Wednesday, December 20, 2006

The last of the handmade gifts. I can't BELIEVE I forgot to take a photo when it was framed. Chalk it up to the last minute rush. I made this small fabric landscape for my therapist, a wonderful doctor who has seen me through some very rough spots in life and to whom I will be eternally grateful!
I added some silk roving over the mountains to give a misty appearance-- pale blue and golden yellow, just before I added nonglare glass and a rustic handmade frame. I wanted to do a KY scene but my fingers kept pulling out those southwestern colors! Fortunately, she told me she has a couple of southwestern pieces in her home.

This is the reverse of Netta's fabric postcard purse insert -- made especially to celebrate her taking in the very gorgeous Morris -- her neighborhood's red tabby -- he's much prettier than the one in this faric -- maybe Netta will paint him -- er, will paint a likeness of him!
One of the fabric postcards for dear sweet Netta's little black Walmart purse! We both love Laurel Burch colors and especially the cats!
And one more fiber necklace for one more dear friend! Pink and blue and silver cat charms for Netta who is currently trying to "adopt" a neighborhood cat who she has named Morris and is the spitting image! Hurrah for Netta. Someone for their precious "Baby" -- a gray tabby -- and yup, that's her real name -- to play with.





I finished up Debra's fiber necklace -- cat of course -- and got it in the mail on Monday. I don't call myself the queen of the last minute for nothing!











Fiber necklace I made for Lois -- a very sweet lady who, with her daughter Mindy, operate the Mountains of Memories store in Frankfort where I am a member of one of their stamp clubs. Just my good luck that when I delivered it this week Lois was wearing a pink t-shirt with a cute scrapbook saying (nope, can't remember what it said, but at least my worries about what colors she might like were immediately allayed.

Friday, December 15, 2006

My friend Gina loves anything with an African cat look -- and so I made her this fiber necklace with wooden and clay beads that have African like designs and then used fall colors of ribbons to complement the fibers and beads. I had found an Anne Klein lion face necklace piece at a yard sale and found it recently in my "stash" so attached it to the end. Turns out Gina has the earrings to match and hasn't worn them in years. What luck!

As usual, I've loaded these wrong chronologically!
Finally, Laurel Burch designed some dogs after years of cats. I love the cats of course, but do have friends like Gina who have both a dog and a cat (as I did as a child). This is the back of her Minpin fabric piece. I left it plain as it's pretty busy all by itself. I had to dig through a LOT of LB fabric to find this one piece though!!!

Here's one of the back sides of the fabric post cards I made for Debra. I just love the bright Laurel Burch fabrics. Fortunately the stitching doesn't show when these are inserted into the purse pocket!
This is a little purse piece I made for another dear friend -- we figured out yesterday we will have been friends for 20 years in 2007! She has a red tabby named Whiskers. I love the way this one is posing!
This is Gina's other fabric "purse" post card. The dog is a piece I bought at the Nashville quilt show this summer. I think it looks a bit like her Minpin.
It's made on an embroidery machine and then cut out and is backed with iron on stuff. The line of dogs is a design on my 30 year old Singer. The ribbon is one from Michaels, already printed. I was running late with these so the quality leaves a bit to be desired.
I've been having fun making these 4" x 6" fabric pieces to go in the little "photo" purses from Walmart. I make them reversible so they can change their colors to suit their clothing!! There is a pocket on each side of the little purse so that makes 4 possible designs. Gina has a black and white cat named Cisco. I stamped the ribbon.
What I've been working on. I just completed and delivered this 8x10 fabric landscape to my dear friend Gina for Christmas. It was a lot of fun -- we both love Southwest scenes. I used my 30 year old Singer and it has a dog pattern on it. Gina has a Minpin she loves so this had to have a little doggy in it. I was afraid she'd think it was a coyote but she recognized the dog right off. Click on it to see the detail.

Monday, December 11, 2006

I am in two rubber stamping groups. I've posted some things previously from the Galorious Stampers group here in Lexington and just recently posted the items I made for our holiday swap. I'll post what I received yesterday in a day or so.

The 2nd group is called Inky Divas and meets at a wonderful store in Frankfort called Memories ala Mode which is owned and operated by two deligtful women -- Mendy and her mother Lois (as well as several really nice employees of whom I know Tobi best as she's also in our stamping group), In December we do "make and swap a gift." So for tonight's gathering I made a fiber necklace with ribbons, ultrasuede, angelina fibers, multicolored threads and three of my fabric "beads." Not knowing who will receive it, I hope the colors work for her. I also made two fabric "postcard" size pieces to go into the famous little $1.50 Walmart purse which is meant to hold two 4x6 inch photographs. The fabric pieces are shown below. I'll also post what I receive tomorrow!!!
This is one of two fabric pieces, postcard size, that I made to go in the little black WalMart purse (windows on either side). It's a landscape with stitching and angelina fibers and silk roving; made with a mixture of Sherrill Kahn and Laurel Burch fabrics.
This is the second side of the little purse -- collaged Sherrill Kahn fabrics on a SK background -- Fire Within II series. Sorry the decorative stitching is a little hard to see.
Now that it is finally, belatedly delivered, I can post the fiber necklace I made for my friend Gina for her birthday. It is comprised of fibers, ultra suede, multi-colored rayon and metallic threads, my fabric beads, and a bit of angelina fibers.
My friend Gina had a birthday in early Nov. but was way "under the weather" and then I went to NC and when I came back, she was still not up to company so I mailed her the fabric card

I'd made for her. Saturday I delivered her way overdue birthday gift and she had added her "card" to a pocket on her favorite turquoise cardigan (sweatshirt type material). It looks really cool. She's so sweet to "display" her friends' art.
I haven't "strung beads" in a long time and since my friend Pat's favorite color is green, I made her this green necklace for her birthday (which I delivered with her Christmas gifts) on
Saturday -- a few weeks late!
I was Pat's secret santa for the Galorious Stampers holiday meeting yesterday. At least part of the gift has to be handmade. I made her a fiber necklace in fall colors with a "leaf" theme. The ginko is one of Pat's favorites and I found a gold colored ginko pendant to hang from the bottom of the necklace. It doesn't look gold in the scan for some reason. The two green fabric beads at the top are made from scraps of kimono fabric that Terry brought us back from her trip to Japan and China.
I found some little black "purses" at Walmart for the amazing price of $1.50. Each side has a see-through window to hold 4x6 photos. I made fabric "post card" size pieces and placed them in the two windows. This is the first one for Pat, made from Sherrill Kahn's new fabrics: The Fire Within II and a small piece of two other fabrics that blended well.
This is the 2nd fabric "postcard" for Pat's little black "purse." There are gold charms for a few of Pat's favorite things: coffee (cup), a rubber stamp, a book, stars (for Star Wars!) and leaves.