Where does the Time Go?

It's hard to believe that two weeks have passed! The older I get, the faster time goes by!
I finished 120 samples of sun printing, complete with instructions and mailed those off. I can't wait to receive all the pages. It's going to be great! Jean loved the exchange quilt I made for her, and I love the one she made for me. I still need to take photos of both. I just finished some ATC's for my group tomorrow, but they are still very wet. Next post!
The front section of our house is finally coming to an end. Mulch has been added and the irrigation is on, but they really don't need much because they are drought tolerant. Mike has a few things to finish, but I've moved on to another area.

Here's a close-up of one of the plants. This is a "Razzleberry" Loropedlum. Some of the other plants are Lions Tail, Red Hot Poker, Flax, Angel Trumpet, Blue Agave and Blue Fescue.
Here's a cool cactus that I bought for my daughter. The cactus is soft and squishy.When you pick up the cactus, you find the pen. Pretty cool, huh? I couldn't resist, it made me smile. I hope it makes my daughter smile, too.

Painting Fun

There was a lot of clean up to finish before I could paint some fabric. Here's what it looked like the morning of our trash pick up. Boy, are we the talk of the neighborhood! There must have been at least 90 trash bags, plus lots of wood. I am so glad the junk is all gone. It feels good.

I was finally able to make some time to paint! I'm doing a technique trade through a yahoo group I belong to. I decided to do my samples on Sun printing. Here's a close up showing the items I used.

Here's the dried fabric after the items were removed.

I will cut this into 4" squares and attach directions to the back for incorporation into a Fat Book.Here are some painted clay pieces that will be incorporated with dyed paper towels and paint markers for ATC's.

And here are several of the finished ATC's. Everyone in my trading group seemed to enjoy them. What do you think?

More Printed Fabric

Here's some printed fabric that I've been working on this week.I carved 4 different designs from an erasers. The top green and yellow piece is printed using one of the carved stamps. The bottom piece has several layers of screen prints and paint.
This is thermofax screen print. The original was a photo that I took of the ocean and then performed some Photoshop magic on it, see here.

This is also one of my photos that I converted into a thermofax screen. I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do with all of this yet; but I'm having fun. Here are some of the ATC's I received from fellow artists in April. It's always love to see what designs people come up with. It's such a diverse group of artists, everything from textile, assemblage, painters, knitters (you name it).

Tomorrow, we're having our Fibervision meeting at Andi Perejda's house, then the whole gang is going to the Seven Sisters Quilt Show together. I've been told there are over 300 quilts. It's going to be a lot of fun!

March ATC's

I figured I better post something before you thought I abandoned my blog. I've haven't created much in the last few weeks and didn't have anything positive to write about . . . so I stayed quiet. That doesn't happen to often, but the last few weeks have been rough, both physically and emotionally.

A few weeks ago, somebody side-swiped my car (with me in it), so I've had quite a few aches and pains that started in my upper back and travelled down to my legs. No fun. On top of that, my daughter is having a problem with her foot and the doctors cannot figure it out. She has had MRI's on every part of her body, EMG's on the nerves in various parts, lots of blood work and a Spinal Tap and still no results. It's pretty frustrating and emotionally draining. I'm waiting to hear what they plan to do next . . . and trying my hardest to stay positive.

On a brighter note, Fibervision had a great turn out for the artists reception at the Architectural Foundation. The exhibit looks fantastic, if I do say so myself.

I did manage to make some ATC's to exchange with my group this week. It felt really good to play with the paint and markers. We had 15 artists exchanging cards this month. This photo will show you some of the cards I made.

Nicky Claus

For those that celebrate, hope you had a Merry Christmas. My neighbor and her poodle, Nicky, stopped by to wish us a Merry Christmas and give us some home baked goodies. This is what I saw when I opened the door.Nicky Claus! I cracked up and ran to get my camera. Nicky is the sweetest poodle I ever met. He had special training so he can visit people in hospitals and nursing homes. I'm sure this little Santa suit made many people smile!

Here are some of the ATC's I received during this months trading session. As always they are much nicer in person.

Newest Creations

I've been busy with several projects. In an earlier post, I mentioned a challenge from Fibervision called Revision or Regurgitation. We exchanged UFO's with each other and finished them. We could do anything we wanted to it and it remains ours. The piece I received was odd shaped pieces of purple seminole. There were so many seams, I felt it would be difficult to use in any other way but as a background. I cut and pieced the shapes to make a background and proceeded to applique organic curved shapes. The first layer is cotton, some hand painted, some commercial. The second layer was beautiful organza ribbon I purchase in San Francisco. The third layer is yarn. It measures approximately 18 x 30".

This next piece was re-made from a large, over-sized (did I mention HUGE) blouse. I purchased it at a fiber sale put on by our guild. The fabric was gorgeous and it only cost $5.00, so of course I had to have it. The fabric is cut velvet with a black sheer background. It looks and feels wonderful. I've only used 1/3 of the HUGE blouse, so I have plenty left for another project. I'm thinking either a vest or a handbag.

These are two of the paper ATC's I created for our exchange this month. You may remember the background above from an earlier post. It was created with paint and salt. I stamped and embossed and glued snowflakes on top. The holograms are b&w brick buildings, the image changes as you change the direction of the card.

This piece was created by painting gesso on a plastic shape and transferring onto the paper. It was painted with watercolors, metallic powder and then highlighted with metallic ink. The strips and rectangles are copper foil.

Fiber Tornado Destroys Studio

It really does look like a mini tornado swept through my studio. It always looks like this after a stretch of creativity. I get so wrapped up in what I'm doing and don't want to stop to clean up. It's at the point that I can't stand it any longer. My work space has been reduced to about 6 inches. Fortunately, the pile on my laptop wasn't too bad. I'm afraid I'm going to have to clean it up tonight. Does this happen in your studio too? I tried doing some machine embroidery yesterday but I kept bumping into things as I moved the piece around. The effect wasn't pretty!I went to my ATC meeting today. I got there a little late and missed out on some of the trading. These are the beautiful new additions to my collection. As a result of our "Swapped Not Traded" show we had 3 or 4 new artists stop by to see how the group works. It's pretty simple, bring original 2-1/2 x 3-1/2" cards to trade. That's it!

I'm going to PIQF for three days with Kathy and Ranell. I'm really excited, it's going to be a lot of fun. We're probably going to visit Britex Fabric and Chinatown in San Francisco. I'll probably take another 300 - 400 photos, so I'll have something to post when I return!

Yesterday was my 50th birthday. I'm not sure how that happened, it doesn't seem like that much time has gone by. Does anyone out there have the same birthday as me? I was born in San Francisco, so it's kind of cool going back there so close to my birthday. If I had to live in a large city, San Francisco would be high on my list.

I Survived the Presentation

My quilt presentation went pretty well. A couple of friends told me that my face was redder than my shirt and I spoke a little too fast. I'm glad it's over and I'm sure the next time will be easier.

Overall, my quilts were well received. When I presented my first finished quilt, I hear several gasps of surprise because it's way too nice for a first quilt. I think they enjoyed seeing my non-traditional quilts. Several people stayed afterwards to talk with me. One said my quilts were better than many of the speakers that we have and several asked me if I would teach a class.

At this point in my life, I don't have enough time to spend on my own artwork. I can't imagine teaching. Maybe when I retire.

Remember the turquoise wax painting. I added another layer of crayon and another wash of color. I also added some accents with Red Tsukineko Ink.

Here is the finished painting. I like it even better now. I think it has a lot more depth.And here are several of the ATC's after I cut it up. I really like the movement. I've finished these three weeks early, I don't need them till September.

Now I have to finish two quilts for a group show at the Elverhoj Museum from October - December.