Spring Things for Swap-bot

This is a picture from a Japanese zakka swap I did on swap-bot. It is a sakura (cherry blossom) bag. I love Japanese craft/sewing projects. They are usually quite clever and very cute. The word zakka generally means cute and useful. I'm not sure how useful this particular bag is. The bag (which is behind the flower) is only about 2" in diameter and about 1 1/2" tall. But it is very cute.

This is a set of matryoshka dolls for a swap-bot swap. I love making matryoshka dolls. I love the concept of small nesting dolls and animals. I've been working on many variations of them. Currently I'm designing a set of nesting owls. I'm almost done and will soon start on the next set of nesting animals. Hopefully I can post pictures when they are done.

Ankie Daanen Class cont.

Here are the pictures of the doll I created in the Ankie Daanen class I took a couple of weeks ago. It was a wonderful experience. Also look at the finished doll. One of the best I've ever made. I would have posted these pictures sooner but I have been busy quilting. As in finishing quilts. I've machine quilted two quilts this week. Stay tuned for pictures of completed quilts. Not quite the same caliber as the doll but...

Ankie Daanen Class

I had the most wonderful four day class with Ankie Daanen. I learned how to sculpt heads, hands and feet out of clay. As you can see from my almost finished head I learned a lot. Not only did I learn how to do some sculpting but also how to paint it with watercolor, a new medium for me. Because there wasn't enough time in class Ankie made costumes for all the dolls. They are exquisite with much attention to detail. As soon as I get pictures of my finished doll I will post them. I am looking forward to practicing my newly learned techniques and hopefully improving on them.

A pile of potential

There's nothing like a trip to your favorite fabric store, especially when everything is on sale. I love splurging every once in a while. My budget of course doesn't much like it, but oh well. All that new fabric-so many possibilities. So many things you can make-quilts, fabric journals, bags, softies, etc... Now I all need to do is find the time and an empty flat surface in my studio to work on them.

Time to Declutter

It's January. It's time to declutter the studio. What a mess! What a job! Decluttering seems so anti-productive in the short picture. But in the long view it really is very helpful. I've had a very productive year which means there's more clutter than ever. I don't really understand why the clutter goes up exponentially with the creativity, but it does. Also it's time to evaluate those UFO's. Are they really worth finishing? Sometimes you make something just to learn the process. Hopefully when I'm done reorganizing my creativity will be renewed. Not only that, but maybe I'll also be able to find the supplies and tools I need to support my new found creativity.