My Hibiscus Phase

I have been painting quite a bit lately.  Getting into the gallery in Hawi has inspired me.  I also discovered a website of artists committed to painting a painting a day, thought that was quite ambitious... figured I could at least try to paint a few paintings per week.  I've been painting hibicus flowers, mainly because we have many plants around the house and they all seem to be blooming.
First I started with white.  Fun to paint, lots of veins and crinkles and shades of white...

Then I decided to paint the front and the back of a red one...

and then...all 3 colors we have growing

Ryan's Race

Ryan did a great job yesterday competing in the 70.3 1/2 Ironman World Championships.  It's a triathlon consisting of a 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike and 13.1 mile run.  He qualified for the World Championships last June at the Kona Honu 1/2 Ironman.  His sister Kipp, brother-in-law Andrew and friend Katie all flew with him to Florida to cheer him on.  They must have done a good job...he finished 9th in his age group, 91st overall (out of 1,600)!!!  He was pleased with his performance...yeah Ryan.  Kipp made GREAT shirts for the cheering section.  These photos are from her iPhone...so not the best, but you'll see what a good job she did.  Let's hear it for freezer paper...

Here's the graphic Kipp made from a photo of Ryan

Freezer paper cut out and ironed onto the t-shirt

Andrew, Katie and Ryan (after the race)

Ryan and Andrew

Quick Stationery

I needed a bunch of stationery in a hurry...this is easy, fast and I usually have all the materials on hand.
I use pre-cut Hawaiian quilt stencils, acrylic paint, a sponge brush and pre-cut/pre scored notecards.

Pine Needle Basket Take 2

Well...I have finished pine needle basket number 2.  I have to say, they're really fun to make, sort of mindless work done while watching tv.  Remember my first attempt? Pretty awful, I knew I could improve upon it.  I thought the Hawaiian pine needles would work, but they turned out to be very brittle and broke easily.  I had to wait until Chris came back from the mainland and could bring more needles from Ryan's house. I guess that is better anyway since I wanted this to be a housewarming present for his "newly remodeled" place and the basket would mean more made from his very own pine trees.

So...here is basket number 2. An improvement I think!

I may try some more when I get back to California next month...

Ryan is in Florida for the Ironman 70.3 World Championships...

send him good vibes for a great race on Saturday.

More Hawaiian Purses

I discovered a new fabric store in Kona...unbelievable selection of Hawaiian fabric (and you can purchase online).  I couldn't resist these and have been making more quilted purses like this one from a previous post.

I also decided the purses needed  matching zippered pouches

but quilted to match the bags.

I've been busy

Driftwood Sailboat Tutorial

Okay...there are a lot of these cute things sailing in the blogosphere (see examples) here, here, and here but someone asked me to make a tutorial on how I made mine, so here goes. First, find a piece of driftwood that gives the impression of a boat hull, and a stick long enough to make a mast proportional to the hull.

Drill a hole midway large enough to accommodate the "mast"

Glue the mast in the hole and let dry thoroughly

Lay the boat assembly on a "doubled" piece of scrap fabric

and draw the outline of your sails (easier this way to make sure

the sails fit the shape and size of your "boat")

cut out the sail 1/4" larger than your drawing and sew 

along your marks.  Trim corners, turn right side out

and press.  Topstitch close to edge if you want.

Using twine, or thread or kite string, "rig" your sails to

the mast.  I just pushed a darning needle through both layers

of the muslin sail and tied a knot around the mast top and bottom.

I Made a Fleet

These "driftwood" (mine are made from kiawe trees) sailboats

are so cute and easy to make...I had to make a fleet this morning.

Kipp's room has a couple new items...the fleet...and more photo

canvases of her "lifeguard tower" series.  Things are looking

good for her Thanksgiving visit.

And I couldn't resist this shot :)

Driftwood Sailboat

I saw the coolest driftwood sailboat on the super cute blog Completely Coastal and here and knew I just had to make one.  We have tons of kiavi trees here in Kohala Ranch and they're forever losing branches in the wind.  On my morning walks I usually look for pieces that might make interesting projects.  Yesterday I found a piece I knew would make a great boat!!!  It was really simple, I just drilled a hole in the branch, glued in the "mast", made little sails out of unbleached muslin and "rigged" them to the mast.  It turned out pretty fun, not sure if it will live in Ryan's room or on the bookshelf.