One More Top Finished in 2011

Stripped Double F

Not quilted yet but about 36 inch  square at this point

Commercial and Hand Dyed Cotton

Friday Favorites

I have been really busy this week.  I've been working my way through Rayna Gillman's new  book.  You will need to go to And Then We Set It On Fire to see my progress.    I have also started to add more needlework and beads to The Center of the Universe.  I hurriedly finished it to enter into a show earlier this year.  When it was not juried into the show, I simply set it aside for awhile but I was never really satisfied with how encrusted it was.  The center of the universe should be much more dense with shiny things.  So, now I am adding more.  Pictures later.

Friday Favorites
I have some of these Mystery Foam blocks but have not used them yet. Judy in the Dyes show some  real inspiration for what you can do with Mystery Foam.  I ordered some during the summer but have yet to use it.  Maybe this will inspire me.

Constance Rose is giving away a 10 x10 quilt named All that Glitters.  You can see it here and leave a comment to enter for a chance to win it.

Lynn Krawczyk gives a review of the  Gelli Art gel printing plate.  She likes it.  I haven't tried it yet because I generally don't really care for monoprints.  I agree with Lynn's sentiment that monoprints generally need several more layers to make them presentable.  I am less likely to try it now that she says the instructions caution the artist from using dyes with the plates.  I wonder what happens?  Does the dye eat through the plate?  Do the dyes just bubble up and give a poor impression?  That might be interesting in itself.  Perhaps the problem is that the dyes are thin but then the artist could thicken the dyes. Does anyone know the answer to these questions?

Two thought provoking pieces were written this week. The first is by Arlee on the creative process.  The second is by Elizabeth Barton on why quilts have not been accepted into the main stream art community.  Both are just opinions but are well thought out opinions with explanation about how they got to their decision.

And let me close by sending you to Ink Spiller's Attic for a New Year wish from Neil Gaiman.  It is beautiful and I wish it for you!

Happy Holiday and Friday Favorites

My mother, bless her heart, is disgusted by the "Happy Holiday" greeting that is now common. She thinks that it takes Christ out of Christmas.  I have thought about that. While I celebrate Christmas and think Christ should be the focus of Christmas, many of my friends celebrate other holidays.   Should I not wish them a happy whatever holiday they celebrate?  So, I will celebrate Christ's birth and you can celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, Winter Solstice, Kwanza, or just getting up alive one more day. 

Enjoy the season and may your heart be light.

Friday Favorites
Margeeth  has cut two interesting but not complex cloths and combined them into something much more interesting. Reminds me a bit of Rayman Gillman's technique that will be featured on the "And Then We Set It On Fire" in January. You will need to scroll down to the bottom of the post for the English translation.

Wonder what to do with your beautiful hand stamped, dyed, stenciled, painted, printed, foiled, and otherwise embellished fabric?  You might want to make some fabric boxes for Christmas presents.

Now that I am getting pretty good at one layer of techniques, I am paying more attention to those folks who layer the different techniques to turn out art cloth.  I really like what Margaret Applin did here with gesso, paint, several thermofax screens, watercolor paints, and hand and machine stitching. Each step was thoughtful of the step before so that it did not overpower what was already done.  She is "taken" with the results and so am I.

More Christmas Wish List for Quilters and Dyers (like can we ever get enough?  LOL)

1.  Want some free fabric?  McCalls is having a scrap bag give away.  Enter here.

2.  Colorful Thoughts. What an absolutely perfect name for fabric paints.  Kim has started to carry them. 

3.  I am still pretty clueless when it comes to machine quilting freehand.  I need a pattern for my freehand. Fortunately there are books for that and HERE is where you can sign up to win one of those books for free!  Hurry!  You only have to Dec 26 to enter to win.  Oh, the name of the book is Modern Quilting Designs.

Once again, enjoy the season.  May whomever you  pray to bless you!

Book Review: Visual Texture on Fabric

Here is an advanced reading copy of Lisa Kerpoe's new book sitting on MY cutting table.  I can't tell you how excited I am!  The book is coming out in June 2012 and I think it is a must have.

 
I have been following Lisa's blog forever and have often referred to her posts on my Friday Favorites.  Now all her recipes and processes are in one place.  Before I got all excited and told you that the book is a must-have, I checked Jane Dunnewold's books, Complex Cloth and Art Cloth. Those are kinda the gold standard of all things surface design for me.  Jane's books barely cover water-based resists so Lisa's book is a wonderful addition to them.  Lisa's book is not an entire dictionary of surface design techniques  like Jane's are but it does not pretend to be.  It is a book all about resists--recipes, how to apply them, how to apply color after the resists, how to remove the resists when you are done, a troubleshooting guide, and resources for the supplies. Resists from the beginning to the end.

Guess what I'll be doing during my Christmas break? Resistance (to the resist) is futile.   LOL

And the Winner Is... Mary Helen Fernandez Stewart

My random number generator (my husband) chose the magic number.  Mary Helen at Art Saves Lives is the winner of the hand-dyed fabric.  Mary Helen, send me an email with your address and I will mail your fabric to you.  Enjoy!

A Give-Away to Celebrate 300 Posts

300 Posts!

I have written 300 posts.  I am pretty amazed.  To celebrate I am going to give away 6 coordinated pieces of fabric.  Each piece is about  35"  x  22"  .  I made them by following directions from Design Matters TV with Laura and Linda Kemshall.  The directions are very much like a parfait dye.  The variation is that instead of layering the scrunched fabric in a tall narrow container, the fabric is scrunched into separate balls in a box, packing them very tightly.  A different color of dye is liberally poured on each separate ball of tightly scrunched fabric and of course the dye bleeds onto the neighboring fabrics.  Okay first the rules and then I will post pictures of the fabric.

Rules to Enter the Give-Away
Pretty simple!  Just leave a comment here telling me about one of my posts that you remember or enjoyed.  You can enter a second time by signing up to get my posts by email--a brand new feature for me.  I will use my personal random number generator (my dear husband) to pick the winning number on Saturday, December 17.  I will get the fabric in the mail as soon as possible and you might even get it in time for Christmas!  Ho Ho Ho

 And my favorite two pieces are last.  I love the depth and richness of them in person.

Friday Favorites

 Friday Favorites

Looking for a challenge for 2012?  Judy at Patchwork Times has a color palette challenge  you can participate in.  I haven't decided if I am going to participate.  Generally I like to do challenges because they give me a schedule and a deadline--something my disorganization  needs.  And this challenge is particularly interesting because it is based only on a color palette.  That means if I am working with  a particular motif, I can still do my motif!

Who knew you could cure a self-healing cutting mat that no longer self-healed??  Take a look at these simple directions.

Do you like on-line quilting magazines?  Here is where you can subscribe to three that are free.

Lin at Arty Blobs gives you a link to a free download on making rolling stamps.  I have long admired her rollling stamps and have more than once linked you to her blog in my Friday Favorites.  You bet that I have downloaded her article in Cloth Paper Scissors.

I have found a new blog that I enjoy, Scrap Wisdom Collage.  She uses thermofax screens, TAP, digital manipulation and printing, and other fun techniques to print fabric.  Check her out.

Alisa Burke has a great post that shows a finished piece on her wall and then she explains how she painted, printed text, and stretched the text on frames to create the piece.  I think it is a great piece.  I don't think there is any quilting done on it but then you could add some if you want it.  I think it is successful without it.

Next post will be my 300th post and I have a surprise for you.  Stay tune!

Blue Rose and a Nancy Crow finish

Here is the picture of my Blue Rose that I promised you last week.  Sorry it took so long.  After I promised to post it I was sick and wasn't in my office to take a picture.

 

I was undecided how to finish the edges so for now I just slid it into a frame.  This was an experiment where I sewed together 5 or 6 layers of fabric and then started cutting away layers.  Once I was happy with what was revealed, I applied gesso to the front and added some stamping and other color embellishment.  I really like the results and should do more with this technique.

And here is my first finished (other than the hanging sleeve and a good steaming) quilt from the tops I pieced during Nancy Crow's workshop.  

 

The quilting is not going to earn me any awards but I am satisfied with the piece.  As I am preparing for a solo show next summer, I want to do more with this "double F" motif and have them all hang together.

Friday Favorites

Other than being sick this week I have had a great week--very productive!  That is what happens after a week-long quilting workshop and a Saturday Play Date.  Last Saturday Beth introduced me to a new book she bought, "Create Your Own Free-Form Quilts" by Rayna Gillman.  I have read it from front to back twice already--something I almost never do.  And now I have my very own book so I can hug it and kiss it and sleep with it under my pillow.  It is a great book!  First, it is the type of quilting that I do but it helps me to do it in a much more organized way.  Here are two strip sets I have already made after reading the book.

Second, I was feeling sad about not getting to take a Nancy Crow workshop this year and the exercises in the book will be a wonderful substitute.  Of course, the book will only be a substitute for the exercises that Nancy gives us in her workshops.  It will not be a substitute for the blunt criticism that Nancy gives.  I will have to depend on my play group, FIVE, and on you for that.  That is a serious responsibility for  you!  Can I depend on you?

Friday Favorites

Fancy machine quilting scares me to death. But Lynn at Nebraska Views offers lots of help. I was going to link you to three posts but then I checked out her older posts.  Even more good ideas there.  Just visit her and cruise.

I have discovered another artist this week, JJ at  Sketchbook, Quilts, Paintings and Everyday Matters.  There appears to be little actual quilting but I fell in love with her thread drawings.  I linked you to one particular post but she has multiple pictures showing them.  I did not find one with specific instructions about her process but she does give some information like size and mounting.  I just played with some transperse dyes so wouldn't it be great to make a drawing that I could tranfer multiple times and then use as a template to thread sketch?  What an awesome art quilt!

And here is another new-to-me artist, Tinke in Germany at Many Many Stitches.  Don't you love her colour and texture in stitch in her post?  Here is a picture of my current hand-stitching project.  Only a peek because it is not done yet.