Cookies Anyone?

Our household rarely has sweets on hand, because my husband is on a low-fat, low cholesterol diet per doctor's orders. However....once a year at Christmas, I bake cookies. This has been my tradition for 20+ years. Here are the first batches --- chocolate chip cherry cookies (a new recipe for our son, who loves all things cherry), double chocolate cookies for my husband (commonly known around here as The Cookie Monster), no bake cookies (a favorite of our son, from a friend's recipe), and rocky road clusters (my personal favorite). Still to get baked today are traditional Nestle Tollhouse chocolate chip cookies (everyone's favorite).

On The Design Wall

This is one of the pieces currently on my design wall. I love the colors and movement in this piece! These are all pieces of Kona cotton that I have painted, cut and layered into a textile collage background. Now to stitch them all in place and add more paint.

Kyrgyzstan Exhibition

Karen Musgrave curated this exhibition, and I was thrilled to have a piece included in it. It was the first Kyrgyz-American quilt exhibition ever. When I received my piece back, there was also a copy of the catalog included in the box. The catalog is very interesting --- each artist's statement is in English, Kyrgyz and Russian. I cannot help but think that this was a fabulous way to create a cultural dialogue between the two nations.

New Work

Cityscape

I have been working on some new pieces, and I hit a roadblock last Friday. So I set them aside and went back to this piece. I think it is done now, except for edge finishing. I tried a binding --- wrong look --- so now I am contemplating matting it for framing. Any other suggestions?

Another Christmas Postcard

This is the Christmas postcard that I received in the mail yesterday, made by Marge Bresel. I love all of the texture she has included in it. There are sequins, and pearls, and yarn, and cheesecloth, and much more.........all glued to the background and painted over. Thank you very much, Marge!

Thermofax --- From Photo to Cloth

For those of you who have never used a thermofax machine, I am going to show you one of the ways that I use it.

This is an original photograph that I took with a Nikon digital camera. It is an older building in downtown, and I love the lines of the window and the brickwork.

I opened the photograph in a photo editing program and cropped it to what I considered to be the most interesting aspect. I then proceeded to change the color photo into a black and white image and printed it out on an HP inkjet printer. I have always been told that thermofaxes need a good carbon print to burn the thermofax screen, but I know from experience that my HP inkjet printers work fine.

Next step is to run the black and white image through the thermofax with a piece of thermofax film. The film is available from Welsh Products. Many artists attach this exposed film to a plastic frame. I wrap duct tape around the edges and use it without a frame.

This is a sample of the screen print in black ink on a hand dyed cloth background.

Christmas in the Mail

This beautiful silver and white Christmas postcard arrived in my mailbox today from Beate Knappe in Germany. It was a fabulous surprise on a day when I really needed something good to happen!

It may be hard to see all of the textures on this card, but it is phenomenal. The white at the top and the tree appear to be a felt-like fabric, and there is silver mesh on the background, with glitter and silver stars sprinkled all over the card. The whole card is wrapped ribbon-style with thin silver wire. What a visual treat --- thank you very much, Beate!

Emmerson

This is a photo of our great niece, Emmerson --- Bennett's older sister. I love this photo because it captures the true spirit of her personality. She always has her tongue out just a tad bit like this and looks at you with her eyes like this as if to say "you can't mean that". Think she doesn't give her parents a little attitude?!?!?

You know the holidays are near when...

the Christmas cactus starts blooming! This is the first bloom of this holiday season, and it's especially satisfying because this little cactus is actually cuttings from a huge cactus that belonged to my Grammie when she was alive. I have two little pots with cuttings from her cactus, and they are both covered with buds. It feels good to think of her every time I look at them.

Thanks to everyone for their help in identifying yesterday's quilt! The quilt is titled "String Theory" and the artist is Helen Giddens. I haven't been able to reach Helen yet, but I truly appreciate everyone's help.

???

I am totally enamored with this quilt that was on exhibit at the International Quilt Festival in Houston last month. Does anyone know the name of the quilt and/or the artist? Artist contact info? Price? Please help me out if you know anything about this quilt. Thanks in advance!

Magical Business Card Case

The Winter issue of Quilting Arts magazine has an article in it with instructions for making a Magical Business Card Case. Several artists were asked to make a sample case to be photographed for inclusion with the article. I was thrilled to be asked to be one of those artists. The bad news is that the photograph accompanying the article has the raku face bead on the front of my case turned backwards. It looks like a big white bump of a bead. So......here is a corrected photograph, so you can see how fabulous that bead really is.

Happy Birthday, Bennett!

Our great nephew, Bennett, just turned 1 year old. It didn't take him long to figure out that cake is a good thing, and messiness doesn't matter on your birthday. Thank goodness for bathtubs with spray nozzles!

New Work

Barren
Artist: Claire Fenton

This is the newest piece in my art collection. I love the lines and textures, and I am thrilled to own this new work by Claire.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope all of you enjoy a wonderful day with your families and that your lives are richly blessed!

Letters Home

Letters Home
14"h x 10"w

This is the completed piece from my earlier post. I really like this one, and I think it does a good job of portraying the destruction of war and the worry of loved ones at home waiting for letters from their military family members.

New Work

Fragments #5
12" x 12"

I've finished two new pieces in the Fragments series. Click here to see them on my website.

Tyvek Beads

Ever have one of those days when you've just finished some new artwork and you're feeling pretty good about it and life and you're ready to just play for the afternoon? Well, today was one of those days. I'd recently read about painting tyvek and melting it to make beads, so I decided this afternoon was a good time to try it out. I painted pieces of tyvek in various color combinations, then cut it in strips or wedges and wound it around a piece of thick wire. Then I melted it with a heat gun. Once the beads were cooled, I added some paint to some of them using a dry brush technique. Above is a photo of the afternoon's results.

On the design wall...

This is the latest piece that I am working on. The working title is "Letters Home". It is layered and ready for stitching, then more over-painting. The inspiration for the piece is the destruction through war and the precious letters home from members of the military and the prayers of family members waiting for those letters and the safe return of their loved ones.

New Collages

Urban Scrawl #1 (left)
Urban Scrawl #2 (right)
10"h x 8"w each

These are two new collages, created for the 9x12 Works on Paper exhibition in Fort Worth, Texas. The pieces are inspired by the contrast of the agricultural area around me and the peeling paint and graffiti of the forgotten downtown areas.

FFAC Treasures

Fiberart For A Cause raised over $63,000 at the International Quilt Festival for the American Cancer Society! That is alot of postcards at $30 each. Photos of my two purchases are below. I love them both, and I actually had to patiently wait to buy Carol's while 3 other patrons made their choices. Thank goodness none of them chose her card!

"Bridge 3"
by Claire Fenton

"Jewelbox I"
by Carol Moore

Neonatal Hats

A local hospital asked for help in supplying their neonatal unit with knitted hats for their babies. One of the prime concerns for babies in the neonatal unit is maintaining the baby's body temperature, so all of the babies are given hats. The babies in the unit range in weight from 1-10 pounds, so all different sizes of hats are needed. This is a batch of hats that are finished and will be donated tomorrow. This is one of those "feel good" projects that I can relax in the evenings and make.

Visual AIDS Benefit

I have been playing with beeswax again. This is a new piece that will be offered for sale at Sikkema Jenkins & Co. gallery in New York City to benefit Visual AIDS.

Visual AIDS strives to increase public awareness of AIDS through the visual arts --- creating exhibitions and working in partnership with artists, galleries, museums and AIDS organizations. They raise money to provide services to artists living with AIDS.

Houston Highlights

Karey Bresenhan, Ann Graf, Marilyn Rose, Pat Havey

Every year members of the online QuiltArt group create fabulous tiaras and model them at International Quilt Festival in Houston, TX. Each artist gets a chance to strut/dance across the stage, wave to the crowd, and describe their tiara. There is no humility and nothing is too preposterous to try if they think it will garner them enough votes to win. These are this year's 3 winners on the right, along with the festival director, Karey Bresenhan, on the left.

Also making its debut at quilt festival was the new journal quilt book. I am thrilled to have 5 journal quilts in the book. The book is available from Quilting Arts. It's about an inch thick, and the photography and journal quilt stories are wonderful.

Houston, Here I Come!

Starting Wednesday, I will be vending in Booth #564, selling hand-dyed natural yarns in small skeins --- perfect for surface design techniques --- and a selection of my original, signed and numbered postcards. I'll also be helping Virginia Spiegel in the FFAC booth selling postcards to raise money for the American Cancer Society. If you see me, say hi!

P.S. Thanks to Cherie Brown for offering me her extra ticket to the Bernina Fashion Show!

More dyepot fun

I just love this yarn! Initially it was dyed to a light blue --- boring. Then I tied some resists in it and overdyed it in the coreopsis dyepot, thinking it would turn a variegated green & blue. Instead, the coreopsis is old enough that it is dyeing more orange than yellow, so I got a blue & orangey-brown variegated yarn --- rather ugly for my taste. Last attempt --- another resist pattern and another overdye with blue. Voila --- a great variegated yarn!

This is a piece of Kona cotton that I folded and tied in a resist pattern and tossed in the blue dyepot. I think it has possibilities...

Beeswax

Yesterday I had a fun afternoon playing with beeswax. I melted a combination of beeswax and paraffin in an electric skillet, then used a brush to apply it. I was working on backgrounds on pieces for an upcoming exhibition. The piece above is my favorite after the first two rounds of waxing. Next will be the addition of some color.....stay tuned.

Studio Shots

We seem to be having an expose on studio spaces, so here is my contribution --- without any pre-cleaning. I currently work in one of the upstairs bedrooms, and it is waaaaay too small. But the upside to that is that it forces me to work efficiently, and when I start to get overwhelmed with too much stuff, I clean out and condense. If I had more room, I know I would have more supplies.

From this...

to this...

This is one of the newest set of postcards that I am working on. I still have beading to add to the others and who knows what else. I will be taking these to Houston, along with other new postcards, to sell in booth #564. After Houston, if any are left, they will be on my website for sale.

Last of the Blues

The dyepots are winding down for the winter. As much as I enjoy natural dyeing during the growing season, I also look forward to the break from it during the winter. It gives me a chance to concentrate on stitching and knitting instead.

This photo is of some wools and bamboo dyed light blue on the right, and some wool, silk, and bamboo on the left that was dyed green with the chrysanthemums, then overdyed with a quick dip in blue.

Textures, Textures, Textures

This is a collage of several photos that I took on my downtown photo expedition. I was on the lookout for textures, lines and grids.

Kay Sorensen's Art Quilt

Kay Sorensen announced on the QuiltArt list ..... "Quite a few years ago I made a very interesting quilt. It's 18" by 420". It's done with a variety of 1.5" strips of hand dyed fabrics. One side is various greens, yellows and golds alternating with neutrals that can loosely be classified as browns. The other side is various reds, pinks and oranges alternating with neutrals that can be classified as grays and blacks."

How do you hang a 420" long quilt? She purchased a 126" long heavy bronze curtain rod and looped it over the rod, then hung it over the archway from her sunroom to her kitchen.

Since Kay doesn't have a website or blog, I offered to post the photo here for everyone to see. Thanks for sharing, Kay!

Light & Shadow

I love the way the sunlight has cast shadows from these tree trunks onto the concrete wall behind. If you look closely, you can see that there are also the remnants of vines spiderwebbed on the face of the wall. Inspiration is all around us --- if we just take the time to notice.

It's Finished!

"20 Squared"

This is the piece that started out with the black images of an old Model 20 Singer sewing machine. Next I added the gold images of the same machine from a different viewpoint and some text from an old advertisement for the machine. This piece is for the "Altered Views" exhibition.

The Mysteries of Natural Dyeing

These are the chrysanthemums that I harvested for the dyepots.

This is the extracted dye liquor.

And this is the finished yarn --- dyed a gorgeous teal green.
Last year I obtained a beautiful lime green from this same plant's flowers.
This is what makes natural dyeing exciting for me!

Cochineal Skeins

Once again, it is raining here --- has been raining all day. So it seemed like a good day to rinse out the cochineal skeins. Only issue with doing this on a rainy day is that I then needed to rig up an indoor drying system. So far, so good.

Summer Sunsets

Yesterday I spent the majority of the day with my son, taking photographs of interesting architecture and graffiti around the downtown area. We shot some fabulous photos, and I have plenty of inspiration for a new architectural series. As evening approached, we walked around the lake where we live and took sunset photos. Seemed like a gorgeous end to an enjoyable day!

On The Design Wall

This is today's view of the design wall. This is a piece in the beginning stages for an exhibition called "Altered Views". The background squares are hand dyed cotton, and the images are screened from a photograph I took. Any ideas on what the original image is?

Last Vestiges of Summer

These are the remaining dye jars from this summer's harvest --- a few coreopsis, cosmos, goldenrod, catalpa leaves, and black walnut leaves. I also have a 5 gallon bucket of black walnut hulls still soaking and dyeing.

And these are some of the last few Roma tomatoes left on the vines. Hopefully they will ripen before the first frost. I've already harvested the other tomato varieties for green tomato jam.