Last night we went to an amazing Halloween party. The theme was 'Hollywood' and there really was a lot of interesting people there. First is Willie Nelson with a 'Marilyn Monroe' you may recognize. My husband made such a good Willie Nelson it was almost scary.
Next the host and hostess, Jimmy Hendrix and Wonder Woman. They really put on quite the party. Here is Cruella Daville with an unknown starlet from the dreaded 'D' list.
The band made up of Jimmy Hendrix, Stevy Ray Vaughn, Gene Simmons and a priest that you can't see in the photo. Robin of Batman fame was there with her partner who was off getting a liquid refreshment when this photo was taken. A couple of Indiana Jones' showed up. Too many others to mention. Hope you have a fun Halloween.
Earlier this year I entered 2 -8 1/2" x 11" quilts in the Quilting Arts Rock on Challenge. Neither were published but I had a great time creating them. They just got home and I have no idea where they have been for the last 8 or 9 months.....if only they could talk.
For this first quilt the background is mono printed on black fabric with Lumiere paints trying to create a psychedelic look. I used Angelina Fibers for the blue light effects. Miss Molly was drawn on paper then traced onto tan fabric and fused to the background. Her face was done with colored pencils. The hair was made with Oliver Twist silk tops covered with tulle. I tried several fabrics for the blue dress and finally found a large tropical bird print panel in my stash that I had bought on the clearance table for $1. I don’t know what possessed me to buy it but I cut up a large blue bird and it was perfect. The devil horns are made of puff paint painted red and of course it would not be complete without the reference to Chanel No.5. All was free motion quilted.
To create this next quilt I used bright hand dyed fabrics for the fused landscape. I tried to include as many literal references to the song as possible. ‘Lucy’ was stamped on light pink fabric and fused to the sky. The features were then enhanced with colored pencils. The kaleidoscope eyes are two layers of small plastic flowers. I cut the petals to give them more of a kaleidoscope look. The ‘diamonds’ are hot fixed crystals. The ‘cellophane flowers’ are made of yellow and green painted cellophane. The taxi is made of newspaper and the water in the fountain is puff paint and beads painted with Lumiere paints. The most amazing thing is that all of the items used were actually in my stash. All was free motion quilted.
I am sure you have read about The Houston Quilt Festival and how great it was. If you have never been, this is the one show that you really must see. The quality of the work will just blow you away. I have had a piece in the judged show for the last two years and I was really disappointed in myself for not entering this year.
My big surprise was when I was walking through the 'Eye of the Quilter' photo exhibit I found my photo. I was never notified one way or the other if my photo had been selected so I really was ecstatic when I saw it. Guess I just fell through the cracks. It wasn't a quilt but at least I had a small presence. You can see the pictures of the exhibit here. Mine is in photo 23 of 25 and in the lower left corner.
My fabric painting class on Joggles starts on Wednesday and of course I am still working on lessons 3 and 4. Not to worry if you happened to sign up since these won't be posted until 10/28 and 11/05 but if I could only pick one thing about myself that I really dislike is my ability to do everything at the last minute. Right up there with this is that I can really appear to be disorganized. I hate to think of how much time I look for things in my studio. After I complete a project it really looks like a tornado has passed through!
The issue I am having in writing the class is that every time I think I'm done I come up with just one more thing I want to add. My midwest values (I am originally from northern Indiana) tell me I must make sure everyone gets their monies worth. So here are a couple of pieces I painted this weekend.
The first one is 'Monet's Garden'. I did a very small version of this on Warm and Natural and wanted to try in on fabric. This next one is a golden sunset.
This is not new to me. Even when I worked as a full time project manager I still managed to do this. Now I only work part time and teach project management and leadership to PM's around the world. I am going to India next month to do a couple of classes. Sometimes I find it amazing that I manage to get to where I am going. Any other procrastinators out there?
If you want to find some new and interesting quilting blogs check this out Park City Girl. I participated in this in the spring and just saw this fall posting. I thought for fun I would feature this little quilt I made a couple of years ago. It is called 'One Too Many'. I must admit that I do enjoy an occasional martini and I can manage to drink 2 but 3 is just one too many!
This piece is mounted on a painted 12 x 12 inch canvas. The quilt measures about 10 x 10. The background fabric was made from scraps ironed onto fusible web. I then stamped on the copper colored martini glasses. The 'silver swirls' were cut from Halloween fabric I found on the clearance table. Next I covered the whole piece with a shear organza and stamped on the gold martini glasses and painted on the words. I then quilted the piece and added the olives which are made of hand couched thread and then beaded. I also added more embellishments just for fun.
Last weekend we went to the John C. Campbell Folk School Fall Festival just outside Murphy NC. You may have seen the school advertised in Quilting Arts Magazine.
The school was founded in 1925 and is set in a valley of rolling hills in the NC countryside. They are dedicated to teaching all kinds of arts and crafts from pottery, wood carving, folk dance, music, blacksmithing, cooking, painting, spinning, quilting and fiber arts just to name a few.
The 300 acre campus is made up of many studios that are located along winding trails through the woods. You can take a weekend or week long class with room and board on site. This really sounds like it would be a great experience. The class catalog has over 800 listings to choose from and has opportunities for all levels of experience.
The day was overcast so I didn't get the best pictures but I though you still might like a look. The first one is just entering the festival. If you are familiar with the school you may recognize the banner. The next is the main barn that had quilted banners displayed for each year of the festival. This barn is huge and you are only seeing about 25% of it. The barn and entrance both had continuous entrainment featuring blue grass and country music and dance.
Next is the fiber studio where all of the quilting and quilting related classes are taught. Charlotte Ware Anderson teaches a class here. This building was a good size and you could tell it also had areas for fabric dyeing and surface design.
I love this next picture of one of the outside kilns. And finally the entrance to the Market Place. Over 200 juried and non juried booths were located all along the winding trails. They had an unbelievable selection of almost any kind of hand made item you could think of. Lots of demo's and great food too.
If you are in the area stop by and check it out. Here is a link to their website if you would like more info JCC School. Have any of you ever taken a class there?
I was wondering if anyone is going to Houston in a couple of weeks. I will be there Thursday thru Saturday. I am going with my friends Suzanne and Vickie. We share a room and really have a great time. This will be our 3ard year.
I would love to meet some of you if you will be there so please let me know.
Next the host and hostess, Jimmy Hendrix and Wonder Woman. They really put on quite the party. Here is Cruella Daville with an unknown starlet from the dreaded 'D' list.
