In Love With Handwork!!

The seasons changing has so much to do with my mood and my creative flow and lately I am craving working on any projects that involve hand work. Several of my friends have a real loave ahate relationship with hand work but I find it to be very soothing and peaceful and quietly inspiring. I find after completing a potions of a handwork project I ahve ahuge feeling of accomplishment- much more so than when I work on a sewing machine or with paints and glues. Perhaps it is the feel of all of the different textural elements that pass thru my hands....
So Fall is finally here in Virginia and that menas also gearing up for Holiday Sales. WHat will sell ? What will I come up with that people will like? I always try to create pieces that capture the attention and at the same time a re affordable. I would much rather produce and sell many items at a reasonable price than count on selling one or two big items at a huge price.

I was recently inspired by a design that I saw in a magazine, to create these textile wrapped and embellished wreaths. My art pal Leslie just shared some vintage upholestry fabric in a muted sage green with damask leaves woven into it. I created wreath forms out of scrap foam core and wrapped them in batting strips, then wrapped that in strips of the green leaf fabric. That was in turn wrapped with some vintage lace and all stitched down by hand. I embellished the wreath with some wonderful vintage sequins from Artistic Artifacts and lots of vintage pearls and sparkly crystal beads. The bow was the most fun! I crafted it from original vintage sheet music that was coated with matte medium to increase durability (the paper soaked up the medium like a sponge and made it very strong), more lace and tuille bits and more beads and pearls. The wreaths measure about 8-9 inches when finished.

This wreath has been made using strips of vintage damask linen tablecloth and more vintage lace that I tea dyed.
The final touch for this wreath was a swath of bridal tuille to add a delicate misty touch.

I have several more wreaths in the works that have been wrapped with hand dyed vintage linen. These will be available in my Etsy shop soon!! This wreath is available for purchase, in my Etsy shop, here.

I am always thinking of ideas for fun ornaments ,as I find that many look for unique pieces to give as little gifts during the holidays. Lately at our house we have all been invoved in OWLS. Becca has been reading and re-reading the wonderful Guardians fo Ga'Houle series, and she and I and a bunch of her friends just saw the newly released movie. It was wonderful by the way.

Earlier this year I was drawing sketches of owls and designed this little owl pattern that makes use of tons of my scrap bits of fabric and felt. These are stitched completly by hand except for the closing of the main body. All of the embellishing, is done by hand with embroidery floss or pearl cotton.

I ahve also made owls for Becca and her group of friends. each one is totally different and I suppose that is one of the reasons that I have not gotten sick of creating these little guys!!!
This week Iset up a curly willow branch tree full of owls at Liberty Town, and from what I hear, they are garnering a bit of attention!!

I have recently designed a cup cozie using my collaged fabric paper.

I have varnished the fabric paper to seal it and have stitched it to some cozy felt. The cozy is closed using grommets and some sturdy glue. These will also make wonderful little gifts or stocking stuffers to keep fingers protected from hot beverages. They also fit on reusable cups and are made from discarded text and map papers and embllished with stamping and decorative napkin tops and painted paper towels.

I am also working on some little tree ornaments using tiny painting canvases as their base.

I found some small ones 2 1/2 by 2 1/2 ata local craft store and then I went to Dick Blik on line and found even smaller ones at 2x2! I have collaged them with more fabic/paper and sheet music and embellished with fabric trees and packages and tiny sequins.

These will be finished with screw eyes for hanging and a bit of a decorative dangle to embellish the bottom. Decorative dangles are really a must , don't you think.!!

So hand work has been the method of choice these days but as I am running low on my fabric/paper, the needle and thread will ahve to be replaced by papers and glue for a bit. I am also almost done with a knit scarf for my neice- late birthday gift, so I am not quite ready for sticky hands yet!!!