Welcome!

Thank you for visiting artful embellishments. This is the third year for this blog and I am so happy to keep publishing. I started in 2011 and began with a quilt of the week, this lead to the leaf of the week for my newly designed paper tree that is located on the wall of my garage in 2012.......2013 is going to bring a lot of excitement and positive change. As a personal challenge for 2013, I plan on designing a artist trading card each week to be featured on the blog.
With so many interests, there will be quilting, art quilting, leaves (and more leaves), as well as experiments in thermofax screen printing, fabric dying, and tons of DIY recycle projects. I may even enter that altered fashion scene. To a happy and healthy 2013, may we all find happiness in those things we create....thank you for stoping by artful embellishments.

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Cross Village Rug Works

Cross Village Rug Works was such a fantastic place. They made custom rugs by hooking wool and by using looms. It was located near the famous Leggs Inn Restaurant and I frequently visited to see the progress on the numerous rugs. In the fall of 2009 they offered a class in which you could make a rug of your own. It was a two day affair and I have included pictures of myself and my sister. It was such an absolute blast. My finished rooster is featured for this blog. I think of rug works every time I come to cross village, I wish they wouldn't have closed. It was such a great destination. Prior to their closing I bought a shelf that was made of wood (featured in an earlier blog post) and some of the wool roving that was hand dyed. I still use the wool in many of my quilts and I cannot look at my pillow without thinking of that magical weekend. The building is still vacant where the rug works was located. I still think it would make one neat studio....... For all of those places and projects that hold special memories......until my next post. XO


Sunday, July 8, 2012

Botulism-See Beauty


See Beauty! Sometimes in our day to day lives it is difficult to find beauty in the little things. Cloth Paper Scissors magazine was offering a challenge for "felted wonders". I love my felting machine but was at a creative road block. My friend Jamie was pulling her mail out of her box at work when I spotted the cover. It was absolutely gorgeous. I asked her if I could have it for inspiration. The electron microscope picture was of botulism. There were vibrant purples, oranges, reds, yellows, and blues. I felted the quilt with pure dyed wool roving. The small spore forming bacteria were constructed from wool roving and old nylon scarves in yellow and green. Black nylon scarves were felted around the border. The scarves were then hand stitched with purple cotton embroidery floss. Large orange beads were added for dimension. Finally a quote from an old dictionary defines beauty and a cool dog tag that says "see" was pinned on the front. As a reminder, remember, beauty is everywhere you just have to open your eyes.

Saturday, July 7, 2012

Hat Boxes Quilt

The Hat Boxes Quilt is from Kaffe Fassett's book Passionate Patchwork. Another quilters must have. His use of color is so amazing. This quilt was made using floral fabrics with earth under tones for the divisions between the hat boxes. As an added punch of color, the had boxes are outlined in a blanket stitch in bright red fabric. The gloves and hankies are all vintage finds from yard sales. This is one of my favorite quilts and I have it in my bedroom so that I see it everyday!