Linda's Magic Workshop - Linda Britt Design

 Finished Vest! My new vest is finished! And I love the way it turned out.  After quilting the diagonal lines (and yes, I had to take out stitches and redo a few times), I quilted the vertical and horizontal straight lines.  Now the fabric looks a little like pieces were sewn together.   Quilting Finished  My old vest looks better on the inside than the outside!  I cut the shoulder seams apart and decided that I could use it as a pattern and not do side seams.  I made bias strips to finish all the raw edges.  I machine stitched them on the right side of the fabric and hand stitched them in place on the back side for a nice finish. The inside of the old vest used as a pattern This is the back of the vest.  I'm so pleased that the hemline is straight and the finished edges are good.  Back of finished vest  It has been years since I made buttonholes.  I have to admit that I used language that my mother ...

Think about that one piece of clothing that is your absolute favorite.   What would you do if it were thread bare from wearing it and you could not find another even after combing the internet for days?   I have a vest that I love.   It is silky, lightly quilted, made of several colors and patterns, fits perfectly, looked good with denim or slacks.   Sounds perfect doesn’t it?   Well, I’ve worn it to shreds and want another.   I decided to make one.    First I bought a sack of silk sari strips and thought I would sew them together and then quilt them.   That sack sat and still sits in my closet.   I place the 1” to 3” strips on the table, looked at them and thought “Not in this lifetime”.    Thankfully I went to a fabric store in San Diego and found silky fabric that I love.   It is colorful and looks like blocks of different fabrics sewn together.   I bought it.   My friend, Luana, went with m...

Sometimes design just evolves.  I wanted to make a toggle set from polymer for a knitted green chain I made.  I started with Premo green, purple, light green, and translucent clay.  I was thinking:  floral - wild violets   http://www.garden.org/weedlibrary/?q=show&id=2397 green leaves tiny formed flowers green and purple I also had decorative copper head pins and I wondered if I could incorporate those and make them connect the toggle set to the chain.  I played with the circle and the cut out for the toggle.  As you can see I ended up with tiny purple flowers raised on translucent circles laying on green leaves.  And they reminded me of wild violets. The toggle needed to be another leaf with a violet that fit onto the round leaf. After getting the width and length of the leaf correct, I added the decorative head pin and bent it to a circle.  I placed a tiny purple ball of polymer on top of the head and cured...

  Driving along the winding road above Palm Desert California we enjoyed the mountains filled with desert plants -the yuccas were blooming - and the sun made the rises and the valleys dramatic. This time we spotted an animal with horns not far from the ridge... Big Horn Sheep!   The longer we looked the more of these amazing animals we saw.   As usual we stopped to take pictures hoping there were surprises waiting to be discovered. The body language of two young male sheep alerted me that something was about to happen.   I started watching and taking pictures. Body Language says 'Something is going to happen! Starting toward each other  Their heads went down and they started toward each other.   The horns locked with a clunking sound we could hear from quite a distance. Locking horns Locked, Pushing and Pulling Play continues Stop! Dad's coming! We're good!  They wrangled som...

This is one of my solutions to the weak link in my Experimental Petal Neclace: I cut the curls off the tops of my petals and added eyelets.  Let me say that the Fiskar Eyelet kit I found on sale at Joann's a year ago really worked for this job. What a great little tool! I was able to rewire the copper loops that attach to the chain and here you have it!  A little more wire but everything is stable and this should be lots of fun to wear. Experimenting with this has increased my knowledge of polymer clay, its limits and possibilities.  Thanks to everyone for your interest and suggestions!

I have an idea about making flowers from polymer clay and I know I will have to experiment to get the idea to become a reality.   I want to use translucent clay with some color and I want to control the shape of each petal.   I’m also thinking large rather than tiny.   I want the petals to glow as the light comes through. Ready for the oven I began by using Premo translucent clay and Premo 5504 Fushia.   I conditioned each one separately. The fushia was rolled on a 4 setting and the translucent clay between 2 pieces of rag paper on a 5 setting.   The translucent slab went down first.   Then I sliced the fushia into 3/8” strips and layed them criss-cross on the translucent.   My multi colored fushia, gold, and copper foil went down next and another slab of translucent on top of that.   I rolled all that on a 1 setting and then cut the petal shapes.   I made a general paper pattern and kept cutting it smaller as the petals got smaller....

Vermillion Flycatcher There is a place just northwest of Phoenix near Wickenburg AZ that draws birders and nature lovers.   It is a desert oasis with cottonwood trees, palm trees and a pond where frogs and water fowl are found.   The Hassayampa River Preserve was purchased in 1986 by the Nature Conservancy and is being restored.   “ In the Sonoran Desert, riparian areas nourish cottonwood-willow forests, one of the rarest and most threatened forest types in North America. An estimated 90 percent of these critical wet landscapes have been lost, damaged or degraded in the last century. This loss threatens at least 80 percent of Arizona wildlife, which depend upon riparian habitats for survival.”   http://gosw.about.com/od/bestsightstosee/a/hassayampa.htm The Hassayampa River courses 100 miles through the Sonoran Desert and most of the water flows underground.   It looks like a dry riverbed until you dig down a little ways and feel...