Lilla Rogers MATS A Week 4 Assignment

Made it through another week of MATS and finished early this time even though I worked my day job as well. Don't know how I managed that. Probably because I really enjoyed this lesson. The assignment was an abstract college-style piece of wall art. I actually thought I would hate it because I didn't think I could do it and with all the stipulations involved I assumed it would be hard. 

I call my piece Apple Blossoms. We could only use two colours which Lilla gave us according to our Zodiac signs, plus as many neutrals as we wanted. Luckily I got pink and yellow as my main colours. Then we had to include words or at least one, apparently that's the trend (I hate words on art). Had to include a floral motif even if it was just tiny. Must include some kind of traditional paint and geometric or organic motifs. 

 Not crazy about collage either, so for that part I glued a large piece of nubbly fabric onto a 36 x 36 inch piece of Ranger board. Don't ask me what that is, my husband bought it at the hardware store. The guy said it takes paint really well. Good enough. I wouldn't call that collage exactly, but I glued something. I used acrylics for this painting. A bit of stencil from the dollar store as my geometric shape, some rug hooking canvas to get the little dots and a pallet knife to paint my flowers. It was a really fun project and I know I'll be pallet knifing a lot more of these. Probably disguise the word before I stick it on my wall, though.  

Lilla Rogers MATS A Week 3 Assignment

Well I'm at the end of week 3 with Lilla Rogers, Make Art That Sells course and I have to say although it was hard, it was also my very favourite one. The assignment was Children's books and the topic was an Aesop's fable, The Fox and the Crow.

It was pretty hectic since I only had 3 days to do it in and I chose to use acrylic paint on canvas. I was probably crazy to put that much pressure on myself but I couldn't see it any other way. I wanted bright and vibrant. I don't think I could have gotten the same effect with water colour never mind the fact that I don't have the skill to pull it off.  I didn't think I could make it happen digitally either, too much thinkin' involved. I do know from the only other acrylic painting I've ever done last summer that you can fix a mistake waaay easy.

So I flew home from work for the last 3 days and painted like a fiend. And hardly slept, I was painting in my head all night. Good thing, too, cause I didn't know what the heck I was doing. Works out pretty well when you don't have time to think. No time to dilly dally, just put the bleepin' paint on the canvas, girl!

Lilla Rogers MATS A Week 2 Assignment

So week 2 of Make Art That Sells has come and gone and I'm very happy with what I came up with.  The market was Home Decor and designing plates with Succulents as the theme was the project. Having a day job, I wasn't able to spend as much time on this exciting assignment as I would have liked. For variety I probably should have done a few more drawings. Oh, well,  I'm just glad I managed to submit on time again. Here I did a water colour painting of String of Pearls, one of my favourite succulent plants.  

The first thing my friends mentioned about my submission was bedroom ensemble, sheets, duvets. I like that idea. Hmm, I wonder if I could turn this into a repeat for some Spoonflower fabric.  

Lilla Rogers MATS A-Week 1 Assignment

 Well, I'm taking Lilla Rogers course, Make Art That Sells and our assignment for the first week of class was bolt fabric with the theme of Tropical Fruit and Vintage Casserole Dishes. Above is my submission presented as a repeat. 

My version before the repeat and below are my coordinating fabrics. I wish I had been able to spend more time on this project but my day job made things really tight. That and the fact that I don't know Illustrator or Photoshop very well and as a result, spent a lot of time in 

pulling-my-hair-out mode. But I like it, my husband likes it, and my daughter likes it so much she wants a hunk. So here comes my first fabric design printed at Spoonflower.  My daughter suggested Camper curtains. Totally cute idea! 

I have to say before I go, I was very happy and proud to have finished and submitted something. It was a pretty big deal for me considering the level of talent in this class scares the socks off me. Talk about fantastic. Oy!

Not crazy about the flying saucers here, as my husband calls them. Think I'll make a better coordinate using the white-centered mango. 

Well, onward and upward. Bring it on Week 2. This time round I'm going to get real pushy with myself. 

Jelly Assignment for Lilla Rogers Bootcamp!

I'm taking Lilla Rogers Bootcamp class and this month's assignment was bolt fabric with a Jello theme. I'm pretty proud of myself for finishing this project and submitting on time so that it can be viewed in the gallery. Below are my coordinating fabrics. 

Click here to see the gallery of artists and their truly exciting work. 

Honeycomb Brioche Cowl

 I made a knittted cowl for my daughter. Didn't have a pattern so I just winged it. I'd been dying to try this new stitch if I could only learn how to do it. 

 It's called Honeycomb Brioche. Turned out pretty good I thought, and it wasn't hard at all. 

I was kind of a dunce when it came to reading any how-to instructions on it, though. Then I found a video tutorial on a great website called New Stitch a Day. Totally loved learning this stitch and big love to the website. They have tons of tutorials for knitting and crochet. So handy to be able to watch and learn.

The edge is finished in Garter stitch.  

 Here are two shots of how the reverse side looks. Quite love the wooden buttons, too. 

Think I'll make another one for my Etsy shop, only two-tone this time and maybe a tad smaller. 

Christmas Cheer is Almost Here!

Seems like forever since I've been here. In between working I've managed to fill another order for some Christmas cozies. 

But I have to say I'm a little annoyed that I couldn't pin myself down long enough to participate in this year's NaNoWriMo, write a novel in month challenge, like I'd planned on. It was supposed to jump start me into writing my next kid's book. Oh well, there's always next November. Then again, I could be stalling. I suppose there's nothing stopping me from holding my own little challenge after Christmas. 

But aside from being so hard on myself I have to say I really enjoyed making these cozies. Here's my Midnight and Snowflake Bunny cozy.

She's a six-cup cutie. All three cozies have been sold to Cobblestone Cottage, a kitchen store not far from me. They tell me the cozies are selling teapots! 

This is Norwegian Teal. She's a two-cup beauty wearing a traditional knitting pattern from Norway that I found in 

Alice Starmore's Charts for Colored Knitting. 

Then there's my two-cup Swedish Sweetie, wearing another traditional knitting pattern from that lovely part of the world, also from the same book. She's my favourite. 

And last but not least, my six-cup Jingle Bell Reindeers, wearing happy Christmas bells to herald in a joyful sound.