De ja vu?

If you've been following my blog for a while, you've already seen a similar photo of junk on my curb. We're at it again. This time we're landscaping the back yard. The first step in any landscaping project is removal and that's what we did here.

Those bags are filled with a 20 feet of bamboo roots. I think we got most of it, but we'll find out for sure in the next couple of months. The canes have been cut, stacked and taped into bundles for the trash men to haul away. Bamboo is so tough it breaks the chipper, so we can't recycle any part of it as green waste. Good riddance!

I've been having a lot of fun with dye, soy wax and paint. I'll take some photos and post them next time.

I'm So Lucky

I'm so lucky to be surrounded by supportive people. My family is always there for me, no matter what. My like-minded fiber friends feed my soul in a way that nobody else can. The Internet has allowed me to meet many wonderful artists that are willing to share their lives, work, ideas and techniques. It truly has become a very small world.

My friend, Linda, surprised me with a large bag at our last Fibervision meeting. Inside was a lot of hand-dyed fabric (over 5 yards) that she dyed herself. Beautiful, saturated colors, very moody and mysterious,

and a gallon Ziploc bag full of thread balls. OMG . . .what an impressive collection of thread balls.

My jaw dropped, I couldn't believe my good fortune. Only someone that knows me very well

would know that this messy pile would be a cherished gift!

I've been saving these ends from washed fabric for years and bet I have one of the largest collections in southern CA. I think I've posted photos of things I've made in the past. Here's one piece that uses a number of these knotted beauties.

I really love this piece, but don't own it any longer. I really should make more, it was a lot of fun to work on.

Here's another gift I received in the mail. I admired the rusted fabric Elizabeth was making and she was kind enough to sent me a beautiful piece.

A huge thank you to Linda and Elizabeth for their gifts and many thanks to all of you out there for all your support and comments. Keep them coming!

Things That Make Me Smile

I love this potato head potato masher. I think he's adorable . . . my husband thinks I'm crazy.

I haven't tried it yet, but I think he's going to make a great stamp for soy wax or fabric paint.

These whimsical paper clips are great too. Of course, I never use them as paper clips. I'll have to flatten them a little, but I think they will work great with sun-printing. Has anyone ever used them?

What is a Line?

When does a line stop being a line and become a shape? It seems like an easy question, doesn't it?

After drawing many lines and thinking about them, there were two things that I kept noticing. If a line is wider than it is long, it appears to be a shape instead of a line. If the beginning of a line connects back to itself, it appears to be a shape.

I'm pretty sure most people would agree with those two statements. I don't, but it's probably because of my background as a graphic artist. I am constantly using lines to construct shapes and see them and treat them as separate elements. I can choose to feature the line or hide the line, but the line always exists.

After spending way too much time thinking about this, I started an experimental piece. I drew lines on the paper side of fusible web and ironed it to the back of fabric. The first thing I did was cut the piece into four equal parts, then I cut on each line and placed the positive pieces on a background making sure to leave space between each piece. All the pieces were fused in place.

I was hoping to visually connect the four pieces with machine stitching even though they were physically separated. I stitched along the outside line and continued the stitched line whenever the physical line ended.

The visual connection was weak, so I added a second line, but it was still weak. I added vertical and horizontal stitching between the four sections, but the connection remained weak.

The only way I could visually tie the four pieces together was by adding paint to the areas where the lines had been machine stitched. Once I did that, the line appeared to be a connected.

Conclusion: There are too many variables and more samples would have to be done in order to know if the stitching itself could make a visual connection. That's not going to happen, I'm over this experiment!

If I were to try more samples, I would reduce the space between the four sections. This sample has 1 inch between each section. I would also use a solid colored thread, I used a variegated thread with a section as dark as the background. Unfortunately, it completely disappeared in areas.

Do you think that too much time was spent on this small piece (14" x 19")? Probably, but I'm not finished yet. I'm adding seed stitching to all the purple areas. The fun just never ends!

More Hormones

A while back, I asked your opinion about a background for a hormone piece I was working on. I must admit that I was a bit surprised with your comments. I didn't expect people to feel emotional about the background. I was thinking about contrast and color, and many of you were thinking about how the raging hormones would look.

When I'm not sure about how a fabric or shape looks, I photograph it. For some reason, the answer is always clearer on my monitor than on the design wall. Sometimes, it takes a long time for me to make a decision, possibly months. That is what happened to the hormone piece. Originally, I liked fabric number 1 the best, but I didn't like it enough to think it was THE ONE.

Here's my newest choice. Much hotter and a different texture completely.

I feel that the hormones stand out well against the color and the texture doesn't compete for your attention. Is this THE ONE? It's a strong contender, but something else is needed.

Tour of Mexican Ports

Here's an unusual angle of the Holland America cruise ship we travelled to Mexico on.

The harbor at Cabo San Lucas isn't large enough for cruise ships, so we had to take one of the smaller boats ashore. My husband took this shot on the way back. Although it looks huge, the Zaandam is actually a medium size ship that holds about 1400 passengers. I still can't figure out why they would hang this sign on the rooftop of a restaurant. Bad translation perhaps? It did get my attention, but I didn't eat there. The harbor was pretty, but I wasn't in the mood to have people trying to sell me trinkets. We decided that tours were the way to go. And here we are . . . a Town, Country and Tequila Factory Tour in Puerto Vallarta. In the foreground is the fruit of the blue agave. They cook it in the brick oven for 8 hours, then process and ferment it. The pulp tastes a bit like sweet potatoes. Wonderful tequila (bought two bottles), gorgeous setting, colors and . . .

yummy tacos too!

Our third and final port was Mazatlan. Beautiful beaches and a fantastic outdoor sculpture collection. Yes, these are aliens climbing a ladder, and there are more aliens on the ground!

These are the famous (and crazy, IMHO) cliff divers. What a gorgeous dive. They have to time the waves perfectly in order to survive, the water is only 7 feet deep.

Hope you enjoyed the short tour of Mexico.

Wonky 9-Patch Finished

Can it be true? I actually finished some old projects. First, was the log cabin that now resides with my son in Topanga Canyon. Next in line were a couple of small wall quilts which I forgot to photograph, and the latest is this wonky 9-patch baby sized quilt.

I really like the cheerful colors in this one.

Here's a close up showing the wonky quilting. It feels great to finally get this finished.

And here is the next pile of quilts I'll be working on. I backed all of them with batting and added a ton of safety pins. A couple of years ago, I started quilting through the top and batting only. No backing. I do a fair amount of quilting and like the stability that the batting provides. When I finish all the stitching, I sew all the layers together, all the way around, with no opening. I cut an X through the backing layer and flip the whole thing inside out through the X. I quilt around some of the major areas, cover the X with a label or with the hanging sleeve and it's done. I'm not sure how long I'll continue to use this method, but for now, it suites me just fine.

Does anyone else out there quilt through two layers? I'm sure I can't be the only one!

Where Has the Time Gone?

So much has happened since I last posted. Here are a few highlights: the Santa Barbara quilt show, an exhibit with Fibervision, a trip to PIQF and the most exciting news, even though it's not quilt related: my husband won a 7 day Blues Cruise to Mexico.

Imagine 90 concerts in 7 days and three ports to explore. Here's part of the lineup: Johnny and Edgar Winter, Los Lobos, The Lowrider Bank, Elvin Bishop, Cafe R & B, Kelly Hunt, Tommy Castro, Elvin Bishop, etc.

I've never considered myself much of a portrait photographer, but it looks as if the tables have turned. I really got some great shots of the performers on this cruise.

Edgar Winter

Johnny Winter

This is the first time that the Winter brothers performed together.

Roach from Cafe R & B

Howard Scott from The Lowrider Band (formerly known as War)

Tommy Castro

Many Thanks to Tommy Castro for pulling my husband's winning ticket at a local performance. The cruise was a fantastic experience! In fact, we enjoyed it so much, we signed up for next year.

Which Background Do You Like Best?

If you're like me, you pull a zillion fabrics out of your stash, and one by one, you put them on your design wall, and by the time you get to #30, you can't remember what any of them look like. Sound familiar?

If I think there is any possibility of a fabric working, I take a photo. For some reason, looking at the choices on the computer really helps in the decision process. Does it takes the emotion out of the decision? I'm not sure, but it works for me.

Here are some backgrounds that I chose for the "Hormones" piece I showed previously. I would love to hear your opinion, good or bad. Maybe you hate them all.

Number 1

Number 2

Number 3

Number 4

All of the backgrounds are either hand-painted or hand-dyed by me.

Summer Distractions

Summer doesn't seem to be the most productive time for me. Too many fun distractions going on. We have a lot of festivals in Santa Barbara. In the past month or so, we've been to the French Festival, the Greek Festival and Fiesta. Here are some of the dancers at the opening of Fiesta (La Fiesta Pequena) that was held at the Santa Barbara Mission.

I took a whole series of photos of the Mission as the sun went down. The evening was very colorful and energetic.

Last weekend we travelled up the coast to Cambria. On the way, we stopped to explore a small town called Los Alamos. We ate lunch and visited a nice gallery. Here's a couple of photos from the historic downtown area.

It was a great way to begin a very relaxing weekend.

One Thing Leads to Another

Sometimes, inspiration comes from unexpected things. The piece below is proof.

A simple piece of fabric with cut out circles. It didn't really look too exciting, but the possibilities were endless. You've probably noticed that one of my favorite symbols is the circle. I shouldn't have been surprised at my reaction to all these circles!The first step was to get it off the cutting board and onto piece of painted silk. Hmmm . . . Nice!
The negative circles are exciting, however, the positive rectangle is just too plain and boring. The first step was to paint the surface with some diluted Setacolor. By the time the paint dried, I had an a pretty good idea that I was going "Cellular".
The rectangular piece was cut into an organic shape and placed onto yet another painted background. Nice, but still not enough. Cells are incredibly colorful and the mellow yellow fabric was NOT going to make it.
Let the layering begin!

Here's a closeup of the new and improved cellular structure of "Hormones". It now has many colorful layers and interesting texture and is a worthy focal point. The next step is to audition more backgrounds; then onto the quilting stage.

Just a little glimpse inside my head and my thought process. Did you enjoy the journey?

Comments and suggestions are always welcome!

Transitions

The bright lights are behind us. We spend our final days on Cape Cod and at Norwich Lake with parents, aunts, grandparents, siblings, nieces, cousins. This is the best part of all, the most relaxing part.

Photography is the only creative outlet I've had during our trip.

A close up of one of my favorite trees at the boat dock (above). The boat dock at dusk (below). The scene was so peaceful and calm. Our vacation was winding down.I brought a few small projects to work on, but was never in the right frame of mind. One would think that I would be anxious to get back into my studio. Unfortunately, the transition wasn't that smooth.

The first day was spent unwinding thread from old spools. The thread will be re-purposed and the spools will be great for stamping. Then I purchased new storage units and completely rearranged my supplies.

Finally, I began to sew. I pulled out a log cabin quilt that I made 12 years ago and finished the quilting.Then I cut lots of circles. I backed them with interfacing, stitch and flip them right side out and use them for labels. This is the type of sewing I do when I feel uninspired. Useful but boring. yawn

Then I look down at the leftovers from my circle cutting spree. Out of nowhere . . . Inspiration strikes! The leftovers become the focus of my next microscopic piece. It will be called Inside Out: Hormones.

Stay tuned . . . Next post will show how the leftovers begin to develop.