I recently completed these two small pastels. They were gifts for my parents. I am going to call them successful, because I learned from them and because the receivers liked them. Honestly though, they did not turn out like the image in my head.

I am happy with them. And I know what I can do better next time.  For this first one, I did not have a pre-cut mat, so I mounted it on a textured paper with threads and wrinkles. I know there is a name for it, just is not coming to mind.

The seascape was a lot of fun too. For each of these, I realized I do not have the right yellows or oranges. (My clearance set of pastels is missing sticks.) I am really happy with my water. My dark clouds look like Tootsie rolls instead of cotton candy, so yeah, more practice needed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I also completed a fabric collection for Spoonflower’s Sewing Notions contest. The challenge was to create four coordinating designs. I don’t consider these particularly strong designs, but I completed all four in a two day span. That is a first for me, and I was really happy reaching that goal. I had to keep the designs simple due to the time frame.

Oh and… a computer glitch lost three of the designs, and I had to do them a second time from scratch.  I started with the needles, I knew I was going to do a chevron from the beginning. It was one of those ideas that came to me before I was even fully awake. The palette was there too.

That led to the pin cushions. I tried to make them abstract flowers. This element actually took the longest, lots of little parts in there, but due to the scale, the detail is really lost (another lesson). Still it is a useful design.

The contest was guest judged by Denyse Schmidt of Love Patchwork & Quilting Magazine. With quilting in mind, I added a bright check to the mix. (see the sampler below) I pulled colors from the pin cushions, knowing that I needed to wake up these two very subdued patterns.

The last design pulls in the same  bright colors, and adds new shapes in a basic toss pattern.  That red packs a punch right?  The buttons were really fun to work on.

You can click on the pattern images to see a larger view, or get a glimpse of how they would look in the yard view. Each design is available individually, or as a one yard sampler. I’d love to hear what you think. You can see the fabulous winning designs here.