Paper Pie

Liz & Kalli #8 Sprinkle

This week's word is sprinkle, Liz's is on top and Kalli's is on the bottom. I am so overwhelmed with how different these are this week. I had many other ideas besides putting sprinkles on a cupcake, but I never thought about a sprinkle of herbs and spices. For mine I wanted to try a technique called paper piecing that Kalli and her mom, Cathie, had told me about. It's my very first attempt at quilting! I thought it would be cute to embroider the sprinkles on the cupcake. Kalli used cinnamon, lemon peppercorn, dill seed, red pepper, turmeric and green tea to create this sprinkle-y daisy and now her kitchen is a melange of scents. I love those earthy rich tones and all of the interesting texture. 

Cheerful Bag

Hi, look at this cheerful little bag that I made last night. I started with a blank canvas tote and used fabric markers to create this lollipop sunburst design. I experimented with many types of markers before I decided upon these by Fabricmate. They are really saturated and allow for good coverage. I added the pocket for things you need to get to right away like a cell phone, keys or a pen. I zigzagged it in super good so it is not going anywhere. Here's a view of the inside. It's lined with a sweet floral calico for color and durability. What's WonderFluff you ask? Oh, that's what I'm going to name my new Etsy shop with all of my soft stuff. Well, that's it for now, be sure to check back later tonight for Tuesdays with Liz and Kalli.

Sunny Day

It is such a beautiful day today. It feels like spring has finally arrived. Not that the weather in Southern California is ever anything but mild, but it has been rather gloomy and windy lately. It's the best when a day as lovely as this is also a Saturday.

On a different note, yesterday I worked on the 2 little t-shirts above. I'm quite pleased with them and I think they may be 2 of my favorite yet. I love the applique on the yellow one and the pear on the green one is as sweet as can be. I am thinking of opening another Etsy store to sell just my sewing projects. I'll keep you posted. Also, I was over at Melissa's blog today and she is giving away a copy of Susan Beal's book. All you have to do is leave a comment on her post, here's a link, and she is going to pick a winner on Monday night at 8 pm PST. Button It Up looks like a great book, so I am definitely going to comment. I have a rather huge stash of vintage buttons just waiting to be project-ed. 

Liz & Kalli #7 Darling

 

It's time for Tuesdays with Liz & Kalli. This week's word is darling. Liz's piece is on top and Kalli's is on the bottom. A while ago I went to this great place called the Long Beach Depot for Creative Reuse. They sell lots of fun materials that have had a previous life elsewhere. I found this super sappy cat stationery that I knew would come in handy some day. I used it to cut out a most darling dress for this cute little mod girl. I quite literally was going for a very darling image, plus, I wanted to practice drawing a little girl. Drawing people intimidates me. Kalli's is very darling indeed, I like that she typed the word on paper first and then stitched. Kalli says that when she was thinking about the word darling she thought about terms of endearment being like little gifts you bestow on someone. This thinking inspired her to put the term in physical form like a tribute or sampler you'd hang on the wall or present as a gift. The funny thing is that my first idea was to hand letter the word in a really darling way, and then I changed my mind. It's weird how our brains start to work the same way.  

Movie Night

Ryan has been working like a dog for pretty much the last month, and in the last week I have hardly seen him at all. He crawls into bed somewhere around 2 am and says hi, and I kiss him goodbye when I leave in the morning for work. So when he actually made it home at 5 pm yesterday, we decided that we needed to go on a date. Since we have been missing our weekly Saturday matinees, we thought we'd go see a movie. After dinner at Don Antonio's, we went to see Duplicity. I'll admit that the main motivator for me was easy-on-the-eyes Clive Owen, but it is a pretty good film as well. It starts with one of the funniest opening sequences that I have ever seen and it has a nice understated sense of humor all throughout. Clive Owen and Julia Roberts have a believable chemistry. I can't even tell you the last time that I watched Julia Roberts in a movie. It may be The Mexican or Ocean's Eleven, which this movie reminded me a lot of. It's the same sort of stylish, spy movie with a humorous bend. Very entertaining indeed. An unexpected plus was Paul Giamatti in an entirely different role as corporate CEO, he was great as always. I love his Miles in Sideways which is one of my favorite films of all time. All in all, Duplicity will not change your life with it's profoundness, but it is a fun way to spend a couple of hours. 

High School Geometry Lesson

When I was in high school, the one math class that I actually did good in was geometry. Maybe it was my undeniable love of shapes, or perhaps it was because circles and squares are somehow tangible to me. Start talking sine and cosine and I get all, what? who me? Anyways, enough math talk, lets just enjoy the angles, edges and slightly more masculine color palette here. This one is available in the shop as you read this.

Last night while I was painting and reminiscing math class, I was also watching Summer Heights High. Kalli brought the DVD over last weekend and I love it so much I was watching some of the episodes with Ryan for a second time. That show is awesome, it's such a pity that they didn't pick it up for a second season. I love it because it is not a laugh out loud, raucously funny show. it's subtle and once you catch on to the sarcasm and characters it really is hilarious. Jonah is my favorite and I find myself trying to quote him all the time, annoyingly I might add.

I have been spending a lot of time on Etsy these days and I found the most amazing handbag here. It is so pretty and perfect for spring. Really, if you haven't clicked the link please do, it is a looker. I've lately been wearing vintage, collared shirts underneath lightweight cardigans. It's a good look for me, and as I've amassed lots of cardigans in different colors, I could use a few more seventies style button-ups. This one fits the bill perfectly. Don't you think it would be smashing underneath a turquoise cardi? I do. Yes, smashing.

Fabric Fun

Remember a while back when I was telling you about my faux headboard project? Well, I ordered a sample from Spoonflower and the result was to my liking. What an amazing service. Below is a side by side comparison of my file and the actual fabric sample from Spoonflower. Color is not completely accurate since scanning the sample causes the colors to shift, and I'm sure that the color shifts again when uploaded to the blog, but it's close. Surprisingly, the sample came back more saturated than the original, if anything I thought the color would be more dull. So here it is, scanned sample from Spoonflower on the left and my original file on the right.

When creating the four fabrics for the headboard, I desaturated the color a slight bit to compensate for the discrepancy I found in the sample. The red on the left is a bit more tomato-y than I was going for, and the turquoise was going more blue than green. Color correction is such an art, let me tell you. Check out my designs, each swatch represents the print over the entire yard of fabric:

Mod Flowers

 

Mod Buds

Mod Trees

Mod Leaves

I am very happy with these. They are all different but totally work well together. I've ordered a yard of each so that I will have plenty left over to play with after the headboard project. So now, I wait.

The Grids

Grids have been showing up around here a lot lately. First, this painting that I did last night features quite a few of them. This is another one in the series I'm calling, Not Quite Symmetrical, it's still a working title. I am enjoying this color palette quite a bit, especially since I avoided the ubiquitous blue green I frequently gravitate towards. Wouldn't it be fun to knit this design into an afghan?

Oh yes, please look to the right and check out the grid of prints I have for sale in my newly opened Etsy shop. There are more in the shop so please visit. I just got the shop set up this weekend and I was lucky enough to have one of my prints on the front page, so that has been very cool.

Recently, Ryan and I have been walking the grid in the early mornings. We get up before the sun and head out for a long walk through our neighborhood. We've been trying to work in some sort of exercise, since we both have a strong dislike of the gym. It's tough getting up so early but with our work schedules it makes the most sense to do it in the morning. It's a nice way to start the day and it helps to get the blood flowing.

Here is a painting that I did this evening, again, featuring a grid. I like the boxy, three dimensional quality here and the slightly more monochromatic color palette. It feels very seventies to me and would actual look good in our living room. Maybe I'll have to frame this one and put it up.

Ok, if I am to have any shot at waking up for our morning walk, I better get too bed. It is late! 

Liz & Kalli #6 Roundabout

This week's word is roundabout, Liz's design is on top and Kalli's is on bottom. I loved this word by the way, I think it's because I love circles. I gathered a bunch of round items and arranged them about the scanner to make a digital collage of sorts. I pushed the saturation a bit because I usually feel like the more saturated the better. Kalli did a cut paper number with tissue paper in a pattern of orbiting circles. I love the color and the textured effect that the tissue paper lends. All in all, I think our minds were in similar places this week.

Round Stripes

I did this painting the other night while watching Brideshead Revisited. I like the optical illusion quality of it. I can't decipher if it is flat or cylindrical. The stripes elongate the whole piece but the small squares on the inside are making the shapes sort of round. That's a different color palette for me too and I find it quite agreeable. Brideshead was a bit of a yawner but I did enjoy the score. Kalli sent me a CD of piano music a few weeks back and some of the music from the movie was included. So it does have that going for it, which is nice.