Upholstery Swatches

I acquired a handful of upholstery swatches last weekend, which I thought I would play around with as the base fabric for a succulent quilt. I arranged the pieces, and then overlapped them just enough to zigzag stitch them together.

I’ve been trying to talk myself into the next step, which was supposed to be to add imagery in thread and paint to add to my Succulent series. But I like it the way it is. I could add just a bit of quilting, and turn it into a purse or small bag of some sort.

I think I will leave it on my design wall for a week, and see what the theme is for next Friday’s challenge. Maybe I can incorporate what I have started.

Sketchbook Excercises

Saturday was a CQFA day. Jaye shared her journals with us, and then gave us some prompts to get us sketching.


Jaye instructed us to draw a line, enclose it with a curved shape, and draw small shapes around the larger one. I made myself fill the page after I got home with various textures.

She also gave us some word prompts “spiral”, “flame”, and “arches”. My spiral ended up with leaves, and then I put a candle on the same page for a flame. And then I filled this page also. My arches aren’t worth showing. I think I will paint over it and try again another day.

I like to use pen for sketching. If I use pencil, the temptation is too great to do lots of erasing to fix mistakes. Since perfect drawings aren’t my goal when I make sketches, the pen works fine. If I need to, I can start over on a clean sheet, paint over it, or go over the lines I do like with a colored marker.

It’s good to get the sketchbook out again. I haven’t done anything in it for nearly a year. Maybe I should put it in my tote so I can sketch at odd moments.

Completed Kalanchoes

Succulents IX and X are completed. These will probably end up matted and framed similar to the last two Succulents.

Kalanchoe Project Started

Yesterday, I started the Fast Friday Challenge announced a week ago. I’ve got a good start on two small 5 x 7 pieces.
We are supposed to pick a color scheme from product packaging. I purposely let the yellow and blue run together to create some green.

Christmas Preparations

We finally got a tree put up last weekend. I kept the branches trimmed from the bottom of the tree, and tied them into a wreath. My daughter decorated it with a beaded garland and added a bow.

I’ve been on a tote bag sewing marathon. Mostly for gifts for the small nieces and nephews. I picked out a different upholstery fabric for each one, so each would be unique. I have a couple more to get done.

Have a great Christmas.

Chocolate Cake with Ganache Topping

I had to make chocolate ganache after thinking about it for several weeks for my Photoshop project. A birthday cake for my husband last weekend was the perfect excuse. The sides are frosted with whipped cream.

Ganache is wonderfully rich, and super simple to make. Equal parts Chocolate and cream (I used semi-sweet chocolate chips). Bring the cream to a boil, pour over the chocolate, and stir until the chocolate is blended in.

A few more Photoshop projects

A tinted black and white photo, and the same photo colored with Pantone color spots.
The product and brand on this Photoshop label are completely made up:

The raspberry photo I used on the label is by Stuart Whitmore. It is a free photo downloaded from http://www.morguefile.com

The label I created was turned into a 3d object for use in this advertisement for my final project:

The chocolate cake photo is by: Clara Natoli. It was also a free photo from http://www.morguefile.com.