A bit pre occupied

I did not post yesterday, because  I was bogged down with homework.
Today is another matter.  there is a bushfire a few kilometres away.  I need to keep watch and make sure we are ready if it moves any closer or gets larger.  I shall be back as soon as I can.
Vicki

Almost forgot

I watched Julie Fei fan Balzer's spreecast this afternoon and got so carried away I forgot totally about blogging, so today I will just share some backgrounds I did yesterday in my journal.

This one was done with a variety of flowers and a snowflake stencil

And this one used circle stencils that I have collected from a variety of places.  None of them actually stencils, of course, just stuff other people would throw away.

Julie is hosting a series of free spreecasts this week and you can find the archived ones and the timetable for upcoming ones here.
They are really well worth watching!

Happy creating!

On the design wall.

i did no blog yesterday, mainly because I was lazy, but also because I did not have much to show you.  By the time Wednesday comes along, I have been away from home two days in a row.  On Tuesday, our quilting group goes until 2pm and I find it hard to settle in when I get home.  Wednesday I teach until about 5 or 5.30 pm, so when I get home it is time to cook anyway.
I must be honest with you.  I am a routine girl and when I am away from my studio routine I get a little stressed.  Today,  in addition we went into town for an appointment and to do the weekly shopping, so that was another disruption.
One thing I have done in the last few days is to change my design wall.
In 2011, my daily project was to make ATCs (Artists Trading Cards) and last year my project was weekly journal quilts.  this year it is a fabric collage a day.
Most of this work has been sitting in little books and I decided that it would provide more inspiration if i could see them, so  I have been pinning them up on my wall.

These are my ATCs, or what is left after swapping and giving them away.

These are the journal quilts.
Because usually I was trying out an idea or a technique with each of these,  it is now like a little illustrated list for me of things I can do.
I know you can't really see these little things, but if you look in the sidebar there are pages for the journal quilts and ATCs, which, if you click on them will take you to slideshows.

Anyway,  I suppose it is time to try and get some work done.
Oh and I am working on catching up with comments, sorry!

Happy Creating!

Transparent teapots

Today's post for T for tuesday is a more recent page in my sketchbook.

This one is collage using stencils, and transparent colour.  I like how the pots and things overlap.  If you are observant, you might notice that the pink teapot on the right is NOT transparent.  That is because this teapot is on a flap that is sitting on to of the page, like a mini page.

Happy creating!

A finish!

Almost.  I have finally finished all the machine stitching on my class project for 'Beyond basic machine quilting' on Craftsy.  It has only taken me a year!
But I often find I lose interest in finishing work that is not my own.  when I do a workshop,  I am more interested in learning than actually making something,  but in this case I actually did the project!

Here it is (above)  As you can see it is not squared or bound yet.  I will take it to craft group and see if they think (or you) that I should do a bit more.  I love the texture in the leaves, but they are hard to see from a distance.  I had thought of perhaps painting or beading on them.
Here are some close ups.

And my borders.

But I am quite pleased that I actually did it.

Happy creating!

Digital drawing day

Today I am joining Terry and Joan at Terry's blog for their Digital drawing day.  Obviously,  My post is a day ahead due to different time zones, so don't go looking until tomorrow.  But make sure you do as their discussion about the sketches are very interesting.

The theme for this week was food and being the boring person I am, I simply got some out of the fridge and put it on some fabric.
I know I am getting a bit stuck,  having been a pastel painter in another life, I keep using the pastel tool. Perhaps if I promise you that net week I will use a different tool, ...... I will.
This painting was done with the pastel tool on artrage.
Now that I see it up on the screen, I don't like my pear much and my orange is bit little and mean.  I played a lot with blending in the background.  It was fun playing with the shades and softness of the pastel.  I have found that to lay a lot of colour down, it is best to use the softest setting, but then go back with a mid tone on a hard setting to blend.
I am using Artrage on a UGEE tablet.  This tablet is quite cheap compared to the wacom and I was disappointed when my hubby got it, but  really with the beating I am giving it, I am sure I will wear it out.  It or the stylus, anyway, so perhaps a cheap replacement is a good thing?
I have tried other programs and actually have Sketchbook pro and Corel graphics studio, but they are large programs that tend to hang up at times.  Art rage has similar features to Sketchbook pro and uses a lot less memory.  Another feature I love is the rotate paper tool, which allows you to have your paper at the right angle for what you are drawing.

Another thing I would like to try is to use different filters, as Terry did in last week's post.   I don't have the app she was talking about, but I could certainly use the filters I already have in gimp and corel.

Happy Creating!

Flowerdale Quilt and craft group

Today was our monthly get together at our community house.  A very small group this month.

Here are some of the ladies hard at work.  The messy table in the front is my mess!

Here, Jan is embellishing a beautiful vintage print.

This is Sharon's amazing applique quilt for the new grandchild in her life.

Liz has been working on applique leaves with gorgeous fabrics.

This is one of the blocks from Casey's sampler quilt with lots of cow fabrics.

Here, Brenda is hand quilting her gorgeous quilt.

Here, Jenny is working on a beautiful applique block.  Of course you know I love teacups!

Anna is just finishing this quilt as you go with a black sashing.  As always her fabrics are wonderful.

I go confused as I went around the table, because Wendy actually had two projects on the go! Sharon actually had another project going, but it was in the other room being sandwiched.

And why,  do you think I showed everyone else's work?  Of course, because I didn't get much done!  I caught up on my collages for this last week and tidied up my scraps.  Boring.

But we all had a lovely day stitching and yacking.  It is so nice to have a group to go to that is close by.

Happy Creating!