Mixed media&art quilts

Something I am working on...

2009-11-10T11:20:00.000-08:00

Hello there people..hope this post finds you all well!!
Not a lot to report from this side..finished of some UFO's..forgot to take pic before they went on a trip..figgers...getting old and forgetful....well is not a lot your missing out on..lol.
Things are starting to get back in place here..and I am finally getting back in place too...hahahaaa..
This is a short post but wanted to share a wall hanging that I am working on right now...actually..I have been working on it for a while now...lol.
Next thing is checking on all your wonderful blogs and see what you are all up too....then back to work..in house cleaning (bleeh) and studio.....
Have a wonderful great day everybody!!!
Big hug!!
Andrea.

Back from the trip!

2009-10-27T12:29:00.000-07:00

Hello every one hope this post finds you all well!
We came back from our trip to California and boy..is it cold in Idaho..lol.
The part of cali that we visited was very dry and I did not take a lot of pictures there. On the trip itself on the other hand I got to take a lot of pictures and would like to share some of them with you. Some were taken from the car while driving, so you will see the rail..lol.
Please fell free to download them if there is anything you like and could use. Would love to see the end product!
Hug,
Andrea.

Yippeeee!!!!!

2009-10-13T13:10:00.000-07:00

Hello my friends hope this post finds you all well!
The "yipppeee" refers to my new camera!!!Yahoo! I have one all to my self now..hehehee...
And its Purple..no..not purple...but PURPLE..lol...has the coolest features ever( ones I have found out how to work them..lol). This mean I can post again...lol. I know some of you post without pictures and you do such an awesome job in making it interesting without pics...me..well not that talented. Well I guess this is a post without pics..lmao...
Hubby and I are leaving Friday for California...San Diego...to visit our son who is stationed in the Navy there. We will be gone for 10 days...both of us need a break from this years challenges.
I wanted to write to you my friends that I have not forgotten about you. Will use my trip to learn how the camera works and be running fully loaded when we are back. I see this trip as an end too all the trouble we went thru here this year and a new start to my art. We will come back refreshed..loaded with pics..and inspiration.
Till then my dear friends...talk to you soon!!!
Big Hug...
Andrea.

I am Back!!! For real!!!LOL

2009-09-14T11:33:00.000-07:00

Hello there people hope this post finds you all well.
Want to thank everybody that has been supporting me throe a difficult time....and thank you all for the welcome back..s...
I know I said I would be back sooner but things just were not going that way.
This time its for real...yahoo!!
Ok want to share some necklaces that I have made in the moments of sanity ( hmm wonder...what that is) and time possibility...wow heavy sentence here..
Below you will find pictures of necklaces made out of old broken jewelry and polymer clay as well as fabric. I did ad here and there some new things too.
I am looking forward to your responses my friends..plz as always be honest in your opinion. Its helps me so much in my work, I learn from your comments, really!!
Ohh and yes I did get to lend a camera for now...

Did make something special for a very generous person and it should be going in the mail tomorrow. I did not make a picture of it since I did not want to give away what it is..lol. I hope he likes it..oops..did I say to much..lol.
Any way, this is not going to be a long post because I am of to the studio creating some more.
Hope you all have a wonderful and great day!!
BIG HUG!!
Andrea.

From one thing into the other.....

2009-09-11T07:01:00.000-07:00

My dear friends, I really hope this post finds you all sound and well!!
It is true its been going from one thing into the other, like a never ending story!
Every time we think we have solved one problem the next shows up. Have not forgotten about the blog or you my friends. Just have not been able to get to it.
Now its clearing up here ( for now ..lol), my camera is refusing to totally do anything..
With totally..I mean its dead...deceased, kaputt...!!
The saddest part if all is , that I have been creating some things and wanted to post them. Yeah right...soooo not happening today or tomorrow since I do not have money to buy a new one.
There is the option of lending a camera and I think that's the route I will proceed in for now.
Wanted to let all you wonderful people know that I have not forgotten or were giving up...just..well I just hope you all understand.
Will be back with pics soon!
Love you all and thanks for all you support!!!
Andrea.

Quick note!!

2009-07-09T11:29:00.000-07:00

Hi there everybody! Hope you are doing well!!
Things are looking up around here. I do apologize for not visiting blogs and looking at all your wonderful creations. We are back online now and fixing the house as we speak. Siding and roof in two weeks..lol..(not done yet). Then I will be able to get to work in the studio again and visit all of you wonderful people again. Two more weeks and I'll BE BACK!!! Yahoo!!!
Love you all...big hug,
Andrea.

please hang in there....

2009-06-24T06:29:00.000-07:00

My dear people...due to a lot ( did I say a lot?) of emergencies and personal things going on here, I have not been blogging or even had the possibility to blog . Weather ( hail as big as dollars) has shredded almost everything in the garden and caused the roof to leak at 4 places. In between some kind of flu and pc problems and awful rainy weather, I have not been able to create a lot....well almost nothing...pfff. So please give me another week to get my "stuff" together and I will be back for sure...don't give up on me...ok ? I posted some more Yellowstone pics for you, hope you enjoy them!
I wishing you all a great and wonderful day and hope to talk to you all soon!!
Hug,
Andrea.

Got it together....

2009-06-10T07:12:00.000-07:00

Good morning folks...how are today??
Hope you are all doing great!
First of all, thank you for your comments and support guys! They just make my day!!
So here it is...finished up to the hanging part..lol. Decided not to embellish the inchies, thought it would be overkill on this one. Friday I am going out to a friends house where they have lots of wood and find a nice branch. ( no not to hang myself..duh) To hang this project on of course..lol. Think I will give it two loops and attach it that way to the wood.

The next pic is something I started on last night. Have no idea what's up with blue and purple and the camera not really knowing what to do with it! So the colors are way off its is a bit darker and much more vibrant...
The picture I got from Dover...they send you email every now and then with free downloads. I blew it up and traced it on tracing paper. Then put it on some of my hand dyed fabric with dritz tracing underneath it. Traced the whole thing to my liking and started free motion it. I did not want it to look like one of those machine embroidered designs, so I did it with a small free motion zigzag. This gives it a more lace effect. When finished it will get some strait free motion edges around the design to define it a bit more.

Will try to get it pictured better next time....
Well of to the studio to do some more work! Hope you are all having a wonderful day!
Wishing everyone lots and lots of creativity!!!!
XO Andrea.

What to do with scraps??

2009-06-09T09:01:00.000-07:00

Good morning everyone, how are you doing today?
Hope this post finds you all well!
Today's post is about scraps and boy do I have a lot of them! These are all scraps from my hand dyed fabric, they were some where in a pile and I decided to challenge myself and use them.
Now I have to find a way to put them together as a wall hanging and have the inchies dangle on the bottom.

The inchies do need embellishment first, so that's the part I still have to finish..before getting it together..lol. ( you can take that either way..lol)
The strips were torn and then stitched onto the background, then free motion stitched with swirls. To get some more dimension, I stitched some pieces on top of that. The butterflies were left over embroidery from my embroidery machine ( as you know which does not live here anymore).
Hand stitching and embroidery, some beads were added on top of some lace.
All the blanket stitching was done by hand. The yarn used for the bigger parts was dyed to fit in. The inchies were done with embroidery floss. I wanted them to have some more color so they would not disappear into the whole..
Well this is what I have been up to this weekend...rain the whole way..bleeh and cold too!
Sunshine right now..so up and away into the yard to see if I can repair some damage that the hail storm made on Friday! Hail as big as dice and bigger..so much for my flowering plants!
Everyone have a great and wonderful day!!
Hug,
Andrea.

Some more beading and an UFO..lol.

2009-06-03T10:44:00.000-07:00

Hello there people, how are we doing today?
Hope this post finds you all well!
A warm welcome to Crafty Moose crafts at: http//craftymoosecrafts.blogspot.com
Thanks for stopping in and staying around....love that!

Posting two more bracelet cuffs or is it cuff bracelets..lol..
These are good projects to practice your beading on I think..lol ..
Both are just started with some idea but no real thought out pattern. I hope you like them.

The one with the pearls and seahorses has a bump in the middle as you see. I cut a felted wool bead in half and used that to get some raised surface.

This is one of my UFO's that I am hoping to get finished this summer...or better said this year..( whom am I kidding) The background fabric is one piece, the masks and the flowers are appliqued. I have not decided how to proceed with this piece...so any suggestions would be welcome!
Gonna keep it short today want to go and sit in the shade and do some hand stitching.. On what? Not telling you yet, not until I know it is presentable..lol!
Everybody have a great and wonderful day!!
XO Andrea.

Garden chores about done....

2009-06-01T07:17:00.000-07:00

Good morning everyone! Hope you all had a great weekend!
In this part of the world the weekend was spent in the backyard, trying to mend the damage that was done last summer when building on the studio. We are almost done!
It was not easy, as when they dug up the soil they also dug up rocks. Tons of them!
Well we got most of the 'repair' done and at least the backyard is looking presentable.
With so much work to be done, I did not spent a lot of time creating. Not a lot to post either..lol.
Now the pressure is of a bit I can spent more time in the studio..yahooo!!!
I do not know about you guys, but I miss working and creating and then again if I know something needs to be done, I feel sort of guilty to be in the studio until the chore is finished.
In between the work and time outs we toke I did some beading and made this cuff bracelet that I would like to share with you. There was no plan, just the color scheme and I toke it from there.

Instead of a button closure I used a toggle clasp. There are three little mirrors encased with beads. Those were kinda fun, even working in the shadow the sunlight would hit them and then I was blinded for a while..lol. Worked on the cuff with sunglasses on!
Well folks I hope you all have a wonderful great day! I am of the play!
Hug,
Andrea.

Passing on awards!!

2009-05-23T08:35:00.000-07:00

Good morning my dear friends, hope this post finds you all well and wishing all of you a great weekend!
Sharon has given me these awards and I understand it is tradition to pass them along to others...right?
Never thought this would be soooo difficult..pff..how to choose out of all these wonderful people and all these wonderful blogs!!
If you read this and are not mentioned, consider yourself been given these anyway..ok??
Alright then, here we go:
Maggi from http://todreamtostitch.blogspot.com
Melinda at http://melindasfabricfancies.blogspot.com
Clevelandgirlie at http://clevelandgirlie.blogspot.com
Jean from http://bluebirdslivinginthemeadow.blogspot.com
Elizabeth at http://elizabethcreates.blogspot.com
I have been following these friends and their awesome blogs for a while now and could tell you so much about them. Then again do yourself a favor and hop over and meet them if you haven't yet!

Hope you like them my friends!!!

On anther note some other sharing. Bought this stamp...is it not a cutie???

It is from Stamps Happen, just could not pass it up!
And here is some furry purry fun......

Hope you like them..ohh and in case your computer is not working, the last picture might give you a hint..lol.
have a wonderful weekend my friends!
XO Andrea.

Woweee!!!

2009-05-21T08:34:00.000-07:00

Good morning everybody, I hope this post finds you all well!
For starters....my friend Sharon has given my awards..wowee!!
I feel so honored that she calls me her friend and thinks that I deserve these! XOXOXO my friend!!!

Isn't that something??
This just makes my day..no it makes my week or even more. I will pass these to some other blogging friends tomorrow, so stay tuned!
Next I would like to share with you a collage on canvas that I made yesterday and would really like your opinion on it my friends. Paper is not my strongest point I think, so any suggestions will be very welcome!

I know you all must be getting tired of me complaining about me camera, so I will not do that..lol.
The colors are little less blueish, should be more to the brown side. Tried different backgrounds, I guess this is it.....

Used a piece of Tim Holz grunge board, like that stuff. It smells a bit I think but you get used to that..lol
It does a really good job when you emboss it.

The glass bubbles are embossed on the backside. Then glued on. Did some embossing on a couple of shells too. Just brush on your ink ( I used India ink) and sprinkle it on there. Have a little container were you put your shells in when you put the powder on, so you catch all the powder that does not stick. This way you do not lose any. The dolphins are embossed too for part of them. The mermaids are printed on transparent 'paper' and then cut out. The glass pieces were embossed and then glued on top of each other.
The whole background was painted in layers of gesso, acrylic and ink.
That is it for now my friends, I am back of to do some more work...( fun).
Hope you like this post and have a wonderful and great day!
Go and create!
XO Andrea.

Some fun??

2009-05-20T06:34:00.000-07:00

Ok decided to have some fun in here..this is me a looooong time ago with my cousin.
This picture was made in the early sixties..lol.
If you have any purpose for it you are welcome to download it..lol.
XO Andrea.

I am sooo proud of him!!!

2009-05-20T05:58:00.001-07:00

Good morning people, hope this post finds you all well.
It is not really my intention to make this blog about my personal life, it is to be about arts and crafts. Still I had to share this with you...my only child, my son Jeff is in the Navy. This is what he send me....

Not a bad looking guy is he??? I am so proud of him!
Ok..well just had to share with you all. Will post some more things later......
Andrea.

Summer is here??

2009-05-18T10:05:00.000-07:00

Hello wonderful people out there, how are you all doing today?
Did you have a good weekend?
According to the weather forecast it is going to be 86 degrees today... does this mean that summer is here? What happened to spring ? Going from the 40 to 50 to high 80...nice jump..lol.
Today I am first of all posting some wonderful things that were send to me by people that I did a swap with.
The first picture is a wonderful piece that I traded with Sharon from http://wildflowerhouse.blogspot.com for fairy slippers.

The second piece is a wonderful piece that I traded with Cathie from http://clevelandgirlie.blogspot.com

This is the other side...

Go and check out these blogs and these wonderful people!
The next pictures are some things that I have been working on when I got to it..lol.
Here is a pincushion that I made for a friend. The bird sits on a nest that is in a green glass dessert bowl. All I used was recycled wool to make the bird and some lace that I dyed to go with the project.

Next is some left overs from the time that I owned an embroidery machine, put the left overs to work on an African themed wall hanging. It is not finished yet...but hopefully soon will be..lol.
My camera was acting up again this morning. Funny how it got the swap pieces kinda good and then when it came to my pieces the pictures ( believe me I tried like a hundred times!) it suddenly decided to act up. I am sorry , this is as good as it gets for now. One day I will have the money for a better camera, right now this is what I will have to do with..lol.

The woman's face was cut out of another piece of fabric and used as an applique. Is this how you spell that? This is how blogger wants me to spell it..hmmm..)

The masks were made with the embroidery machine ( who has a wonderful new home..sniff..), the material on the sides of this block was fuzzy cut and put on top.

Did the same with this fellow...

The lion is embroidery applique and this woman was done the same as the first one.

I hope you like this post....sorry again about the not so good pics!
Wishing you all a wonderful creative day!
Big hug for everyone,
Andrea.

Thank you Elizabeth!!

2009-05-14T11:06:00.000-07:00

Hello there people, sorry to have been absent for so long.
Did not have a lot to post lately but getting there.
Elizabeth of http://thelastdoordownthehall.blogspot.com has given me an award...Yahoo!!
You will have to check out her blog, she is awesome and soooo inspiring!

I feel honored! Thanks again Elizabeth!
Ok..people...will have things to post this weekend, please stay tuned!
Right now finished a pair of fairy slippers for Sharon's fairy , at http://wildflowerhouse.blogspot.com. If you need to be inspired check out her awesome blog too!
She has been sooo patient with me and her piece already arrived. I will post that this weekend too, it is so pretty, actually I should say beautiful! It is on its way Sharon!
Anyway... want to thank you all for not forgetting about me, makes me all warm inside!
Thanks...XOXO
Andrea.

Little things and spring not here yet blues....

2009-04-29T08:59:00.000-07:00

Hello there people..
I am sorry about the long time in between posts. I hope that this one finds you all well!
It has been really weird with the weather here..a few days of really good nice warm weather ( well warm for Idaho..lol) and a fell for it. Planted some flowers and the next day I woke up with snow on them. Needless to tell you what happened with the flowers.
Its seems that around this time of the year I get the "spring is here..now you see it and now you don't ' blues..lol. Lots of inspiration but no work done...am I the only one with this????
Today I am posting my beaded mermaid that has no face...yet. Just do not seem to get it on her..pfff. But she will get one, promise! Hubby thinks she should get arms too, not willing to go that far..lol. It seems that embellishing with beads has my attention lately, maybe it is because I have never done a lot of that.

This next pictures is my try of making a wool (old sweater), beaded flower, what do you think?
Sewing on beads the right way is not as easy as I thought....let me know if you see anything that I can improve..please!?

Seems that I am into making little things right now does it not?LOL
Wanted to use some fabric scraps, so made these little fabric charms. They are about 1inch small. Think they would look cute on a bracelet or neckless ....
This is really all I have to show for now, sorry! I promise I will get more work done to share with you!
Let me know what you think all you wonderful inspiring people out there that back me up with your awesome comments, really.....did I say really....appreciate you guys!!!
Well lets go and create and have spite of the nasty weather a wonderful day??!!
BIG HUG,
Andrea.

Pictures for you...

2009-04-16T07:23:00.000-07:00

Hello there people!
I hope this post finds you all well.
Today I would like to share some pictures that were taken in Yellowstone two years ago. Just now found them again..lol.
They speak for themselves...I think...well any way, you can download them if you want. These are my pics, so you do not have to worry about copy rights. I hope that they will inspire you!
XOXO
Andrea.

Spring...maybe???

2009-04-10T07:23:00.000-07:00

Hello there folks, how are you all doing today?
Hope this post finds you all well.
We finally got rid of the white stuff here, it has turned into the wet stuff. RAIN!!
The temperatures have gone up a bit, but is is still kind of chilly in the mornings. The daytime temp is going over forty now...Yippee! I know for some of you it does not seem that "warm" but for around here its a sign of spring, at least that's what we tell our selves here..lol.
I should be honest we had a couple of days in the fifties, then they went..pff..
For today's posting, a butterfly applique that's hand and machine needle felted. Then stitched on to the background fabric. The rest is apart from no binding finished like a regular quilt. My thought on the binding was...why?? Ehum..apart from that I do not like to do bindings..lol.
In my opinion, its not always necessary to have a binding on a wall hanging, I know that some of you quilters out there 'shiver' at these words...sorry...lol.
I am stubborn....I do it my way..lol...did I mention that I was stubborn????
Ok...I would, if somebody wanted to buy it and requested it, put a binding on it, see I am flexible....right???
I was wondering if I should leave it like this or put leaves with the flowers? Any suggestions my friends?
Well will have to leave you for now, have to prepare for a class I am teaching tomorrow...
Wishing everyone a wonderful great day! And go and create!
XO Andrea.

Good morning..... for you..

2009-04-08T06:22:00.000-07:00

Good morning everyone. I hope you are all doing great!
Just now found this great blog:http://quiltingranny.blogspot.com
She is having a yummy give away, because of her 500th post coming up.
Go check her blog and get inspired and enter of course!
May the "lucky" one win..lol.
Lilla is also having a give away on her blog:http://justlilla.blogspot.com
She makes the most wonderful things, go and check her blog out too!!
Talk to you guys later.....have a great one and go and create!!!!
Andrea.

I won something...for real!!!!

2009-04-04T09:16:00.000-07:00

Hello there friends...how are you doing today?
Hope this post finds you all well!
Have to share this with you. I actually won something ....Marlyn from http://honeysucklebreeze.blogspot.com , had a give away on her blog. I stumbled in there cruising the web. You really should check out her blog, there is some really amazing inspiration there!
This is what a won...and I know that I am really going to enjoy this!!!
Love,
Andrea.

The record bowls!!

2009-04-03T09:11:00.000-07:00

You guys are keeping me busy..lol.
Ok...the record bowls....preheat oven to the 200F . If you do have convect bake, really use it. It is a lot more effective.
Put your record on top of an upside down glass or metal bowl. Put it in the oven and wait for about three minutes. You will see the record starting to droop. Put on oven gloves..not kidding here...put them on!
Take out the record when soft. And shape. If you want holes in your bowl...soften the record flat first and punch holes. Then you can proceed to the bowl part. You can also put the record when soft into another bowl that's sitting upright. Push the record into that bowl and use your bowl shape to shape your bowl......confused???...I have been like that for years..lol.
That's actually all there is to it folks. Remember when embellishing, if you plan to reshape in any form you will have the reheat the bowl. Which means use only things that can withstand the temperature used. Like with glue ..USE NON-FLAMMABLE GLUE!!!

Record recycling tutorial!!!

2009-04-03T08:11:00.000-07:00

Ok folks here it is.....
Preheat your oven too about 200F degrees, if you have convect bake on it, I suggest you use that.
Take an old record that nobody will miss. Not your hubby's collection..lol. Make sure you are ventilating the room you are working in very well, there will be some fumes!
Put it on a pizza stone or cookie sheet. Both need to be big enough for the record to lay flat. That's right we are starting with the bracelets first.
DO NOT THROW AWAY THE ALBUM COVER!!!! I am working on recycling those too....I will share some ideas about recycling album covers with you. ( next week)
Ok back to the record..have some oven gloves ready, it will be HOT,...did I mention the record will be hot?
Check on it after about three minutes, if it is soft, cut it into strips like this...some need more time. Its more fun if you cut different sizes!

You might have to put it back in the oven several trips to soften it up again, so keep the oven on till we are done cutting.
Then cut round edges on the strips like this......

After all the cutting, put the strips in one more time. All together if possible, when they are soft, roll over them with something like an old can . This is to flatten them well enough to work with.
Note here, that if you want to punch holes or such in them you will have to reheat them. You cannot punch holes when they are hardened, they will for sure crack..trust me on this.
Once they are flat enough and hardened up again, you will need to sand the edges really well.( the edges can be very sharp) If you sand on the side that will be the top that's going to show when you wear it, it will give you a sort of leather look. I soak the strips with label on them in warm water and scratch the labels of and then I sand the labels of with my sander, if you try this make sure you are holding on to the strip really well and USE PROTECTIVE EYE WEAR!!! You can start embellishing them. BUT WAIT..IMPORTANT...anything you will use on them needs to be able to resist the heat you are using to soften them. Why? Well you will have to soften them to shape them...aha?
For that you can use the can...ehh vegetable can or such of course..lol. There are different sizes of cans, so make sure you choose one that will give you the fit you need. If you happen on the wrong size..well no panic...grab a different one and reheat the bracelet. When I made my bracelets, I let the ends overlap. This way they will have the expanding space to put them on...which is a good thing right?
I have lined mine with wool from a recycled wool skirt. its nice and soft plus it can stand the heat that's used. The wool was glued with E6000, please make sure you ventilate the room you are working in very well. Read the instructions on the glue...USE NON-FLAMMABLE GLUE!!!
Go crazy my friends and show me what you have made...pretty please???

Yes...the water is purple!

2009-04-03T06:13:00.001-07:00

Good morning everybody...how are we doing today? Hope all of you are having or are going to have the most wonderful day ever! With lots of creating of course!
Today I am showing a project that I have been working on in between projects. For those who want to read between the lines...yes that means it is taking me a while to finish it..lol.
All commercial fabrics with lots of free motion stitching. The fish were cut out from the commercial fabric to suit at my will ..lol. I then free motion stitched tiny little scales on them with metallic thread, boy was that #%&*... had to go thru all kinds of experiments to keep this thread from breaking. The thread itself was a very expensive brand ( not sure if I am allowed to use brand names in here..lol), so I thought that the problem was coming from somewhere else and it did. USE METALLIC NEEDLES FOR METALLIC THREAD is all I can tell you and slow down on your sewing speed.
This project was one of those design as you go things and I am not sure if I want to embellish it or put more fabric embellishments on it or what..(suggestions welcome here).
That's why..as you can see, its not finished yet.
Any way dear friends, I wanted to share this with you. Now I will get ready to start making the promised tutorials for the recycling projects.
Take care all of you and have that wonderful day that I wished you before and go and create!!!
Andrea.