Fiber Fabrications

What is your traditional Christmas dinner?

2011-12-24T10:51:00.004-05:00

Merry Christmas to all! I have just finished my prep for tonights dinner. My mom and mother-in-law were both Polish so we always have ham and polish sausage. Lucky for us we do have a eastern European meat market close and get a traditional polish ham and sausage. We waited in line for 1 1/2 hours on Wed but it is well worth it. Much less salty than the grocery store hams and sausage is fresh.

Also having sweet and sour cabbage, mashed potatoes, deviled eggs, veggie and rolls. For desert a coconut cream pie, Hungarian (my father-in-law was Hungarian) nut roll and poppy seed roll (we call them kolach) and some assorted cookies.

Also as you can see my tree has tinsel. Another tradition. My mom loved tinsel. One year we had an aluminum tree and she still put tinsel on it. Do you tinsel?

What is your traditional dinner? Hope all of you have happy and safe holidays.

A little progress

2011-12-19T08:37:00.010-05:00

I have been working on this off and on for the last few weeks. Progress has been slow with all of the holiday prep going on. I think I am also suffering from a little project fatigue. This thing is really big and still sooooo much to do.

I spent several hours glue basting before I could start working on the water. Then I spent about 2 days creating the water fall. I really enjoy this part since water is a real challenge and something I find very satisfying.

As you saw in my previous post, I use chalk to sketch out the flow of the water. The next step is to put down the base water fabric and chalk in the flow again. I spend a lot of time contemplating what I want to do and redrawing the flow helps me through this process. The flowing water is created using angle hair, batting and very thin sheets of Angelina fibers that I rip into small shreds. The angle hair is made of spun glass so I wear gloves while working with this. The water still needs a layer of tulle over it to keep it all in place. When I quilt the water I will follow the flow of the falls with clear thread and then maybe use a few metallic threads for highlights.

I also added this small tree to the right of the falls. These are the kind of details that get me in trouble since I can literally spend hours rearranging leaves and branches and will probably do more work on this tree when I look at it again.

Here is a closeup of the foliage. I used 3 different greens and you can see from the picture that nothing is glued down yet. Te create leaves I cut a hunk of fabric and use a snipping motion with small sharp scissors while turning the fabric in different directions to get a more natural look. The amount of holes I cut in the fabric varries depending on how dense I want the leaves to appear. This makes a really big mess on the floor but that is part of the fun. I'll keep plugging away and keep you updated.

Project update

2011-11-22T17:05:00.004-05:00

Here are the last set of pics that I took last Friday. I have only had about 3 hours to work on this in the last week and most of that time was using my glue stick and 'basting' things in place. I use just enough glue to hold things down so I can get the piece to the sewing machine. I am still far away from that step as you can see.

The major changes you can see since my last post is the addition of the base water fabric and the rough in of the land at the base of the falls. I have been trying to refine the rocks and have also added some layers of small trees at the top of the falls.

At this point since I have the basic layout done I kind of bounce around and work on small sections of details based on the mood I am in and what grabs my attention for the moment. I am wanting to start on the waterfall but I still need to get more details done around it. I hope I can get in several hours tomorrow so stay tuned.

2011-11-15T21:45:00.008-05:00

I want to catch everyone up on the project I talked about yesterday. Even though the previous post is dated Sat, I finished it last night and posted it then. I actually started this piece on Sunday 11/6 and have worked on it 5 of the last 9 days. I have been in NC for the last couple of days and just got home tonight and am looking forward the working on this quilt for a few hours tomorrow.

This is a good thing since I was really engrossed for the fist 6 days. I haven't looked at it yet since I got home and want a fresh perspective tomorrow. So here is more on my process and progress.

In the post yesterday I talked about how I first just block in the basic design. I have no fear in cutting up my fabric and try to make choices that will be used in the final quilt. At this point the only fabric that is attached to the base is the distant trees at the top.

On day 2 I only did a little bit of refining the tree shapes at the top. Day 3 was busy. I took down the rock fabric and started to work on creating detailed rocks. I also added the brown fabric (used front and back) for the ground. These are still no where near finished but this is a good start.

Here is the left side and a picture of the start of drawing in some tree details with fabric marker.

At this point I do a lot of stepping back and just looking. I work on both sides of the quilt. I free form cut all the pieces and place them on the background. No gluing yet so a big sneeze or draft could wipe away hours of work. Well, late again so I will try to post again tomorrow.

New project

2011-11-12T22:13:00.006-05:00

About 3 weeks ago Maria Elkins spoke at our guild. If you are not familiar with her work you can read about her here. She had just found out that one of her quilts had won one of the major awards at the International Quilt Festival in Houston. She started the quilt on May 16th and had it finished in time to meet the show deadline of June 1st! Here is the picture I took of her quilt 'Windswept' at the show.

Hearing her story really inspired and motivated me to create something I haven't done in quite a while.....make a quilt that I consider show quality. It seems like I have had a lot of starts and stops in the last year or so and haven't seemed to be able to stay focused on creating a piece I am really proud of.

Now you might think that I would do a small to medium piece but noooooo..... I have started a landscape that is 4ft wide and 6ft tall. The piece is based on a picture that I took about 4 weeks ago when we took a drive on the Cherohala Skyway which is close to our home in NC. I plan to share my process and post progress here on a regular basis. So here is what I did on day 1 of the project.

I use raw edge applique to make my landscape quilts and step 1 is to create a base to work on. The sky fabric is a hand dye by Stacy Michelle and the bottom is a piece of an old sheet. I find starting the most difficult step since now I am facing a big blank space that needs to be filled.

Next I start adding large pieces of fabric to give me more insight into where I am going and I seem to work better once I can get something up on the wall. You can have now fear in cutting up your fabrics and I do adulation and try to select fabrics that will be used in the final piece. The next picture shows what it looks like after about 5 hours on day 1.

I know this isn't very impressive but now I have a better idea of where I want to go with this. I used chalk to sketch in the basic flow of the water. I didn't crop this picture so you can see the size of the piece. That is a chair just to the right of the quilt. I will post more tomorrow.

I must be on a roll....

2011-10-21T10:13:00.004-04:00

This has been quit a week! On Monday I found out about the viewers choice award mentioned below. On Wednesday I got an email informing me that the above picture of my granddaughter Julia (on the left) and her BFF Kassidy was accepted into the photo exhibit for the IQF in Houston.

Yesterday I picked up 3 other quilts that were in the Misty Mountain Quilt show and found out that I had also won a 3ard place for my quilt 'The Face of Envy, a second place for 'On the Riverbank' and a first place for 'Birthday Wishes'.

I also found out yesterday that my quilt 'Countryside' (shown under the 'Another Landscape' post) won an honorable mention in the Georgia Quilts show that is this weekend. So I think it has been a pretty good week.....

A first for me!

2011-10-19T22:48:00.002-04:00

This is a picture of my quilt 'Peak Performance' being awarded the viewers choice award at the Misty Mountain Quiltfest held last weekend in northern Georgia. It also won 1st place in its category of mixed technique.

This was really exciting news since I have never won a viewers choice award before. I can hardly believe that the people voted for my quilt over all of the other 250+ quilts in this show. I wish I could thank each and everyone of them!

Another Landscape

2011-09-15T22:31:00.002-04:00

Here is 'Countryside'. The picture is not a good one and the color looks faded out. I had fun creating this and have decided to refocus on my first love in quilting which is landscapes.

My 'Creating Realistic Landscape Quilts' class starts on Jogggles.com on 9/20 and you can read the details about it here.

Texture reveal

2011-09-14T23:35:00.004-04:00

I had no plan for this quilt only the looming deadline to get it done. I started by pulling fabrics and finally found this golden yellow piece that had rust and olive lines that reminded me of distant trees. I also found some crinkled organza, a brown and black large onion print, a blue gray with random thin black lines and green silk roving.

I put the design together in a couple of hours and quilted it the next day. I usually don't like works that I 'throw' together but for some reason I do like this. I started by pinning the background to my design wall. I folded the blue gray and brown onion print in half and cut the bushes and trees so each would have a mirror image.

I put some tan organza behind the trees to try to get a feeling of fog or mist and put the crinkled organza on top of the reflected trees to get a feeling of water. Lastly I scrunched up the green roving to look like shrubs ove the trees and stitched black tulle over it to hold it in place.

See the other 'texture' pieces by clicking on the 'Fiberactions' button on the right.

So do you really want a critique?

2011-08-03T17:35:00.002-04:00

I find this an interesting subject. I have been in several art quilt groups and I really would like constructive feedback on my work. I have given several suggestions to have feedback sessions included on a regular basis for those who would like it and have always been turned down with the reason being that people really didn't want to hear what we really thought about their work.

I know this is a sensitive subject and can be hard to take but how can you learn and grow as an artist if you cannot get true feedback about what you produce. The piece I made for the 'departure' challenge in my eyes is marginal at best and when I put up the post I really wanted feedback on what you really thought. I find it interesting that I only have 1 comment so maybe some of you did not like the piece. I know that everyone has different taste and that art is subjective but do most people only just want to hear how wonderful their work is? Back to my friend Suzanne's statement, "Is it art or just crap?"

I would love to start a group where critique sessions where accepted and appreciated. It is so hard to subjectively or objectively evaluate your own creations. What are your thoughts on this subject?

Brave New World......

2011-07-27T09:55:00.003-04:00

Yes, this is me! Last night I did a presentation for the Spirited Quilters Guild in Duluth GA. This was my first guild presentation and I think it went well. I want to give a special thanks to Karen Gornall, the programs coordinator, for giving this novice the opportunity and to everyone else for making me feel so welcome.

I had a great time and am looking forward to more guild engagements.

Look What My Students Did!

2011-07-23T08:00:00.003-04:00

Rhonda's quilt

Connie's Quilt

Betty's quilt

Last Saturday I taught another 'Beginning Landscape Quilting ' class. It was a lot of fun and the students did a great job. Look at some of the fabulous results.

Departure reveal - 'Off The Grid'

2011-07-15T10:00:00.012-04:00

Here is my piece for the Fiberactions 'departure' challenge. Check out everyone's work here. This is a 'departure' for me. It all started with the 4 blocks below that I handpainted and then quilted and then decided 'what was I thinking'....

I cut apart the four squars and then cut each into 4 pieces. I arranged and rearranged until I was happy with the layout and zizzagged it together. Thought it still needed more and used puffy paint to paint the squiggley squars on top and then rubbed them with copper paint. Still need more and found some nylon screening material and cut out some to add to the top.

My friend Suzanne has a saying she uses to describe some quilts: 'is it art or just crap'. Does this apply to this piece. What do you think?

Triple Berry, Raspberry, Sweet Squash Relish, Wild Blackberry

2011-06-27T12:18:00.004-04:00

At our house in NC for the weekend and have been busy. I did work on my sewing room setup here and now have a project on my new design wall. My first attemps at canning have worked out well.

I have been up to something.....

2011-06-22T07:19:00.006-04:00

My blogging has gone by the wayside again.........

However I have been busy. Here are 2 small landscapes (about 30" x 24") I created as samples for a 'Beginning Landscape Quilting Class'. I had my first one last Saturday at the Atlanta Sewing Center in Marietta and will teach this again next month at the Duluth location. It was really fun and rewarding to see what the participants were able the create.

I am also preparing to give a talk and teach a class at a local guild in Duluth at the end of July. I am always up for a new challange and this will be one....... I guess I should start working on my talk.

A big garden at our NC house has also been taking a lot of time. I made my first batch of jam a couple of weeks ago and now decided I must really be getting old since I plan to try my hand at some canning. Hope everyone is having a great summer!

Embellish Reveal

2011-05-15T14:21:00.005-04:00

A couple of weeks ago I actually cleaned and organized my work space! This was really a major accomplishment since I was at the point where it was a total disaster and I could hardly find anything. In one of the layers I uncovered this 'tie painted' fat quarter that I must have done a few years ago. I immediately knew I had to use it for this challenge.

I used about 15 different threads for quilting and spruced up some of the flowers with additional paint, beads, crystals, yarns and hand stitching. I couldn't stand the thought of squaring this piece since I would have lost so much of the flowers so I used my rotary cutter freehand to create the uneven look. I pulled hard on the edgers while stemming them so they would slightly ruffle. I had fun with this one and really love this piece. Click on the Fiberactions box on the right to see the other pieces created for this challenge.

It's new to me.....

2011-03-27T17:30:00.003-04:00

A couple of weeks ago I bought a used Bernina Artista 180e to keep at our house in NC. Here is a picture of all of the stuff right after I wheeled it into our house in GA. It came with 8 different feet, embroidery software and hoops and all of these cases full of miscellaneous stuff. I bought it from someone who works at the Atlanta Sewing Center. It has 87 hours on it and has been serviced every year so it has been well cared for. The owner was upgrading to a different Bernina. I have never owned a Bernina and am excited about the machine. Any tips from some of you Bernina owners. Also, how is it for free motion quilting?

Impression Reveal

2011-03-17T08:14:00.005-04:00

Here is my quilt for latest Fiberactions challenge. I made this based on the above photo that I took in Venice a couple of years ago. I was trying to go for a more abstract look but as you can see my brain does not do abstract very well.

For this quilt I was also inspired by a new book that I got early last week. It is 'Quilted Symphony ' by Gloria Loughman and I highly recommend it. I was working on another quilt for the challenge but I really was just not excited about it so I started this one last Tuesday. First I cropped a section of the photo and printed it with the tile option on 4 sheets of paper. I used this as my pattern.

I then traced it on freezer paper and used the freezer paper as templates to cut the pieces. I used Steam-a-seam Lite as the fusible and after I was happy with my fabric choices I ironed them in place on a muslin backing. Of course this process took much longer than expected and I put in some late nights to make the deadline. I cut the dome pieces from 1 piece of batik and this took quit a bit of fussing to get the colors like I wanted them (it has over 50 pieces). I am not a big fan of fusing and I did find the quilting a bit challenging with the extra bulk of the fabric. Maybe one of these days I will tackle a quilt of the entire photo......now that would be an accomplishment!

What to do with this?

2011-03-02T22:13:00.003-05:00

This is another UFO from almost a year ago. I was sick with an ear infection last year and still wanted to do something. I painted these 12 squares of fabric over a couple of days while recovering. They were then pieced together to create this quilt top. I liked it at the time and even started to quilt it (the four squares in the upper right are quilted). Now when I look at this I wonder what I was thinking.

The question is now what, if anything, to do with this. I have it hanging on my design wall so I can ponder it in passing. If I just abandon it I can salvage most of the batting and backing fabric. I could also use the unquilted squares as backing for another quilt. Of course the real challenge would be to rework this and turn it into something I like. I think this may be on my wall for a while since I am working on my Fiberactions piece that is due on the 15th. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

UFO Attack!

2011-02-15T18:46:00.007-05:00

I am really itching to start something new but I also have been feeling the pull of my UFO's. Can you believe that I have finally gotten around to quilting my 'Flight Over Greenland II'. If you have been following my blog you may recognize this piece as a whole cloth that I painted in the summer of 2009. I am almost embarrassed to admit that. The problem I was having was figuring out how I was going to quilt this. You can see the original post on how I painted this here.

I put a layer of Warm and Natural on the backing and then a layer of 50% wool/cotton batting for the next layer. Next the top.

I started the quilting with white Isacord thread for the mountain tops, then light blue for the rest of the mountains. For the water I used a medium blue and clear thread for the sky. I must say that I love how this turned out. I was really excited about the piece and called my husband down to look at it.....he burst my bubble and had a very cool reaction to the piece. Guess it is hard to evaluate your own work but not to be discouraged I entered this in the Indiana Heritage Quilt Show.

This will be my 4th year entering this show and I have won a couple of first places and a judges choice so wish me luck. You can see a couple of up close photos and I really think it looks 3D. What do you think of this piece? I would really appreciate you true opinion. Thanks!

City and Guilds Award

2011-02-09T21:00:00.001-05:00

Here is part of the email I received yesterday:

I am pleased to inform you that you have achieved your City and Guilds Award in Creative Techniques in "Sampling - Exploring Potential of Ideas and Materials". Your work was of an excellent standard and you have achieved the highest grade of Distinction.

I am excited!!!!

'Journal Spilling' on fabric

2011-02-02T12:03:00.005-05:00

I just joined a small group of art quilters that meet every other month and create a small work based on a theme. This challenge was 'inspired by fruit' and was one of the pieces I was struggling with when I wrote the previous post.

One of the books I love is 'Journal Spilling' by Diana Trout. You can see it pictured below and read about it here on Amazon. I decided to journal spill on fabric and made this 9 1/2 x 10" little piece.

I used the Pastel Dye Sticks pictured (these were great and only $3.99 for the box of 15 colors!) to draw the apple on a square of PDF fabric. Then I wrote random thoughts about an apple with different colored markers. I dry brushed on different colors of fabric paint and finally did some thread painting and quilting. This was a fun little project.

Looking for inspiration...

2011-01-30T22:49:00.009-05:00

I have been trying to get some ideas for a couple of projects that I need to work on. Sometimes I just seem to get stuck and spend time in my work room aimlessly looking through books and fabric trying to come up with an idea. Friday I was having just one of those days .

I made myself a salads for lunch and then noticed the ends of the romaine lettuce that I had just used. Loved
how they looked like flowers and
decided to try some vegetable prints. The fabric on the left is one I pleated and painted a year or so ago so and used it for the background for printing. I have no idea what I will do with this but it was fun. Still no great ideas so I just kept looking at stuff and pulling out more books and fabric.

I found the scrap below on my painting table. I have been using it to test colors and clean my brushes. I am sure it has possibilities for something. What do you do when you are having a creativity block and how do you get past it?

Aftermath of the creative process...

2011-01-19T14:40:00.003-05:00

I don't know about you but when I finish a project my work space is a total wreck! I took this picture after I completed the quilt below and this is what my work table looked like. I should have taken a picture of the floor in front of my design wall since when I do free form cutting I just let all bits and pieces fall to the floor and based on the project it can get pretty deep. I have actually tried to do the 'clean as I go' approach but somehow it seems to distract from my creative process. Maybe I will try to work on this again this year. Do you also make a big mess????

'Environment' Reveal

2011-01-15T00:05:00.000-05:00

Here is my quilt for the Fiberactions group challenge. The word was 'environment'. To me nothing is more important to our environment than the relationship between plants and animals. Each supports the existence of the other and hopefully we can find peace between us. A few years ago during the house building boom in the Atlanta area, I read an article stating that this area was losing on average 40 acres of trees per day due to new construction. Maybe something positive can come from the downturn in the economy.

I love creating trees so I really enjoyed making this piece. I started digging through my stash and found the border fabric first. Next came the background and tree fabrics. I placed the background fabric directly on a piece of wool batting on my design wall and then created the design. I work free form by cutting pieces of fabric as I go and placing them where I think they should go using pins to hold things in place. This is an iterative process and I move things around until I am happy with the design. Then I use a glue stick to secure all the pieces to the background using just enough so I can get it to the sewing machine to sew thing in place.

I usually don't place the background on batting but I wanted to see if I could add more dimension by adding the extra layer at this stage. I then did some highlighting with thread sketching, paints and pastels on the branches. I quilted it and after trimming it and zigzagging the edges, I placed it on the border fabric that had been layered with another piece of batting and backing fabric.

Now I sewed around all of the elements again. The branches really popped. I tried to hold a light at an angel and take the picture from the side so I hopy you can see this in the picture below.

Adding the bird was a suggestion made by my husband. I painted it on a piece of white cotton, cut it out an the stitched it to the quilt. I wish I would have added it earlier since it does not have the dimension of the tree limbs.

I then added the yarn trim around the center panel to cover up where I had stitched it to the border fabric. Now I quilted the border, painted some highlights on the water and gave the branches a few more high and low lights.

Sneek Peek

2011-01-12T20:37:00.003-05:00

Saturday is reveal day for the Fiberactions group. The challenge word for this round is 'environment' and I am almost finished with my quilt. This may be my favorite of the 8 I have created for this group. Stop back on Saturday to see the entire piece.

Record snow in Atl

2011-01-10T09:59:00.003-05:00

Nice day to stay home. This is the most snow I have seen in the 13 years we have lived here. Lucily we still havd a snow shovel from when we lived in NJ. Now it is sleeting which is much more common for this area. Even more amazing is that we actually had a white Christmas....the first in over 100 years! Think I will make some homemade vegtable soup.

Missed deadline

2011-01-07T20:29:00.004-05:00

"Holiday Ham"

I had fully intended to enter the Quilting Arts calendar contest this year. The deadline for having pictures of your entry in was today. This years theme was 'feeling petty' and above is my would have been entry. I finished this on Wednesday..... 2 days 2 late to get it to MA in time. I am really upset with myself. I have been sick for the last 2 weeks and have been having a difficult time getting anything done but still this is no excuse. My procrastination has always been an issue.

Now I do think that this quilt would have had a slim chance if any to be selected as a winner since it is so holiday focused and would have to had been chosen for December. I still did just want to enter. So water under the bridge and lesson learned. Now let me tell you about the quilt.

While enjoying the holidays at my brothers house a couple of years ago, he brought out the smallest member of the family dressed in her best holiday outfit. Skipper is one of the funniest dogs I have ever seen with a personality to match and added even more joy to the day. She loved ‘hamming’ it up and really made us laugh.

This quilt is based on a photo I took. I posterized and printed the photo and then used 3 commercial fabrics to create Skipper. I did heavy thread sketching for the dog’s hair, eyes and nose. I placed Skipper in a night winter scene to complete the quilt.

Here is a detail shot of Skipper.

Does this background look familiar? I knew I would be cutting it close on time and also knew I had to put Skipper on some sort of background. The above photo is of a UFO that was hanging around from several years ago when I was just learning to quilt. I cut off the dancers hair and then placed Skipper on top. I stitched her down, added the thread painting. quilted it, cut it to 12" x 12" and zigzagged the edges. So maybe in 100 years someone will ex-ray this and see the dancer underneath..........just like one of the old masters paintings........ I am still mad at myself!!!

Thread Sketching

2011-01-06T11:56:00.002-05:00

All last year I have been following the thread sketching articles in Quilting Arts magazine by Susan Brubaker Knapp. I love the detail she adds with thread and though she did a great job with the series. I did this small (6"x 7") piece to practice my own thread sketching. I love to make small pieces from my scrap box and use these little experiments as gifts also.

I did purchase Susan's DVD, Master Machine Stitching, from Interweave and actually thought it was quite good. The quality of the DVDs has really improved from the first ones that they put out. I bought one a couple of years ago (won't say which one) that was awful to say the least. A couple of my friends thought the same of videos they purchased. At the time I was shocked that Quilting Arts would put out such a poor product. Have any of you had any experience with these DVDs?

Transfomation Reveal

2010-11-15T09:00:00.010-05:00

Here is my transformation piece for the Fiberactions group. I had a picture that I took while I was in India last year of the elephant god Ganesh. You can see the original photo in the next shot. It's not a great picture and I am surprised that I did not just delete it.

I cropped a portion of the photo that I thought had an interesting look and then rotated it 90 degrees. I think I like it better in a landscape format but one of the rules of the group is that all of the pieces be in portrait orientation.

I printed out a black and white picture of the cropped section and then sketched it on cloth. I painted it using my own color pallet and Stewart Gill paints. These paints are so easy t use and love the vibrant colors. I must have used at least 15 different threads for the quilting. It really is more heavy tread painting then quilting. I love heavy tread work and feel I need to add even more.

In this next shot you can see the details of the foot. I love the red Byzantia paint with the small silver thread stippling. Click on the photos and ou can see the details more clearly. Sorry for this crazy format but I can't get blogger to behave!

I will have a small presence in Houston

2010-10-27T10:12:00.003-04:00

Even though my art output has been low this year, I will have something at the International Quilt Festival in Houston next week. My photo titled 'Reflections of the Past' has been accepted for the Eye of the Quilter photo exhibit. I took this picture a couple of years ago when we were in China.

I will be going to IQF next Thursday and Friday with my friends Suzanne and Vickie. Does anyone else have plans to go? Would love ot meet some of you.

I will get back to art soon.....

2010-10-18T22:39:00.002-04:00

We have been at our house in NC since last Wednesday. It is really beautiful here right now and this first picture is of the view of the river from our house. The weather has been perfect and we have spent most of the time working outside in the yard.

we planted 3 blueberry bushes, mums, a couple of rhododendrons and a tree. Still so much to do. Not to mention that we don't have furniture yet...

Today we took a day trip with some friends to Dollywood! Tickets were free and we did have fun. The trip took us through the Smokies and I took this next picture just a few hours ago on the way back.

Tomorrow we are going home and I have 2 projects that are calling me. First is my challenge quilt for Fiberactions that is due on 11/15. Next I want to create a new landscape quilt. I love landscapes and haven't really done a significant one in quite a while.

So I will be hopefully back to posting on a more regular basis with new art soon.

'Stretch' Challenge Reveal

2010-09-15T10:51:00.005-04:00

Here is my 'stretch' quilt for my Fiberactions challenge group. Make sure and check out everyone's great quilts on the Fiberactions blog.

I must admit that these last 3 challenges have been a real 'stretch' for me. For the last 4 months we have been building a second home in NC which is about 2 hours from our home in GA. My time at home has been limited but the flooring was put down last Friday so I may be back to a somewhat normal life soon!

For this piece I started with a fabric that I created about a year ago. I loved the colors but I thought the front was too bright so I turned it over and used the back. I just started adding layers of fabric and paint.

The green leaf on the upper left actually is made up of 11 layers including the quilting. Here is a closeup. The layers are: backing fabric, 2 layers of wool/cotton blend batting, background fabric, orange fabric, red felt covered with organza with designs created by using a soddering iron, green leaf, painted misty fuse, black tulle and finally the quilting.

One of the things that always takes me forever is deciding on how I want to quilt a piece so this is really where the 'stretch' comes in on this quilt. Usually for the background quilting I do some sort of all over consistent pattern. My crutch seems to be stippling.

After starring at this pinned to my design wall for an hour or so I decided to just start some real random allover quilting with no real pattern in mind. At first I thought I would just use clear thread in case I didn't like it but at the last minute I selected a variegated that I had never used before. In this picture you can see the results.

Yes....I'm still here!

2010-09-09T22:41:00.002-04:00

Tomorrow is carpet day at the new house!!!!! Could this really be the end and I will be able to get back to some sort of normal life and art? Now I don't want to get too excited since last Satruday was also carpet day...... however when they cut the pieces for the great room the 2 pieces, even though cut from the same role, were different colors. So back to the carpet store and select new carpet.

Truthfully I like this carpet better than the first so maybe it was not a bad thing. Wish me luck and watch this space for my resurgence in art.

It is starting to look like a house!

2010-06-14T23:30:00.007-04:00

Here is the reason that I have been so neglectful of my art and blog the last couple of months. Our house in NC is actually starting to look like a house! We think it should be finished in another 5 or 6 weeks and then maybe things will get back to normal.

I have actually been home this week and have been working on trying to catch up on a few projects. When I went downstairs to my studio I spent the first 2 hours cleaning up from my last rush of overdue projects. To say it was a mess is really an understatement. Not that it is really organized right now (not even close!) but I can at least see the floor and my work table. So here I am again behind the eight ball with my Fiberactions challenge quilt. The word for this round is 'Memory' and I like what I have started. My goal is to have it done before Monday since this week the house is being dry walled and we will be painting the finish coat on the walls ourselves. I hate to think of how many rooms I have painted but I actually enjoy it. I love the feeling of accomplishment and it is amazing what a little color can do for a room. I don't do pastel walls and love bold colors. I will try to do better keeping up and thanks to any followers I may have left! Enjoy the holiday weekend.

This Months Round Robin

2010-05-17T21:28:00.003-04:00

Here is this months round robin. I actually like it and think this has potential to turn out as a decent piece. It still has 5 or 6 people to go through before it is finished so we will see what happens.

I am still behind on my art commitments so I really feel I took the easy way out on this one. I had an Asian print fabric in my stash and just cut out this bird and fused it to the quilt...... Not exactly anything innovative or spectacular but I think it works. Maybe I will be caught up with things in a couple of weeks.

Convergence Reveal

2010-05-16T08:54:00.005-04:00

Here is my 'convergence' quilt for my Fiberactions challenge group. Make sure and check out everyone's great quilts on the Fiberactions blog.

To say this was a challenge is an understatement. Over the last couple of months we have been in the process of designing a second home and going through the contracting phase of building it in NC which is about 2 hours from where we live in GA. My time for art has really been limited.

This was my third attempt. The first attempt was about 3 weeks ago. I saw the date looming ahead of me and in a panic cut up about 6 different fabrics into 1 1/2" squares. I thought I would make some cool converging design and have an opportunity to practice my piecing which I have said several times that I am not very good at. Look at this

really ugly pile of fabrics....what was I thinking. I hated the colors and everything about it!

Next in even more of a panic I saw Ricky Timms book on Convergence quilts on my book shelf and thought I could at least do a simple one. I picked 2 really cool fabrics and did a curved convergence design that I really liked after the first convergence. I thought of stopping there and finishing the piece that would have been about 30" x 20" (wish I would have taken a picture). Since I had not other ideas for a convergence quilt, I decided that I should try to slice it and dice in some other way so I could meet the challenge deadline.

After more cutting and sewing I then decided it was too ordinary and decided to do some extensive thread painting on the top before quilting. I used 2 layers of stabilizer which was not enough and the top became so wonky that in total despair I cut it in pieces, arranged them on a piece of black felt and went for a bike ride with my daughter and granddaughter ! This was on Tuesday of this week....

I got up early on Wednesday, now in full blown panic mode, and went down to my studio. I looked at my now ruined quilt and started to look through my fabrics for the third time. I found a stack of my hand-painted skies. I love to paint fabric and the sky is one of my favorite subjects. I selected 5 different ones and after a couple of hours of playing with the arrangement I fused them in place. I did an overall cloud pattern for the quilting and with 2 trips abound the edges with a zigzag stitch I was done. If felt like I had just lost 20 pounds (wish I could really lose 20 LBS!!). This was really a great lesson for me since I tend to over think most things and am not know for someone who does things in a hurry. The funny thing is that I really like this quilt and it was done in a day.

Paula Nadelstern

2010-05-08T22:11:00.004-04:00

One of the benefits of belonging to a large quilt guild is quality of the speakers they are able to get. This months speaker at the East Cobb Quilt Guild was Paula Nadelstern.

If you are unfamiliar with her work you can check out her website here. She is famous for her incredible kaleidoscope quilts. Paula gave her lecture called 'The Kaleidoscope as Design Inspiration'. I must say that she was one of the best speakers I have heard in a long time. We have had some 'famous names' in the past that may be great quilters but not so great speakers. Paula lives in the Bronx in the same block where she has lived her whole life. She showed slides of her apartment and the small space she works in. This really made me appreciate all of the space I have. She was also funny and engaging and gave real insight on how she creates her award winning quilts. If you ever have an opportunity to hear Paula don't miss it. I only wish I could have taken one of the 4 classes that she taught. I was lucky enough to win the box of note cards pictured on the left featuring 4 of Paula's quilts.

Round Robin...What I did

2010-05-03T12:31:00.003-04:00

Here is what I finally did to last months round robin piece. I lifted the thread-work on the left and then added hair using 2 different black fabrics. I did some heavy thread painting and then added highlights with a silver Shiva paintstick. Finally I stitched the thread-work back in place.

How's this for a baby?

2010-04-12T13:45:00.003-04:00

Love this picture I captured of a 1 week old colt with her Mama. I saw her a couple of hours after she was born but didn't have my camera. Can you believe those long legs...ohhhhh I am so jealous! We have a place on a river in NC and there is a farm right down the road. I grew up in a city so I really appreciate seeing the animals. I also have a new favorite pastime....... trout fishing. Hope you are enjoying the spring.

Morning In The Garden II

2010-04-10T22:37:00.003-04:00

Here is a 5" x 7" piece I just completed for an art swap with Lorna. I love trading art with other artist so if you are interested in trading just let me know. I can only do about 1 of these every couple of months but it is a great way to build you art collection for the cost of your material, time and postage.

This piece was pretty involved. I was digging through my scraps and found a piece of fabric that had the poppies painted on it. I didn't like the background so I cut out the 3 flowers I liked the best and fused them to a piece of peltex that I had painted with different colors of green. Then I did heavy thread painting on the flowers and leaves. I didn't like how this came out so I cut away some of the background and placed it on a piece of one of my hand-painted sky's. Finally did the quilting using one of my favorite variegated threads on the sky and added some beads in the center of each flower. Hope she likes it.

Round Robin Idea - What do you think?

2010-04-07T09:47:00.002-04:00

I have been looking at the picture below of the round robin piece and just came up with this idea. I could add some sort of hair to the head and have it pulled to the left through the thread work. Then the thread work would look like it was wrapped around the hair......

This months round robin...HELP

2010-04-02T23:07:00.006-04:00

Here is the round robin piece I received for this month. I think I am the 5th person to work on it. The last person added the yarn work on the left which is really throwing me off. Right now I think the piece is really disjointed and I am at a loss as to what to do to bring this together. I am really not sure how much I like this round robin thing. It's really hard to imagine what someone is thinking when they add something to a piece. I did not participate in this last year but I do remember that most of the pieces were unusual to say the least after having 12 people work on them. Have any of you been in a round robin like this before?

Remember that I can only add one thing to the piece. Any suggestions would really be appreciated.

4 Down - 8 to go

2010-03-31T22:36:00.002-04:00

I managed to quilt a few more blocks on my Kandinsky inspired quilt. I have been too busy for art over the last couple of weeks so not making much progress. It was a beautiful day in the Atlanta area today and I played 18 holes of golf with my daughter. It was short course (only a par 60) but challenging enough since I haven't played in about 7 or 8 years. I was really happy with my 83 and got lots of fresh air and sunshine not to mention the time I spent with my daughter. Hope you all had a great day.

And the winner is.........

2010-03-22T19:20:00.002-04:00

Thanks for all of the great name suggestions for my 'communications' quilt. It was a difficult decision to pick a name and I have finally decided on 'Togethernet' submitted by Artymess (Lorna). I really appreciate your input and thanks to all for following my blog.

Communications Piece Reveal & Win an ATC

2010-03-15T09:12:00.006-04:00

Here it is! My second piece created for the Fiberactions group challenge. The challenge word was ‘communication’ and I really don't have a name for this quilt! The size is 16' x 20'. Here is what I was thinking about when I designed this piece: What does the Internet 'look' like? How has it made the world 'smaller'? What has it done to/for communication?

I painted the earth with Stewart Gill paints. The communication bands where made by 'scribble' writing on top of 3 layers of clear plastic with a black Sharpie. I then covered it with 3 more layers and fused them together. I then did more writing on top, covered it with 2 more layers and fused again. The plastic sheet was then painted with a light glaze of Alchemy paint and cut into strips to attach to the quilt.

I used 2 layers of batting and love the extra dimension that this adds. Somehow this actually made the quilting easier and I had a lot less difficulty with tension even when I quilted the black and 'Internet' with metallic thread. Be sure to click on the photo for a larger view.

So here is your chance to win an ATC. Just leave a comment with you name suggestion for this quilt. If your name is the one I choose I will send you an ATC. Please HELP!!! I will announce the winner on 3/21.

Check out the Fibreractions blog to see the other 12 artist quilts on this theme and more details on this quilt. Our next challenge will be announced later today and I can't wait to see what I will be working on next.

One down, eleven to go......

2010-03-05T20:43:00.003-05:00

Today I managed to get one of the blocks quilted in my Kandinsky inspired quilt. I actually did 1 1/2 blocks and stopped when I did some quilting that I did not like and decided to take it out wnich of course set me back about 45 min.

I had envisioned starting this early today and having almost the whole thing finished by the end of the day but of course I got sidetracked and didn't actually start until after lunch. I tend to be a real analyzer and will put a piece up on my design wall and study what I want to do for quite a while (I really hate this about myself). By the time I finished this block, I decided that I really needed to go for a walk since it was such a nice day.

When I returned I started in on the second block and then gave up for the day when I had to take out the quilting I didn't like. Now I won't get back to this until next week......so much for getting something done in a hurry. I do like the way the block turned out though.........

Round Robin For The Month

2010-03-03T21:41:00.003-05:00

I mentioned a couple of months ago that I am participating in a round robin with my fiber art group. Here is the round robin piece I received to work on this month. My initial thoughts were 'wow, someone worked really hard to make this cool doll' and 'what in the world am I going to do with this'.

This piece started with the pink background, next someone added the doll, then the enhanced chest was added by the next person. Next came the earrings and finally the netting from a wine bottle. I let this sit around for a couple of weeks where I could see it in passing. I finally came up with 3 different ideas and I wish I could have done all of them.

First I thought I would add a 3d vine and leaves woven through the mesh background. My next though was to add a caption bubble to the right of the dolls head and come up with some sort of funny phrase that the doll could be saying.

My final idea was to couch the yarn to the edges. It was hard to let go of my initial ideas but I though the yarn was a perfect fit and I remember from last year that none of the edges on the pieces were finished. It will be interesting to see this one when it is finished. It still has 7 people to go through. Wonder what is happening to my piece?

A Little Kandinsky

2010-02-26T22:29:00.003-05:00

I have always loved Kandinsky's painting 'Farbstudie Quadrate' so I thought I'd try my own color study using squares.

This last weekend I was really suffering with of all things, a bad case of pink eye. I was so bored and decided that I could at least still paint. I cut 12 12" squares of PFD fabric and used Stewart Gill paints to paint each one. I tried to keep the painting loose and tried to experiment with different color combinations. With the pink eye slowing me down, it took 3 days to paint all of the squares.

Tuesday with the pink eye feeling better but still running a fever, I found out I had an ear infection. I was scheduled to go to Singapore today but had to cancel because of my ear...why do I feel like I should be in grade school??? I am finally feeling better and did manage to piece the squares together. This piece still needs work. Tomorrow I may adjust some of the colors and I am thinking of trying some metalics and/or Alchemy which is an interference shimmer glaze paint.

I have also though a bit about the quilting. I plan on using lots of different colors of Isacord thread and I was also thinking of doing some hand stitching with embroidery thread. I am not thrilled with this right now but I think the quilting will add a lot so stay tuned.

'Communications' piece finished!

2010-02-10T13:07:00.002-05:00

I finished my 'communications' piece yesterday. This is a major miracle for me to be done over a month before the 3/15 deadline. I am such a last minute person that it is almost painful. I have several projects in mind and am ready to start something new. Here is a little peek at the finished piece. You will have to stop back on 3/15 for the reveal.

Any Roller Skaters Out There?

2010-02-06T23:17:00.004-05:00

My granddaughter had her 7th birthday party today at 'Sparkles', the local roller skating rink. I actually skated.....first time in 25-30 years. After 3 hours I came home and fell asleep in a chair for about an hour. Hopefully I will be able to walk tomorrow and at least I didn't fall down!

Look What I Did Last Week!

2010-01-26T22:02:00.006-05:00

If you are familiar with Stewart Gill paints and products you may recognize Rebecca Gill on the left. I spent last week in rainy California taking the Stewart Gill Rainbow Consultant class.

This was really an intense workshop focused on learning all about the paints and different ways to use them. We worked about 9 hours a day and I learned so much. I have never treated myself to an experience like this before and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

If you love painting fabric you need to give these paints a try. The colors are intense and when you use them straight from the jar they don't bleed so you can create some great detail. They do need to be heat set but the effort is well worth it.

Here is just some of the work I did. Most of these are samples of techniques or product tests. This was great for me since I am not the kind of person to do experiments first. I am looking forward to doing a whole cloth painted quilt using these products and some new techniques. Have any of you tried these paints?

Initiative Challenge Reveal

2010-01-15T11:39:00.009-05:00

Here it is! My first piece created for the Fiberactions group challenge. The challenge word was ‘initiative’ and the name of my quilt is ‘Living a Creative Life’. I initially had a tough time coming up with an idea on how I would interpret this theme. In coming up with ideas for my work, I usually disregard the first few that come to mind. I do this because I think that in a challenge situation people’s first thoughts may be the obvious interpretation of the theme and I want my interpretation to be unique.

I hope this piece evokes a sense of fun and energy. Be sure to click on the image to see all of the details since I spent hours adding different embellishments.

Check out the Fibreractions blog to see the other 12 artist quilts on this theme and more details on this quilt. Our next challenge will be announced later today and I can't wait to see what I will be working on next.

Monet's Garden II and a Tease

2010-01-14T10:55:00.007-05:00

Yesterday I quilted this painted landscape I did last fall. I wasn't sure if it deserved the time required to do this but I always need to practice my free motion quilting so I went for it. I like to use these pieces to experiment with different threads and fill patterns. I seem to be stuck on doing too much stippling. Overall I like this but I could have done better on the path thread colors. Also the path edges seem too regular. I used Isacord, Superior King Tut and Rainbow threads for the quilting. I think my favorite is the King Tut. Do you have a favorite thread? Click on the image to get a closer look at the quilting.

Here is how it looks with the border which is not quilted yet so it looks a little wonky. The border fabric is also my own. I am trying to decide if it needs the border or if I should cut it off. What do you think....border or no border?

Tomorrow is the big reveal day for my first Fiberactions piece so be sure and stop back. Here is a little tease.

My Online Class on joggles.com

2010-01-12T10:01:00.004-05:00

My class 'Creating Realistic Landscape Quilts' will be running again on joggles.com starting on January 20th. Here is the link to joggles to see the complete description if you want to check it out.

Joggles not only offers online classes but also is a great source for textile and mixed media supplies.

Current state of the living-room.....

2010-01-07T13:35:00.005-05:00

Probably one of the least favorite things I like to do is take down Christmas decorations! Here is what my living-room (that room that never gets used.....) looks like right now. Please tell me I am not the last person working on this.

What in the world have I been up to???????

2010-01-04T21:05:00.004-05:00

I know it seems like I have fallen off the edge of the earth since it has been over a month since I last posted. I think I have just been taking a mental break. Haven't really gotten any new work done even though I have been working on my 'Initiative' piece for the Fiberactions group. Be sure to check out the reveals on 1/15. My quilt is very bright and a little different than what I usually do.

I have been contemplating what kind of goals I want to work on this year. Looking back on the goals I set for 2009, they seem kind of shallow and not really focused enough. One thing I know is that I want to create more art. Last year I spent way to much time writing 2 online classes for Joggles.com. Looking back I am glad that I did this since I will have one class running each quarter and that helps support my art. Another thing would to be more organized. I will have to give this more thought and come up some things that are more specific and meaningful.

Here is a picture of a background that I created for a round robin challenge that I joined. There are 12 of us in this group and each month we will each add something to the piece that has been passed to us. This will continue until all of us has worked on each piece. It will be interesting to see what my piece looks like when I finally get it back. This piece is 9" x 12 (challenge requirement), painted with Golden Acrylics and attached to timtex.

Hope all of you enjoyed the holidays and have a happy new year.

Back in my studio

2009-12-02T18:07:00.003-05:00

After at least a month of not creating a fiber piece, I finally made it back to my studio. I thought I would start small and made two 5'' x 7'' quilts. The first one is almost an exact replica of an earlier piece I donated to Fiber Art For a Cause. I found a scrap of the original fabric I created and painted the pear and added the text. The edges are painted. I am going to a dinner with my local fiber artist group next week and will give this one away.

I love this next one because it is so not me. It's called 'Be Yourself'. The background is original fabric that was painted and sunprinted. The face and hands were cut from a magazine photo. I added the clothes and altered the hair and features with paint and markers. I then covered the entire piece with black tulle and did the quilting. The edges are finished with couched yarn.

You Must Read This

2009-11-25T10:07:00.002-05:00

Here is a great post about Desire and Determination that is a must read. This is from a great blog that was recommended to me by a friend. I am back home from India. Have a great Thanksgiving!

A Little Shopping

2009-11-19T10:19:00.007-05:00

Last night I finally did a little shopping. I went to a local market (no tourist trap) and bought some cotton fabrics. I ended up with 14 half meters so I really showed some restraint. These were priced at 95 Rupees per meter or around $2. I love all of them and of course have no idea how they will be used.

I also bought some shawls that were also very reasonably priced and a silver and amethyst pendant and earrings for my daughter. Picked up a few little things for my GD but want to get her something more. It started to rain when I was out so I took a motorized rickshaw back to the hotel. Here is a view of what it looks like from riding in the back.

The hotel had a Chinese buffet for dinner……. It basically tasted like Indian food with 5 spice power added.

Saturday I am invited to someone’s house for dinner and I am really looking forward to this. This colleague has been bringing enough lunch from home to share with me each day and this has been a real treat.

Love this picture of two little boys having what looks like a very serious conversation.

How about some ice cream?

New Collage

2009-11-17T10:45:00.002-05:00

I finally have a new collage to post. I have been really tired at the end of the work days and have not accomplished much. This one is all about the people. I painted the background and then collaged over it with images torn from the newspaper and a city guide.

Just Pictures

2009-11-16T10:05:00.002-05:00

Masala Dosa for breakfast... a whole 25 rupees or about 50 cents

Woman carrying rice.

I love this picture of a beautiful young woman drinking fresh coconut milk. See the vendor with his knife to her right ready for more business.

Motorized rickshaw.

First day in India

2009-11-12T13:08:00.004-05:00

Well the worst part of the trip is over...the flights here. I got to the hotel at around 3am local time and then had a good sleep. You can see my room at the right. It is really very nice.

The next picture was taken from my window looking at a vacant lot next to the hotel. A cement truck was dumping wet cement onto the tin and then the women were passing it to men that were
sending it down a slide in the bottom of a large hole creating a foundation. Think I will keep my day job. This is my third trip to
India and I am still amazed at the difference between the classes.

I do love the food and had a great Indian lunch. Had a light dinner and had to laugh at the entertainment. A 'one man band' was playing in the restaurant and I heard everything from 'A Kind a Hush' by Hermens Hermits, to Achy Breaky Heart by Billy Ray Cyrus.

This last picture is my first collage about the trip. This was a little difficult for me since when it comes to art I can do nothing in a hurry. I guess that is part of the challenge. I used my flight ticket stubs and a couple of pages from the airline magazine. The other materials came for a shopping guide I picked up here. Time for bed....tomorrow is a work day.

Here's what's packed

2009-11-09T22:22:00.009-05:00

Here is what I finally decided to take to India for my altered b00k project. The thing I always find scary when I start to look for items for a new project is that I had all of this stuff in my stash.

I love to shop the clearance tables and can't resist any sort of paint product. This photo shows 3 Delta Dabbers that I got for $1 each at Big Lots. 4 Liquid Appliques that I got at Joannes for 50 cents each. The multicolor glitter pack was $1.99 at Tuesday Morning. All of the Golden products were free from a product demo. For the watercolor crayons and colored pencils, I used 40% off coupons at Joannes. Hmmm, would you call me thrifty, a great shopper or just cheap????

I will also take some brushes, scissors and a Styrofoam tray for a pallet. I totally decided to nix the magazines and fabric scrapes based on suggestions from the previous post and try to use local objects that I find there.

Here are a couple of pages I painted to test out what I am taking. These are just backgrounds and I will collage on top of them. I will try to post my progress over the next couple of weeks so stop back to see the results.

Truthfully I am not looking forward to this trip but in this economy it is
hard to turn down the work. It will take 22 hours or get there and I will be gone for 12 days. Hopefully this project will keep me busy all of those nights in the hotel.

Suggestions please - what should I take????

2009-11-06T17:48:00.003-05:00

Tuesday I will be leaving for India and will be gone for 12 days. I will be teaching a couple of project management classes but I want to take something to work on from a creative standpoint. I thought I would try an altered book and take stuff to work on so I could collage the pages in my hotel room at night.

You can see my book drying in the picture. It is the first sewing book I bought about 35 years ago so I though it was time to give it a new life. I glued 4 pages together and then cut out 5 pages. That left 9 (or 18 if you count the backs) pages to work on.

I have never done this before so I really need some advice on what materials to take keeping in mind that space is at a premium.

Here are a few things I though I would pack:

a couple of old magazines
small bag of fabric scrapes
watercolor crayons
glue
markers
a few paints and brushes
what else?

Please help me add to my list. Thanks.

Fiberactions - a new challenge

2009-11-04T13:38:00.004-05:00

I am really excited to announce a new challenge that I have joined along with 12 other fiber artists. Every 2 months a theme will be selected by one of the members. We will each have 2 months to create a 16''x20'' art quilt with our interpretation of the theme.

The first theme will be announced on 11/15 and since we are going in alphabetical order I am the lucky one that gets to go first. The results will be revealed on 1/15. We will continue this cycle every 2 months until all artist have had an opportunity to choose the theme. You can signup to follow our progress on our new 'Fiberactions' blog. There you will also see a list of the participating artist.

This challenge was inspired by the Twelve by Twelve group project. If you are not familiar with this group you can read about it and see their results here.

I am really excited about this and can't wait to get started!

Early Halloween Fun

2009-10-25T13:06:00.010-04:00

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.

Lucy and Molly Came Home Today

2009-10-23T12:21:00.005-04:00

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.

Surely you can name these tunes.....

Houston Surprise

2009-10-21T22:46:00.002-04:00

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.

Could I be More of a Procrastinator??????

2009-10-12T10:19:00.004-04:00

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?

Park City Girl Online Quilt Festival

2009-10-10T10:34:00.004-04:00

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.

John C. Campbell Folk School Fall Festival

2009-10-07T07:23:00.017-04:00

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?

Is Anybody Going to Houston?

2009-10-03T21:31:00.003-04:00

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.

Look At Me....I'm Piecing!!!!!

2009-09-28T21:04:00.004-04:00

Last week I took a picture piecing class with Ruth Powers. If you are unfamiliar with her work you need to have a look at her website. She really does some great quilts and has won many awards.

This was a 2 day class to learn her technique. I usually don't do patterns but for this class we all were working on Ruth's Coneflowers pattern. This is a major accomplishment for me since I have only pieced one small quilt for my granddaughter. I can hardly believe that I have managed to get all of these small pieces to fit together! The other thing that amazed me is that I actually am enjoying it. Since I have never done a traditional quilt, this is a major breakthrough for me.

For this technique you create a pattern from an original photo on freezer paper. The trick is to keep all lines straight so you can do straight line piecing from the freezer paper templates. I can't wait to try my hand at creating my own pattern and see if I can really do this picture piecing thing. I will keep you posted.

Home From Vacation

2009-09-21T15:26:00.006-04:00

Hi everyone. We just got home last night from a 9 day vacation with our daughter and 6 year old GD. Can you imagine 6 days at Disney World, 2 days at water parks and 1 day Seaworld? It was really fun but I must have walked 3-5 miles a day and it was HOT. 6 is a great age to take a child to DW. They are big enough to ride most of the rides and more importantly big enough to walk around on their own.

I missed the semiannual Georgia Celebrates Quilts Show that was this last weekend but I did manage to win an honorable mention for my quilt 'Flight Into Fantasy' which is pictured on the right on my blog. I also won a second place for my quilt 'The Face of Envy' pictured here. Can you see the face? This quilt has really surprised me since it won a Judges Choice award in another show. I created it last December with the only goal of practicing my free motion quilting. Just goes to show you can never predict what the judges will like.

My Journal Quilt is Home Again

2009-09-08T23:13:00.003-04:00

My journal quilt 'Flight Over Greenland' is home again. It has been in the Journal Quilts Elements exhibit that has been traveling to all of the IQA shows this year. You may have seen my second Flight Over Greenland quilt that I posted a couple of months ago...it still is not quilted.

This quilt is based on a picture that I took when I was returning from a business trip to Denmark. I was sitting in business class and

everyone was watching movies so all the window shades

were closed. The pilot announced that we were flying over

Greenland and that in was a really beautiful sight. I opened my window shade and was stunned by the simple beauty of this scene. The sky was an incredible blue and the snow covered mountains surrounded by icy water glistened in the bright sun. I always have my camera and immediately started taking pictures. This was not a popular thing since I was letting in light and I did get some dirty looks from the people around me. I knew that this had to be my journal quilt so I could share this incredible sight and hopefully help people appreciate our beautiful earth.

This piece is painted whole cloth with Angelina fibers added to give sparkle to the water. The 'window' is painted shirt interfacing.

Have any of you had this happen on your blog?

2009-09-04T22:35:00.004-04:00

If you noticed, I deleted a comment from my 'Eye of the Quilter' post a couple of days ago. This comment was something about wallpapers for your pc and also said I could post my blog link on their website. It included a link and when I went to check it out it was a pornographic site. I was really shocked.

I hope someone hasn't figured out how to send random comments to blogs like spam emails. Has this happened to any of your on your blogs?

How I did the salt painting

2009-09-03T19:15:00.002-04:00

I was too tired last night to give the details on how I did the salt painting in the previous post, so here they are. I use setacolor transparent paints in most of my fabric painting and that is what I used on this. I painted lemon yellow, oriental red and a mix of lemon yellow with just a drop of the red, on water misted fabric. Then I misted the fabric one more time and sprinkled Morton's Rock salt over the piece. One more shot with the mister and then I took it outside to dry.

I was thinking about the results since this is not what salted pieces usually look like. Usually the salt effect is much more predominate and it creates some dark spots around the larger pieces of salt. My box of salt is about 3 years old and has been open the whole time. As you can imagine, it can get pretty humid in the Atlanta area. I was wondering if maybe the salt has absorbed some of the humidity and has lost some of its effectiveness. I will have to get some new salt and see.

More Paint and Today Salt

2009-09-02T20:49:00.004-04:00

Today I did a little quick fabric painting and sprinkled it with coarse salt. See the full piece above. Below is a close up and some really cool results. Click on the photos for close ups.

But look at the back! I have no idea how I got this result. Not sure what it reminds of but I just love it.

Did Anyone Enter 'The Eye of The Quilter' Contest?

2009-08-31T22:46:00.010-04:00

Just wondering if any of you sent photos in for the 'Eye of the Quilter' contest that will debut at the IQA Quilt Festival in Houston in October. I was really disappointed with myself this year for not entering a quilt since I have had one in the judged show the last 2 years. Somehow I felt that this year I just didn't have anything good enough. I thought maybe if I could get photos into this exhibit I might feel a little better about not entering a quilt. You were asked to enter up to 3 photo on any subject and you could manipulate them if you wanted.

A couple of years ago I visited a lighthouse in Florida and was fascinated by the play of light on the original lamp that was on display. The glass was thick and cut to best intensify the light. As I walked around it, each angle provided a rainbow of colors and I couldn't stop taking pictures. I was a teenager in the 60's and loved the psychedelic colors. I used Coral Photo-Paint to create a different psychedelic effect on each of the images. Here is one of the original images and my psychedelic interpretation. I think this would make a great quilt.

I am keeping my fingers crossed and hoping I get selected.

Hope You Are Not Tired of Painting..........

2009-08-24T21:24:00.004-04:00

I love this tie-painted piece! These are really fun and easy to do. Start with a fat quarter of PFD fabric and then pull up sections of fabric, wrap them tightly with string and tie the ends so they are secure. Do this randomly pulling up different amounts of fabric until the fabric is covered. These will look like little fingers sticking up on the fabric. Spray the whole piece lightly with water. In this piece it looks like I had 11 different ties.

Next using a paint mix of about 50% paint and 50% water, paint each 'finger' multiple colors being sure the paint saturates the fabric. Dab the paint around the outer edges of the 'fingers' so you cover most of the white. Let the piece sit for about 1 hour in a dark place so the paints will spread and blend. Then place the piece in the sun and let it dry completely (or let it dry overnight). Carefully cut the strings and be surprised by the results! Heat set by ironing on the back for a couple of minutes.

Each of these circles remind me of flowers and I plan on quilting them with multiple colors of thread. I think I will then embellish this with yarn, threads and beads. So many projects so little time.........

My New Online Class at joggles.com

2009-08-19T22:56:00.004-04:00

There is a reason for all of my fabric painting lately. I am writing a new online class for joggles.com called 'Painting Your Own Fabric Landscapes'. This is the latest sample that I made today inspired by my recent trip to Colorado. I think this is my favorite so far.

The class will start October 14 and run for 4 weeks. Each lesson will have at least 5 projects so you will have plenty opportunity to practice your skills. There is also an interactive forum for discussions and posting pictures of your work.

Here is the link to Joggles if you want to take a look.

Thanks For All Your Comments

2009-08-19T11:19:00.003-04:00

I just wanted to give a quick thanks to all of you for following my blog and let you know how much I appreciate your comments. Sometimes I get a little behind and don't take enough time to get back to your blogs and let you know how much your opinions mean to me. All of you are great!!!

Another River Bank Background

2009-08-17T11:19:00.003-04:00

I have started another 'On the River Bank' background. I know this doesn't look like much yet but this is how the other piece started. This will be a view looking up from the water level. This started from a piece of fabric that I was trying to sunprint but the sun went behind the clouds right after I laid everything out so it didn't really print. Then I just over painted it with some leftover paint from another project ( I really do hate to waste anything :)

I will work this background a little more with some screening and stamping. I am going to try some different overlays on the water and see it I can get it to look like there are some rocks or something underwater. I also have a couple of extra bluebirds and will see it I can integrate one of them for continuity with the other piece. I'll keep you posted on how it comes out.

My New Photo

2009-08-08T21:45:00.002-04:00

I just put up a new photo of myself since I felt the other one was a bit dated. My granddaughter took it 2 years ago when she was just 4 1/2 and we were playing with the camera before we went out for dinner. I hate to be a silly old braggart of a grandma but she is of course very very smart :)

My husband and I are in Denver at a conference and while he was in meetings all day yesterday I got a little bored and decided to see if I could take a new picture of myself. I must have taken 20 shots before I got one that was ok. No matter how I sat my nose still looked big but I guess reality is that I do have a big nose......... I have my short summer hair and it gets really blond in the summer due to all of the time I spend at the lake and pool. Also for me this is really really tan. So this is how I look as of yesterday.

More Fabric Painting

2009-08-04T22:40:00.005-04:00

Yesterday I did a couple of painted landscapes. This is good for me since there is only so much control you can have with these paints and I do like to have control. If anything I tend to almost 'overpaint' things and I am trying really hard to let the paints do the work.

In this first landscape I don't really like the sky. This is a case where I didn't let the paints do the work. I can always cut away the sky and do another one....humm not a bad idea. To do these you have to work in steps and have a little patience. First paint a horizon line on dry fabric and let it dry, next the water on damp fabric and let it dry, then the sky and land on damp fabric.

In this next one I was going for a kind of impressionist look. The sky was painted with very watered down cobalt and ultramarine blues mixed with a little pearl and black, and yellow mixed with orange and a drop of black again very watered down. In this piece I think I let the paints do there thing a little bit more.

I plan to paint a couple more of these and then quilt and embellish them for a small series of painted landscapes. Each is fat quarter size.

Painting The Sky

2009-08-02T23:04:00.003-04:00

I have been busy today painting sky's. I use Setacolor paints and hake brushes are my brushes of choice. This first sky is kind of a fantasy sky and I really love the colors. When you do these it is important to start with the lighter colors and then move to the darks. Also leave some white areas since the paints will run together. Keep the brush moving in a scrubbing like motion and don't use too much paint or you will get blobs.

This next one is the sky reflected in the water. Not sure about it but again when painting you have the freedom to create what you want and although I have never quilt seen a sky like this it is my art.

I love this next one. It reminds me of the tropics.

Lastly just a plain old blue sky. For these I go back in with the white to create the clouds after the blues have dried. Important again to leave some white so you can scrub in some clouds. The streaks in the upper right where made by dragging the handle end of my brush through the wet paint on the fabric.

Revisitng My First Blog Post

2009-07-30T20:03:00.002-04:00

I wanted to re-post my first blog post since I am not sure anyone saw it :) !!! This was originally posted on July 30, 2008. Hope you don't mind......

Artist That Has Influenced Me The Most

Since this is my first blog post I thought I would start with something personal about me and my art. Recently I was asked what artist has influenced me the most in my life. I have never really thought about this but when I did I realized that it would have to be my Dad. He was not famous but he loved to paint. Most of his paintings were given away to pay for things that our family needed. When my brother broke his leg, the doctor was paid with a painting. I remember going to the doctors office as a child and being very proud that my Dad’s painting was hanging there.

Working mostly in pastels and oils, he did incredible landscapes (gee..Wonder why I love landscapes...) He was 52 when I was born and I would get so angry when all of the kids at school called him my grandfather. He used to take me to the closest woods and we would spend hours looking at trees and plants. He especially liked orange milkweed and we would dig it up and take it home to plant in the yard. I remember sitting at the kitchen table and watching him paint. I even remember when he showed me how to draw a tree ...I still do really good trees :).

He was always telling me to look at the sky, birds, plants, trees and all of the beautiful things around me. I still get teased by my family for always talking about how beautiful everything is. I am following his lead and am constantly telling my 5 yr old granddaughter to look at the beautiful things around us. I think only about eight paintings are still in the family, I have two plus his sketch book.

He was a barber by trade and had to retire at 60 because he developed Parkinson disease. After a few years he could no longer paint and we had to sell our car since we could no longer afford it. He never complained and always had a positive attitude. He died at 72 when I was 19 (39 yrs ago). He also played five musical instruments and had his own band in the 40's. Writing this has made me a little sad since I haven’t thought about my Dad like this is quit a while . . .

And The Winners Are............

2009-07-30T19:28:00.003-04:00

Thank you so much for all of your well wishes on my blogiversary. I have been out of town so I haven't had time to visit all of your blogs yet but I will soon. Here are the winners of the prizes:

Original art 'On The Mediterranean' - Vicki W
2 yards each of 12 different yarns and trims - Vivien
2 yards each of 12 different yarns and trims - Sue Krei

Congratulations to all of you and please email me with your contact information at:

judyalexander30@yahoo.com

I will be home on Sunday and will be hoping to send your prizes on Monday. Thanks again to all.

My First Blogiversary Giveaway

2009-07-25T19:13:00.008-04:00

I can hardly believe that I have been blogging for a year. My blogivesary is July 30 and I though this would be the prefect time to have my first giveaway. I have had so much fun sharing my work and 'meeting' so many great artist.

This process has also let me learn a lot about myself and I can't tell all of you enough how much your feedback and comments mean to me. Thank you so much for taking time to visit my blog and letting me know what you think. I hope someday I will be able to meet all of you in person.

Now for the giveaway. Enter a comment and I will enter your name in the drawing. If you are a follower of my blog or sign up to be a follower this will triple your chances to win (yes, I will enter your name 3 times!). Now for the prizes.

The first prize winner will win my original art work 'On The Mediterranean'. This piece is approximately 7 1/2 inches wide x 6 1/2 inches high. The second and third place winners will win a selection of 2 yards each of 12 of my favorite yarns and trims that are great for embellishments.

So please sign up! I will be posting the winners on July 30. I am really looking forward to hearing from you.

On the River Bank

2009-07-23T22:58:00.003-04:00

I finished quilting this piece today and as you can see I have gone with just one bird. I moved it at the last minute and wish I would have stuck with my original position but I really don't want to take it off and redo it. I added a lot of detail to the plants with my fabric markers, paints and pastel pencils.

I like heavy quilting so click on the image to see a close up. I almost chickened out and used a stipple done with clear thread on the turquoise/green area (the river) but got brave and used a Superior Rainbow variegated turquoise thread and kind of made up a stitch. I really like it and it is much more interesting than just a plain stipple.

The bird is lightly stuffed so it stands out just a little. Some of the leave on the bright green plants have 3d leaves also. I have really noticed lately how detailed my work is. I would love to break out of this just a little but whenever I start a piece with the intent of keeping it simple I seen to go into a zone and can't help myself. Maybe the next piece........

Another small tree quilt

2009-07-22T19:14:00.002-04:00

Here is another small tree quilt from my scrap box. This one was super easy since I found the piece of sky and water fabric that I had painted with Seta color paints. I did have to add the land. The tree strips were also already cut and I just used a black fabric marker to add the small branches.

I also used the marker to add shadows to the right side of the tree and my soft pastel pencil to add highlights. As you can see the quilting is very simple since I didn't want to take away from the base fabric. This one is a little bigger at about 12" x 9". Hard telling what else is in my scrap box.

From My Scrap Box to Quilts

2009-07-17T12:32:00.008-04:00

I made a couple of small quilts this week. These are samples for my Joggles class. First is the inspiration photo for my first quilt. This was taken at the lake we go to on a regular basis. I love the shape of the tree trunks.

Here is the quilt that I created. I used fabric markers and soft pastel pencils to shade the tree trunks and limbs. I also used the soft pastels to doctor the sky and water. All of the fabric and batting was from my scrap box. I save anything that is bigger than about 2" x 2 ". This little quilt is about 6" w x 7 1/2 h.

I love this next photo that was taken on the west coast of Italy in a small village by the sea. I love the shape of the foliage and how the trees are leaning towards the sea.
This is my quilt again made from scraps. This one was pretty simple. I used the same fabric for the sky and water and used Shiva paint sticks to add clouds and change the color of the water. I also used fabric markers to add the shadows under the trees and at the water edge. This one is about 7 1/2 " w x 6 1/2 " h.

I love it when I use up some of those scraps. I could probably make 100 small quilts from all the bits and pieces that I have..........

Do You Wear Gloves While FMQ?

2009-07-16T09:15:00.002-04:00

I have been doing quite a bit of free motion quilting lately trying to complete some of my UFOs. I've found that my quilting comes out better if I use quilting gloves. I like the extra grip it gives me and it makes it a little easier to move the fabric around. Above is a picture of two styles. The first is the stretchy knit with the rubber coated fingers. These can be worn on either hand. They are light weight and not too hot to wear. This is a new pair since I actually wore holes in a couple of the fingers on my last pair.

On the next pair, the gray area is rubber and the blue is the top that is supposed to breath. I really like the grip these give but they are very hot to wear for a long period of time. Do you wear gloves and what is your favorite kind?

I Got A Karma Award!

2009-07-10T19:24:00.006-04:00

Scrappy Cat was kind enough to give me this award:

The wording for this award is as follows:

The Karma Award: These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kinds of bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers. Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award.

So here are the blogs I would like to award. All are so interesting and I found several of them when they left comments on my blog. Please give them a look and don't forget to check out Scrappy Cat also.

sevenpinesdesigns
needlewings
textiletraveler
susanschrott
fiberfabrications - Yes, there is another blog called fiber fabrications!
artprojectsforkids
purplemissus
caydenise

Quilting Arts Calendar - My Month is Finally Here!!!

2009-07-01T17:05:00.006-04:00

If you have the 2009 Quilting Arts calendar then you are looking at my quilt 'It's All Relative'! I was so excited to be selected for the calendar and finally my month is here. I really feel this is one of my biggest accomplishments to date.

The theme of the 2009 contest was Celebrating Home. When I think of "home" many memories come to mind. It is not so much about a place but thoughts of my family that make a house a home. In creating this piece, I tried to think of a way I could show family and relationships. When you look at the shapes you can see that they are related even though each one is unique just like the members of a family. Each could stand-alone but they work better together and each has something special about it.

I painted the swirls using puff paint straight from the bottle on a single piece of fabric. Once dried and expanded, I applied several types of paint randomly over the surface. After quilting, I used Misty Fuse to add areas of Angelina fiber. Finally I added different yarns, threads and beads trying to add something to each shape to give it its own interest and beauty but not so overstated to upset the balance of the quilt.

Birds or no Birds....That is the Question

2009-06-26T15:15:00.003-04:00

I made some Bluebirds. These were sketched, then traced onto paper that I then cut up for a pattern. I then used several fabrics on each bird and fused them to muslin. Cut them out and placed them on stabilizer and thread painted them. Right now they are just pinned on the quilt and I didn't think much about the placement. Do you think I need these? I am not sure. Look at my previous post to see it without the birds.

What I am Working on

2009-06-25T21:48:00.004-04:00

I have gotten sidetracked with this small piece the measures about 19'' x 20''. The background started with fabric that I painted, sun printed with leaves, screened and stamped. I wish I had taken a picture before I started to cover it. My inspiration came from some pictures that I took along a river back in NC. The brown fabrics are leftover upholstery fabrics and the brown branches are faux leather. I am thinking of adding some Carolina Bluebirds to give this a little more interest. Click on the picture to get a closer look since this is not a very good picture. What do you think?

I Finally Got Brave and Repainted the Sky!!!

2009-06-15T22:21:00.005-04:00

Today I finally repainted the sky of my 'Flight Over Greenland II' piece. I have been looking at it for over a month and decided I couldn't make it worse. I first painted the sky area with extender and then took cobalt blue and added just the slightest touch of black and started from the top. I then added white for the gradation and clouds. Click on the photo for a close up view. Now I am finally happy with it and will quilt it.

What Should I Do With This?????

2009-06-08T19:08:00.005-04:00

This piece is whole cloth painted with Setacolor paints. This picture is a little darker than the actual piece. I am trying to make a follow up piece to my 'Flight Over Greenland' journal quilt that is still on tour somewhere. You can read about it here. I am really unhappy with the sky. I over painted it after it dried because I didn't like it and now I think I should have left well enough alone. I have been contemplating what to do for a couple of weeks now.

Should I just go for it an try another over paint? I was thinking I could us paint extender to give me more working time. I also thought I could put a resist on the mountain line before I paint because I really like the mountains and it really does look like Greenland when I flew over last year coming back from Denmark. I have also thought that maybe when it is quilted it will turn out ok. Any opinions would really be appreciated.