Doing the Happy Dance!

I love when something I have wanted to do for a long time finally becomes more than an item on my "try this" list!  This item never really got written on the list, but it's something that has been popping up a lot lately, so I started by doing a lot of looking for ideas on pinterest... my fave "go to" for inspiration and ideas.  My search was for examples of Boho bags, a perfect project for using some of my fabric stash.  I found a lot of great examples, but no real tutorials.  However, I have made small bags before, based on a pattern I got years ago for a crazy quilt bag.  And I figured I would just do some fabric collage for the outside.  I have a bunch of good sized scraps of cotton twill fabric left over from a project I worked on with my friend Joyce a number of years ago.  I had dyed some to make tote bags, but all the pieces left were too small for totes.  But it's a great background for the Boho bags... sturdy, easy to sew on, so I started out by laying a bunch of scraps out on a piece I cut larger than I would need for the bag:

I've done fabric collage before, so once I laid out the fabric, I used quilt basting pins to anchor it, then stitched with a grid stitch using black thread.  Here's how it came out:

Deciding how to do the closure took some time and more research, but I found a way to use a wood bead I've had forever.  I had black braid which works well for the strap and purple fabric for the lining.  Things to do for future bags: add pockets inside and on the back.  Find other ways to close the bag... the bead is a little clunky, but I figured it would do for my first try.  I love using all my bright fabric scraps this way!

Before I tackled this, I made a couple of new bowls: this one has a little more ornate finish than I usually use, but I've seen samples of this technique and wanted to try it:

I had the lid for this bowl made for awhile, with another bowl, but decided to replace the lid

with another one that had a slightly different knob on top.  So to get this lid off my side table, I made

another bowl... nice to get these made and ready to go into Arts Connection, soon as I have more room on my new display!

I still have a "to try" on my list for sometime soon... will post here when I have had time to play with it, so stay tuned!

Happy, Happy New Year!

The holidays are past, the New Year is here!  Happy New Year to you all!

First off, I have to tell you:  Sales at Arts Connection broke records!  We have been at Flagstaff Mall for over 5 years now, and this December our sales surged to new highs!  I have to say thank you to all who supported our local artists... we are thrilled beyond words!

So to thank our supporters, we have a Red Dot sale going on this month... many of our artists have reduced prices on items, using red dots to show the sale price.  I was in yesterday to mark down a number of items in my inventory, and hope to sell all the items with red dots on their tags!
So what's next?  New year, new projects.  I have started off by making a few Valentines Day notecards:

   

I am working now on some Spring/Easter cards... only one done so far, so you'll have to be patient while I finish a few more!

As always, my goal is to try and use some of my fabric stash which is still (in my opinion) huge!  The fabrics used on the Easter card, other than the white, have been in my stash for years... especially the yellow, which is left over from a crib set I made for a friend's newborn son in 1985!  Do you get my drift?  I never throw anything out if I think there's a chance I can use it! 

On my list of things to try is silk scarves using dye-na-flow and silk salt to create wonderful, organic designs.  If you're not familiar with the process or results, here's a picture I got off pinterest to give you an idea of the look I'm hoping to achieve:

I hope to be ready to start playing with this technique soon!  I have the dye-na-flow and some silk scarves and the silk salt.  Need to be sure my project board will work, otherwise I'm going to have to devise a stretcher setup that will fit on my work table.  

So that's it in a nutshell, for now... winter is here, so I'm spending more time inside, but look forward to when temps get at least a LITTLE warmer so I can resume walks with a friend.

Hope you all had enjoyable holidays, and let's make 2020 the best year yet!