Kitties and Tea

My sons went to Shop Rats excellent STEM oriented summer camp this past summer and while they were there having fun, I took my daughter into Mason, MI to look around.  Mason is a cute little town with all of the things that make me happy to see.  They have a nice coffee shop/book store, a quilt shop called Yards of Fabric, and antiques mall and artists coop and many other cute shops downtown.  Sadly, there had been a fire and so several other shops were closed during repairs.  All in all it was a town I recommend kicking around in.
Anyway, while there, my daughter picked out some kitty cat fabric (Window Tails by SPX fabrics).  It is nice to see we are diverging from PINK these days.  She wanted a dress, so this is what I came up with.  We are living in a hot climate now, so I went sleeveless.  It is easier and I didn't really have enough fabric to add them anyway.  I used one of her woven shirts to model the top of the dress on and then angled down from the waist to give it a slight A line skirt.  I finished the sleeves with bias tape since I did not have enough material to make it from the kitty fabric.  I also added the ruched insert and bow to provide a little variation for the eye.
And now for tea.  It is that time of year for Spoonflower's Tea Towel Calendar competition.  I chose to draw a modern day version of the Greek Goddess Hestia.  She was the goddess of the hearth and kitchen and one of her symbols is the kettle.  Seemed like a great fit for a tea towel.  Please consider voting.
Lastly, the new site, Sprout Patterns is having a sale today through Friday 12pm EDT.  This site prints patterns directly on the Spoonflower fabric of your choice.  The sale is for a $1 lined zippered pouch pattern.  WORLDWIDE shipping $1.  Limit three. 

Small Things: Plants and Microorganisms

Haven't had a lot of time for crafts recently but ATCs are just the kind of art one can do with a small amount of time.  (If you haven't heard about them here is a little info.)  The guideline for this swap was to have a cut-out and an add on item.  I really enjoyed learning more about foraging while in the US this last year so I thought that would be a great theme for this card.  I used a page from my old, worn copy of Peterson's A Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants: Eastern and Central North America that had fallen out for the middle ground.  The trillium is a pen and watercolor pencil drawing displayed in the cutout of the text.  I added more forgeable plants on top in the form trim, drawing and beads.

Forage ATC

I also had some excitement in that I won the ATC giveaway from Bridget.  This was her Additive/Subtractive Book Page card from a 1953 yearbook about Queen Elizabeth II's coronation.  Nicely done!

And on to other small things, this week, on Spoonflower, is a Microorganism design contest.  My younger son was excited about this theme and asked to help design my entry.  He did all of the drawing and I am responsible for the color of this small scale ditsy design.  Please consider voting.

Old School Vibrant Microorganisms

 

Free shipping!

Ready for the holidays? I know, it's not even Halloween yet but for crafters, we have to get an early start if we want to make something in time.  To help you out, Spoonflower is offering FREE shipping WORLDWIDE for 24 hours Monday, October 12th at 9am EDT to Tuesday, October 13th, 2015.  My shop is at your service for patterned fabric, wallpaper and paper.  Here are a few patterns from my African Inspired II collection.


African Weave Hexagon Drop Tropical Large



African Mod Barbells Allover Pinks

 

Peacock Deco Diamonds Large