It’s a BAG!

I’ve finished the project on my previous post. I asked readers to guess what the project was, and KK guessed right. IT’S A BAG!

I saw this bag in person the other day and fell in love with it’s size (perfect for my sketchbook), and the interior pockets in it. I was especially intrigued by the fact that the front flaps make their own outer pocket. Designed by a friend of mine, Susan Brubaker Knapp, you can find the pattern here

The fabrics are my own hand-dyed fabrics. I had to paint the quilting motif to add some extra color to it. I used a mixture of Jacquard Lumier paints, textile medium and Folk Art Acrylic paint.

Unfortunately, in my rush, anticipation to finish it, I forgot to put the interior pockets in mine!!

All of the pieces of this bag, except the strap, were quilted on the longarm. I used a digitized pattern for the motif, and filled in with my freehand leaf fill. On the bottom and front section, I used another digitized pattern reduced to make the swirl fill. The bottom of the bag stands so wonderful because there is a Bag-E-Bottoms piece in it. That’s the first time I’ve used one and I like that it adds structure without adding a lot of weight.

I did make a few changes to the pattern. My straps are sewn into the bag, not on the outside, and as I mentioned, I neglected the interior pockets, but even barring my mistakes changes, I love this bag and can’t wait to use it!

November garden color and a guessing game

I looked out the bathroom window today and was surprised to see a white rose….in November, blooming in the garden. Which caused me to take a walk late this afternoon and see what other fall flowers were in the gardens.

Thought I’d share what I found with you:

I’ve also done a bit of quilting today. I’m using the IQ to set in the motifs and then doing the background freehand.

Isn’t that a strange shaped piece? Feel free to guess what I’m working on………

And later this week I’ll show the finished project….when I get it finished!!!!!

Working Quickly

Let’s try this again, and hopefully it will publish this time?

Usually when I’m painting, I am a slow, deliberate, controlled painter. Every brush stroke is contemplated before it’s taken, and it can take me several sessions to do one painting. Tonight I decided I needed to push myself a bit to work quickly. My goal was to finish an entire painting in one session. I didn’t meet my goal, I thought I had until I looked at my photo’s and see what was left out of the painting. Tomorrow night I’ll finish this painting, but in the meantime, this is what it looks like:

18×24 acrylic

Last night I started working on a small art quilt using only my hand-dyes. I got the base shapes fused into place. My next step is thread painting. From there, I have two different plans for this, depending on what it looks like when the thread painting is done. One will be to finish it as is, the other is to cut it up in pieces, finish each individual section and then put them all back together, not necessarily in the same placement.

I can only hope now that when I hit publish, this post will publish. If I lose it again, then I apologize, but my eyes are tired and I’m not retyping it for a third time tonight!