Pental Fabric Pastels

Awhile back my husband purchased me the Pentel Arts Pastel Dye Sticks I had never used these particular art sticks before so I thought I would test them out. First these are much softer than I thought they would be. They glided onto the fabric easily. They did not go on as smoothly as I thought they would, however, for a first attempt I think the project came out alright. Now it states to remove any starch or sizing from the fabric to maintain the color after washing. You use an iron to heat set the color onto the fabric. I did not remove the sizing from the panel that I used as it would have made the fabric very slippery as I was coloring it. And since I will only be washing this periodically as it will be a wall hanging, I felt that it would be easier to just leave the sizing in. 

Pentel Arts Pastel Dye Sticks

I placed a piece of comic board between the fabric and the work area, that was in case there was any color bleed from the pastels. As these pastels feel much like oil pastels they can disperse through the fabric onto your work table.

This was the panel prior to adding color, this panel can be gotten here at Fabric.com

This is after I added the color. The colors came out lighter then I thought they would.However, I believe that I came out fairly well.

 All in all I believe that these deserve some more playtime from me. Once I quilt this panel I will post an updated post. I will wash the panel after the quilting is finished and will know how the color holds up.

Dark Fairy Tales

Awhile back I bought some embroidery designs from Urban Threads if anyone has a embroidery machine or likes hand embroidery patterns this site has quite a few really nice patterns. I used my Singer Quintet embroidery machine and Metro embroidery thread

The Rapunzel has 13618 stitches, The Red Riding Hood has 22,208 stitches, poisoned apple has 14,147 stitches, the glass slipper has 13,553 stitches, The ugly duckling has 17,401 stitches, and the enchanted castle has 22,667 stitches. That is 103,594 stitches, each piece was created on a black canvas cloth with Metro thread number 1618 which is a white and 1656 which is red. I love the look of the filled in designs mixed in with the outlined design and lettering. These designs were fairly easy to stitch out and the only semi-negative on these designs is the lettering is a bit difficult to read at first.

I then stretched each design across 11" X 14" wooden frame and stapled them just like an artist canvas. Then each framed design was joined with the other designs to create the bottom collage. We added the wooden blocks to give it stability and added strength. The over all piece measures about 48" X 28".

The link to the set that I got is here:

Dark Fairytales Embroidery Designs

Catching up

So I have been extremely busy, May was a very busy month. I had finals and then the day after the finals we all flew to New York for a very action packed 7 days. I didn't get to see near as much as I wanted to but I still saw alot. We went from Westpoint NY to NY City, saw a Broadway Play Lion King which was very cool. We went to Yale  in Connecticut, from Connecticut we went to Dracut Massachusetts then to Boston. By the time we got to Boston I was whipped, had absolutely no energy to do anything. Which was really sad.

We got home and of course after being gone for a week there was shopping to do and I had to deal with my car which was not working well at all in my opinion so we decided to trade it in and got a new 2016 Honda Accord for me and a 2008 Santa Fe for my daughter as we were sharing my car.

Yesterday, I signed the paperwork for my student loan to move forward to get my Liberal Studies Degree and my Credentials for teaching K-8th grade. Not sure why but am terrified. But I am sure it will pass once I start classes. I start my last Spanish Class next Monday, wish I could speak Spanish it would be oh so helpful, I remember some but not near enough.

I have also been working on several projects, my daughter asked for a table cover and I found some nice solid colors that seem to play well together that will go well in her place. Am working on quilting it now, I also have some cloth napkins that I made with the same fabric for her to match. I finished a quilt for her roommate and I think it came out pretty good. I am still learning how to control the speed on my Simply Sixteen Handi-Quilter. But as long as I keep working at it one day I will get there.

I am very happy with the progress I am making it is slow but I am doing much better on being able to get that allusive 1/4" seam and my borders are coming out smoother. And I am even understanding how to get nice mitered corners. I still have so much that I want to do and I know the next 3 years will be very busy for me as I finish my bachelors and I eventually I might even get a job teaching that would be nice after all this time in school.

All in all I have a pretty good life even if it is getting busier and busier.

What Motivates Me

I have always been motivated by those around me. Sometimes that meant that I didn't do a whole lot because the people around me simply drained my energy rather then refill my energy level. Making things has always been a basic principle of who I am and what I do. Some would say that what you do is not who you are, well that may be true for them. For me, creating is a vital area of fulfillment that must be there, sometimes it comes out really really cool. And sometimes it comes out quite wonky, no matter how it comes out, it is the journey I take that is important to me.

I gave birth to a child 24 years ago today, and in creating that child there was a great deal I did not know nor did I understand. However, I look at the young man today and I know that not only did I help to create that but he also took over the creation and made it uniquely him. My son was the first person who I truly understood that I was fully capable of loving someone, that the emotions and feelings that I felt around him were special and unique and that it was that kind of love that I sought in a partner for life. And that means that sometimes the person your with at the time may not be the one you will stay with for the rest of your life, my son's father was not to be my life mate even though he was the father of both of my children. He and I parted ways, but I truly got the best of him with my two kids and though he was only a part of their lives for a short time he still helped to also create them and add to who they are today.

Chris at less than a year

Christopher at 5 or 6

Chris at 6 or 7

Chris when he turned 5 with his cousin J

Chris today

Christopher you are and always will be that part of me that no matter how hard it is to understand, no matter how hard it is contain, no matter how many times I say WHATTT? You are my miracle child, the first real glimmer of understanding that life is more then just this moment it is a combinations of moments, it is trial and error, it is no matter what not giving up. To you son I give you the world to conquer and make your own. For you are one of my creations that just keeps giving and I would not wish to change that. I love you, son and always will.

What Happened To April

Wow! I look around and the entire month of April has totally just slipped away. I have been just totally busy this month, between my classes which is Political Science and Physical Science and the weather being actually kind of sorta like early spring.  It has been raining some here which is really great. I got my new Simply Sixteen Little Foot Quilter set up and am still waiting on a part. I have been able to play with it a bit but not a whole lot.

I have also finished all of my Christmas Ornaments. I also finished all three of the quilts that I had going, my scrappy star quilt queen size, my Vacation Time Quilt that I put together last year and finally my daughters Jack Skeleton quilt. The Mardi Gras Girl is done as well. I am amazed at how much I have been able to accomplish with going to school this year as well. And I was accepted into California State University San Marcos and will be starting in August. And in less then a month We will be flying to New York for my nephew and soon to be nieces wedding and graduations.

So this weekend, this is my room today and hopefully it will look cleaner and better organized by the end of this weekend.

I have also been working on my dragon it is slowly coming along.

One Year and Seven Days

I noticed while looking back in my blog that I posted about my daughter moving out that was just last year. The strangeness of not having any children living in the house has left. I have not really suffered from empty nest syndrome like many mothers that I know. I think in part because I immediately found a perfect spot for my sewing endeavors. I have made a sewing room and actually spend a great deal of time in there. The other thing that probably helps is my daughter only moved into our Granny Flat which is a 1+ bedroom flat. She has done quite well for herself attending school and working. It does amaze me though how the time has flown by. So many changes for me, the amount of creating items has increased and yet my schedule is still fairly manageable.

My biggest goal for this year was to once again get organized, to stay on task, and to complete projects. I have succeeded quite well at that so far. And I have added to my equipment, which means that I need to learn a new skill, quilting on a long arm is much different than quilting on a domestic machine. It is easier and yet not, I suppose the easiest part of it is that rather than fighting the quilt sandwich to push it through your domestic machine, you are learning to control the machine as it runs across your quilt sandwich.

So besides, my two classes that I have this semester, which starts back tomorrow, I will now be studying quilting techniques. Seriously, I think I will really prefer studying quilting techniques over Political Science and Physics.

 Finished my daughters Nightmare before Christmas Quilt.

 Am staying current with Pat Sloan's Secret Garden Block of the Month.

Finished quilting the Vacation Time Quilt from Pat Sloan's 2015 Block of the Month.

And only have 3 more sets of Christmas Ornaments to do and those will all be finished. There is a part of me that has considered giving a set each year to my two kids and my nephew and his wife every year for awhile. And maybe start a tradition. We will see.

Karma or just Living

Have you ever wanted something and believed that no matter what you would never be able to get what you wanted. I used to be that way, I believed that somehow my life was just so wrong, I truly believed that I would never get what I wanted. It was this type of thinking though that kept me stuck and I truly believed that I would never get out of the vicious cycle of self defeat. Until....

In May of 1999 I met a man who promised to help me to live life if I made a choice. You know making a choice was a concept that I really thought wasn't something I could do, sure you make a choice on what clothes your going to wear, what you will eat, whether to go to bed or not. These are different choices though they are choices between things you already have, or things you have to do like eat, sleep, etc... But to make a choice to live life rather then just to live the life that you have, now that is a different concept.

Now it is March of 2016, and for the upteenth time, I have come to a better understanding of what it means to choose to live life. There are still things in my past I deeply regret, things I wish would never have happened, I can't change them and I have come to accept them. The big thing is you know what it is all good even the bad because daily life changes, daily there are things that can be improved on, things that are just what they are, things that make you cry, things that make you smile, things that make you sad and things that make you happy. But it is the people around you that you feel the love, they don't make you feel loved, they freely love you so that you can feel that love no matter what.

Some would say that is a play on words and maybe it is, but if you look at the definition of certain words you will see there is just a slight difference in the connotation and the meaning in each word. I asked the question once:

Would your rather do a job well, or do a good job. You see good is an adjective it is used to describe something that doesn't really require action. But the word well is an adverb it is describing an action. For me, doing something well is important and when you only strive for something that is good enough, well then you are not getting the full benefit of life. Is there a time when good enough works of course, for me good enough changes, it is contingent upon what it is for.

Today, is a day that I can say just living is well worth making the choice of living life and not contemplating is it karma or what. Today, I feel the love that surrounds me. Today, I know I have done the best that I can do for today. Today, I know that my children, are doing what makes them happy and I am proud of them for that. Today, I know that though my methods of raising them were considered very unorthodox by many, and sometimes I believed I really was the worst kind of parent in the world because I had no clue what I was doing, that no matter what they would know I loved them.  Today, I know that deciding to give marriage another try was absolutely, positively, with out a doubt, the best decision I could have made because you see, I was already, committed to a man that taught me that living life no matter what was better then believing that karma was just killing me. I am not alone today, even though I am a loner. I will never be alone again, for I have experienced a life of living. And for all the nay sayers, the ones who told me to just get over it, move on I hope that one day, you will make the choice to live life and quit accepting that life is life.

I have become a better person, because I made that choice to live life.