"Smoked Out" Returns Home

My quilt, "Smoked Out" has returned home safe and sound from its year on tour. I hope some of you had a chance to see it up close and personal in Long Beach, Houston or Chicago. Was anyone lucky enough to attend all three shows?

A year is a long time, but I'm thrilled that my quilt was chosen to be part of the Quilts Inc. West Coast Wonders Exhibit. It's obvious that Quilts Inc. took great care of my quilt and I'm very grateful. If you haven't seen the quilt, take a peek in the Gallery.

I've had laryngitis this week and haven't had much energy . . . it was the perfect time to work on little projects.

Hand felting is fun and the bright wool from Susan made me feel better. Everything about her makes me smile, including her crazy dreams!

Shape Splitting is another fun project. You begin with multiples of a shape and explore various ways to divide it up while maintaining the original shape. The leaf shape in the top left corner didn't quite line up as well as it could have. I think two of the pieces were glued in the wrong place. Oh well.

Self Control Isn't One of My Strong Points

I attended two quilt shows in two weeks, both were mostly traditional with a few innovative quilts sprinkled in. Last weekend was the Seven Sisters show and yesterday I went to the Camarillo show. I enjoy all types of quilts and have pieced my fair share of traditional patterns.

Shopping and inspiration are two things you're sure to find at a quilt show. I've been trying to curb my purchases, mainly because I'm running out of space to store the stuff, but I'm afraid self control isn't one of my strong points! Here's the damage.

One yard of each, most are batiks. I'm always in search of good blacks. I think the grey fabric will look great with some sparks of color added to it.

A large felting brush. I originally bought the smaller brush to try it out. I've discovered that I really enjoy it and need a larger surface. I had to have these large grommets. The vendor used them on handbags. I'm not sure what I'll use them for. A new silver paint stick and stencil brush.

A beautiful scarf with lettuce edges. I like to wear scarves, but they make me so hot, I feel like I'm about to burst into flames! This one is so lightweight, even I can wear it. At least I hope I can, time will tell.

This is a photo from a book that I bought at Barnes and Nobles this past week. It's called Earth From Above. 366 Days by Yann Arthus-Bertrand. The images are from all over the world and are fabulous. Each photo includes the location and a description of what you're looking at. Some are quite abstract and you would never guess what it is. Examples: Colorful Bottle Racks in Germany, Slash & Burn Farming in Venezuela, Waste from a Uranium Mine in Niger.

The photo above is of ice skaters at Wollman Rink in Central Park in New York City. Earlier this week I watched a documentary about a Hawk called Pale Male that made NY and Central Park it's home. I'll be in MA in June, maybe a NY side trip is necessary. I've been to the museums, Radio City Music Hall, shopping, etc., but I didn't make it to Central Park. Is it worth the trip?

Enhancing the Surface with Layers of Color

The base fabric was painted with Dye-na-flow, when it was dry, water soluble crayons were applied through two different thermofax screens. I didn't care for the way it was developing . . . it looked too pretty. I decided to put it away for a couple of weeks.

When these new permanent markers arrived, I had to test them. I added a layer of writing to the surface. Interesting, but I didn't want the writing to be the focus. Now what?

It's too monochromatic, it needed some intense color. Circles were added with permanent markers and Tsukineko ink. Better . . . but too bright.

I decided to integrate the layers by glazing with two colors of Jacquard Textile Paint. I applied the paint to the entire surface with a dry sponge. The glaze knocked the intensity down a notch.

A subtle change, but much better.

Still Stitching and Embellishing

As you can see from the photo below, I'm still stitching and embellishing. This mat and metal trays help control my beads. If you spill a container of beads, you'll be picking them up for the next 2 years. Not much fun! Do you have specific tools that make your beading easier?

Here's the final square for the letter "O" challenge. I didn't finish in time for the Fibervision meeting, but I faked it pretty well. Each square was attached to the canvas with two applique pins. My first attempt with blue tape attached to the back didn't work because the squares were too heavy. Once I finish the embellishment on this square, I'll stitch them all to the canvas background.

Everyone loved my piece and thought it would make a great sample for teaching surface design. I tend to underestimate the amount of information I have and think that everyone knows what I know. My friends keep telling me that it's not true, I have a lot to share and should teach. Teaching is something I would like to do, but at this point in my life, I don't have enough hours in my day.

I love the texture in this sea foam along the beach. I use circular or pebble quilting quite often and find that the size variation of the bubbles is what makes it interesting. I recently saw a quilt where all of the bubbles were the same size and I didn't care for the way it looked. IMHO, Size does matter! LOL

Progress . . . Inside and Out

It was a good weekend . . . my "To Do" list is definitely a little shorter. The long days and warm temperatures really make the flowers bloom. Here are a couple of close ups of flowers in my garden.

Nothing like a beautiful Gerber Daisy. They are easy to grow and seem to live forever.

This is an Angel Trumpet Tree. Right now, it's around 5 feet tall, however, they can grow up to 15 feet tall.

Here's a couple of finished panels for my Fibervision challenge. Will it be finished by next weekend? I'm not sure. I still have to finish two panels and attach them all to the black canvas.

The fabric and embellishments in each panel is completely different, however, each has layers of paint, dye or marker. They have been rubbed, screened, scraped, sun-printed and bleached. There is quite a bit of hand stitching, lots of beads and some re-purposed items attached.

With any luck, I'll have a photo of the finished piece ready for the next post. Stay tuned!

Invitational Exhibit at AQS show

This is a giant display in the Ventura Museum window. I asked to have the poster after the show but was told that it's printed on film and probably wouldn't survive the process of removing it. Bummer.

AQS has invited "Becoming Art at the Seams" to travel to Knoxville, TN show for a special exhibit in July. How cool is that?

Do you remember all the planting I did this time last year? Here's the mature version of the same garden. Isn't it pretty?? Amazing what a year and 20 inches of rain can do!

I saw this "animated line" video on Cheryl's blog and thought you would also enjoy it.

It's Challenge Time!

My Fibervision challenge piece is due in a few weeks. Nothing like a deadline to get me moving! This year, I found the challenge to be, well, very challenging! I think there were too many rules and I had a hard time starting. You need to use a specific letter of the alphabet, mine is "O", it has to be mounted on a specific size canvas or stretcher bars and it needs to have some recycled element in it.

Here's a sneak peek of a couple of the elements. So far these two squares have gelatin printing, screen-printing, rubbing, stamping, painting and beading and I still have a ton of handwork to do. My recycled element will be one of my thread circles. I never know how a piece will turn out ahead of time. I start with a general idea and let it evolve. This one has evolved many times already!

I just added a new page called Art Gallery. I thought you enjoy seeing some of my finished work. I'll try to add more as time allows. I didn't realize you could add additional pages until I read a post at Through My Eyes. I also added a tab for Tutorials, but haven't had the time to post any. I'll let you know when it's ready.

We had a lovely picnic at Goleta Beach after work and then went for a walk on the pier. It was very peaceful and relaxing. It was just what I needed.

Venice Beach, California

I've never seen anyplace quite like Venice Beach. I've heard CA referred to as "The Land of Fruits and Nuts" and never quite understood it until this past weekend! What a colorful bunch of people! Here's a photo of Muscle Beach. Basically, it's an outdoor gym where muscle bound men show off.Look very close - see if you can find "Tree Man" hidden in among the palm tree. He's a walking, talking, 8 foot tree from the land of Lanoce (combination of Land and Ocean).

Here's a closer view of him. You should be able to see his mouth, chin and neck in this photo. If you really want to see more, look for him on Facebook!Many of the buildings have murals painted on them. This happens to be a knock-off of my favorite Vincent Van Gogh painting.Here's a detail of another mural full of alien creatures. I like the slogan on his T-shirt "You Can't Until You Say You Can". Very True.

This is nothing like Santa Barbara where graffiti has to be painted over within 24 hours or you get fined mega bucks. I guess every tourist area has a different audience. Venice Beach is a blast from the past! I'm glad I went, but I probably won't be going back any time soon.

Front Page News

Susan told me that my photo was on the front page of the Ventura County Star, but I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw that a detail of my quilt, "Inside Out: Macrophage", IS the front page!

Wow, that's quite the portfolio piece. There is a very nice article inside, and more photos of the quilts. The reception was amazing, almost too well attended. It was so crowded, you could barely get near the art. I guess that's better than having nobody show up. I want to go back to the museum and look at all the art again, it seems I have a hard time focusing on opening night. I'll also be there for the lecture entitled "Maverick Quilts" with Julie Silber. It's a great show . . . I hope you get a chance to stop by to see it.

As promised, here's the newest addition to my garden art collection. Venus caught a Spark Plug bug! The whole thing uses recycled materials and it's nicely rusted. The fences were just replaced, now I need to measure, draw a site plan and figure out the hard scape. More dirty days to come. Unfortunately, I haven't had too much time to quilt!

Fun Friday

If you ever wondered what I look like, here I am at Ostrichland. Yep, that's right . . . Ostrichland. If you like being frightened by large animals, this is the place for you!

My daughter is home for spring break, so we decided to head north to play tourist! We stopped at Creation Station where Dawn and Patrick have created a fabulous fabric store and gift shop. Then we went on to this fun garden store. There are so many wonderful items to choose from.

We're about to start the remodeling the backyard and I'm collecting garden art. Today we bought a rusty Venus fly trap catching a bug that's made from a spark plug! I know it sounds a bit strange, what can I say. I'll take a photo for the next post, you'll love it too.

Guess where our final stop was? Can you tell what kind of bottles these are? They're all stored on their sides in a dark room that is temperature controlled.

Give up? We went to Gainey Vineyard for a tour of the facilities and then wine tasting. What a great way to start the weekend!

Tomorrow, I'm leading a Visual Texture workshop with my Fibervision group. Should be another fun day!

My New Best Friend

Here she is . . . the newest addition to my household! Isn't she pretty?? I'm so happy to have a working computer again. I'm switching from a PC to a Mac, so there is a bit of a learning curve, but I'm getting it.

Every time I cut thread tails off the end of a seam, I add it to this jar. My jar began to overflow, so I needed to find a way to recycle the thread.

This is what I came up with - thread circles.

I got a little carried away and made quite a few of them in various colors and sizes. This one already has a home in my newest piece.

Do you have a favorite recycling technique? If so, I would love to hear about it.

Museum of Ventura County Exhibit

Happy Dance time! I'm really excited to tell you about an exhibit that is opening this week at the Museum of Ventura County. Three of my pieces were juried into the show, along with fabulous work from 27 other fiber artists in LA, Ventura and Santa Barbara counties. A detail of one of my pieces was included in the brochure (see below).

The opening reception is Friday, March 12 from 6:00 - 8:00 pm at the museum. Check their website for more information. I hope you get a chance to stop by to see the show, it will be on display for 3 months.
And here's the page with my photo. It's such an honor to have your work featured in the promotional materials. They have some other fiber events planned besides the exhibit. I'm looking forward to the Maverick Quilts lecture.

Well, I'm the proud owner of a brand new iMac. I'm really happy with my decision, but I'm having my fair share of issues transferring files and favorite websites, but I'm getting closer every day. I lost quite a few emails when my computer crashed, so please forgive me if I never answered you. Many of my email addresses have disappeared, so drop me a note so I can add you back into my address book.

Once I get CS4 up and running I'll be able to process some photos and start blogging again.