Family Get Together!

 Finally had dinner for the kids this past Sunday as well as being able to give Nick his t-shirt quilt!  Between everyone working and Lacrosse games, it was hard to get a family day together with all of us!  But we did it, finally!  

I gave Nick his choice of meals (Chicken, Ham, Mexican, Italian, etc.).  He picked Italian Gardens, which is one of our families favorite places to eat (they actually have four restaurants within a 30 mile radius!).  So Saturday, I picked up Gluten Free (Nick's girlfriend is gluten free) Mostaccioli w/sweet sauce, Chicken Alfredo and Lasagna.  Each dish was delicious and of course, I made a few appetizers (stuffed jalapenos, spinach/artichoke dip, strawberry salsa and regular salsa w/chips and some cheese sticks, one of Nick's favs...well, it used to be!). 

Along with the three food trays, the restaurant gave us tons of salad and fresh bread.  I  made a corn/avocado salad and fruit salad along with the tossed salad.  But, I felt bad for my daughter...she's on a strict food plan and doing so well...but I made an assumption she could eat three of the salads but she could only have the tossed salad.  She doesn't eat any sugar, starch, bread, etc.  She only has meat and veggies..along with her protein bars.  Now I know for next time.  I should have asked her and I could have made some chicken for her.  Darn!

The infamous T-Shirt quilt was in this bag!  HA

Nick's girlfriend is a delight.  Just a sweet, nice young lady.  I didn't get a picture of the two of them!  But I'm sure we'll be seeing them together again...now for grandma to remember to take a picture!

This is Auntie and my grand daughter resting after dinner!

Grandpa and Uncle Jeff...actually, they were watching the golf match...which went on for 11 extra holes!  

My son and DIL...Oh, and I made Emeril Lagasse's Chocolate Fantasy Cake.  I forgot to take a picture but if you google it, you'll see other cook's who also published Emeril's recipe with a picture! It's flourless so I thought would also be perfect for Braylon, Nick's girlfriend.  The cake was great but it is SO rich...right up my alley and Nick's.  He had two pieces and I gave him the rest of it to take home.  I also had 3 different ice creams along with butterscotch and chocolate sauce and Reddi Whip for on top of the cake!  

Everyone took home leftovers and Bob and I still have some in our freezer too!  It was a really nice day...although, it was so hot and muggy we just stayed inside.  Kids played pool downstairs in the family room and we were all quite comfortable inside!  So here are some video's...Nick said one of the T-shirts was his sister's!  Hmmmmmmm  I just used what I was given!  HA

Finishing wrapped canvas

 In my last post, I showed how I painted around the edges of the wrapped canvas for the 2nd painted mirror.  The 1st mirror was wrapped with a covered black fabric onto cardboard for the backing..so I didn't need to do anything special.  When I finished this piece, which is on a canvas hard panel, I decided to attach it onto a wrapped canvas.  But the wrapped canvas and the batting on the edges of the photo frame were quite white.  

In the past, I have painted onto a wrapped canvas background extending a design.  You can see that example here (post about process is here).  

This was for a gift, so I can't take a picture of the sides  but the leaves extend on to the sides of the canvas.  

I figured I'd have to do something similar with the yellow leaf frame piece.  

So out comes the paints again!  And back to cutting a leaf from the hosta plant.  I painted the leaf and stamped it on to my smallest geli plate then  used the geli plate to stamp on the sides of the canvas. 

It's hard to see but I also took a small paint brush and painted areas where the batting was showing white when I attached to the canvas.  

This is hanging in Bob's bathroom.  It looks quite nice on the wall.

But let's see if he notices it!  HA  He better because it's hung above the toilet!  HA

2nd painted mirror frame!

 Yes, I can get carried away with creating  the same project over and over!  I have to say I enjoyed making the first painted mirror frame (post here) and I had another piece of painted fabric my daughter created years ago..so......

Both of these are 11" x 14".  The top one is the first one and the bottom is the 2nd one I did this weekend!

This was another piece of fabric my daughter painted in Ann Johnston's class years ago.

I added more yellow and stenciled white, which I forgot to take a picture of but you can see the white stencil areas on the finished piece.

I'm attaching this one to a wrapped canvas

I painted around the edges of the wrapped white canvas.   I wanted to attach the painted mirror (in background to the canvas).  

And the finished piece.  Sure would like to know how folks photograph an object that has a mirror in it!  You can see my quilt wall if you click on the picture in the mirror!  HA

After I painted the edges, I added some black strips so it blends with the front of the fabric.  Looks so much better when hanging on a wall and you look at the side of the canvas.  A finished look I think.

I am giving this one to my daughter this weekend.  The kids are coming up to celebrate Nick's graduation and he'll get his T-shirt quilt!  Finally!  But at least it's been finished since May! 

I think the two look good together!  HA

I have lots of my art work hanging in my sewing area!  Why not...what else would you do with all that work!  I'm happy with the  painted mirror frame(s) but I think I'm done now...onto the next project!

What to do with all those painted papers?

 I've had lots of folks ask what I would do with all the papers I've been painting, stamping, etc. in  Hilary's MIP online class.  Well, I have shown several pieces that I've collaged, stitched/quilted and added binding.  Some other ideas Hilary has shared with us is to look at our work as 'paintings' and mount them vs finishing them off as quilts.  So I've been playing with that idea!  

I finished this small quilt not that long ago (12"x12" paper collage) and decided to attach it to an old painted canvas panel I had.  Nothing fancy but it was fun to just play with another technique!  

Now that I'm on that 'kick' I headed to JoAnn's and picked up some wrapped canvas as well as well as two 11" x 14" photo frame panels for $2 each!  

Back in 2019 we were  printing with leaves, painting, you name it!  So I had lots of papers to  quilt.   I just quilt them and cut them out to insert in photo cards to mail to friends.  The quilted piece slips into the photo frame as shown in this picture.  

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This was a piece that I quilted this past weekend and I laid one of the photo frames on top of it and I liked it!

Sorta!  You'll see later in this post!

  Closeup of some quilting.

I posted on our MIP FaceBook page that because the frame was white I asked for a suggestion as to what color I should paint the background. 

Gina, one of the lady's in our group had this suggestion:

Maybe you could make marks on the white canvas with similar colours to the leaves but slightly lighter? Stitcherly marks? Or (I'm on a roll now!)cover some leaves in paint and print lightly onto the background?

So, that's what I did!  Off I went to cut  some Hosta leaves from the backyard.  Then I mixed up some paint...I couldn't remember what colors I used originally so this was trial and error!  Next was to mono print around the white frame!   I just painted the leaves and used my brayer to transfer the paint. 

I'm quite happy with the results!  Thanks, Gina for the suggestion!!!

I'm in the process of making another painted mirror frame.  I'm giving this one to my daughter since I'm using another one of her great hand painted pieces!

Painted Mirror Frame

11"x14"

I needed a break from the T-shirt quilt, my knitting and hand embroidery...so what to do but watch Design Matters TV with Laura Kemshall!  One of her current videos is making a painted mirror frame.   I'm not showing the entire process, you'll have to sign up and pay for the video.   So I looked through my fabric stash and this is my painted mirror frame!  

Yes, that's a mirror in the middle of the fabric.  It wasn't easy to photograph the mirror without my hand being in the picture!  You'll see later in this post what I mean by that!

This was the piece of fabric I found in my stash.  It turned out to be a piece painted by my daughter in a class she took by Ann Johnston quite a few years ago!  I started off by adding some horizonal yellow paint (Setacolor).  This picture isn't very good as the fabric is really a cool orange, which shows better in the finished frame.

Next I added some dots around the black swirls Dawn painted.

Then I went through my stencils and found a small (4"x4") square and used white acrylic paint and rolled it over the stencil in a few areas.

This was the completed frame with the backing on.  Had to use clips to keep the backing/front together and to allow the glue to dry.  

You can see my camera and hand in the mirror!  I had a heck of a time trying to take a picture and not have my hand show in the mirror!

This is the back with a ribbon for hanging on the wall.  My daughter said for me to write her name on the back "this is gifted to Dawn" for when 'mum' is gone!  HA  

 I've been following Laura and Linda Kemshall for many, many years.  Years ago they produced five small (around 6"x6") booklets called 'thr3fold' (yes, I have each one!).  They were chalk full of great ideas and projects.  I don't even remember how I found them  but I always looked forward to getting a new book. Then they started their Design Matters TV online.  Better yet!  They  show a new video about once a week.   I love their work and they are such an inspiration to so many of us.  Especially when you're in a funk and just want to do something different! 

They are both big on sketchbooks and journals, which I haven't been bit by that bug yet but I do love their textile work.  They also have different 'classes' on fabric dyeing, painting, quilting,projects, etc.  Check out their web site.  Another good aspect of their site is you don't pay an annual fee (they did in the past) but instead  now you buy the video's you are interested in.  I really like that because I'm not interested in many of the sketchbook video's.  Although, I have purchased some in the past and have been inspired to use some of their technique in my quilting or painting.

Now to get back to the dollar store to pick up some more mirrors and to get caught back up on the MIP online class with Hilary!  So much to learn, to do and not so much time to do it all in!  Whew!

A post a week?

 

A week since my last post??  Guess I'm not doing much to write about!  But why am I so busy at home!  Actually, I've been doing a lot of spring cleaning and purging!  That is when Bob isn't around!  He has a hard time letting go of certain items...like 8 pillows we have that we don't use!!!  In Bob's defense, he does have a lot of arthritis in his neck and has a hard time finding just the right pillow to sleep on.  I talked him into getting a new pillow last week AND he did agree to throwing out 2 pillows!  Bob is flying his planes today, so I dropped off an entire carload to Goodwill here in town..no pillows but lots of other 'stuff' we'll never use and someone else could.  I'll pitch some more pillows in the trash next week, hopefully, Bob won't be home!  

I am back hand stitching on my split rail piece I started several months ago.  I do so enjoy hand stitching as it's so relaxing!  

This is before I started any stitching.  When I am finished with all of the hand work, I have something in mind to add to or take away from the darker areas in the pattern.  Not sure if it will work but it's using discharge  paste!  Who knows!  Now to get busy finishing all that stitching!

 

I'm still here!

We're having Florida weather this past week and suppose to continue into this coming week!  What fun...guess I'll just stay inside like I do in the winter, right!  Not a problem for me.  At least we've been having a good breeze blowing constantly...not good for Bob to fly his RC planes but at least it helps with the hot/humid weather.  

It hasn't stopped me from knitting but only later in the afternoon if out on the deck for happy hour!  HA 

12" x 12" paper collage

I also finished stitching this collage piece.  Nancy (check out her blog), one of my buds from Florida, mentioned about lengthening my stitching.  Because I was free motion quilting and I'm such a stuck in the mud, I couldn't make my stitching look decent.  The stitches were way too big.  But it was a good suggestion, Nancy!  I ended up setting my top tension down to '1'!  That seemed to take care of most of the stitching problem.

Yep, up close, you can see some of the holes where I removed the stitches.  Other than doing some hand embroidery to fill in the holes, I elected to leave well enough alone.  I have my other hand embroidery and bead project(s) to work on so I'll save my fingers for those projects! 

It's not that bad and it will end up hanging in my sewing room.  I'm not sure if I'll wrap around a canvas or just do some type of edging on the collage.

I love my Instant Pot the girls got me for Christmas a few years ago.  I ordered Jeffrey Eisner's Lighter Step By Step Instant Pot cookbook.  So many good recipes in it...I made this past dish for us last night and it was SO good!!!!  

You can take a peak at the book from your local library or go to his YouTube channel or his Facebook page!  He really has some great recipes.   Or just go and purchase one of his books.   I made his pulled pork sandwiches a few weeks ago, which was awesome!  Tasted just like smoked pork!

I have to say I'm enjoying trying all the new recipes and I don't mind not going out to eat!  Saving those big bucks too!  So I can buy more cookbooks!  Works for me!

Of course, I have to brag, again, on my grandson, Nick!  He was awarded Offensive Player of the year 2021 at the Lacrosse Awards dinner this past week.

Just more memories for his 21st BD book!  HA