Art Doll Adventures

The Blue Bird of Happiness is right after the Goddess of Eureka!

The weekend before Christmas, after 3 aborted tries, I finally got to take a glass bead making class.  Lampwork is the official term, mostly referencing the original oil-fueled lamps used to melt the glass.  The kit I got included a map gas canister with a special nozzle just for bead making, a bunch of richly colored glass rods, a cookie pan (for protection of the table) some mandrills (steel rods that are used to spin the glass on) and some stylish goggles… yellow very protective stylish googles.

This craft has been around since ancient Syrian times – that would be the 1st century – old stuff!

Last night, I stayed up late making eyeballs… still working on that… but what could be better than truly BEADY eyes!

Are you the Martha Stewart of your house hold?  Then you just have to make a bunch of these little fabric balls!  They are fun and easy to make up, and offer loads of options for embellishing and playing!

You can use them as a delightful accent to your decor or as charming holiday ornaments. However you choose to use them, you will find that they are great for showing off the magic of your Bernina Sewing Machine and your personal creative genius!

In this class you will learn:

• Basic Construction, sewing on the curve, sewing a 1/4 inch seam and turning and stuffing with ease.  (foot # 1 or #3)
• Couching   (foot # 43)
• Fabric Collage  (foot #3)
• freehand machine embroidery  (foot # 24)
• Cording  (foot # 22)  and more!

Beginner to Advanced

Where?: Angelics A Quilters Haven

Now that I live in Ohio with a pair of sofa-nested-bird-watchers and Meeme, the cougar of Stayman Avenue, (a Ragdoll Cat) I am acutely aware of the array of feathered distractions to be had!  So with that in mind and the fact that I made several versions of “the blue chickie of happiness” from my book and still have them in varying stages of finishedness around the studio, I am bird obsessed lately.

This one is pearched on a twig in a sparse forest of the smaller twigs.

Long ago I painted lots of different things with black and white stripes because my friend Laurel was always decked out in stripes – you never know how you are going to effect the people in your life – and recently I have cycled around to them again.

If you want to try this birdy, or one like it, check out the book!

Mystery Quilt

My dad looked over to the couch where I was ripping fabric into strips and then measuring them before I snipped them into 1″ x 1″ basically squarish squares.  “What are you doing?   Is that a ruler in your hand – are you measuring stuff?” “Oh come one Daddy, I’m making a quilt… Obviously!” I tried to give him the hairy eyeball, but I my eyes were busy watching my self put little squares in the correct color piles.  “You mean you are making a “quilty quilt? You?”  Isn’t he just cute.  Hah!  I ‘ll show him!

This from the man who spent 2 years of my childhood hunkered over his easel, listening to Wagners Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung, in English – this is an epic opera, in German, that makes Lord of the Rings sound like a visit to the park with Papa Smurf and Smurfette) at a brain-slapping volume, with a COMPASS, painting these….

Joe Hertzi Circle Painting

Yeah that was painted, back in those days, Hal was science fiction, and a Mac was a truck!  He used a ruling pen to get them perfect.  Of course he sold these right and left and probably still would if he would make some new ones.  (now he is into beads…) He is ridiculously talented and can draw and paint like nobodies business so my mom was mystified and my sister and I joked about darts… Now… he IS my real father. Bearing that in mind, here is my quilt…

LI Hertzi's first Quilty Quilt

No perfect points here!  Compass? Riiiiiight! Straight lines?  Nope.

This is the result of a mystery quilt at the Quilting Stars of Ohio quilt guild.  We got the directions, cut the pieces and then sewed it together at the prompts of the organizer, delightful woman, patient, very patient… I only ripped it out 4 times to get the green “squares” to line up… when I noticed the renegade pink triangle I simply rolled my eyes and quickly put the binding on so as to forestall any of my fathers genes from surfacing and forcing me to rip again!  I actually like how the squares are not square and how the points on the sun are a tad blunted in places.

Next time I will actually use a ruler, and one of those rotary cutter thingies – no more ripping, and maybe I could make the seam allowances all the same… Ah, life is about learning, and laughing at ourselves, right?

Happy Day to all of you talented People!

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