For the Birds!

Now that I am home for the summer, I can safely pack away my lesson plan book for a few months in exchange for a sewing machine and some paintbrushes.  It's time to focus on my artfire shop and begin creating again.
I have been on summer vacation for a few weeks now and am slowly getting into a routine.  The easiest part is not having to set the alarm for 5:10 AM! I certainly have been enjoying a couple of extra hours of sleep.  Once I've showered, eaten breakfast, and tended to my furry "sons", I am ready to tackle a few not so creative, but necessary, tasks like cleaning out drawers, closets, doing laundry and pulling weeds.  I have made a deal with myself, that if I do at least one or two of those chores in the morning, I can create in the afternoon.
I began making a few variations of the topiary centerpieces which I already have in my shop. Some just needed photos taken.  I have several other ideas rattling around in my head.  The best ones sometimes pop into my brain around 3 AM when I always seem to wake up, or just before I get up in the morning.  My husband likes to wave his hand in front of my face as I stare blankly at the wall.  Little does he know what is really going on in my head!
 I have been on a bird kick this year.  Of course, owsl are still my favorite, but I have been using other types of birds for samples of things for school this year.  I bought some felt and looked at some ideas online and got to work making some birds.
Lo and behold, not too far into my feathered productions, someone I know emailed me with a request to create a personalized hand painted rocking chair.  So, I dropped everything and whipped one up.
It's great to have the time to be able to work straight through on a project and get it done in a couple of afternoons!
Now back to my birds.  Today I created this little number and put it up in my shop.  It really evolved slowly, first with the birds.  I looked at them a couple of days and added the feathers, then I stared at the birds with the feathers a few days, then I added a stand.  I painted the stand, added the embellishments and the handmade felt and fabric flowers and voila, a centerpiece for my artfire shop!

Pillows to DYE for!

Although I have been teaching art a long time, I never get tired of it.  In fact, this year, I developed 2 new courses which both reflect my long time interests...fashion drawing and sewing.  The first semester, the girls created fashion designs using Adobe Photoshop and the second semester, they worked exclusively with fibers and fabrics, sewing, dyeing and printing their own fabric.

I am totally in love with the things they have produced and just had to share their latest project.
The sides with the flowers are the fronts and I have shown some of the back sides of the pillows too.






This student used her hand dyed and block printed fabric for the pillow front.
She hand dyed the ruffled corner pieces.



 







 

The girls who took this course didn't know how to thread a need or sew a few short months ago, but now some of them told me that they were able to sew a hem, a button,

 and fix a hole in a sweater.  Our school does not offer home economics, so I, thought this course would not only allow them to be creative, but it would provide them with some practical skills as well .  One girl said she is going to continue to do some dyeing over the summer.  Maybe a few more of them will continue to sew.  Some of the students definitely stepped out of their comfort zone in this class, but they are more confident student designers and seamstresses.

Beautifully brilliant tie-dyed pillow front!

 

This student used her batik fabric for the back of the pillow and
made another piece of batiked fabric to match the front.  She added a hand dyed
yellow flower for the front of the pillow.

I love the look of the flower this student created from her tie-dyed fabric

Paper Fashions

One of the new courses I offered this  past school year was a fashion design class using Adobe Photo Shop.  In addition to designs created on the computer, we also did a few hands on projects to break the course up a little bit.
I saw something that inspired me and thought, with some modification, it would be a project the students would enjoy with good results.
My first dilemma was whether or not to have the students create the mannequin.  I toyed with the idea of having the girls create it themselves by sewing it, but I knew given their lack of sewing ability, that wouldn't be possible.

 

Cut newspapers

 

 Then I thought we could use dish washing detergent bottles, but I finally decided on paper mache dress forms I saw at Michael's.



Tissue Paper and Printed Tissue Paper Covered Playing Cards

 So I just put it on the student supply list.  My next thought was how I would raise up the mannequin torso. I wanted to keep costs down for the students, so I picked up various styles of candlesticks at the local thrift store. My choice of materials for the dress design would be papers of different types. For my sample design, I used tissue paper and Mod Podge.

When I introduced the project to the girls, I told them they first had to design their dress on Photo Shop. We talked about different types of paper and how paper could be manipulated. I told them to bring in any types of paper they wanted.

Tissue Paper and Decorative Scrapbook Paper



Painted Newspaper and Magazines



Painted and Woven Construction Paper



Tissue Paper



Tissue Paper and Fringed Construction Paper



Napkins and Tissue Paper



Tissue Paper and Decorative Scrapbook Paper



Tissue Paper and Decorative Papers



Cardstock and Tissue Paper

The results were much better than I had expected!  I was very happy with the girls' designs, the way they used the different types of paper, and their artistry. 

Spring has Sprung!

I haven't written in awhile, not for lack of creative projects, but sometimes life just gets in the way.
Now, on my last days of spring vacation from school, I decided to sit down and write before heading back to the busy months ahead.
I totally enjoyed my week off, not only because I didn't have to wake up at 5:10 AM, but because I had to opportunity to get back in touch with my creative self.  Not that being an art teacher doesn't keep me creative every day, but this was my time, time to do my projects, although I did do a little project development for my classes.
Naturally, I needed to do some of that hum-drum laundry, house cleaning and tossing out of expired canned goods from my pantry, but I did accomplish many creative tasks as well.
I painted 2 stools for a former colleague and friend of mine who has joined the ranks of the retired, and is happy as a clam.  She gave me a few suggestions as to what to paint on the stools which she is giving to the grandchildren of a friend of hers.  I took over from there and painted lots of little boy things around my signature teddy bears on each stool.

Handpainted Stools

My next venture was painting a child's rocking chair for the grandchild of a friend of mine whose daughter, Nicole, is a very close friend of my daughter's.  The rocking chair belonged to Nicole's uncle when he was a child. Nicole's mom asked me to paint it and do "something beachy" in honor of the family summer house at the Jersey shore which, although  taking a huge hit during "super storm" Sandy, is being rennovated.

Child's Rocking Chair in Progress

So after several sketches, I settled on an underwater theme and was inspired by the book, The Rainbow Fish. The photo is a work in progress.
I also got to work on some projects for one of my classes at school. The class deals with fibers and fabrics. The girls expressed an interest in creating a quilt, however, due to materials costs, space and time restrictions, I have decided to have them create a small wall hanging combining simple applique and patchwork. 
The birds who nest under my classroom airconditioner haved returned, and are chirping noisily, reminding me that spring has sprung.  Maybe they were asking to be my inspiration for this wall hanging project I am planning for my students.  So with birds as my inspiration, I created a simple patchwork border around a larger center square with an appliqued bird in the center.  One art student has an aunt who is a quilter and she donates scraps of fabric to us from time to time. I used some of those scraps for the border, and muslin for the center.  After appliqueing the bird, I decided there was too much space, so I added the text.


Appliqued Bird Wall Hanging

Then I tried another simpler patchwork, once again including a little bird, which I think might be easier for the students' skill level.
The students have dyed and printed their own fabric, made a sewn paper collage, and a fashion design out of yarn.  They are currently finishing up a placemat tote bag to which they were required to add their own elements.  Some of them are using freezer paper stencils, some are adding embroidery, some are making fabric flowers and some are block printing.  They certainly are a creative bunch, and although we get a little messy at times, the students are always immersed in their work (literally and figuratively!).
Hopefully, the creative inspiration of spring will continue, with a little nudge from my chirping friends outside my classroom window.

90 Years Young!

Happy 90th Birthday to my amazing mom!  It's not many people who can celebrate this milestone with both a healthy mind and body, but thankfully, my mom is one of the lucky ones. My siblings and I, and her grandchildren and great grandchildren, are especially lucky to be able to share this special birthday with her.
In honor of her birthday, we put together a surprise party at a local restaurant.  My family left the decorating up to me, so here's what I came up with....
I made some hand made flower topiaries in hand painted terra cotta pots. I used raised letters to spell out various phrases about turning 90.  I bought some small frames, painted them lilac and placed some family photos with Mom in each one for the tables. By the way, the colors I used were lilac, cream, sage green, and white.

Lilac chocolate covered pretzels with white sprinkels in cellophane bags were the favors.  The tables were scattered with violet foil wrapped dark chocolate kisses.
While everyone waited for dinner, the hungry crowd answered some trivia questions about Mom that I made up, one for the grandchildren to answer and an easier version for the great grandchildren to answer with a little help.

Along with the party,our gift to Mom was a photo book I compiled from photos sent to me by the family.  I also wrote a poem which I included on the last 2 pages of the book.

I made a half sheet cake, which I had also created for my daughter's bridal shower 3 years ago, and decorated it.
Mom was totally surprised and immediately started to cry when she walked in to the room and saw her entire family singing "Happy Birthday" when she entered. 
She was so grateful for her wonderful party and all the time and effort my siblings and I put into this memorable evening.  We were very happy to do it and even happier that she was able to reach this milestone!

Looking forward to her 100th!

Quilted Connection

About a month ago, a friend of mine called me with a request.  She saw the t-shirt quilt I had made for my daughter, and when her cousin mentioned at a family get-together that she was looking for someone who made t-shirt quilts, Paula immediately thought of me. 


T-Shirt quilt I made for my daughter

But the t-shirt quilt that Paula's cousin Millie was asking me to make, was no ordinary t-shirt quilt.  You see, her teenage daughter passed away a year ago and these t-shirts were so sacred to her mother that she only wanted them hand delivered to the person making the quilt.  After several emails and a phone call, I had a basic idea of what Millie wanted the quilt to look like, although she very sweetly agreed to whatever I thought would look best.  Her only request was that I use the front and back of one very special shirt to put in the center.
Paula dropped off a rather large bag of t-shirts about a month and a half ago with some notes attached.  I was amazed at the care and thoughtful rubber banding of what part of each shirt Millie wanted included in the quilt.  The sides of the shirts were carefully creased, as if she ironed each one before placing it in the bag. I envisioned what it must have been like this past year for Millie, and thought about how hard it must have been for her even to gather up all these shirts, placing them in a bag and knowing they would never be worn by her precious daughter again.  But at least she would have the remembrance forever stitched up in the quilt I was about to make.
I put the bag aside for a few days, bought the batting and other materials I would need, but I knew how hard this was going to be.  These shirts were sacred for this mom.  She was entrusting me, a person she never met, but only knew through her cousin, with these last memories.  There were no other shirts, there was no making a cutting error.  This had to be perfect.  That was a big responsibility for me.  But one day, I mustered up the courage, and  I brought down the bag, laid out the batting and started arranging the shirts trying to go with the basic way Millie had folded them, but knowing she was giving me carte blanche with the design, except for the special shirt.


Millie's quilt laid out before adding solid blocks around edges

As I separated the shirts, and found the most important one with a note safety pinned to the front saying"most special shirt, put in middle", I wondered why this shirt was so special.  Was it the saying on the back, or maybe it was one her daughter wore alot. Whatever the reason, I knew this first cut on this first shirt needed to be accurate and would ease my anxiety about making cuts into the other shirts.  Well, I got through the first shirt and the rest became a little easier, but since I had it in the only space large enough to work, my living room, as I passed it I would move the shirts around, play with color placement and sizes of blocks, until I finally had them arranged the way I wanted them.  Since I had extra space around the sides, I asked Millie if she preferred a border of solid blocks or  if she wanted me to cut off the extra batting and leave just the shirt images.  I sent her a picture of the quilt laid out on the floor for her input.  She emailed me back, saying how much seeing it this far moved her and she was extremely pleased.  I was happy that she was happy.  That is what I needed to hear.

Finished quilt with solid block border

This has been an interesting and emotional journey for me.  It was more than cutting and arranging fabic blocks.   It was like putting the pieces of a puzzle together.  I got a sense of who this girl was, where she was from, where she went to school, what kind of student she was, where she worked during the summer, what kind of music she liked, what activities she was involved in and where she went on vacation.  I thought of my own daughter.  I thought of Millie and how she  must have felt and still feels every day.  My heart goes out to her and I hope that through this quilt, I have stitched together a lifetime of memories for Millie.  I feel like I have walked a few hours of her journey with her.  I was truly touched by creating this quilt and feel like this connection I made with Millie will never be forgotten.



Finished quilt

Owl Mania

One of my favorite subject matters lately is owls.  A popular image in lots of arts and crafts these days, owls have been popping up in all sorts of places.  Two years ago I made the cutest owls with styrofoam balls and felt with my Sewing Club students.  This year, we made stuffed felt owls. 

                                    

           

I have been painting owls on embroidery hoops, stools, and now I'm into making cute little stuffed owls. 

I found a tutorial for these owls on Pinterest.   I absolutely love them and the best part is that they're so easy to make.  I think in one afternoon, I made 7 of them!

I started by making the original pattern larger, made my own eye patterns, matched up some fabric pieces, stitched everything together and suddenly there were lots of sweet  little owls perched in front of me!  I'm going to continue to try different sizes, eyes, and color combinations, maybe even adding a few handpainted details.  The possibilities are endless!