In order to clean up the look in my quilt studio I decided to make curtains to cover the closet opening. While I was at it I made a matching valance for the window.

I found this wonderful fabric in the discount room at the fabric store and bought the end of the bolt. As you can see, it has sewing supplies printed all over it thread, buttons, scissors, pin cushions, and thimbles.

Because there were two separate pieces at the end of the bolt it pre-determined the amount of fabric I had for the window (just one yard.) I cut it into two pieces of 18 inches, joined them at the center and created a pocket for the rod. Hemmed all around. If I were to do this again I would make the valance shorter and fuller by making three sections of 12 inches.

The rest of the fabric was cut into three panels, rod pockets sewn and the ends hemmed. I did not join the sides of these as I wanted to be able to go in and out of the closet at more than just the ends. The pre-determined length leaves them a little short at the bottom but it will allow for some air flow so things don't get stale in there.

Both of the curtains are installed on extension rods. The closet curtains were a bit heavy causing some bowing of the rod so I put in some U-brackets at the intervals between the panels.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:01 AM PDT

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I tried using two blues and two greens to make the diamonds look dimensionsl on this background. It left too much space between the blocks so I filled the spaces with Mustard distress pen and it blended everything into a multi-toned green.

That was pretty boring so I got out a large floral stamp and covered the surface with the bloom. A green cardstock was selected for the text block and backed with black. Three strands of green twine were added and secured with a knot.

I bordered the floral panel with black and popped the sentiment block up on foam tape.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:01 AM PDT

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I got out the heart waxed paper background and colored it up in three vibrant pinks/reds. I stamped a sentiment on pink and backed it with red, creating a flag end.

Some dark pink twine was looped around the front twice and knotted.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:01 AM PDT

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The argyle pattern of this waxed paper background turned out well in mustard yellow and gathered twig distress inks. They blended to a nice butterscotch. I wanted to see lots of the background so I banded a sentiment in brown and mounted it low on the card front.

I had some diecut swirls in a butterscotch cardstock so added them around the sentiment. I went in with a fine line brown marker and added some detail work around the ends of the swirls making them look paisley.

A brown rhinestone was added to each paisley end.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:01 AM PDT

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Sice I had the waxed paper backgrounds out for the last few projects I decided to just keep playing with it.

I combined yellow and blue inks on this background whick blended up to a nice green. I used a dark green card base and stamped the greeting directly on the background using Staz-On.

I attached three paper flowers with glue dots and placed a black rhinestone in the center of each.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:01 AM PDT

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Another new stencil for me is of birch trees. Love these.

I chose a waxed paper background with a crackled appearance and taped the stencil down. By blocking off the trunks I was able to ink in the sky background and the snowbanks. Then I removed the blackout paper and carefully inked just the tree trunks with brown.

After removing the stencil there was not enough definition of the trees aso I used a fine line brown pen to line along the left of them all.

I mounted on dark blue-gray and stamped a sentiment on light blue-gray. The latter got a flag end and three brown rhinestones.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:01 AM PDT

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I picked up a new stencil that has solid and patterned areas for a cityscape. Not as successful using it as I would have liked but I'm willing to show what I got.

I started with some waxed paper background and used distress ink to color a big moon Then I laid on the stencil with the open pattern exposed and used more of the yellow ink. So where is it? Um, I'll tell you later.

I used Starry Sky distress ink to carefully color the sky without coloring over the buildings. Then I got the bright idea to use black distress marker to color in the patterned stencil over the buildings. WAY to juicy and the ink leaked under the stencil leaving a big mess. Rescue? Use a rag to swipe the ink straight down, coloring the buildings black. Then I wnt back in with a black Copic marker and freehanded in some building details. I stamped the Hello in the moon with Staz-On black ink and mounted the trimed artwork to a bright yellow card base.

Interlude where I scrub the stencil clean of all the ink....

So, I started over with the moon, sky and yellow building blocks on two more waxed paper backgrounds. The first time I didn't get the stencil lined up very well for the details (which are now being inked with 'black soot' dicstress) but the last one worked better. It did get more smearing of the building details so I need to learn to be more patient for the drying before buffing. I mounted one to bright yellow and one to light yellow.

With the buildings and the pattern in the sky I think these have a very industrial look.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:01 AM PDT

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I used another scenic stamp for today's cards, With cocoa brown Memento ink. This is a vertically alligned stamp so I did four of the cards in that orientation.

The lighting is terrible for these as the lavender fades right into the white background. I used green patterned strips for backing and bordered the image panel with brown. I stamped the sentiment directly on to the green strip and used a few brown rhinestones for accent.

For the next set I changed the greeting on one and changed the rhinestones to nail head stickers for the other.

On the last one I went back to the landscape orientation and used a wider strip of green paper. I also used a violet backing card for better contrast.

I stamped the sentiment directly on the card base and finished off with a strip of brown rhinestones.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:01 AM PDT

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While I had the scenic stamps holder out I decided to use another couple of them to make cards. The first I chose is a fenced pasture with trees and mountains background. I used the same colors of alcohol markers on all four of these.

Two of them were bordered with brown, backed with a purple strip and mounted on light green card bases. Text was stamped directly on the card base and the sentiment enhanced with tiny green rhinestones as a leader.

The second set got the same basic treatment with dark green card bases. The background was too dark to stamp the sentiment so I stamped it on a scrap of paper that matches the dirt road, cut a flag end and adhered it to the card front. I kept the leading green rhinestones.

All of these have the image panel mounteed on foam tape.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:01 AM PDT

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I had some of the images I stamped yesterday left over but they had been stamped on plain cardstock (not glossy). For the most part they took the alcohol markers OK but that purple was WAY too dark on these. I used the alcohol blender to color over the top to lighten the tone so it fits with the rest of the colors better.

I pulled out some green backing cardstock and a couple of purples in card bases. Each of the images and the green blocks were backed with black. The images are all popped up on foam tape.

I pulled out some little animal charms and tied their loops with a variety of twine colors. These are popped up on foam tape as well.

Not sure if those are zebra, wildebeast or some animal that doesn't exist except in the imagination. But they lend a cheery gleam to the design.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:01 AM PDT

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These projects started out when I ran across a leafy branch die cut I got a while back. I had not used it yet. I went looking for a stamp that I could use as a feature that would be complemented by the die cuts.

I selected this mountain scene from a set of scenic stamps that I have in green unmounted rubber. I stamped on glossy cardstock with Cocoa Memento Ink and colored using alcohol markers. The purples I had were too dark in relation to the other colors so I touched the tip to a blender pen and used that to color in the mountain.

I stamped the bold script greeting over the image and trimmed it out to mount on the black dotted paper. Leaves were cut from a variety of green patterned papers which were glued to overlap the image panel.

Two were designed in landscape and use violet card bases. 

Here is the third one - closer to show details.

Simple but pretty.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:01 AM PDT

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A few days ago hubby looked out the back window and spied a coyote out at the end of the yard. He has seen them at night going through the yard but always on the move. I've never seen one in the 24 years we've lived here.

Imagine our surprise that this one just wandered around a bit, looked around at the scenery and even watched us looking with binoculars for a while. It suddenly occured to us to grab the camera and see if it would hang around while we took photos.

We only got two shots before it moseyed off into the scrub brush and vanished.

I suppose this means I will be saying adios to a few bunnies, mice and other little critters that inhabit this space. But it was neat to see this awesome doggie.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:01 AM PDT

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I just recently learned that a flight (flock, group) of butterflies is called a kaleidoscope. How fun is that?

The final cuts made from the strip sets are three units of 2.5 inches. These get mixed up and reassembled into 9-patches. I had enough to include 16 on a quilt (instead of the 12 shown in the pattern). These are set on point with the spacing blocks from my stash of the colorful butterfly fabric.

I gave it a double border to quiet it down a bit and then quilted the orange dot border with sketchy butterflies.

The only color in the butterfly fabrics that was not in the 9-patch fabrics was bright green so I pulled that color from my stash for the backing. The quilting was all done in black so it would stand out on the backing.

This quilt finished up at 43 inches square. It as well as the three other quilts will all go to the hospital Passages program.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:01 AM PDT

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Still working on those strip sets, the second style of cut yields two triangles per set. These get assembled in groups of four to create blocks with a twist to them.

Because of the extra strips I included I was able to put together a quilt of 9 blocks instead of the 6 blocks in the pattern. I used bits from the stash for the sashing and cornerstones and made them wider than suggested and added double borders from the stash to get more size to the quilt.

I call this quilt 'tilt-a-whirl' because of the cant to the blocks and I also used a spiral inside these squares for the quilting.

More fabrics from the stash make up the backing, with piecing to stretch to the full size needed.

Finished size is not quite square at 44 x 45 inches.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:01 AM PDT

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The second set of 9 blocks from the strip quilt shown yesterday all contain pieces of the yellow floral fabric. This was from my stash as part of the strips added to get the full amount I wanted.

I call this quilt 'window boxes' because of this floral fabric and the squares created by the pattern.

I picked up the teal in the batiks with a teal border from my stash. This was also used on the back, along with some accent strips, and for the binding.

This quilt also measures 42 inches square.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:01 AM PDT

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How about a teaser first?

Because this is just too much wonderfullness to spring on you all at once, I will dole 4 new quilts out over the next few days.

I started from the Eleanor Burns pattern called "Twice As Nice - Plus More" which shows how to turn a 'jelly roll' into three quilts (one medium and two small). I wanted to make my quilts larger so I supplemented the 40 strips (batiks) with 14 more strips from my stash.

The strips are stitched together in sets of three and then some whacking this way and that way gives you three styles of cuts which are then assembled into blocks.

The first cut that is made from the strips makes up unto square window blocks. Because of the extra strips I put in I had enough to make 18 blocks instead of the 12 that the pattern addresses. So I split them into two sets of 9 for two square quilts.

This is the first. I call this 'black light' because it is so bright and psychadelic.

I added more from my stash for the border, backing and binding.

This quilt finished up at 42 inches square.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:01 AM PDT

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I had some ideas for using diecut flowers but don't have a die for flowers. I always had to cut them out by hand... no fun! So, on a craft supplies swap group, I saw a set of flower dies offered and in turn I offered a die that cuts parts for quilled flowers. I've never liked quilling so I was disappointed when I bought that die and never used it.

What a great trade! My partner also threw in a tiny flower die, a brackets die, and a little embossing folder with text.

Here is the main die:

It is a Sizzix that cuts three sizes / two styles of blooms.

Looking forward to using this.

Ddd

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Victorian houses in our area are often painted in bright and odd colors and refered to as painted ladies. I took that concept into account when selecting colors for this card.

The base is light gray which gave me an opportunity to mute the colors and create a unified look.

I used a backing of dark red over a cream to pull out colors from the illustration.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:01 AM PDT

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What is it about deciding you REALLY like a product that makes the manufacturer take it off the market? Does this happen to you, too?

Here are some things I really miss:

General Foods International Coffee - these instant flavored coffee drinks were available in a variety of flavors including (my favorite) chocolate raspberry, hazelnut creme and white chocolate caramel. They also had the more traditional french vanilla, irish creme and amaretto. Some were available in sugar-free as well. Not only that, but they came in cute rectangle metal canisters with snap-on plastic lids. So what happened? One day I went to the store and there weren't any. NONE. They just vanished off the face of the earth.

GardenBurger Meatballs - These veggie 'meatballs' had the greatest texture and flavor. I never served them and had anyone guess that they were not made of real ground meat. They were great with spaghetti, stroganoff and meatball sandwiches. They made awesome sweet and sour or barbequed appetizers, too. Just like the coffee... vanished.

Rolaids - How do you spell 'relief' now? This one was the result of some manufacturing faux pas (contamination) at a plant they had contracted with. So, get a different plant! Don't just throw up your hands and say 'oh well'. Fortunately, our supermarket has produced a knock-off that works just the same (other name brands, not so much).

Extra Strength Excedrin - We also found a replacement brand for this discontinued favorite pain releiver. When you have a headache you should NOT have to go experimenting for help!

Dimetap ExtendTabs - Thanks to the druggies I no longer get optimum relief for sinus pain. Pseudophedrine is now a perscription drug and does not get manufactured in this time-release formula. Pooh!

Vanilla Mint toothpaste - Oh how I loved the flavor of this! I guess not enough other people did, though. I have a problem with the strong minty flavors burning my tongue and this was just perfectly flavored.

Then there are the products that they up and change the formula to something they call 'improved' and I want my OLD, beloved back again! Shampoo, bathroom cleaner, nail polish remover, hairspray, dishwasher soap... yeah pretty much listed all chemicals!

I beg of you, Mr. marketer/developer/chemist... leave my Snapple, Tater Tots, Cheerios and Windex alone. If you have some wunderkind whiz kid who needs a project, require him to come up with something original and leave my stuff alone!

OK off my soap box (New and Improved Tide With Bleach Crystals and Fabric Softerner Beads, of course).

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:01 AM PDT

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I have several cross patterns for paper embroidery but I think this is my favorite. It is decorative enough to stand on its own but also lends itself to adding decorative elements.

I stitched on a tone-on-tone orange paper using purple and dark green threads, having recalled that I had some purple and green floral rubons. This was a simple card to put together.

I backed with a green patterned paper over a purple card base.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:01 AM PDT

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