Road to California - 3D Sculpture - Day 3

Today we added flowers to the trees:

 This is my friend's Beast and Tree:

Our Beasts and Trees on  the teacher's stage:

Closeup of 'Blowing Kisses':

I loved this class! Learned sooo many techniques for making 3d sculptures.

Road to California - 3D Sculpture - Day 2

Today we learned how to couch wire using our machines...we made leaves for our trees! Fortunately I didn't break a needle - there were some that did...

And..we met 'The Beast' (he really didn't come in a bag). I was the only one to get my beast sewed, stuffed and pinned together..

I need to stitch the openings closed, and stitch the limbs on the beast..and stitch up his gestures : here he is blowing kisses:

Tomorrow we will make flowers for the center of the tree and hopefully I will be done with the hand stitching..just will need to make a base for the sculpture (she will show us how she does bases, but its not something we will make in class.)

If you ever get a chance to take a class from Susan Else (and 3D fabric sculpture floats your boat) - she is an excellent teacher. I have enjoyed this class SOO much!

Road to California - 3D Sculpture - Day 1

It rained pretty steadily today..fortunately I got there early and got a really close in parking spot. Tomorrow and Sunday, I am going to a friend's house and her hubby will drive us..thus saving us BOTH 18 bucks! The upstairs was SUPER crowded, most likely because of the rain.. Didn't get a table but did score a few chairs..so lunch was eaten off our laps!

Today was the first day of the 3D sculpture class with Susan Else..O.M. G...this is a terrific class..she provides ALL of the supplies..already cut so we just do the sewing! Best supplies fee, ever!!

Here is a picture of the Beasts in the Jungle we are working on..her sample is way more involved than what we will be able to do in three days...but we are doing 'elements' of the scene. The 'beast' in the center is the one we will be creating (There are 3 figures/beasts in this scene - the lady in the tree, the beast swinging on the branch and his friend peaking out from behind the second tree - Susan describes the Beast as having a duck body, cat legs, chimpanzee arms, horse head with dinosaur horns):

Here is my tree after FMQ, trimming and stitching the shapes together..

Here is the tree after stuffing. I started out using a chopstick to stuff with, but then tried out one of the metal stuffing forks. I had to buy it! (only purchase of the day):

Here are the wires and the stiffening rod (an old knitting needle!) that keep the tree up and let us bend the roots:

Here is Susan's tree in the Jungle scene - we will be making those large leaves and the flower tomorrow and starting on the 'beast in a bag':

Here is the vine before stitching. Once we stitched all around the leaves, we wet the Solvy:

And...here is what my tree looked like before I left the room for the night - I have a bit more stitching to finish up closing the hole on the bottom and to stitch a few of the 'gestures' in the roots:

Road to California - Wholecloth Painting

It's Road to California Time, once again!

The weather report for Southern California was wet today, wet tomorrow, possible wet the next several days after that... sigh... At least I didn't get too wet this morning, and by afternoon, the sun actually broke thru for a while.

My first class was a wholecloth painting class from Judy Coates Perez using Setacolor paints. I loved the class and learned quite a bit! The class was in the North Annex building...across the street from the rest of the Quilt Show. They didn't have irons and ironing boards, which were needed, and the tables were not covered with plastic..we had to tromp thru a long arm class to get to the bathroom to get water..They brought a couple of ironing boards while we were waiting for some of the students to show up (we got an email 3 days ago saying the class was in the North Annex..now..if you KNOW where that is, good..but its not shown on the map, and there was no address! I did a Google street view and saw the Convention Center sign but a few of the students had no email..and were totally confused...)

Here is the cartoon that I started with:

We traced the design onto PFD muslin...then cut out masks for the lighter parts..ironed those on and made up a batch of background paint..mine I didn't get quite light enough..it should have been much lighter blue. And..I got lots of 'bleed under', which I had to fix by painting opaque white over the edges where it bled.

We learned how Judy makes the steps the paint so she gets really smooth shading...I need more practice as mine don't have quite the 'pop' that Judy's have.

Here is what my painted cloth looked like by lunch:

Here is Judy doing a 'glazing' lesson on a magnolia - notice the 'pop' on her leaves and..her background is way lighter!

Here is what my painted cloth looked like at the end of the day...it is VERY NEARLY DONE!! Which, for a class is QUITE AMAZING! (but then, since is was still a bit drippy, I stayed in the room and worked on the painting instead of getting wet and fighting the crowds in the vendor mall.) I will probably add some shiny gold accents before I quilt it..don't have to, but want to!

After I scrubbed out my paint dishes and stashed my supplies in my car, I headed over to the vendor mall...amazingly, I actually made it around both rooms. The crowds had thinned quite dramatically, and it no longer was dripping... I bought a few things:

I think the ruler gizmo is really the 'cat's meow' - it has grippy things that when you press on the handle, stick thru holes in the center of the ruler and man, o man..it GRIPS the fabric and holds it soooo tight! And you don't have to press very hard at all...and..I may actually use this thimble..its like a jelly one, but has a hard silver tip..feels very comfortable.

Tomorrow...3D sculpture...hopefully in the main building!!

Christmas 2012

These are some of gifts I made this year.

First, the 'rag' dollies I made for my DGD and DGNieces...my DH wanted to keep them! We both like the red-headed dolly best..I named them The Butterfly Girls since all of them were made with butterfly fabric! I saw the original dolly on Pinterest..they are made by just rough cutting fabric - no measuring! - and sewing it together..the hair on the one on Pinterest was loops of fabric but I wanted a bit more traditional look so...they got yarn wigs!

Next, the Grey Flannel Horsie for my DGNephew...

Then, Button Tree ornaments - I had a BLAST making these...again, saw the idea on Pinterest and had a jar of green buttons that were just begging to be made into these...

 And last but not least, a fabric covered picture frame that I saw the idea for on, you guessed it, Pinterest!! 

 All of these projects were made with stuff already in my sewing room (with the exception of having to buy more stuffing for the last dolly and the horse!)

Twenty-Thirteen

Happy New Year!

I was hoping to be a more faithful blogger this year..not starting off too well, eh, since its the 6th already!

This is a rainbow that was out our back window this afternoon. Its a rainy day, but the sun peaked thru a bit and this was the result!

Getting ready for the annual Road To CA quilt show in a few weeks. I am taking two classes - one is a fabric painting class with Judy Coates Perez, the other is making a stuffed diorama with Susan Else.

Susan Else was a featured artist at last Road and I am thrilled to be in her class..actually, thrilled to be in both classes!