Tuesday, April 28, 2015

DIY vs Etsy

If you sew, quilt or craft it gets easy to get stuck in the "I can do that" frame of mind. You know, you see something gorgeous and wonderful and think, yup, I could do that. Yes you can and you might or more likely might not. I am so guilty of this.
 I can and I often do. But, but sometimes it is just easier and faster to have someone else "do it". The it in this case are these lovely felted pebbles. I'm sure I wouldn't have been able to do such a lovely job. Check out the wonderful felt creations at the delica Etsy shop.





The colours are gorgeous. They sit in a thrifted shallow bowl on a thrifted tray on this thrifted night table beside my bed at the cottage.

I could try making the felted acorns though!

Sunday, April 19, 2015

colourful pillow of handstitching woven strips

I love colour, in nature, in paint, in fabric. For me, the joy and excitement comes from seeing the colours together, interacting. Fabrics that have a variety of colours in gradations make it easier to give the impression of a multitude of fabrics. These can be monochromatic or analogous colour schemes.
I used one of these fabrics and a variety of torn related fabric strips.  One of the most basic ways to generate lots of interaction is weaving. The act of the simplest weave, over & under makes one slow down. The weaving would be temporary at this point without some stitching. I used a variety of embroidery floss and large stitches to add texture and a thin batting for dimension to the flat weaving.
 
 
 
Hand stitching is time consuming and that affects the size of the work. These pieces often end up as pillows.
 
 
for the backing I used a vintage hand towel.


The colour story continues when the pillow is placed in this lovely gold chair. Add some lovely Flor tiles and things get really interesting.


Colour makes me happy.
This post is included in Suzanne's link-up party at The Painted Drawer