Arlette's Coin Purse

Coin purse from Arlette's template using my I Spy Pond Life, Freshwater Animals Teal design

Happy New Year!
I hope you had a lovely 2013.  I had a good year and the sewing/crocheting/handwork group that I attend had a lot to do with that. We are group of expatriate women from many countries, African, European and American.  The group is terrific place to share projects, talk about our lives and drink coffee/tea.  I 

The photograph is of the template my friend, Arlette, gave me and she in turn also got it from a friend.  As you can see the purse is  made of two pinched ovals, the larger will be the exterior and the smaller the interior of the purse.  Cut out three of each shape from a flexible cardboard.  Recycled, clean cardboard such as from a cereal box works great.  Next cut out your fabric in the same general shape but leave a generous amount around the seam, especially for the larger ellipse which must have enough material to tuck some below the smaller shape.  You will sew the fabric along the edges and across the inside of the cardboard.  My fabric sewn on cardboard looked like it had a ladder on the side with the extra seam.  Once the fabric covers the cardboard, sew the smaller piece to the larger so that the cardboard is no longer visible.  A ladder stitch or a blanket stitch works well for this.  The last step is to choose which of the three will be the bottom piece and sew the sides onto either side of it.  The top will remain unsewn.  I pinned the corners and sewed it together.  The coin purse stays closed because of the tension the shapes.  Pinch the ends to open.  I used my
Spy Pond Life, Freshwater Animals Teal fabric which can be found in my Spoonflower shop.

Father Christmas

 

In honor of the season, here is a Father Christmas ATC.  I was inspired by Norwegian fishermen.  The ATC is hand drawn in pen and ink.  Happy Holidays!

Heart of Man

My most recent ATCs completed are experimental pieces.  On the left is the ATC I call Urban Heart.  I was thinking of a brick wall starting to decay when I designed this.  I used Pebeo Moon Effects, a highlighter, water soluble markers and pen to create this card.
The card on the left is an updated take on Magritte's The Son of Man.  Maybe Magritte would have painted it like this if only iPads were around.  I chose color pencil to render this card.  Here is an explanation of his surrealist classic.  The original painting is below.

Kitchen Chickens

Around a year ago I started designing fabric seriously, although part time.  My first designs seemed to feature chickens frequently.  I didn't really think about it but when I was explaining to a friend my "chicken fabric" as I jokingly call it, I wondered out loud why so many of my early designs feature the poultry.  It occurs to me; I can blame it on my mom.
My mom loves the decorative aspect of chickens. I admit they can be beautiful animals. Many years our family purchased Hen on a Nest glassware for her on gift occasions.  Travelling for so long and living so far away from my family has made me a little nostalgic, especially since I have my own children now.  So, here's to you mom and here are your new kitchen curtains.
The curtains feature my design Garden_Path_with Rhode Island Red Hot Colors from the Garden Path collection.  Also shown, a swatch on silky faille of Rhode Island Red Roosters Ditsy on Green.