Whew! Bazaar Over!

Just finished a two day bazaar!  Thought I would share a funny picture of my granddaughter helping me.  Klee told me that she was there to provide me with "comic relief" on the slow afternoon! I think all the customers were out enjoying the sunshine--that much sunshine and 75 degree weather in March is unusual for Oregon!    She tried on my children's aprons and  drew pictures for me!  She really was a crack-up!  Anyway, here's a 15 year old modeling a little child apron (note the sweat shirt sliding off her shoulders!   :) chuckle! chuckle!

This is my GD that will be gone for nearly a year as an exchange student to Taiwan-- leaving in August! I will miss her and her help with craft shows!

Now, that the Spring craft shows are finished, I can move on to all the work involved with opening my new online shop. If you are interested in getting a monthly newsletter about the opening--and all things new at Pruitt Creations and Abigail Jayne Art--there is sign up on the right sidebar.  Thanks!

Spring Bazaar for Easter

This weekend, well, Friday and Saturday not Easter Sunday, I will be a vendor at the Carver School Spring Bazaar!  Should be lots of fun, since there will be loads of children and their families there!

Here's a sneak peek (since I am into sneak peeks lately :) of my booth items!  Lots of things for children! Hair clips, child tote bags, toddler backpacks, including a few handy things for mom.

Wish me luck and happy sales!

Taking a Bath - Wordless Wednesday

The other day at the riverside . . .

Look closer . . . What's that you are doing there, buddy? . . . . enjoying your bath???

Monday's Inspiration Project!

Two weeks ago I asked for my readers' input on choosing some fabrics for a project. Most people didn't like the bright pink option for my Spring project, although I did. Sew . .  I took their advice--thanks to all who commented-- I  left out the bright fabric from my project.  I will use it in another project!  Here is the original inspiration post. Actually, in leaving out the bright pink, I played off of the focus piece of fabric with the ice blue in it and used that color for the flower blossoms--although I don't think it shows up well on my monitor--hope it comes out better on yours!

Although I am not completely finished with this mini art quilt, because it needs "a little tweaking",  I thought  might share it anyway with the Inspire Me Monday linky today.  Here is the nearly finished mini quilt.

I'm going to add another small "branch" to the bottom left corner!  It looks a little bare in that portion of the piece!   May add a few more embellishments too!  Later this piece will be available in my new shop, AbigailJayneArt.  Love to have you visit in April when I open.  (should be between the 10th and the15th.)

Thanks to all my readers for participating in this little project! 

 I appreciate you! 

Emerging Foggy Spring

March, being the month of early Spring, was the month that I signed up to present a challenge for my favorite Etsy team.  This Spring challenge for the Blogging Business Artisans was called  Emerging Foggy Spring  (which is the title of my finished piece too!) and I wrote the challenge this way:

I am proposing that we try something this month that is a little softer.  I call it - Emerging Foggy Spring. Let's explore color in terms of tint. In color theory, a tint is the mixture of a color with white, which increases lightness. We often create with bright color and ignore tints of color. Create a project with muted tints leaving lots of white space, if you can. This project is to challenge your thought processes about color, using tints. Don't be intimidated by the absence of bright color. Get creative!

So here is what I came up with, and mind you, I didn't even have a clue what I was going to do, back when I signed up for presenting this challenge.  I have been thinking about it quite a bit, and today I got an idea.  

I started with a bunch of scrap fabric and made a crazy quilt block.  I decided to explore the WRONG side of the fabric.  Many fabrics have a whitish reverse side, where the color has only bled thru in the screen printing process. The pattern is not actually woven into the yardage. Thus it has a tinted look.  

At first, it was a bit daunting to my brain, sewing wrong sides together, since I am used to sewing with the right sides facing each other.  As you can see, I actually did the bottom two strips and the top right hand corner with the "right" side up to facilitate the design that I had in mind.  

Here is what is looks like on the "wrong" side --that I am not using--more colorful and not the stuff of this challenge:

Next, I made a quilt sandwich with it, adding the batting and backing and quilting a scene to it.  I used different colors of thread, from black to gray to white, to create the tree's depth in the fog, but it is hard to detect in this photo. (WOW, do I need a new camera--not just this phone camera--broke my good camera!- Maybe you can click on the photo and zoom in and see what I am talking about.)

Anyway, using the right side up in the bottom strips has created a more "real" look in the foreground.  The flower field then fades into the fog with the next strip being reversed to the tint side.  I also have the sun peaking thru the clouds at the top right using the "right" side of the fabric for the sun's brightness.

The actual quilting process shows the tree, flowers and swirling fog of the scene on top of the muted fabrics. 

Reverse of my quilt sandwich

I haven't decided yet how I will bind the little mini quilt, but I am quite proud of the way that it has turned out for a simple afternoon's work!  

P.S.  Linking today with Pink Saturday! 

Wordless Wednesday Walk on the Beach

P.S. Linking to day with:
In Him We Live and Move
Aquariann's Wordless Wednesday
Nanny to Mommy WW

Monday's Work Table

Work in progress:  

YO-YO hair clips and barettes!

I've been making yo-yo hair clips, until I am practicably blue in the face! A big Spring show is coming up and my inventory has to be up!  I tried to stick to Eastery Spring colors, but I think I got carried away and made most every color under the rainbow!  Oh well, "Onward and upward", they say!

Just thought you might enjoy a glimpse of my work table--my ironing board!  It's great, it adjusts to any height  and can be moved right in front of my easy chair for work while watching TV!  Great! Here's a few more glimpses:

Greeting Cards

embroidery hoops

I'm always doing something . . . . 

The Life of Saint Patrick

Today is St. Patrick's day, and while most people are reveling in beer and the luck of the Irish, I prefer to celebrate the wonderful saint. I did a treasury on Etsy honoring him:

'Life of St Patrick' by pruitthandcrafts

Saint Patrick's life was amazing! Here's a tribute:

apageintime $8.5	cottonisking $80	EMTsweeetie $8	CheatumsBargai... $1600
ThePentimento $65	GettingWeddy $30	Winterberrycot... $9.25	handknittedthi... $3
SerendipitySto... $228	NorthBeachCraf... $14	LaLanterne $36	MyVeryOwnMuseu... $45
JustynaJaszke $50	filecutter $7	DecorocorpArt $22	CherishedSaint... $56

Treasury tool supported by the dog house

Here's a few facts:

Life span--387 AD to Approximately 460-1 AD.

Born in Britain, to a deacon with his grandfather a priest.  He was kidnapped by Irish raiders and shipped to Ireland, the land of Druids and pagans, as a slave at age 14.  He served as a shepherd for 6 years suffering terrible conditions.  He learned to pray constantly, as a slave, until he heard God's voice, "Time to leave Ireland, your ship is ready."  He traveled 200 miles to a port and sailed home to his family.  He became a priest, he had a vision of the Irish saying, "Holy servant boy, come walk among us again."  He was appointed as a bishop to return to Ireland and preach the gospel and encourage the church.  He baptized thousands; he is thought to have taught through symbolism, i.e. the three leafed clover (the shamrock) to explain the Trinity, the concept of three persons being one God.  He died in Saul Ireland after converting many pagans to Christianity and establishing the church in Ireland. 

Toys for Friday Finds

Hide and seek?  No, it's Friday and time for featuring Etsy items that I have found that I like.  And time to share with you! I have many grandchildren and just got this wonderful picture of one of my sons and his family!  Just had to share!

Roman, Gideon, Ada and Bella with parents, Aaron and Annie

In honor of this latest picture, I am featuring TOYS today!   Here is what I have found:

Something for Ada--toy for toddlers (and representative of Spring):

Mama Duck and Babies by OzarkRusticWood

Something for Gideon--Soft teether /pacifier holder:  

Fireman Firefighter Pacifier holder/teether by sassydoodlebaby

Something for the group when quiet play is needed:

Soft Bowling toy by emhocollections

Something for Bella--A toy for carrying on an outing:

Sea Creatures play set by MagnoliaSurprise

Something for Roman -- A vintage plane:

Vintage Hubley Airplane by vintage19something

Got any favorites?  

Who would your give it to?  

Happy shopping! 

Suzanne's House!

Wordless Wednesday, Well almost, I couldn't hold back my excitement! 

My youngest daughter just bought a house!  Isn't it cute! 

I can't wait to see inside! Needs some work, but hey, it was built in 1906!  Looks like I will be adding one more thing to my 'to do' list--help my daughter move and upgrade!

Inspire Me Monday

It's Monday, the start of a new week!  Lots of things "on my plate" for the week:

• finish commissioned mural and deliver
• finish aprons for wholesale order
• purchase yardage for new apron pocket material
• purchase sample fabric for anniversary apron trim
• finish hair bows for Spring shows
• prepare for Saturday show i.e pricing, packaging, & packing
• work on new art quilt for my new shop

All these are a 'no-brainer', as the young folk would say, except for the last one.  I am looking for inspiration for this new art quilt. This is how I look for it:  I have a top quilt on my bed that has a muslin backing.  I turn over the quilt with the muslin side up.  Then I lay out fabric combinations in several different combinations; I let them sit there, and go about my day.

Rose base color with possibilities . . .

As I pass thru my bedroom during daily activities, I glance at the combinations lying there (and maybe rearrange a few).

without the lighter shade and adding bright pink & burgundy

After a few passes, one may jump out at me, hitting my sensitivities for beauty.

Everything!

 Some may not.  Those that don't, get put away, back in the stash. This may finally lead to my favorite choice.  I have done this many times; but this time, my wall art piece is causing me angst!   I just haven't found a "happy combination" yet!

What do you think!  

Keep the bright pink, or not?  Well, I'll keep trying!   And I will share the process as it goes along!

P.S.  Linking up today with Create-with-Joy's Inspire Me Monday

Anniversary Apron Sketches

I have been very busy making aprons for a locally headquartered international business.  Their tour facility gift shoppe handles my aprons.  They have commissioned me to make a special apron for their Anniversary Celebration, later in May. We have not decided on a final design yet, but I have the fabric purchased.  I thought I would share my sketches, since today is Sunday and I like to participate with Blue Chair Diary's Sunday Sketches--go on over and see what everyone else is up to! (Note: Can't show any of my usual sketching, since I haven't been engaged in my normal watercolor activities lately--mostly because I am so busy with apron making!)

What do you think!  Wanna try being an apparel designer??

Friday Finds for Spring!

I'm taking my cue from a fellow blogger friend, Edi, of Memories for Life Scrapbooks. (P.S. she's also one of my sponsors!)  She did a post today on Friday Finds in pink and aqua.  I loved the Springy theme and so I decided to do one in Pink and Yellow.  I've been working quite a lot lately with yellow fabrics, so I thought it would be fun to play around adding pink!  Enjoy!

Whats more festive for Spring than a banner!

Pink Lemonade Banner by BIndulgedBoutique 

Pink Yellow Glass Earrings by GlassRiverJewelry 

Pink Yellow Spring Flowers ACEO by TheVenusCollection

Pink Beaded bracelet (BTW- on Sale!) by randomcreative 

And if you know me at all, you know I like quilts:

Noteworthy Baby Girl quilt by JennyMsQuilts 

Have a great day!  

I hope the sun is shining and you are in the pink!