Blackberry Jam

We tried to pick blackberries yesterday. Our briers are burning up faster then we can get our fruit picked. But I was able to get about half a gallon, making about 10 half pints of jam. My mother-in-law had picked about 2 gallons a week ago. she was able to make a cobbler and nine half pints of jelly and still have some for general eating.  I waited too long.(sigh)

In this picture you can see that there is still loads of fruit, red and trying to ripen. what black ones we didn't pick were hard and drying out. Bitter in flavor. They say blackberries need sunlight and water to make the sweetest berries. We find this to be true. I would like to pick one more time, but without any rain our crop is bound for the birds.

Another berry patch picture

Jam all made a setting up.

My jelly if you look closely had a lot of foam in it, even after I skimmed it off. I don't think this will effect the taste,it just looks cloudy at the top of jars, however it is a bright red, and tasted good. so I suppose that's all that really matters. The hardest part is waiting as it firms up . The last time I made jam it made syrup instead. We ate it on pancakes as it drizzled like honey.

Happy berry picking if you have briers like us. Maybe it will rain some more and I'll get another picking.

-TNfrmgrl

New Clutch and other news

I finally finished the 'Storm clutch' . I had made this piece several weeks ago and kinda knew what I wanted to do with it, but didn't really have the time or ambition to do it until today.

                                                                           
This is the piece before I made it into a clutch.Loads of movement and if you use your imagination you may see why I titled it 'STORM'.

This is actually the back side of it, I wasn't paying attention when I shot the photo or the front of the clutch would be facing out. It is beaded. It is the perfect size for your phone, small wallet, keys and what ever other necessities you may need; for having such a small opening , I can easily put my hand inside to retrieve what ever I may need out of it.

The next shot is of the front. It is really a small handbag. It opens with a 4" flex frame, and had a 17"chain handle that can be tucked inside to use the bag as a clutch.The beading is purely decorative and didn't have a single thing to do with storms in general, except I liked the color and flash it added to the clutch.

As for the other news, the little crafty consignment  shop "A Jones of all Trades' that I had my purses at decided after 2 1/2 months to close up  shop, not due to not having any business, things were really booming or so I was told. The owner had even signed on several new vendors in just the last week. They decided to move back to Oklahoma.. It was all quite sudden like. Life goes on. You never know where a new adventure will happen. So I wished them luck and will place my items back in my Etsy shop.
That's really all for today.

-Tnfrmgrl

Getting things going

It's July can you believe it. Where oh where has the first part of the year gone. It has been a busy week at the Artsy Clutch. Loads of new changes. Currently there is a giveaway going on for the 'New Day Dawn Clutch' (US residents / Facebook friends only) as a way to help get likes for that site and the word out about what I make. Giveaway is now CLOSED. Thank you for participating.
You can see this page here www.facebook.com/AJPettigrewtheArtsyClutch 
I also listed this blog, which is turning a new leaf  and going strictly artsy crafty in nature, though I'll probably still add in a few farm pictures as I can't help showing fun pictures. 
Listed also is my Yahoo group site Needle 2 Felt which is about needle felting, the process, pictures from friends around the world, links etc. 
Of course it bears mentioning my Etsy site as well www.theartsyclutch.etsy.com  where you can find items for purchase. If you had asked me two years ago if I would be into so much of the social networking, I would have asked you , 'ARE YOU CRAZY!!!'. Computers, especially after two days of working on my hubbies computer, (due to crashing of mine on Monday)are not our friend, there is a love em , hate em quality about em. But the last few days I have seen the light , loads of new friends are seeing my art and the word is getting spread. That's whats I wanted . Right?  Yes, it is!!!
There is a coupon going right now on my Etsy site. If you see something you want, use this code to get 10% off.
SUMMER4U10  Type it in just like you see it, it is good until December 18, 2013 This is the last date I will ship out for the year. (NO guarantee that you will have it before Christmas, convo/e-mail me for priority shipping fees if you need sooner)

New Day Dawn Clutch Giveaway on Facebook

'The Reef' a cover story

Before Memorial Day I was asked to do another ocean themed art journal cover. This one needed to be larger then the last two small ones (6" x 6") , I settled on 9" x 12" knowing that the whole picture would end being 12 x 18 and not wanting to get out of my com fort zone... I felted forward.

The first thing that needed to be done was to find a large enough sheet of felt for my background, harder than you might think as I don't normally keep anything larger then 12 "X 18" around,; I know your thinking didn't I say that was the size of the picture. Yes, but one rule of journal cover making is go larger, especially with felt;it has the tendency to get stretched out and sometimes even shrink after you worked it for awhile . Plus you'll need extra for making the inside flaps and such. I ended up sewing two sheets together to get the base length I wanted.

Now to start on the waves, and the background. Waves are easy, I use curly roving in a mixture of fleeces, silk throwster, and curly locks for the top part of the waves. As we gradually go down into the ocean, things start getting softer, Faux cashmere, assorted roving s, organdy ribbons appear.

Needle felt this area as you think  the waves should look. No interpretation is wrong , just go with the flow. As they are probably hard to see, I thread painted fish into my waves in the same shades as my roving , creating shadows  and depth.

Next came the middle , even though my wool fabric was a lovely shade of blue wool, I added a heathered

Harrieville fleece over it, muting the background. If you have never used heathered roving it is wonderful, comes in a wide variety of shades each is bright but muted down with flecks of soft black, in this case darker blues, some lighter and an occasional grey. Usually the colors in it are plays on the base color.This roving has a lot of air in it making it fluffy,  tons of small pills and fun to work with. It was just what i wanted for my background.

The next area is the reef..... 

 Using a Merino- Romney Cross roving in hand dyed multiple shades, I twisted and turned , felted down and begun again to create a reef that I liked. This roving cross mix had lots of character, as the wool locks were still noticeable after they were dyed and they made great coral. In the picture above I had added a large yellow parrot fish. he was removed later in the process. There are lots of nooks and crannies for spaces to add fish, and other sea life later in. Coral or underwater rocks are not whole lumps, make sure to leave open spaces. The above picture is from the front of the journal, you'll see it better later.

This is the back left side, colors are slightly different . notice the octopus ... he is hidden in the rocks. This is a good time to start adding in kelp, corals and anything else you want in the background. As a work in progress Up until the last moment and saying it was complete, I was still adding in kelp and corals and such.

This how its looks so far.

Next came the fish, and to take that big yellow one off, harder then you think and he was sewed on pretty tightly.

From here on out we are looking at the entire piece for now. A few fish here and there to start. I researched tropical reef fish on the net, found some I liked and printed them off. Cut them out and sewed them on. They came out a little lighter ( probably due to low ink in my printer) then I wanted so using fabric markers I re-enhanced their colors. Most tropical reef  fish are brightly colored.

I thread painted orange shadow fish in the background, didn't really like them but once on I could not take them off. So look for how I fixed this error in the following pictures.

I machine stitched coral strands in  the background, hand dyed burlap to make unique shapes, added in ribbon & yarn kelp strands. Then came the fun part....

A few more fish. In this entire process every few steps I went back and free motioned stitched , this will add not only depth to my picture, but durability if the person who owns it handles it often.It also helps create an illusion , especially if you use tone on tone thread, so your seeing thing in the distance and others up closer to the front. Before beading, I added in more layers of corals, fans and rocks. Then came the beading.

Oh, I should note, I also  added in pieces of shiny tulle and organza , both are clear and make great fan and stick corals, hard to see in the pictures but fairly easy to use.

The beads just went were ever I chose to put them, no real rhyme or reason.I did make sure I used shapes that wouldn't look out of place under the water, pearls, rocks and tear drop beads (which made great sea anemone). 

Here is the finished piece.

Front of Journal

Back of Journal

Opened, with hardbound journal inside. I blanket stitched all edges to finish .

'THE REEF'

Enjoy- TNfrmgrl

Fiber Art Journals

Last September I started working on Fiber Art Journals. I sold 2 lined ones at a show in November, then In February of this year I sold one with a theme of the Emerald Coast. The same person that bought that one recently purchased a second in this series called Pacific Ocean Kelp Garden. There is just something about water that draws us in and inspires the imagination.

Pacific Ocean Kelp Garden - opened up so you can see the whole picture.

closed- Front

Emerald Coast Art Journal opened to see whole picture

closed- Back

Thinking about doing several more in this series, maybe one on the Maine Coast, Alaskan Coast, Eastern Atlantic Coast , Great Barrier Reef . Just thinking aloud. There is something about these waters that draw you in and enchant you.

I didn't think it would be so hard to find marine life charms or implements. I found loads of nautical themed items. But not too many charms in the shape of fish (lots of gaudy plastic ones...icky). With the exceptions of Whales, Sea turtles, Starfish, Dolphins and shells. What is up with that ?  

In the Pacific Journal I was able to make a fish/ eel coming out of a rock using a dyed cocoon, then machined stitched and hand painted in a molted pattern. It looks more like a fish now then an eel. But I like it.

Closed -Front

Its strange I had been thinking about doing some new Journal covers when this custom order came in. I was given free rein to do any ocean theme I wanted as long as it had to with the ocean/sea. From researching on the net about the Pacific I saw lots of dark blue waters ( at least along the CA,OR, WA coastal areas, not as vibrant as here in the south;but beautiful nevertheless. That's not to say the waters there are not colorful, just a different shade of blue green. :) Regardless, I enjoyed making it. 

That's been my week so far. Happy creating... Happy Memorial Day Weekend!

-TNfrmgrl