Bonjour and welcome 😊. I've taken some me-time to play with watercolours and stitching. It's been so much fun! I love watercolours, the way that they mix with each other to make something different. I have no interest in becoming a proficient painter, rather I want to make cool marks and blobs that I can stitch into (spoken like a true fibre artist😁)
Creating Bold Botanicals
I've been following Helen Wells, a very cool British artist, who exudes energy! She does wonderful work in her sketch books and loves to share and teach. Last winter I bought her virtual Creating Bold Botanicals course and I finally took a day this week to do it. It was wonderful!
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| My first Bold Botanicals sketch book |
The sketchbook is a work in progress. I painted watercolour botanical shapes on 5 pages of sketching paper and then used lightly coloured card stock to paint various designs that end up being vases and such. I cut out funky vase shapes from the card stock pages and collaged them onto the botanical pages. I'm afraid I got carried away and didn't take any progress photos.
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| The front page of my accordion sketch book |
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| The back page of my accordion sketch book |
I couldn't wait to put the accordion book together. The book is rather wonky, just like its botanicals and vases! 😃Then I started stitching into the book. As you can imagine, that's my favourite part. Here are some details of the stitching. I mostly used the running stitch in various colours and thickness of thread. It'll be fun to experiment with various colours - some of the thread blends in but we also need colours that pop.
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| Stitching on paper - what fun! |
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| Running stitch and chain stitch |
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| Part of the accordion book |
January's One Monthly Goal (OMG)
I've been playing a lot...mostly as a procrastination technique. I really want to get the Cowboy panel quilt finished. If I work hard, it can be finished by the end of January!!!
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| January's OMG |
What I learned
- As I stitch, I can examine what happens with the watercolour paints. The way that they blend and play with each other is so fun. I also used a bamboo stick to spread around the paint, like a pencil.
- Helen suggested that we use thick sketching paper (instead of watercolour paper) - so that it's not intimidating or feels too precious. That was a great idea but I'm looking forward to using water colour paper because it's so much easier to stitch into.
- I should have stitched some of the pages before turning them into an accordion book. Once attached to each other, they are awkward to stitch into. That's why I've worked more on the front and back pages.😊
- I used a half inch fold to stick the pages together - I should have used one inch. It would have made for a sturdier book.
- For Christmas, JJ got me another of Helen Wells' course - Nature and Nurture. I'm looking forward to sketching natural objects and then use watercolour paints.
- A couple of years ago in the TextileArtist.org's Stitch Club, we had a workshop with Sam Owen where we used water colours and then stitched onto them. I've wanted to explore this further - so this will be my chance.
- Helen Wells, Website and online courses
- Stitching and watercolour (with Sam Owen), August 03, 2023
Linking parties
I'll be linking to many fun linking parties, including January's OMG.
I Quilted This!
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Welcome to the I Quilted This! linking party. I'll be featuring the projects from last week's party that included FMQ, ruler work or walking foot quilting. Thank you everyone who linked up.
Feel free to grab the button.
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| Christmas placemat made by Donnalee |
Deb, the Scrappy Quilter, made this gorgeous quilt through the Spring String sew along. Those lovely brown and blue fabrics really go well together.
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| Deb's first finished Spring String quilt |
Melva of Melva Loves Scraps finished her RSC Color Wash Hexagons - what a great quilt.
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| Melva's RSC Color Wash Hexagons |
It's now your turn!
This is a really pretty effect :)
ReplyDeleteI think it would be challenging to stitch through paper. You are having fun and that's the important thing. Happy stitching and I hope you reach your goal with the cowboy quilt!
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