My Journey through the worlds of art quilts, oils, acrylics, pastels, watercolors, printmaking, dyeing, encautic, art cloth, spinning, and weaving. Also sharing stories of the rescue dogs I've known and loved.
Friday, February 29, 2008
New extension table
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Vikki Pignatelli - beautiful and moving work
I just had the great pleasure of attending a dinner, lecture and trunk show at Lake Farmpark tonight. Vikki Pignatelli did the lecture on '10 Attributes That Make a good Quilter Better'. She's been teaching at the Farmpark this week and I found out too late to get into a class, (total bummer), but it was really wonderful to meet her and see her work in person -- lots and lots of it! Blew me away -- I'm so in awe! Her work is so beautiful and she also talked about how she started Sacred Threads. I was very moved and a bit teary-eyed at the stories she told about some of her pieces. Came home feeling all warm and fuzzy! LOL.
And of, course I HAD to buy her books... : )
If anyone has the opportunity to hear her or take a class, I highly recommend her. Lots of people that were there tonight were also taking classes and they raved about her.
Vikki Pignatelli and her quilt 'Blacklick Pond'
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Happy St. Valentine's Day!
My friend (and neighbor) Alex has family that lives out in the country and we've got a couple of burls from her, for TJay to use on his lathe. A couple of weeks ago she said her brother had more burls, but they wouldn't fit in her car, so I'd have to drive down with her in my truck to pick them up. Okay, cool, I could do that. Wednesday night I realized the day we had set was V Day, and told her we would have to reschedule for the weekend. A little while later, my phone rang...over and over. Friends and family, from all over the country were calling and telling me they knew people that needed burls. Huh??? Okay, I can take a hint -- hubby wants me out of the house, right? NOT!
It turns out that the outing with Alex had nothing to do with burls...it was a trick to get me to drive out to where she took flying lessons and my V Day surprise was getting to FLY A PLANE!!!
Here's Alex, who was in cahoots with TJay
Tjay had insisted that I take a camera (thank God!) to take pictures of Alex's brother's 'cabin'. This was the only cabin I saw!
Ohio farmlands
The icepack on Lake Erie looked way cool from above!
Cedar Point amusement park was the most colorful thing we saw on this snow-covered ground.
Marblehead Lighthouse from above was awesome! This one may have to become a painting...
The gracial grooves on Kelly's Island -- we landed there for just a minute -- but not in the grooves. After we left Kelly's Island, I got to fly back to shore and a little farther before I got nervous and gave the controls back to Dan...
Last look across Lake Erie
The landing and the finish to an amazing surprise.
I love you TJay!!
Thursday, February 7, 2008
The end-tables are talking To TJay
Sunday, February 3, 2008
Applique wallhanging using EQ6 as a design tool.
I wanted to do Buck in 3 shades of fabric, so first I used photoshop to darken the shadows and midtones.
Still in EQ -- all the patches are now drawn. There are several that you can't see behind his paw, eyes and ears.
Here he is, all fused to the square. That's his left paw sticking out there, because when you tell him 'Southpaw' he gives you his left paw.
I put some stabilizer underneath to keep the fabric from puckering and then I machine stitched around the main pieces with a blanket stitch.
Stitched some more around the larger applique pieces and added Happy Dog in the corner
His nose is several layers of satin stitch -- reminds me of a teddy bear nose.
Laid out backing and batting and pinned. Did some free-motion stitching on the face and a stippled background. Jeez, I totally suck at stippling. Well, it's a little better with this different FM foot and my stitch size is getting more consistant...but I still suck at stippling.
I folded back the backing and rotary cut off the excess batting. I'm bringing the backing around to the front to use as the binding, tucking it under, pressing, and machine stitching with a small blanket stitch. Quick and easy.
Just a couple of little embellishments. Small pearls for the gleam in his eyes and some bleached coral for his little doggie claws.
I added a couple of loops to the back of the top and he's all ready to hang.
Friday, February 1, 2008
Lucky me!
Virginia also started Fiberart For A Cause , which raises money for the ACS. She and participating artists and doners have raised over $140,000.00 so far. She's also hosting Collage Mania II, and there's a Call to Artists at http://www.virginiaspiegel.com/CollageManiaII.html
I am working on a couple of collage pieces for CM II, to honor my Dad's passing -- hopefully done this weekend. In the meantime I will frame and hang this in my sewing studio. It's colors are warm and soothing to me (especially during this freakish winter) and it's titled July 26