Dog Play

Hey he's got the ball!

I want it!

 

Gimme that ball!

My ball, c'mon hand it over!

Pleeeeeease!

 

Fine, I'll let him have it... (sulk) (sulk) What's a girl gonna do?

 Above in the bed, Iko cat could care less....

So precious, my furry guys!

New Japanese Quilt

I'm excited to be working on a new quilt for our bed to begin the new year. Last year I started this japanese style quilt, now I am making progress on it and hope to finish it soon! The design is a combination of snowball block, with black corners and a 3-piece strip block, put together in units of four. The fabrics are all japanese prints I've collected, in many colors. A few are directly from Japan and most are reproduction prints made in the US.

I pieced the strip blocks with grasshopper fabric in the center, love that name! Then I cut the strips into blocks. The snowball blocks are made with black triangles in each corner, to form a hexagon.

I decided to design this king size quilt to be a perfect balance of squares, since the bed is almost square (78x80). It will be made up of 96 squares, in units of 4 blocks, and then 16 large square units of 16 blocks each!  I plan to try the quilt as you go method, since it is so large, where I will quilt each unit of 16 squares separately and attach the units together to finish the quilt. I'll let you know how it goes!

If you are interested in quilting ideas with japanese fabrics, here is a great book! I also like Japanese Quilt Blocks  and Japanese Quilt Inspirations by Susan Briscoe.

 I can't wait to see how the finished quilt looks on our bed!

New Year!

The new year is a time of fresh beginnings, full of inspiration. I often look at the basic elements in nature at this time of year- the trees, mountains, water, sky... They are timeless, and ever-present. Went on a forest hike this weekend, hiked up through the woods to the top of a butte, and into a prairie clearing, with bright light and blue sky. There I saw this amazing view of Mt. Hood overlooking the forest. The Oregon landscape is so rich! This hike makes me think of traveling upward into the light, to have great hopes and dreams for the future.

Here is the clearing at the top, in the light... The path is winding, and you can't see where it goes, but it winds upward, almost as if it's traveling into the sky. :)

 My first project of the new year is a japanese water table runner, based on a stream running upward. All the fabrics are japanese prints, with a sashiko style embroidery of water flowing on top. And I added a few of my own dyed fabrics with water patterns (tie dye and shibori). The greens represent the banks of the river and some flowers are added. Little Jorellis cat loves to sit on the fabrics! I pieced the design in strips, and sewed the rows horizontally.

And I have started a new painting, Spirit Bird... Here it is in progress.  Happy New Year, I hope your year is off to a fabulous start!

Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!  Whichever holidays you celebrate, I hope you are enjoying the season. Looking toward a bright new year in 2012  :)

Inspirations

I'm really excited to share these new wall tiles and ornaments with my artwork and inspirational words. In a nutshell, this is why I create! Each of my paintings has an inspirational meaning behind it, and the words I chose for them capture the essence of each piece. I hope they inspire you too :)

The 4"x4" tiles are $12 and the 2" ornaments are only $3 each! If you live in Portland, come visit me at the Winter Solstice Art Fair this Thursday 12-22. Also, I will be adding them to my website gift shop soon, stay tuned! Or feel free to email me if you would like to order one. :)

Mistletoe and Ornaments

 

So, with all the holly and cedar around, I made mistletoe :) One hangs above each doorway in the house. Good luck charm! 

These crochet snowflakes are so fun and quick to make, here's the pattern! I used Sugar N Cream cotton yarn. Mini Snowflakes Pattern 

And in the studio, now I'm working on a big batch of ornaments for shows!

I'm adding these in my online gift shop too. Beautiful Oregon....

Someone loves holiday boxes...

And someone else much prefers the holiday fabric pile :)

Holiday Decorating!

I love this time of year, our little house feels so magical after decorating. There was frost on the grass outside this morning. The sky is bright blue today and we have a holly tree in the yard with stunning red berries! So amazing and beautiful nature is in every season...

 

Inside I have transformed our country/cabin-style house into holiday spirit! First I made one large wreath and several mini cedar wreaths for the windows, using a simple wire circle and cedar branches from my neighborhood... I love how simple and natural they are. I used a coat hanger for the frame.

These raffia ornaments are inspired by the Scandinavian straw ornaments my grandma used to have. I'll post how to make these soon! They decorate the ficus tree perfectly :)

 Tiny characters all around! The gingerbread people are available in my shop at www.robin-phillips.com :)

 

I love how it looks in the morning light...

 

And in the studio, I'm cutting squares for holiday star potholders...

Happy holiday decorating! :)