I’m really Jazzed! My quilt, Moonlight Sonata, has made it on the front of another Post Card mailing for one of the exhibits on it’s 2 year tour.

And the company it’s keeping! The piece above mine is called Allegria by Cathryn Amidei and it’s the most awesome Jacquard weaving. This is in the New Fibers 2008 exhibit which I’ve just been to see at Eastern Michigan - Wow!

The Bonifas Art Center must be a great place as it’s even offering fiber art workshops, including an Art Quilts 101 by Kathie Briggs. So, if your in the northern part of Michigan - go see it! Just click on the image to biggy-ize it for reading.

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Monday I went to my spinning group (Friends of the Fleece in Imlay City, Michigan) and continued spinning on my yummy teal fleeced I dye and mentioned in an earlier post. It will be plied with the bright colors roving (dyed by me) that I finished spinning a couple of months ago. Don’t you think they will look great plied up?

I’m getting eager to see it happen. Of course, spinning is one of those luxuries I allow myself about two hours a month so….

Also at Monday’s spinning meeting, Kay S showed us wire knitting with beads. Here are some of her samples (click to big-ma-fy). Pretty cool! I think I could get a little hooked. Here is (left to right) Kay S, Mary D, and Carol E at our meeting.

First, she had us thread about 100 beads on some wire. I used a 26 gauge, teal colored wire and a mix of purple, size 11 Japanese seed beads. Then we simply cast-on five stitches and knit garter stitch, sliding 2 beads up the wire at every row turn. Notice I blithely said “simply”; wire is stiff, it had a small learning curve but “it’s doable” (to quote Mac in Entrapment). I diligently knit away until I had it long enough. Actually, until I ran out of beads! I have discovered you can fine tune the fit by stretching the knitting in either direction. It’s wire, it stays where you put it! I added a clasp and Finished!

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I thought it was fun, so started another

And lastly, I’m always looking for something new to torture into a use it was never intended for.

CD’s melt with a heat gun and the printing on the labels can give you some pretty cool textures. I’m not sure what use I will ever put it to, and you can tell by the scorch marks on the wood cutting board that you have to get it really hot - do this outside BTW, it’ hugely stinky and I’m sure, quite toxic. But, it was fun to torment the old free CD’s we all get so many of in the mail.

My biggest project for this week is getting ready to go to QSDS, I leave on Sunday for a 5 day workshop and I’m really excited about spending a week in such creatively charged company and atmosphere. I’m going to take my computer and if they still have wireless at the hotel, I’ll keep you posted. Meanwhile, I’m off to start collecting my supplies.

Deb H

..I have discovered a new toy. I had to give a talk on Abstracting an Image to my art group in April. I found the whole process of researching and learning about it incredible. For an artist who has very little formal art training, this was huge. I know, no formal art training is a little like re-inventing the wheel but I like to think it gives me a fresh approach. Works for me

I just happen to have Adobe PhotShop, perhaps you’ve hear of it (snort). Abstracting an image is simply taking an image of anything and reducing it to its simplest form. But distorting it also qualifies in the real world. I took this photo (top left - click to bigify any of these photos) of a plant with purple leaves (a bit boring) and put it in PhotoShop to play with. I tried a few of the filters that come with the program; like the “cut-out” filter (top middle), or the “glowing edges” filter (top left). This quickly became addictive as I started to see the potential here as a design tool.

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Above left is the “note paper” filter, then the “Sumi” filter. I then used the “palette knife filter and, unable to stop myself, I applied the “liquefy” distortion tool. Cool, huh? Left is the “Sumi” filter topped with a “cut-out” filter. This could keep me entertained all summer!

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But then… I was cruising Borders last Sunday - I do this every Sunday, but what made last Sunday so special was the book I found. The Painted Quilt: Paint and Print Techniques for Colour on Quilts by Linda & Laura Kemshall. Once I got my hands on this thing, it was going home with me. No negotiation. The book is fabulous and my sketch pad is filling up with some really great ideas. Its just too inspirational and fabulous!

Just some of the things it gets into; finding inspiration, dyeing techniques, dye painting techniques, stenciling, rubbings, block printing, screen printing, mono-printing, discharging, painted fusible webs, gel and other fabric pens, dimensional paints, text, ink-jet printing, photocopy transfers, and fabric painting. Then, to top it all off with a chocolate covered cherry, it gets into applying pastels and paints after the quilting is done.But the best part is the really wonderful artwork that fills the pages of this book — I didn’t sleep with it under my pillow, honest I didn’t.

And then… I have been busy with the yard, now that its warm enough for things to grow, they are really growing! Oy! I’ve also been making progress on the “scary” room. Since it isn’t quite so scary anymore, I guess I can start calling it the “Art” room. It’s still just a giant supply cupboard but at least it will be tidy and organized and I will be able to find things. Here is the finished paint job and the beginnings of the organizing phase.

The left wall is light aqua, the right wall is just as bright a chartreuse as it looks (I love it) and its all trimmed in medium teal. The painting is done, praise the paint Gods, I hate to paint! Well, walls anyway. I have been organizing and putting away. This has involved a lot of stuff going out! How many boxes of cut up magazines can one woman accumulate? More than your wildest night mares can imagine. Trust me. And there is other stuff that I cannot figure out why I have it, or kept it. It’s gone. But still many, many boxes to sort… But I have motivation! I leave for QSDS in 16 days and I have to have my supplies and studio unburied so I can pack what I will need for my 5 day workshop. I also know that when I return, I will want my studio in full working order so I can continue to work on the things I will have started. So, I’m highly motivated and by blogging about it, I’ve made myself accountable to the world at large.

Or, at least my Mom, who reads this. Hi Mom!

Updated to add the title - oops!!! 

Deb H

I belong to an art group (Eye for Fiber: an art group) that meets once a month. This month we played with the technique of mono-printing. I was inspired to suggest it by a print that hangs on my wall.

This was done by my daughter when she was in the seventh grade (circa 1995 in Christiansburg, Virginia). I have always been so enamored of it I wanted to try it. Sometimes it takes me a while to get around to things… but if I really am interested, I get there eventually

She doesn’t remember the techniques they used clearly but enough to get us started. I played a bit.

And a bit more.

But one should never get cocky…

The technique was interesting but the colors, oy! For this one I put paint in plastic wrap and “smooshed” (technical word, that). I still think it has potential, I’ll just make sure I use better colors next time. I believe that mono-printing will never become my favorite paint technique (never say never!) but it is worth further exploration. Layering has a lot of promise and I need to experiment with the amount of paint I use, as well as it’s thickness. I have been using Setacolor straight from the jar so far. It may be better thinned a bit. I’m also being cautious of how much paint I use as I don’t want to make the fabric stiff as cardboard. Although for wall art, I’m not sure why I care. I still have to play with adding bits of stuff. Ashland’s print (top photo) has bits of lace, screen and pine needles, among other things in it. The textures are marvelous!

And elsewhere in the news - Country living has it’s drawbacks. Just about everything we do (including all our jobs) are an hour drive, think gas prices. Ouch! I’m told the Frost Date here is Memorial Day. I spent Memorial weekend getting my veggie and herb garden all planted and they looked so nice. We had a killing frost last night. Sigh. And my dream car, my wonderful VW Bug, has a black eye.

It was hit by a deer on a long dark country road on the way home from a movie. Notice I did not say the car hit the deer. Since it came from the side and slightly behind us, I think that qualifies as the deer hitting the car. My car has a serious black eye and the deer walked (limped?) away. I still feel bad about the poor thing but there is not much you can do when it completely disappears. Considering how many deer/car encounters there are here, I guess it was just a matter of time. At least it was minor and both parties seemed to have survived. At least the car occupants had no injures. Thank the Gods for small Blessings (yes, I read Terry Pratchett).

Deb H

I don’t have much to report on for last week’s artistic adventures. Our spring has been cool here but the warmer weather is surely just around the corner and since our “Frost Date” is (for the most part) Memorial Day, its time to get serious about the outdoor gardens. So I have spent most of my week prepping the vegetable and herb beds for my planned planting flurry this weekend.

Meanwhile, this round of sock classes (I’m teaching “Toe-Up, Two at a Time on One Needle Socks!” at Heritage Spinning and Weaving) is going pretty dang well. I’ve been very lucky with this last two classes as they have been “up to the challenge” and becoming sock knitting fiends. Here is my current class (from left to right); Linda, Carol, Suzanne, Diane, Pat, and Sue.

Don’t they just look like they are going to be producing mass quantities of hand knit socks in the very near future? BTW, Jane of my class that graduated in April has already brought in to show me her finished pair and they are beautiful, go Jane!

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I received a wonderful surprise in today’s mail. I have an art quilt in a traveling exhibit; Michigan Quilt Artist Invitational 2008, The Art of Music. I got a post card advertising the current exhibit and my quilt was one of the two quilts gracing the front. This is my first time to make it in print so I had to share.

And the back.

For better pictures of the quilt I have in the exhibit, I blogged about it last December.

And last but not least, it’s not just for sewing anymore… I saw this little gadget in a posh kitchen catalog and thought how it would be great for chopping up all my fresh herbs.

Then I thought, “this reminds me of something I already have”. I rummaged my sewing table and sure enough, I have 3 of these things so one could be spared.

OK, so the larger size would work better. I also have to take it all the way apart to clean it each time but, it works incredibly well and best — it was already paid for ;o)

Deb H

Copyrights - a stickler of a subject at the best of times. The most misunderstood and abused set of laws we probably currently have in the US. Congress, in all it’s wisdom, seems to think the new “Orphan Works” being bandied about is a good idea.

Oy!

Wake up people. This is very, very, very bad. For more information and how to help to let Congress know that the American voters are smarter than that, please follow this link and be heard!

http://www.gloriahansen.com/weblog/?cat=2 Thank you Gloria for helping us stay current on this issue.

Dismounting soap box to thunderous applause by ARTISTS all over the world, whom this will effect.