Board Book Play

Yesterday I played with a new board book. This is a Ready-to-Go Blank Board Book in the 6" x 6" size. You will find it and many other sizes and shapes available at C&T Publishing.

I am a Creative Troupe member with C&T Publishing and I've played with this product so that it can be used as an art supply store display model.

I was to use art supplies on the cover and one inside page spread. I hope they like what I did.

More Flowers and Some Stitchin'

Here are a couple more photos from my garden. I seem to have a lot of purples right now.

Aubretia

Grape Hyacinth

I've started the hand stitching on my small quilt. I must confess that I'm highly influenced right now by a marvelous fiber artist. Her name is Jude and her blog is Spirit Cloth. Perhaps you've seen her work. She does all or most of her art by hand with lots and lots of yummy stitching. She recently finished a couple of small pieces with cats on them and by the time I discovered that she sells her work on etsy, it was much too late....they were sold. Pout!


It would appear that this roll of paper towels is defective. Hmmmmm, wonder how that happened. You know, I've never had any trouble with my cats chewing up the toilet paper or other papers in the house, but one day I happened to leave a partial roll of paper towels lying on the floor and evidently it was fair game. Guess I will have to be more careful in the future.

Happy Weekend!!!!

A Stroll In the Garden

I forgot to get photos of my red and yellow tulips this year. These purple tulips are the last ones that bloom and the crop this year was magnificent. I kept them well sprayed so the deer would not get at them and I ended up with a bumper tulip crop.


I love the touches of blue when you peer deep inside the open blooms.


And I think the remains of the tulip head, after the colorful petals have fallen away, is just as beautiful. Hmmmm, I may sketch some of these and make a stamp or something.


The last couple of days or so I haven't been able to do much in the studio. Hubby has been home and has been keeping me busy with outdoor projects. When I do find a few minutes here and there I've been sewing on the following small quilt. All my other projects require too much time commitment and so this is the only thing I've been able to work on that helps keep my creative side happy.


I used some non-traditional quilting fabrics in some of these quilt blocks. I'm only going to do the nine blocks on this as shown above and I plan to add a border yet. I want to hand quilt this one.

Thread Painting & Lutradur

I've been wanting to play with thread painting for a while and just haven't gotten to it. You know, lately I feel like there are so many things I want to try. Have you been bitten by this bug too?

Anyway, I finally got to it, thread painting, that is. At first I thought I'd try a thread painted flower or leaf or something simple. But no! I had to go for the gusto and try a face.


I was quite happy with how it turned out for a first timer. So then I decided I should create something to showcase my new face. So I made a small art quilt collage. The collage includes Lutradur. The leaf shapes are the Lutradur and they have a translucent quality to them. This material doesn't fray when cut so makes for a perfect edge if you want to add a semi-dimensional item to your quilt surfaces.


And on that note....Happy Weekend! It's a holiday weekend at that.

Focus on Fiber II

Focus on Fiber II, a national juried exhibition began this past weekend. I have a small art quilt in this exhibit. The exhibit is held at Studio Channel Islands Art Center on the campus of California State Univeristy, Camarillo, California.

I'd love to be able to go and see it, but.....sigh! It is not meant to be. Any of you going?

I received a bunch of exhibit brochures in the mail the other day. They are beautiful brochures which highligh the event. Upon opening one up, I gasped. Why? Because my quilt just happened to be staring back at me. Wow! Needless to say I was very giddy and excited. I've mailed a few of these brochures to important people in my life and have four left. If you live in the US and you'd like a brochure, please send me an email with your mailing address and I'll send you one of my extras.




Here is what's on my work table today. I had started piecing this a while back and it got set aside for other projects. At this point I have no clue what it will grow up to be, but as of this moment, I'm envisioning it as a quilt background.

Purse Ensemble

I made these purse accessories over the weekend. They are from top left, going clockwise, a business card case, a checkbook cover, a mini wrapfolio, and an eyeglass case. Wouldn't these make a great gift? You can find all the instructions to make these at the Two Creative Studios website. They are on the free projects page here.

Wash Day

Why is it that I'm so eager to wash hand dyed fabric, but not regular laundry? Okay, don't answer that, I already know!

Deconstructed Results

Below are my results from my first attempt at deconstructed screen printing. The first photo shows several prints from one screen.


The next photo shows three prints each from two different screens. Some of my designs are showing off better than others and I imagine with practice I'll learn which types of textures work better than others. I truly believe that you learn from your trials and errors and as I work through new techniques I learn what needs adjusting or replacing.


And the next photo shows my results from just creating my own free-form design on the screen by drizzling thickened dye on by hand. I got many more prints from this one because the drizzling left more dye on the screen. I think these are my favorites out of all the results and I plan to play more with the free-form screening.


Now to use these cool fabrics. I'm envisioning many small art quilts using these as backgrounds. For those that are more faded I think I'll probably add some extra color using paints/dyes/crayons/pastels, or whatever my little heart desires.

Happy Weekend to all!

Results and More Results

Last Saturday (May 9), I showed you a small test I was conducting. I brushed some of the Dr. Ph. Martin's Bombay India Inks onto a piece of fabric. My results are below. I cut the fabric swatch into three pieces. I kept one piece as my control, it is unwashed and un-heat set, just air dried from brushing on the ink. The middle section I ironed to heat set. The bottom piece I didn't heat set. I tossed the two pieces into a warm water bath with a drop of Synthrapol, stirred them around a bit and then let them soak for an hour or more.

They came out really well in my opinion. I think they lost just a minimal amount of color, so minimal it's almost hard to tell. I didn't see any color in the wash water. It looks to me like the heat setting wasn't necessary to maintain the color in the fabric. So now I know that I can use these inks on fabric and if it gets wet, they won't bleed and wash out. The ink does change the hand of the fabric a little bit, but nothing very significant, in my opinion.


Here are some fabrics that I hand dyed. Yum!


And here is the quilt I've been working on for a couple weeks now (I showed you a sneak peek a couple of days ago). I used many techniques from Melanie Testa's book Inspired to Quilt. I like how this turned out. At first I thought I'd add more quilting on the cat, but the way it is now, the silk organza puffs up a bit and gives it a dimensional quality that makes the cat seem almost 3D.


Today I am washing my deconstructed screen printed fabrics. They are drying as I write this post. I'll share those with you tomorrow. Hey, it's Friday!!!

Film at Eleven

Wanna see a cool tutorial? Sue just created her first video demo on Silk Shibori. She did a great job for her first video attempt and if I know her she will continue to improve her skills at these video demonstrations. You can see her in action here.

Today I screen printed, deconstructed-style. The results are now batching and I'll hopefully have something to share with you tomorrow or the next day. I also have some hand dyed fabrics washing up and I'll show you all the pretty colors tomorrow.

Catching Up

Last night we had our first big storm of the season. Lots of wind! We had some rain and lighting...but right where we are at we sort of lucked out as the worst of the storm went around us. The radar map on the television was quite colorful.

I've been busily working on many things lately, but wanted to first show you what I received recently. Judy from Judy in the Dyes blog shared a cardigan she had made for herself a while back. I fell in love with it and told her I'd love to have one of those. Well she so kindly made me one. Judy's surface design on this cardigan is fabulous. Thanks so much Judy!


Next are some pigment-dyed t-shirts I purchased for myself. I have other colors coming as well, but they haven't shipped yet. I love pigment-dyed shirts. I am shortening these shirts up so that they aren't so long. I hate tucking my shirts in!


Here is a small piece I made quite a while ago and haven't shared with you. I don't know why I haven't shown it here, but I guess that's how it goes. I started with a photograph of my cat, Abby, to create this. I want to do some more pieces, working in this way, and develop my technique further. This piece isn't totally finished yet.


Yesterday I prepared these screens for my first attempt at deconstructed screen printing. It's a process that totally fascinates me, so thought I'd give it a try. I was thinking they would be ready to screen print with today, but after looking closely at them, I think I'm going to give them another day of drying time. Stayed tuned for the results.


And here is a sneak peek at a work in progress. I recently got Melanie Testa's new book and am trying out her quilting techniques on this piece. I really like her book and recommend it.



In other news, my Mixed Media Collage for the Fiber Artist class is scheduled to begin on May 25, still lots of time to register. You'll find more information here.

Also, this morning I finally got around to adding some new pieces to my etsy shop. Go here to have a look.

The Fighting Roosters

Today I started on another watercolor-painted vase of flowers.


As I was choosing colors for my painting, I remembered that I needed to create a color chart for myself. I do these color charts with all paints I have. It is so much easier to pick colors when looking at them on paper or fabric rather than through a bottle. And besides, they usually look different dry compared to when they are wet.


As I was painting I got to thinking (I do that every once in a while). I wonder if this ink works on fabric. So I got out a scrap of white fabric and inked/painted it up. I'm going to let this dry and then cut it in half and wash half of it.


And here's the photo that inspired the title on today's post. As I was working in the studio I happened to glance out the window and saw a couple of pheasant roosters in the heat of battle. I imagine they are getting ready to claim their territory and hens for the spring/summer. I have noticed many roosters throughout the winter coming to feed in the yard so I'm betting that there will be many fights to determine who's the boss.

Watercolor and Quilting

I painted another flower vase last evening. This is the perfect activity for me in the evenings when hubby is dozing in front of the TV. I have a spare desk set up in the TV room and so I've been sitting there painting. This way I'm in the same room as he is, spending time with him, even though he's really tired from work and falling asleep in his chair.


On Tuesday, I had the opportunity to use the HQ16 at my local quilt shop (Sewing Machines Plus in Mandan, ND). I have never quilted anything on a long arm or mid arm quilting machine and I was eager but apprehensive. I learned all about loading the backing, batting, and quilt top onto the unit and then I started quilting. I decided I wanted to do it all free hand even though the machine has designs programmed into it. I knew I was going to quilt a design through each strip on each quilt block. The narrower strips got a simple wavy line and the wider strips got something fancier. I quilted a circular shape along the borders, which you can see in the bottom photo.

I enjoyed quilting on this machine but must say after standing there four to five hours and doing the entire thing in one shot was very tiring for me. Quilting like this is much harder than the professionals make it look and I really give the people who do this a lot much credit for their free-motion skills. I have lots of spots in my quilt where there are little boo-boos, but I'm not going to worry about it and just chalk it up to practice and fun. Thanks Angie for your generosity in letting me use your machine.

Completed Art Quilts

I finished a couple of small art quilts today. This first one has been shuffled around in my studio for what seems like eons. I've worked on it here and there and finally I just said, "Enough! This has got to get finished!" Hmm, perhaps I should say that more often because now it's finished.


I took one of the watercolor paintings I showed yesterday and created a quilted wall hanging. Here's my results:


Reminder: My Mixed Media Collage for the Fiber Artist online workshop is scheduled to start on May 25. Perhaps you'd like to join the fun. For more information, click here.

Also, don't forget that Collage Mania starts tomorrow (May 25). Have you got an artwork or two picked out? There are many great pieces up for grabs. Go here to view them all.

Happy Sunday

Here are a couple of bright and cheerful watercolor paintings. I hope they brighten your day. I was playing around with some Dr. Ph. Martin's Bombay India Inks that I've had for a couple months or more. I recently watched Kelli Perkins painting on her Quilting Arts DVD workshop, which you will find here. She was using liquid watercolors, but when I saw her doing this I remembered I had these inks and they were supposed to work like a watercolor if you wanted them to, and I wanted them to. So I got them out and played around last night. The colors are brilliant, right up my alley!

I scanned the two paintings into my computer and will perhaps make prints to use in some work in the future, but I think I'll create a paper quilt or something with these originals.

Speaking of Quilting Arts, have you seen they changed their site? They have created an interactive site that you can become a member of and meet and converse with fiber and mixed-media artists. They will also be having challenges, give aways, and you can share photos of art you've created, and more. There is a forum area where you can ask questions, which is great if you are trying to follow a technique in one of their articles and get stumped on a step. It's great...check it out!

Sneak Identity

The next theme for the Twelve by Twelve group to interpret in a quilt is "identity". These identity quilts are due to be revealed on June 1. I have fortunately finished my quilt early this round and it feels mighty good, let me tell you. I hate waiting until the almost, last minute to work on something with a deadline, but sometimes that's how it goes. The photo above is a little peek at my identity quilt.