Tired? get your B12 checked

Who knew a little B12 could make a person feel so good. I found out recently that I have really low B12 levels categorized as anemia. I thought my low energy was because of my thyroid (Hashimotos disease). It is odd since I am not a vegetarian, evidently it has taken years for my B12 levels to get this low. I think it must have been such a gradual decline that it was hard to realize that it was happening. The hematologist still do not know why my body is not absorbing it from my food, but at least Pernicious Anemia has been ruled out. The important thing to know is low B12 can lead to depression, nerve damage and cause some really bad health problems if not taken care of. I want to encourage anyone who has very low energy to get their B12 checked.

Mixed Media Paper Quilt- Finished?

I was torn with how I should quilt this since the over all look began to feel like an aged document. I thought if I quilted around the elements like my first inclination would be, that it would be too predictable a thing to do, so I decided to take a risk and do quilting that was totally unrelated to the design of the piece but related to the aesthetic of the piece.

I found a gothic tile design that I modified into a pattern that could be stitched. After quilting the design I used a copper paint stick and shaded in some of the pattern. Then the bird and butterfly started to feel lost in the design so I pulled out some colored pencils and added a little color. Working with colored pencils is so fun. Once I started adding a little color here and there I found myself touching up little areas all over. Now I think it is done.

The total list of materials and techniques is:
white cotton fabric, teabags drawn on with permanent ink pen, tea labels, dry cleaning tags, sewing pattern, fabric with xeroxed imagery, textile paint, rubber stamps, Tsukineko inks, Shiva paint sticks, colored pencils, machine quilted on wool felt.

If I have time this week I might be tempted to start another. I'll see how I feel after I get my first B12 shot. Heck I might feel good enough to pull out the vacuum cleaner.

Mixed Media Paper Quilt- part 2

I added text and marks for background patterns with rubber stamps inked with Tsukineko Inks. Then I fused the fabric to a 12 inch square of wool felt. I folded the edges over and fused them to the back of the felt. This makes a nice flat and flexible piece for stitching.

Mixed Media Paper Quilt

I thought I would play around with making a mixed media paper quilt. I painted a piece of fabric to use as a base. The drawings were done on tea bags. I drink a lot of tea, and I love the patina that used tea bags get from the tanins as they dry. So I let a few bags dry out and carefully opened them up, pouring out the used tea. I drew on the bags with a fine tip permanent marker and used liquid matte medium to collage them on the fabric. I added a couple tags from the tea and those tags that come stapled to your dry cleaning. There is also some fabric that I had printed on with a xerox machine several years ago and a piece of a sewing pattern.

The Silver Belle

I finally finished! All I need is some fabulous buttons. This was really interesting to knit, it went together in three pieces. The bottom panel and the two sleeves came up to make the front and back. The seaming is practically invisible. I think I started this in September, it took me a long time but I have been very busy. At least I will have some time to wear it before it gets warm. At the rate we are going we may not see summer until August.

This pattern is free on the Vogue Knitting website. When I knit my swatch, I found I had to go down two needle sizes from an 8 to a 6 to get gauge. So I decided I would cast on the bottom for size small but knit it with size 8 needles and then switch to the size 6 needles and knit the top half in size medium. This saved me casting on about 50 stitches. I knit the sleeves 3/4 of the way with size 6 needles and then switched to size 7 for the shoulder and bodice. I knit this in Knitpicks Andean silk (alpaca, silk and merino) in the color slate. I used 18 skeins.

I think I might have made my Grammie proud with this one.

Tsukineko Ink Workshop

This weekend I taught a class on Tsukineko Inks for a group of textile artists in the suburbs of Chicago. We had the use of a wonderful classroom in the fashion department at the College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn, IL.

These inks take a little getting used to, before long everyone seemed to get the hang of them. I love seeing the way everyone handles them a little differently, a great range of effects.

















There's the peanut gallery waving in the back,

Happy Birthday Nina!

Eighteen years ago today, the best thing in the world happened to me, I became the mother of a beautiful girl.

I remember holding this little bundle in my arms and being amazed that I had given birth to her, it seemed completely miraculous. Those big brown eyes would gaze up at me and I wanted to know everything about her. Who was she?

Now eighteen years later, I know who she is and I am thrilled. I am proud to be the mother of such an artistically talented, independent thinking, intelligent young woman. I feel truly blessed to have her in my life.


I still think it is unbelievable that I could possibly have an eighteen year old child!