Art book

Just started a new book project together with Britta, Renate, Peggy and Ulla. This is something the internet makes possible: To work together with people you never met in person, but whose interests and style you know nevertheless.
The photos show the booklet I send on its way detailing my wishes for the book as well as letting the participating artists jot down their ideas and inspirations. Both this booklet and the art book itself will make a journey practically all over Germany - and will hopefully do so more than once since we intend to work in rounds.

Friendship cushions

These are the friendship cushions I received. Some are really elegant, others are funny (I love that cat!), and the felted ones are really, really cuddly. Each one has a sort of personality, don't you think so, too? My personal favorite is the one from Ulla, made from brocade and dotted with tiny golden pearls. Whow! This is the Louis XIV among the cushions.

Embellisher project

This is the first real project I did with my embellisher. So far I only experimented in order to find out what materials can be used - sometimes I think the question is rather what cannot be used! So far I only found out that paper is not so suitable since you see the resulting holes ;-)
In this piece (it is called "storm at sea") I used a piece of batting as background. Thereon I felted fabric, silk paper, scrim, sheers, rovings, Lutradur and several special yarns. At last I added cording and beads to make the shoreline more interesting.
What I like very much about this kind of work is the way you can leave the outer borders without finish. Somehow this adds to the organic look.

Links

I added some more links and made sure that those already there are working. Naturally I add links to blogs that I like because of what the artists have to say or to show. However from a legal point of view this "linking" can be harmful insofar as you can be made responsible for contents of blogs or websites you have linked to. I do not know if it is really enough to do so, but I entered the following text (only in German, since my English is not sufficient for real legal jargon) hoping that nobody will make me pay for links that are not kosher.
Wichtiger Hinweis zu allen Links auf meiner Internetseite: Mit Urteil vom 12. Mai 1998 hat das Landgericht Hamburg entschieden, dass man durch die Einbindung eines Links gegebenenfalls für die Inhalte der gelinkten Seite mit verantwortlich ist. Dies kann nur dadurch verhindert werden, dass man sich ausdrücklich von diesen Inhalten distanziert. Ich habe auf diesem Blog Links zu anderen Seiten im Internet. Ich möchte ausdrücklich betonen, dass ich keinerlei Einfluss auf die Gestaltung und die Inhalte der gelinkten Seiten habe. Deshalb distanziere ich mich ausdrücklich von allen Inhalten aller gelinkten Seiten auf meinem Blog und machen mir deren Inhalte nicht zu Eigen. Diese Erklärung gilt für alle auf meinem Blog eingebundenen Links.
Schutzrechtsverletzung: Falls Sie vermuten, dass von dieser Internetpräsentation aus eines Ihrer Schutzrechte verletzt wird, teilen Sie mir das bitte umgehend per E-Mail mit, damit ich zügig Abhilfe schaffen kann.

Discussion on art

There is always an discussion on art in the one or other list. If you really want a true insight into what art is, you just have to watch this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDo_vs3Aip4

Hearts

 
 
These are the first of (I think it was) 10 hearts I am going to make for another swap with the art4card list. Once again I did vintage style, but only because there were several pieces of fabric with roses left from the friendship cushion set. The next hearts will definitely be something other. I think of trying out something with the embellisher and perhaps of sewing some from linen and then stitch them. You will be kept informed.

Friendship cushions

 
So this is the set of cushions that went out into the world yesterday. Somehow each and every one of them turned out to be vintage... The idea of a cuddley little cushion to hold into one's hands or to display all together in some kind of bowl or so lead me to make them all this way. Now I am looking forward to those I will receive back.

Last baby quilt

 
 
So this is the second baby quilt I made for one of my collegues. Nothing to crow about, really, but I like the rainbow colors and especially the backside fabric.

January-ATC

 
 
So this is the last of this month's ATCs. I think Ruth did a great job - painting on this small scale is really not so easy I should think. In relation to this my own card doesn't really leave you breathless....

Friendship cushions

 
 
A new idea emerged some weeks ago at our art4car-list (which in reality has long since metamorphosed into a mixed media-list) - friendship cushions. They are about 4 x 4 inches, without any theme, filled with soft stuff and a piece of paper with words of love and friendship written on it.
The felted cushion is from Beate Knappe. It is immensely cuddley and in my favorite colors (how did you know, Beate?). However, I myself feel still strongly drawn to vintage style. The pink cushion with the photo on it is my prototype. It turned out to be about 0,5 inches too small. Turning it inside out and stuffing it costs more space than I recognized. So this will be a present for a friend, the others for the group swap will have to be a bit larger.

ATCs from January

 

 

 

 

The first two cards are from Elke respectively Peggy who did a little swap with me this months. Elke's ATC was done with painted Tyvek and evokes the feeling of tree bark quite realistically I think. The color from my ATCs are unfortunately not true. The card with the girl on it was ivory, the other one a very pale lavender.

Material pleasure

Just received these materials for my embellisher. Aren't they yummy? This will be really exciting to try out - I love the colors. It is quite interesting to learn how which material reacts to this kind of process. Even punching from the front or the backside of the piece makes a difference! And the way sheers react is absolutely not predictable. It all depends on the weave, the raw material, the kind of embellishing on the fabric itself. What astonishes me is how easy it is to felt fabric to wool. I love the effect of the fabric becoming kind of fluffy if you do the punching from the backside of the piece.

What a Mom says during a day

I saw this You Tube-Video on a blog and just had to include it here. If the address is not readily accessible, do copy and try it out, it is really worth while listening to!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W95Y8hNQiH8

Happy New Year!

To everyone who chances to read this blog: May you have a happy, creative and blessed year!
This is a small winter scene I made for my stepmother in law for Xmas. It was done with the embellisher using scraps of velvet, linen, lace, felt, organza and tiny charms. The text says: It was a cold, silent night. I rather like the somewhat subdued effect that results when embellishing from the backside of the piece. Somehow this picture really evokes the feeling of freshly fallen snow - at least for me.

Winter Angel

My friend who received an angel for her birthday will get this winter angel for Xmas. It is a Finnanger design - I just love these angels. That snow on the cap and arms is really cute.

Key to success

A friend of mine opened a small gallery at our home town. This collage titled "key to success" was my present for her on the opening day.

Felt purse

With my new embellisher I started experimenting with purses. A friend of mine literally snatched them out of my hands to sell them on the local Christmas market. I made 8 in different colors but had only the opportunity to make a photo from this one.

Tag book

Just realized that I did not show the tags I received in our tag swap - duh! Will have to do that.
This however is the tag book I sewed for those tags I received and sewed for myself since they were so much fun to make. However, I gave it away as a present to a member in the art4card group as a thank you together with some tags. Since I liked the book as it is I will make one with the same picture for myself.

New baby quilt

This is the quilt for Lea Sophie - she is such a cute little girl I would have liked to keep her the first time her mother brought her around. Roses seem to be the right choice for a romantic mother and a beautiful little girl.
Now there is still a quilt to sew for a little boy who is due early December. No roses there although the mother is easily as romantic as mother number 1. I opted for simple rectangles with applied hearts in bold colors and will have to hurry to get it finished in time.

Autumn is gone

Winter really took us by surprise. One of these days we were still enjoying sunshine and beautiful colors, and then all of a sudden temperatures dropped, an awful wind kept blowing for three days in a row, snow set in - imagine, early November! - and all those marvellous leaves were gone.
My view from the dining room door is now bleak, grey and uninviting, the golden sentinel all but invisible having been robbed of its glorious golden leaves.

Happy dance

At last success! This quilt made third place in a challenge titled "nostalgia" by the German magazine "Patchwork-Ideen" that takes place every other year. I have been juried into this challenge four times and finally - bingo! There is not much that could make me happier - except perhaps my new embellisher I have been experimenting with the last two days....

Indian Summer Inchies

The inchies below are the ones I made for the swap in our art4card group. The inchies on top are those I received. Aren't they lovely?

Miniquilt for a colleague

I normally don't work with panels. This one though kind of begged to be done. It was a panel with four houses in the four seasons. They are just perfect as a gift for a colleague of mine. This one was for her birthday, she already received the winter house last year for Christmas.

Tag-Mania

Tags, especially the vintage tags, are all the rage in our art4card-group. Unfortunately, I sent my tags for the group swap off before making a photo - duh. I made these tags for a group member as a thank you for letting me have some of her old photos and even - imagine! - a piece from her mother's wedding dress.

Medieval

Just started on a mini quiltlet-book with medieval themes. This will be a booklet in which I am trying to test several different techniques. Those first pages were a paper on fabric collage. The next pages will be done with transfers.

Link against the Blues

I just have to share this link:

http://svt.se/hogafflahage/hogafflaHage_site/Kor/hestekor.swf

Just click on the horses and see what happens! If this doesn't bring a smile to your face you should seriously consider getting professional help...

Skinny book - more pages

There have been quite a few new pages for the skinny book swap - I am nearly done! This swap proved to be so much fun.

Trip to France

It is already a week since we returned from our short trip to l'Alsace. The weather was splendid, in fact so splendid that after having been to all expositions in St. Marie aux Mines we decided to let it go at that and instead the other day visited Ribeauville, Colmar and a beautiful Burg in the vicinity before heading home.

Thank god for gesso!

This time when I started to make a new background it went horribly wrong. I had wanted to create a moody, mostly blue-green page, but both the colors and the way I tried to mix them were decidedly not what I had intended. I ended up with a background that was way too dark and much murkier than I liked. I rememberd just before I started fuming and tearing my hair out that I could make it undone - just squish some gesso ono the mess and bingo! you have a practically new page to start from. After that I mainly played with yellow and red and later on did a few dry brushstrokes with white before adding a little metallic touch. It was not what I had intended, however, I like the outcome quite a lot.