My First Treasury List on Etsy

I had such a nice surprise when I woke up this morning. Ginger Wagner added my "Pink Roses with Gold Border" giclée print to her first Treasury List on Etsy, Wish for Spring. How exciting...It's my first Treasury List too! Many thanks Ginger!

See her post at:

MsBelle: My First Treasury List ~ Wish for Spring

See Ginger's handmade jewelry in her Etsy shop.

New iris, pansy, and rose floral giclée art prints in my Etsy shop

I've added four floral giclée art prints to my Etsy shop. Each one is 3.5 by 5 inches image size on 6 x 8 inch fine art paper. I chose a standard size 6 by 8 inch paper size to expand framing options, as these will fit in either a standard 5 x 7 inch or a standard 6 x 8 inch size mat and frame set, with a white border showing.

Each giclée has a decorative floral border surrounding the central image. Above is "Pansies".

"Purple and White Iris"

"Peach Iris"

"Pink Roses with Gold Border"

Please visit my shop and have a look.

The original watercolor paintings are also available for sale on our Ruffing's site.

Ruffing's Fine Art Giclées and Originals New Blog

I designed a banner for our Ruffing's site's new blog, which is meant to take over where our "In Progress" page left off. I used details from paintings by my mom, A E Ruffing, and myself. I think it will be easier to update than redoing the web page regularly to announce our new art. I still have to go through the site and update the navigation to include the new blog...lots of work ahead.

"Johnny Jump-ups" Pansy Photo Giclée on Etsy

I just printed my "Johnny Jump-ups" photograph on art paper and it looks almost like a watercolor, all in soft lavenders and cream on dark green leaves. I decided on a 9 x 12 inch image size on 11 x 14 inch paper, with my signature and title below the image, to allow for more framing options. This way, it fits either the 9 x 12 or the 11 x 14 standard size mat and frame sets, with or without the white border and signature showing. It's such a lovely and peaceful image. I think it will be even more beautiful when it's framed.

"Johnny Jump-ups" is available in my Etsy shop.

"I really do have love to give"

That's from "Magnolia". I love the movie and the soundtrack.

Happy Valentine's Day! I cut out about a gazillion of these heart blocks, and hand appliquéd about, um, well, some of them. My friend, Linda, made a wall hanging of appliquéd hearts, and I got a little overly inspired. I have them in two colorways, reds and tans, and blues and greens.

Populating my Etsy shop with art

I've gone Etsy-mad. I just put a bunch of my giclées in my new shop This one is "The Fairy and the Dove".

"Fairies and Butterflies"

"Angels' Flight"

"The Frost Angel"

"Jubilee"

"Iris and Foxgloves"

And finally, "Window Box With Pansies".

I also added some more dog and cat giclées to Mom's Etsy shop. Now I have to update some pages on the Ruffing's site...web work, web work, web work...

New Etsy Shop, Watercolor Art by A E Ruffing

I made a banner for my mom and set up her new Etsy shop. I put together and posted a few listings for some of her cat and dog giclée prints. While I was in there, I made sure to ad my Etsy shop to her favorites :)

Meanwhile...my next doll project

is waiting for some new feet. I have been experimenting with Li-Qua-Ché pourable papier mâché , and with Creative Paperclay over fabric. I've got the basic modeling of this doll's head done, and I've set her up in a bowl so I can get to her hands and feet without worrying about them denting on the table as I sculpt. Sitting on my desk this way, she reminds me of someone floating by on a raft in a swimming pool. She doesn't look like she minds the wait.

Catching up with my quilt homework

I'm only one class behind now. I even thought I'd try to get ahead. The next class is a paper-pieced block. Being convinced I couldn't match any of the seams up without drawing the whole block out to size and then cutting it apart, I started drawing, and erasing, and drawing, until the block was too complicated to be paper-pieced. This is why I am always behind. I am not happy if I don't make a thing more complicated than it has to be. My worst offense so far has been our bow tie block. Once I was done, mine had eighty individual parts that I put together to make a twelve inch square. But...it looks really nice. I'm not sorry. Lori, who has been teaching us, based her design on a quilt in Making Scrap Quilts To Use It Up. She made up the directions because it had none for that particular quilt, and simplified some of the blocks to save our collective sanity. Disregarding all potential threats to my own sanity, I got a copy on eBay and I have been happily re-complicating the blocks ever since.

Traditional quilting

Sometimes I like to just sit and sew by hand. It's relaxing and meditative. This is a hodgepodge of pieces from Lori Mann's quilt class. She volunteered to teach a group of us, and her patterns and instructions have been great. (Thanks, Lori!) I am embarrassed to say, even with the time we had off for the holidays, I am still behind!

The finished floral art quilts...on Etsy!

Both the iris and the pansy quilts were machine quilted using a stippled, meandering stitch that went well with the batik patterns in the fabrics. I'm very pleased with both of them.

Both are available for a sale in my Etsy Shop.

Me, and my latest quilt project

That's me.

This is a pile of cotton batiks waiting to be prewashed before I sew them into a quilt.

I love fabric. I get excited about anything that is displayed in those rainbow, full-spectrum arrangements in the store. I lose track of time on the paint aisle of an art store, or a in a quilt shop. I'm captivated by colorful things.

These are a couple of canvas prints I made up from my original watercolor paintings. One is of an iris on a muted magenta art nouveau wallpaper background, and the other if of a group of pansies with a blue floral border. I've coordinated them with batiks that set them off nicely. They'll be framed with the fabric and then quilted.

Okay, so...this is my studio

Yes, it is February, and the Christmas tree is still up. I'm thinking Valentine's Day still counts as a holiday where decorations are permissible. Do people have Valentine's trees? Easter trees?

I'm dangerously close to becoming like that family in "Garden State" with the year-round Christmas tree when I leave it up for so long that there becomes little point in taking it down.

At any rate, this is where most of what I make, painting, quilt, doll, mess, has its start.

This is my studio after I cleaned it. I am trying to abide by the put-it-back-where-you-found-it rule. Rules annoy me. I really don't stand a chance. I will just end up having to clean it again.

After I take down the Christmas tree.