From Nasty to Chic!

I think most artgirls would agree with me that there's almost nothing nastier than second-hand office furniture, especially upholstered chairs. Even with a strong stomach, I hesitate to speculate about the source of the stains that are inevitably sprinkled about the fabric. But look what local gal, Tammy did with just such an eyesore using a can of cream colored paint and some vintage fabric...

Yee-haw! You are an absolute inspiration! I will suffer hideous desk chairs no more!

As if there weren't ENOUGH birds!

And yet another fabric depiction of a bird. This time I used the shape from my last project and just casually stitched around it a few times. Then I went back and forth kind of crazy-like to create the tail feathers. Easy peasy and pretty fun looking...if you don't mind a few wrinkles. I love the funky stitch I used to attached the colored dots...it reminds me of bird footprints in the sand.

A different sort of 'paint by number'

Here is an embroidery piece from a kit I bought several years ago (ahem) that I finally finished. It was the perfect project for those times when I wanted my hands to be busy but I wasn't feeling all that creative, or I just didn't want to make a big mess in my art room (or more likely I already HAD a big mess and didn't want to clean it up so I could work on something else).

I haven't decided what I'm going to do with it. Well, ironing it would be the first step, I suppose. I suspect I'll piece together some cool fabric for a background and think of a fun way to display it...maybe hanging from a small branch.

And this is from a table runner I found at the Goodwill Outlet store in Seattle. There are literally huge piles of fabric-y things (clothes, linens, pillows) to sort through, but at pennies per serving (they charge by the pound of merchandise), it's worth it. I always take everything home and immediately toss it into the washing machine. Then I have fun cutting it up (if it's clothing) and adding it to my (ever growing) stash of fabric fun-ness.

Design your own fabric!

There's a great site that allows you to design your own fabric. It's called Spoonflower and it's as easy as 1...2...3.

Yep...all you have to do is upload (or is it download???) an image onto their site, figure out what repeating design you want (I choose "half drop") and then select how much fabric you'd like to order.

1...2...3. It's that easy. Being smitten with sock monkeys lately, I couldn't help but order myself a little fabric. I have NO idea what I'll make with it, but that's rather beside the point, isn't it?

More photographic wonderfulness...

I happened upon a roll of this "Jantzen" ribbon at a garage sale last summer. It must have been made for undergarments or swimsuits (notice the little diving figure?) I have no idea what size "26" is, but I'm pretty sure I haven't been it for a long time.