Friendship Mandala

I recently joined a Yahoo Group to discuss and explore the book The Artist's Muse by Betsy Dillard Stroud. Sue B and Joanna are the moderators of this talented group.
While everyone was waiting for their book to be arrive, we were given some general guidelines to use in creating our personal mandala. Generally mandalas contain a lot of symbolism and meaning to the maker.
We each chose a subject and explored our personal symbols and the meaning of colors to express our topic. My mandala, below, is based on friendship.

I am the small blue (loyal) circle in the center surrounded by the friendly (orange) circle. The pink (loving) open hands are a sign of welcoming. My friends are represented by the blue (loyal) stylized figures in the outer circle. The quilted spirals represent femininity and fertility. The yellow (happy) circles symbolize infinity, eternity. I have used circles in my artwork for many years, so the circular mandala was a very comfortable shape for me to work with. However, packing so much meaning into every section was quite the challenge.
I started with a bluish-yellow piece of hand-painted fabric for the background. I cut the hands out of organza with a hot pen tool which fused the edges. I laid them out to determine how large the circle needed to be. I then made a stencil out of freezer paper for the stylized figures. I used dye sticks throughout the piece. The red and yellow circles on the outside edge were made using tissue paper that releases its dye when wet.
The final piece was quilted. It measures 17" square.

You can view all the mandalas at http://webpages.charter.net/sbleiweiss/muse/mandalas.htm

Fun with Photos

I really enjoy photographing nature. It's always fun to play with Photoshop to see what happens. Sometimes, an interesting photo becomes spectacular with the help of a few filters.

These palm trees were shot on a very cloudy day. It created a very moody, almost eerie feeling.

This is a photo of a flower on a Lily Tree. The flowers are around 12" long. I tried growing one in my yard but didn't have much luck.

This is a close-up of a Canna leaf. The colors and stripes are magnificent, I love them the way they are.

Baby Quilt Finished

Yeah! I finished the Once Upon A Time baby quilt. I barely finished it in time for Marcy's shower. So what else is new? I always seem to be working right up to the deadline. The quilt came out really cute and Marcy loved it, so what more can you ask for? It should prove to be a lot a fun for the whole family.

To begin, choose a starting square and follow one of the pathways, making up a story as you go. It sounds easy, but depending on which path you take, you may have to get really creative.

Rather than buying so many novelty fabrics, try swapping with a group of friends.

New ATC Group

This week has been a whirlwind! I got a lot accomplished and had some fun too!
One of the things I did was join an ATC Group. It meets one time per month at a local coffee shop to trade cards. Everyone was really nice and made me feel very welcome. There is an interactive ATC exhibit planned for later in the year. More news on that later. Several of my ATC's are directly below. They were painted on water color paper with the major shapes inked on top.
Here are the cards I received in exchange. There was a wide range of materials used. One was made from a brochure at the doctors office. Several were collages which used a combination of papers, magazine images, fiber, thread and ink. Some were completely painted, one was all fiber and one has been stamped and foiled. They are all wonderful and very unique.

Film Reel Design

My friend, Kathy, and I are organizing a Quilt Challenge for our guild. We chose "LIGHTS! CAMERA! ACTION" as the challenge topic. Kathy loves to write, and is reel-ly having fun with this. Anyways, somebody found an old film reel at a garage sale and thought we would be able to use it as a prop for our challenge.
I hadn't planned on starting a new quilt design, but when I saw the film reel, ideas started flowing and the next thing I knew, I was at my computer drawing the reel. I LOVE circles. I don't reel-ly understand why, but they seem to be in most of my quilts. And if one is good, more is better!
This will probably become a quilt at some point. I imagine the background as hand-dyed fabric and the reels will be organza or tulle. I think the overlapping of shapes will make some great secondary designs.

The Getty Museum

Mike and I drove to Los Angeles to visit the Getty Museum. It was built on the top of a tall mountain. You park your car at the bottom and take an electric tram to the top. Most of the art is very old; J. Paul Getty was not a fan of modern art. My favorite painting is Van Gough's Irises.

All of the buildings are made with stainless steel and coated with white paint or white Travertine clipped onto the steel. There is an abundance of glass everywhere. The result is a museum with very geometric lines and reflective surfaces.

The setting is fantastic; on a clear day, the 360 degree view is amazing. The weather was perfect for spending a lot of time in the gardens. The photo above is of a circular garden in the middle of water. The photo below is a shadow from a very unusual sundial in the garden.

I came home with a bit of a tan and totally exhausted from all of the walking. I took a lot of great photos. It was a wonderful way to spend a Friday.

Photo Sphere

A friend of mine wants to insert a photo into a sphere and distort the perspective. I played around in Illustrator for a little while and came up with the photo below. I like it. I think I need to spend a little more time exploring the possibilities. Hmmm . . . so many ideas, so little time.

Perfect Bindings by Machine

I'm tired of having to sew bindings down by hand. If I'm going to spend time stitching by hand, I want it to show!
A few months ago the search for the perfect machine binding began. Is there such a thing? If so, I haven't found it yet. I've tried several types, the quilts below are the best ones to date. Both are pretty good; but not quite good enough. Is it possible that my standards are too high? Maybe I just haven't done enough of either to be really good. I think I need to try a few more before I give up and sew the bindings on by hand. The quilt above doesn't actually have a separate binding. The back of the fabric was brought to the front, folded and mitered at the corners and sewn on with a straight stitch. It was pretty fast but it doesn't give the finished appearance I want.

This binding technique is the one that Ricky Timms uses on his quilts. I watched his Grande Finale video and decided to give it a try. I watched it two times, took notes, purchased a special foot, Pearle cotton and set to work. There is definitely a learning curve on this one. Mitering the corners are the hardest part.

I like the two colors on the binding. I think it adds a wonderful spark to the edge. Hopefully, the next one will be much quicker!

New Charms & Postcard Received

I am still receiving charms from the Surface Design trade. This beautiful postcard was made by SuZ, it came with a charm attached (it's the fuzzy one in the photo below).

This 1" charm trade has been really fun. They are all so colorful and unique. If you are interested in trading (mostly postcards) check out the Surface Design group on Yahoo.

Once Upon a Time

Several members of my Blockhead group exchanged 4" novelty square fabrics. Monti showed us a quilt she was making called "Once Upon a Time". It was really cute and a great way to entertain and teach a child many things.

I decided that I too would make a "Once Upon a Time" quilt for Marcy, who is expecting twin boys. I will incorporate all the picture blocks above. The alternate blocks are either diagonal or X pathways. As you wind your way through the pathways, you compose a story incorporating new bits as you encounter a new picture block.

My co-worker, Margaret, is making an "I Spy" quilt for the 2nd baby. Marcy isn't due until July, but the baby shower is in April. We are both hoping to be done in time for the shower!

Finished Quilts

I love it when I finish one quilt; three quilts in a couple of weeks is amazing! OK, they're all pretty small, but still they're done. The best part is I really like them all.

"Branching Out" was made using my hand-painted fabric in the large central square and the yellow stripe. The turquoise rectangle is discharged and the turquoise square is stamped. The rest is commercial fabric.

"Winter Wonderland" is made using all commercial fabrics. It was inspired by a black and white photo of trees covered in snow.

"Spring Has Sprung III" was made using using all hand-painted fabric that I created. The background is sun-printed, the trees are discharged and the flowers are painted.

Goleta Beach

The weather was glorious Saturday, so Mike and I went for a walk at Goleta Beach. The tide was really low, so we walked to the point of the UCSB campus to explore the tide pools. I'm glad we went out when we did because it rained the next day. The temperature dropped 15 degrees in one day!