Having some fun now!

As you can see, I persevered on the fabric mosaic and I'm quite pleasantly surprised! I like how the small scraps of fabrics are in a variety of shades of green and blue, which seem to lend a sense of vibration. Kind of a pointilism, impressionistic kind of thing going on maybe. The little pieces are fused down, but must be stitched for security, so I tried to make the stitching imitate the air or grass, which maybe gives the piece more motion, detail and interest. I have yet to do stitching on the tree trunk and leaves. I like the way they come forward a little now, because of all the quilting behind them, so I'm not sure how I'll proceed, maybe by hand instead of machine. I kind of like this style/technique; too bad it's so time consuming and tedious to cut and arrange all those little scraps!

Another project I did purely for fun was crafting this little purple felt purse. I love rick-rack and had fun doing the embellishing and decoration first and then quickly stitching up the sides. I also like the daisy button closure. It was fun going through my stash of ribbons, buttons and rick-rack. Maybe I'll give it to one of my neices for a birthday present...

Finally, a third fun thing I did recently was visiting the blog of Grace Lin. She is a children's author and illustrator who began her career with picture books but has written three middle-grade novels in the past few years. I just finished reading The Year of the Dog, her first, which was quite enjoyable and fun, but her most recent, Where the Mountain Meets the Moon just became a Newbery Honor book this morning! I'll have to scout that one out at the library. More fun!