Paintstiks, Where have you been all these years?

Talk about a step back into my childhood, this is as close as I am going to get to finger painting. I fell in serious "like" with this line of Christmas fabrics and the idea of painting or stenciling christmas motifs onto fabric. I rediscovered the fun of painting, it was so relaxing to interpret where the shadows should fall and how dark should the inner part of my christmas tree be. Don't get me wrong, sewing is by far my favorite form of relaxation. This stenciling comes a very close second, I was totally lost this past weekend looking for motifs to paint. Back in the early 1980's everyone was into stenciling their walls and around windows, in fact anything that didn't move was fair game. But like all things in life, it is in vogue again.

The wall hanging to the left is from the Terri Degenkolb's book Merry and Bright using her line of fabrics Winterberry Lane. I painted the the branch using Shiva Paintstiks and Freezer Paper. The ornaments were machine appliqued but sadly the order of Ric Rack hadn't arrived so I only had enough for one ornament. The pieced border was fairly easy to do and gives the wall hanging a bit of pizazz.

Don't look too closely at my pine needles, embroidery is not one of my stong skills but I am delighted with it. Now to quilt it and get it ready for hanging.

I also choose one of the stencil patterns from the book, JOY, and stenciled that onto the fabric. This was one of my practice pieces and it was great fun to play with. A totally different look to applique, just think of all the fun projects that you could do with these paints.

There is an upcoming class in this technique, it promises to be a fun day and no sewing machines allowed. The only materials you need to provide are cream background fabrics, a vivid imagination and bring along your christmas patterns or books to use as your Christmas stencil templates (say that ten times fast).

We will provide the freezer paper, paints and stencil brushes and as always, participants recieve a 10% discount off any purchases made on the day of the workshop. Bring a packed lunch. Tea, coffee and goodies are complimentary.