We had a few days of sunshine and warmer weather last week, just enough for my spring fever to kick into gear. Since it will be months before I can poke around in the garden, I’ll have to be content to poke around my studio and play with flowers indoors. When it comes to flowers, […]
Paintstiks, Stencils & Suede: A Gorgeous Combination!
In the middle of December, I holed up in my studio for a weekend and started playing with the suede I got from Bella Nonna Design Studio. Jayme and Megan have a new line of leather and suede, and Megan came to see me at the Houston Quilt Market to see if our Shiva Paintstiks would work with the leather.
I found that the finished leathers were not terribly interesting — it’s difficult for the paint to adhere to the smooth finish. But the suede — oh my goodness — it’s nothing short of fabulous! You really have to give this a try. It’s beyond fun and the possibilities for the finished suede are endless.
Bernina Likes Shelly’s Magic Mats!
I just got a lovely note from a friend to tell me that Bernina is featuring my Magic Mats in Issue 4 of Through the Needle, a free online publication. I knew the article was coming, but it’s always a thrill to see one of my projects in print. Happy me! Because we have so many new people in our community, I want to share the Magic Mats tutorial that I posted last summer. Enjoy!
Here’s a great little project for our DesignMagic stencils – or one of your own designs! My Magic Mats pattern is the simplest way to make a placemat that I can think of. All you need is two pieces of fabric, some interfacing, one paintstik, one brush, and one pair of DesignMagic stencils. It’s easy!
Celebrate the Season with Ornaments
As I look out the window, it’s truly starting to look like winter here in central Minnesota. We’ve got a fresh coating of snow and the air is full of big, fluffy snowflakes. It’s a perfect day to think about decorating for the holidays and it looks like weather this Thanksgiving weekend will be more suitable for hibernating in the sewing room than fighting the crowds at the shopping malls.
So I’ll pull out the paintstiks and a couple of our new sets of stencils and have some fun playing with gift bags and some simple decorations for the holidays. My graphic artist extraordinaire, Matthew Mills, did a fantastic job pulling some great images together for these stencils. The Ornaments are very classy and the variety of sizes works for large images and small. I hope you enjoy the new stencil designs as much as I do!
