Seahorse Quilts

So I finished Jeremy's seahorse quilt before the end of August, but just haven't managed to get pictures taken and posted.  I made time to do so today.  When I wrote about it last, he'd had me paint onto the partially-quilted surface - a new adventure for me.  I then quilted in the water, using multiple shades of blue threads in the painted areas, and a slightly blued white thread in the unpainted parts of the background.  In keeping with his preference for all things shiny, all of the threads were shimmery and glittery.  I also added some hotfix crystals for "bubbles".  I satin stitched the edges and couched a single frame of a multihued fiber (perfect for this little quilt, with blues, teals and browns) around the outer edge.  

I brought it to Jeremy, showed it to him, and asked him if he liked it.  Those of you who read this post are probably shaking your heads right now, thinking "she'll never learn."  Sure enough, Jeremy did not agree with me that the piece was complete.  He looked at it for a few minutes, told me how much he loved the paint and the crystals, and then informed me that it needed another row of the fibers along the outer edge, just a little bit apart from the first one.

"No, it's fine as it is", I insisted.  It looked complete to me.  But he turned on those baby blues of his and I added another row of the fiber.  And I have to admit, that while it was just fine with one fiber border, the second border really added definition and set off the piece better.  And here it is:

And a detail shot of the seahorse on the bottom:

This was a great piece for me to practice with new techniques before going onto the bigger piece.  I also learned that Jeremy has a good, intuitive eye for balance and design, and is NOT afraid to share his opinion when asked for it.

So I moved onto the original piece I had intended to make before this little side trip.  It is a beach-themed, mixed media piece called "Live in the Current".

The 3 main panels were cut from felted wool, in shades of blue, green, and purple, that was needle felted directly to batting.  After the felting was done, I hand-stitched a variety of fibers on the top, and did some embroidery as well.  I fused the needle felted sheet to timtex to give it some stiffness, added backing, and did light machine quilting to give additional texture.  I then cut it into three panels, and did a double-layer of satin stitch in a variegated thread to finish them off.

The "library cards" are digital images by Katie Pertiet (Library Card Collection: Seaside) that were printed onto background fabric that I made in Susan Brubaker Knapp's class in June.  The background fabric was painted with very dilute Lumiere paint, and it glitters slightly.  I batted and back them, then stitched outline stitched the critters and the lines of the index cards with Monopoly thread.  I inked the edges for a little more definition, and attached them to the felted cards with small clips.

The background has the same seahorse and seaweed used in Jeremy's quilt on the right, as well as a shell on the top-left corner.  These were stenciled with Shiva paint sticks.  I used two of the images from Katie Pertiet's Beachy Clusters to create the layers and cut stencils.  I used a Silhouette America cut file to create a stencil for the seaweed.

To create the title, I used letter stamps (by Autumn Leaves), then filled in the letters using Copic markers.  I added a little bit of sparkle to those letters by selectively outlining with a Spica glitter pen.  After quilting it, I decided to add a little blue and purple color to the background with Faber Castel Gelatos, and using water and a stencil brush to dilute the color across the background in washes. I decided not to bind it, and instead, faced and turned the edges, so the design goes right to the edge.

Jeremy's Seahorse Quilt

I'm working on a mixed media piece.  (Some of the background fabric was shown in yesterday's post.)  It will be a tryptich-style for the main elements, in a sea theme, but on a stenciled, painted, and quilted background, which looks like sand.

Using my Silhouette and a seaweed cut file from the Silhouette studio, I created a vinyl mask for the seaweed, then adhered it to the fabric and applied Lumiere paint.  However, it was too wet, and bled a lot around the stencil edges.  My son Jeremy wanted it, though, so I decided to use it as practice piece for the background to the mixed-media piece, and to give it to him when it's done.

With the Silhouette and a seahorse cutfile, I used Shiva paintsticks to add two seahorses.  Being a semi-solid, I didn't have trouble with the Shiva paint bleeding under the vinyl mask. After the paints had cured and been ironed, I was able to quilt the images today.  Using Madeira Glamour threads to add more sparkle (because Jeremy loves all things shiny), I added detail to the seahorses and outlined the seaweed.

When I showed it to Jeremy and asked if he wanted wavy lines for the water, he told me I needed to paint a few areas with blue - not too much - and use that for the water.  While he didn't realize it, it was a great, out-of-the-box challenge  for me.  I pulled out my Twinkling H2O watercolors to add the color and yet more shine.  (These paints have mica flakes in them for added shimmer.)   While it's not perfect, I like the way it came out and it was a great practice piece.

Now it's drying, and I hope to finish quilting in the water tomorrow, and get it bound (or perhaps edge finished with some fibers) and hanging in his room.  And then to complete the mixed media piece...

Back in the Saddle

Last year I struggled with creativity.  The one thing I did rather well last year was read - I probably read at least 300 books, and countless magazines.  But I had no mojo for any type of craft or hobby at all.  I barely took any pictures.  I really struggled when I had to complete something.  It was frustrating and depressing, and created a negative feedback loop.  When I look over what I did manage to get done last year, I can almost feel the complete and total lack of inspiration, imagination, and creativity in the work. 

But the New Year brought back the creativity to my life!  I've been non-stop making things since the holidays ended.  Lots of sewing, quilting, needle felting, and scrapping.  And I'm trying to take more pictures again.  This past Sunday, I spent the day scrapping with paper and for the first time in over a year just enjoyed the creative process, playing with color and design, and truly finding joy in what I'm doing again.  I was so happy and relaxed at the end of the day.

This is a layout of Matthew, trying to learn to dive.  He had the first parts of the dive pose down, but when it came right down to it he'd end up jumping into the water instead, arms and legs flying everywhere.  I had created the framed bits and extraction sometime last year, but stopped at that point.  They were technical steps, and I could manage that.  But I was stumped at how to actually complete the layout.  So I left it in my in-progress file.  I came back to it yesterday and it all just flowed. 

Summertime Boy.  Supply list:  Paper: Summer by Tracey Ann, Cabana Boy by Dani Mogstad; Labels (borders recolored): Pick-nics Alphabetized Summer Labels by Jen Wilson; Title: Pick-nics Sticker Wordy Titles by Jen Wilson; Overlay (modified to keep distressed edge only): Everyday Challenge 7/26/09 by Katie Pertiet; Brushes: Scriptease Summer 1 by Anna Aspnes; Staples: Something Springy by Anna Aspnes; Font: CK Ali's Writing.

Jeremy's been creating lately, too.  His class took a virtual  drawing lesson from Mo Willems, who creates the Pigeon books.  He learned how to draw Pigeon and Cat.  Here is his drawing of Pigeon eating a hot dog.

 And now I'm finally updating my blog again, and will try to post at least weekly. 

Halloween Fantasy Land

The boys love rich fantasy worlds.  Jeremy tends to prefer tales of magic, while Matthew prefers game-oriented shows, and their preferences are reflected in their choices of Halloween costumes:  Harry Potter for Jeremy and Dan (of the Bakugan series) for Matthew.

We had a great evening walking through the neighborhood with friends and neighbors.  It was a beautiful evening, no full moon this year but plenty of bats swooping around to give that nice, spooky feeling.

A few pix of the boys:

I blinked and I missed it. Them, rather.

June and July, that is.  I've been crazy busy and just haven't made the time for my poor, neglected blog.

Did I mention that we've been busy? Ryan and I have been working a lot - not a bad thing in the current economy. Ryan's company was sold to another company, which gave us a few weeks of uncertainty, but luckily their jobs transferred over with minimal changes, at least through the end of this year.

The boys had 4 weeks of summer camp scattered in over the last 2 months.  When they weren't in  camp, they had "mom school" with me, as well as plenty of play time, video game, swimming, and reading time.  My mom, sister, niece and nephew came to visit for about a week, and the cousins had a wonderful time being together.

Jeremy has had an eventful summer.  He took part in the Lee Brothers Tae Kwon Do tournament in June (his first ever tournament), and to our delight took first among the white belts in his group.  His favorite part was breaking a board with his bare hand!  A week later he passed the test for his "high white" belt, his first belt elevation.  And then just last Friday, he finally lost his first tooth! He really didn't want to start 1st grade being one of the very few children who still had all of his baby teeth, so this was a really exciting event for him.

Matthew has embraced Harry Potter this summer - really getting into reading the books and playing the new Lego Harry Potter game. 

I spent last week at CHA (the Craft and Hobby Association's trade show), in Chicago, with the ScrapStreet team.  Dora, who owns/edits ScrapStreet, lives in a suburb of Chicago and very kindly hosted 7 of us for the week.  It was lots of fun, with late nights, story telling, and ogling of new scrapping products.  We also picked the kits for the next 6 months of the kit club.  The team tradition is taking a group picture in the marble bathroom.

We are heading to Ryan's hometown shortly for his grandmother's 90th birthday.  Folks are coming in from all over the country to celebrate with Grandma, and we are looking forward to seeing everyone there.

School starts on August 18, so we'll begin the school year preparations soon.  We got the kids' homeroom assignments today, and are pleased with the teachers and classmates they have been placed with.  I am looking forward to this year, as both kids will finally be on the same schedule and I won't have to drive to/from school 3 times a day!

Signing off now with a promise to be back soon...

End of School Year Craziness

One of the other moms in Jeremy's class compared May to Christmas - tons of running around, shopping, and trips to school for all the end of year activities: teacher appreciation week, recitals, field trips, learning who the next year's teachers will be, etc.  Combining that with several work deadlines in the last 2 weeks has made me look like the proverbial chicken with it's head cut off.

I have managed to get a few digital pages done.  This first one is of Jeremy, the weekend he got to bring his violin home and give us concerts. He was just beaming with pride each time he picked it up.  (All images are clickable for greater detail.)

Weekend Concert. Digital Supplies: Paper: Flying South by Jesse Edwards, 

Simple Classics No. 2 by Katie Pertiet, Flowers and Pinstripes by Jesse Edwards, 

Journaling spot: The Good Earth by Zoe Pearn, Calendar: Pick-nics Lil Detail Card 

by Jenn Wilson Designs, Staple: Staple Its by Pattie Knox, Brush: Date Strip Stamps 

No. 2 by Katie Pertiet, Fonts: CK Ali's Writing, Elephant.

Journaling: Bringing home the violin is an exicting time for a Ravenscroft kindergarten student. Jeremy was thrilled to play concerts for us every day and show us what he's learned from Ms. Hitchcock. His favorite song is "See the Little Monkey" and his favorite note is C-sharp.

His class recital was on Monday the 17th.  After the recital, there was a reception in his classroom.  I made this layout to give to his teacher, who does a remarkable job with all these little ones.

Play. Supplies: Paper: Letter Box by Katie Pertiet, Sweet Mystery by Melgen 

Designs, Little Creepers by Mindy Teresawa, Vintage Linens by Shabby Miss 

Jenn Designs, Celebrate Paper Pack 4 by Baers Garden Designs, Frames: Classic 

Curled Photo Frames No. 1 by Katie Pertiet, Swirled edge: Colorful Edgers 

No. 2 by Katie Pertiet, Brush: Musical by Jesse Edwards, Alpha (recolored): 

Katie's Jewels by Pattie Knox, Stitches: Double Straight Stitches by Tia Bennett.

And finally, a layout for/about Ryan.  He's like me, and rarely in pictures.  He prefers to be behind the video camera instead of in front of it. Baseball is his passion, and I think that this page captures it well.

Lifelong Romance.  Paper: Peeking Baseball kit by Ronnie McCray, Take Me Out to 

the Ballgame kit by Dana Zarling; Alphabet: White Felt Alpha with Red Stitching by Amy 

Bleser; Frames: Stuffed Edge Frames and Journalers No. 1 by Katie Pertiet, Basic Bare 

Chipboard Frames by Katie Pertiet, Border: Stuffed Edge Documents No. 1 by Katie Pertiet, 

Journal Spots: Basic Journal Spots by Katie Pertiet, Ticket, Shoe Lacing: Peeking Baseball 

kit by Ronnie McCray, Tab: Cardstock Tabs by Katie Pertiet, Tape: My Family Genealogy 

Clippings by Katie Pertiet, Label: My Family Genealogy Flashcards by Katie Pertiet, 

Software: Lightroom and Photoshop Elements 8.0 (both by Adobe), 

Font: Plantagenet Cherokee.

Journaling: Do you see that glove sitting on the bench? It belongs to my husband, Ryan. It tells the story of his love of all things baseball. It bears the scars of a quarter-century of use. It holds the dreams and excitement of the teen-aged ballplayer. It has been and continues to go to ballgames, in case there is a foul ball to be caught. It is treated with love and respect. It is well cared for, soft from decades of use, but still strong and functional. It now accompanies us to little league games. It helps Ryan share his love of all things baseball with a new group of children, eager to learn. It sits on the bench, after the on-field practice, but before the game, holding one used and one new game ball, ready for the first pitch. It holds the dreams and excitement of the father teaching his sons about the game.

Teacher Appreciation Quilt

We have been blessed this year to have wonderful teachers for both of our boys.  I'm a room mom for Jeremy's kindergarten class, which means I've spent a lot of time with the class and with the teacher.  She's become a friend, and I greatly enjoy talking with her.

After New Year's, my co-room mom and I began discussing Teacher Appreciation week.  I volunteered to make a "crayon quilt", where each of the kids in the class would color anything of their choice on a piece of fabric.  I would then make it into a quilt in time for the end of Teacher Appreciation week.

The kids colored their blocks in February.  We asked them to keep it a secret.

Teacher Appreciation week was this week.  We gave little gifts (flowers, chocolate, home made cards) during the week.  This morning, the kids put on their Mother's Day program (more on that tomorrow).  Afterwards, the moms returned to the classroom to watch the kids give their teacher the quilt.

EVERYONE helped deliver the gift to her.  She's sitting on a chair way on the left of the picture.  I was a little afraid the kids would knock her over in their zeal.

Then she opened it (and luckily, loved it).  And was mobbed again by the kids, all shouting at the same time "That one's mine!" and "I made this one!".  It was adorable to see how excited they were to share it with her.

I think it will be well loved.

Enterprising

Both boys have become obsessed with Legos. They love looking at the Lego catalog as much as they love to create with the Legos. (I'm guessing Santa will have a Lego-heavy wish list from the boys this year.)

Jeremy has decided that he wants to get the Lego Deathstar set. It has 3,800 pieces and is "only" $400. Yes, that's right, four hundred dollars! So he's told us he's saving up for it. (Note to self: Congratulate self and husband for teaching the boys to save up for special items they want to buy instead of just asking mom and dad to shell out for it.)

But, at $4 per week allowance money, it's going to take a long, long time to save that much money. So this morning he became an entrepeneur. He created his own Lego set, and asked me if I'd like to buy it from him for only $10. When I declined, he checked to see if Dad would buy it. Another no. About 5 minutes later, he returned to me with a reduced-price offer: $2 for the set. I love so much about his spirit and creativity! Now if he'd only apply it to cleaning his room...

So, any takers on a 4-piece and one character Lego set for the bargain price of $2?