Flower Collages for Alexa and Fiona...

Just in time for Valentine's Day! I have been working on these collages for Fiona and Alexa since August. Sad- but true, the handwork is what takes the longest. I am not a fast needle worker. I used to fret over it, then I realized that I don't do it to win a raise. It's not a contest to see what crafter creates the most in a month, I do it because I love to do it. I enjoy the "slowness" of handwork, especially with the crazy fast life style most of us reluctantly live today.

I embroidered the flowers on a painted dryer sheet and a dyed Shout Color Catcher. I had read in Quilting Arts about a woman who quilted with them. This bright pink one was dyed with just the smallest amount of food coloring. They absorb color like a sponge and when fused to some light weight interfacing they make a great surface to embroider on.

For the collage portion I used a 6 x 6 stretched canvas bored (I use the cheap kind because I cover so much of it up). I have never used Gesso, although I would like to try -just haven't wanted to spend the money on it yet. That being said I usually paint a plain layer of acrylic paint on my canvas usually in the color I'm thinking of using the most of. From there I just start layering tissue paper, dryer sheets, wrapping paper; whatever I can find that looks interesting. Then I play with layering some more paint on it. I got really lucky last fall while visiting the local antique mall, I found a large ledger journal dating back to about 1910. I think it had to have been a ledger for a dry goods store because there are notes in there about flour and sugar to hay and pig feed. It's funny, the journal is about 11 x 14 and is about 2 inches thick but I treat it as if it were the last drop of water on the earth! You don't find treasures like that to often!

I was really excited that I finished these in time for Valentine's Day. The girls have been watching me doing the embroidery for the last several months and they have been so patient. They recently decided that they wanted to share a bedroom, so they have decided they are going to put these on the wall above their beds. I'm so flattered; nothing makes me beam more than when my kids compliment my creations. Happy Valentine's Day!