NaNoWriMo is coming!

I've know about this for several years now, but always remember it sometime in early December. This year, I stumbled upon someone else who likes the idea and had a link in their page--Voila! So I'm adding it here, so I may notice it again before November rolls around in full force!

http://www.nanowrimo.org/

http://blog.lettersandlight.org/

The Grill Cake! LOL

Fred told his brother I'd make a cake for the annual family picnic, a Grill Cake--so I had a challenge!






The hot dogs are pretzel rods dunked in melted butterscotch chips, the burgers are cut out of fudgy brownie, and the cheese is gumpaste. The flames are royal icing.

The cake was from scratch, and flavored with a secret blend of extracts! Yummy



The frosting is all real chocolate buttercream, colored black with icing color, and the hot coals and ashes are ruby red petal dust, and powdered sugar colored with a little black icing color.

It was gigglingly received and eaten up!!

Pepper's getting plump

Pepper has outgrown her "window seat" in the front porch/Cat's room. Fred built two wider shelves for them to sit on now and gaze out at the world...or nap.

New cakes and some pondering...

This is the final cake I did for the Wiltons Fondant and Gumpaste class. The cake is a 8" x 3" layer of yellow cake, crumb-coated with buttercream, a little thicker than just a crumb coat, with pale green fondant covering it. The board is covered in white fondant with Royal icing rosebuds around the edge, then a green fondant rope border at the base of the cake. The Roses are Royak icing in peach, dark pink and pale yellow; the daisies are gumpaste with yellow sparkly sugar on the center part; the primroses are royal icing, and the leaves are modeled fondant and cut out gumpaste.

Close-up of the flowers.

This one is the final cake for the Flowers and Cake Design Course, which I took at the same time as the Fondant and Gumpaste. The cake is a two layer 8" round Butter Pecan cake with buttercream filling, and blue buttercream frosting. The basket weave is white vanilla buttercream, and the flowers and top border are royal icing.




Here is a 'from-the-top' view: I wanted a sort of Wedgewood look, and I may touch the edges with some white or pink luster dust to add some shimmer and maybe color--still thinking about that one.

Cake Decorating

I've been taking Wilton's Cake Decorating classes for a month and a half now. I took the first one, which was the basics, and the book and kit were the "old" ones, then between that class and the second one, they put out the new versions, so my second class is the "new" one--I'm also taking #3 at the same time so I can finish them up quicker.

It's fun, and I've remembered a lot of what I did back in school (Johnson and Wales in the '80s) so I'm catching on fast and already looking outward to new and different ideas.

I made a couple of cakes for the church I work for:


they were for the Parish Council Dinner, welcoming in the new Council and thanking the outgoing members. The chocolate cake is German Chocolate cake, with a chocolate ganache frosting, and buttercream flowers. The Flowered cake has a very pale pink buttercream frosting, and buttercream shell border, with gumpaste flowers I made in class--two calla lilies, three roses and two carnations, the edges of which are dusted with gold dust. The Chocolate cake was eaten to the last crumb, and the other had a few pieces left over for Sunday's Coffee Hour. A pretty successful endeavor!

Need for CDs!

Still no word from Netflix

I need a source, or multiple sources for thousands of old, damaged or just defective or unwanted CDs and DVDs. Any size, and condition--even pieces and parts--they will be drilled, so no one will ever use them again even if they were good. Also old dead motherboards, ethernet cards, modems, hard drives, any interesting looking bits and pieces are welcome, but mostly the discs. My goal is 4000, so please contact me if you have any to donate to this art project, or know any place that might have a LOT to dispose of in a creative manner.

Secret Sundays

Seth Apter has several inspiring projects going through his blog- The Altered Page.

"Secret Sundays" just ended--18 weeks of wonderful "secrets" from artists all over the place.

"...Over 150 (!) artists have answered a series of questions which make up The Pulse. Their responses will be presented as a series of online and print projects. And the first begins right now!

Beginning today, join the The Altered Page every Sunday for "Secret Sunday." Here the secrets of all your favorite artists will be revealed. It could be a technique, a product, a secret source, a little-known website, a hidden shop, an inspiration, just about anything!..."


Next up is the Book Guild "...The Book Guild will meet every Sunday, rain or shine. So stop by to be introduced to a whole new library of art-related books. The Guild will be more than just a list however. There will be links, book reviews, giveaways, and interviews with many of your favorite authors. And I promise you that there will be some major events that are guaranteed to knock your handmade socks off!!..."

Come along and join the fun!

New Spring-Summer projects Project

Ok now I'm stepping away from all the swapping, which is a fun thing to do, but takes up a lot of art time. I've just about finished my 400th swap, so it's a good time to stop for a while and do something else.

I've been sewing quilt blocks most lately, you can see some of them here I've sent all of these out so far, and now just wait to get blocks back in the mail. I'll assemble the most likely ones into a scrappy type quilt top.

I have plans for three quilts now--the scrappy swap quilt, a string quilt (sample here--not mine,
but a basic idea of what they look like), here is one of my blocks:



and a dutchman's puzzle variation

this is a virtual quilt of the pattern, created in Photoshop. The dark blue pinwheels are a fabric with celestial images in blues and yellows and touches of white, the yellow is a yellow-on-yellow geometric pattern fabric, the white is just white with fine sparkles all over, and the outer blue border is a sponge-looking blue on blue pattern, and the light blue squares has also a celestial sort of pattern with little yellow moons and yellow and orange-red stars, with dark fine scroll design over all.





The other projects I'm looking at, besides cleaning out the garage to make studio space, are more paintings, and the Secret CD Project.. Of the 4000 required old cds and DVDs I need for this one, I have now acquired about 900. I'm also looking for dead motherboards, hard drives, old RAM chips, and any other components that have the green circuit board parts. Once I get at least 2000 parts, I'll start assembling. I recently wrote to Netflix to ask if they'd like to recycle their old DVDs through me--that could bring my totals right up! I hope they consider it!

We Have a Winner!

Susan of http://piecesoffatesusan.blogspot.com/ is the winner of the Wire & Bead Heart Pin that's my giveaway for the One World, One Heart Blog event!

Congratulations Susan!

One World One Heart Giveaway!

Once again, I'm participating in this fabulous Global Blogging Event!

I'm giving away one Wire and Bead Heart Pin:

Assorted gauge and color wires curled and twisted with glass beads to form a two-way brooch--it's fastened onto a pinbacked piece of grosgrain ribbon in Navy Blue with a stitched point at the bottom, but can be removed and pinned on directly to a loose-weave fabric garment--the wire making the pin part is a little soft--hence the backing to protect it. It was my second effort in making wire jewelry.

Please leave a comment here and I will choose a winner according to the rules of the event--Happy Blogging!

Cyn

Sashiko Pin Cushion--Finishing steps

This is the back, the embroidery finished and sewn to the pin cushion and lining (that's why it's lumpy)










This is the pin cushion side--one square of blue flowered fabric the same size as the embroidered back, and another square of the same fabric, turned 45 degrees, appliqued on and stuffed with polyester fiberfill. I made the stitches as invisible as I could, using a sort of hem stitch.







Two opposing points are folded in and stitched down, the other points will be the "cover" and "needlebook"
With a button and loop to hold it closed when not in use.

Here it is all buttoned up.

and from the back.









And here it is open and ready to use. The needle is tucked into the left side, and the pins in the middle.

My problem now is that I really like this little thing, so now I have to either make another one, or something else for the swap!

Progression--embroidering the straight lines

Here, I've drawn out the pattern with the soapstone pencil. The ruler came in handy, as did the lid form a spray can I had handy to trace the biggest circle. The inner ones I just did by hand in roughly thirds of the space.







I began the embroidery with the outline, then planned to work all the straight lines and do the circles last so they'd be on the surface. I'm using the perle cotton and the quilting basting needles. The eyes are smaller than the soft sculpture needles, and they're a little shorter, but I'll try the others on another project. This needle is working out fine so far.

I don't know if there is a rhyme or reason to the traditional methods of this embroidery, I was too impatient to start to look up any more detailed instruction. I does help to pay attention to where you go with the pattern, as you can end up cutting thread and moving around too often. I tried to look ahead for the next direction when I started out and it has worked ok so far.



It's kind of like following a maze. Or one of those puzzles where you have to trace every line without running over any twice. I have to admit I ran into a couple of dead ends and had to take out the stitches and re-think my route.








Here, I'm beginning the last of the straight lines, the corners. I should have somehow worked them into the rest of the outer squares or triangles, but, hey, it's my first time! I have two remaining longer straight lines to fit in and then I'll do the circles and be done with this part of the project.

Sashiko pattern

This is the pattern I'm starting with for the project for the Swap-bot Swap--it's the back of a pin cushion that folds like a furoshiki bundle--a variation of the Yotsu Musubi

I found the idea on this page the third item in their list on this page. I'm looking now for the lining fabric, undecided whether to use a floral pattern or a geometric, like the striped one in the picture. I drew it out onto the piece of fabric with the soapstone pencil--a very cool tool! It brushes off easily, but not so easily that I lose the pattern as I work.

The next post will be pictures of my progress with the embroidery.

Sashiko Embroidery

I'm starting yet another new project--

Sashiko embroidery is from Japan and is done with heavy cotton fabric and fairly heavy cotton thread, long needles and a choice of many lovely patterns. I found this tutorial and decided to start a Swap-bot swap for beginners to get myself to actually make something of it.





This is a picture of the two fabrics, thimble, soapstone pencil, washable fabric pencil, perle cotton and two types of needles I found--3" soft sculpture needles and quilter's basting needles. I'm working out a pattern which I'll post soon.

Time to get more serious about Art

I wake up sometimes with ideas in my head, and sometimes they fall out of my printer, unsuspected. This time, I was printing out an application for a juried show for my friend Frances, my art mentor, and I decided I could apply, too! it's for small pieces, and that's what I seem to have a lot of lately.

I've been painting almost regularly for the first time in my life. They may not be good, but I like them, Fred likes them and it makes me happy to do them, so I'm going to keep painting. The new stuff is like and unlike anything I've every done, so it's a sign of evolution, growth, or something. A little freedom and right-brain activity.
We'll see.

The other thing that's happening is the Baking! Autumn demands that I bake! Biscuits, cakes, cookies, brownies, and PIES! This morning I made, with the help of a good group of people, a ton of apple pie filling for the Thanksgiving Pie Sale for St. Augustine Church in Canterbury. We worked for several hours, peeling, coring, slicing, cooking and bagging the fillings for pies we'll be baking the Monday and Tuesday before Thanksgiving as a fundraiser. Apple, Pumpkin and Pecan! Yum! We're hoping to sell and then bake 100 pies! Wish us luck!...and if you're in the area, order some pie! www.staugustine-canterbury.org


Also, the moon is full, and things also seem to happen at this time of year. I also just got asked to do another bookmaking workshop out of the blue--no pay, but opportunity to see what other creative people can do with the things I play with! I love other artists! I want to be around them, talk to them, play with them--it's such a good thing!

Pumpkin Patch Primitives Fabulous Fabric Giveaway

I was just waxing a bit of nostalgia about the One World One Heart Giveaways, and skipped over to a new Artexplorations Group member who had posted about this one on her blog, --and that's how it works--you go there, get the URL, and post it on your blog, then make a comment on hers and you could win something--in this case, 27 fat quarters of primitive art fabrics--look pretty snazzy! So, here's hoping I win!

Pumpkin Patch Primitives Fabulous Fabric Giveaway

Back to painting again

Sunrise Through the Storm

So, I made this small (5"x7") acrylic on linen canvas for a lovely person who sent me a good package of old, no-good cds** (very much desired by me right now!) and we did the exchange as a Swap-bot swap, so I read her profile and saw that she liked modern art, and pink, so I sat myself down and worked this one out for her.

I've been pondering a series of paintings in this sort of style, so it got me going. I've finished two more, one on canvas-11"x14", and another on well-gessoed birch plywood, about 14"x14", and have started three more small ones--all just smaller than the 5"x7". I really need to get up into the garage and get some larger canvases!

It's difficult to settle into a series if it takes too long for me, even with the Strattera, my ADD is a daily obstacle. I'm still working on the Peeks, as well as knitting a scarf, working on small things for Swap-bot swaps, like ATCs, and planning a fundraising Holiday Pie Sale, for Thanksgiving, at the church I work for part time. I'm just a little bit concerned about having enough help for the baking days, but if I absolutely had to, I could bake 100 pies by myself in two days. I'd be exhausted at the end of it all, and with a little luck, I won't have to actually do it! We'll see!

** The cds are needed for a HUGE art project I'm also working on! I need about 4000 to complete it, along with a few dead motherboards, some floppys, and some of the nini cds, too. More on that later...

Vaughn's Zazzle

My late son had a lot of fun creating the stuff he sold on Zazzle.com. I'm keeping it up to make a little money for his daughter, and it's doing so-so. Every little bit helps. I'm learning the ins and outs of how the whole thing works and found this nifty gadget to embed into my blog here--please check it out and maybe you'll find something fun to buy!


buy unique gifts at Zazzle

all hail His Noodly Appendage!!!

back to art...

Here's the last of the first three "Peeks" it and the No. Grosvenordale mill are in the Landscape exhibit at the Silver Circle Studio in Putnam.