Aloha Wear

I made these four sleeveless shirts three days before our last trip to Kauii last September.  These tops are a much needed fashion item when on the islands! The fabric is a rayon/cotton blend and are wrinkle free! The blue shirt was a purchased sundress I wore on our last trip to the islands and decided to repurpose it and make it into a shirt instead !  

These are Hawaiian quilted totes.  I took a quick class from Poakalani in Hawaiian quiltiing at the Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center on one of my trips there. It was a challenge to learn this method of quilting, it makes one appreciate the labor of love that went into all those beautiful Hawaiian quilts that are on display in the hotels and museums.  If you go today to Oahu and want to take a class Poakalani has moved their classes to the Iolani Palace Archives building every Saturday 9:30am -  12:00pm.

This is an oil on a 14 x 16 canvas and was my first paintings done in class. No acrylic was used as an underlay.  

My homework assignment was to paint in acrylic a landscape scene, I found a picture of a stream I took a couple of summers ago and laid it out on a 9x12 canvas board. Everyone liked the way I captured the scene at dusk. I still need to cover it with a varnish then frame it with a 3" gallery frame.

Newest Acrylics and Oil paintings

This is an acrylic I started in class a week ago. I still need to layer the water and add multiple layers to the detail. I thought I would just block it in with acrylic and finish it in oil but my instructor said it was looking good in acrylic so go with it. The location is in Burnt Church Canada, a reserve where my mother is from. So I'm hoping this will come out good enough to give as a gift to my brother who lives there.

Sewing Room

This is my sewing room where I create and have classes. Pictured are four of the machines I use to quilt, embroider and serge on. There are four more tucked under cases and on display.

Sewing update

I finally figured out how to post and update this link. I know it's supposed to be a "Sewing" blog, but I get sidetracked easily, what can I say I'm an Aries. I don't quilt but I do like to make cute things with fabric.  This is quilt top from a pattern I picked up at Kapaia Stitchery by Vicki Stratton when on Kauai.  I also bought most of the material there too because the mainland do not carry the same types of fabrics the Island stores do.. If you see a pattern that you just have to have make sure you pick up the fabric to with it before returning to the mainland.