Tree of Life heritage birthstone pendants

Okay, so I've decided to make my Heritage Birthstone Tree of Life pendants and list them for sale.  Here a few Pendants that I have given away for Christmas Gifts.  The bottom pic are pendants I made for my granddaughters.  These are free form pendants.

Twilight's New Moon

Going to see New Moon with Marinda and Maribel, my daughters, at midnight.  Everybody is wearing Twilight stuff, So here's mine.  I embroidered it tonight.  Pretty Cool, Huh? I think so.













This is the back.

and on the left front

Baby's Got a Diaper!!

Cool! I made a Beaded Wire Tree of Life Pendant

The internet is a wonderful place.  If you see something you want to make, look for a tutorial, and, Voila, Teach yourself how to do it.  These are cool, Huh? Go Forth and Learn!!  Here is the video tutorial.

Different Fabric, New TattBaby

Okay, I just love this baby.  I used craft velour, which doesn't stretch much, and it made for a much skinnier baby.  Anyway, The bigger baby is softer and fluffier, but the smaller baby is a little more defined and it does take the embroideries better.  Tell me what you think.

Just a note:  I need to buy diapers.  This baby needs premies.

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

My First Attempt at Fusing Glass

How fun!! I purchased a microwave kiln.  It's tiny, and made these last night.  Cool, huh?  I just have a hard time waiting for the glass to cool, cuz, I want to see how it turns out.  Fun, Fun, Fun!!

I'm about to launch "TattBabies"

I am launching my Out On A Whim "TattBabies"  Original soft Sculpture Dolls.  They will be personalized according to the client's wishes and will have little tattoos.  The face and tattoos will be machine embroidered.  The client may designate the skin color, a name, and the location of the tattoos, chest, arm, leg, ankle, lower back etc.  These are soft and cuddly and have jointed arms and legs.  They will have no small parts so they will be safe for even the tiny ones.  Each baby will come with a certificate of authenticity.  These little dolls came about by way of wanting to come up with something really original for a newborn baby gift.  I will have a website where TattBabies can be purchased.  It will be www.TattBabies.com.                                               

Children of the Inner Light Black and White Quilt!! Finished!!!

Okay, got my machine back, (you don't want to know) finished the quilt for my neighbor's new baby.  Here are the pics

OMG!!  I was almost finished with my crib quilt, and what do you think?  My machine just seizes up.  Sooooo Frustrating, especially since it happens more often than not.  When it works, it's awesome, but, that's the problem, it spends more time in the shop than it does working.  The Shower is Saturday, and I don't know if I will get it back in time to finish it.  UUUUUGGGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!  I think Brother should send me a brand new machine.  what do y'all think.  I'm calling them tomorrow and screaming at them, AGAIN!!!  After spending tons of money for this machine, you would think it would work.  It's a Brother Innov-is 4000D.  Anybody else having issues with theirs.

Children of the Inner Light Crib Quilt is almost done!!

Well, I've been working like crazy to get this done and it is almost finished.  Here are some Pics.

This is the First Row with the Sash

Here is the second and 1st Rows together

Here are all the squares complete with sash

Here it is with the borders

I have already sandwiched the fabric and the batting and stitched around the squares.  All that is left is the binding and then the Stippling

New black and white Crib Quilt Project

My neighbor is having her second child and I have decided to make something very special for her new baby.  It is a quilt featuring  "Children of the Inner Light" embroideries.  I just love these little people.  They are right there on the top of my favorites list.  Anyway, I love this mag called "Quilting and Embroidery" again at the top of my favorites list, unfortunately, it is very hard to find and I am not sure if it will even be in publication any more, what a shame. Anyway, there was a red and white quilt with some redwork designs on it and that is  the quilt design I chose to try and do except that I am making it black and white and the different embroideries.  These are photos of the quilt on the design wall.  I got it all cut out and now I just have to sew it all together.  I'll keep you updated as it comes along.

  Oh, Yeah, I love my design wqll.  Very simple, you just need a large wall to put it on.  I used felt and tacked it in several places on the wall.  The fabric sticks to it very well, but if you have a fan or something stirring the air, you might want to spray it with a light coat of quilting adhesive or applique adhesive.  This has been great for me to arrange my pieces.  I'm relatively new to this quilting thing, so I am still learning a lot of tips and tricks.

Another Bad Vet Trip

This is my li'l baby Trinity.  She is the only survivor of a litter of puppies from a really tiny mother.  She is now 2 years old.  I took her to the vet for her shots, and, again, she came back with issues.She came back all swelled up on both sides. I guess it was really bother her because She started licking these areas until they became scabby (yes even though she had some diphenhidramine) Anyway, I called my sister because she had made these cute little sweaters for her dog when she was a puppy and I thought that it would be perfect to prevent her from further aggravating these areas.  Anyway, I used a crocheted sock of mine and cut open the toe and cut two holes for her legs and it works perfectly, sooo much better than one of those ridiculous collars.  How cute is She!!!  So Far, So Good, She can't get to the areas.

Okay, peeps, I'll soon be posting again, my Dad passed away and I haven't been creating anything new for the past couple of weeks.  Love you, Dad!!

I love the Faerie Folk

Okay, I liked my last Tee so much, I decided to make another.  This design is from a photo taken at the Texas Renaissance Festival in Plantersville, Texas.  This Faerie is there everytime we go and I just love her.  Hope you like it.

Oh, No!! What is that?

Okay, I was making a Galveston Tee, an iron on, but when I peeled off the paper, there was only a big white square. huh?  I don't know what happened!!  I had used the same iron on sheet, out of the same package,on a previous shirt with no problem.  Well, I can't stand to waist anything, especially a brand new high quality T shirt, so, I had to come up with something to save the Tee!  And Voila!  Here is the salvaged product.

And here is how I saved it.  I took the T Shirt and first tried to remove the iron on mistake, not happening!!  So, then, I decided to print it on printable fabric and stitch it on the shirt, but, it was not large enough to cover the big white square that the transfer had left.  Man! what can I do now.  Okay, I got a piece of black fabric and cut it to cover the transfer and stitched it on with a zig zag stitch, then I placed my printed fabric on top of that and stitched around it leaving about 1/4 inch of raw edge.  I did this so it would give a ragged edge and give it more interest.

Galveston Print

 Click on Photo For More Detail

I was making some T Shirt designs, and I really liked the way this turned out.  So I made a 13X19 Print that I will have matted and framed.  This was created from a photo I took on the beach with a 600mm telephoto lens.  It was cold that day and overcast and there was no one around.  I stood in the water and shot down the beach to get this angle. There were many steps to this completed piece.  I like dark gothic themes, so I really like this.  The Print turned out beautifully.

More Pop Art Digital Work

I had this photo of my son, and I really loved it, but, it really wasn't one that you would print and frame and display, it was more for a scrapbook or memory book.  I have found that photos that fall into this category

make excellent material for digital manipulation.  After I did my daughter's photo, I remembered this photo and decided to give it a shot.  Unfortunately, I am self taught on these graphics programs, and I get so frustrated when I go back to do more, and I can't remember how I did it.  As I get better, I'll post more detailed instructions on making these cool pop art images.  If you like the images let me know and I'll make it a point to make notes as I go so I can let you know how I did it.

Okay, Other Artistic Endeavors

Well, after my thread around the handwheel incident, my machine hasn't been the same, so, I took it in to be serviced.  I have decided to jump back into my digital photo manipulations.  I took a photo from our Bayou Wildlife trip and decided to turn it into a pop art print after being inspired by an article in Somerset Digital Life Magazine. (I love Somerset Studio Mags)  Anyway, here is a before

  and  after.

Some of my Favorite stumble upon craft sites

These are just beautiful, If you have access to maple leaves, why don't you try this.
How to make roses from maple leaves | haha.nu - the lifestyle blogzine

It's Finished

I finished Robert's Dad's Steam Locomotive quilt.  I hope he likes it.  I was going to try and embroider the trains, but couldn't find any designs I liked and I am not a digitizer, so I found a bunch of train images and I printed them on printable fabric and cut them into the squares.

   After I cut them into squares, I stitched them onto black and white print squares and it framed them out nicely.  I had to wait for my cad drawing train fabric to come in, and when it did, I loved it and decided to make the other squares from that instead of  using it for the back.

I got it all pieced together and then found a tiny paisley print and some black sateen and made the back.  I created a label and handstitched it onto the back. (I hate hand stitching)  Anyway, here is the finished product.  Let me know how you like it.   It is not a full sized quilt, it is more of a throw or a lap quilt.

  Gene asked me to make him a quilt that was similar to a quilt I made for Robert's Mom, which was a black and white Kitty quilt.            

Okay, I started my Fairy Wings

Okay, I had some wire laying around, you know, we can't throw anything away, cuz we may need it someday, well, this is a perfect example.  Anyway, I cut four pieces and did just like the video said, but, of course, I had to make mine a lot bigger, so, tights aren't gonna cut it.  I will have to find some fabric to stretch across the wings.  Only thing is I am not sure how to attach it to the wire armature.  I'm gonna research it and see if I can't find any ideas out there.  If any of you know how I might get it done, let me know.  I'll post more photos as I progress.

Okay, It's 3 A.M. and I have my Fairy Wings.  I had a genius thought, well genius for me.  I sprayed my armature with spray adhesive, laid it down on the fabric and it stuck, (AWESOME!! worked great) then I trimmed the fabric and left a 1/4 inch allowance.Okay, Okay, I used a glue gun (cuz I don't like to hand sew If I can help it.)  Anyway, I folded and twisted the fabric around the wire and it left a pretty nice finish.  Then I tied the cording around the wings like the video said and wrapped some fabric around the middle.  Tomorrow, (uhm, I mean later today) I'll add the harness and maybe I'll fancy it up with some hotfix rhinestones.  Anyway, I think they look okay for my first set of wings.  I did have a bad mistake, though, I put the fabric on one of the upper wings and I put it on backwards, TWICE!!  UUUgggghhhh! I was so frustrated!!!


Well, I didn't like the way the finished edge looked on the underside of the wing, so I found some yarn and trimmed it out and I like it.  I also added the ties for attaching it to your body.  Still have to bling it up
thought.  Keep you posted.



I think I'm done for now.  I may add some ribbon, but the rhinestones really look great, the pic doesn't do them justice.

How to make Fairy Wings

DIY Fairy Wings

I'll think I'll make some of these today!!

StumbleUpon WebToolbar - A4 PAPER CUT

StumbleUpon WebToolbar - A4 PAPER CUT

Wow, This is pretty cool!

UUUggggghhhhhh!!

Okay, guys, this is just my own personal opinion, and it comes from my own personal experience.  A while back, I was trying to embroider the cutest quilt. My Brother Innovis 4000D just wouldn't cooperate.  You have no idea how frustrating this was.  I took my machine in to have it serviced umpteen times.  Anyway, to make a long story short.  Here it is months later and I was working on something else, and what do you think, I discovered my problem.  It was the OESD sticky backing.  My machine just does not want to use this product.  I started using the quilting spray adhesive, and NO MORE PROBLEMS!!  Anyway, just so you know.  (I have lots of other OESD backings, and they all work fine, I just thought I would post this in case anyone else is having issues when they use the sticky stuff.)