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Thursday, July 4, 2013

A productive day...

Today was a productive day for me...I am usually productive or at least busy....I don't have very many days of just sitting on the couch and eating bon bons and watching TV!  But that does sound like fun!  Well, maybe not...depends I guess what kind of bon bons and what's on TV!   But I digress...back to my day.
Kalee sits in the car with a dog safety harness on but she likes to sit up and look out the window...so I made her a pillow to sit on.  I bought this fabric in Florida this winter.  It's a reproduction of a newspaper but from a dog's point of view!  Cute or what!  The pillow is all finished and in the car!  Now my little one can sit up higher and look out.

I am a fan of Lynn Krawczyk and have followed her blog & FB posts for quite sometime.  This past week Lynn started a reorganizing of her art space (her warehouse and studio - both in her home).  She was brave enough to post pics of the before and after shots of her rooms and is now writing a six part series on how she "reclaimed her space".   She got me thinking today about my little art world....it's not bad...but there's always room for improvement...so, today I did purge 3 drawers!  Thanks, Lynn!!!  You got me motivated!!!  And for others who would like some motivation, do check out Lynn's blog and don't miss her six part series!

 I don't like things laying out on tables...so my projects are put in one of my drawers under my work bench.  Because my bird's cage is in front of the closest where all my fabric is stored, I don't always put the fabrics away...it's such a pain to have to move Grace's cage to get in the closet, so at times, I tend to 'pile' fabric in the drawers.  You can see all the fabric I started taking out of this drawer to put away.



After my purge and put away...this drawer just contains my current projects and fabrics I need for them.  All stored nicely and no excess fabric in the drawer...yes, I had to move Gracie's cage to put all the fabric away!  But it was worth the effort!


This second drawer contains some of my 'self' help folders...I say 'self' help because they are my own tips, tricks, ideas, etc.  I also have some special pieces of fabric that I want to work on in the future.   No, they don't belong in the 1st drawer because I'm not working on them (yet!).  It's  a method that works for me!   Don't ask!



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And this next drawer I had old receipts for threads, fabrics, etc.   I mean from YEARS ago!  Not sure why I was saving them but the drawer was really messy!  So purge I did!!!  And now it holds my wonderful Label Maker (a gift from my daughter!) and ear buds, etc.  Just some electronics I use in my art room.

So, with just reorganizing those 3 drawers allowed me to get started with a project from that 1st drawer!  Actually, the kids and I went to the copy store yesterday and I had a coloring page enlarged so I can start working on my Tiffany piece. I just didn't know I would start on it today.

 I found this coloring page (copyright free) and had it enlarged 250%.    It's sun/moon and I think it will work for the Inspired By Master - Tiffany exhibit.



I'm hoping it will work for the reverse applique technique Susan developed and taught me!!!  I had another picture that I sent to my mentor (Susan).  Because it had lots of small areas, Susan recommended it would work if I were doing a large quilt...but we're limited to 16" X 20", so I chose this more simple design.









Here all all the pieces cut out and ready for the next step...which I did today...I basted the black fabric I'll use for the leading (stained glass effect) and tomorrow I'll start stitching the leading lines.  It's a pretty labor intensive process but works so well!!!

The colors in this picture aren't as vivid as in person.  There's more yellow/orange and the deep purple is really a pretty purple..the picture looks yucky...but you get the idea.




Here is the back of my piece...the black fabric is basted to the front and where you see the red ink lines, I'll stitch all of those so they show up on the front/black fabric.  CONFUSED YET!!!!

I love, love, love this process my Q Buddy, Susan, developed.  I know I may have some studying to do on this one before I start cutting into the black fabric...there are small areas in this piece as well and I need to take into consideration keeping some of the lines flowing rather than chopping them up....it's hard to explain...I had a good teacher so I know what i need to do...just don't know if I can do it!!!  But I'll try and if not, it's a good practice piece, right!
So that was my day...I grilled chicken & veggie Kabob's for dinner and Bob took Kalee and me for a Blizzard too!!!  Now we're watching the Tigers (9-0! yea!) and relaxing!!  All in all a good day!  Hope ya all had a good 4th as well!

5 comments:

  1. Well done Robbie - the drawers look great!

    And I have to say, the doggie pillow is the cutest darn thing I have ever seen - so adorable. :)

    I love the sun piece, gorgeous!

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  2. I'm pretty much of a neat nick myself....I can let things get messy but not for long. Getting more storage for my space is/has been on my to-do list for awhile.....sign.

    Love your new piece....so essentially.....this is reverse applique??

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  3. A new sit-upon for Kalee and a new project well underway, plus reorganizing. I would indeed say this was a very productive day. The new project looks intriguing. Nice choice of fabrics, and the leading should really enhance this.

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  4. Very nice, Lynn has inspired me too!
    Love the pillow -- I made Bugsy a placemat from the same fabric!

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  5. Wow you are one busy lady. Love the purging of drawers and need to do that myself. What a great sun/moon to "stain glass" quilt. Kalee is lucky her mom can sew her such a great booster seat. Fabulous Fabric! Whew...you really rock!

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Had to put Word Verification back in! Getting strange messages!!!