Lovable Designs by Amanda Marie

New Paintings -2009

2009-03-23T17:19:00.000-07:00

Here are some of my new Oil Paintings.

Learning to dye yarn

2009-03-09T14:55:00.000-07:00

I learned to dye my own yarn this weekend. Isn't it fabulous! A month ago, I only used yarn to embellish my sewing projects, now I'm getting into knitting that I just can't get enough. It's fun, it also might be great to make my own yarn, though I need to get a studio to use as a dye lab. Maybe someday...

This is actually pencil roving purchased from the New England Felting Supply,

Undyed of course, and easier to tear than yarn. The dyes come from GreenerShades.

I can't wait to get started knitting!

First Time Knitting

2009-02-17T15:26:00.000-08:00

It seems I'm always behind. Last weekend (2/7) was my first time knitting and I'm finally getting it on to the blog! I just don't have a lot of time. With the days so short, I can't take any picture once I'm home from work and I have to wait till the weekends but of course, i have so much to do on the weekends that I don't get pictures taken every weekend. So here are some pics of my first time knitting. I'd say that I do like knitting but sewing is so much more relaxing and fun!

For all those who do love knitting, good for you... However I don't believe that it is something that I will take up as a hobby. I'm going to learn it of course, since I love to be well rounded in all areas. In a sense I'm a perfectionist but then there are times that I know that I will never be able to get it (like music - I think I'm a more on the tone deaf side of things). Music is just one of those things I could never get a handle on, I was always the math and science girl rather than the English and History person. Though I like History and English I just don't love it and I prefer to be a problem solver.

Sewing machine busted!

2009-02-14T10:37:00.001-08:00

Well,my sewing machine is in for repairs. It just all of a sudden just stopped working. I now have 7-9 days worth of finding other stuff to do. I have plenty to do but it still kind of sucks. Money that I hadn't planned on spending. Now there is just this empty place on my table where the sewing machine use to be. It's a very sad day and unfortunately it is Valentine's day. Something I love so much just has gone away!

This weekend was of course suppose to be a long weekend of working on my art. I will still get plenty of painting done though! All I need to that is my hands. Maybe God was trying to tell me something.

Quilt Piecing

2009-02-08T12:45:00.000-08:00

Quilting can be difficult and tedious. My trouble is that I can never get the corners of the squares to line up. It frustrates me that they never windup right, there is always a gap. But i'm not going to take as a huge issue, piecing in quilting is an art that I just apprently need a lot of more work on. I'm taking a "quilting class" at Mass Art here in the lovely city of Boston but I'm looking forward to learning some of the wonderful new techniques that contemporary quilt artists are doing. Embellishing the surface sounds like it will be a lot of fun. It you want to all check out Quilting Arts Magazine, Please do. It's a great Magazine for all contemporary style quilts. Surface Design is something i'm highly interested and hoping that I can incorporate into to my dolls and make them more contemporary fine art, rather than just home decor or toys.

As you can see above you can also see that I had an issue with the iron. I really hate those things. I can never get them to work right, i always end up breaking them (as I do a lot of electronic appliances) and they are hard to store away in this little tiny space I have.

Below are some quilts that I have already made earlier for friends. These were before I really new how to piece a quilt together. I was just playing with shapes and tried to go a little contemporary on one. I actually made a total of three but I just somehow forgot to take a picture of the last one. I've learned a bit from this class that I've taken but I've also watched some of the video's on Quilter's TV.

Hearts, Hearts, Hearts

2009-02-02T17:21:00.001-08:00

Hearts are one of the most universal symbols. They are cute and hard to actually draw! Have you ever actually drawn a heart with the same size humps on each side. Somehow I feel that I do better with paint than a pencil. Above is a painting of winter the bear, I love drawing him and painting him. He's full of love and cute as a button!

This is what I call a flower planter! It goes in the pot along with the flowers to decorate the space. My Gramma loves things like this. She's got tons of them and they really decorate the pots. Both of these are available in my etsy shop at www.lovabledesigns.etsy.com

LOVE

2009-02-01T09:59:00.001-08:00

Well, it's that time of year again! It's Feb 1st and we all have 14 days to either remember to get our sweetie something or find someone spend it with. For all us single folk we just pass it by as if any ordinary day. Love is all around, there is no denying it. It's love between your family and friends. Time to give cards to show that you care. I say that we all go out and share that love with each other. Send a card to Neighbor or two or use facebook and send a note to all your friends!

I spend some time working on these lovely cards !