Painted Matryoshka Box

Lately I have been obsessed with Matryoshka dolls {Matryoshka Hot Water Bottle}. I don't quite know why really. I've always loved them (blame my Dad who got a set from some Russian sailors when we lived in Churchill) but now I love them even more, if that makes sense..... So I was doing my taxes at the tax office and next thing you know I was thinking about nesting dolls. Once I got home I went straight to the computer and started looking up pictures of dolls, things with dolls on them etc. Well the next day Aren and I were out shopping for some fabric to recover the kitchen chair cushions and I decided that I NEEDED to paint a Matryoshka. So I bought this little paper mache box and some wooden eggs (you'll see them in an upcoming post) to paint stacking doll style. First I primed the box with a couple of white coats. then I began painting on my little Russian lady.

This is at about the midway point in the painting. Very plain, no decoration yet.

Here is a little close up of the doll. I admit that it is not nearly as nice a face as you will find on many of the actual nesting dolls, but for me it will do just fine. To give an idea of size, the box is 3 1/4 long by 2 1/4 wide.

Here it is all finished!

Varnished and ready to go. I am happy with how it turned out. I left the base white so that the doll really stands out. Hope you enjoyed seeing this fun craft!

Two New Paintings - "Dragon" and "Wing"

Well obviously I haven't been been posting in a REALLY long time. I apologize to everyone for that. I really have no excuse since I have already been home from work for a week and a half!

Anyways, I spent some time at my parents place in Tumbler again and had a chance to do some painting. The first was inspired by this drawing of a cold-drake that I saw in a book about mythical creatures in Tolkien literature.

 

I used really warm colours and it almost seems that the whole picture is on fire. I really like how this one turned out in the end.

The second picture is quite the opposite with blues and greens and fluffy clouds. I was inspired by a pair of wings I saw in an Art Nouveau drawing. I had a little trouble with this painting as I wasn't satisfied with how it was turning out. It took me quite a while to figure out what it was that I wanted to do. In the end I added a lot of white highlighting and I'm pleased with how it came out.

Painted Candlestick Pt. 1

While shopping at this lovely craft store here in town I saw this plain wooden candlestick. Immediately I envisioned it intricately painted and gracing my dinner table. Lets hope it turns out the way I wanted! So far I have only got as far as giving it a good couple of prep coats in white.

Lots And Lots And Lots of BEADS!!

My mum gave me all of these really awesome beads the last time I was at her place. I can't wait to make something with them!

They are all from a woman who used to do macrame so they are quite large in size.

Four of these super cute owls are in amongst the mix.

Hopefully I will be able to think of some great projects for these. If you have any ideas please let me know! I haven't done a lot of beading in the past and I am not sure I am really up for macrame....

The beautiful window pane quilt in the background was made by my mum.

Woman With a Blue Cropped Jacket - Acrylic on Canvas

Finally I decided to take pictures DURING the painting process so that it is possible to see the picture develop. What fun! This painting is a lot larger than the last two I did, measuring 18x24.

Here you see the outline of the woman worked out in a light yellow. I already did the first layer of skin colour followed by two progressively darker shadings to get some shape in her face. It almost looks like she has her eyes closed here!

The entire background has been filled in with light yellow and I blocked out her jacket as well as her hair. No changes have been made to her face.

Now you can see that her shift dress has been blocked in and the jacket has it's first layer of shading. Two corners have been shaded with blue to start the background and her eyes have been blocked in. The hair has been darkened and some style lines added. Also preliminary work on the lips has begun.

View #4 has the eyes and eyebrows as well as some of the final shading on the jacket. I re-blocked her hair as the shape and shading just weren't what I wanted. Here the lips have been defined more but are not yet completed. White highlights were added on the nose, forehead and cheekbones to add definition to her face.

Here we see that some scrollwork has beed added in the background. The bottom lip was repainted to give it a fuller look and some highlights were added.

Scrollwork has been added in all four of the corners now. The face has been shaded slightly around the nose, eyes and cheeks as well the side of the neck is darkened. The hair has three layers of shading at this point and I have started on her ear. Still a lot of work to do though, we'll see how much more I can accomplish before I go back to camp.

Tower of CHEESE!

Some of you may already know this but I tend to be a bit frugal... I also really love my Bosch kitchen machine! (My Christmas Present last year). We always buy our cheddar cheese in the huge economy size blocks as they are MUCH cheaper. Of course it would all go bad before we have a chance to eat it which is why I grate the entire thing and freeze it in ziploc bags.

We only do this with our cheddar though as it is used on things like sandwiches, nachos, pastas and the like. Any of the specialty varieties that we purchase are in smaller quantities and stored in the fridge for freshness.

I thought this cheese looked quite humorous as I was cutting it up to be grated.

It's the leaning Tower of Cheeza!

Lame, I know.

City Block In The Rain - Acrylic Painting

As in my last post on painting [Old Woman With Blue Kerchief], this was painted during Christmas holidays at my mum and dad's place. I just felt like painting this winter I guess.

It turned out pretty nice. My sister took it home to her place (after my mum claimed the Old Woman she was complaining that she didn't have a painting of her own so I gave this one to her).

Another view from the dining table. Neither of the pictures are that good, maybe I'll get a new camera....

I always have a good time when I am painting. It's quite calming, and unlike with sewing, if you don't like what you see you simply paint over it again!

The Old Woman With the Blue Kerchief - A Funny Painting

I love to make stuff or do stuff and at times I get an overwhelming urge to make something. I am sure many of you other artsy people have experienced this at one time or another as well! This Christmas seemed to be an exceptionally artictic one for me. Aren and I spent the holidays with my family and while my dad was getting something from the freezer he noticed this wooden plaque with a painting on it. Suffice to say that it was not a picture my mum wanted hung in her home and it had been left in the laundry room presumably by the homes previous owner. As soon as I saw it I knew that I wanted to paint a new picture on top of the old one. In my excitement I forgot to take a before picture but it doesn't matter that much now. I primed the plaque with white to cover the picture and then proceeded to paint this rather comical grandmother in a blue kerchief.

Her extra large nose and curly lips add to her charm, don't you think? Haha. My mother claimed her but I have yet to see where her new home is. In this photo she is just propped up on the piano. As with everything, this was a lot of fun for me. Hope it gives you a smile!

A Super Cute Rosette Pillow From a Pair of Pants!

I made this pretty pillow for my sister as a housewarming gift for her new house. I was in camp when she had her housewarming party though so I wasn't able to give it to her until Christmas. It was a lot of fun to sew and kept me busy when I was staying with Aren while he was on a job in Grande Cache. It took me a while since I didn't take it to camp with me. Now that I have a portable machine though (thanks Pris!) I will be able to take stuff with me while I'm out. Awesome!

I started with these pants that my sister gave me while I was visiting her.

These were my two ideas for the rosette pillow. I decided to go with the rectangular pillow as the square one seemed too busy.

I made some piping (some people will call this cording) for around the edges to give it a sleeker look.

This is the finished piping before it was sewn onto the cushion itself.

One side of the cushion with the piping sewn down. You can see the seam at the bottom wear the edges of the piping meet. This will be enclosed in the pillow seam once it is all sewn up.

I used an existing pattern that I had made for the rosettes. Basically three circles of varying size.

Each rosette consists of six pieces. You sew two of each size together, cut a small hole in the middle and turn it inside out, then iron them flat. Sorry some of these photos are no good. I don't know what setting the camera was on and I can't really go back and take new photos now. :)

Then you gather each of the pieces into a rosette shape.

After the center piece has been gathered you gather the next piece around that one being sure to hide the hole you cut in between each layer. From left to right we have single rosette centers (three), then a center sewn to a 2nd piece and finally a finished rosette.

The two sides of the pillow were sewn together and it was stuffed before the rosettes were sewn on. Using very small stitches s as to keep them completely invisible the rosettes were sewn down securely in a line across the front.

The Finished Cushion

As I said, this was a fun project and my sister really likes it which makes it well worth the effort! I am pretty excited about the machine I got for Christmas too as I have been unable to do much as far as crafting goes while I am out in camp. I am thinking that I will finish my Strip Quilt while I am out there.

Nifty New Pincushion / My Strip Quilt!

I got a new book from the library the other day and was pleasantly surprised by some of the projects inside. The book is called "Elegant Linens - 26 Projects for Creating Your Own Luxurious Linens" by Chippy Irvine. This project really struck me as cute (pretty easy too) and I decided to have a whirl at it.

Basically you cut out a shape twice in cardboard, set it on a flannel and trace it out, then on a fabric and trace that out. One layer at a time you secure the fabric/flannel to the cardboard. Once you have both cardboard pieces covered in flannel and fabric you sandwich them together and use tiny overcast stitches to secure it together.

Being the recycler that I am I used cardboard from a beverage 24 pack! Haha.

I didn't take any pictures mid construction (I don't know why..) but this is my finished pincushion! Cute, functional and ready for use. These would have been a great stocking stuffer for my family members who sew. Next year I guess!

Now don't everyone go and start thinking that I forgot about the quilt I started. I am still working on it (I have never made  full size before and gee it takes a long time!).

Here I have strips to be sewn together.

And MORE strips to sewn together.

And EVEN MORE strips to be sewn together. Slow going but I am well on my way! There are realy only 52 strips of strips so it's not THAT bad..... Either way it will be done by the time it is picnic season.

Strip Quilt Beginnings

So as I posted this morning, I am making a strip quilt to use up some of my stash. Well now that I have one whole side cut out I still have just as much fabric! I don't think this even put a small dent in what I have stashed away. Oh well. So I am planning on doing a reversible quilt with one side squares and one side strips. Here you can see the strip side all cut out.

So I used red and blue (obviously) for this side of the quilt. Unsure as to what I will want to use on the other side. We'll see once I get this one sewn together. Until next time!

The CraZY String Quilt Project!

    So I have a LOT of fabric in my stash. I mean A LOT. I get fabric from thrift stores, family members, old clothes, the Reuse Centre, stores, everywhere basically. So I have been thinking for a while that I really wanted to make a quilt for use when we go out for picnics. When I was a child we had this heavy old quilt that had been made by my dad's mum. It was four layers of fabric scraps (no batting) pieced together and then tied with yarn. Most (if not all) of the fabric was from old clothes or other worn out items. We used it for everything: picnincs, playing in the sand, sleeping with, etc. By no means was it a perfect quilt but I think that is what gave it so much character. Well today I was online checking out some different string quilt pictures and I was getting frustrated with what I was seeing UNTIL I found this post on Lazy Gal Quilting.

This picture appears on her blog and is an example of a string quilt made during the depression era. It really reminded me a lot of the quilt my grandma made. No set pattern, no typical "quilt" look. I had been planning on making a quilt with my fabric but felt that I didn't want it to look like a typical "country quilt". Well this particular post really gave me the inspiration I needed to begin this project and I am super excited about it! Check out the post if you want, perhaps you will be inspired as well!

Lazy Gal Quilting - The No-Quilt-Police Quilt Show

Stay tuned for pictures of my own quilt once it is underway!!!

Christmas Presents!!!

Well now that Christmas is over I can actually post all of the pictures I took of the gifts I made for everyone. Hurray!

So for starters here are these really cute square box/bags that I made for my sister and my mother.

The one for my mum has two leather leaves sewn onto one side. The zipper is orange to coordinate with the lining of the tote I made her. All of the fabric, leather and even the zippers came from my stash.

This is the tote I made for my mum. Thread sketching is one of my new favourite things! It isso much fun to do and it is surprisingly easy too. I drew on the fabric first with a disappearing fabric marker and then stitched over the design. Sooo much fun.

The inside is a gorgeous shade of orange. I didn't put any pockets on the inside, I don't know if I had a reason for this... I think I just didn't want any pockets. It looks sleek and smooth and very shiny.

A close up on the little birds. These were so fun to sew. Honestly thread sketching opens up a whole new world of possibilities. I had done this before with random zig zagging or random lines but wow, an actual picture and it turned out so cool too. Can you tell I'm proud of this one?

My sister gave me these crazy pants a while back to be refashioned into somethin new. I hope she will be pleasantly surprised with the drawstring bags I made for her stocking!

This was SUPER easy since the drawstrings were already in the pants. I chopped off the legs, serged and voila! Two new drawstring bags. A great stocking stuffer.

Unfortunately I am unable to post ALL of the Christmas present pictures as my husband went to work today and took the memory card with all my pictures by accident. Hopefully he will be back before I have to go back to work!