Five Shadows

Crafting has been slow in my life lately. Seems most of my time is taken up in the life of my teens – new school year and all. Volleyball games and such, all fun! I did work on this canvas bag with the theme of Raggedy Ann and Andy. (Sorry the picture is not very good – it is a scan not a photo.) I added the yo-yo hearts, wool yarn vine, couched over stamping and fabric painting.  I’m new to yo-yo hearts and I found them easy and fun to make using Clover’s heart shaped quick yo-yo maker! I tacked them down with red embroidery floss. (Have you seen Calamity Kim’s amazing yo-yos?) I stamped the background with Fabrico craft ink in Cerulean Blue using side B of Stampendous! Texture Cube. Once dry, I color washed over the stamping with Lumiere Pearl Blue. Next I couched the yarn in place using the zig zag stitch on  my sewing machine and then added the yo-yos.

I’m also working on the binding for the quilts for my parents (two twin size his and her quilts.) And having been inspired by Kim, I’m going to do more work on the yo-yos I’m sewing on to my mother’s quilt. I’m just stitching them in place now along with leaves around an appliqued vine. But I plan on going back and stitching them around the edges with floss. Don’t think I’ll add beads as it is a bed quilt intended for daily use. Thanks Kim for the inspiration!

The theme for this bag is ‘travel.’ Mary included photos  and tickets printed on fabric of trips she has taken since childhood. I picked the photo of the cruise ship and had fun layering it with  fabrics and ribbon. I used fusible web and did some free motion stitching to hold the piece together. I outlined the ship with a Pigma pen and also did some stitching in a dark grey thread to add detail. This is what the piece looks like before adding it to the canvas bag. I have a tag that says ‘enjoy the journey’ that I hope to fit into the piece. It might have to be sewn on to another place on the bag as it is getting crowded!

Since my last Altered Bag post I have received 2 bags to work on! The theme of this bag is “herbs.” I had purchased fabric with floral prints of sage, basil, thyme, etc. But the gal who worked on the bag before me used a companion print to it! So I dreamed up something else to add to the bag. While digging for fusible web, I found several pieces of flower pounding I made three or four years ago. Light bulb moment! I searched the web for herb quotes and found this one:

“What is Paradise? But a Garden, an Orchard of  Trees and Herbs, full of pleasures, and nothing there but delights.”  Wm. Lawson, 1618

I wrote the quote on the flower pounding fabric, added a frog in the corner with a yoyo and leaves. I think this fits the ticket! (The buttons were added by another participant.)

This little quiltie will be added to a butterfly theme canvas bag as a pocket. I used Lumiere paint by Jacquard in turquoise and plum. This is for a friend who loves purples and all things glitter. So I decided to try the Lumiere paint as a base, then stenciled the butterfly and leaves, coloring them in with fabric markers. I added a turquoise selvage edge, several ribbons and a button. In the upper left corner, can you read the word ‘charmed’ on the selvage? That word suits my friend!

This Altered Canvas bag swap should be winding down about now – bags are due back to their owners in September. But I have not seen the 11 bags I’m to work on! Looking over my past posts, I think I have only received and worked on 8 bags! Yikes! I wonder who is holding them up? I have three more bags to work on….

Here is the progress on several of the canvas round robin bags that have passed through my hands. For the Flower Garden theme bag, I made Prairie Points using two fabrics (notice the yellow center of the prairie points) and then added some silk flowers and buttons. They are actually sewn on a vertical seam of the bag but I rotated the picture to post …

Next I played with Dimensional Applique, (see The Quilting Arts Book by Patricia Bolton, page 76) making several leaves as described by Heidi Lund. These are so fun to make! Here are three of them added to the Autumn theme bag. I also added the hand died variegated ruffle on the top edge of the bag.  I cut the ruffle from a piece of fabric I  won from a drawing held on  Kelli Perkins blog. (Thank you Kelli! Do you recognize it?!)

Then  I played more with the dimensional applique, making bird feathers for the Bird theme bag. And I also played with painting on fabric with using Setacolor paints and salt to create the letters ‘B’ ‘I’ ‘R’ ‘D’  which I sewed on the side of the bag and then attached the fabric feathers and a real feather.

I am trying to experiment with new to me techniques as I work on the bags. So far the dimensional applique and fabric painting has been the most rewarding!

So friends! How about signing up for the Generosity Project as I described here? Just leave a comment here and you may receive a gift from me, made by my own hands – hmmm, how about some dimensional applique or needle felting!

You might remember from an earlier post that I am participating in a canvas bag round robin. We each started with the same size 13″ x 15″ x 7″ canvas tote bag. We each picked a theme for our bag and included fabric and items in that theme to pass along with the bag – for using in decorating/altering the bag. This is the third of twelve bags to which I will contribute. The theme for this bag is “Mary Engelbreit.” The owner of this bag included yards and yards of Mary Engelbreit (ME) fabric, along with a ME magazine and several ME books. The first picture shows the bag as I received it. A beautiful cross-stitch with a small border of yellow fabric. The second picture shows what I added – in a fabric collage style. First I purchased and attached a wide yellow rick-rack. Then I fused ME fabric to fusible web. I cut out several motifs and fused them around the cross-stitch. Then I stitched around the motifs in black thread. The cherries above the bowl on the left side are fused to a red fabric and stitched only at the top of the stem so they are three-dimensional. The cherries on the right side I hope look like they are pouring out of the teapot and into the teacup.

fabric collage I added

This is the second bag I’ve worked on for the altered canvas bag round robin I’m participating in. The theme for this bag is “Christmas.” The bag came to me with the Sunbonnet Sue created from fabrics included in the bag. I created the Christmas tree, putting an ornament into Sunbonnet Sue’s hand.  It is a very cute scene. NOT at all my style, but none-the-less, cute. I think the owner of the bag will like it. There are 9 more ladies to add to the bag. It will most likely be a very busy Christmas scene when it is completed.

Sunbonnet Sue decorating her Christmas Tree

When the mice are away the cat gets to play! All my darling children* are out of the house this week. I’m going to use the extra moments to catch up on some sewing and creating. Pictured here is the pumpkin patch I have created and attached to the canvas bag that is to be passed on to the next person in the round robin this Sunday. This is the first of 11 bags to pass through my hands. The theme for this bag was “country” and at this time of year what better says country than a patch of pumpkins!?

*My two youngest darlings left for NE for the National Homeschool Volleyball Tournament this morning. They are two excited young ladies!

I’ve been showing my little quilties I’ve received from Creative Lenna’s swaps to my quilting friends. If you have ever thought of joining a swap, check out Lenna’s blog. She hosts more than just quilt swaps. And even if you don’t participate – it is a very fun look!

My friend, Teresa, has just received four greeting cards from her first ever online swap! She did a web search and found a card swap that interested her. Her husband laughing said to me, “See what you have started!”

That is not the only thing “started”. Teresa thought our quilting group should host our own swap, so she organized an altered canvas bag swap. Actually, it is a Round Robin. There are 12 of us in the group. We each received a canvas bag, with a pocket created by Teresa, sewn on the inside. We each pick our own theme for the bag, tuck items that coordinate with the theme inside the bag, start to embellish if we wish, and then pass it on to the next lady. The items in the bag do not have to be used, but give an idea of what you mean by the theme selected. We have one month per bag and should receive our completed bag in October of 2009.

There are some pretty good themes selected: Cheerful Spring, Autumn, Butterflies, Music, Birds, Raggedy Ann and Andy, Botanical/Herbs, Flowers, Country, Christmas, Mary Englebrite, and Travel.

My bag is ready to go. I have added some patchwork down one side of the bag. My theme is Flowers. Ok, a bit boring, I should have thought a little longer and narrowed it down a bit. But I did put together a nice assortment of buttons, silk flowers, ribbons and fabrics that should help direct the ladies. The fun thing about a Round Robin is the mystery of it all! You never know what you will get back, but I always love the creativity expressed!

Pocket Created by Teresa

Items included in my bag