Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Alice and Harman

More stitched School Photos...

Alice- (Greek for "Truth")


Excellent in math.
Takes ballet lessons every Tuesday afternoon.
Hopes to be president of the United States one day.
Likes the mingled smell of honeysuckle and wild roses that grow in her grandmother's back yard.


Each School Photo ornament is stitched onto a piece of vintage table linen, (a vintage cloth napkin to be exact) which was backed with some fusible interfacing. Afterwards I paint each one with Japanese made Tsukineko's All purpose Ink, which are great to use on fabric as the colors are nice and vivid, but not thick like regular fabric paint. They act more like a watercolor and come with a pencil like applicator that makes applying the color to small areas very easy.

HARMAN - (Old English for "A Deer Keeper"):


Silent and strong.
Likes cornflakes.
Believes in diplomacy.
Hopes to one day be a forest ranger and to live high up in a tree house.


After stitching, painting and heat setting each piece, the same vintage fabric was used for the back side. A small slit was cut in the backside through which I used to turn the piece right side out, and to stuff the piece. A small cord loop was hand stitched to the backside along with one more piece of the vintage fabric, which was used to neatly cover up the slit and the cord ends. Each piece is signed on the back.


Harman and Alice plus a few of their classmates are currently available in my shop. More next post!

If you haven't already, don't forget to enter my GIVEAWAY and win a free copy of Quilts, BABY! from Lark Books!

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

So much character and attention to lovely detail in your little people! I love how they all have their own little quirky personalities too!!!

Abby and Stephanie said...

Lovely to meet them. I think my son is part Harman...red hair and desires to live in a tree house. Thanks for giving us the details of your work. I admire those who can work with paint, neatly.

Meagan said...

Ack! I think you have created my unborn (un-conceived) child in Herman! My red hair, a love of tree-houses, what more could a someday mother want? ;) I think you'll have a hit on your hands with Herman.

shellysquilts said...

V, These may be the cutest ones you've made yet! I'd be hard pressed to pick the one I like best. Well done!

Manola C. said...

Oh Alice is wonderful! ^___^

Hey Harriet said...

Oh boy you're making up for your recent blogging break with lots of posts this week. Yippee!!! I adore your combination of stitching and painting on these delightful characters. And the colours of that Japanese ink are incredible! That bloggy break of yours sure was time well spent on creative pursuits! I LOVE your new range of sweeties!!!

LillyShayStyle said...

I adore your little school photo cuties! I especially love that the little boy wants to live in a tree house, that made me lol.

Lisa at lil fish studios said...

These might possibly be the coolest things I've ever seen. Great, fun idea and beautifully executed. Awesome.

Rowena said...

I love your characters. They are absolutely adorable. And thanks for your kind words on my blog.

Kelly said...

I think I have an Alice standing right next to me.
I love your work.

Colleen MacDonald said...

I love tree houses and cornflakes, too!

picciolo said...

I love the painting effects on these, and you have just the best imagination!
: )

Michelle Engel Bencsko said...

Those inks are wonderfully vivid- I wondered about them... Thanks for sharing the technique with us. I'm even more impressed.