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!

Textile Gifts

My boss just came back from a trip to Vietnam. She brought back some really special textiles for me. Their outfits are so elaborate and colorful. Very exciting! The long piece is used as a belt or wrapped around their legs, it is hand embroidered. The background piece is used as a skirt over other clothing. It has a multitude of trims and rickrack sewed down. The indigo pieces would probably be used as insets of a blouse. They are hand embroidered.

My friend, Isabel, lived in Guatemala for several years and collected a lot of hand woven fabric. It is hand dyed on the side of the road and then woven by the same woman on a loom that is attached to her body. It is so perfectly done, it is difficult to believe it is hand made!

Fiber Postcards

Here are some of the postcards that I have created. They are a lot of fun to create because you can try many different techniques in a short period of time.



This background is sun-painted and stamped with metallic paint. The foreground has silk flowers foil centers and silk leaves.

This was painted with dyna-flow and lumiere paint. the center spots are foil.

The background is hand painted. The foreground has free-motion lace, yarn and a piece of avocado bag sewn down.

The beige design has been discharged using a bleach pen. Red foil dots were applied.

Several Charms Received

Below are the first arrivals of the 1 inch charm swap. When all have made their journey, I will be the happy recipient of 24 unique handcrafted charms from around the world. It is so much fun checking the mail now. Every few day a new treasure arrives. I'll post more photos in groups.
Which one is your favorite?