Fund Raising at its Best

Today is the first day you can preview the wonderful donated art work for the fundraiser known as Collage Mania. The proceeds of this fundraiser go to the American Cancer Society. I can't believe all the gorgeous work many generous artists have made for this event.

This is my second year to donate an art work and the photo below shows the piece that I made for this year's fundraiser. You can see all the beautiful art here. And this page tells you how the fundraising event works.

It's pretty rare these days that a person hasn't been affected in some way from cancer. Whether it is/was you, a relative, a friend, or casual acquaintance, you can help by considering the purchase of a piece of art and the money you pay goes directly to the American Cancer Society for all their wonderful and ongoing efforts.


And in other news....I completely forgot to boast about my fantastic news that I got recently. I submitted an art quilt entry to a juried show and found out I was accepted. YAY! The show is Focus on Fiber II - Small Art Quilt Open, a national juried small format art quilt exhibition held on these dates: May 16-July 4, 2009. Here is the web site if you would like further information.

I am unable to share my quilt with you at this time, although I didn't find any language in my paperwork that stated I couldn't post a photo of the quilt. Perhaps I missed it or they didn't say, but I'm not taking any chances. I will say this, my quilt is small. I'm sure you've got a great image in your mind now right?? LOL! I will definitely share the quilt with you here when I get it back after the show, some time in July.

The next photo shows what I've been painting on the last couple of days. Frames! Over the course of the past year or more, I've purchased some art prints by artists I admire. I really want to get these prints framed and up for display. So this is my start.


Here is a photo of my studio today. I've been working on my Twelve by Twelve quilt that is due on June 1. I have conveniently blurred it out (it's sitting under the needle of the sewing machine), so that you cannot see it yet.


And just look at how my little sproutlings are doing! I've actually got two trays of sprouts going and today I had to put some artificial lighting on them as we are having a very gloomy, rainy day.

Mixed-Media Paintings are Done

I have completed the mixed-media paintings that I've shown bits of progress of along the way. There are six pieces in this group. The first four pieces shown below will be going on a trip in late May to the BECA Gallery in New Orleans. They will be part of an upcoming exhibition called 12x12x122. The exhibit will start in early June and end in July. If you are interested in obtaining one of the first four paintings, please contact the BECA gallery at becagallery@gmail.com. The last two canvases will be placed into my etsy shop in a few days. I need to get some better photos of these as the day here was gloomy and rainy. I really need to pull out the photo tent.

Garden Song, Mixed-Media Painting
12" x 12" x 1.5" gallery-wrapped canvas

Garden Sonata, Mixed-Media Painting
12" x 12" x 1.5" gallery-wrapped canvas

Garden Aria, Mixed-Media Painting
12" x 12" x 1.5" gallery-wrapped canvas

Garden Melody, Mixed-Media Painting
12" x 12" x 1.5" gallery-wrapped canvas

Garden Meditation, Mixed-Media Painting
12" x 12" x 1.5" gallery-wrapped canvas

Garden Reflections, Mixed-Media Painting
12" x 12" x 1.5" gallery-wrapped canvas

Remember my Rusty Tiles quilt I showed a couple of posts ago? Well I got it all done. Here it is hanging on my bathroom wall. It's difficult to get a straight on photo of the quilt hanging in the bathroom because of the dimensions of the room.


But I figured out a great way to photograph the quilt was to point the camera at the mirror on the opposite wall. You can even see the mixed-media canvas I had made for this room a few weeks back.


Ooooo, and lookie here! New life just bursting out of the soil. Okay, that was a little dramatic huh? Anyway, I've planted some flower seeds in these little seedling starting containers and I was so excited today when I found some of the seeds had germinated.

Live Chat Today!

Sue and I are the featured chat guests for the live monthly chat on the Fiber Arts/Mixed Media Group run by Susan Sorrell. It starts at 5:00 p.m. eastern time today, Sunday (April 26th) and runs for an hour. We'll be taking questions and talking about our new book, time management, creativity, what makes a good partnership and anything else that you want to talk about! We'll also be doing a surprise giveaway, so I hope you'll join us, it should be a lot of fun. And to make it easier to participate or just watch you don't even have to leave my blog, you can access the chat right from here!

 

A few notes about the chat and how it works: This is not a video chat, it's a text chat only. You type in your questions, if you have any, read, watch and occasionally send in a comment or vote in the polling questions.

Questions about the chat? Send me an email.

Rusty Tiles

My working name for this quilt is Rusty Tiles. I've got all the machine quilting finished and now it's ready for binding. The background squares are four inches. I didn't sew these blocks like the typical square-in-a-square block is made. I fused my smaller squares down onto the background square.

My Paper Quilting Explorations online workshop begins on Monday, April 27. There's still lots of time to join. You'll find the link over on the right side of the blog if you'd like more information.

Also, this Sunday, April 26, Sue and I will be the featured chatters for the live monthly chat at the Fiber Arts/Mixed Media group. The chat will start at 5:00 p.m. eastern time and we'll be talking about our new book, time management and creativity. I hope you'll join in. It should be a fun time.

Lemon Yellow Sunshine

Well I finished this quilt this week. I hand quilted the entire thing. I machine stitched the binding. It measures approximately 44" x 44".


After finishing it, I washed and dried it to bring out all the lovely quilted texture.


Funny thing about this quilt...I really have no memory of piecing it together. I pieced it about three or four years ago and then put it in the cupboard. I came across it recently and decided to get it finished. The dark blue strip that looks like the inner border, is actually one of those folded flippy flappy things, of which I cannot recall the name. No memory of making that either. Sigh! Anyway, I feel good that I finished it.


Oooooohhhhhhh Ahhhhhhhhhhh!!!!! What's this????? Another project???? Yep! I need another project like I need another hole in my head. But I have this one empty, sad looking wall in my newly remodeled bathroom and it's just screaming for a quilted wall hanging. I don't think this will take me all that long to finish. At least that's what I keep telling myself.

Bloggers Quilt Festival

Starting tomorrow, April 17, you will be able to attend the First Annual Bloggers Quilt Festival. Amy of Park City Girl blog has come up with a great idea. You can read all about this event here. Perhaps you would even like to participate.

There will be prizes involved and the opportunity to view some wonderful quilts and read some great quilt stories. Two Creative Studios is donating a copy of Creative Ways with Fibre & Stitch and a copy of Creative Paper Quilts to be given as prizes at this event.

Book De-Stash Sale

Hi All! I need to clean house a bit and because of my never ending love of books, I am overloaded. I've gone through all the books I own to see what I don't use anymore and came up with a list. I am hoping that there might be something you are interested in owning. If you click the link below it will take you to the list and all the pertinent information. All books sold on a first-come, first-serve basis. I will update the list on an ongoing basis as to which books are no longer available. Please come and browse my book de-stash sale.

Click Here

Hey Look! Borders

Over the weekend I added borders to this quilt. Now it's ready to prepare for quilting. I need to get some backing fabric and some batting. I had attempted to do that on Friday but my LQS was closed. How did I know they were closed? Well I drove all the way there, and then when I couldn't open the door, I peered in and saw no people, no lights, no nothing. Just quilting supplies, sitting there all lonely. I didn't get that memo.

I think I'll also look through the thread selection they have to see if there is something that I think would look phenomenal on this quilt. I already have an idea of how I'm going to quilt it. I don't know if it will be easy or a struggle to do it on my short arm, but since I don't have a long arm, then I guess struggle I must.


Also over the weekend, I finished this project. As with many of my projects, they get started and then pushed aside for something I deem more important at the time. This one has been sitting around for two, possibly three months waiting to be finished. It is a shirt. I tell you it's a shirt. Doesn't it look like a shirt? It sure feels like a shirt. Do you believe me that it's a shirt?

front

The pattern is Mismatched Medley by Indygo Junction. The pattern is saying it is an oversized jacket. IT. IS. NOT. A. JACKET. I think it could easily be made a jacket by using heavy fabrics or pre-quilted fabrics, but the pattern really doesn't tell you all that. Anyway, I made my version with quilting cottons. I pretty much followed the directions, but I left a plain sleeve on my shirt and decided to roll it up.

back

The colors of this shirt are actually purple and tan/beige. But for some reason, I am seeing more blue on my computer screen. Hmmm, maybe it's a bluish purple.

Two More in the Paint Room

I wish everyone a wonderful Easter weekend.

Early Gift

I got an early birthday gift from my hubby. It's an iPod Shuffle. My first ever iPod. You wouldn't believe how tiny this thing is. In the photo above, it is on my cutting mat and those are one-inch squares. Don't you just love that lime green color?

The reason I wanted this is because in the months of the year when the weather is cooperative, I like to go walking. We have a walking trail just across the road from us. This tiny little music box is perfect to take along. It has a built-in clip so all I have to do is clip it to my clothing.

I've been trying it out the past few days. When I walk down to get the mail I've had it on. Oh my! This little device can sure put spring your step. I guess maybe it depends on what you are listening to huh?

I'm finding it very hard to refrain from singing along at the top of my lungs. Usually when I'm home alone and working in the studio I have the radio or other music source playing and it's usually turned up to LOUD. And there I am singing along as if I'm in concert. So naturally when I'm using this iPod and walking along, I know I'm going to want to sing along. Sigh! I know, I probably could sing along, but oh how embarrassing. I will have to learn how to lip sync I guess.

Still Working on These

In the last couple of days I have made some progress on this quilt top. I've got all the blocks done and just this morning I put all the blocks into formation and stitched them together. I tried really hard to get a nice flat quilt to take a picture of, but then I just gave up. Can anyone guess why it is not flat?


I've also been working on this quilt, mostly in the evenings. I've got all the quilting done on the interior section and now I'm ready to work on the borders. I am hand quilting this one.


I've also been working on the following two paintings. I finished the face on the second one shown, yesterday, and also added the mixed-media flowers. I still need to work some more on the flower stems.

Sunday News

Happy Sunday! This past week I spent some time working on a new project for the Two Creative Studios Free Projects. Here is what I made:

Easy Eyeglass Cases

This project is a great opportunity to use up all kinds of scraps....from interfacing and batting to fabric and thread. The eyeglass cases are very easy to make and you can customize them in so many way. I hope you like the project. You'll find this and all the other free projects from Two Creative Studios here.

In other news, I am the current featured artist on Created By Hand. Please check it out. This site features many wonderfully talented artists.

A-Paintin' and A-Stitchin'

Over the course of the last few days I've worked on these projects. I'm mostly done with painting on this face, except for a few little things here and there as I deem necessary.


And just today I did most of the face on this girl. She's looking a little hollow at the moment with no eyes.


I also stitched up four more blocks for this quilt. After doing some calculations, I think I need to add one more row to the width and one more row for the length. Then I'll add a border, perhaps somewhere around 5 to 6 inches in width, around the outside.

New Fabric Designs Available

My newest fabric designs that I've had printed with Spoonflower.com are done and look great. I've added them to the store at Two Creative Studios. You'll find them here. Here are the four new designs:

Screened Squares

Flying Flowers

Fish Tales

Four Cats

Windows to My Soul

Windows to My Soul

Windows to My Soul (Detail)

Today (April 1) is the day the Twelve by Twelve Group reveals their windows-themed quilts. Above is my offering. Read more about my quilt and the others over on the group blog.