Off to Alaska

I just returned home from teaching in Texas....2 wonderful guilds and I have so much to share but that will have to wait.  My hubby and I are going on a once in a lifetime trip to Alaska including one week of cruising and one week on land.  We are so excited, we can hardly contain ourselves.... We leave tomorrow.....

 We are most excited about the wildlife.....

and the mountains .......... I truly hope we get to see Mt. McKinley...it's often fogged in

 We're also hoping to see some grizzlies....from INSIDE the bus....

 and glaciers....and eat lots of salmon...I loved the saying below...kind of sums it all up

Will be out of touch for a while but will have lots to share when I get home and many pictures of inspiration for quilts....have a great couple of weeks...

Framing Quilts

I've always loved the idea of framing quilts...brings them to a different level.  With all the lectures and workshops I do which also involves hauling quilts around, framing is not practical and makes it impossible to bring a lot of work especially if you're flying. So I've held off until now.  I needed to have my Black and White piece - "The Flute Player" framed but decided I would also do another as I wanted to try a natural wood frame in addition to the black frame on The Flute Player. For the other piece I chose Walnut which is a favorite wood of mine.  I've always called this type of frame a shadowbox but not so......it's a floater frame.  I did prepare the pieces ahead of time by stretching them over 3/4" stretcher bars....a tutorial I'll post someday soon. I'm so pleased with the look of this piece....makes me want to go through my house and frame many more....

 I love the sides....so simple but elegant and just enough for the quilt.

 The quilt is mounted with around 1/4" between the frame and the edge of the piece...just a perfect amount of space.

 The Flute Player which so desperately needed a frame turned out great with the same frame in a black painted wood.

 And a close-up of the side.....

 And you can see the 1/4" space in between...

I'm so happy with the results.......I used Frameworks in Candler, NC.  (near Asheville) Robert Reitz is the owner and craftsman who does this beautiful work....my husband who is a big time woodworker loved the look and even more loved the workmanship...The mitered corners were so tight and perfect, the finish so smooth and the back of it finished perfectly.  Robert is also nice to work with....his wife - Bernie Rowell is an amazing fiber artist and he really understands what us quilters want for our pieces.......I felt compelled to pass on his contact info which is 828-667-2479 in case you think this is something you would like to do.
On another note....I haven't been the most diligent blogger lately...just so much traveling this spring and tomorrow I'm off again to Texas to teach at 2 guilds...so thanks for hanging in there with me. ...talk to you when I get back.

Cotton Patch Quilters

I had great fun visiting and presenting a lecture to the Cotton Patch Quilters the other night.  This guild is located in Athens, Georgia.  The Cotton Patch Quilters meet at the Lyndon House which in and of itself is beautiful and the meeting room perfect.  Athens is the home of the University of Georgia where my daughter earned her degree. My daughter also stayed in Athens to teach for 3 years...so for close to 8 years, it became our family's second home.  It was such fun to be back again....another surprise....I was taken to dinner at The Last Resort Grill - a favorite of ours while Jill was in Athens.  It was every bit as lovely and delicious as I remember it to be....below...they are redoing the side of the building.

 Show and Tell is always a highlight of every guild and this was no exception....only problem is there's not enough time to see each quilt as long as you might want....I missed everyone's name except for the first quilt but was given a thumbs up anyway to show everyone's work.  This next piece was made by Joan Garland and it was simply amazing in person. She calls it her "Bonnie Hunter" quilt based on a pattern by Bonnie.

 I wish I could remember this next gals name (on the right) but do recall everyone calling her the "prolific" quilter....She did have many quilts to share and each one wonderful.

 This quilt was spectacular and I could have poured over it for hours.

 Here's another from our "prolific quilter"....

 This next gal made quilts and then....

 made another from the leftovers....and so on....and so on.....

 Being a cat lover, I really bonded with this adorable Kitty Cat quilt.

I had a wonderful time with a great bunch of gals and I thank all the Cotton Patch Quilts for their warm and welcoming hospitality.....And Anita.....I missed you!

John C Campbell

I just returned from a wonderful week at John C Campbell Folk School.  I taught the class - Playing with Surface Design...I also call it a Surface Design Buffet.  This workshop gives students a taste of many techniques to enhance the surface of fabric.  Students can choose to do a project with the many samples they create or just keep it as a sample.

 The weather was with us...some of the techniques do very well in strong sun....and strong sun we had!! Lots of it! One of the things we had so much fun with was rusting.  It usually takes my things a couple of days to rust but with such strong sun and the fabric sealed in plastic....it was a couple of hours. We became rusting fools.......rusting everything in sight...and this was just the beginning!

 Judy is using a partially rusted piece along with sun printing with a fern leaf....

 We are lucky to have a Blacksmith studio right down the road and part of the campus.  The have a big bin outside with discarded iron...most of it rusted and ready to be used. Yvonne used a lot of that rust to do the table runner below...She also painted and stamped it...a gorgeous piece.  She plans to quilt it ...I hope she sends pictures...

 Yvonne treated us all to t-shirts to rust.  Judy rusted hers and then did some spray painting using leaves as a resist....

 I was able to do one also....The Blacksmith class at one point was cutting out animal shapes and this was a discard...Can you see a fish in the middle?

 Winki was our "resident ruster"...and showed us the most beautiful scarves she had already done...like the one below.

 I think she used some kind of wheel cover to get this wonderful effect (below)

 And this.....

 Winki"s scarves were very soft and subtle in color...they were luscious....

 She revealed her secret which she gave me permission to use on my blog....Besides the rust, she uses spices....Tumeric, curry....along with fruit like blueberries...the coloring was just beautiful.

 More of Winki's beautiful work...

And more to follow....
I'm going to Cotton Patch Quilters tomorrow in Athens, GA and will be back Thurs to share more of the fun stuff we did this last week....
Til then......

Fiber Junkies - Painting Fabric

Our Fiber Junkies group met this past week....the weather was on our side for painting outside.  We decided after exploring paints last month, to use up some of these paints on our "not so pretty" fabrics. We met at Val's house where she had tables all ready for us....with new covers too! We spent the month before looking for the perfect spray bottles, scouring our collection and visiting the dollar store...

 Who Knew?!!!  that it would turn out to be the butter spray bottle...we have lots of them and now a new incentive to save them..They make a very fine spray...no globbing which was happening with the others.

 This was one of the fabrics...not so bad....a bit bright....

 but with a little paint...a whole new treasure.

 I brought a lot of sheers which I like to paint and then run through the printer...

 This piece of lace really did nicely.

 This was a white sheer with leaves...the paint took everywhere but the leaves...an interesting effect.

 This was my favorite...an old brown linen tablecloth that kate brought...It really came to life when painted...especially with metallics.

 Mary, Kate (and myself who stopped to take the picture) did some larger pieces on the driveway...

 which resulted in some pretty fabric and a new meaning to the words -  "Driveway Art" which Val (from experience) assured us will come off...

 This is one of the cloths covering the tables....they were as nice as our fabrics...

 During lunch and always time to share our latest...this lovely beaded piece is one of Mary's wonderful creations...think it's being made for the Alzheimer's Initiative.

 And just one sample of the many that Mary brought from Chad Alice Hagen's workshop on resists and felting.

 Val has been working with her deconstructive screened fabric from a previous meeting....a very difficult fabric to work with...has so much energy.  She has stitched, screened and painted on top to create something wonderful...

 And to save the best for last....someone usually brings dessert....not that we need it...but it's sure a highlight.  Mary made the very best chocolate mousse....that was TO DIE FOR!  Seriously!!

A great meeting....new fabrics to play with and lots of inspiration...
On another note, I leave for John C Campbell tomorrow to teach a weeklong workshop....talk to you when I get home...have a great week!

Black and White finished!

Today I was determined to finish my black and white piece....I've really had some great fun working on this piece but at times...missed working with color...even my colors which tend to be muted. I left lots of room all around - wiggle room....as I planned to stretch it over a pre-stretched canvas.  At first I was using ribbons to mark the 24" x 30" size and to see where I should turn each side under. The ribbons weren't working as I could still see beyond the ribbon and visually, couldn't get a good feel for where to end it. I thought of using black strips of fabric that could be moved in and out from the edge.

 They worked great and I'm saving them for another project.  By having them so wide, they block out what's beyond the edge, making it easier to see the boundaries of the piece. I then put a line of large basting stitches around the edge (where the black fabric strips meets the white).  When you stretch a piece, the front faces down and you're pulling the fabric towards the back...It's hard to see what you're doing and know where you want that edge to fold over....having some stitching is a great help.

 So it's done and ready to be framed....I'm thinking a black shadowbox type of frame...... it sooooo needs that black edge around it....

So it's not completely done but my part is....HOORAY!!!

Driving on Fumes

I've been working feverishly on my black and white piece for the SHCG exhibition this September.  I have a busy next few months and I knew I had to get going on this now.  The fabric my friend Mary gave me has worked so beautifully...all the value ranges in black and white.  I'm finding the lightest one is the one I use most.  The whites you see are all tone on tones ......  

 This one particular pointillist fabric (the lightest one) has become something of a valued commodity...I've been hoarding bits and pieces....

 This is something I don't usually do...I'm a "thrower-outer" and a "cleaner-upper" but every thread of this fabric is like gold to me. You can see the tiniest bits and pieces I'm saving and savoring! I feel as though I'm "driving on fumes" trying to make use of every little bit of fabric....

 I realized after much hair pulling that I wasn't going to have enough of the lightest fabric...the one I needed most....what to do...?  I had an India ink pen...supposedly good for making silk screens.  Any image you draw with it will burn in a Thermofax...so I decided to give it a try.  I made a series of tiny...very tiny dots with this pen...

 And SUCCESS....I have a screen I can hopefully duplicate or come close to the fabric I need...which is a white background and very tiny randomly placed dots...

 The tiny little scrap below on the right is my favorite fabric ....laying on top of the one I duplicated....works pretty good and hopefully from a distance, no one will ever be the wiser!

 My piece is near completion as far as putting the fabrics down...still have to quilt and frame it...so there's still some work to be done but it feels good to get this far. I'm using a canvas (24 x 30) that's been pre-stretched to use as a base

 So looks like another full day in the studio finishing this...
Have a great weekend...I'm so chomping at the bit to be outside in this pretty weather