Things that Make Me Smile

In order to be really creative, I need to enjoy my surroundings. I need a happy place to create, someplace colorful with silly little items surrounding me. I'm not sure if it's the item or the memory that makes me smile, but I love having them in my studio.

This welded sculpture is made with nuts, bolts and nails. This was a gift from my husband and immediately made me smile.I was at the Santa Maria Quilt show when I saw this soft sculpture. Although it made me laugh out loud, I didn't purchase it right away. All I could think was, "What will I do with it?" As I walked around the show, I couldn't stop thinking about her. I had to go back, and I don't regret it. She hangs on my design wall and makes me smile every day. Isn't that enough?

My kids got these little plastic Simba's in their McDonald happy meals around 20 years ago. I immediately loved their little dancing heads and begged them for their prize. They really didn't care and gladly gave them to me. Lucky me!

Certainly, I'm not the only one with wonderful chachki's in their studio. Drop me a note or send a link to the items you love.

Surface Design on T-shirt

Shhh . . . don't tell anyone, but I can be really sloppy. It seems like I'm constantly getting stains on my shirts. I'm tired of throwing out perfectly good shirts, so I got creative with some surface design.I decided to hide two little stains smack in the middle of the shirt with some writing. I guess I got a little carried away. Now, I'm going to add more layers with transparent paint. Can you see the stains? Hope not!

Here are some of the beautiful ATC's I received at our last trade. Lucilla (top left) used real clothes pins on her card and Louise (bottom left) stitched her cat using black thread. They are all so beautiful and creative.

Rayna's Book is Fabulous!

If you don't have a copy of Rayna Gillman's new book "create your own hand-printed cloth", you need to get one quick. It's Fabulous! The photography is pure eye candy and Rayna's fun loving personality comes through loud and clear. The instructions are well written and the samples are fantastic. I LOVE books and own a vast collection, however, there are 12-15 books that are very special to me. Rayna's book instantly jumped into this special collection. The contents page will give you a pretty good idea what you're in for. Sorry the photo isn't better, my camera went to Greece again! I'm really thrilled to have my quilt "Branching Out" (above) included in Rayna's book, page 23. Jeanne Surber, my Fibervision buddy, has her quilt "Yin & Yang" featured on page 14.

Colorful Weekend

I'm taking full advantage of the extra time I'm spending indoors and it's been a colorful weekend. Fortunately, the real Gap Fire is 80% contained, however, the fire living inside my head has spread to my design wall. For the background, I'm using a piece of fabric that I've painted. It has several layers of tulle and organza throughout with another layer of blue tulle on top of all the mountains and flames. It's still in pieces, but I'm getting pretty close to the final design.
I can't decide which fabric to use for the palm tree and border. Do you have a preference? Or maybe, you have a completely different suggestion. Let me know what you think.

The photo above would use a green palm tree to go along with the greenish/red foreground (left side of photo)This photo above shows a purple palm tree to go along with the purplish foreground (bottom right of photo).

Home Again

I'm very happy to be home, but he air quality is terrible; lots of smoke and ash everywhere. I need to stay inside as much as possible because of my asthma. I've spent a good part of the day returning all of my stuff to its proper place.
Unfortunately, this fire is far from done. It is burning towards Santa Barbara and thousands of houses are still threatened, but so far, only one mobile home, a few outbuildings and several cars were lost. Pretty amazing when you consider how fast this fire has spread. It has burned over 10,000 acres and is 28% contained. Over 1,200 firemen are working hard to control and contain the flames. No easy feat!We were very fortunate to have a beautiful house to stay at when we evacuated (thank you Cyndee), but under the circumstances, we really didn't get to enjoy it. We were much too worried. However, I did get some great shots of the fireworks from the balcony.
Thank you to both my local friends and online friends that offered their homes and words of comfort. You have no idea how much it helped.
The firemen are real life heroes and I am amazed at the bravery they continually display. As we run out, they run in! Thank you guys, YOU ROCK!

Fire Storm

The fire storm is spreading at an alarming rate. Yesterday, 300 acres burned; and tonight, that number has climbed to over 3000 acres.These photos were taken Tuesday afternoon and that glowing sphere is the sun covered in smoke. Very eerie!

This is, by far, the scariest situation I've ever been in. Earlier tonight, we evacuated our home. My nerves couldn't stand another night without power. Sitting in the dark wondering if the fire is rushing down the hill toward you is really nerve racking. Today, the air was so bad I had to wear a mask. I have a phobia about anything covering my head and face, so for me the mask was a HUGE deal. I developed asthma during the fire last year and have been taking medication since. I figured it was the mask or the hospital!

We'll try to get home tomorrow to see if our home is still standing.

Thank you for all your kind words and prayers. I really appreciate your support.

Here We Go Again!

Another wildfire (The Gap Fire) is burning here in Goleta, and this time, it's the moutain right above my house. The last time this area burned was over 50 years ago, so there is a lot of dry fuel. So far, 350 acres have burned. This photo was taken last night by Ray Ford, a photographer at the Independent Newspaper. My husband and I were enjoying a glass of wine during intermission at an Ottmar Liebert concert at Soho, when my son called to tell us about the fire. Needless to say, we left the concert and raced home. An evacuation warning was issued for the area around my house and we're ready to get out if need be.
What possessions would you save? Family and pets come first, of course. Some of the items I grabbed were photos, external hard drive, camera, computer, personal files and quilts. I have lots of stuff and I love it all, but when it comes right down to it, very few possessions are precious.
I'll keep you posted!

Hand Painted Cloth

Has anyone seen Rayna's book, Create Your Own Hand Painted Cloth? I haven't received my copy yet, but have heard great reviews. Let me know if you've seen the book and my quilt.

A while ago, Anna Nowicki and I decided to trade ATC's. This is the beautiful card I received from her. It has bits of shredded paper, ribbon, and handmade beads. Thanks Anna, I love it.I'm afraid this is the only photo I have for this post because my camera has gone off to Greece again without me. Hopefully, it comes home with more great shots.

The grand opening of Pazzazz took place this past weekend. Of course, I went to all three performances and took three different friends. It was a lot of fun and a real blast from Vaudeville past. The best part of all was the costumes, and I'm not just saying that because that's what I worked on. Arlene Larsen is an award winning, Hollywood costume designer and I was really fortunate to work with her. It was a lot of fun, and I'd do it again in a heartbeat!

Back to making apricot jam.

Coming Together

The idea for my Art From Scrap challenge piece "Coming Together" began with the quilting samples shown here. I had them stacked up and wondered what I was going to do with them. Do I put them in a drawer and look at them every couple of years. No, that's a waste. Why not paint the samples? I dug out my textile paints and a roller and had at it. Then, I added oil stick on top . The quilted texture showed up nicely, lots of depth. I cut the shapes and added the strings and sewed it all down. Here it is, in all of it's lime green glory.

Here's a detail shot where you can see the layers of color and the stitching line. Little by little, it was "Coming Together.

All of the entries will be on exhibit at Art From Scrap through July 19th. There will be a silent auction with the proceeds going towards children's art classes.

I went to see A Tear in the Fabric exhibit at Cal Poly. My friend, Jeanne Surber's "Size Prison" piece is in this powerful show. Definitely worth the drive!

PAZZAZZ The Musical

We're entering the final round of costume design and alterations for PAZZAZZ. Dress rehearsal and three performances are scheduled in a small theater in Los Angeles, then it's the world premier at the Granada Theater in Santa Barbara June 20-22nd. I never knew that I would enjoy working on costumes as much as I have. Arlene has been designing costumes for Hollywood for many years and her talent shines. The most amazing costume is the break away ballroom gown. It disappears just like magic! Can't give you any more details than that, you're just going to have to see it yourself.
Here are a few close-up shots of some of the costumes, just enough to tease! This is THE DRESS. I've spent many hours working on the beaded fringe on the sleeves and miles of lace. I have to say that I'm really glad it's finished!

The saloon girls will be wearing these, they are VERY sexy!Feathers, lace, satin, sequins, beaded appliques and flowers. You name it, it's here. I thought I had a lot of embellishments, but Arlene's collection puts mine to shame. Definitely over the top!
The rusty items in this abandoned workshop made me want to climb the fence with a few yards of fabric. I looked around to see if there was somewhere that I could leave a business card in case they wanted to get rid of some of this rusty junk, but it looks like they walked away 20 years ago and haven't come back since.

There is an ordinance in Santa Barbara that makes businesses clean up graffiti within 24 hours or they get fined. So, you really don't get to see a whole lot of graffiti, so I was surprised when I found this piece downtown. The caption read "Are we Alive?"

Photos Printed on Fabric

I shot some photos of lillypads at a local pond and couldn't resist the urge to manipulate the colors. They had glossy green leaves and beautiful yellow flowers before I had my way with them. I really like the large shapes and glowing colors. I printed several of them on cotton fabric with my ink jet printer and auditioned some colors that I think will work well with the blues and purples. A little orange will make a big statement.
Whenever I have a piece layered and ready to quilt, I freeze up. I know how to quilt, but I don't know WHAT DESIGN to quilt it with. So, I hang it on my design wall and stare at it, hoping that it will reveal the perfect quilting design. Unfortunately, it never happens! Finally, I get tired of staring at it and decide to go for it. As I begin, I have no idea what I'm going to do and that makes me nervous. I'm always afraid that the quilting isn't going to look good.Somehow it magically evolves and turns out looking good. Now, I want to take it to the next level; I want the quilting to be great. There are two ways to achieve quilting greatness, the first is to take it to my dear friend Susan Italo. The second is practice, practice, practice, both with pencil and paper and with the sewing machine. For me, the easiest designs are the vines with heart shaped leaves, garlic bulb shapes and spirals. If you have any helpful quilting tips or designs you like to use, drop me a line. Bet you can't guess where I went today? Awww . . . you guessed it, the Santa Barbara Zoo. Here's a close-up of an elephant eye . . . I know, it's a little odd, but the texture is fantastic.
And here's a beautiful macaw. They love posing for me.

I Madonnari Festival

Every year at the end of May, artists converge on the Old Mission in Santa Barbara to decorate the grounds with colorful chalk drawings. The I Madonnari Festival began in 1987 and has grown into a very successful fundraiser for the Children's Creative Project. Approximately 25,000 people attend the festival. Here are a couple of my favorite drawings this year.

The foreshortening on this hand is fantastic.
I love this composition; it draws you right in.
The weather has been so strange here, I can't tell if it's winter, spring, or summer. We'll have one day with record breaking temperatures in the 90's, and the next day, it's 65 degrees! The honey bees know it's spring though because my Hebe bushes are blooming.

My beloved camera (Canon Rebel) went to Greece without me! My husband went to Athens on a business trip and brought back some great photos. I'm the one that's always taking the photos, so I was really impressed at how well he did. I told him that I liked doors, color and texture and he came back with these fantastic photos. I LOVE THEM.

What a guy! How many people have photos of Greek Graffiti?