I am so excited about this!

Join me for an Acrylic Ink Adventure at Quilt Camp in La Grange, Texas next June 7-9, 2013!!! organized by the wonderful folks at Quilts Inc.

Spend a weekend filled with surface design exploration! Begin with creating colorful textured backgrounds, explore mark making with different kinds of stamps, draw with inks using quill type calligraphy and ruling pens.

Paint imagery opaquely and with a transparent watercolor look. Layer washes of color with simple imagery by creating masks with freezer paper and create textured patterning with simple resists from common items found in the office supply store.

Each portion of the class will add another level of complexity to the image making process, with the last day culminating in a 1/2 yard painted whole cloth piece incorporating many of the techniques learned over the previous two days.

This weekend is packed with tips and ideas of different ways to work with these versatile inks on fabric.

The workshop, meals and accommodations will be at Karey Bresenhan's beautiful Great Expectations Creativity Center just outside La Grange.

Click here for a pdf with all the details.

Have you seen this?

Pretty exciting to see the quilt I painted a year ago gracing the cover of Quilting Arts magazine!

It's like coming full circle. What a year it's been. I am in the very midst of the transition the cards spoke of that inspired this piece.

8 of Cups: Moving on and letting go. Time to change direction in life. Dissatisfied and disappointed, wanting something entirely different, but not knowing what. Finding courage, taking time to rest and heal.

If you are interested in seeing how the painting progressed and the symbolism of the imagery on this piece you can click here to read about it.

Now I'm packing like crazy, sorting through 20 years of shared belongings, dividing things up and getting rid of unnecessary things (which is taking a lot longer than a typical move). I am streamlining, if that's really possible for an artist, lol, but I'm trying.

I feel almost like I'm going through a birthing process, with the last year of gestation, knowing this time was coming, getting psychologically prepared, doing the work that needed to be done to make it happen. Now I'm in heavy labor, doing the hard work and soon life as I know it will be very different. I'll be moving on to the next phase of my life in a new place with lots of new adventures on the horizon!

Kudos to Jamie Fingal and Lesley Jenisen for curating the Rituals exhibit that my quilt is hanging in at International Quilt Festival and the other 10 artists quilts from the exhibit that are featured in this issue. Hopefully I'll get a copy soon so I can see it and read Jamie and Lesley's interview.

A Spot of Tea in Springfield, Missouri

I had a lovely time in Springfield with the Ozark Piecemakers at their annual guild show.

My trip began with seeing a fabulous textile exhibit at the new Springfield Branson airport including the humorous work of Pam RuBert and beautiful organza work of Rosemary Claus-Gray, if you live in that part of the country I highly recommend a trip to the airport to see it.

On Thursday I gave a lecture and Friday taught my Tea and Ephemera workshop where we draw and paint imagery on tea bags then create collages on fabric; experimenting with a variety of processes from printing with thermofax screens to working with shiva paintstiks and stencils, rubber stamps and collaging printed abaca paper and decorative tissues.

Back to packing!

Things are getting crazy

I havent completely dropped off the face of the earth, I am in the midst of a packing frenzy. We got approval on our short sale last week and have an ambiguous closing date of any time between the first and middle of October. So now my ex and I are going through more than 20 years of shared belongings, packing and ruthlessly purging as much as we can.

Because we don't know specifically when the closing will be, it's really hard for me to make any plans for finding a place to live. If we close the beginning of October, I'll drive to my mom's in California, begin looking for a place, then fly to Houston at the end of the month for International Quilt Festival. If we close the middle of October, I'll drive straight to Texas instead, stay with friends in Austin, then drive to California the second week of November.

Either ways it's overwhelming with so many logistics; putting everything in storage, shipping supplies for 5 classes in Houston, not knowing when I'm going to get to the west coast to look for somewhere to live, having no forwarding address, etc...

On Wednesday I take a short break from packing and fly to Springfield, Missouri to give a lecture and teach a workshop for the Ozark Piece makers guild show, then fly back Saturday to resume packing and maybe? by then I'll have a better idea of when I'm actually going to be moving.

New Hand Sewing ebook

Interweave has compiled a wonderful series of Quilting Arts articles on handwork into a beautiful new ebook Hand Sewing.

What a nice surprise to find out my article on making felted wool ornaments from the first Quilting Arts Gifts issue is included.

There are also articles by Jane LaFazio, Victoria Gertenbach, Rose Hughes and Jude Hill, just to name a few.

Aloha! Grab your grass skirt and let's paint all the way to Hawaii!

This is so exciting, I want to invite you to come along with me for a surface design painting adventure on an island hopping Quilt n' Cruise to Hawaii. Linda Poole, Joan Shay and Lisa Erlandson will also be teaching on the cruise.

The ship leaves port from San Francisco October 4th. The next 4 days at sea offer a great line up of classes, then the ship stops each day in Kauai, Honolulu, Lahaina and Hilo, then 4 more days for classes before stopping for a day in Ensenada and docking back in San Francisco the next morning, October 19th.

We are going to have a blast, all skill levels welcome. Look at what we're going to do:

Surface Design 101

Learn about different textile paints while creating unique, textured fabrics to use for art quilting or as a base for other mixed media techniques. A few of the methods we’ll explore are shibori and scrunching, working with sea sponges, layering translucent washes, creating texture by relief and working with a variety of brushes.

Make your Mark

Begin the class by designing and carving your own rubber stamp and foam stamp.  Then explore mark making by printing with your new stamps, wood block stamps, stamps from home, thermofax screens and quill pens to create beautiful stamped and painted fabrics. 

Heavy Metal Play Day

Spend a day working with craft metal and discover a variety of ways you can add flash to your mixed media projects.  

Each student receives a metal tool kit courtesy of Walnut Hollow, and learn multiple embossing techniques to create beautiful designs with dimension and texture on aluminum and copper metal.  Several methods for enhancing metal with color using alcohol inks and markers will also be explored in this fun and relaxed class. 

Painting Hawaiian Flora with Textile Paints

Using native Hawaiian floral imagery, learn how to paint fabric with textile paints, using an original design of your own or one provided in class. Students learn techniques for creating smooth gradations of color, glazing paint with textile mediums to create more visual depth, covering large areas with even color and avoiding blotchiness, control paint bleeding, working with freezer paper masks, and painting smooth lines and fine details.  

We will also discuss how different paints affect the hand of the fabric, and how to baste painted textiles for quilting. This is an information packed class geared to help students gain confidence painting fabric for art quilting. Students will have a variety of images to choose from or may work from their own designs.

How Can You Resist?

Explore the art of using resists to create beautifully textured painted fabric, while working with a variety of inexpensive items commonly found around the house or the local office supply.

Painting Hawaiian Fauna with Textile Paints

Using birds, insect or animal imagery native to Hawaii, learn how to paint fabric with textile paints, using an original design of your own or one provided in class. Students will learn techniques for creating smooth gradations of color, glazing paint with textile mediums to create more visual depth, covering large areas with even color and avoiding blotchiness, control paint bleeding, working with freezer paper masks, and painting smooth lines and fine details.  

So grab your partner (or not), and come spend two fun filled creative weeks immersed in color, texture and fabric. Check out all the details so we can go try some Spam sushi!

How Long Does It Take To Bind A Quilt?

Evidently for me, a traditional quilt binding can take 9 years, lol.

I don't make many utilitarian quilts and I've never liked sewing traditional quilt bindings, but I made this 'modern' quilt for the bedroom we renovated in our house in Austin Texas almost 10 years ago!

Front                                                                                    Back

Shortly after the room in Austin was finished, we moved back to Los Angeles and 2 years later we moved to Chicago. I guess with all the work of moving and resettling twice in a fairly short period of time, I kind of lost steam and forgot about finishing the quilt.

I decided, it was time to finish the quilt before I pack it up and was shocked when I counted how many years that quilt has been without a binding.

I look forward to sleeping under this quilt in a few months when I get resettled in Northern California!