FibreFreak

Small Series Quilts

2008-05-11T19:12:00.000-07:00

Just a quick post to share what I'm working on right now... I got stuck on my latest quilt and decided to try a smaller series. I saw something about journal quilting on Quilting Arts TV (cool show, BTW) and it sparked an idea about trying new techniques in a series of small quilts. This way, since you're working with a smaller piece, you aren't investing too much time or too many materials into something that may or may not work out. And since you're doing 3-4 (or more) pieces, you can vary your technique and or materials in each piece.
So, here's what I'm experimenting with this weekend: painted fusibles and different layouts.

These are the painted fusible backgrounds:

I forgot to take a pic of the black background, but you'll see it below. Once I had the backgrounds done, I decided to play with different kinds of layouts out of the book "Color and Composition for the Creative Quilter" by Katie Pasquini Masopust and Brett Barker. BTW, this is a great book if you ever have trouble with color choices, or with balance in your pieces.

Anyway, I tried three different types from their book: Diagonal, Radiating and Symmetrical. The fourth one is going to be embroidered and it'll be Asymmetrical. Maybe. Here are my pieces - just fused so far, I'll be quilting them over the week, hopefully...

Other than this, not much going on in life... still working as a temp, but I am finally looking for a permanent job somewhere else. I may be getting a kitten to keep Neruda company, we'll see about that. He may decide a little kitten looks more like a chew toy than a companion!

I'll post again when I have something else to share... :oP

Hey - it's been a while...

2008-03-24T21:17:00.001-07:00

Well - the roller-coaster ride continues...
I went to the Bernina National Teacher's Reunion and it was incredible! I got to meet and get to know Linda M. Poole, author and the creator of the FairieGoddessMothers group on Yahoo! She is as awesome in person as she is online! I also met a lot of other awesome quilt artists, such as Laura Cater-Woods, Bonnie McAffery, John & Katie Flyn, Elsie Campbell... OMG! I met sooo many incredible artists! And they were all so incredibly supportive and encouraging - really amazing people! BTW - I TOTALLY want a new Bernina machine - they are AMAZING!

Coming back was somewhat of a letdown - back to work and the same ol', same ol'... mostly working, trying to get a permanent position at my current temp job. BTW - they decided they don't want me. They don't know who they want, but they are sure they don't want me... :0(
Quite a disappointment, let me tell you!

But, helping to ease the blow, is my new little furbaby, Neruda. He followed me home one stormy night and I didn't have the heart to leave him out in the cold. Isn't he a cutie?

I've had very little time to do any homework or quilting since I got back, but I had done a quilt for the Bernina Teacher's Reunion and decided when I got back that it wasn't done and that I want to also make it one of a series, so I've got the beginnings of #2 in the series and #1 just needs more quilting and some embellishment. The third one is going to be a combo of the color scheme of #1 & #2. Not sure how that's going to flow yet, but so far, this has been one of those "off-the-top-of-my-head" projects that just sort of creates itself... Both of these are created entirely of my hand-dyed and hand-painted fabrics...
Embellishment suggestions are appreciated, btw!

OMG! I'M POSTING TWICE IN ONE MONTH!!

2007-11-14T16:12:00.000-08:00

I am bringing this design to class tonight to (hopefully) get one of these color roughs approved. Which one do you think she'll choose?? It's always a mystery to me...
Then I will only need one more design approval before I take my hiatus from school....

The last week of November I'll be heading to Chicago for a few days of intensive training at the Bernina Teachers' Reunion - I am VERY excited as I will be meeting ListMom Linda from the FGM Group and other quilt artists that I have admired may be there as well!!
I can't show you what I'm working on, but will try to remember to post when I get back.

Gotta get back to work before they catch me goofing off...

Ciao-ciao!

2007-11-08T08:58:00.001-08:00

Hey there -
It's been the longest time, I know!
I was talking to Sunshine, one of my favorite FGMs (though they are all awesome!) and she sort of reminded me that I hadn't posted in AGES...
So, here is the latest design I'm working on. The dreaded Jacobean - it is one of the most comprehensive, detailed designs that we will be hand-painting. The picture on the left is my painted rough (sample) the picture on the right is the fabric that was used as my inspiration. I am using the color palette and a few of the motifs from the fabric in my design.
I was very pleased to have my rough approved right off the bat - usually we have to go back and forth a few times to fine-tune the color, but she approved it right away, with a few additional details. So now I just have to paint the 18" x 24" design. YIKES!!
Since I will be taking a 4-month break between courses, I will have plenty of time to work on it and take my time with it. I am working on getting at LEAST 2 more designs approved so that I can work on those on during my break. That will give me 5 designs total to complete in 4 months - definitely doable if I'm not attending classes and if I can actually stick to a schedule!!! LOL..
I am also working on a project for my upcoming trip to the Bernina Teacher's Reuninon in Chicago at the end of this month. Very excited about this trip as I am being mentored by Linda M. Poole, the talented and lovely leader of the FGMs! =0)
Well, I'm at work, so I should probably actually go do something that is work-related... LOL

NO promises to post anytime soon as I am swamped with work, school and an actual social life, (shocking, I know!) are keeping me ridiculously busy...
=0P

Where did April go, or May for that matter??!?

2007-05-25T22:21:00.000-07:00

I can't believe the year is almost half over - it seems like just yesterday was New Year's! And now I am in my fifth course in school, we are more than halfway done. By this time next year I could be graduating - EEK!
Anyway, I have been busy, busy, busy. Things have eased up a bit financially since I canceled my vacation - at least they had until I got sick and missed 2 1/2 days of work. As a temp, I don't get paid for sick days, so I lost out on half a weeks pay - OUCH! But it's only a temporary setback, I will get caught up by the middle of next week, barring anymore unforeseen circumstances... cross your fingers for me, cuz I can't afford another illness or unexpected expense.
No finished quilts, no new fairies... =0( But I have had some new ideas! One of these days, I will get the time to bring them into reality, until then, it's mostly school work...
I now have 8 completed designs and about 12 more that are in various stages of completion. Thinking about it counts as working on it, right? Anyway, I finished two more computer designs, and one more painted design.
I really like my two computer designs, they were fun and mostly easy. Actually the bigger leaves were a bitch to clean up, but other than that, pretty easy. I could not get my other design to load for some *bleeping* reason, but it was a leaf design that I painted, scanned and duplicated. It was more ferny and much smaller than the one pictured below...

The painted squiggle design was easy to come up with, trickier to paint. My rough draft was easy, I just randomly painted a squiggle pattern. The finished design though... that took a little more concentration as I had to actually do a layout and then follow that. You'd think it'd be easier to stay on the line when it's all crooked, but that's not the case... LOL!

This piece is not a quilt, not a design or a rough - it was done purely for fun, to see what I could do with the Caran d'Ache watersoluble wax pastels. They are SO cool - I highly recommend that you get a few and play around with them. They work like crayons, pastels or paints. You can use them dry or wet on paper or fabric... they're so freakin' versatile! Anyway, this is what I came up with, after playing around. I doodled and scribbled, then dribbled, swiped and smeared it with water - which removed color in some spots, and blended it in others.
I call it Color, Deconstructed.

Well, that'll be it for now. Hopefully, I will get a chance to post again before another 3 months goes by...

I'm Ba-ack!

2007-03-16T23:15:00.000-07:00

Ok, been incommunicado for a while, but what the hell, my life has been one big roller-coaster lately. I've had some, shall we say, financial issues. Mainly that I don't make enough money, and I really don't have any sincere ambition to work any harder to make more money. The only "career" I truly want is the one I am going to school for and that is the only reason I really even have a job... that and I like to eat, have clothing, roof over my head - you know - the basics... LOL... I came to the realization that my much anticipated vacation to Paducah, KY this year was not going to happen. Not if I wanted to continue school and continue having a place to live! So I've canceled my vacation and it brought a measure of relief that was immense. No more trying to figure out how I was going to pay for school, vacation and rent all in one month. Now I just have to figure out the school and rent thing. ha.ha.ha. =0/

ANYway, I made a few other life-changing decisions, one of them being to end an 8-year relationship that wasn't going anywhere. That sucked. Really sucked. Still kinda sucks, actually. But I know that it is the best thing for the both of us, so the suckiness is tolerable, if barely, because of that. I feel a certain level of relief now that that decision has been made too.
So with all these goings-on in my mostly boring existence, I have really been busy with school and work. School and work, work and school. And I FINALLY finished up a BUNCH of designs.

This is my very first design, with two coordinates that I recently finished. I was told that the color-matching was very good, very professional. Yay, me!

This was actually my second design, which I'm not sure ever got posted, once I finished it...
Some people think it looks like deviled eggs, other like some kind of doggy treat...

This was my computer design, I scanned in picture of a sand dollar and then did some cool stuff with PhotoShop - PhotoShop ROCKS!

And this is the design I'm working on right now, we have to create a design so that we can put it in repeat, which if you buy enough fabric you know what that means.

I was GOING to post some finished projects and an interesting piece of artwork (that's NOT made with fabric or a fabric design, oddly enough...) but it took WAY too long to load these pictures and I am getting tired of the computer so it will have to wait for another time. Hopefully before another 2 or 3 months have gone by... =0)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

2007-01-04T22:11:00.000-08:00

It was a busy year last year, and this year looks to be just as filled with... well, busy-ness. I had a great time visiting my family in SoCal, too short, of course, but still it was nice. I gave hand-made gifts to everyone. I gave my cousin my Sunshine quilt, cuz she said it would brighten her day if it she could look at it every day - how cool is that? I gave my aunt my first dry brush painting, I was really proud with how it came out. And she seemed to really like it, she even has a spot in her bedroom to hang it up.
For my grandmother, I repaired a quilt I had made for her and my grandfather's 60th Anniversary, the picture & writing had faded, so I had to reprint the photo, and I fixed it with textile medium so that it won't fade again. Then I stitched the new block into place by hand and re-traced the writing that had faded.

I made other gifts, but didn't get pictures of them yet, I will post them as soon as I do.
Hope everyone had a great holiday and my best wishes for a happy and healthy new year!

INSPIRATION FOR FABRIC DESIGNS

2006-12-04T22:13:00.000-08:00

We are supposed to buy fabrics to inspire our designs, to practice our painting techniques and for color palettes. These are some of my most recent purchases - I'm noticing a definate trend in my current tastes, I am going ga-ga for retro prints - which is wierd, cuz I usually really go for the modern stuff! So I am supposed to go buy MORE fabric - which normally wouldn't be a problem, except I don't have the cash flow right now... well, maybe Santa will bring me a gift certificate to Stone Mtn. Daughters. HINT, HINT... lol...

I'm working on 3 projects right now and so far all I have produced are a LOT of crayon roughs. These crayons are pretty cool - they are actually water-soluble wax pastels and are a lot of fun. You can layer the colors, blend them with water and use to create all kinds of textures with stuff like window screen, cheese graters, corrugated cardboard, etc, etc. We are using black paper to create the design that will go into our portfolios, and are not allowed to use water with them. I've also found out that they can be used on fabrics and plan to do some experimenting next weekend. Check out my crayon roughs (of which none are approved for a full design - I have to do more designs with more variety of shades from light to dark) - I like them anyway, but they are not considered marketable, but that's ok - it's all part of a learning process! LOL...

This one is similar to a quilt I'm working on... I used shelf liner from IKEA to do the texture in the background...

My boyfriend picked out the colors for this one - I never would have chosen these colors to go together, but oddly enough, I like them together...

Oooooo... psychedelic maaaaan....

This one started out as a quilt design, but then I realized I didn't want to cut out all those little freakin' circles!! Lot easier to draw them...

doodling....

drawing....

more doodling....

My personal favorite - I used a stencil under the paper and rubbed the crayon over it, then I outlined the shapes of the leaves, stems and "ribs" and colored in the leaves...

Well, I'll post more later, I have some other pics that I want to upload - but right now I have to get some sleep!

HOMEWORK

2006-10-16T23:05:00.000-07:00

I know, I know, it's been FOREVER since I posted - sorry, things have been really up and down in my world. It's been really hard to escape reality these days! LOL! I got a job I really liked, but they didn't like me, apparently! So now I am temping for Dreyer's Grand Ice Cream of all places - free ice cream every day! How much better (or worse!) can it get?!!
Anyway, I've been super-busy with homework, work and feeling sorry for myself - so those are all my excuses for not posting.
Anyway, I just finished my Hula Girl design (FINALLY!) and thought y'all might like a look at it. I think it came out pretty good, but I have to say those little hands were a pain in the ass to do! I must've done them over about 15 times, before I finally said, ok, screw it! they are done....
Anyway, the color scheme wasn't one I would've chosen, but I think it still came out pretty cute... lemme know what you think!

FIRST OFF... CHECK OUT THIS FAIRIE!

2006-09-10T00:12:00.000-07:00

I made this one in response to a FGM Special Challenge for Fairie Day. I specifically made this for my sister, Gina, as she liked my May Fairie so much and wanted a Fairie with hair and clothing...
My Fairie-Goddess is celebrating Fairie Day with the old pagan custom of "Drawing Down the Moon" which is a ritual in which a priestess draws the moon into herself and becomes the "Goddess" so to speak. I used Angelina Fibers, and painted fusible web to create the moon and the "illumination" around it. The background fabric is hand-dyed and painted as well as all the fabrics for the Fairie, her dress, wings and hair. The border is a store-bought batik.

I've been finishing up a lot of projects, but so far, this is the only one completely done, well, besides the flower pin cushion pictured below. I made this for Carolyn, one of the FGM ladies who has become a really good friend over the last year - she's always very supportive and encouraging and very optimistic, in spite of her own issues and she's really made an impression on me. Her great attitude and kindness are such an inspiration, and I thought that this little gift would be a small way to acknowledge that... She's a real good friend, it's funny how I've made met some very special people in this group - people I am proud to say have become friends, even though I've never met them in person. =)

Another one of my favorite online buds, DEE (aka Chicky-Dee) made me a GORGEOUS mini-Amish quilt - I mean beautiful - hand quilted with these stunning solid purples, lavenders and neutrals. I've been trying to get a good picture of it, but am having trouble getting it in the right light. GRRRRR... even with a digital camera, there are some things that DON'T come out clearly. I'm sure it's user error (it always is!) but as soon as I figure it out, I'm gonna post it here, she really did a fabulous job and I want to show it off!

Now for the homework, I've been so long in posting, cuz I've been so busy in school and with my new fabulous job - a job in non-toxic environment is so important dontya think? So I have a lot of designs done, but I'm only going to show you the most recent ones. Nothing has color yet - but I'm getting there. Here's the latest (and finally approved) layout of my "Hula Girl" print:
She had me reduce the trees and the leis 75% and "flopped" or "mirrored" the trees so they tilt both ways. Now I have to pick out a color palette from the book "Fabulous Fabrics of the 50's", which I am finding hard to do, as I don't like too many of the colors from the book. But I'll get over it eventually... it's part of the process, learning to let go of what you want, and being able to get excited about what the "client" wants, regardless of your taste. =0P

We are also now working on dishware, plate designs to be exact, and I have one design almost approved, but I needed to change one portion of it. I can't make up my mind on this, so I have two different pieces on the top of the plate - put your 2cents in and tell me which one you prefer!

Well, that's the latest and greatest - I hope to have more time to post this month as I finish projects. I have some other things going on, but can't post them yet until they are received by their owners... don't want to ruin any surprises... hehehe...
Until next time - happy creating to all!

HOMEWORK

2006-08-07T21:12:00.000-07:00

Classes started again last week and the teacher has upped the ante a bit, we now will have 2-3 projects at a time to work on. I am working on a couple of home projects and have been somewhat side-tracked from the fairies and the quilting, but I am trying to get organized to the point where I will have time for everything I want to do and all the stuff I HAVE to do...
Here's my newest design layout - it's called a Conversational Print, as it is supposed to tell a "story", so to speak - I'm not sure what my story is, but I think it's pretty cute!

Well - she liked it, but wants me to reduce the leighs and trees by 50% and make the layout closer together. And I need to start thinking about colors... Hmmmm... I'm thinking of something more muted than a regular tropical color scheme. Well, I guess we'll see next week, hunh?

FAIRIE MADNESS

2006-07-17T22:42:00.000-07:00

I finally caught up on my fairies, for the FGM site. WooHoo! Although you can't see it very well in the pic, the January Fairie is holding a sparkly snow flake made of Angelina Fiber. It has been nice to have some time (while on break from classes) to work on projects that have been sitting around for a while. I still have homework to get done, but it's not as overwhelming since I have more time to get it done.
And I finally finished my pincushion for Dee (so glad you liked it, Dee!) but I forgot to take a photo - Doh! But I'm working on another one for Ray's mom, so I'll get a pic of that one.
Thanks to everyone who chimed in with a vote on my last post - I think the upper right one got the most votes, but my favorite is still the bottom left - guess that's why I need the classes! LOL!
Here's the FairieGoddesses for January (waaaaaaaaaaay overdue), June and July. Hopefully, I'll be able to keep up for the rest of the year!

HOMEWORK

2006-06-24T22:59:00.000-07:00

Here's my latest homework assignment, this is the design and layout:

And here are the "roughs" that I showed in class last week, I am to do one more rough in 3 shades of green. Lemme know which one is YOUR favorite...

MAY FAIRIE GODDESS

2006-06-24T22:53:00.000-07:00

Once again, I am late with my FG of the month! But at least this one is only about 3 weeks late. This one was a LOT of fun, like having an alter-ego to dress up! I especially liked giving her a hairdo. The clothing and hair were inspired by one of the new FIT's on the FGM site - Jen really had me a little envious, so I decided to try my hand at dressing up my FG. Thanks Jen, for the inspiration! Your work is really beautiful...

APRIL FG

2006-06-08T23:42:00.000-07:00

I am falling further and further behind on my monthly FairieGoddesses - and I have to admit to some jealousy towards a new FIT who did 6 months of FG's in about a week! How the *&#&!! did she do that???!! LOL... Hers are absolutely beautiful, and will make a gorgeous quilt - especially once she has another 6 months to add to it. Here's my April FG, I actually finished her in the beginning of the month, but forgot to post her... only about a month or so late...

COLLABORATIVE ART

2006-06-08T23:37:00.000-07:00

This piece was painted by my sister Gina, Then I quilted it and bound it. It was so cool to do something that was a "collaborative effort" and I think it turned out pretty cool...

QUILTED SUNSHINE

2006-06-03T00:30:00.000-07:00

Well, I finished this up about 30 minutes ago, and couldn't wait to post it on the FGM site, and figured while I'm online, I might as well post it here... The colors aren't as rich in the picture as they are in this scan - I'll try to take a better pic sometime this weekend.
I should be sleeping by now, but I couldn't help myself, I just had to finish it up. I am really pleased with how this piece came out - I think the quilting added some real depth to it. It's the second piece I've done that came out pretty close to the idea that got lodged in my brain! OK, I have a lot to do tomorrow, so it's off to sleep now....

HOMEWORK

2006-05-22T22:25:00.000-07:00

This is the homework assignment I have toturn in tomorrow, I had to change the brown outline (which looked black in the pics) to the blue in the background color. I had to do really fine lines with the brush, and needed plenty of practice, practice, practice - but I think I'm getting the hang of it. I thought the brown would look better, but I actually think this looks a lot better, I guess the teacher knows what she's talking about! LOL!
Hopefully, I will be doing this for my full design. Yikes! I'll only have a week to paint an 18"x24" piece in one week! I'll be busy over the holiday weekend...

SUNSHINE

2006-05-22T22:21:00.000-07:00

I've been working on this project for a couple weeks and I'm pretty pleased with how it's coming along, I usually don't work with yellows and oranges, but "Sunshine" was the theme for this Journal Quiltlet and what is more sunshiny than yellow/orange? I just have to quilt this and it's good-to-go, I bought a couple of beautiful variegated threads to quilt it with - can't wait until I can get back to it!

Homework

2006-05-09T00:20:00.000-07:00

Here's what I did for homework this week, we had to do five small paintings of of the motif & colors that were chosen for our fabric design. There are five different types of painting:

1. Ground - motif is painted on top of a painted background

2. Butted Blotch - motif is painted first, then background color is painted right up to the edge of the motif

3. Smooth Blotch - motif is painted first, then background color is painted close to the edge of the motif, leaving a small, even, white space around the motif

4. Rough Blotch - motif is painted first, then background color is painted close to the edge, leaving an uneven white space around the motif

5. Loose - a freestyle type of painting, with little structure

I've never done any painting before, except for on fabric or stuff like boxes and/or furniture - never actually painted any identifiable stuff before... (hopefully these are identifiable!) - and I've never painted with a guache before... I had some difficulty getting the mixture & texture and had a few mishaps with smears and smudges which I think I successfully fixed... I think. LOL This was fun to do, and I'm pretty pleased with the results. Hopefully, the teacher will also be pleased. =0)

BLACK & WHITE

2006-05-06T00:10:00.000-07:00

This is my latest quiltlet for my Abstract-Challenge group on Yahoo! I was a little late with it, as it was due by the end of April, and I have a feeling the one for May is gonna be late too... =0/ I still haven't done my April FairieGoddess for my FGM group and I KNOW May's is probably going to be late... hehehe
I had fun with this one, it's the first one I've done that is actually an "abstract" and it was all done on the fly - no pattern, no plan.
I've got a journal quiltlet I'm working on (also from the FGM group) and the theme (Sunshine) has so captivated me (seeing as how we've hardly anything but cloudy, rainy days the last few months) that I'm obsessing on getting that done before I start anything else... along with the homework for class, I have very little spare time to clean house...
Tomorrow, Gina's coming over to paint & dye fabrics and then we're going to grill some shish-ka-bobs for dinner... mmmm...grilled zucchini, chicken, onions, poppas and peppers - YUM!

HOMEWORK

2006-04-24T22:39:00.000-07:00

Well, I finished my homework about 2 hours ago, and I sat down to play with the pictures I took and had a lot of fun... I did more than was called for in my assignment - we were only supposed to create the pattern out one of the 30 second drawings we did in class last week. We each had to bring in a flower and a marker and then we had 30 seconds to draw like a 5-yr-old before moving on to the next flower. Then our teacher picked one of our designs and assigned each of us a "design" to create. I had to create a close "tossed" design with 2 sizes of my drawing. Here's what I came up with:

Then I sort of "read ahead" and I played around in PhotoStudio - colored in the background and came up with these:

For some reason, I can't get the pic to get any bigger than that, but you get the idea - this class is gonna be a LOT of fun for me, I can't wait to see what the next assignment is!

I also finished a postcard for the competition for the FIGM group, the theme was "Wish You Were Here" and mine came out pretty cute. I can't post it until the competition is over, but as soon as it's all tied up, I'll let you see it. I'm starting on my first page of a journal quilt (or a quilt journal) and finishing up some UFO's so hopefully, I'll have more quilt pics soon....

I'm also making more of those pincushion quilts, as they were so easy and cute and a lot of people really liked them so I'm making about a 1/2 dozen for gifts and one for a swap, with my new favorite chicky, Dee (HI DEE!) and the word is she's making me a mini Amish quilt - how cool is that?!? I think I'll be coming out the winner in this swap - I even have the perfect spot to display it already... LOL. I can't wait to see it.

FINALLY FINISHED MY CHALLENGE!

2006-04-16T23:41:00.000-07:00

This one took me a long time to finish, even though it's only 8" square. I got the idea immediately upon hearing the theme of the March challenge in my Abstract-Challenge Group, which was "Doors/Windows" (I sort of interpreted that as "Doorway") but it took me a while to actully put it into action. I am extremely happy with how it turned out, as it looks very close to the picture I had in my head - which is a very rare experience for me... LOL!
I used hand-dyed fabrics for the background and the "doorway" and hand-painted fabric for the "other world's" sky. I used the fused applique method I learned from Melody Johnson's blog, Fibermania and Angelina Fibers for the moon with rayon and metallic threads for all the quilting.

DRAGONFLY FABRIC

2006-04-16T23:36:00.000-07:00

I made this for a charm swap, which was fun, but so many people participated it was hard to get them all done in time. I got a LOT of really cute fabrics squares in return, though, so it was worth it.
I love the way this came out, I think I may make it a couple different colors and try to sell it on SYOS Fridays, I just have to actually get around to doing it! LOL...

SPRING HAS SPRUNG, SORT OF...

2006-04-16T00:23:00.000-07:00

It's still raining and cold as hell, but the flowers are blooming all over the neighborhood. During a break in the rain, I took a walk around my neighborhood with my digicam and shot some photos of the flowers springing up. There are way too many photos to post, but check out this one - I'm so jealous of this garden, can you believe these tulips? GORGEOUS!

COLOR CHART

2006-04-16T00:13:00.000-07:00

Well, I completed my first assignment - Yay! It wasn't super difficult, just a little time-consuming. It took me a while to get used to the paint, as I've only ever used fabric paints and acrylics. This is a gouache (pronounced gwash - not goo-osh, which was my first guess... ) and has a very different texture. I love all the different colors and tints, and was totally tempted to start mixing shades and other gradations, but I stuck to the assignment. Next week we are going to create our first design... =0D

Avoiding Copyright Infringement

2006-04-11T22:28:00.000-07:00

BTW, I should mention that the pincushions pictured below were designed by Kumiko Sudo, and I got the pattern from the April edition of Applique Quilts, in the article titled "Small Accents". I don't want to inadvertantly take credit for something I didn't do... =0)

2006-04-09T01:31:00.000-07:00

I've been so busy with work and my group activities - not to mention Gina's birthday (which was really cool) that I haven't posted in a while. Well, there wasn't much to post, as I haven't really finished very many projects in the last month. But I did finally get my pincushions done for the swap I was in and I got the ones from the other ladies, which kinda made mine look sorta cheesy...
Oh well, they still came out pretty cute. I think. =0) I should have more pictures in the next couple weeks as I am finally finishing up a couple of projects. And on a more exciting note - I may be showing some of my work in a San Francisco gallery! Keeping my fingers crossed on that one! Another fun project I'm starting with Gina and a friend, is ART CHALLENGES. I sort of took a cue from my AbstractChallenge Yahoo! Group and we are going to paint a different "theme" or whatever every couple of weeks - I made these little bitty 4" x 6" canvases so the projects shouldn't take too long. This weeks challenge is going to be simple to start us off - 2 colors, any 2, any design, pattern or even just a colorwash. Should be interesting. I will definately post my paintings (don't expect anything too great - paint is not really my medium...) but I will have to ask the other ladies if they want theirs posted.

Quilt Stitch/Color Study

2006-03-18T23:49:00.000-08:00

I just finished this quilt - I started it as a color study/ quilt stitch study. It is the first fused quilt I tried (thanks to Melody!!), started back in January but got frustrated with the quilting and put it aside. Plus, I really got into the fusing method and started a couple other projects. You can probably see the spots where I screwed up and had to sort of re-cut and re-fuse the pieces. I also used this quilt to try out a bunch of different free-motion quilt stitches. I think I finally got the hang of holding and moving the thing at the same time... I might give this one to my Dad & Kelley, but I really like the way it turned out, so I may just keep it for myself! I'll have to see if I have somewhere in my crowded little apartment to hang it. Course, now that Gina's seen it, she had to point out that it looks like a pair of boobies, and now that's all I can see - so maybe I will give to my Dad and Kelley... LOL...

MARCH FAIRIE GODDESS

2006-03-17T21:48:00.000-08:00

I finally finished my March FairieGoddess - but I was a few hours too late to win the prize offered by ListMom Linda... =( I was really hoping to get that copy of Applique Magazine, but the winner deserved it - her post was beautiful as are all the other ladies photos... I really like this one as it has my favorite color - green and my favorite lucky symbol, dragonflies... I used a couple of new techniques (new for me) - I made my own stencils for the teeny-tiny and the small dragonflies and I used Angelina fibers and painted fusible web for the wings. I'm very pleased with how the wings came out, but the satin stitching gave me some trouble and looks a little uneven... but I still like the way it came out, I was planning on giving this one to my sister, Gina - but she's gonna have to wait until next month. I like it so much that I'm keeping it for myself! Sorry, Miss Gina - you're just S.O.L.

MY FIRST FIBER POSTCARD...

2006-03-13T22:41:00.000-08:00

I've been so busy, now that I am working full-time, that I have a ton of UFO's on the design board and none of them are really close to done. And some of them I'm not able to share yet, as they are projects for some of the groups I'm in - wouldn't be fair not to give them first dibs, you know. Anyway, I've been so busy that I haven't had time to post anything new. So here is a pic of my first attempt at a fiber postcard. I used it to experiment with a ton of techniques I wanted to try.
The first experiment was with painting Wonder Under and then fusing it... it's pretty interesting, actually - you can use it to layer colors and texture in a new way. Then I used some oil pastels to color in some spots that needed more color, it's like using those Shiva sticks everyone is talking about... also very cool. Then it was on to couching threads and bobbin work with ribbons, and machine stitching beads. I used a string of beads and zigzagged over them with a darning foot and invisible thread - that came out pretty good. Then I tried stitching them individually with a size 60 needle - not so good.... the invisible thread got all wonky and tangled. Then I tried trapping the beads between two layers of Angelina fibers - again not so successful. The beads kept coming out from the layers... All in all a good learning experience. Now I just have to back it and send it to someone... the question is who should I send it to? hmmmmm....

Look at my Orchids!

2006-03-03T21:34:00.000-08:00

OK, this has nothing to do with fiber art- except that maybe one day they'll inspire a quilt design, but they are the only plant I have that's blooming and I love the way they look against the black file cabinet. I have no idea how I got the "swirly" look of the last picture, it was totally accidental, but I love the way it came out...

STUDIO PICS

2006-02-27T20:34:00.000-08:00

Since most of the quilt & fiber art blogs I've seen have pictures of the artist's studios, I thought I'd share some of mine. Those other studios have been a real source of envy for me as most of them have WAY more space than me! =P But then I realized that it's not the amount of space you have that counts, it's the amount of fabric! LOL!
Plus, even in my tiny little bit of space, I've managed to really create a well-organized easy to use studio. And the greatest thing about having a small space is that almost everything is within arms-length, so you don't have to reach very far or look very hard for what you want! And right now, I've been mostly working on smaller quilts anyway, so the space works pretty well.
I have a studio space that's only 6' by 7' in my dining room. I use one small counter in my kitchen for dying & painting fabrics (never for food!) other than that, everything else is stored (ok, cram-packed) & worked on in my dining room studio. My fabrics are stored in the stacked cabinets to the left of my sewing machine cabinet. Hidden behind that blue curtain are some shelves where I store my books, magazines and various baskets and boxes full of fabric scraps. Behind my sewing table is my cutting/pressing table and a bookcase crammed with fabrics, notions, paints and dyes (and batting, files, etc, etc... ). On the back of the bookcase is my "design wall", which has a curtain I can drop down when company comes over... I also store my water bottles down there, as I have nowhere else to put them... =0)

In the past, I've created a sewing area out of just about anything - I once built a 3' high loft bed, with a pull-out cutting table and LOTS of storage underneath. I've had only 18 square feet of space for my sewing cabinet and fabric storage and had to store my excess fabrics and notions in my upstairs bedroom upstairs.... Dining rooms, closets, that little corner in the living room - hey whatever works! No matter where I've lived or how much space I've had available, I have been able to create a workspace. So don't let space constraints keep you from having the studio you want. Now if anyone has any ideas on how to deal with the time constraints, let me know! LOL... =OD

FEBRUARY FAIRIE CHALLENGE

2006-02-26T16:48:00.000-08:00

I had so much fun with this challenge - I got to use some of my Angelina fibers and some of my favorite hand-dyeds - I tried out a new technique, satin-stitch applique, which I was sort of hesitant about because I've never had much luck with doing a satin-stitch. I found out why, I wasn't using the right stabilizer! Stitch-n-Tear rocks! Of course, I need some practice with ending the stitching, and I had to double up on the bottom half of the fairie, because I missed the edge - but I think it came out pretty good in spite of all that!

DYE JOB

2006-02-18T23:37:00.000-08:00

Here are a few products of a dye session with my sister, Gina - I'm not showing hers because she didn't like the way they came out (I did, but she's picky) AND because I didn't ask her if I could. It would be rude to post pics of someone elses projects without asking, don't ya think? Anyway, these are now drying in my kitchen and dining room. The small, skinny one is cheesecloth, the other three are cotton muslin. I'm really happy with the 3 brighter ones, and semi-happy with the darker one... I might like it better once it's dried - we'll see...
Three of these were dyed using the direct application method. After soaking the fabrics in a bucket of water and soda ash, I spread them out on my counters (covered in plastic garbage bags) and apply the dye with squeeze bottles. The top left one was done using fabric and acrylic paints applied with a stencil brush or direct from the paint bottle. I'm pretty happy with how it came out, considering I had no idea what I was doing, only that I wanted something yellow green and blue... ;0)

UPDATE ON THE PYRAMIDS

2006-02-18T00:30:00.000-08:00

Here's my Skewed Perspective quilt with the border attached. Now all that's left is to quilt the border, attach the back and bind it...

And here's another pyramid quilt that I'm almost done with. The colors aren't showing up accurately, the border is a actually bluer than it looks. It's a little plain, so I need to add some interest with quilting and maybe some beading or other embellishments. Any suggestions would be appreciated...

I'M ON FIRE!! =D

2006-02-14T00:47:00.000-08:00

I'm making quilt tops like crazy, I'm going to have to do some actual quilting eventually... but for now, I'm having fun just creating off the top of my head. This one is made of scraps from my Circles & Spots quilt, even the backing was supposed to be for the other quilt, but I didn't get enough yellow on it, so it went into my reject pile. Well, I was looking at it last night, I started to think that the red looked sorta flame-y....

CIRCLES & SPOTS

2006-02-12T20:22:00.000-08:00

I had a minor setback with my pyramid quilt... hopefully minor. I didn't set the dye that I used to paint the "shadow" properly and it spread over the entire quilt. AAARRGGHHH!!! I cleaned most of it up, and I think I can fix the rest with a little well-placed paint, but I was too annoyed by the whole thing to attempt it. So I set it aside for a day or two and worked on this quilt top instead. Now I just have to figure out if I want to add a border or not, and how I'm going to quilt it. I hardly ever use these colors, so I wanted to do something with them to sort of stretch my comfort zone. =0)

SKEWED PERSPECTIVE...

2006-02-11T00:50:00.000-08:00

Here's another quilt I've been working on since 1997 - I got stumped for a while when I realized I'd messed up the perspective on the flooring, but I picked it up again this year...
I've used Angelina fibers on the moon and the shadow, that stuff is REALLY fun to work with. You can't really see the iridescence on the shadow, but it has a cool shift in color, depending on where you're standing and a lot of sparkle that doesn't show up in the pic.

Here's the quilted version....

2006-02-10T01:06:00.000-08:00

But I think it still needs something else.... hmmmm....

Let's see if this works...

2006-02-08T23:49:00.000-08:00

Well, here goes my first real post... I'm working on this piece for a Yahoo! group called Abstract-Challenge. The idea is to create an abstract expression of the monthly theme. The theme this month is "Marriage" and here's my (somewhat tongue-in-cheek) interpretation. I call it "COMMITMENT?!?!". I still need to attach the back and do the quilting... (thanks to Melody Johnson for the "Escape Hatch Finish" technique she shares on her blog "Fibermania")
As I get more practiced at this blogging thing, I'll add links to Melody's blog and other's that I've found addictive....=0)

Hmmmmmm......

2006-02-07T17:58:00.000-08:00

More to come as soon as I figure out how to do this blog thing...