Sue Reno's Printing Expertise

The first time I saw Sue Reno's work in person was in 2006 (see this blog post). I was struck by the graphic impact of her work, along with the skillful design of the piece. I was later lucky enough to meet Sue at the big quilt show in Houston (maybe in 2007?) and spend a little time with her, as well as at a show in Lancaster shortly after that.

"Fireball" copyright Sue Reno

You don't have to know Sue long to realize what an intelligent and thoughtful person she is, and these qualities are clearly reflected in her work. When I found out she was making an instructional DVD for Interweave I was very excited for her, and I couldn't wait to see it!

Well, the wait is over, and it's worth it. “Surface Design Essentials for the Printed Quilt”  is now available as both a DVD ($24.99) or a digital download ($19.99) from the Quilting Daily Shop. Sue covers four printing techniques as well as strategies for using the prints in compositions and quilting them to best advantage.

I love printing fabric using a variety of techniques, and have tried cyanotype, heliograph, collagraph and Thermofax printing with varying levels of success in the past. What I admire about Sue's presentation of these techniques is that she has perfected a process for each one that works for her. She demonstrates these four methods of printing in a straight forward, approachable, and yet very thorough manner. Following her instructions, I feel that most artists could create successful prints of their own in no time.

In addition to demonstrating these techniques, Sue discusses options for combining prints in a variety of different ways. I particularly appreciate the way she uses more than one variety of printing technique in a single art quilt and is able to create a cohesive composition.

Finally, Sue pulls her pieces together with well planned quilting. Her tips for ways to quilt the prints are great. In my experience I usually feel that my prints are "precious" and difficult to showcase, but Sue manages to do so with ease.

Bottom line, I love it! If you are ready to try your hand at printing I think this DVD would serve you well.

Several other friends of Sue's are also participating in this blog tour. Here's a schedule so you can stop by and see what they have to say:

11/5/14: Sue Reno http://suereno.blogspot.com/ 
11/6/14: Susan Brubaker Knapp http://wwwbluemoonriver.blogspot.com/ 
11/7/14: Allie Aller http://alliesinstitches.blogspot.com/ 
11/8/14: Diane Doran http://www.oohprettycolors.blogspot.com/ 
11/9/14: Vivien Zepf http://sevenpinesdesigns.blogspot.com/ 
11/10/14: Virginia Spiegel http://www.virginiaspiegel.com/blog/ 
11/11/14: Cynthia St. Charles http://cynthia-stcharles.blogspot.com/ 
11/12/14: Natalya Aikens http://artbynatalya.blogspot.com/ 
11/13/14: Lyric Kinard http://lyrickinard.com/blog/

Blog Hop and Giveaway Finale

The blog hop is now closed. Journi (New Journeys 2) is the winner of the DVD from my segment of the blog hop. wlstarn won the four fat quarters from her comment on Deborah Boschert's blog. Thanks to everyone for participating!!!

Thanks to everyone for joining us on the blog hop, and special thanks to my four talented friends for helping out! Candy, Sarah, Deborah, and Susan will be forwarding the emails of the first four DVD winners to me, and I'll contact the winners and mail the DVD's out as soon as I've received their addresses.

But wait, there's still 2 more chances to win! Leave a comment on today's post before Friday, January 31, for a final opportunity to win a copy of my new DVD, Digital Surface Design: Simple Techniques for Hand-dyed Fabric Effects and More. Let me know what type of project you'd like to create using fabric you've designed yourself. Also, be sure and leave a way for me to contact you if you win.

I will also select a winner of the four fat quarters of fabric on January 31. The winner will be selected from all the commenters on the hop, with the exception of the 5 DVD winners.

In the meantime, here are a few more examples of fabrics I've designed using the techniques in the DVD:

See how different these two fabrics look when all I changed was the colors?

I hope you've been inspired as we've traveled to my friends' blogs - whether it's from a technique that one of them uses, or to try some experimentation of your own with digital design. Stay tuned to find out who our winners are ...

Tomorrow is the Big Day! FFAC 2013

For quite some time now Virginia Spiegel has done a tremendous job of raising funds for the American Cancer Society with the assistance of many fiber artists. This year she's come up with a new twist - A Year of Art. Tomorrow, February 12, and Wednesday, February 13, there are two ways to participate for this great cause - an auction and a drawing. Here's how it works.

The auction includes artwork from 11 well known fiber artists.

The Inspiration Month Drawing is a fabulous opportunity in that one lucky donor wins the entire prize pack from 27 Inspiration Sponsors - all together they are worth more than $1500!! You can enter by making a donation of any size to the American Cancer Society during the event through Fiberart For A Cause's donation page on February 12 or 13.

I'm so pleased to be among the 27 Inspiration Sponsors. I'm donating a copy of my instructional DVD, Digital Collage for Quilt Design from Start to Finish, as well as four beautiful fat quarters of fabric hand dyed by me.

I hope you join in by bidding on some of the beautiful artwork or donating with the chance to win that amazing prize package. So far Fiberart For A Cause has raised $220,000 to fight cancer - let's keep the ball rolling!

Kaleidoscope Fun Part 3

Last week I shared some fun ways that I use kaleidoscopes in quilt designs. In Part 1 I showed how I create kaleidoscopes using Kaleidoscope Kreator, then import them back into the program to create a new look. In Part 2 I showed how to use a kaleidoscope with a simple layer to create a medallion center for a quilt.

As easy and fun as those two techniques are, what I most enjoy is using kaleidoscopes as part of digital collages. When I made my DVD, Digital Collage for Quilt Design, the one thing that I most wanted folks to take away from it was that you can use any image - photo, scanned documents or objects, drawings, paintings etc. - as part of a digital collage. If you look at my quilts (here and here) you'll see that I certainly use photographs in my collages, but also a variety of other image types.

Using a variety of image types in your digital collages can add texture, depth, and a more painterly looking result. It's really a way to personalize your art! In all the examples below I imported the kaleidoscopes into Photoshop and combined them with other images.

So how have I used kaleidoscopes in digital collages? Let's see

This background was created by heavily manipulating a feathered kaleidoscope, then copying it three times and arranging the images in a square.

Here the kaleidoscope has been cropped and used as a background for a silhouette. It's a very graphic look.

Again, a heavily manipulated kaleidoscope used as a background. Doesn't it remind you of a batik?

Using various transparencies for the kaleidoscope layers creates a fill for the butterfly, as well as the "frame" of feathers.

The "fancy" part of the background kaleidoscope was selectively removed, leaving a graphic, sun like design.

Yet another heavily manipulated kaleidoscope forms the background.

The "sprig" layer is placed on a kaleidoscope background. Because of the transparency of the "sprig" layer the background acts as a fill for the buds. I could easily extract the black background and use this design element on a different composition.

I love symmetry, but for my collages my focal point is generally not the kaleidoscope. As you can see I instead use them as  background elements, fills,  or textures. The framing effect a kaleidoscope can add to a composition is particularly appealing to me.

I hope you've enjoyed this series of posts - they were certainly fun for me! I'd love to hear how you use kaleidoscopes in your quilts too.

Kaleidoscope Fun Part 1

I've been meaning to write a post about Kaleidoscope Kreator for a long time. It's a very fun, and very easy to use, software program that creates beautiful kaleidoscopes from your images. The more I thought about it, I realized that I really need to write three separate posts to show some of the ways I use it for my digital art.

Kaleidoscope Kreator is a very simple program to use. Basically you open the program, import an image from your computer, then select shapes from a template library to use in creating the kaleidoscope.  There are videos on the Kaleidoscope Kreations website that show how to do this.

Once your image is open the fun begins. By simply moving the image around the kaleidoscope changes, just as turning the outside of a real kaleidoscope changes what you see. Mesmerizing and fun! Though beautiful straight out of the program, the images can also be used in creative ways in conjunction with other software programs to create a wide variety of images.

In this post, Part 1, I'll show how I create kaleidoscopes, then import them back into the program to create a new look. Part 2 will show how to use a kaleidoscope with a simple layer to create a medallion center for a quilt, while in Part 3 I'll share how I've used kaleidoscopes as layers in digital collages for art quilts.

Obviously I love to play with digital images (as you can see in my DVD, Digital Collage for Quilt Design From Start to Finish). As I started to use Kaleidoscope Kreator (from here on out I'll call it KK) I wondered what would happen if I created a kaleidoscope, then brought it back into the program and played with it some more? Well, let's see!!

Here's a digital collage that I created in Photoshop. It has many layers, and I didn't keep track of what they all are, but I do know that the grid part is from a photo of duct tape residue, and the circle is a dome inside the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.

I love this image on its own, but decided to play with it some in KK. Of course, photographs produce beautiful kaleidoscopic designs, but what can I say, I love to experiment!

I imported my image into KK, and chose a feather template. (If you wish to see a larger image, just click on the photo for a clearer view.)

This is a screen shot of my image in the program. I added the red ellipse to highlight where the feather is since the contrast is low here. In this instance I used the eyedropper tool to change the background of the kaleidoscope from the default (white) to a color that was already in my image.

Here is the resulting kaleidoscope, which is visible in the top right corner of the screenshot above. Pretty, right?

When I'm planning on using this process of reimporting a kaleidoscope for further manipulation, I like to choose one of the more lacy templates for my initial shape, as shown below:

(These templates are add-ons to the initial program.)

I saved this kaleidoscope, then opened the saved file in the program, as seen below.

Here I used a simpler, more solid template shape. And here's the resulting kaleidoscope:

A whole different look, and wouldn't this look great as yardage, or a note card? By reimporting the image a whole new world of designs is possible.

For one of my Quilting Arts TV projects (directions for which are available here) I designed a simple purse with a kaleidoscope flap.

 (For this kaleidoscope I imported the digital design for this quilt, and the original template I chose was one of the filigrees.)

As with anything digital, the options are endless! Stay tuned for Parts 2 and 3 of this series, where I'll show some other ways I've used Kaleidoscope Kreator.

Full disclosure: Back in early 2011 I was given the opportunity to use Kaleidoscope Kreator to design a project for QATV (episode 810). I was given a copy of the software, and add-on templates, to use, and compensated for making the project. However, Kaleidoscope Kreator was on my list of things to try out, so eventually I would have tried it out on my own. I'm simply writing these posts to share some fun ways I've used the program.

Dyeing to Stitch DVD Winner!

Congratulations to Gina of Clay and Fiber - she is our lucky winner of Candy Glendening's DVD, Dyeing to Stitch!

If you didn't win, you can check out these blogs for other opportunities:

·         Friday, 11/11 –  Victoria Gertenbach of The Silly BooDilly­

·         Monday, 11/14 – Susan Brubaker Knapp of Blue Moon River

·         Wednesday, 11/16 –  Kathy Mack of Pink Chalk Studio

·         Friday, 11/18 – Melody Johnson of Fibermania

·         Monday, 11/21 – Amy Ellis of Amy’s Creative Side

·         Wednesday, 11/23 – Diane Doran of Ooh! Pretty Colors

·         Friday, 11/25 –  Vicki Welsh of  Field Trips in Fiber

·         Monday, 11/28/11 – Brenda Gael Smith of Serendipity and the Art of the Quilt

·         Wednesday, 11/30 – Amy Webb of Amy Lou Who Sews

·         Friday, 12/2 – Robin Ferrier of Simply Robin

·         Tuesday, 12/6 – Natalia Bonner of Piece N Quilt

·         Thursday, 12/8  – Beth and the gang from Sew Mama Sew

Dyeing to Stitch DVD Giveaway!

I'm simply delighted that Candy Glendening asked me to be part of her DVD blog tour. As you may recall Candy filmed her DVD, Dyeing to Stitch, the day before I filmed my DVD in Cleveland in early September.

Candy sent me her DVD a few weeks ago and I watched it right away.  Candy is a very personable, high energy person, and I noticed immediately that her personality shines through in the DVD.

I've been dyeing fabric for about twenty years now, having learned how by reading various articles and books (and dyeing hundreds of yards of fabric). I was therefore quite happy when Candy's DVD taught me several new things, especially with regards to folding the fabric to achieve different patterning. I only wish that a DVD like this had been available when I first started dyeing fabric - she covers all the basics, and then keeps building on that foundation. As a fellow scientist I literally applauded when she explained the tests she did to figure out how to make her dyeing both consistent and easy - she's done all the work so that all you need to do is follow her directions to successfully dye fabric from the start.

So now for the really good part - I get to give away one of her DVDs! Just leave me a comment for a chance to win. If you follow my blog you'll get another chance. I'll draw a name bright and early Tuesday, November 29. (Please be sure that your email address is accessible from your comment, as I will be emailing the winner to get their snail mail address.)

If you just can't wait, the DVD is available on Candy's website, or from Interweave (where there's also a download available).

Don't miss the rest of the blog tour for additional chances to win:

·         Friday, 11/11 –  Victoria Gertenbach of The Silly BooDilly­

·         Monday, 11/14 – Susan Brubaker Knapp of Blue Moon River

·         Wednesday, 11/16 –  Kathy Mack of Pink Chalk Studio

·         Friday, 11/18 – Melody Johnson of Fibermania

·         Monday, 11/21 – Amy Ellis of Amy’s Creative Side

·         Wednesday, 11/23 – Diane Doran of Ooh! Pretty Colors

·         Friday, 11/25 –  Vicki Welsh of  Field Trips in Fiber

·         Monday, 11/28/11 – Brenda Gael Smith of Serendipity and the Art of the Quilt

·         Wednesday, 11/30 – Amy Webb of Amy Lou Who Sews

·         Friday, 12/2 – Robin Ferrier of Simply Robin

·         Tuesday, 12/6 – Natalia Bonner of Piece N Quilt

·         Thursday, 12/8  – Beth and the gang from Sew Mama Sew

And the Winner is ...

Angela Grasse! Angela's name was selected by using a random number generator. Congratulations, Angela, I hope you enjoy your DVD.

Last Chance - DVD Giveaway

What an exciting couple of weeks it's been! I've been celebrating the release of my instructional DVD, Digital Collage for Quilt Design, with a blog hop, and today I'm the last stop.

Many, many thanks to my friends Gerrie, Vivika, Debra, Candy, and Deborah for helping me celebrate. And many thanks also to everyone who entered - your comments have really been wonderful!

Digital collage has been my primary means of designing quilts for over 10 years. If you check out my gallery on my website  and the tab on the blog labeled recent quilts you'll see what I mean. And those designs are just the tip of the iceberg. I have many more quilts designed or in work on my computer, and several printed out and ready to quilt. I feel so blessed to be living in this time of technological wonder. When printing on fabric with a home computer and printer became possible it was like I'd been waiting for that my whole life, and didn't even know it.

Bayou Reflections

Under the Rainbow

Bog Lilies

 So, to win a copy of the DVD, leave a comment here. I'd love to hear about how you'd like to use digital collages in your own work. For an additional chance to win become a follower of my blog or sign up for my email newsletter and tell me you've done so in the comments. Please remember to leave an email address so that I can contact you if you're the big winner! I'll choose a winner Monday morning, October 24, and announce the winner that morning.

Good luck, and thanks for joining in the celebration!

Edited 10/24/11 - Contest now closed - thanks for joining in the fun!

DVD Blog Hop - On to Deborah Boschert

Can you believe it - we're already on Day 5 of my blog hop to celebrate the release of my DVD, Digital Collage for Quilt Design!

Today's hostess is someone whose blog I've followed for years. First she lived in Maine, then Texas. When I learned she was moving to Maryland I immediately contacted her to let her know about some local art quilt groups with the hopes that she'd join them. And she did! I'm so happy today to include my friend Deborah Boschert in our celebration.

Deborah's work has a unique and instantly recognizable style that I love. She is well known for the many articles she's written and publications her work has appeared in, and also for being a part of the 12 By 12 International Art Quilt Challenge. Here's her work "In Light Of"  from their colorplay challenge.

 

 

 

 

"In Light Of" by Deborah Boschert

The 12x12 Collection will be in a special exhibit at the Houston International Quilt Festival, November 3-6. Most of the members of the 12x12 group will be there too, so be sure to check out their exhibit, and say hi to them if you see them.

So know that you know a little more about Deborah, hop on over to her blog for a chance to win!

Some of the other ladies are still accepting comments for chances to win on their blogs:

 Debra Gabel  is picking a winner on or before Oct. 31 (post date Oct. 13)

 Candy Glendening is picking a winner Oct. 21 (post dated Oct 17)

Be sure to hop back here on October 21 for a chance to win a DVD from me.

DVD Giveaway :Next Stop - Candy Glendening

As you enter the green room where Quilting Arts TV is filmed, you pass through a door that has the taping schedule on it.  In September I looked at the door and was disappointed to see that Candy Glendening had filmed the day before - darn it! I'd hoped to meet her. However, it turned out to be my lucky day. She returned to the studio to retrieve some things so I got to meet her after all.

If you look behind Candy, you can see the schedule on the door

Candy is a woman of many talents. She teaches biology at the university level, while also creating lots of colorful art including her yummy hand dyed fabrics - Candied Fabrics. She's been on QATV, been published a number of times, and has a DVD of her own being released at the same time as mine. I think her energy and cheerfulness are readily apparent in the picture above!

I'm delighted that Candy is our next stop on the blog hop, so head on over to her blog for another chance to win my DVD! Also, a big thank you to all of our blog hop hostesses and the many people who've left such wonderful comments - it is great to see your enthusiasm.

Here's the remainder of the schedule:

October 14 Debra Gabel  ( there's still time to enter at Debra's blog - see the 10/13 entry)

October 17 Candy Glendening 

October 19 Deborah Boschert  

October 21 Diane Doran

Good luck to everyone!

Blog Hop - Day 3 of DVD Giveaway

Today my good friend Debra Gabel is giving away a copy of my new DVD on her blog.

Debra is many things - an amazing designer, an award winning art quilter, author of several books, an energetic teacher and lecturer, and the owner of a thriving pattern business, Zebra Patterns. She's very well known for her series of city and state "stamps". I'm sure that if you've seen her work you'll remember it!  Here's one of her art quilts "St. Francis of Assisi".

St. Francis of Assisi by Debra Gabel

Thank you, Debra, for being a part of the celebration!

Here's the remainder of the giveaway schedule:

October 14 Debra Gabel  

October 17 Candy Glendening 

October 19 Deborah Boschert  

October 21 Diane Doran

As a reminder, Vivika will be drawing a name on October 19, so you still have a chance to win there, too.

Next Stop - Vivika Denegre

Wow! The response to the blog hop giveaway of my DVD over at Gerrie's blog was amazing, and I really appreciate the many kind comments!

If Gerrie didn't draw your name, today you have another chance to win a copy of my new workshop DVD, Digital Collage for Quilt Design, over at Vivika DeNegre's blog.

I met Vivika this February when we were both filming segments for Quilting Arts TV Series 800. She is such a warm person, I immediately felt I'd found a new friend. She makes lovely quilts, is a frequently published designer, and creates wonderful collages using stitching, fabric, and paper. You may also know her from her Prayer Flag Project. Many thanks, Vivika, for helping me celebrate!

As a reminder, after Vivika we still have several chances for you to win the DVD:

October 14 Debra Gabel  

October 17 Candy Glendening 

October 19 Deborah Boschert  

October 21 Diane Doran

DVD Giveaway!!

I'm having a blog hop and DVD giveaway to celebrate the release of my DVD, Digital Collage for Quilt Design.

Five of my friends are helping me, for a total of 6 chances to win!

Gerrie Congdon kicks off the celebration today. Gerrie is a prolific and well known quilter. Her lovely work includes lots of surface design, and she is part of the Twelve by Twelve group of international quilters. Hop on over to Gerrie's blog for today's chance to win. Many thanks, Gerrie!

In this DVD I show how to 

- Combine a variety of image types to create imaginative collages to print on fabric

- Use Photoshop Elements 9 for basic digital enhancement and layering techniques

- Consider color, value, and contrast while designing

- Explain printing, basting, and finishing options for your collage, and demonstrate ways to enhance your design with quilting, markers, and pencils.

And much more!

The DVD is available for pre-order on my website or at the Quilting Arts/Interweave website.

A digital download is available now at Interweave.

Here's a preview:

The complete Blog Hop schedule is as follows:

October 10 Gerrie Congdon 

October 12 Vivika DeNegre 

October 14 Debra Gabel  l

October 17 Candy Glendening 

October 19 Deborah Boschert  

October 21 Diane Doran 

DVD News!

I'm so excited! Earlier today Helen Gregory of Interweave sent me a copy of my instructional DVD cover - check it out!

It will be released sooner than I anticipated - by late October, and a digital download will be available even earlier than that. I will be sure to keep you posted.

For some reason I've been doing lots of experimenting lately. I've always loved experimenting with surface design, and boy have I gone at the last few days. One experiment was an unmitigated failure, but I have high hopes for some of the marbling I've been doing - hopefully I'll have photos tomorrow.