Can this Scarf Be Saved??

Unfortunately, my opinion is NO. I know, I spent a lot time knitting this much, but I just have to accept the fact that it's a failure, and rip those stitches out.

It's one of those yarns that have six wonderful (so I thought) yarns on one skein. It looked so beautiful, I just had to make a scarf. How can something so pretty turn ugly so fast? The gauge of every yarn is different and the scarf ended up getting fat and skinny with every yarn change. Some of the yarn is fuzzy like mohair, some is metallic and slender, some nubby and it's all different thicknesses. Somebody told me that I could block it, but they said that sight unseen. I stopped at the Ball & Skein yarn shop in Cambria and saw a scarf knitted with similar yarn, and asked them about it. They said to use size 11 needles, but I'm currently using size 10, so I think 13 might be better. I need advice from any knitters out there.

While I was at the yarn shop, I saw this beautiful yarn, and had to buy it. It came with a free lacy pattern and the owner showed me how to do it. Unfortunately, by the time I got home, I forgot how to do it. Yarn over and knit 2 stitches together. Huh? I couldn't get my needles through 2 stitches no matter how hard I tried.

Honestly, I'm really not good a knitting, but for some strange reason, I continue to torture myself by trying to knit. Every time I begin a project, I have to watch videos on the internet to re-learn how to do it. Then, I start knitting and ripping the project apart at least 6 times. Finally, I figured it out, and I LOVE how it looks.

It would have been a lot faster to crochet it. Hmm . . . buying a scarf would have been really easy. Sometimes, I wish I wasn't so stubborn!

Exhibit Opening

Here are some photos of our exhibit at the Faulkner Gallery. Hanging the show turned out to be pretty easy because we met before the exhibit and figured out how the work from 3 different artists would blend together best. In the end, I think we did a great job. This photo was taken right after we finished hanging it.

Ranell forgot to bring one of her pieces (empty space on the right) and she added the title "Conceptualize, Create, Communicate" on the far wall, later in the day. I managed to remember to take a couple of photos during the reception. We had a great turnout and we received wonderful feedback. The most exciting part was that many people had never seen fiber art like this. They were really excited about our work and had many wonderful questions. Here is a photo of Rafael Perea de la Cabada (right), a Santa Barbara artist, and teacher. He's a great source of inspiration and will give me honest feedback about my work. I really appreciate his input.

I also have two pieces hanging in an exhibit at the Jewish Center in Santa Barbara.

Soy Wax Results

The paint has cured, the fabric was soaked in hot water and then ironed to release all traces of wax. Here are the results:

Fabric #1: I used a foam stamp for the grid and a cork for the circles.

Fabric #1: Layers of wax and paint

Fabric #1: Wax removed

Fabric #2: I used a foam stamp for the flowers

Fabric #2: Layers of wax and paint

Fabric #2: Wax removed

Fabric #3: I used a metal whisk to stamp the swirls.

The fabric looked identical with and without the wax layer. I suspect that because metal is a better conductor of heat, it made a clearer impression on the fabric. This was the final piece, so it's also possible that the wax was warmer.

If you are patient, and let the paint cure for 2 weeks before you remove the wax, very little paint will wash out. Next time, I'll use Dye-na-flow paint instead of Setacolor.

Lots of fun! If you decide to try this, I would love to see the results.

Soy Wax Workshop

I have an electric wok that wasn't hot enough for stir frying, but it's perfect for soy wax. I also have a little melt pot and Anne has a crock pot filled with soy wax too. I have tons of stamps, spatulas and found objects that are perfect for stamping.

What is all this for? A soy wax workshop with my Fibervision friends. I gave them the basic information about soy wax and off they went. They grabbed some fabric and tools and got busy.

There are little things you learn along the way about the different tools, but there is very little that can really go wrong. This group doesn't want or need many directions. Even if I told them exactly what to do, they would do whatever they wanted anyways! That's why I LOVE this group!

I really don't like starting with white fabric, so I dunked it into very diluted setacolor (before the meeting) and set it outside to dry. Here's one of the pieces drying in the sun.

This is what it looked like after it was dry. Much better than white.

This is my collection of kitchen tools that I use for stamping. It's amazing how many different mashers you will find once you become aware of them.

Xandra had some pieces that she painted in a different workshop. She brought them along to add a layer of wax and more paint. It looks like she really likes the swirly whisk.

Here's the fabric after a setacolor dunk. Kind of cool!

Here's the same piece after I took a mono print of the surface of my board. Don't you love it?

I'll have more before/after photos to share once my paint has cured.

Bizarre Encounter in Cambria

A few weeks ago, Mike and I headed north to Cambria for a weekend getaway. We thought it would be a nice quiet weekend. Ha . . . we couldn't have been more wrong.

Every year, between December and March, North Beach in San Simeon (just above Cambria), becomes the breeding grounds for Elephant Seals. There is a boardwalk where people can view the seals from a safe distance and docents are present to answer questions.

The largest males weigh 5,000 pounds are are extremely dangerous. They continually challenge each other for breeding rights. The winner of each battle returns to the harem on the beach; the loser is forced to leave.

Their sounds were deafening! Click here to listen. Imagine hundreds of bulls fighting and honking, and mothers and babies screeching (bonding) at each other.

Each female gives birth to one infant, but some will let more than one nurse.

This was the largest baby on the beach, it looked as if it were ready to burst. I think it's safe to say that his mother didn't adopt other infants. Soon it will be on its own, and will need to learn how to fish. Until then, it will survive on the nourishment from the mom.

We spent a several hours watching, and photographing these amazing creatures. It was definitely worth the trip.

Tea Fire: Finishing Up

You've seen this piece right after I finished the top. It hung on my design wall, along with many others, waiting for quilting inspiration to hit, but it never hits. I know this. Why does it take me so long to start? Once I start quilting, it goes well enough. I don't understand why I have this block. Deadlines give me a reason to finish. Without deadlines, I would probably have a room filled with quilt tops.

Here's a photo of some of the quilting. I like quilting through two layers, front and batting. If you look real close you will see two vertical areas that aren't quilted as dense. Those areas will contain the final quilting lines.

After the majority of the quilting is finished, I attach a back, then I add the last

bit of quilting . . . just enough to hold the layers together.

This is what the same section looks like from the front. I'll be adding the back tonight and finishing up with the sleeve and label tomorrow night. Almost done with my third fire quilt.

Exhibit at the Faulkner Gallery East

You're all invited to our exhibit at the Faulkner Gallery in Santa Barbara. The opening is March 3rd, from 5:00 - 8:00 pm. This is also the same evening as our local gallery night, First Thursday. All the galleries and museums stay open late, so you can see quite a bit of art in a short period of time.

I'm so excited, and exhausted! Four of the twelve selected pieces for this exhibit have been finished in the past month. Actually, I'm still working on the final piece. Over 30 works will be on display throughout March, so stop on in. It will be a very diverse, colorful show with a variety of fiber art ranging from portraits to surface design.

Curve Piecing

Last week, I took a one day workshop with Jean Wells on curve piecing. Jean's technique is a little different than what I've done before, a little more liberated. She has some good tips for beginning art quilters on inspiration and color choices. It wasn't information that I really needed, because I find cracks in the sidewalk inspirational, but I like to hear how other people work. It's good information and a good technique to have in my toolbox.

Here's the little piece (8-1/2 x 11") I completed in the workshop. After this, I went on to experiment even more, testing how far you could push this method. I found the limit pretty quick.

The first seam/curve went smoothly (no pun intended). Even though I matched little dots along the curve, I still fell short 1/4" at the bottom (purple/black seam). The second curve completely pushed the limit of this method. I lost about 1-1/4" at the bottom of the piece (purple/green seam. Solution: cut the piece that is being added extra long and fake it, or make templates and add 1/4" seam allowances. Good information to know.

This book was written in 1988 by Marilyn Stothers, and is where I first learned about curved piecing. I used this technique in one of my quilts back in 2005.

All that 1/4" seam sewing made me realize that I don't piece much anymore. The majority of my recent work is either raw edge applique or painted or a combination of both. It's funny how major changes can happen gradually, and you don't fully realize how much has really changed until you take a good look back.

Bad Blogger!

I apologize for checking out and hope that someone out there is still interested in what I'm doing. I honestly don't know where the time goes.

This photo shows our latest work in the backyard.

We're picking all the grapefruit and then removing the tree. It's pretty sad, but necessary. Someone planted this tree right smack in the middle of the yard before we bought the house, and we've been living with it for the past 23 years. We want to install a large patio and the tree is in the way. I bet the yard will look huge after the tree is gone.

Several people from my Fibervision group brought different items to our meeting to experiment with and we had a fun play day together. There was clay, beads, paint, paintsticks, screens etc. Here are a couple of fabrics that I rubbed with paintsticks.

Remember the banana slicer I bought a while ago? I finally got around to using it for these rubbings. They look like sea slugs to me, but a friend had a very different vision and thought it was disgusting! I'm pretty sure that I'll never see fabric like this anywhere else.

I used ribbed shelf liner for this effect and I really like the way it turned out. I chose very happy colors that day, didn't I? Very spring like.

I'll have a 3 woman show during March with Jeanne Surber and Ranell Hansen. I'll have 4 new pieces and I'm almost done with the last one. Yeah! Stay tuned . . .

Inspiration Is Everywhere

It doesn't take too much to get me started. I'm surrounded by wonderful scenery, books and supplies. Regardless, I'm always looking for a new perspective . . . a challenge is always intriguing . . . almost impossible to resist.

I came across an online group last year called Fast Friday Fabric Challenge. They recently had an opening in membership and I was eager to play along. The Fabric Challenge part is fairly easy, it's the Fast Friday part I'm struggling with. I'm able to come up with a design, but no way can I complete the entire thing in one week. There just aren't enough hours in my day . . . full-time employment seems to get in the way!

Even if you don't join the group, you can get inspired by the general information about the challenge subject and links they provide. It's like a mini art lesson each month.

Below are photos of the pieces I've made along with the challenge name and number.

Challenge 49: Chiaroscuro - Tea Fire

Challenge 51: One Shape - Looking Up

Challenge 52: Color Field

Batting and Bags

Here are a few projects that I finished up in the last couple of weeks. My Fibervison group had a dye day using Rit liquid dye. A variety of items were dyed and over-dyed, fabric, lace and batting were the most popular. I dyed three different types of cotton batting: Warm & Natural, Soft Touch and Mountain Mist.

They all dyed equally as well, however, the rinsing was a little rough on the batting and a few thin spots developed. Mountain Mist was my least favorite going in to the experiment, but it held up the best. The papery outer layer protected it. A surprise was waiting for me when the Mountain Mist dried. One thickness of batting separated into two pieces.How cool is that? Two for the price of one! (The photo below shows the layers pulled apart.)

If you want to give this a try, we followed the directions in the Dec/Jan issue of Quilting Arts by Judy Coates Perez.

I made these shopping bags for my kids (grown adults really) for Christmas. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a photo of Jason's before he went home.

Sean likes anything abstract and the fabric for this bag was selected with that in mind.

Rachel's favorite color is orange. I figured this tropical fabric would make her happy . . . and it did.

Thanks for hanging out with me this year, it's been a lot of fun. I hope you all have a Happy and Healthy New Year!

Painted Fabric

This piece was painted with Dye-na-flow and scrunched until it was dry.This base of this fabric was screen-printed with construction fence under the screen. Once dry, the whole piece was painted with Dye-na-flow. The paint filled all the areas that weren't already painted. I didn't really like this piece until I added the final layer. You just never know.
The first layer was black textile paint through a thermofax screen, second layer was yellow Setacolor, the third layer was Dye-na-flow.
I grew up in MA where there are plenty of old apartment buildings and fire escapes, but there aren't many in Santa Barbara. This one is part of the historic Hotel Santa Barbara. This building is 3 stories high; the tallest in town is five stories. The building codes are very strict here, both size and style are scrutinized. It generally takes about 5 years to get a building permit. Patience and deep pockets are required.