More Watercolor Experiments

I started another watercolor that looks like collage, but am not sure I like it's direction (although now that I'm writing this post, looking at it in a smaller form, it's not so bad, and I'll have to go back and finish it).

So, I set it aside and began another, this time working in multi-color, and was much happier!

(This one may end up getting a bit more shading when I get back to it.)

Watercolor Excercise

I've been playing with my watercolors again.  This time I'm working from a lesson in Watercolor Magazine, working in an improvisational way to make a watercolor painting that looks like it might have been a collage.  It's all free-form, adding shapes as I went and shading to create depth.  I used a screen shaped window, saved from bags of fall bulbs to stencil the grids of squares and rubber stamps to create the complex designs.

Gathering Basket Class

My friend Cathy is teaching her Gardening Basket and my friend Ellen and I will be her helpers. This beautiful basket is suitable for beginners, so come take a look at the basket at Gathering Fabric quilt shop and sign up for the class and make one!  (Class info. below.)

Here it is with my quilts in the background:

And another shot of the basket, showing the interior:

Here's the class information that was sent out:


(Links added for your convenience.)


A basket weaving class is scheduled for Friday, February 24th at the Grange in Woodinville from 9:30 am - 4:00 pm. If you have always wanted to learn how to weave, this is a great beginners basket to start with, called a Gathering Basket. You will go home with a completed basket. For more information and to see the basket go to Gathering Fabric. Susan is taking sign-ups at this time. The cost is $40.00 which pays for the Grange rental and supplies. You'll be able to use this basket to tote your projects, gather flowers, or use for crafting. We will have a potluck lunch so we ask everyone to bring a dish to share. You might want to bring an apron or wear old clothes.

Green Beaded Bangle

Even though I started with more planning for this bracelet, I wasn't very happy with it until it was nearly finished.  Once I decided to add the flowers, it finally came together. 

Here's my green beaded bangle:

top of bracelet

 

side A

side B

Blue Beaded Bangle

This bracelet (and another) have been UFOs for too long, but now this one is finished, and soon the other! 

It all started with an online class at Joggles, where we were taught the necessary skills, and then we needed to design our own cuff, and although I started with a plan, I let it evolve as I went.  Being worried it might not come out, I decided to make two, just in case one didn't turn out, I would be able to toss it and finish the other using lessons learned on the first (back-up plan / escape hatch...).  Having two in progress was great for a while, but then they had to be set aside while I worked on other things, and I kept moving them every time they were in the way.  Well, I finally decided I'd better get them finished so I could the beads away, and here's the blue one:

top of bracelet

side A

side B

In Season Socks - Finished!

Yep, they're finished!!!

In Season Socks in Progress

In 2009, I took part in the Rockin' Sock Club at Blue Moon Fiber Arts.  At the time I joined the group, I was hoping I'd be able to keep up with the group, beginning the first sock as soon as the kit arrived, and then getting behind the first month (yes, it's still a UFO, but now it's back in the "active" pile),  Now I have kits that I can grab when I would like to start a new pair, which came in handy a couple weeks ago.  I had taken the red socks with me to work on, but the car got stranded because of ice and we only dared to carry our necessary items and groceries from the car.  The nice thing about that, was that it made me grab a bag and start these socks:

I'm not that fast a knitter, but these are a relatively quick knit for me, as the first sock was finished in a little over a week!  Now I don't want to go back to the red socks until they're finished, so I try to work on them at least a little every day.