Hiding stencil bleed with negative reverse applique

The cutwork for the second pillow panel is done now and the paint that was outside the lines is definitely less obvious. 

Here's the painted fabric half sewed:

Even just the sewing hid the paint outside the lines some:

Here's my post on the first panel after it was complete.

Striped hexipuffs

I started knitting stripes into my hexipuffs.  

Some of my yarn is self striping too. 

Brush marker stained glass

Another idea from Lisa Congdon's Creativebug class.  

Leaf watercolor

I've been watching Lisa Congdon's Sketchbook Explorations class on Creativebug. 

Cutwork: Anna's Garden stencil pillow

I've cut the negative reverse applique for my first pillow panel - most of the brown top layer.  Here's my post on how it looked right before the cutwork. 

New hexipuffs

I'm using all Patons Kroy sock yarn. 

Striped toboggan

Here is my first striped toboggan. Just finished it this morning.  There's a little break in the first navy stripe at the join.  I don't know why this happened.  Do you? 

Maroon toboggan

So I made my first adult-sized hat yesterday.  Nice to have a useful skill.  With the gauge swatch it took maybe 7 hours. 

I told each of my parents individually that the math you have to do to customize the hat is kind of a challenge and they both basically said I'm glad you could use your education for that.  Kind of embarrassing - really it's pretty easy.  

pillow panel one, Alabama Chanin style

Cut two panels and stitched one for an Alabama Chanin style pillow today.  The next step is to cut away all the brown fabric except for an outline of the shape.  That's negative reverse appliqué.  And then I'll repeat for the second panel.

I painted this test fabric swatch around a year ago when I was making the swing skirt for my mother.  Because I watered down the paint, some of it bled outside the lines of the stencil and I'm hoping that the negative reverse appliqué technique will minimize that effect.   The paint bled more on my other panel, I'll post it once I make some more progress. 

Bill Cunningham

Did you see the documentary on Bill Cunningham, a street fashion photographer for the New York Times? It's fun and it's on Netflix.

I also really enjoy the short videos the New York Times posts weekly by Cunningham on some fashion trend he has noticed.

Valentine

Happy Valentine's Day, readers.  Hope you are enjoying it.  

Draw Tip Tuesday by Koosje Koene had a tutorial for this cute valentine, so I made it.    Totally copied the design.  It was fun because you paint the word "you" in water and then apply paint to the water and it fills in the word. 

Thanks to Koosje Koene! 

Doily Alabama Chanin style

Embroidery takes just a little more energy and focus than knitting hexipuffs.  Just finished up this Alabama Chanin style doily I started a couple months ago.  The last step is embroidering the center.

The instructions for this doily are in Alabama Studio Style and I usually follow them, but this time I did the steps in a different order and it was easier for me.  Before embroidering the petals, I constructed the doily. Much, much easier and enjoyable that way because you can see how the doily looks as a whole while you are making it. 

Also, I saw the movie based on the Marjane Satrapi book, Chicken with Plums.  It is really charming and a great story.  I think it's one of my favorite movies. 

Hexipuffs

I always knit hexipuffs for my beekeeper's quilt when I don't feel up to doing anything else and I've been knitting a lot of them lately because I've had a bad case of tonsillitis. Sorry I didn't post for awhile. These are the hexipuffs I've knitted in the past couple of days.

Marjane Satrapi

Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis is one of my favorite books.  I'm going to make a point to read her newer book, Chicken with Plums, and see the movie.

Woven wall hanging

Just finished this wall hanging yesterday.

I've been under the weather and mostly not up for too much drawing or anything but reading, really.  

Anyway, this weaving uses gray yarn that I unraveled from a sweater.  I used soumak stitch at the top left. 

 Glad I did this because it's been a dream of mine for years to weave on a loom and I finally accomplished it.

I enjoyed the process of weaving.  I liked that it didn't take too much focus.  It was kind of meditative even and I wrote down a bunch of notes and ideas while I worked. 

I used a frame loom that sits on the table and I found it to be a pretty physical activity, which also makes it different from knitting or crocheting. Overall I liked weaving better.