Burning Bush, Bittersweet, boxwood fabric dying,

here is the dye

here are the cooked

BERRIES

here are the berries

COOKING

here is the fabric

DYING

Dying, drying, weaving, Spirit Cloth

I watched more of Jude's videos tonight, reviewing simple stitches to begin small petite pieces of hand stitching.  She taught a way to weave fabric strips together to make pillows.

So my idea was to use the berries in my yard to see which ones could be boiled with water, and what would the color become from water to fabric.

The burning bush produced  a peach color.  Then I took a scrap strip snd rubbed it in the cooked berries, mashing them into the fibers.  A beautiful pumpkin like orange came about.

Wanting to enjoy the weather, I went outside and rolled in the leaves, and pounded leaves into a piece of fabric.  Yellow leaves and brown leaves had no color.  Green leaves produced green, burgundy leaves and red leaves produced a bluish purple.

I will find other fabrics to make strips into and begin to weave.  I may even do some stitching on the strips first.

Dying Fabric, berries and Burning Bush, thoughts from Jude of Spirit Cloth

Have you ever wondered why there are so many berries that are just not edible?
Me too.
Today, as I was walking down my driveway to mailbox (post box), I noticed my burning bush having berries.

To make a long story short, Spirit Cloth, founder, artist, Jude, has free classes.  I have always wanted to take her classes.  She is a blessing.  So last night and today inspired me to see if I could dye some fabric like muslin.

  Not sure if

You can try bittersweet, or boxwood?  Even if there are just subtle colors.

You should be able to see some form of differences in shades.

look

at the color of mullein, it's soft fuzzy green leaves and the leaves

of the burning bush.

It is now cloudy out, and the temp has dropped a but from being in the seventies

in New England in November

Prim Magazine snd Making Primitives

I love Somerset magazines;especially Prims.
Now let me tell you, I go from decorating shabby chic, to folk, to scandinavian to French Parisienne/country to industrial chic
I sat one day making charts of each:

Shabby Chic:
White
Cream
Rusty
Pink
Mint green
Ruffles
Old bedspreads
Chippy paint
Metal
Wood
Garden fixtures brought indoors

Folk Art:
Black
Burgundy/red
Rusty
Bells, pins
Cabinets
Chicken coop wire
Dolls
Muslin
Wool
Pumpkins
Dough bowls
Candles
Tin, metal
Sconces,
Stencils


Scandinavian:
White
Red
Plants
Plain lined furniture
Odd little nic nacs
Light curtains
White floors
Grey
Linen, cotton, wool fabrics
Tin, metal
Cheese boxes

French Parisienne/country:
White, cream, yellow/-gold, blues
Statues, busts and heads ofcwomrn, children, angels
Worn out tapestry furniture
Leather furniture
Plants
Stenciled furniture
Baskets, hats
Fireplaces
Outdoor garden ideas

So what am I?

Some people say ecclectic.  Some say bohemian.  Oh yes, I love those too.

Cant afford to keep changing.

So, because it is fall, the folk art comes in.  I have collected pine cones and acorns.
I have been drying hydrangea and herbs, rosehips and artemesia.
I have a couple antique Martha Washington bedspreads.  Washed them good and am cutting  them up to make pumpkins for decorating, giving as gifts and selling in the vintage shop I have space in.  Dont worry, these are older spreads an don't look pretty as spreads anymore.  They are being put to better use.

I love looking at what other artists come up with... inspiring.  Then I draw my own patterns.

I recently had carpal tunnel surgery and trying to handsew.
The question now is to grunge or not to grunge...

Apple harvesting, canning apples

Wow, my apple trees dropped so many apples and that is good because we have never gotten time to prune, so the trees are huge; so tall that you could never climb.
I have made sauce, sold a bag, and now apple butter in the crock pot.
I have an inexpensive dehydrator, so I am going to try to dry them. 

I agree, they aren't beautiful, but they are saving me a lot of money and so convenient to go right into my yard and pick.

Baking Blueberry Muffins

 Baking Blueberry Muffins is my way of using up my store bought blueberries.  I always plan to use them in my cereal in the morn, or in pancakes and I forget, and they spoil so today, a cool autumn day in New England.

The recipe called for milk, which I only had skim and half and half in the fridge, so I mixed them, and as you can see, it had no affect at all in changing the way they rose.

I used to make the Jordan Marsh blueberry muffin recipe, but this time, there are so many recipes online I decided to try something different.  This recipe has the crumb topping which I didn't use all because it seemed like they had enough on top before putting into the oven.  I wish I had used it all now because I saw areas where the crumbs are not.  Still good though!

Garland, Penants, decorated banners

I have a passion for garlands, penants and banners.  I think it is the petite Ness of each part of it.  I love the triangles, the little flags,  pieces of fabrics torn and tied  dangling from ribbon.  I did a swap and really wanted to change things up for the gal that was receiving mine.  I think I liked how it turned out.  I made layers of flowers  and topped the petals off with a paper butterfly.

Juliette Crane's Owl Class

Can you believe this first page turned into the owl.  Yes, it is fascinating isn't it?  Layered papers, acrylics, a little of this anda little of that, voila.  Loved this process, even though I still had to learn, and get out of my typical comfort zone of trying to understand.  I bought her class, never was ableft to do it.  After a year, you lose the class online and you you can't download them.  So thanks to Tam from Lifebook, Juliette had her class on one of the weeks.

 I did add stickers and words that would work well with the colors, made copies at Kinkos, and was able to share with a couple of girl babies to decorate their bedrooms.

Jenniebellie's Banner and Penant swap

Well, with having a road rage incident against myself and my husband this weekend, and having two computers from two different stores and two different brands, and both being piracy isdues, I got done my swap banner/penant.  Still not sure what makes them different and another name is garland.  I think I like garland better;  it sounds so much more decorative, holidayish, fancy, pretty...

I wanted to do something different.  I have been working in a book called "Creative Call"  This book has you ponder the roadblocks in
your life to why you may not be doing art work or your craft; what the stumbling blocks may be, perhaps a negative word came at you in your life to stop you from creating.  I have been taking classes, learning techniques, and just wanting to get out of the copy zone, repeating what I see, but wanting to do my own creation.  Striving for this has become my hobby.  Seeing others come up with their own ideas has somewhat become my envy, which has not been good.  So, when a thought comes in my head, I have been trying to seek where it is taking me.  So this garland kept crying out to me to do something floral.  My partner lives in Australia.  When my son saw my garland, he told me that Australia is turning fall, autumn weather, and we are just starting spring in New England.  So I thought it would bring my partner back a couple of seasons.  She told me she loves turquoise, so that was my addition to the garland.
We only had to make five attachments.  So I hand water colored my papers, punched out all of the petals and hand glued them to a backing, a paper butterfly was added, and vintage yellow pearls with a beautiful delicate ribbon.  I displayed  it all around my house so as to see if it was long enough and if it hung evenly.  I may make one for my grand-daughter.  She just turned one, so I have time.  It is a bit time consuming, but really pretty.

Carla Sonheim Practice

A few blobs of cheap water color, and gesso circles and stars...

some pencil smudges and shadow, a bit more gesso where needed

Sepia gold colored watercolor around the whole painting,

and more pencil around the edge of the paper

Mixed media collage and my grandson

I have been making videos for my grandson in Germany.  I won't see him for a long time, and I want to grow with him.  He loves art right now, so I am making videos for him.  What was so cool about this was that I didn't over think like I always do.

I used the end of celery, the marker cover and the cardboard from coffee shops.  I used American craft acrylic pain, Crayola crayons, a chalk marker, pencil,  markers, scrap papers, and stickers.  I tried to use what he may have access to in Germany.

I had fun and hopefully he will too!

Mixed Media Collage

I am so greatful to have copies of these collages.  If you ever have artwork placed in a shop of any kind, even a cigar shop like I had mine, have a document written up that your work is there on their premise, because I now can't get a hold of the manager, and am not sure my work is still in her shop.  So I am greatful I can make a copy for my portfolio in case she ditched them.

Fountain Pen and Ink

If you can, pick up this Journal of Antiques and Collectibles at an antique shop.  Great article about the anatomy and history along with other photos of fountain pens from the early 1920's. There is also an article about Norman Rockwell.  It is fun finding out about art history and artifacts from different resources than a history book.

Book Journal with Girly Cutie Faces and Mixed Media

 Love making a journal by buying a second hand book from Sally's  and gluing pages together with Ranger glue.  This particular journal is square which is so different, so many journals are rectangular, so I like the square.  Now, my steps are gesso in as I go.  Alot of people like gesso in the whole journal at one time, and then adding paints and inks before they begin to do special collages.  I actually like to wait, because my mood changes, and depending what is on my mind, I don't want to have the page prepared for possibly something else.  I do gesso most of the time, but I like to keep a change my possibility.

I have been finding some fun stickers, so this two page spread is somewhat based on the idea of the tea party, and different alphabet stickers.

The girl on the right was a head from a vintage children's book, but the little gal was blonde haired, and had a pouty attitude.  So I changed her up with black hair, freckles, green eyes and a bit more pleased and happy, maybe because she is having a cup of tea and pretty colored cupcakes.