Happy New Year!

We had a lovely Christmas in Lake Charles, Louisiana, then celebrated with my family here in Maryland. So now we're ready for what we hope is a wonderful New Year!

Christmas Eve sunset

Enjoying a carriage ride to see some lights

Christmas Day sunset 

Gotta love those sunsets across the water - always inspirational.

**I wish all of you an exceptionally happy and healthy New Year!**

Fabric Fun - Fun Fabric

My lifelong fascination (OK, maybe obsession) with fabric began when my mother taught me to sew as a child. Her talent and passion for sewing inspired me tremendously.

While focusing on creating digital compositions to use in quilts over the last 10 plus years,  I've "relaxed" by creating hundreds of yards of hand dyed fabric, as well as many smaller pieces that were screen printed, painted, or monoprinted. I've used these fabrics to create small projects (like some of those found on my tutorials link), borders and backings for quilts, and occasionally small quilts themselves. Once a fabric lover, always a fabric lover!

As I learned more about Photoshop Elements and some of its capabilities, I realized that a number of the surface design processes I was using could be digitally emulated, and that's what my new Quilting Arts Workshop is all about! Here are two designs that were created in just moments that have the look of hand dyed fabric.

 

Faux Drip Dyeing

This fabric has the look of low water immersion dyeing

And here are a few projects created with fabric made using the straight forward processes shown in the workshop:

My new favorite shirt!

Sound interesting? Then stay tuned for more fun fabrics over the next few weeks, and check out the preview for my newest Quilting Arts Workshop - Digital Surface Design: Simple Techniques for Hand-dyed Fabric Effect and More

New Quilting Arts Workshop!

I'm *so* excited that the Quilting Arts Workshop that I filmed in September is here! The digital download is available now, and the DVD is available for preorder (it will be available in January). It's called Digital Surface Design: Simple Techniques for Hand-dyed Fabric Effects and More.

In the next few weeks I'll be sharing a variety of designs I've created using the techniques in the workshop. 

All of these fabrics were created using the techniques in my new Quilting Arts Workshop

This workshop focuses on fast and fun ways to digitally design fabrics (as opposed to compositions, as in my first Quilting Arts Workshop.) Using simple techniques in Photoshop Elements I show you how to create a range of  beautiful artistic effects from crisp and graphic to soft and hand-dyed looking. You can even create designs that look like they've been discharged! I think you'll really enjoy the ease and flexibility of these techniques. Check out a preview here.

Updated Tutorial List - Have a Handmade Holiday

I've updated my tutorials to include one of my very favorite projects - a cell phone holder that I demoed on Quilting Arts TV Season Series 1300.

There's also a new link for some super easy and versatile little stockings that I demoed in the same series.

Both of these projects are fast enough to still make some before Christmas. Enjoy!

Winter Wonderland

It's been a while since I posted just a bunch of pretty pictures, so here are a few from today's ice storm. These were all taken in my side yard.

I hope you are all warm and dry!