Sketchbook Challenge Blog Hop

 

As many of you know, I am one of the host artists for The Sketchbook Challenge, a blog that aims to inspire and encourage aspiring artists to work in a sketchbook. For the next 21 days, we will be celebrating this month’s “Houses and Hideaways” theme with a blog hop!

Each day, beginning Monday, you’ll find a new post on The Sketchbook Challenge blog related to the theme. It will also include a link to the artist’s own blog, where you’ll find tutorials, videos, studio tours, exciting give-aways, and more. We are going to have lots of fun!

Here’s the lineup:

September 9 – Gina Lee Kim http://ginaleekim.blogspot.com/
September 10 – Jacqueline Newbold http://djnewbold.blogspot.com/
September 11 – Sue Bleiweiss http://www.suebleiweiss.com/blog
September 12 – Jackie Bowcutt http://stitchworks-jackie.blogspot.com/
Sept 13 – Kristin La Flamme http://kristinlaflamme.com/musings
Sept 14 – Jane Davies http://janedavies-collagejourneys.blogspot.com/
Sept 15 – Lyric Kinard http://lyrickinard.blogspot.com/
Sept 16 – Terry Grant http://www.andsewitgoes.blogspot.com/
Sept 17 – Carol Sloan http://www.carolbsloan.blogspot.com/
Sept 18 – Leslie Jenison http://leslietuckerjenison.blogspot.com/
Sept 19 – Leslie Riley http://www.lesleyriley.com/weblog/
Sept 20 – Traci Bunkers https://www.tracibunkers.com/blog/
Sept 21 – Lynn Krawczyk http://fibraartysta.blogspot.com/
Sept 22 – Desiree Habicht http://myclothesline.blogspot.com
Sept 23 – Jamie Fingal http://jamiefingaldesigns.blogspot.com/
Sept 24 – Mary Beth Shaw http://mbshaw.blogspot.com/
September 25 – Kari McKnight-Holbrook http://backporchartessa.blogspot.com/
Sept 26 – Deborah Boschert http://deborahsjournal.blogspot.com/
Sept 27 – Susan Brubaker Knapp http://wwwbluemoonriver.blogspot.com/
Sept 28 – Laura Cater Woods http://www.cater-woods.com/weblog/
Sept 29 – Jane LaFazio http://janeville.blogspot.com/

Big Chicken quilted!

“New Zealand Chook #4”
Copyright Susan Brubaker Knapp, 2013

Hooray! “New Zealand Chook #4” (a.k.a. “Big Chicken”) is threadsketched and quilted!

I really like the graphic pop-arty feel of this, and the bold colors. I added a little extra batting in the bottom of some of the feather sections to make them have a lot of texture. I did not quilt the comb, though, and it is a pretty big area; I hope it won’t sag without quilting. I heavily threadsketched it with a small meander, imitating the lumpy texture on the comb. It puffs out really nicely without quilting, and I didn’t want to quilt it flat. 

Now all that is left to do is to face it and add hanging sleeves for the slats. If you have never faced a quilt, I have a downloadable PDF tutorial on my blog, and on my website here. I recommend the non-mitered facing for beginners. It is much easier than the mitered version, and looks just as good.

I have a “Suffolk Sheep” painted and ready to stitch that is the same size; I think they will make great companion pieces, hanging side by side.  

Dear readers, I hope you are not getting too tired of looking at all these chickens and sheep. There is a reason for this madness; all will be revealed in a few months. 

“Never Enough”

I am calling this little piece “Never Enough.” If you are a quilter, or sewer, or crafter, you will know exactly what I mean. 

“What’s for Dinner?” is in Quilting Arts Gifts

I have a Halloween project in Quilting Arts Gifts 2013-2014; it has just come out. It includes several projects for Halloween, and many more for the holidays and winter season. 

I call my runner “What’s for Dinner?” (my husband came up with the name, which I think is perfect!) but they simply called it “Halloween Table Runner.” Perhaps they thought my name too gruesome even for Halloween?

There are more than 30 seasonal projects in this issue. You can find it on newsstands, quilt shops, or at the Quilting Arts online shop for $14.99.  

I can’t wait for Halloween; it is my favorite holiday, and my birthday, to boot! Here are some close-up photos of my runner:

GIVE-AWAY!

To start the celebration, I’m giving away a copy of the magazine. Leave a comment after this post and tell me which holiday is your favorite, and why. I’ll pull one name at random at noon, Monday, Sept. 2. 

Note #1: International readers are welcome to participate in this giveaway.

Note #2: If your comment does not show up right away, please don’t freak out. I now have to moderate/approve all comments, because I was getting a ton of Japanese porn spammers leaving comments on my blog! I’m a busy person, so it might now show up for a while, but I’ll approve it as soon as I can. I promise. 

We have a winner: BillieBee (billiemick) has won the magazine. Thanks for participating, everyone!

Suffolk Sheep #4 – better photos

I am always amazed at the difference it makes when I take the time to photograph my work outside, in natural light. This photo shows the same piece I posted about last night. I finished it after dark, so I took some photos inside, under an Ott light, which simulates daylight. Here is that photo: 

Isn’t the difference incredible? Even if the Ott light gets close to the real colors in the piece, it still produces a flat look. By shooting outside, in daylight, but either very early in the morning or very late in the afternoon, I can get much nicer subtle shadows that show off the indentations from the quilting. Can you see how much more dimension the two photos below have because they were shot outside?

Good lighting and good photography in general are very important if you want to enter your quilts in big quilt shows. If you talk to people who have screened and juried these shows, they will tell you amazing stories about out-of-focus shots, distorted shots, or photos with visible people/hands/feet showing. If you send in these photos, you usually don’t stand a chance of getting in.

When I was working on my book, I needed to be able to take good photos whether it was day or night, cloudy or bright. So I borrowed high-quality lights from my friend, Patrick Schneider, who is a professional photographer. I set up a mini photo studio inside my house, and I worked with C&T Publishing’s photography team to get better results. It made all the difference in the world. All the how-to photos were consistent, with good color balance and lighting. 

If you don’t have the time/money/patience/desire to set up a photo studio in your home, or if you don’t have the money to pay a professional photographer, here are five basic tips:

1. Shoot your piece outside, in early morning or late evenings, when shadows are longest.
2. Some people advise shooting on a cloudy day, but I get the best results when the sky is clear. 
3. Put your pieces flat on the ground, and use a ladder or step-stool, if needed, to get high enough that you can shoot straight down. (Very large quilts require a different approach, like hanging them on the side of a building, or off a deck railing.)
4. Place your quilt on a neutral-color sheet, or some other background that will not be distracting.
5. Consider your camera. Some camera’s lenses tend to distort the image, creating “fisheye” bulges. I have one camera I bought specifically because it was advertised as not doing this, and I do get much better results with it.

If you want to learn more, check out the fabulous information on Holly Knott’s website.  I also highly recommend Gloria Hansen’s book Digital Essentials for people who want to know how to save, resize, or manipulate their digital images, or prepare images to submit to quilt shows.

Suffolk Sheep #4, threadsketched and quilted

I think I’m done threadsketching and quilting Suffolk Sheep #4. I think I am. But I’m not sure. I think I’ll sleep on it. I also need to photograph it outside in natural light; these photos were taken very quickly, and inside, and they are still kind of flat.

One sheep down, three to go (#1, 2, and 3).

Suffolk Sheep #4 in progress

I have been threadsketching Suffolk Sheep #4. I started at Lake Norman Quilt Festival, where I was featured artist this weekend, and needed something to demonstrate. She is coming along nicely, but still needs a lot of thread to bring her to life. 

I took these photos outside this morning, and it is a dreary day, so there are no shadows – not good conditions for photographing fiber art – and it looks flatter than it is in real life. I’ll keep stitching, and will post photos when she is done – in the next few days, I hope! 

I am working on two large versions of this sheep, and two smaller ones. It is interesting how they all have their own personalities, as I painted them slightly differently!

Wanna be my (Facebook) friend?

If you are on Facebook, and would like to be friends, please look me up here and send me a request! If you’d just like to follow my fiber-art-related pursuits – and not hear about my kids or my recipes, look me up here. 

One of the things I like to post on Facebook are photos I take while walking my dog (most mornings). I do the same route each day, so I challenge myself to take a photo of something new and beautiful to post. I call it “beauty on my morning walk.” These are some of the photos I’ve taken – and shared on Facebook – recently:

Quilt! Knit! Stitch! August 14-16, 2014

International Quilt Festival has just announced that it will be holding “an entirely new show” in Portland, Oregon next summer: Quilt! Knit! Stitch! is scheduled for August 14-16. Sounds like fun! And Portland is a great city.

There’s not much information up about the event yet, but check back on the Quilts, Inc. website here later for more information. No, I’m not teaching there; I'm just passing on the info!

Lake Norman Quilters 2013 show

My exhibition at the show

I had a wonderful time at the Lake Norman Quilters’ quilt show this Friday and Saturday, where I was featured artist.  I got caught up with a lot of old friends, met some Facebook friends and blog followers face to face for the first time, and made some new friends. 

View from above

Display of red-and-white quilts

View from above

Some of the more than 200 quilts on display

The raffle quilt

Susan Dunne-Lederhouse demonstrates spinning

The spinning wheel turning

Many thanks to my special “minions” who helped me set up my booth on Thursday. I truly could not have done it without you!

ARTQUILTSfreezeframe

 
I’m pleased to announce that my piece, “Heirloom Pumpkins,” has been selected for the PAQA-South (Professional Art Quilters Alliance-South) annual Members’ Exhibit, ARTQUILTSfreezeframe. The show will showcase fiber art based on photography, revealing how artists find inspiration in photography and how they interpret that inspiration in their art quilts.

The Artists Reception is Sept. 27 from 6 to 8 p.m.; it is open to the public, and many of the artists will be there. (Unfortunately, I won’t, as I’ll be teaching in Massachusetts that day.) 

The exhibit runs Sept. 26 through Oct. 20 in Cary, NC (see details below). Each piece of fiber art will be shown with the photo that inspired it. It will feature 43 quilts created by 30 PAQA-South members, an expert group of professional fiber artists from across the United States who come together to promote innovative fiber and quilting arts. 

To learn more about PAQA-South or to join online, please visit www.paqa-south.org.  Sample photographs of previous shows and member artists’ works are available on the website.

WANT TO GO?

ARTQUILTSfreezeframe

Sept. 26 – Oct. 20, 2013 

Page Walker Arts & History Center

111 Ambassador Loop

Cary, North Carolina

(919) 460-4963
www.townofcary.org under Parks and Recreation

My photo, on which Heirloom Pumpkins was based.

 

Come see me at Lake Norman Quilters’ show next weekend!

New Zealand Chook #4
by Susan Brubaker Knapp
Painted but not yet stitched. 24" square.

Now that I’ve done some small versions of New Zealand Chook and Suffolk Sheep, I’ve started on big versions. The one above is called “New Zealand Chook #4,” and it is 24" square. I’ll be stitching away on this, and a big version of the sheep, at next weekend’s quilt show, Sail Into Quilting 2013, in my town, Mooresville, North Carolina. I’ll have a lot of my work on display (as much as I can fit in my display space), and I’d love to meet you!

I’ll probably also be stitching on the smaller versions of the sheep and chicken that I painted on fabric last week. I plan to be there most of the time, unless I’ve made a mad dash for food or the bathroom!

Sail Into Quilting 2013
August 16 and 17, 2013 (Friday and Saturday)
9 am to 5 pm
Talbert Recreation Center
210 Talbert Pointe Drive, Mooresville, NC 28115

More than 200 quilts on display
Vendors
Raffle Quilt
Gift Shoppe
Door Prizes 

Directions: Take I-77 to Exit 36. Go east on NC 150 for 0.7 miles. Turn left onto Talbert Road and go 0.5 miles. Continue on Talbert Point Drive for 0.4 miles. Talbert Recreation Center is at the end of the road on the right. (If you have lived in the area for a while, you may know this location; it is the former building of The Gym Company.)
  

Suffolk Sheep #1, painted

I have finished painting the first of the Suffolk Sheep. Tonight or tomorrow, I will try to get her stitched. I think she will look great with lots of texture in her wooly coat. I love how she looks against the bright blue background … like a clear June morning! On the photo, her face was a bit dark, so I lightened it up in Photoshop so I could see the details and paint it so that her face would be more expressive.

Here is the original photo. I think I took it in Cartmel, which is a village in the Lake District. 

“Rituals” exhibition featured on Bonnie McCaffery VidCast

The “Rituals” exhibition – which featured my piece “I See the Moon,” (left) is featured on Bonnie McCaffery’s latest VidCast. 
I was there last year in Houston when she shot it, and am featured – along with the Dinner at Eight Artists curators, Leslie Tucker Jenison and Jamie Fingal, and some of the other artists in the exhibition. It’s fun; take a look (you can even hear me singing!).

“I See the Moon” is home one more time before it leaves to be part of Karey Bresenhan’s collection. (Karey is founder of Quilts, Inc., and of International Quilt Festival and International Quilt Market. She is one of the most influential women in the world of quilts today.) 

I am overjoyed that she is purchasing it. I hadn’t planned to sell it, as it has deep personal meaning, but when she asked, I simply couldn’t say no, as it is such an honor to be part of her collection. I remember seeing her show some of the art quilts in her collection at a 2007 SAQA Convention. She has collected the work of some of the finest fiber artists in the world, and to be a part of that is simply a thrill. (Karey also owns my piece “Hope is the Thing.”)