New Patchwork Duffel Progress

I started working on a new patchwork design bag this morning. I was inspired to try and utilize more of my upholstery and random scraps to go for a real colorful and funky design. So far I am liking how its coming out. Here are a couple pics of the beginnings of my creation. I chose some brights along with some black and whites and added a zig zag in red thread. Since this is a new design I am not sure how this one will come out. I am hoping it will be similar to a duffel style; only without the rounded ends. I will be adding pockets to the sides with a dring closure. I hope to have a finished photo to share with you tomorrow.

Random Sketches and Ideas

Here is a sketch of an idea I have for a new design. You'll have to overlook my technical drawing skills, lol, its really more of a scribble!! I will keep you posted on the progress, not sure when I will be tackling this one, but it will more than likely be tomorrow:) I'd really love to have a camcorder, then I could really document the progress of my work. I guess until that happens, I will have to rely on my little digital pocket camera.

Creative Block

This morning started off a little frustrating; I couldn't really get into the creative process at all. No ideas.. what do you do when this happens..? I grabbed my sketchpad and started working off of that. Not sure where this one is going yet. The original idea was to applique four birds and make an xtall bag; it developed into three birds and I wanted to do a lot of layering of fabrics which changed as well. The birds were zigagged stitched and now I am adding thread painting to give them details. I will keep on playing with it and hopefully something great will come out of it. I am not sure I am really into it, but I must keep moving forward.

Creative Release

I am completely buried in scrap fabrics and have had the urge to do something freeing, so this afternoon I decided to just start making a collage and layering them to a background which will be a bag when I am finished. I also prepped and painted the surface of some fabric with some gesso and getting ready to paint. Its been too long since I have picked up a brush and played. I am going to continue this for the rest of the week and allow myself a little break away from the same old things. I think that it is time to release some of this creativity I have been keeping inside. Seems like my work has been really boring without much feeling lately and I need to let it out:)

Fabric Choices

I am using this nice upholstery fabric to make another tote. I have been looking at this fabric for a while now and couldn't decide what to do with it. The hardest part about working with reclaimed and scrap materials is deciding if a particular fabric would even look good as a bag. Not all the fabrics I have will make good bags, but this one I do like. I will be working more with some of my plain fabrics soon and adding some painting to my work again. This really helps to make a fabric that is in question to becoming a work of art.

One example of a plain fabric that I took and made into art is this one. I added some solids and some decorative stitching to make it more fun. I will start focusing on more bags like this one soon.

Butterflies

I am finally working on some butterfly items. I have been so busy making hats that I have not had the time to play around with the idea. I need to start shifting some of my priorities around and make time for more of what I want to do:) I really like how it is looking so far. I am planning on making a larger case with this and later do the same idea on some bags but a much larger version. The background is a purple suede fabric and the wings are in leather which have been stitched and secured with some antique brass rivets. Progress pictures coming soon.

Halloween Spirit

I am so easily distracted. And I just love Halloween! It's not even October yet, I know. I was going to work on some new cases but I keep staring at this shirt, saying that I want to make something from it. I bought this cute tshirt at target last year when they were on sale and never wore it and don't want it to go to waste so I thought it has the best graphic to play with, so I am going to start with cutting the tree completely out and will be fusing and sewing it to a background, possibly a orange microfiber material. I am not sure what I will do yet for accents but this is a good start for now.

PROGRESS ON THE SHIRT
Instead of creating a whole new post I am just posting my progress here so far. I have fused it to its background and now its time to add some color. No real ideas in mind so far. I am just kind of playing and going with my feelings on this one.

Fall Tote

I finished the tote today. Now I am starting on another bag with some brown leather flowers. No time for sleep just yet! This is one that I have been thinking about doing since I listed the black leather flower bag that I finished on Sept15th. I decided to make this one lots smaller, a mini version of the previous ones and I am adding some curvy strips of leather as accents on the background. I haven't decided how many flowers this one will have yet or if they will be on both sides

Ostrich Printed Vinyl Bag

I am working on another bag in vinyl material. It is army green and flannel backed and has a pattern similar to ostrich print. I thought I would make some texture and interest by adding some stitching vertically.

Wild Oversize Bag

I didnt have any special plans today so I thought I would work with this fabric and make an oversize slouchy type bag. I love this fabric, its wild and fun and perfect for the season. I also thought it would be nice to use these clips I have for the clasp on the front and secure it with a brown leather strap and make the handle brown as well. I will also be working on a small case and use the same fabric and see what kind of fun contrasting fabrics or leather I can come up with.

Completion!

Time to celebrate! I am so happy this bag is done. It was a really big job, bigger than I really expected. Now I am free! That is it for shows, donations, special orders, etc. right now. I can focus on some new projects that are fun this week.



In this months issue of Quilting Arts magazine, I was inspired by the pet portraits that were featured by artist Karin Winter. This months challenge for my quilting group is to make a 12 x 12 block using any technique I'd like, so I decided I would try this technique out, but also because I have always been curious about doing more fabric collage. Karin talks about how she started making ATC's in fabric and it was more difficult to focus on details in such a small space so she moved on to making 8.5x10" portraits. I just think that it would be fun to work on a miniature scale 2.5 x 3.5", so I might try it out smaller too, just to see what it is like. I will also be adding some more cases to my shop and working on some other pieces I have had lined up. They have been waiting patiently:)

New Mini Tri-Fold Brochure

Getting ready to go on a hike and thought I'd share this brochure that I have been working on this week. I finally have things the way I want them minus a few corrections but this is the general idea. This is just a mock-up that I made with copy paper, glued back to back, but the final will be professionally printed on a good paper stock. It measures 4x4 folded but when opened up it is 4x16. This will be going out to all my customers that order from me and any shops that carry my product. I am very excited about it. I will be starting a new bag this afternoon and I am going over ideas of color. I think I am going to attempt another bag like yesterdays bag only because I like it so much, but only I am going to choose some different colors. Maybe some reds.

Busy Day

Busy again. I will be working on a new design today going off of this rough sketch. Probably a red toned bag.

I have lots of keychain/business cards thingys to make by tomorrow for the event I am participating in next month.
I am not sure how many I need but I am planning on making about 60 or so. Thats a lot of printing, cutting, sewing, punching, and stringing. But they are so cute when they are done, so its worth all the effort. I love giving these out instead of just a plain business card. They are so much more personal. I also have a school function to attend tonight and my quilting group meeting. * Breath * It will all work out! right. There is so much going on right now.

I uploaded a few new pictures from the garden this morning onto my flickr album using my husbands camera. Its so much better than mine.






I listed a watercolor yesterday. Its from a photograph I took at the Balloon Races a couple years ago standing inside the balloon while they were filling it with air, looking at the shadows of the people from the other side while the sun is rising. Its not my best. There was a lot of detail in this picture which made it difficult.
I need lots more practice..if I only had more time:)

The Races are going to be here in September and I am looking forward to it. Every year we go, sometimes all 4 days. My husband will be the designer again for this years poster. He was the designer/photographer for 2004's Race poster. We don't make any money from it. Its all a donation for the event . Its the most amazing event I have ever been to. Getting up at 4am to see the dawn patrol is so incredible. I will be sure to post some pictures of the event when it happens although you can always find photos on our website Renostock.com
Put in keywords - Balloon Races


To read more about the event go to The Great Reno Balloon Race website

100Petals

Getting focused on what I need to do this month and I have been thinking about what I kind of handbag I am going to enter in the contest. I decided that I am going to make another patchwork tote, similar to this one I made back in March Of course it will be lots different maybe even a different style, but this is the general idea.

This morning I am continuing with petal cutting and for 2 bags I will need 100 petals cut. My hands are not cramping yet. 50 leather petals per bag. :) so better get back to work! Hopefully I will have something good to post later, maybe a completed bag?

Just Black

I have another excuse to start digging through my black scrap leather bin:) I am making a custom artist wrap for someone and will need some larger pieces to make up the inside pencil slots.. But what I am really excited about right now is that I am making myself a bag and one for my shop too! The bag I have been wanting to make is all black with black flowers, I know it may seem like a bit much black, but I do love it ! I wear jeans a lot in the winter so black is just so perfect for me. Hopefully there is also someone else out there that likes black as much as me and will buy it:) So here is a photo of the black foundation which is black vinyl and a nice pile of scraps that I have pulled and the basic idea now is to start cutting out petals in different shades and textures of black leather until I come to something I like. This may take a while because I am making 2 of them. I am still carrying around a bag that I made back in 2004 so its time for me!

The latest

I started working on another project this afternoon. I think this one is going to be a tote bag and right now I am just trying to figure out the colors I want to work with. I like this color palette so far and I am using all microfiber which is so so soft. I will be using black threads for the details which I am hoping will do what I want them to. I wanted to try using my darning foot and do some free motion quilting stitches and the thread I want to try is really thick- different than what I usually use so this will be a fun experiment.

Completed!

I am happy to announce the completion of another bag. :)
Now its time to think about my next project. I drew out a sketch the other night with circles of different layered fabrics and had the idea of machine quilting it to make lots of texture and interest. I am going to start thinking about doing fall colors soon which I hear black is really going to be in. Am I wrong, Please correct me if I am? I don't really keep up with the trends or whats in ; I just do what I like. But I do think I remember reading that black is a biggy this fall. I always like black anyways. The only problem with black is I only get itty bitty pieces of scrap black, probably because it is so popular and most of the hide is used in production so if I do anything with black leather I will be doing a lot of piecing... My favorite!

Mellow Day

Today has been a nice and mellow day. I took the little ones to see WALL•E which was a very good movie, It was a real kid movie but it was still fun to see. I have started on another leather bag with some interesting cutout designs on it and think that I will be starting on something this afternoon having to do with butterflies of flowers or both. Progress photos coming soon.

Butterflies

Back to my original plan of doing a handbag with butterflies. I am going to stew on the idea for a bit and see what I can come up with.

Patchwork Clutch

More progress, I am now sewing the rows together after cutting and piecing the strips. I am not sure how I came up with these colors but I like it. It reminds me of folk art colors and a little bit of Halloween. This is the first time I have attempted anything like this so, it will be interesting to see how I do with it.
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Cutting up fabrics. I must be crazy trying to work with these small pieces. The final size will be 1" squares. The fabric is really thick too. Ultrasuede and microfiber material so it will be really soft and fuzzy. The pink fabric is a velvet type. Pin cushion in photo is made by Bean of coyotecraft.etsy.com She also makes some great organizers for knitting and crochet needles too. Check out her Etsy shop.
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This is an idea from a sketch I did last night . I thought I would try something different and do a patchwork clutch in colors of hot pink, orange and 2 other colors. Not sure on specifics yet. I'd like to make the top handle out of leather somehow. So this is the general idea and will get started on it this afternoon. I will be updating as soon as I make some progress.