Exhale… I have been working my butt off on a gift sewing marathon! I have three graduations, a baby shower within the next two weeks. Three down and one more for this months gift giving. In June I have a wedding and a shower. And then I’m ok until August and September when of course Christmas gift sewing starts. Which brings to mind my list of those I shop for and those who can truly appreciate a handmade gift. Whatever your craft I am sure you have at some time given handmade confections to family and friends before. I can’t begin to explain my disappointment when I gave a lovely handmade gift to a sister in law and she replied with a ” ah! no not Oh!  just ah. Not even a thank you! I had spend several weeks planning and making a lovely pair of  applique pillows for her. Well you can say I have since learned who to make things for and who not too! Exhale….

Card from Susan, originally uploaded by Rains Studio.

Exhale….I am re-posting the photo of the beautiful card Susan Lenz sent to me. This was the trade for the Cyber Fyber Show. In error, I deleted some of my photos from flickr. What can I say! I am still a newbie to blogging. When I looked back through my archives, I found a few post with missing pictures.  And that was one of them. I guess it doesn’t hurt to look back at your old post sometimes. In my archives are a few post that are blank and they will stay that way. I do apologize for this error and I now know what not to do in the future……exhale!

“Memory is a painter, it paints pictures of the past” -Grandma Moses-

Exhale! Had my cup of tea, some toast and a egg. Fed the boys breakfast and now we are on our way to story hour at a local book store. I’ll see if they have the Clothpaperscissor’s Studio issue there for my Sister. She has been eyeing mine. Grammy ! Mcdoonos…..OK…OK!  We’ll have to stop for lunch and back home it is. I am figuring when the boys lay down for their nap, I’ll grab a piece of muslin, head for the basement. I have an idea I need to try……  Exhale! 

originally uploaded by Rains Studio.

originally uploaded by Rains Studio.

I was on a roll when making these little dolls. I’ll be using these in some other projects of course…… I’ve got my great nieces in mind for some sweet gifts.

Cards for Kids Project, originally uploaded by Rains Studio.

Exhale!  Yesterday, I made a few fiber post cards for the Children’s Miracle Network. Got up this morning, had a cup of tea, some toast and fed the boys breakfast and off to the post office we went.
The dolly one reminded me of when I was a child and my passion was playing with paper dolls. A friend gave me the pattern for this patchwork a while back and I decided it would be perfect for a sweet little girl. I made the other card with a St Jude’s print from long ago. I stitched on a crayon cut from another print and used crayon to color in the pole. Well on the way back I stop in Joanne’s to pick up batting and noticed that Clothpaperscissor’s Studio book was out. I had been waiting to see this book. I grabbed one and three other people did too. This issue won’t last long on the stands. I thought most quilters/sewers are thinking of better ways to store and organize our creative spaces. This issue deals with the storage dilemas we all face. It is packed with ideas for storage and some creative and useful projects also. And you get to peek inside others creative spaces. Excellent publication. I will be planning a new space myself, which will be much smaller than what I have now. So I plan on putting some of these storage ideas into action and I’ll be posting the results here later this summer.        …Exhale!

Exhale!..I am still working away on my projects: 1) 7/30/365 Art Card Project. I have been lingering around six cards a week and don’t think I will get to 7/30/365. Fear not I am not the least bit stressed over this. Its suppose to be a fun stress free personal challenge. And it is. My cards are all fiber post cards. I’ll post them all after the challenge year. It will be nice to see just where I began and where it leads me. Of course, I may not always be able to even do the six I’m doing now.  Life gets in the way sometimes and causes things to slow down a bit or come to a screeching halt. I’m not anticipating anything major except a move in the near future ( date pending) and dd’s knee surgery the end of this month. So the two little ones will be under foot quite a bit more. Lucky me! And I do mean that. They are my heart strings. Moving on to number 2) The journal quilts which has not been going as planned. I have only completed two months.  The plan was to do at least one journal quilt per month.  March is in-complete and April is really up in the Air. No stress here either. Its my personal challenge. One of my goals was to explore more this year. Some of my fiber cards will be exploration pieces and some will reflect feelings and other stuff.  The journal quilts, same rule applies. I find myself jumping between projects and starting new ones before finishing the older ones. I bet you’re thinking I probably never get any thing finished. Actually once I get going and I’m on a roll my UFOs start to quickly move to my finished pile. I have to keep telling myself to put them out of sight, least I look at just one and decide its not finished yet until I…… oh well!  And this is two out twenty-three…goals I made for the year.  How in the world will SHE EVERRR…… ? No stress here! You can tell by now that one of these was to be more calmer this year and don’t stress over everything. Anyway, most of these are a mind set for me and some are just small task. Which I might move to my to-do list.  Least this list is getting longer….oh well…. Exhale! 

Exhale! Looking around about a few months ago, I discovered the take it further challenge site by Sharonb. I really like the challenge she has put together. I thought about the last two challenges in retrospect to myself. The little details in life and how they become a part of something much larger and things I remembered.  I thought about my creative soul and how when I was eight or nine years old, I had begun to make wearable art clothing for my dolls.  Oh! no Barbie couldn’t go out in any old plain jacket.  I had to decorate her jacket with patches and sequins. Small pieces of wool, silk and velvets became beautiful ensembles with embellishments for my dolls. These goodies were scraps given to me by my great aunt who was one of the most talented seamstress I had ever known. She had only a few customers who she equipped with gorgeous wardrobes. She could duplicate a designer coat for a fraction of its cost and did this many times for my mother.  My cousin,who was her granddaughter didn’t just wear the latest trends, she wore beautiful clothes that looked as if they came right off a Paris run way.  My aunt gave me my first glimpse into the world of creative sewing.  She had a sewing machine which must have been the first viking electronic sewing machine. I just remember it had all the bells and whistles. Lots of stitches and lights. She would add decorative stitches to a plain Jane dress and make it sing. Thus, began my creative soul, because when I was thirteen I wanted my own sewing machine. I got one that next year and I began sewing my own embellished wardrobe. Later on came traditional quilting and this evolved into art quilting. Something which started small is now a large part of my life and remembering the things that brought me here definitely share the same space and time. Exhale!

For this discharge technique you need:
Q-tips
paper towels
newprint
plastic covering( for work surface)
household bleach
distilled white vinegar
2 shallow bowl
dark or color fabric
Cover a flat hard surface with the plastic, then spread a layer of the newsprint on top this to protect your surface. In one bowl combine one part vinegar to two parts water. Into the second bowl combine one part bleach to two parts water. You will have to work fast. Select a dark or vivid colored fabric for your surface design. Any size you want your project to be. Dip q-tip into bleach mixture and use this to draw your design onto the fabric. The color will start to lift immediately, so you have to work fast. Once you have the desired effect you want, dip fabric piece into vinegar and water mixture to stop the bleaching process. Don’t let the bleaching stay on to long or you’ll end up with a ugly yellowing color.

After I finished my design, I let this dry thoroughly. Then I Ironed my fabric with a medium setting on both sides. I decided to use rayon thread to do some stitching to outline and embellish this piece.The red stitching made my design really pop. I will further embellish this piece wiht some beads. Photo of finish piece later this week…. My next exploration will be……..?

I have been working on some  of my post cards. They are so fun to work with. Small pieces are not that much of a time investment. That makes them perfect for exploration work.  I did a discharge technique and I enjoyed the process because of the element of surprise in the end results.  This was a easy and quick technique.   I didn’t have to go out to buy supplies.  You use things usually you already have on hand.  I was please with the results. Some beading maybe and this piece will be complete.