Too Much Fun!

I have been the grandest time working with my art supplies. This is a background I made using my PanPastels. I love it and can't wait to make its cool twin!

Digital Design

Way way back when, my friend Wendy suggested a color scheme of lime green, tomato red, yellow and periwinkle blue. I collected some beads in those colors (and added white and black) but never did anything beyond that, until this week. I signed up for a digital design class and am using those colors for my project. The nice thing is that the color translate very well to standard paint colors (carbon black, ultramarine, sap green, green-gold/pernod yellow, pyrrole red/vermilion and lemon yellow):

Now that I have my colors, I'm going to paint more paper to scan and use it to create some art journal pages -- how fun is that? Cheers!

"Kindness": Mixed-Media Fiber Art Journal Page

I just finished this yesterday -- a little art journal sample for an upcoming class. The background started as white PFD fabric that I treated with gesso, painted, stenciled and splattered with paint! The text block was done in Photoshop and printed on EQ Printables.

The motif on the right is a packing tape transfer. I printed the image (Designer Digitals) on the laser printer, covered it with tape, burnished it well, trimmed off the excess and soaked it in water for 5 minutes so the backing paper was easy to remove. Once the paper was removed, I glued it on with matte gel medium. That was my first attempt at this kind of transfer and I love how easy it was and how crisp the image turned out. I particularly like that the background shows beneath the unprinted areas. Enjoy!

My New Fabric Line :-)

I've been feeling a little down since the beginning of the year, don't quite know why. It isn't like me to let my sewing machine sit idle for weeks at a time, but I just wasn't in the mood -- my little sewing muse was on vacation in the tropics, I think!

I feel like I'm out of my funk now, thanks to some design advice from Lura Schwarz-Smith and a wonderful surface design class with Lonni Rossi at Asilomar. I LOVE painting fabric and had such a wonderful, stress-free week. It was heaven! I ordered a thermofax machine so I can make my own screens -- the ideas are coming fast and furious now!

I can't wait to cut into these, just have to come up with a good pattern. Techniques used: stamping, painting, discharging, screening... The dark fabrics were solids or batiks, all the rest started as plain white cotton.

Good Weather for Staying Indoors and Creating!

We got snow all day yesterday so I stayed indoors and worked on my digital art journal -- I spent just enough time shoveling snow (and slush!) that my shoulders are tired. We got about 9" yesterday before it warmed up and started raining, and my little dogs were not pleased! They don't like snow up to their tummies and they really really don't like going out when it is rainy and slushy! Sorry, guys, but it looks like we'll have yucky weather for a week...


I'm posting these art journal pages out of order because I love the last two I made so much! The prompt for the one above was "INTROSPECTION." I'm really struggling with how to merge the different things I like to do: quilting, surface design, hand embroidery and digital expression, and I just can't picture what the final result will look like. I need to let it go and just start working, and this piece was my response.


Today's prompt was "JOURNEY", and this piece follows the same "get on with it" theme. It is interesting that I don't have the same "analysis-paralysis" when I work digitally, maybe because the amount of time I spend on any one project is much shorter. Either way, I absolutely LOVE this one. Enjoy!

I SEE

This one came to me in an instant -- today's prompt is "I SEE"

"What a Wonderful World" by Louis Armstrong:
I see skies of blue .... clouds of white
Bright blessed days .... dark sacred nights
And I think to myself .... what a wonderful world

More Digital Art: HOME

I spent way too much time looking for the perfect background for this, but I LOVE it. If you haven't been out to Wikimedia Commons, there are some wonderful copyright-free treasures out there. Even though this took all day, it was so good for me to just let go and let the page evolve. Enjoy!

Digital Art Journaling class

Hello! I'm having so much fun in my digital art journaling class! I haven't printed anything yet, don't know if my designs will make it to paper or fabric, but it is FUN FUN FUN! The class included a huge download of all sorts of goodies -- vintage clipart images, hand-painted background, etc. I am so inspired to play that I can't wait to get out paints to make some of my own yummy backgrounds.

We get a new prompt every day to stimulate our creativity. Our first was "HEART" and the first image is my response. I love the simplicity of it and think it could make a nice journal quilt.

Yesterday's prompt was "TREASURE" -- that one took some thinking! The text is from a song by John Denver and I'm really pleased with it. I'm trying for my own style, something that doesn't look too "scrapbook-y" but I still have a way to go to feel comfortable that I'm not copying someone else.

I love messing with digital brushes, but this one would look good with real paint as well!

Dance!

My wonderful Mumsie got me an online digital art journaling class for Christmas. Class starts next Monday, but I thought I'd play around a bit now. All images come from "Journal Your (he)ART Out 3" and the sentiment comes from a Dove chocolate. Enjoy!

Happy New Year!

Just a quick photo from this year's Christmas Parade -- all three dogs had on new jackets and looked so cute! It was COLD but fun. Our little "Dog Stars" performance group took 2nd place, although we just walked because the crowds made the boys nervous.

I've got new jewelry and quilt photos for you, too, see you soon. :-)

Photo Quilts on Display at PIQF

So sorry for the lack of posts, I've been a little blue lately. I'm not looking forward to cold, gloomy weather... I don't think the dogs are, either -- Yoda definitely did NOT want to walk far yesterday when it was 15F out! (not that I blame him...)

I'm part of a small photography/quilting group called "Pacific Photos 2 Fiber" and we had a special exhibit at the Pacific International Quilt Festival (PIQF) in Santa Clara, CA a couple of weeks ago. We each had a couple of pieces in the show, all featuring photos or digital images in some way. There was a nice variety of subject matter and quilting styles. I will try to post pictures soon.

Our quilts must have made an impression on at least one person, since we were featured in her blog. Whether it was a good impression or not, I'll leave up to you! It was a good learning experience to see what someone else had to say, but definitely humbling! (my quilt is the last one she critiqued). I feel bad that my write-up wasn't more helpful so I looked at the fabric again and I can see the words (they're faint and not quite readable, but that was the intent), and she's absolutely right about the fish... Oh, well, live and learn, right?

Hope you're well and enjoying your creative time. Ta Ta for now!

A Ring of Bling!

Hello, All! Thought you might like to see the glitzy beaded beads I've been working on. They are both the same size even if the scans don't look like it (about the size of a quarter, if that helps). The pattern is "Sparkly Wheels" from Beadwork presents Beaded Beads. Both use 4mm Swarovski crystals, the top one uses Delicas and the bottom one uses size 15 seed beads. I like the slightly daintier look of the seed beads, but had a hard time getting through some of beads with multiple thread passes. I'm donating the black and gold version to a raffle for our agility club and keeping the green one.

My Challenge Quilts

Our two local quilt shows are over for the year -- phew! (Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show and our guild show). A break would be nice, but I've got to finish samples for the fall term at The Stitchin' Post. Oh, well, it is nice that someone might pay me to teach the fun things I like to do so I'm not really complaining.

Every year I pose a challenge to our quilt guild, and this year's was to interpret the theme "Heart's Delight" (or "Hearts Delight"). I'm not an ooey-gooey quilter so I went for the first meaning and made three little quilts (approx. 20" x 20"). They were designed to stand alone (class samples!!!) but they were related enough in color that they could work together as well. To meet the size minimum, I stitched them together for the show. For my artist's statement, I called the grouping "Follow Your Bliss" because I combined my passions for making fiber art and running my dogs in the sport of agility. I call the small pieces Art, Work and Play:

Color of The Day -- Blue-Green!

I am back in town for a while and have been sewing and painting like crazy. Finished this fabric recently -- isn't it cool? I've got some backgrounds painted and ready for the next layer of stencils and stamps.

I should have my Laundry Blues top ready for quilting this evening -- yea!

In Case You Missed It... My Quilt Gallery Show

My quilt exhibit comes down tomorrow, but here is a link to the QuiltWorks blog so you can see some of my treasures! (Ugh, and me, too...) (May 2011)

Ruby Red Tootsies!

Well, ladies, I finally splurged and got a pedicure! My hairdresser opened her own salon and has an aesthetician coming in once a week, and she wanted to fill Melissa's first day with clients. What the heck, it was fun. I asked my friend Bevalee what color to get, so ruby red it is!

Creating on the Road?

Hello!

We spent part of Memorial Day weekend over in Salem for an agility trial -- our first time doing one specifically for small dogs. The courses are more compact and the equipment is smaller (and so cute!) so I had high hopes. Wookie did well on his run -- he had a clean run and got his first "Q" (qualifying leg to move up to the next level). He only does a few of the obstacles so he's limited in which events he does. Yoda and I ran in a fun match to become familiar with the equipment on Friday night, and a train ran right behind the building during his first run. We might as well have gone home after that because he got so scared that he just shut down on Saturday. It was so disappointing because he would have loved the games.

Enough of all that! We'll be taking a long trip in the motorhome later this summer and I'm already getting a little itchy about being away from my workbench and sewing machine for that long. I will take a box of beading projects but I'm not sure if I can get anything done in a small space with a puppy! I'm sure we will stop at a quilt shop or two, but I'd like to know how other artistic people handle being creative when they travel. If you have any secrets, please let me know!

More Bling!

This little bracelet has been on my "to-do" list a while (design was published July/July 2005!) and I finally got it done. It was supposed to be an instant gratification project, but I messed it up the first time. I pulled it apart and remade it, but it sat for two days waiting for the loop closure because I was bummed it was too large. Never fear! I added the loop two units from the end instead. :-) It is made with 4mm Swarovski crystals and size 15 seed beads -- a bit small to work on at night but I like the proportions. The double-needle right angle weave was a challenge for a tired brain to fathom at first, but once the pattern is set it is fairly easy to stitch away. Isn't the beaded toggle cute?

Spring Bracelet

It has been cold and dreary here, so last night I decided to whip up a bracelet to brighten things up. The flowers and leaves are Lucite -- I picked out pieces from a couple of samplers from The Hole Bead Shoppe. Swarovski crystals, of course! I bought some 8mm crystal AB rondelles ages ago and then didn't use them because they seemed too glitzy. They're perfect for this, don't you think? How fun, it goes with almost everything (and the sun is peeping out at the moment -- hooray!) I do love instant gratification... :-)

Mixed-Media Mini-Quilt

I managed to get this class sample done yesterday -- a little late but done is good! A couple of my recent mixed-media classes have been canceled for insufficient enrollment (I needed 4 students and only got 3...). I'm starting to think that people are more comfortable doing a specific project that spending the time playing with new media and techniques, so this is a follow-the-recipe project.

The motif at the top is printed on photo fabric and features a digitally altered library card from Designer Digitals. The lace is recycled from an old garment and "dyed" with diluted fabric paint. The paper heart is stamped, painted (including splatter painting, one of my favorite techniques ever!), and embellished with "dyed" cheesecloth. I used my Sizzix die cutter to cut out the heart and was pleased with how easily and cleanly it worked. The cut-out in the center of the heart is backed with a second layer of stamped paper (scrapbook paper glued to 60-lb stock for stability -- otherwise it was too hard to keep the backing layer smooth and flat). I stitched the heart to the quilt by machine with variegated thread and a zigzag stitch. The quilt layers are fused to batting with Wonder-Under and the edges are zigzagged. I think I'll make a second sample with a vintage hankie instead of lace.

I hope your day is filled with creative fun!