a lot of bulk in the book and my scanner is not a fan of anything thicker than a dime on the page. I know I have some others I will add tomorrow.

Wild Wild West Continued

2007-01-04T21:55:00.000-08:00

Blogger was not happy with me posting all of my wild west scans with one post so I will have to do 2 or 3. Each set will be the front and back of a page in one book.

The Wild Wild West

2007-01-04T21:44:00.000-08:00

These are some of the pages I have made for a Wild Wild West Fabric Book RR in my Fabrics in Altered Art Yahoo group. I love the old west stuff - fabric, images, embellishments, buttons, trim - all of it. We are close to finishing the RR and these are just some of the pages that I have completed.

Latest Project

2007-01-04T08:33:00.000-08:00

My latest project is a log cabin wall hanging. I saw Wendy Etzel "build" a log cabin on Simply Quilts several weeks ago and just had to try it. I found her book Log by Log and starting gather fabric for my logs and chinking. I have the strips sewn together to use for the walls and the roof is ready to go. I am not thrilled with my "logs" but I keep telling myself that this is my log cabin and it doesn't have to look exactly like the ones in the book. I will post a scan of the wall portion later. I think it is the yellowish orange strip that bothers me most but I think by the time the windows and porch go on it will really not be an issue. At least that's what I keep telling myself. We'll see how that turns out.

Fabric Postcards

2007-01-03T23:12:00.000-08:00

These are fabric postcards that I have made for my Yahoo group, Fabrics in Altered Art. I have been using fast2fuse for the "batting". It is not easy to find but it works well for the postcards. They seem to be going through the mail without any problem. It does add a little thickness to them. The clerk at the post office put the Christmas one through a little slot to see if it would fit and actually charged me extra because it "just barely fit". I do like the thickness when binding the front and back. It works well with a satin stitch.

Egyptian Quilties

2007-01-03T23:03:00.002-08:00

These are the first quilites that I made. I took an online min art quilt book class and chose an Egyptian theme. I was not happy with the zig zag stitch binding but it was the only thing I knew to do at the time. By the time the 5 week class was over I had a few more options.

Playing Catch Up

2007-01-03T23:03:00.001-08:00

I had the great idea to start a blog, posted once and let things slide. It is time to play catch up. Although the next several posts will have the same date I will try to post things in the order that I created them. I guess I could change the date but since I have already confessed to letting things get behind I will leave the date alone. Here goes.

Happy Fall Ya'll

2006-11-23T20:21:00.000-08:00

I decided it was finally time to have a blog. I have been working more and more with fabric as the main ingredient in my art and would like a share a little of what I am working on. My first post is "Leaf Man"...lol My fabric in altered art yahoo group has monthly and holiday themes for fabric page swaps. I was looking for a leaf stencil or pattern to applique and came across a book with a picture of a leaf man on it. I went in search of a bag of leaves that I could use to construct him. I wanted several different types of leaves but kept ending up in the holiday floral section and my leaf man ended up quite sparkley.