LEGS, BUTTONS AND BOWS AND SEWING

Today I'm including posts for a few challenges.  At one time I was heavily involved with textile arts for quite a number of years.  The first two images below are appliquéd and quilted wall-hangings I made just for my own pleasure rather than for sale.  When I saw the themes for the challenges I remembered these, and wanted to share them with you.

BUTTONS AND BOWS

The stylish lady in this wall-hanging is just right for the Sunday Postcard Art theme of "Buttons and Bows".  I've always been too impatient for hand quilting or appliqué (and not good enough, either), so anything I've done has always been completely made on the sewing machine.

Does anybody remember the amusing old song from the 1950s and 60s "A Sewing Machine is a Girl's Best Friend".  It started something like this:

"Oh! A sewing machine, a sewing machine is a girl's best friend,

If I didn't have my sewing machine I'd have come to no good end.

A bobbin, a bobbin, a wheel, a wheel, I while away the day,

By night I feel so weary that I never get out to play."

SEWING!

In my opinion this lass is never going to get the thread through that needle!

This lovely geisha is my offering for the Take a Word theme of "Sewing", with artificial silk fabric for the central panel.

When I made this wall-hanging, I left the puffy cream silk background as a cushiony contrast to the extensive machine embroidery on the clothes. Sadly it doesn't photograph well, and perhaps I should originally have made the decision the quilt the background as well.

The image was taken from a beautiful card, but I've lost my record of who the artist was, so I apologise for not crediting it.  

ONE WORD

The challenge from Collage Obsession this week is "ONE Word", using the word as the focal point or as an element in the artwork.  This is just a fun piece that I made a while ago.  

In Photoshop I selected the legs from a photograph I had taken of a young friend, repeated it to form a design and then printed it out onto the cream cotton fabric ready for quilting with random free-machine quilting on the sewing machine.  For the challenge I've added a red border and the word "Legs" in Photoshop. 

I'll also be linking this to Artist's Play Room , Paint Party Friday and Inspiration Avenue .