Several things finished this week!

(Above:  Mandala CLXXIV. Custom framed: 26" x 26". Found objects hand-stitched to a block of a vintage blue-and-white quilt.  Objects include:  Vintage Coke 3D movie glasses; five, souvenir Coke coasters; Tinker Toy connectors; small and large, red plastic lids; black-and-red coffee K-pods; blue poker chips; black aluminum can tabs; assorted buttons and beads. $575 plus SC sales tax. Click on any image to enlarge.)

I generally have at least two projects going on at the same time.  Often, the projects on which I am working seem to get finished within twenty-four hours of one another.  That happened this week!  Thankfully, I was already designing two new mandalas!  Yet, they are both coming along quite nicely.  I might need to start something else soon.  Above it the first piece finished this week.  When I first laid out some of the Coke souvenirs, I wasn't sure I would like this piece.  It sat unstitched for about a week until I realized that all it would need was a red running stitch around the blue patchwork.  This simple solution really tied the piece together ... uniting the negative space with the areas on which the objects were stitched.  I'm really happy now!  There are two detail shots at the end of this post.

(Above:  In Box CDXIV.  12" x 12". Layers of polyester stretch velvet fused to recycled black felt before being free-motion machine stitched and subjected to my melting techniques.)

When I was busy constructing the four, new Large Lancet Windows, I wasn't sure I'd have the time to make this donation to the annual SAQA (Studio Art Quilt Associates) benefit auction.  Yet, everything was sitting out on my work table and I was so pleased with my new melting tool ... well ... I told myself to "find the time".  It was finished, photographed, and shipped by the next day!  The deadline is June 30th but my June is already totally booked!  It really was a "now or never" decision!  I'm glad I did it! 

(Above:  Mandala CLXXXV. Custom framed: 16 1/2" x 16 1/2". Found objects hand-stitched to the back of a vintage quilt section.  Objects include:  A well worn sanding disc on a ViewMaster reel; four, old wooden, red checkers; four vintage bottle openers; copper-colored aluminum can tabs; four, toy motorcycles; four, red casino chips; glass lamp prisms and assorted buttons. $295 plus SC sales tax.) 

I was sad when my framing distributor discounted this line of picture frame moulding.  I liked all of the colors and both widths in which it came ... especially this two-inch wide, rustic red profile.  We had a short stick left and no way to acquire any more.  I told Steve to build me the largest square he could get out of the leftover stick.  I promised to make a mandala to fit it.  Okay ... that was months ago, even before we moved.  I found the frame early this past week and decided it was time to make good on my promise.  The timing must have been right!  It only took a day or so to design, stitch, and mount the work.  I'm especially pleased with the four, rusty metal stars that I stitched to the corners. Yes!  I drilled little holes in the frame in order to stitch the stars down with buttons!  To keep them in place, I did add a dab of hot glue behind each one! 

(Above:  Kinsfolk IX.  Anonymous, hand-colored photo on convex cardboard surrounded by a section of an antique crazy quilt and under a layer of pale orange bridal tulle with trinkets, crocheted circles, and fabric yoyos.)

I started stitching on this piece at least two or three weeks ago but didn't finish it until now.  Why?  Well, it is always possible to add a few more bits of embroidery when working on a crazy quilt!  The original wasn't particularly fancy. Not all the seams had any embellishments.  It was hard to determine when "enough is enough" ... until now!  I'm on the look out for more of these old, larger photographs.  Why?  Well I adore the random approach to crazy quilt stitching and I have a couple of antique crazy quilts (almost all in rather poor condition) that could be used for this series!  I hope to find some soon!

(Above and below:  Details of Mandala CLXXIV.)