Karen's Muse and Musings

So Cute!

Recently I made a couple of dresses for my granddaughters Kathleen and Leighton. I thought the dresses turned out really cute, but they look even cuter on these adorable models.

Kathleen, age 2

Leighton, age 8 months

 

From Skinny to Fat

If you follow my blog, you know about my Oh My Gothic group. We formed about 3 years ago to do a collaborative art swap each year. First year we made gothic arch-shaped pages, and the second year we made house-shaped pages. Last year we did skinny book pages, 4" wide by 8" tall. Now we are creating fat book pages, a 4" square. We are wising up in that we are now only seriously arting up one side. Still, I managed to be late. The page above is my June page, and it's for the very creative Lenna. It's a fabric collage stitched onto watercolor paper. You may recognize the bird. It's a scan of the Lincoln sparrow I painted a few weeks ago. The words (oh, by the way, Lenna's theme is quotes) are from Emily Dickinson.

Hope is the thing with feathers   
That perches in the soul,   
And sings the tune without the words,   
And never stops at all,   
 
And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm   
That could abash the little bird   
That kept so many warm.   
 
I’ve heard it in the chillest land,   
And on the strangest sea;        
Yet, never, in extremity,   
It asked a crumb of me.

Lenna puts together the most amazing swaps. You should check out her swap blog here if you love to create and swap art.

A Cute Birdie with a Funny Name

This is my latest fabric collage featuring my painting of a little British bird, the long-tailed tit. I made a slight mistake when painting him by making his eye a bit too large, but it had the effect of making him quite cute, at least in my opinion. I have been wanting to mix in some paper into these collages, so the postmark and stamp are from an old envelope, dated 1906.

 

Sing Little Bird

Here's my little Carolina Wren all set up in his new home. This is the sixth bird fabric collage I've put together in the last week and a half, but this one is smaller, about 5" x 6". I love this small size. Also, this one does not have the original painting, but a scan of my original painting printed on fabric. The wren is standing on a "branch" of wired ribbon that I ruffled. Now, unfortunately, I have to take a break from these because I have a couple of art swap commitments to fulfill.

A Bit of Whimsy

This is my whimsical rufous-sided towhee also called the eastern towhee. I was happy to find a use for those pretty orange buttons because they are pretty special, being vintage bakelite. I have decided not to put a twig at the top of this one, but I am not sure yet how I will hang it. I will think of something. The quote is from Emily Dickinson (who else?), and here is her complete poem.

A bird came down the walk:   
He did not know I saw;   
He bit an angle-worm in halves   
And ate the fellow, raw.   
 
And then he drank a dew
From a convenient grass,   
And then hopped sidewise to the wall   
To let a beetle pass.   
 
He glanced with rapid eyes   
That hurried all abroad,—   
They looked like frightened beads, I thought   
He stirred his velvet head   
 
Like one in danger; cautious,   
I offered him a crumb,   
And he unrolled his feathers
And rowed him softer home   
 
Than oars divide the ocean,   
Too silver for a seam,   
Or butterflies, off banks of noon,   
Leap, plashless, as they swim.

Soon I will be selling these bird fabric collages or quilties in my Etsy shop, but if you are interested in purchasing one, contact me.

The Chaffinch

Here's my latest fabric collage featuring one of my painted birds. This little guy is a chaffinch. Now this one will definitely not be showing up at my feeders because he is European. He's very common in Western Europe, and, according to Wikipedia, he's the second most common bird in the British Isles.

Baltimore Oriole Is Here!

Baltimore Orioles usually don't make it to our area, so I painted one. They are very handsome birds, aren't they?

High from the earth ...

I did it. I tore myself away from the computer and other distractions long enough to make this  project using the nuthatch that I painted on muslin. I cut it out and sewed it into this little fabric collage. The words at the top are from a poem by my favorite poet, Emily Dickinson. Here is the complete poem.

High from the earth I heard a bird;   
  He trod upon the trees   
As he esteemed them trifles,   
  And then he spied a breeze,   
And situated softly   
  Upon a pile of wind   
Which in a perturbation   
  Nature had left behind.   
A joyous-going fellow   
  I gathered from his talk,
Which both of benediction   
  And badinage partook,   
Without apparent burden,   
  I learned, in leafy wood   
He was the faithful father
  Of a dependent brood;   
And this untoward transport   
  His remedy for care,—   
A contrast to our respites.   
  How different we are!

I have to show you the back side of this piece because I like it almost as much as the front. My friend, Caryl, gave me some of this gorgeous mock suede fabric when she sent me my skinny book page.

You Say Tussie Mussie ...

I say cone! Whatever you call them, I just participated in a one-on-one swap of these little treasures. My swap partner was the very talented Lou McCulloch. Our deadline was May Day, so I had that special day in mind as I created my cone from fabrics I quilted together, added laces and ribbons, and sewed on buttons. Finally I stuffed it with flowers and ephemera. Here are some views of the cone I made for Lou. Tomorrow I will show you photos of the stunning cone Lou made for me. I'm saving the best until last.

She's a Fabric House!

I'm participating in another welcome banner swap. If you follow my blog, you may remember that we have now done banners for fall, Christmas and Valentine's Day. My assignment was one of the E's in the word welcome, and when I receive the banners from the other participants, I'll have a complete set spelling out W-E-L-C-O-M-E. This time we decided to do a house shape, and I think this is my favorite. For the background fabric, I started with a wheat-colored denim, stamped on it with different script stamps and pressed the Wild Honey Distress inkpad directly on the fabric in a few spots. The bird is the Carolina Wren that I painted recently, although not the original. I scanned it and printed it onto inkjet fabric. It's a great feeling to get extra mileage from my artwork. I have two of these done now — five more to go!