Interviewed at AQS Paducah

I was interviewed and videotaped by Linda from Zede’s Sewing Studio, a Bernina and Baby Lock dealer in Columbia, Missouri, at the AQS Quilt Show in Paducah! They wanted to know more about how I machine quilted Pink Petal Party on my home sewing machine, a seven-year-old Virtuosa 153 Quilters Edition Bernina.

Good STUF

This is my friend and neighbor, Dave Sopp, hanging up a sign I made for a company that he and his wife (Kelly) own called Wry Baby. (Wry Baby makes hip, funny, irreverent gifts for babies and their parents. They are guaranteed to be the hit of any baby shower you might attend.) They needed a stuffed, three-dimensional sign for their booth at the New York International Gift Fair earlier this month. Who better to ask than a quilter who happens to live down the street and can’t say no?

It needed to be lightweight and easy to transport. I made it by tracing the logo onto white fabric, then painting it in black using acrylic textile paint. I layered it with more white fabric, and stitched outside the black lettering. Then I slit the back and stuffed it. After adding a backing of heavy felt, and stitching that down, I glued the two layers of fabric outside the lettering together, and reinforced the back with wooden dowels so it would hang flat. The whole thing can come apart and be stuffed (pun intended) into a suitcase. It was an interesting logistical challenge. 

What the heck is this STUF, you ask?  It’s their cool new line of stuffed toys you can see under my sign in the photo below, or up close on the STUF website. That’s Dave with the interesting facial hair and ice-cream-man suit. 

This STUF is so cool that I really want one of each. The pirates and the birds especially. I don’t have any babies (mine are too grown up for me to have any excuse), and I still want them! If you go to the STUF website to look, make sure you move your cursor over them so you can see the backs, which are equally wonderful.

Another great product they just introduced is the Zippit! Pacifier Case:

 

 

It features the “Gromm-o-Vent” on the back to keep those moist pacifiers from getting all mildewed and groady.

Video from Art Meets Science

Alex Veronelli, Product Manager for Aurifil Thread, took a nice video at the SAQA Art Meets Science exhibition at Festival of Quilts in Birmingham, England last week. He zooms in on Lepidoptera, one of my pieces! I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Alex at several Quilt Markets, as I am on Aurifil’s Artists’ Team (the A-Team!). He always has mobs of quilters around him, since he is a sweetheart of a guy, and has an adorable Italian accent to boot!  :-)  If you are on Facebook, befriend him and you can see other great videos, get industry scoops and find out the latest from Aurifil.

Art Meets Science at Festival of Quilts

My friend Melinda Schwakhofer, an American living in England, attended the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham England last week, and took these photos of the SAQA Art Meets Science exhibition, in which I have two pieces.

Here is a woman taking a shot of my tiny piece Coleus. At 7-1/2" x 11", I think it must have been the smallest piece in the exhibition!

SAQA volunteers answer questions about the exhibition and explain SAQA’s mission.

Here is Lepidoptera (left) hanging.

This exhibition had hard white walls that set off the artwork very nicely. Art Meets Science “explores the unexpected intersection of two seemingly different disciplines, Art and Science. These 35 artworks focus upon inspiration from scientific theories or phenomena expressed in new and unexpected ways. They illustrate, with strikingly visual impact, a gamut of scientific ideas, from the harmonies of randomness to the dynamics produced by scientific imagery.”

Melinda had two beautiful pieces displayed at Festival, too. You can see her pieces, Cleaved (created for her recent marriage), and Winter Trees Wept (a powerful piece about the removal of her native American Muscogee ancestors from their land in the 1830s) on her fabulous blog, Inspiraculum. You’ll find more photos from Festival of Quilts in her most recent post. Thanks again, Melinda!  :-)

All photos courtesy of Melinda Schwakhofer-Coxon. Website: www.melindaschwakhofer.com

Hooray for the Bendable Bright Light

I just purchased and installed a Bendable Bright Light, and I am loving it! The Bendable Bright Light has an energy-efficient LED that provides 100,000 hours of light. (That means you could use it about 12 hours a day for 20 years before the bulb burned out.) It comes with an 8-foot power cord. I mounted mine on the side of my machine. You simply attach the mounting bracket using the adhesive 3M squares included, and slide in the circular base of the light. You can purchase additional mounting brackets if you have other machines and want to move the light from one to the other.

Along the back of my machine, I used the little clips provided, with more adhesive squares, to string the cord along and out of my way: 

It was very easy to install. And the best part is that it makes the area under the presser foot so much brighter! It might be hard to see in these photos, but it really makes a huge difference. 

Here’s a photo showing my machine turned on, with its light only:

And here’s a photo with both my machine’s light and the Bendable Bright Light:

You can see how much more light it provides if you look at the shadow cast by the foot in the photo above, compared to the other photo. 

It is very easy to position exactly where you need it because it has a long, flexible arm. It would be wonderful for beaders, embroiderers, and other crafters, and anyone with aging eyes.

This light retails for $49.95, but I found it online for less ($27.95 at Quilting-Warehouse.com).

SAQA 2010 Benefit Auction coming Sept. 20

It’s less than a month until the Studio Art Quilt Associates’ 2010 Benefit Auction, so I thought I’d start sharing with you some of the wonderful pieces of fiber art up for auction. SAQA artists have donated more than 280 small works, most 12" square. The funds raised through the auction allow SAQA to support exhibitions, catalogs and outreach programs. Last year 235 members’ work brought in $47,325.

 

This year’s auction begins Monday, Sept. 20 at 2:00 p.m. EST. All pieces start at $750 on the first day, then drop each day, to $550, $350, $250, $150 and $75. Want to learn more about how the auction works? Click here.

Here are a few of the fabulous pieces available for purchase, shown with the artist’s comments. You can click on the names to go to their websites, and click on the photos to see the pieces close up. I’ll post more in the days leading up to the start of the auction. Enjoy! 

 

 Reflections Transformed 1

by Virginia Abrams

 Inspired by the fluid shapes of the reflections of a dock structure, the piece is constructed with silk using machine appliqué and reverse appliqué.

Piterskoie Kruzhevo/St. Pete Lace 

by Natalya Aikens
My love for the city I was born in continues to inspire my art. This piece is put together from pictures I have taken, materials I have recycled, and threads I have stitched.

 Petite Graphic Garden 

by Christi Beckmann
“Petite Graphic Garden” was inspired by a series of larger garden pieces I have been working on.  Floral and plant life continue to inspire me, especially at springtime! Techniques used include: whole cloth, hand–dyed/painted with stitched embellishment.

Water-shed
by Eileen Doughty
Access to clean water is expected to become one of the critical issues of this century, even more important than access to energy resources. This piece is a statement on impermeable surfaces and the loss of rainwater to the natural water cycle. Cotton fabric, netting, satin stitched and machine quilted.

Exuberance  

by Jamie Fingal
Bright, with fused appliqué with free-motion stitching.

Barnful of Quilts 2010 is coming soon!

Here’s a wonderful event… make sure to mark your calendar! The eighth annual Barnful of Quilts will be held Saturday, October 9 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Fox Family Farm in Waxhaw, NC. I’ll be there vending; I’ll have some of my art quilts, patterns, and my DVD for sale. This year’s show will feature the Charlotte Quilters’ Guild Best of Show winners, so two of my quilts will be on display.  Harbinger’s Hope (below) won a Best of Show ribbon in 2008: 

And Sunrise, Sunset won a Best of Show ribbon in 2006:

The cost is $5, and all proceeds benefit the Waxhaw Presbyterian Church. If you have never attended this event, it is really wonderful. There is usually nice crisp fall weather, and all the vendors and exhibitions are housed in a spectacular barn in the rolling hills of Union County, south of Charlotte. It is owned by Valerie Fox and her family, who generously offer it for this event. Church volunteers scrub the barn clean in the days before the show, and offer tasty baked goods and drinks at the show. 

There’s also a silent auction, raffle quilts, and quilts for sale. Vendors offer a wide variety of art and craft items, mostly quilt or fiber related, but usually there is fabulous pottery and jewelry as well.

You can see many photos of the past Barnful of Quilts on the Fox Family Farm website, or see and read about the 2008 event on my blog here and here. I participated in 2008 and 2007, but was unable to do so last year because Quilt Market in Houston was held early that year and the dates conflicted. I’m thrilled to be able to participate again this year. Please join me!

Magical Mistletoe

My “Magical Mistletoe” project is featured in the soon-to-be-released issue of Quilting Arts Gifts 2010! It looks like the real thing, but it’s made from fabric, fusible stabilizer, thread, silk ribbon, perle cotton and felted wool balls. 

The special issue is packed with great ideas for wonderful, whimsical hand-made gifts for the holidays. It is available for pre-order now, and will be on newsstands in September.

Looking for the little felted wool balls to make this project? Ask at your local quilt or craft shop, or shop online at Handbehg Felts.

QAG_TOC 2010

Tyvek Explorations class

Starting Oct. 1, I'll be teaching my Tyvek Explorations class on Joggles. com. In four lessons, I will cover working safely with Tyvek; painting Tyvek; melting it with an iron and/or heat gun; manipulating Tyvek before heating to change the effects; making beads; and embossing Tyvek with rubber stamps.

The focus is on exploring the many ways this versatile material can be manipulated to create beautiful textural embellishments. You will be encouraged to experiment and share your work with fellow students in the class. You will need to be a confident free-motion quilter to complete the maple leaf quilt; the other projects involve only simple embroidery and beading.

After you learn the techniques in the first two lessons, I’ll provide detailed instructions for making this small art quilt with Tyvek maple leaves:

… as well as a bracelet, pins, and small Tyvek embellishments for art quilts, artists trading cards and postcards. 

If you have never taken an online class, you can read more about it on Joggles by clicking here. Basically, here’s how it works: You sign up and pay online, and about a week before class starts, you receive the supply list via e-mail. When the class starts, Joggles e-mails you information about how to get into the class forum, an online place where you can post photos, ask questions, share your work and get feedback from the instructor. Each week of the class, you receive a link where you can download a PDF of that week’s lesson. 

Tyvek Explorations is a four-week class; the cost is $40.

Lake Norman Quilters needleturn appliqué class

Today I taught needleturn appliqué to my hometown guild, Lake Norman Quilters. I had wonderful, hardworking students. Here are a few of them, busy tracing preparing their pieces and placing them under the vinyl positioning overlay:

I have taught needleturn appliqué for years, and am now teaching the methods I use; they have to be fast and easy to fit into my schedule, and with my personality! Because I believe that no one method works for everyone, I encourage my students to try different techniques, and then find those that work best for them. Several of my students today were accomplished appliquérs who simply came to learn a different way of doing things, to see if it made sense for them.

We covered how to make sharp inner and outer points, smooth curves, small circles and bias vines, and how to trace pieces on a light board and use a positioning overlay. Then the students started working on this block, which is one of my new designs (available soon):

Many thanks to Susan D-L, Deanna, and Joyce for helping with set-up and clean-up. Good program chairs and guild helpers make a teacher’s work so much easier!

Dye Day 2010

It’s our annual Pandora’s Dye Day! My local fiber arts group has been setting aside one day each summer for the past few years to get together and dye fabric in Grace’s garage. Grace dyes a lot of fabric and has a great setup. She buys a bolt of PFD (prepared for dyeing) Pimatex cotton fabric and cuts it into one-yard and half-yard pieces for us. We bring along other fabrics (I had some wonderful silk-cotton blend), yarn, embroidery floss, shirts, and other assorted items to dye.

After mixing up lots of colors, we get to work!

DeLane dyeing in small plastic containers.

Michele was dyeing some silk cocoons.

They were bigger cocoons than most I’ve seen before, and took the Procion dyes beautifully.

P.J. checks on one of her pieces.

Grace was keeping watch over all of us. She doesn’t usually look this serious!

I dyed some cheesecloth orange, and some white tank tops blue/green and pink/purple. 

These are Shibori pieces created by wrapping fabric around PVC piping, tying with string, and then scrunching pleats in the fabric before applying the dye. I always love how these come out.

Completed pieces drying in the sun. What a fun day. Thanks, Grace!