Crocheted Charms

These are six charms that I made for the "A Charming Summer" trade on Fiber Art Traders (FAT).  I made the little flowers from a pattern I found on the internet.  I then embellished with buttons and beads.  The only requirement was that they be 2" or less and have a jump ring attached.  Fun trade.  I'm anxious to see the charms I get in return.

Olympic Plus Size Inchies

A swap was recently posted on Fiber Art Traders (F.A.T.) for Olympic Plus Size Inchies. Plus size inchies measure 1 1/2" x 1 1/2". We were to make 4 sets of 5. One we keep and four we trade. I decided to use the theme OLYMPIC ART. I found these lovely painted vases dating from 300-500 B.C. on one of the Olympic websites. Vases show events still in the Olympics today (Boxing, foot race, distance race, and two wrestling) I have identified the event on the back of the inchie.

Photos were sized and printed on fabric sheets. I used Peltex as a base. The background is brown cotton fabric. Photos were fused onto background fabric. The edges are satin stitched in black thread.

This is my second swap on F.A.T.

Needle felting class Janome

I attended a "free" class on Tuesday at Mulqueen's Sewing Center in Mesa. It was sponsored by Janome. We felted fibers on organza with the Janome felting machine and then used the Janome 11000 Embroidery machine to applique the felted fabric onto a piece of wool which had been felted with fibers. We used a leaf pattern. We were to make a small pillow but of course, I didn't make the pillow. I brought my fabric home and gave it more colors. The wool background was white and wasn't as colorful as I would like. I painted it with fabric dye. I also added more needle felting with a very sparkly lightweight fiber that I purchased at The Fiber Factory (don't remember the name of the fibers). The ladies at the Fiber Factory weren't sure if the fiber could be dyed. I was able to dye them a very light color and then added them to the piece to give it some sparkle. I plan to use the piece as the center of a wallhanging. I found a piece of tie dye in my stash that I think will look great as a background. This will be a next week project as I am swamped with projects at this time.

Out of the Blue Mystery Trade

I joined a new yahoo group recently, Fiber Art Traders (F.A.T.) and this is my first swap in their group. The Trade is called "Out of the Blue Mystery Trade". We were to use the following items: fabric in some form of blue, recycled piece of plastic, thread or yarn, something from nature, and a circle.

I called this art piece "ONE FISH, BLUE FISH". The fabric is shades of blue wool that I found in a bundle at the thrift store. The bubble is both my circle and recycled plastic. The seaweed and waves are made from various yarns. The twigs are from the orange tree in the backyard.

I cut the wool fabric into strips. I then used a weave pattern and attached to a piece of canvas with my felting machine. I then added the yarn waves and seaweed with the felting machine. The fish pin was added and circles were cut from plastic packaging. I embellished the circles with Stickles and attached with Diamond Glaze. I also used stickles on the twigs and glued them to the piece with Ultimate Glue. I then added a backing and binding. I'm quite pleased with this "little work of art". Hope the group likes it.