Butterfly Parade

Butterfly Parade is my entry for this year's Pointless Sisters challenge. It is due next month, but I showed it today at our annual luncheon at Pat's house. We were told we had to start with white fabric and it must measure 8" X 42". The fabric is a silk/cotton mixture that I love. It has the luminosity of the silk, but the cotton makes it much easier to work with AND it doesn't fray. I dyed the fabric with Procion dyes and painted the details with Tsusineko inks. Each butterfly was fused individually then machine appliqued and machine quilted. All the pieces will be hanging in the Rincon Valley library show in March. To bed. Class homework tomorrow!

Red skies in the morning

The good thing about winter storms is the spectular sunrises they produce. This is just one of the reasons I love being an early riser. Another is that I get a lot done early, especially lately, as I tire easily and am about done now.
This is a different view a few minutes later. I love the value change. Today I worked on re-learning Corel paint. I hardly used it before my stroke, so now it is like brand new. I forgot it could do so much.
Yesterday I couldn't seem to create, so I made a doll blanket top for Salvation Army. I'll take a picture after I quilt it.
We finished Lesson One in Liz Berg's Design class. Her critique was spot on. I won't look at Lesson 2 till tonite. Color and Value. This is a busy week; I'll have to find some more time... somewhere. More rain tonite; hope we don't float away.

THE BIG CHILL

The big chill has hit California and my attempt to make a large scale stamp has left me cold. This is one of the better results. It is brown stamped on a green and black painted background. It might be a little interesting but is not what I wanted or expected.
This one printed on an ugly piece of fabric that I planned to overdye someday. It's ready for the rag bag. I'm going to try again (just one more time) using smaller blocks.
Even though the printing was a bust, I've been ultra busy taking Liz Berg's online design class. It is well organized and full of info. Back to it!

This little cutie greets me when I come home from my wanderings. Her name is Sylvie.The little white fluff ball next to her is her daughter Allie, who ducked out of site too fast for me to catch her. They perch on my bed pillows to watch for me. It's quite a welcome home.
These are my front doors. They make me smile. I just had my house painted and the painter thinks I am nuts. I'm not nuts, just a little nutty. My plan for today was to make some new cloth with the painted stamps I made. So to start, I needed to clear off my table and move some things around. Somehow, I locked myself out of my workroom. I'm still locked out and am hoping to get back in tomorrow. Go figure. But I did finish quilting a piece It just needs a sleeve.

A new week

I'm trying new things. This is a piece of foamcore that I've dabbled with designs in paint. It is fairly large, 12" x 18" and I am going to try to print with it.
Another design, same size. I didn't get any work done today. I tried though. I was changing the bobbin on my Bernina. I had the embroidery casing loaded. And it somehow got caught on a spring inside the bobbin case area. I tried to get it loose but found I needed two hands for that so I had to wait for help. Luckily, my daughter came and was able to rescue it with no damage. I got lots of responses from the list about my fusing problem. Even Laura W. answered my query. I think I over-ironed it. Iris Karp is sending me some Misty Fuse. I've been wanting to try it since it first came out. I also gotsigned up for Liz Berg's Yahoo group and am looking forward to the class. If you have time, check out Tall Girl's blog for her new work. Inspiring!

New tools

These are some of my new printing tools. I picked up a bucket of geometric foam stickers at Michaels (with a coupon, of course) and stuck them to foamcore board.
Obviously I can't cut the foamcore straight. but I still placed the squares correctly.
The design possibilities are endless, so this is a good first step.
I wanted to quilt my October Moon piece today and I did start it, but for the very first time, the Wonder Under didn't hold and I'm not sure what to do about it. I fused it before the holidays and just got back to it now. I will try Terry Grant's fusing method to see if I can correct this problem but if anyone has any other suggestions, please email me. Thanks.

Help is coming!

OOPS! I don't know how to reconfigure these pics at this point. Oh well. The good news is that I will have help taking down decorations this weekend. This is my living room Christmas tree, looking a little forlorn without presents.
This little tree decorates my family room. It is totally decorated with blown glass ornaments that I have collected for years. I can't wait to get these little treasures put safely away.
I have started taking down some decoration. Pretty soon my dining room table will look as messy as my kitchen table.
Surface design area, formerly known as kitchen table! It looks worse now. I'm also folding laundry on it. Enough! I saw the Art Cloth Network is recruiting new members. I've always wanted to join. But I still have no web site and my studio is still occupied by my daughter and her family. And will be for some time, it seems. I'll still keep working away at it. Onward...

New Year, New Stuff

Well, I have survived another year and another birthday. I survived the New Year's storms with only a few downed branches, but I may not survive the bill from the pump and well company who gave me back my water (no flushing). I have been creating consistently since the holidays. I completed one piece, hints are in the pictures, and am working on another. So, what's the problem?


Part of my problem is that the house is still decorated for the holidays and I have to wait for help to UNdecorate it! My workrooms are full of all the things I moved to make room for Christmas. The birdcage is on my surface design table and my kitchen table is a poor substitute.
Too cold to paint today. I'll try to do some tomorrow. I've been missing it. I've been thinking about doing some artwork in my guest bathroom.I'm not sure I'm UP to it, but I may be able to get part of it done. (the lower part). I've also been making some new stamping materials. I have decided that I will experiment with several of the techniques I've learned but haven't put to use yet. More on the pictures later...