A Wrap-Up

Last autumn I gave you a sneak preview of a wrap-around tunic I was working on at the time. I finished it eventually, but I haven't yet shown you the result.

The pattern for the tunic is from the book Simple Modern Sewing. 8 Basic Patterns to Create 25 Favorite Garments (Interweave). It's the tunic you can see on the cover. It's a fairly simple pattern, but I had some difficulties with it, as there were errors and vagueness in both the pattern and the directions. But with a little help and good advice from a colleague I finished it, and I'm pretty pleased with the result.

I added an intricate design in raw-edge reverse appliqué on the back:

It would have made a lot of sense to free-motion sew the appliqué, but I actually sewed it with the feed dogs up and an open-toed presser foot (appliqué foot), and a short stitch length. I wanted full control of the stitch length, to make sure that the appliquéd fabric won't fall apart when I wash the garment. It took me hours to sew the design, with a lot of lifting and lowering the presser foot in the curves, and then hours to carefully cut out the design, but it was doable. Here's a detail:

Now I'm working on this skirt. Again, I've made changes to the pattern, so it's slow work, but I've made good progress. My skirt will be in red and black with a Japanese theme. I hope I'll be able to show you images soon!

Have a great week, and thanks for visiting my blog! - Annika

Where Did the Weekend Go?

Gosh, the weekend just flew past me, and here we are: Sunday evening again. I promised you more images of my spray printing experiments, and here they are.

I used stencils and masks (hand made, commercial, as well as found ones), and printed with them each time I'd sprayed over them. No point in wasting good paint! So I have both positive and negative prints now. Very nice. Another thing I tried was spraying wet into wet, and letting the paint seep through the fabric onto another peice of fabric underneith. That produced the cool patterning you can see second to the right in the bottom photo. Spraying is fun. You should try it!

Thanks for visiting, and have a good week! - Annika

Spray Printing in a Small Space

I'll do a quickie this week. But I wanted to show you what I've been up to. There will be more images later, so stay tuned!

This week's theme was spray printing. Here's a print I made with stencils that were wet with paint after I'd sprayed over them. Instead of rinsing or wiping them clean, I printed with them. Waste not, want not.

If anyone wonders where I work, I'll show you a view of my kitchen table when I'm in the middle of spray printing.

As you can see, I did my best to avoid splattering the furniture and window. I still managed to spray the yellow chair a little. Oh, well.

Space is always an issue, and this time I found this solution. Not the best one, but I had to make do. And, no, I don't normally store anything on the stove, and I don't recommend it to anyone either. But as I said, I had to make do this time.

I rent, so the green tiles are not my choice, by the way... ;-)

Thanks for stopping by, and have a great week! - Annika

Winter Blooming

Since I've been absent from this blog so much this past autumn and winter, I have a lot of catching up to do. Here's another project that I haven't shared with you yet. I learned this technique from Linda Kemshall. She calls the technique 'hydrangea blooming' in an episode of Design Matters TV. I just had to try it. There are four layers of cotton in this hanging bag; three of which I've cut open on the grain, to produce maximum fraying. I like the way the frayed threads form stamens in the middle of the blooms.

Speaking of blooms, here's an image of an amaryllis I was given by some of my students at the end of term in early December. It bloomed just before Christmas, again after New Year, and now it has produced a third stem, which is very short, but with full-sized flowers. Amazing!

Here's a view of my neighbourhood this time of year. We had gorgeous winter weather at the start of the week, and I treated myself to some free light therapy. The snow catching the sunlight and frost on the tree branches was a sight for light-starved eyes.

 Have a great week, and remember to drop by again soon! - Annika

News from Planet Sålunda

I hope the new year has started well for everyone. I spent the holidays in Larsmo (500 km to the north) with my parents and my adopted pet-sister Fia the Terri(fi)er. She made sure I got out of bed by bursting into my room almost every morning, and jumping into my bed.

When I got back it was time to start planning classes again, and to set up an exhibition, where I, together with three other teachers at Arbis (the adult education centre where I work), will exhibit our work until 26 January. Here's a photo of my corner of the exhibition:

The beautiful oil painting in the background is painted by Hanna Uggla, who's an art teacher at Arbis. Here's a link with information about who, where and when.

No sooner did the classes start than I was hit by a nasty cold. So I've been lying low, trying to cure myself. Not an easy task, as I'm a impatient patient. But since I wasn't strong enough for physical activities, I did some thinking instead; about what I did this past autumn, and how I could do things differently now, to make more room for myself and my friends and family. And this poor neglected blog! I was actively making things all autumn, but never found the time and energy to show you. Here's a sample of some of the printing I did for the fabric design class:

The samples include printing with hand-carved eraser stamps, softcut stamps and linoleum stamps, engraved foam stamps, glue stamps, found stamps, monoprinting and found stencils. I've been having fun while working like a horse! And there's more coming up. I love teaching this class.

And I finished the two Pretty Purses I showed you in my last blog entry:

The photos don't do them justice, as you can't really see the glitzy quilting in lilac-silver metallic thread on the top purse and violet-gold metallic thread on the bottom purse. But it'll give you an idea. Both these purses will be for sale at the Arbis Fair in March, where teachers will be able to show what they do and sell their products and artwork. So I need to warm up the sewing machine and get cracking!

Thanks for visiting, and see you again soon! - Annika

On the First Day of Christmas...

Happy holidays everyone! I’m sorry that I’ve been a stranger to this blog all autumn. I’ve been working hard, and I guess sometimes you just have to give yourself a break and accept that you don’t always have time and energy for everything. I’ve neglected a lot of the things I normally love to do, but now I feel it’s time to reclaim those things. I guess it’s all about planning: I need to consciously make time for art again, as well as blogging. I’m starting with a short update on what I’ve been up to so far during my Christmas break.

I’ve been working on two new Pretty Purses:

Purse 1, quilted (in progress)

Purse 2, quilted (in progress)

and with added hand embroidery (in progress)

I’m also working on a mini quilt with the same poppy motif I used last summer.

Surface designed fabric ready to be quilted

Quilted, and with some hand embroidery (in progress)

And, joy of joys, I did some work in my sketchbook, inspired by patterns I found on a gift wrap and a flower pot:

And of course I have a Christmas knitting project…

for when I want to relax in the sofa with Fia the Terri(fi)er. (Mum’s busy hands can be seen knitting in the background.)

I hope you're having a wonderful holiday season! Thanks for dropping by! - Annika

Whoo-Hoo?

I'm sorry that I have been a stranger to this blog this autumn! I hope you haven't forgotten me. It's not that I've been idle, on the contrary. I've been working like a horse with all sorts of crafts. I just haven't had the time and energy to blog about it all afterwards. I hope that will change soon! Until then, here's an image of a fun little wishing owl I did with the kids. (It's based on Lynn Krawczyk's pattern.) 

Thanks for still remembering me! - Annika