| « | April 2020 | » | ||||
 |
||||||
| S | M | T | W | T | F | S |
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |||
| 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 |
| 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 |
| 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 |
| 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | ||
Last year I made a drawing tutorial for a plant called 'lily of the valley'. I know it would be perfect to illustrate this hymn of the same name.
I used Prismacolor colored pencils and blended with odorless mineral spirits and a paper blending stump. This makes the colors so vibrant.
Ddd
Here it is the end of another month and time for a compilation of the lettering styles I worked on in my Happy Planner in preparation for using them in my bible journaling.
Note that 'worship' is a two-page item asthe second page addresses letter combinations.
Ddd
It seems that most bible journaling in Esther will touch on the scripture 'perhaps you came to your position for such a time as this'. I guess it is the one part of the story that all of us can relate to.
But I had already drawn on that page and till wanted to use the theme of 'time' so I found an alternate scripture to focus upon.
For this page I combined a font I called Time when I taught it in 2018 and a drawing lesson of an hourglass.
Focus is a time of celebration and remembrance for God's answer to prayer.
Ddd
Lots of littleclear stickers made their way onto this page to enhance the brush lettering. Focusing on a key phrase in the lyrics is my favorite way to decorate hymns.
Here is another rendition of margin art I created last year for typograpy challeges.
I really liked the way these letters interlocked.
Ddd
I used a combination of an old font (Worship) and an old drawing lesson (open book) to create a page for Ezra.
This is lettered with Prismacolor Premier pens and colored with Prismacolor Premier colored pencils.
I find this to be an easy script to write with as the letters seem to come naturally.
Ddd
Twice last year I joined in month-long challenges to do assigned bible verses in decorative typography. This year I am trying to use them in my bible as I come to the book in my year-long journaling through the bible plan.
It was time to pull out this design from 1 Chronicles.
All of these typography designs were planned to be margin art.
I used the original colors but the flag is an add-on. This Christian Flag made be think back to reciting the pledge when we were in Sunday School and Bible School in my youth.
Ddd
In journaling through the bible in one year, I have come to the Chronicles. Using one of my old drawing lessons to illustrate and a lettering lesson for the text, I created this page.
The font is one I named Glory and was used in 2018.
Ddd
This hymn also came up while I was on vacation. I had brought my sketchbook along and used a book on birds of the area as reference to sketch a hummingbird.
I combined this with a freehand sketch of a hibiscus and transfered both to my hymnal page.
I did all the inking with a Prismacolor fine line marker and used colored pencils for the coloring.
This is the actual coloring of the bird I was referencing in the book I mentioned.
Ddd
The next assigned hymn to decorate was Praise Him! Praise Him! I was on vacation when this one came up and had just designed a new alphabet in my sketchbook. So I used the lettering as the primary focus for this hymn and then added color.
Simple page using just the lyrics.
Ddd
While on vacation I had my hymnal along with me to serve as another place to do art besides my sketchbook. This fountain was designed after one in a shopping area at one of the ports.
You can see the lyrics inscription at the base of the fountain which ties it back to the hymn.
This is simple pen word with the addition of colored pencil.
Ddd
In our journaling cover to cover we are up to 1 and 2 Kings.
We are reusing fonts and drawings from lessons in the past and I am trying to stay ahead of the group with samples.
This page uses a dot font along with the footbridge.
This footbridge is designed after one on the property at Monet's Gardens in Giverney (France) where we visited a couple of years ago.
I finished this with colored pencils.
Ddd
I took another workshop class at the sewing and stitchery expo - this one on making a specific quilt pattern.
All of the pieces were cut for us and they provided the thread and the machine to sew on.
Of the 50 blocks in the kit, I got 8 completed, another 19 done 3/4 of the way and the rest laid out with color choices so they are ready to go. The pattern gives a multitude of layouts and they had samples of these in the classroom that we could take pictures of for later deciding what to do with our blocks.
I'm not enamored with the fabrics they included! The supplies did not include sashing, backing, or batting. I may decide to make a bag or something for a kid out of these.
Ddd
At the sewing and stitchery expo I stopped in at the booth for Superior Threads to pick up somesupplies for my longarm quilting machine.
They only had ONE cone of the thread color I wanted but I picked up a couple of alternate 'neutrals. The spools are the same stuff and all are the same color. Off to the right you can see I picked up a big slab of prewound bobbins for the longarm.
In the foreground is the color card I picked up for this line of thread. When I got home this enabled me to catalog the random bobbins that came along with my machine and some that I bought in mixed lots.
Ddd
One of the classes I took at the sewing and stitchery expo was a workshop on making a beaded bracelet. I had taken such a class two years ago and this was taught by the same person, but a different style.
I got 4 units done in class. I will do enough units to make this the length needed to use as a fancy band for my medical ID.
Here is a closeup view of the units I made.
I like this instructor and the way she writes her patterns so I bought another of the bracelet kits (different pattern) and a necklace kit that I can wear with my fancy cruise clothes.
I made the one from 2 years ago too large so I am going to remove some of the units to make it fit my ID bracelet as well.
Ddd
I picked up some new tools at the sewing expo a few days ago.
FROM UPPER LEFT: This little ruler is 3x12 inches to have a smaller size for sub-cutting quilt pieces.
Directly to the right is a little silicone pad for laying a hot mini-iron - used when piecing.
Right of that is a seam ripper to keep with my longarm machine. There is a standard sized head and a larger one. The cap on each end is rubberized so, after cutting the stitches, a pass of the head (like erasing) will pull out the loose threads.
At the bottom is a pack of the brand new 'super nonstick needles' from Schmetz. These are for my standard sewing machine. They allow you to stitch through sticky stuff (like sticky-back velcro, etc) without gumming up the needle. The booth only had size 14 left so, if I like them, I will pick up some 12s later.
Random stuff I had on my 'buy' list ahead of time.
Ddd
Because you can never have too many scraps in your stash, I picked up some random pieces from the 'fabric by the pound' booth.
No specific plans for any of these. Others were part of the fabrics shown for the bunny quilt.
What would YOU make with these?
Ddd
The trip to the sewing and stitchery expo found me buying some cute quilt patterns/kits.
This first pattern I bought just for me and I got some inexpensive fat quarters to use on it. I will probably split up the blocks to make a wall hanging and a lap quilt. I just love bunnies and really fell for this patterin. SO CUTE!
I picked up this kit to makea wall hanging for hubby. We both miss our old black lab.
These two panels will make quilts for a couple of Navy Nukes I know.
Oh, my growing pile of projects!
Ddd
I had an opportunity last September to borrow an Accuquilt GO machine and some dies to cut fabric. I cut lots of my scraps to create kits for quilts and I am still working my way through them.
However, when I had to return the machine I decided I wanted one of my own so I waited for a really good sale.
I bought a bundle whih included to machine, a die to cut 2 1/2 inch strips and a 'cube' which has eight mix and match dies to make 8" blocks. The dies include two sizes of squares, 2 sizes of half-square triangles, quarter-square triangle, and others.
Then, because I don't make 8" blocks a lot I bought the cubes in 10 inch and 12 inch. None of the cubes included a 5" square which one needs for patterns that call for 'charm squares'. So I added that.
At the sewing expo last week I picked up more strip cutters so can do 1 1/2, 2 1/2, 2 1/4 (what I used for binding), and 3 1/2.
I think I'm ready for most anything!
This is how I set up my station:
The cutter actually goes further to the left so there is room for the entrance and exit of the dies. On the right are the cubes and the extra small dies.
On the floor to the right of the cabinet are the 4 strip cutter dies and their cutting mat.
On the wall above is a chart of all the individual dies along with their locations. This way, if a pattern calls for a 2x4 flying geese block I know immediately where the dies are that will cut that.
Let's get whacking!
Ddd
I did a very simple treatment on this hymn. I used a compass to draw the circles for accuracy.
The hands and the numerals hage glitter gold gel pen which adds some drama to the illustration.
I used a brush pen for the text and added a thin stripe of the gold to the thickened strokes of the letters.
Ddd
