3rd Anniversary Day 5

Winner of Day 4 giveaway is Laura.

OK so maybe you are better at counting than I am but I have 8 giveaways and only seven (finally counted them) prizes so here is #8. I used some of these designs to do the free motion backgrounds on this quilt. This will be the giveaway on the last day, Oct 30. Not today.

and the Studio Tour (part 2)........

and maybe a bit less exciting

This is the shelf with all my white goods. The two bolts on the left are Southern Belle from Joanns which I buy with a 50% off coupon online only. It's a tightly woven fabric, soft too. This is what I use for all my hand dyeing. next are varying width NICE muslin in white from 45" to over 100". Then is natural linen, white linen, white and black rayon, and some silks. I also have silks in a cabinet. There are 2 squeegees for paper which I bought not knowing they were for paper.

This is fabric that has been pre-treated with soda ash, an overhead projector (got it after Katrina on ebay - a bit muddy but it works), a bolt of misty fuse, soda ash and 10 squeegees from a class for 10 that was cancelled (remind me never to work for that group again!)

Liquids like gel medium, glazes, digital grounds, spray adhesives, bleach gel, color magnet (new untried), and materials for stamp making as well as completed stamps

Foil, foil adhesives  reed. Yes, I've been making beautiful baskets for almost 30 years, sponges, metal bits, rollers and brayers.

This is funny. That Staples box has 60 foam brushes. I was at ACMoore one day with Rosalita and they had a bin of foam brushes - 20 for $1. Nuff said! I also have zipper by the yard (about 30 yards (25 cents a yard - no explanation needed). Heavy awning material (free) a laminator (???) glue sticks and guns and steel wool for rusting.

 More soda ash (you'd think I dyed a lot?) old QA, SAQA, SDA journals as well as 50 oz. of wool roving that I bought from a SAQA member for $1.10 an oz dyed - some from Australia.

My other Brother, a simpler machine (no computer screen or laptod hookup), my Janome felting machine and 1 yard pieces of every color felt (never did make that project from 3 years ago)

More completed stamps, stretchers, graphite paper, more squeegees (mine) string, paints and Styrofoam meat trays.

This is the other place I spend my time. My new IKEA tall chair my brother, Eric, got me in August, my table that I do almost all my work on and back to back is my homemade ironing board. This is one of the best things I've made.

This is an old bookcase that holds "other" art and craft books, my serger. odd notions like Velcro and elastic and rotary blades as well as my CD's on the bottom shelf. Many are program discs. the small table on the left I've had for almost 30 years. If you look closely you can see the giveaways piled up there ready to be shipped to the lucky commenters.

The next four pics are of hiding places that I forgot about. I've actually remembered a few more but I'm too tired to take more pictures. These are 5 baskets of sorted by hue commercial fat quarters fabrics I MAY make into something to sell like journals or purses.

These are some bins with rarely used things like paper stuff for card making, acrylic paint (SO OLD) buttons, ribbons, odd tools like riveting tools, yarn, 300 yard spools of thread for my serger, etc. There is one of three grey "totes" with commercial fabric that I spent a fortune on and am unwilling to give away as well as a huge clear plastic bin filled to the top with leather, old quilts, heavy paper, release paper and on the floor a huge ERIC I haven't finished yet. The braided multi-colored ribbon "crown" is one I made to mark my 50th summer solstice which I celebrated on the continental divide near Silverton Colorado. I also wore it when I celebrated the spring equinox on top of the Tur in Glastonbury, England with my son and other old and young hippies.

Stacks of newspapers for batiking, the pink cabinet is full of mostly silk yardage and other whites to dye. A basket of white silk scarves to dye or batik, books, stretched canvases, frames, wool batting, and a "crow" mask I plan to decorate with feathers and wear one day.

This is the IKEA cabinet with my TV (gift from Eric) sitting on it. On the shelves are my modem, router, cable and DVR, Zvox (gifts from Eric) and my Blueray (gift from Eric) can we all say Netflix? Also and almost as important as Netflix are huge pads of massive paper, art DVD's, almost 100 pieces of E-Z-kut and a dozen lino cutting sets (left from that same group that hired me to teach 12 people stamp making then cancelled at the last minute) and hundreds of large flat erasers for cutting stamps.

Anniversary Giveaway day 5

Leave a comment for an opportunity to win this DVD.

3rd Anniversary Day 4

Winner of the day 3 giveaway is Marjolijn

And a Studio Tour (part 1)...

I always feel cheated when I see peoples studios and everything is immaculate and put away. First off, the only time my studio is clean is after a project. During a project it looks like a bomb went off. Also in those sterile clean studios, where is all the good stuff? Where is the fabric.? What is on those shelves?

So today you get to see my studio in the midst of four projects all going on at the same time. I also want to issue a disclaimer. I didn't just buy all this stuff. Some of these things I had all my adult life, some for over 10 years so don't think I am bragging about how much stuff I have. I regularly go though the studio for a good clean and organize and give away loads of stuff I don't think I'll ever use again. Then of course next month, I'm back out buying more of what I gave away since NOW I need it!! This was my studio when I reorganized it after closing my jewelry business. It was the last time it was THAT clean and organized.

Now it looks like this.......

My beloved Brother Innovis. The three racks against to wall starting on the right are mixed manufacturer threads. The rack on the left against the wall is Madeira Lana - the entire line - a birthday gift to myself. The Guttermann Threads are from Joanns with a 50% off coupon which is cheaper than buying them individually. The lights are 100 watt CFB, daylight. I have old eyes.

Wall next to my desk with my calendar, necklaces I don't wear and wonderful things that have been given to me. Yes, I LOVE crows and ravens. And yes, that is Janis Joplin and Jim Morrison.

My Epson Workhorse 1100 wide format printer (dead cheap) my tall rolled things and the step stool since I was in the process of hanging a plant over the window.

 My storage shelves on the only flat wall I have. 

My design wall on wheels . This is how I made it (dead cheap again!!)

This is my original dinning room table which I bought in 1972. I spend most of my time here using natural light. Those are metallic threads, pens, bottles of ink,brushed, watercolors, more bright lights and my waterbox. I also spot some hand dyed threads LR(should put those away).

I took these pics during a rain storm so I had to put on lights. This is a side table next to windows with my barn 2 feet away (no kidding). I have mt sketchbooks, watercolors, pentel colored pencils (a BD gift from husband #2), lots of scissors, and a lightbox for tracing. There are SO many things on this table it would take a hour to list them all (mini-iron, heat gun, rulers and on and on)

This is a great unit from IKEA my brother bought me. It holds all of the fabric I've made (dye and paint), fabric paints, silk, dyed burlap, dyed threads, beads, thermofaxes, organza and tulle and the green shelf to the right holds mostly non art stuff although I see 2 waterboxes, 3 alphabet stamps collections (50% off Joanns) and on the floor is a big bag of scraps I use to made flip and sew blocks for bookcovers and bags

This is the Janome 1100 which has been sentenced to a lifetime of walking footdom. Behind are 10 year old rayon threads on which I got an amazing deal. to the right of them are more metallic threads.

AHH. The desk. I spent countless hours here writing blogs and emailing. This desk was hand painted by my great Uncle Jack for my parents when they were married 69 years ago. My mother gave it to me when they moved to Florida in 1971. On my flat screen monitor are various feathers including the famous stamp feather which still lives there.. I also see my random number selector (brass meditation bowl) and a photo of my dog, Aidan(far left).
Tomorrow I'll show you what's on the shelves and other cool stuff.

Giveaway Day 4

Leave a comment for an opportunity to win this.

3rd Anniversary Giveaway Day 3

Winner of the Day 2 giveaway is Laura

And Creating Yardage...

My great friend Judith and I watched an episode on DMTV, online paid subscription workshops, produced by Linda and Laura Kemshall. It was about making a continuous all over print also known as yardage. The Kemshalls asked that we not demonstrate what was on their show since these subscriptions are how they make a living. I can relate. However, I can show you what I made and let you know that subscribing to DMTV is the BEST money I spend each year. I subscribe by the year which is the best value at a little under $100./year. Think how much you spend for one workshop!! Not only are these women talented and famous but produce the most interesting workshops. I think they have a free workshop you can watch.

Anyway, on with the show. Here it is in pictures.

This is some of the blue colorway I made with left overs from Coastal 2

Here is the continuation of the padded printing surface story. You can see the 1" foam covered with a scrap of old cheap bed quilt my parents had (made in China) covered on top with white felt.

This surface is a dream to pin into which is a necessity for printing fabric. Tight, tight, tight.

Some black ProChemical and Dye "Profab" fabric paint on a foam meat tray and a smooth foam roller. It may be smooth and look impervious but it still soaks up loads of paint.

My carved stamp (6" X 6"). This stamp will produce a continuous print. It is called Soft-Kut and is available at Blick. I have adhered it to a 6" X 6" square of 1" Styrofaom. I should have stock in the Corning Company. I used Elmer's Rubber Cement. I love this stuff.

Marking top up is VITAL.

Unlike me you should mark the dead center of your fabric (smile) for the first center print.

Center and to the right

 Fini

Close up of the junctions of 4 prints

Giveaway Day 3

Leave a comment for a chance to win this!!!!!

3rd Anniversary Giveaway day 2

Friday my friend, Kit Lang, an amazing and fearless quilt artist from Canada, sent me an email about my anniversary giveaways. I  think it was at that moment when I realized I had to come up with 8, yes 8, new and interesting posts to go along with the giveaways. YIKES! I'm not known as the "fly by the seat of the pants girl" for nothing.

Well, I have five so far for this week - been busy. Now, I do want to mention that I did finish "Woodland Frost" in plenty of time to have it framed and ready for today's post. However what I didn't realize was that I was out of framing materials. Tomorrow I will visit the lumber yard and have the stuff delivered (I've got a tiny car).

OK so here it goes. What probably most of you don't know is that I have many outlets for my artistic expression. I throw pottery, paint, sculpt and create other 3 dimensional pieces, do pen and ink sketches, make books, dolls, woodworking, jewelry, and even fly tying. Well, on my sketching and watercolor blog I am planning on doing some watercolors of leaves. So yesterday in the rain I picked up a few leaves that looked interesting enough to paint. I took some photos of them in case they curled up and dried out. I wanted them fresh.

In a recent post I showed the colorways I dyed for "Woodland Frost". I had some lovely greens that I thought would go well with purples and lavender so I cut an 18" square and ironed it up.

Yes, That is the FINISHED "Woodland Frost" on my bed and the mini-woodland frost next to the green fabric.

This is my table under the skylight where I spend most of my day. I am applying the periwinkle paint to the BACK (veiny side) of the leaf with the sponge pouncer on the right. I move the leaf to a new spot of the paper for each application to keep the front of the leaf paint free. I then use a hard rubber brayer and roll the painted leaf onto the fabric. It is important to keep the paint off the brayer so that you don't
get unintentional paint on the fabric on the next roll. I am printing on a 1" sheet of Styrofoam covered with a scrap of an old quilt and then felt. More about this later in the week. It is important to always print fabric on a slightly padded surface.

Here is the fabric with periwinkle blue leaf prints on it which weren't showing up that well. I am using ProChemical and Dye "Profab" fabric paint which is not quite as thick as artists acrylics but loads well on a brush, sponge and silk screens or thermofaxes well. It has very nice "body"

A great close up of the back of the leaves

The finished fabric. I used periwinkle blue, purple, then mixed the periwinkle with the purples a few times for different values and I mixed bright yellow with a tiny touch of black to get that great olive color.

A close up of the leaf prints. Nice, yes? This is a simple project perfect for this time of year. If you don't have fabric paints, you can use acrylics. The hand of the fabric will be a tad stiff but who really cares. I will make something nice out of this. Perhaps a book cover or a small bag for cosmetics or pencils and pens.

Giveaway Day 2

Leave a comment for an opportunity to win this DVD

Fridays Winner

Here is a photo of my random selector. 

Some of you might remember this meditation bowl and College (dental) pliers from last years giveaways. Crude? perhaps, but it did the job better than the "Random Number Generator" I downloaded from the internet. Guess you get what you pay for. (smile)

OK,OK, the winning number was 3 so that means Ineke gets the book. THIS year I will wait until all the giveaways are chosen to mail them out since you can leave a message every day, hence, you may win more than once which happened last year.

Congratulations Ineke. I will be contacting you for your address.

3rd Anniversary Giveaway Day 1

I think you might really enjoy this story. A year or two ago I bought the new Janome 1100 Horizon. The blogs and Yahoo groups were all atwitter about this great new machine for quilters. I contacted my buddy Tony at Tony's Sewing Machines and when I found he had it, bought one. The back story is that I have a Brother Innov'is 4000 which threads itself (yeah, with the touch of a button), cuts it's thread and stops the machine before the bobbin runs out with a message on the computer screen (I'm not kidding) so this "great" new Janome was a real snore.
I decided to put it on ebay for $1800. which is almost half the new price of $3000. People started emailing me will "offers" of $1500. and worse. I was so incensed about this that I pulled it off ebay.
ANYWAY I got an email from a woman asking me what happened to the machine. It just disappeared. I told her the story about how the machine was such a snore and she commented on the built-in walking foot. Well, I've used walking feet - those huge contraptions that clatter like a threshing machine and have to be screwed on - so I said  "What built in walking foot". I actually checked out the owners booklet and found the thing which is tucked up behind the machine. I followed the directions, got it into place and tried it. It purred like a kitten. VERY long story short, I kept the machine and use it for straight quilting (no free motion) although it does do that too. I use the Brother which threads itself. The machine is still a snore but I love that walking foot.
Back to the lady. We started emailing and getting to know one another and she had never made a quilt. I sent her my first edition of Eleanor Burn's "Quilts in a Day." She was also active in dog rescue and I had a book of 50 animal gifts (like dog coats and cat toy) which I sent her since she made items to sell for her rescue group.
She lived in Iowa (not sure where that was except in the middle somewhere) THEN Brian's (my partner) son moved to Cedar Rapids to become the president of a college. Brian was going to visit. I emailed Kris to see where she lived - in Cedar Rapids. So I decided to make her a sample of the Quilt As You Got (QAYG). It was just two blocks which I made with the flip and sew method from the tutorial (link above) with one connector strip. I know that I love having something in my hand to look at, examine and touch when making something. The photos and step by step process in the tutorial are very clear and easy to understand but a sample is great too.

Brian took Kris's photo and she said I could post it. The bag has the two 12" blocks and a connector strip. She will start working on this quilt which is so great because you can use up your scraps and make a block or two if you want to spend a hour sewing then just pop them in a pile till you have enough for a project (anything from a baby quilt to a king). The tutorial is a queen and I think I made it in two or three (full) days.
Thanks Kris for being a good sport and loving dogs enough to aid in their rescue.

AND NOW THE GIVEAWAY FOR TODAY

Leave a comment to enter the drawing

Finished quilting (sort of)

Boy did this take a lot of time to quilt. Not only is it big (45 X 50 after quilting) but the quilting is intense. There are still two small areas about 2 square feet that need to be finished but I also want to frame it. I am hoping (smile) to get it done tomorrow but I will report my progress.

NOW- Tomorrow starts the big 3rd anniversary give-away so check in every weekday starting tomorrow and ending on Oct 30th. Click on the link from yesterdays post and check out the great stuff that is up for grab.

The watercolor that started it all