A Fun and Artful Weekend

My weekend actually started on Friday morning when I snuck away to Joann's Fabrics to do a little artful shopping. I haven't been doing as much of that as I used to because the closest store is now over 30 minutes away and also because I now have a decent stash of stuff and don't seem to need as much. It was Joann's "coupon commotion" so I felt compelled to wander around and see what was new, inspiring or interesting that I could get for 40% off! This trip I only got 3 pieces of fabric: two in my favorite shade of aqua and one plain white to paint on and play with. I also couldn't resist these two sets of pens and markers. One is those "jelly roll" pens in metallic sparkle colors. I just love those - they are so smooth and fun to play with and they seem to be fine on fabric too (but I haven't tested them for washability or longevity). I also got a set of Sakura "permapaque" pens which are acid free and can write on nearly anything - glass, ceramics, wood etc. I especially wanted a white one.

When I got home, I started playing. I first glued these thin foam shapes onto a thicker foam base to make a stamp. The sailboat fit nicely on an empty spool so that's where that went. I used acrylic paints and Stazon ink pads to stamp some of these onto some of my fabric scraps.
Then the fun really started! I ended up making a set of coasters as a hostess gift. As you can see, I have amassed quite a collection of fabrics in the aqua-turquoise-blue range and it was fun cutting and arranging them onto the 4" squares of timtex. It already had fusible on it, but I stitched some of the pieced edges and also all around the perimeter. Then I covered each one with fusible vinyl (yes, there really is such a product!) to make them waterprooof (In this shot, only the one on the upper left has the vinyl on it. Click on the image to see it larger). Aren't they fun?
I had seen this idea in one of the articles in Cloth Paper Scissors, which mentioned the fusible vinyl, so I've been wanting to try it out. Another reason I needed a hostess gift was because I was invited to a cool "arty party" at Natalya Aiken's lovely home. Several FANE members were there as well as some SAQA members from out of town (two were visiting from Hawaii!). It was great to spend some time with such a great group of like-minded highly creative people! We shared some food and wine and chatted about so many things. We also had time to share some pieces we each had brought. Below is a shot of Jane Davila, Vivien Zepf, and Robin Ferrier admiring a WIP of Natalya's which is painted on a small vintage tablecloth.

Here is a shot of Natalya sharing a recently finished piece. The hand stitching on it was really amazing.

Now that my fun and artful weekend is almost over, it's time to be getting back to reality. Look at my work area - there are scraps of aqua fabric everywhere! I really need to spend a little time cleaning up. But I had so much fun making the first batch of coasters, maybe I'll use up some more of these scraps by making a few more. I have some family members with birthdays coming up....