New Boyfriend*

When it's hot outside, my thoughts turn to just one thing - dyeing! Sun and heat make the dyes take very well, so I look forward to super crazy hot days.

OK, no pics yet of the fabric I have dyed this week (some still needs to be ironed), but I have been working on some samples for an article for Machine Quilting Unlimited (now available at Barnes & Noble - yeah!). I won't show the finished sample just yet - I'll save that for the article - but thought I'd show two "in progress" shots.

                                     
 Silk screened leaves and rubber band printed lines. (I wrapped the rubber bands around a wood block.)

 Purple aster like flowers screened on top.

I was inspired by the motifs on some vintage fabric that belonged to my aunt. Normally the mustardy color of the background is not one of my faves. However, something about this combo makes me very happy. I'm adding some applique and decorative stitching on top of this.


*In the surface design community, sometimes new fabric, with which one is infatuated, is referred to as a "new boyfriend".

Ode to the Shuttle Team

A long time ago, I was a Space Shuttle Engineer. To this very day, I cannot watch a Space Shuttle launch without crying. They are not tears of sadness, but of sheer awe. Yes, the Space Shuttle is an amazing machine, and the technology remarkable. But what I'm in awe of is the incredible team of people who worked to the best of their abilities to make each launch happen. The dedication, persistence, and, above all else, teamwork required to get that vehicle off the ground, into space, and home safely is a great example to us all. Many thanks to the thousands of people who played a role in the successes of the Shuttle program.

Some of the McDonnell Douglas employees who worked on developing the Spacecraft Trajectory and Mission Planning Simulation. See if you can spot me ;)

SAQA Benefit Auction

I've finished my 2011 SAQA Auction piece and shipped it off. It's called Blue Bird 2. (You can click on it to enlarge the image.)

Blue Bird 2, Digital Collage printed with pigment ink on silk, free motion machine quilting

SAQA (Studio Art Quilt Associates) is a wonderful organization that promotes art quilting, and assists art quilters in many ways, including through exhibitions, educational programs, and networking.

The auction begins September 12. It's fun to look through the many gorgeous pieces ahead of the auction at the link above - there's some stunning work there.

Architectural Inspiration

I take many types of photos - family photos (of course), macro photos of almost anything that looks interesting, lots of flowers, butterflies. Increasingly, I also find myself taking photographs of reflections, and architectural subjects - both buildings as a whole, and parts. I mean to share some of these with you, but somehow don't always get around to it, so here are a few.


Back in November I went on a field trip to Mount Vernon with one of my sons. As we wandered across the lawn, I couldn't help but look across the river to where I grew up in Maryland. I excitedly pointed out Fort Washington to my little troop of boys, but they weren't very interested.

Fort Washington National Park, as viewed from across the Potomac River.  You may just be able to see the lovely yellow house to the left of the main fortification.

 

We've taken the boys to the Fort before, but it was so long ago that I don't think that they remembered it. Since the park was literally in our backyard when I grew up, I have many vivid memories of it. We decided to stop by on Easter Sunday while visiting family.

This building, now restored, is used as a visitor center. We used to sled down the hill in front of it. The home course for my high school cross country team was in the park, so I also had many opportunities to run UP the hill, which we dubbed "The General" .

Detail of one of the windows - almost looks European, doesn't it?

Looking out of the fortification, towards the hill with the visitor's center. Two of my sons are visible within the arch, on the draw bridge.

This used to be the quarters of the head park ranger. In elementary school I was friends with the ranger's daughter, and was invited to spend the night. To my surprise, she had been telling the truth about there being a skeleton in the closet there - and a headless one at that. I didn't get much sleep that night. The building currently appears to be undergoing renovations.

Will any of these photos end up in a quilt in the future? Only time will tell. Either way, I'm glad to have them.

Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival

I'm a knitter. Sometimes I forget this, as I don't knit all the time, or even often. But when I tally up what I've made over the years - including 3 cardigans, a vest, 2 summer sweaters, some cowls and socks, and enough hats and scarves that I've lost count of them - I realize that I am indeed a knitter.

So when the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival rolls around, it seems like I really should go. Unfortunately, the timing of it is such that it's hard to make it, even though it's less than a 10 minute drive away. There's always something else happening that weekend - First Communion, birthday parties, Mother's Day, school or scout related activities, or all of the above.

Somehow, I usually make it for at least the last few hours. Yesterday I took the boys over, bought them that wonderful soft serve ice cream dipped in chocolate, and we looked at the sheep. We cruised through some vendors, then my husband drove over to pick up the boys. I made a last dash through the booths, and that was that. Not filled with exciting meet ups with blog friends or Ravelers, not a wild yarn buying extravaganza, but a relaxing interlude on Mother's Day.

And it was a lovely way to spend the afternoon.

Spring at Last!

When I last posted, I was feeling pretty cheery and confident that spring was here.

Then it was rainy and very cold for two weeks.

But things are looking up now. One fine aspect of the prolonged chill was that the crocuses lasted for weeks, instead of melting in a day or two due to high temps.

 This bee looked quite content on Monday.

 I was concerned that the tulip magnolia, one of my most favorite plants, would be too burned by the cold to bloom. Luckily my concern was unfounded, as shown by these buds today. (Our wonderful weeping cherry is in the background.)

 And, the wait for Interweave's  101 Patchwork Projects + Quilts is over. These water bottle slings are my contribution (page 36), and they've already come in handy for several walks this week. There are lots (well heck, 100) of other great project and gift ideas too. If you make one of these slings I'd love to see a photo!

Iridescent Exuberance

Well, now I know it's coming.

Lambs up the street? Check (sorry, no pic)

Crocuses?

 Check

 Cherry Blossoms? 

Check and Check

Grackles?

Check!!

When I was writing the artist statement for my Houston IQA entry last year, I was admittedly a little punchy. I wrote that the "iridescent exuberance" of grackles fascinates me, and that though some folks count on robins to announce spring, I really know that it's coming when the grackles show up. And this year, that day was yesterday. Welcome, Spring!

Cover Girl

First off, many thanks to everyone who took the time to offer an opinion the day before yesterday. It was very interesting to see what everyone thought! I've started to quilt the bird, but have decided not to try and rush it. We've reached the unprecedented situation of having every family member on an antibiotic simultaneously, so I'm taking it a little bit easy today.

The same day I received the email from Pokey Bolton about appearing on Quilting Arts TV, I received another very exciting email. Barbara Polston of the NQA  let me know that The Gathering was selected to be the cover quilt for The Quilting Quarterly, the NQA publication. Yesterday my copy arrived, and I'm so honored and grateful. Here's a picture of the magazine -

We're still waiting for spring here. I saw a single crocus blooming the other day in a neighbor's yard, and the willow trees are starting to green up, but otherwise we're off to a slow start.

My thoughts and prayers go out to the people of Japan today.

Decisions, Decisions

I'm trying to finish a small piece for this year's SAQA Benefit Auction.  The "early bird" deadline is next week, so I'm hoping to finish up a piece by this Friday. The two (as of yet unquilted) contenders are below. Which do you prefer, and why? You can see a bigger view if you click on the pictures.

March Issue of Machine Quilting Unlimited

It's always fun to receive the writer's copy of a magazine when I have an article in it. It usually arrives a few days earlier than a subscription, making me feel a little bit like one of the cool kids. I just received the March issue of Machine Quilting Unlimited and it's beautiful. Here's a peek at my article, the second in a series of six on machine quilted fillers:

I know I say this every time, but this is a really great issue. If you're interested in using colored pencils on quilts, curved crosshatching, integrating machine quilting with machine needle felting, or learning more about straight of grain and stitch regulators, it's all there! Be sure and check it out.
 

Materials Matter

Since I didn't go to art school, for a long time it didn't occur to me that the result of making art work - with paints, dyes, or inks - was heavily dependent on the surface to which it was applied. Painting on watercolor paper certainly gives a different result from painting on canvas, right? The same holds true with printing on fabric using an ink jet printer. Over the years I've printed my digital collages on a variety of fabrics, both pretreated and ones I've treated myself with Bubble Jet Set. One thing I haven't been afraid to do is experiment. New products come out all the time, and occasionally old ones fall by the way side.

I recently tried printing on two new-to-me fabrics in this spirit of experimentation. The photo below shows two print outs of the same kaleidoscope (created using Kaleidoscope Kreator), printed using the exact same settings, on different brands pretreated silk fabrics.

It's pretty obvious that I'd choose the right hand fabric, Jacquard Fabrisign II, over the left hand fabric. That said, I have a pigment ink printer (an Epson 2200), and that fabric clearly works better for me with my printer. However, a different ink formulation might work better on the left hand fabric. The lesson? Don't be afraid to experiment! Better to test out several small samples on a few types of fabric than to get started on a big project and end up with disappointing results. And remember, experimenting can be fun! I can always screen print over less than optimum prints, or use them as a background for something. I wish you happy printing!
 

Quilting Arts TV Taping - Part II

Here are a few more photos from the Quilting Arts TV taping. The first three were taken of the monitor in the green room. During taping you can (usually) watch each segment while it's being taped on a TV there.

Pokey and Vivika. Pokey is a real pro and is great at making the guests feel at ease.

Vivika and Judith were both great on camera. They looked like they did this every day.

Judith's segments were just the beginning of her day, as she went on to tape a DVD that afternoon. She's been teaching quilting for many years, and her expertise was clearly evident on camera.

There are plenty of folks working behind the scenes to make it all happen. I didn't get good pictures of most of them (like Helen, Lindsey, and the production staff), but I did get one of Jeanne Cook-Delpit. Jeanne is the Director of National Events for Bernina USA. She very efficiently makes sure that everyone has everything they need with respect to the sewing machines. She is also an extremely upbeat and encouraging person! Many thanks to Jeanne for taking the time to show me how to use some special features on a machine after my segments were through.

Carol Taylor, me, and Judith Trager (Vivika was taking the picture)

As a bonus I got to go out to dinner with Vivika, Judith, and Carol Taylor. Carol was in town to teach, and it was delightful to meet her. A wonderful ending to a wonderful day!

Many thanks to everyone at Quilting Arts, KS Inc. Productions, and Beachwood Studios!

Quilting Arts TV Filming

Wow! I just got back from taping 3 segments for Quilting Arts TV Series 800. What a wonderful experience! I haven't unpacked yet, but wanted to quickly share a few photos. The first one is right before (and I mean mere moments before) taping for segment 2 began.

Pokey and me and lots of kaleidoscopes. I can't say enough good things about the fantastic Kaleidoscope Kreator software I used for this segment.

Each guest sets up a tray with everything needed for a segment. The tray is taken to the set, everything is arranged for the shoot, then it gets put back on the tray to be taken to the green room when the segment is complete. The photo below shows how a tray looks after a segment (on the left), and the right hand tray is before a segment. You can see some thermofax screens in the plastic bag to the right, and some paper towels, waiting to be put on a tray for the third segment.


After my segments were finished Lindsey Murray took a short video of Pokey interviewing me in the green room to put on the IQA facebook page.

I met several wonderful artists - Vivika Denegre, Judith Trager, Faith Cleary, and Carol Taylor - and of course the great Quilting Arts and KS Productions folks. I'll post some more photos later this week.

New Work & Quilting Arts TV Series 800

Good morning!

I'd like to share a little piece I finished last week. I belong to a local group of quilt artists called Metro Threads. We're putting together a trunk show with similar parameters to those for SAQA's This is a Quilt - small quilts that will fit in a 12"x12" mat with an 8" opening. Here's a quilt that I'm going to submit.


I alluded to the year starting off with a bang in my last post. I'm *very* excited that in February I'll be headed to Cleveland to film three segments for Quilting Arts TV Series 800! Two of the segments are based on articles that have been in Quilting Arts and Quilting Arts Gifts. The third segment is a new project that's been very fun to design. I've been busy behind the scenes here trying to prepare for them all, and getting more excited by the minute!

New Year, New Series: Filler Finesse in Machine Quilting Unlimited

2011 is starting off with a bang! The wonderful folks at Machine Quilting Unlimited asked me to write a series of six articles on filler designs and the first one has made its debut in the January 2011 issue.



I love the format that they asked me to follow. With stitch outs, diagrams, and a descriptive paragraph for each fill it provides you with several ways to learn how to create each design. As always there are plenty of wonderfully informative articles in this issue, including the cover article on Freida Anderson and articles on thread painting and complex feathers. I'm always amazed at how much information they are able to pack into each issue!

It's the rare year that we attend some super festive New Year's party. Despite that our New Year's Eve was quite wonderful. We were visiting relatives in Fort Worth, Texas and spent the day at Great Wolf Lodge playing Magic Quest. Here's what it takes to slay the dragon -

Sheer Determination!

After wards we were treated to this lovely sunset

The sky really was that color - I didn't modify it at all.

Several other exciting quilting related things are in the works, so stay tuned!

Congratulations to Debra Gabel!

Many congratulations to my good friend Debra Gabel! She is an amazingly talented designer, and one of the hardest working people I know. In December her first book, Quilt Blocks Across America, was released by C&T.



The book contains applique patterns for all 50 states plus Washington, D.C. All of the patterns are included on a CD that comes with the book. The blocks can be combined to create a travelogue of where you've visited or lived. It's a wonderful resource, and of course you could pick and choose images from different blocks and combine them to make an applique design that's unique. Way to go Debra!

Happy New Year!

Counting Down

Are you ready yet?

I like making things for Christmas. As obvious as it seems it's taken me a long time to figure this out. Some folks are excited about the baking, or the decorating, the music, or the shopping. Those are all fine, and of course I do all of them to some extent, but I really look forward to making small decorations and gifts every year. This year I'm making an advent calendar (clearly I'm a little behind), and the clothespins above are part of it. I hope you've figured out what gives you pleasure for whatever special holiday you celebrate, and put aside a little time to make yourself happy.

P.S. I also looove glitter!!! And I'm not afraid to use it.

P.P.S. My children will get to open five advent treats at once (we already did one through nine), so they're not too deprived.

Quilting Arts at 10

Can you believe that Quilting Arts is celebrating their 10th birthday?! I remember how exciting it was to have a new kid on the quilting block, and to this day look forward to every issue.

I'm happy to have an article called "Serendipitous Screen Printing" in the 10th Anniversary Issue. The article details a fun and easy technique for you to add to your screen printing bag of tricks. Here are two examples (that aren't in the magazine) I made with this technique:

My obsession with locust leaves continues ;)

This reminds me of the woods in springtime, when the maples are starting to bloom.

The contributing artists were asked to make commemorative postcards, and here's mine.

This was fun to make, as I combined a variety of techniques - digital imagery, screen printing, and sponge painting.

So what else is new? I'm honored to have won 3rd place at the Houston IQA show with my grackle. So many people who saw this quilt in Houston have reached out to me with many kind words, and I really appreciate it - thank you all!

November was just a mess. My mother in law has been quite ill, so my husband was gone most of the time starting October 29, including four weekends in a row. Thankfully she is doing much better now!

I've been working on several more articles. I'm really excited about a series of six articles I'm writing for Machine Quilting Unlimited on fill designs. The first one will debut in the January issue. And right now I better dash back to the studio to finish working on a project for Quilting Arts' 101 Patchwork Projects - hmmm, I wonder what the other 100 are?

Happy Halloween!!

Wishing you a spooktacular Halloween!

New Quilting Arts eBook!

Have you seen the new Quilting Arts free eBook, Fabric Art Techniques for Beautiful Quick Gifts: 5 Free Quilting, Fabric, and Fiber Art Projects? I'm delighted that one of my projects from last year's Quilting Arts Gifts issue, quilted bookmarks, is included. Here are pictures of the samples I made last year.

They're a great way to use up those scraps that are just too pretty to throw away.

There are also four other great, quick projects that would make wonderful gifts. I'm planning on trying out Lyric Kinard's pretty gadget case with some fabric I've screen printed. The ebook is free, and super simple to download, so why not give it a look?

Must. Stop. Screen Printing.

I don't know what it is about screen printing, but it seems that once I start I just can't stop.

I've been writing a little article involving screen printing for an upcoming edition of Quilting Arts. Perhaps the hardest part of writing an article, for me, is being satisfied with my samples and examples. Two things got me to stop (or at least slow down) the sample making this time: the deadline, and I ran out of screens to burn.

Here's a print that is not in the article:


Trust me when I say that this is much better in real life. The leaves are various metallic colors, as is the leopard moth. However, I really feel that the moth needs more oomph. Perhaps that can be added with an outline of the moth by either more screen printing or some quilting. The dots need something too. It's a work in progress and I do have plans for it.

In the meantime I started playing with the image in Photoshop. Here's what I've got so far.

I really get a kick out of both techniques - playing with paint and playing with pixels. What do you think?

September Machine Quilting Unlimited

Thanks to *everyone* for all your lovely comments on yesterday's post! Wow! You really made my day.

After I finished the quilt in my last post I got busy writing an article. I love working with the folks at Machine Quilting Unlimited, so I jumped at the chance to write another article for them. You can check it out it out in the September issue. Here's a glimpse of part of it:


It's all about feathers - a variety of types, on a variety of types of quilts. Believe it or not, feathers are fun! Because of their organic shape they work on a wide variety of quilts, and I've used them fairly often in my work - the border of The Gathering is just full of them, and they're all over Under the Rainbow. Once you get the hang of them they are a pretty quick way to fill up an area and are graceful to boot. The September issue is also jam packed with lots of other great articles, including the cover story on Patt Blair, how to quilt large quilts on your home machine, a great article by Marcia DeCamp and much more.

Houston IQA

I'm so delighted that for the fourth year in a row I've been fortunate enough to receive "the call" from Houston. My newest quilt, which I must say I poured my heart and soul into, has won a cash award in the IQA World of Beauty (Houston quilt show). Here's a sneak peek:



It's a digital collage that I created in Photoshop using a number of my photographs and a painting. I printed it on five panels of silk using my Epson 2200 pigment ink printer, then seamed them to create the quilt top. It's very heavily free motion machine quilted using a variety of threads - rayon, silk, cotton, and maybe even a little polyester .

It's a red letter day, as my oldest son is officially a teenager today. I better run and make his cake!

Miss October!

I now have a copy of the Martingale 2011 Calendar of IQA Award Winning Quilts, and I'm proud to say that I am Miss October (well, actually Last Dance is).


I had so much fun making this little quilt, and I'm just delighted to be in the calendar again this year.

I happened to be at a Metrothreads meeting on Saturday, and someone made an interesting remark. They admired how I made the left wing look transparent, so that the leaf beneath it showed through. Truth by told, I didn't do that. When I took the original picture, which you can see here, the butterfly was resting on dried oak leaves. As I manipulated the photo, including increasing the saturation, the colors on the oak leaf and the butterfly wing became more similar, producing the illusion of transparency. You can see an explanation of how I created the central image here, and see what a difference upping the contrast made.

I was very lucky to be in the right time and place to catch this somewhat unusual moment - a butterfly resting on autumn leaves. Keep your eyes open, and maybe you'll catch a magical moment too.