SOLD!

SOLD!

Okay this feels REALLY good! Off to a private collection, this lovely piece goes. You can read more about Dreamy Tulips here.

I can never really thank my benefactors enough. So far, I have sold 3 journal quilts, and one small piece. You never really know when you are working on a piece if it will come out well, or even good enough, or if it will appeal to others, or touch someone in a meaningful way....yet still, you HAVE to do it. It really gives back to me when I found out that my work has affected someone else, especially to the point that they want it in their house! So if I haven't said it before, THANK YOU! Thank you to those of you have purchased my work. And thank you to all of you who write me or leave comments. I really appreciate you!

Happy Dance and Inspiration

Happy Dance and Inspiration
I guess it's safe to announce my good news now! Though I don't believe it has hit the newsstands yet, I did get my complimentary copies in the mail this week, and the editor, Pokey Bolton, has posted this on her blog.... YAHOO! My quilt, Vertigo, is on the cover! And even more pleasing, the colors are right!! My quilts are sometimes so bright that prints of them look bad, the colors come out wrong. But when I saw this one, I knew they got it right! I even held it up to my quilt and BINGO! It was right on! Fantastic! Good job Quilting Arts!

My article looks good too! And even better, I am in the esteemed good company of Laura Wasilowski, Deborah Boschert, and Jane Davila. It's a fantastic issue, check it out when you get a chance!
Also, I was checking in on some of my favorites, and Ann Flaherty had this youtube on her blog this morning. I absolutely love it. I love what it says about making art. I was surprised at the number of universal themes that artists ask themselves that were so true for me. It was kind of like when you really connect with a song, it rings true for you. That's how this video affected me, and it's all about passing along the inspiration. Enjoy!

Art as a Gift

Art as a Gift

 This one is called Flamingo Babies. As in....did you know that flamingo mommies carry their babies on their backs? The blue easter egg looking thingy is a baby pond for the baby flamingo. There are many other details, but I will save them for later.

This is a collaborative piece I made with my daughter. She drew the picture in art class at school. I transferred it to fabric by scanning and printing. This is when I learned, though I think I already knew, that my printer does not print colors like I see on my monitor. I know better, my printer is not calibrated, but alas, did it anyway. So, back to my story. I had to color in a lot with Tsukineko inks and fabric markers to make the colors truer. Then I quilted on top of the black lines with black thread to make it look more distinct. I asked my daughter to draw some fish for me, and I copied her fish designs around the border (her idea!). It is hard to copy another artist's designs exactly, but I tried. The border fabric is one of my hand dyes. I found the project to be more work than I expected, but it was really fun and rewarding. We gave it to her grandparents for Christmas.

Winter Scarves

Winter Scarves 

I am not really a knitter. I have knitted perhaps two things, and that was 20 years ago. They weren't particularly successful, but I remembered it was fun doing it.

I got inspired when a group of friends got together for a gift exchange for Christmas. We were each supposed to bring a hand made gift. I gave a beaded felted ball, a la Judy Perez. It was beautiful, unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of it. Several people made scarves. They were awesome, all beautiful. It made me want to try again.

The first scarf did not look that great, even though I did it twice, but my son took it because he loved it, and now I can't find it. Then I made one for my mom, then I made one for my daughter, and then I made a nicer one for my son (but he doesn't like that one, so it's mine now). It is really more fun than I ever thought it would be. I love all the new yarns. The chenille one above in blues and purples was so incredibly soft! I am making another from nubby yarn, in aqua and browns, I guess there is nothing wrong with having more than one scarf!

Anyway, hopefully these attempts will amuse you until I can share my good news

Box Fan Deconstructed

Box Fan Deconstructed

So, I was trying the same technique I used on the construction fencing in Falling Through the Cracks. While I was working on that piece, I noticed this box fan in my garage, so I thought I'd give it a try. I put the soda ash soaked fabric on the fan (unplugged, and lying on it's side), and began squirting the dye on. It was interesting, but nothing to get too excited about. I decided to cut it up and put it back together. I hadn't tried that before. Though there's nothing wrong with this piece, there's nothing that really appeals to me either. Perhaps it will be the background for something else.

Falling Through the Cracks

Falling Through the Cracks
39" x 32"

 There is no perfect place for my son at school. He has Asperger's, which is a high-functioning form of autism. A regular classroom uses all his coping skills, just to be there, and attend to the overwhelming sensory input and social expectations. And the special education classes don't fit him either. So, it is no wonder that at times I feel like he is falling through the cracks of public school. Special education was created because we saw a need, we saw that kids were falling through the cracks and this was our solution. But is it working? Enter his new case worker. She is a blessing, a godsend. Hooray for the very unique and special individuals that take special care to try to catch these wonderful kids! This quilt is dedicated to her, a healing force in our family's life.

About the piece and how I made it: The top third of the quilt is a hand dye that I used for a rubbing of cracks in the street with Shiva paintsticks. The cracks are heavily machine quilted. The bottom portion was another hand dyed piece that was dyed on top of a piece of construction fencing that I found littering the driveway of my son's school. I was really amazed at how the dye migrated to the fencing and captured an image of it. The building is made from some of my batiked fabrics. The net is made from a produce bag. Copper wire is made into useful legs for our robin, and the handle for the net. Making a special appearance are some hand blown glass beads, beautiful little works of art by artist, Vickie Hallmark, who graciously donated them to my project. The buttons are the neurotypical kids, unique and special in their own right. They are sewn in rows to allude to abacuses. Ultimately, public schooling comes down to the numbers, counting kids and counting dollars decide what resources are available.
Here are some close-ups of Vickie's wonderful beads. Pardon my snapshots, they barely do them justice. If you want to see more of Vickie's work, click the link Fiber.Art.Glass.

Satin Stitch

Satin Stitch

Ever wonder how to satin stitch a tight circle? My king sized quilt, Little Cities, has about 1000 of these little half inch beauties. It was a bit obsessive, I will admit, but the more I made, the more I loved the way they looked with the other blocks. There were times I couldn't work on it. Not surprising, it can be a bit tedious. Perhaps that's an understatement.
Anyway, I have a new camera, and it has video. So I have made a little video to show how to make one of those little satin stitched circles. Check it out if you are curious.
You can also see the link at youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7X7eMGCnv8g

Copper Swirls

Copper Swirls

I had this crazy idea, that I could put things under my fabric and add some dye, and I was hoping, really hoping, that the dye would somehow migrate to the object and capture an image of the object on the fabric. This is basically the same as sun printing with fabric paint. I have a large coil of household wire that I periodically strip to use the copper wire for art. That is where the copper swirls came from. My work bench is a glass table, and I didn't think the photo would show the copper very well on the glass, so for the purposes of the photo, I arranged them on top of the white fabric. For the purposes of dyeing, I put them under the cloth. I used soda ash soaked fabric.

Then, I got the fabric wet and tried my best to smooth out the air bubbles. I was not entirely successful because the copper swirls were not bent perfectly flat, and they are rather thick. Then I squirted dye all over the place. I think this piece had turquoise, blue, and fuscia. I really liked the result, and since this was my first experiment, I am envisioning many more experiments!

Yeah! It's finally my month!

Yeah! It's finally my month!
I've been waiting all year for it to be my turn in the IQA Award-Winning Quilts 2008 Calendar. I couldn't understand why they picked my quilt for December, but upon opening to the page it is obvious now, so much red and green, and this quilt is cheerful. Congrats Little Cities, another day in the sun!

Pretty colors!

Pretty colors!
I was going to say, "yummy" but I think that one has already been taken. I love playing with color. On days that I get to dye fabric, I am jumping out of bed and running to the garage. This is my kids' zip line. I have sort of taken it over for my work, sadly they haven't really noticed.
Watch out, I did what I said I would NOT do. Is there anything cuter than a sleeping kitten?