The New Shop in Town

 

 There's a new quilt shop nearby in Issaquah. 

Gossypium is the scientific name for the cotton plant.

We're happy to have a new place to visit. But I keep thinking I can't buy one more piece of fabric. 

And then I do. 

You know what I mean, don't you? 

 gossypiumquilt@gmail.com

Make it a Wonderful Day!

Q-Group for February

Our Quilt Group met last Friday for our monthly show and tell. This month, Barbara hosted. I loved seeing her raw-edged heart bull's eye quilt.

She also shared her appliqued hearts quilt top-just the right quilt to be working on this month.

Nan's French fabric quilt was bright and cheery-in contrast to the gray day here in the Pacific Northwest. (Seriously, I love it here, but the low light makes it challenging to take good indoor, no flash photos.)

Next up are some close-ups of Terry's Valentine Bling Quilt...embellishments galore!!

 So fun!

Her red and white Irish Chain has some beautiful stars in a couple of the corners, and I love the striped border and binding.

We're starting a group project- we're each doing a quilt/table runner/whatever with the theme "Home is Where the Heart Is". These are some pieced hearts by Denise. Even though she's our resident paper-piecer, these were not made that way. She's not sure what she's going to do with them yet.

I'm a bit of a broken record with this one, but I love the freedom of sewing these wonky log cabins. This time around, the blocks are sashed in pink shades of shot cotton.

Marsha brought this quilt made by a friend of hers who recently passed away. Marsha's putting on the binding so the quilt will be ready for her friend's grandson. Marsha, I know your friend appreciates your loving help with something she wasn't able to finish in time.

Marsha's almost finished with her tea cup quilt. She's working on the quilting and soon it will be off to its new home in England.

Here's a new one by Helen. Love the colors and love the quilt!

This one's lots of color and gray. Helen does such a great job of combining fabrics in unusual ways. Check out the polka dot binding and the plaid border. Love it.

  I made this quilt top from the leftovers of Jared's quilt. Terry will be quilting it for me, so you'll see it again soon. I don't have a design wall, so it's kind of fun for me to have friends hold it up so I can see it and take a photo.

We're having a sew day on Friday to make bags. More on that later...

Make it a Wonderful Day!

Squak Mountain

Have a Wonderful Day!

Last Year's Hydrangeas

Have a Wonderful Day!

Robot Tint Paintings

 

We had a good time creating our "Tintbots" with acrylics on canvas paper. 

 These were inspired by art teacher John Post. You can find his robots and lots more ideas here

We talked about using separate shapes for the parts and joints so the robot could move. (I brought in a jointed wooden figure to help get this idea across. I didn't have a robot to bring in...)

 

We painted our robots first because I wasn't sure we'd have enough time to do the backgrounds. I'd do the backgrounds first if I were to do this again-a more correct painting procedure, making the robot clearly in the foreground. We also thought about our choice of brushes- large flats for big areas, small rounds for tighter spots.

Each artist mixed their own medium gray for the robot shapes, and then the lighter and darker grays for highlights and shadows.

Then it was on to the background. Students chose a color and then mixed the tint.

We added details and a border with Sharpie.

I love it when I'm at my schools when classes walk by our artwork- the kids are always so interested in what we have on display, and the teachers are complimentary too. I can tell my Art Club artists how much their artwork is enjoyed, and they love that!

 Make it a Wonderful Day!

Jumping Jack Heart Animation

Here's a quick animation craft. It started out as an extra for early finishers, but everyone wanted to make them. It's two drawings with the arms and legs in in jumping jack positions, a stick in between.Watch him do jumping jacks when you twirl the stick between your hands!

Here's what you need:  

• 2 pieces of light-colored card stock scrap (the snowman is 3 1/4 x 4 1/4, the heart is on 2 1/2 x 4 inches.)
• A small round stick. (We used cake pop sticks or lollipop sticks, available where you buy cake decorating supplies.) Or, you could use a pencil, a straw, etc.
• Tape
• Double stick Tape
• Black Sharpie
• Colored pencils or markers

Draw two matching figures, except change the positions of the arms and legs. One has feet out and arms up. The other has legs together and arms down. Make sure the arms and legs are thick and dark so they show up well. Color with colored pencil.

Securely tape the stick to the back of one of the drawings. Make sure to leave the stick long enough to hold between your hands.

Use the double-sided tape to attach the other drawing over the stick...

Now twirl the stick between your hands and watch your heart do jumping jacks!

Instead of a Jumping Jack Heart, you might like a Jumping Jack Snowman instead.

Make it a Wonderful Day!