Where Have I Been?

Where have I been? I've been working in the studio. For 9 days, my darling husband has watched my two daughters all day, all night, including meals and tantrums, so I could work in the studio. What a fantastic Christmas present.

I have been working on two pieces for She Made Her Mark, a juried exhibit being curated by Thelma Smith. I'm glad to say they are both finished, although I am not allowed to post pictures on my blog -- but if you want to see, you can email me and I'll send you a picture.

Happy New Year! I wish for all of us the same opportunity I had -- to work creatively in a supportive environment.

Surface Design

When I moved in with my husband (before we married, shhhh don't tell anyone) I promised I would not batik. Now why would I make such a promise? It was his house. He saw my house full of wax pots, vats of dye and mess everywhere. No thanks. So I painted, did assemblage art, made traditional quilts and remodeled a room in his (our) house every time he went on the road. (Really, remodeled. Once I took a sledge hammer and knocked out a ceiling, a wall and pulled up a floor.)

Last month our fiberart bee batiked and I brought a waxpot home. Joel sighed and said "Okay, I'll set you up." And he proceeded to set me up a wax studio in the garage. I have a really nice kitchen counter, cabinets, light and a radio. "Please, no dyeing. It's too messy," was his only request.

This month, our fiberart bee dyed fabric. I forgot my batik piece so I just dyed plain old PFD. I tried to imitate Laura Wazilowski's ArtFabrik which is beautiful. Laura Wazilowski I am not, but I am pleased with this attempt and will try again. The good news. . .
Joel saw the fabric and said. . .

"Okay, where do you want a sink."

Gotta love that husband!

Now I'm off to begin quilting Dolores.

Young Artists-in-training

Last week we had a passel full of girls playing at our house. I had asked my eldest daughter (6 1/2 years) to play with Barbies, Groovy Girls, Polly Pocket or any of the millions of toys they have -- and NO ART. I just couldn't face a huge cleanup with 4 girls making art and the associated mess.

A while later my daughter came in search of scissors. I asked what she needed them for and she said: "For my art project." I scolded her and reminded her of the request to play with anything, but not to make art.

She replied: "But Mom, all I like to do is art."

That statement blew me away. In the fraction of a second it took my mind to comprehend what she had said, I realized she was right. That is what she likes to do.

So I handed her the scissors and told her to have fun. The mess was huge, but "feeding" that budding artist is important.

Today my daughter asked me about my current piece and how I made it. I showed her, and then she asked if she could make one. Out came my box of fabric scraps (I save everything, as evidenced by the condition of my studio) and she selected a picture as her pattern. She and Sophia worked on their pieces for about an hour and then went outside to play.

Why do I write about this? To remind you to feed your kids art. It is as important as vegetables, fruit and protein.

Now back to the studio.

Here we are looking at Dolores and counting the number of fabrics I used.

Here is Sophia with her Christmas Egg.

Getting Reaquainted with My Janome

Two More Sweatshirts -- these for Sarah and Sophia.

No reindeer for Sarah -- she picked Santa! She loves Santa!

I realized today, as I finished two more sweatshirts, that it has been a long time since I sewed. I worked on Sally for most of the summer, and that work was done by hand. Another piece, not yet finished was also worked by hand.

As I get ready to begin quilting Dolores, it was a good thing I "wasted" two afternoons making sweatshirts for the girls and their friend. Now Janome and I are reaquainted and ready to work together to finish in time for my January 5 deadline.

Now back to the studio.

I have a Mary Akers original

"Foo Fee" by Mary Akers

I love art. I have a few original paintings by artists I admire. In November, I landed a Pamela Allen postcard from Virginia Spiegel's FiberArt for a Cause.

Tonight surpasses it all. At our "White Elephant" gift exchange, I was able to steal this from my good friend Sharon (I think she is still my friend). It is a piece by Mary Akers. Mary is an incredible artist and I am proud to have a piece of her work hang in my house!

I met Mary while taking Laura Cater-Woods workshop at Fiber on a Whim. Mary, like myself, found her art completely changed after the workshop. Powerful stuff.

The $72 Dollar Sweatshirt and how to waste an afternoon

My daughter has a standing playdate with her friend every Monday afternoon. Today, I knew I needed a craft activity to top the one they did at the friend's house last week.

Oh, I know, a little sweatshirt. I'll let them pick the picture and the fabric, I'll fuse and cut, they lay out, they can iron with supervision and I'll sew around the edges.

Only I needed a sweatshirt. And a red one since I was hoping for a Christmas theme. Off to Target, KMart, Big Lots, Kohl's, and Value City. No red sweatshirts. How can this be? It's December for goodness' sake, no red sweatshirts?

I resorted to the last resort, the place I hate most on this planet -- the dreaded Wal-Mart.

$72 later, I had three PINK sweatshirts (even WalMart didn't have red), some leggings for Sarah, a roll of parchment paper, a black turtleneck and a bottle of hand lotion.

Turns out the girls didn't really want to make sweatshirts.
Imagine that -- they just wanted to PLAY.

I can't believe I did it again! It's like being an ex-smoker (which I am). No matter how long you've been off cigarettes, just one puff and POOF you're hooked again. One step inside the doors of WalMart and POOF. . .

A good time for all!

The WLA at our best!!

Last night a group of friends got together and had a great time! We played in the studio, drank margaritas, enjoyed homemade salsa, carne asadas tacos, and delicious cheese and chocolate fondue.

Sally is going to IQF Houston in 2007

Sally is going to Houston!

This little guy is very fat and looks like he wants to bite your toe! Watch out!

I just received an email from Ann Flaherty that the Fabled Fibers Challenge quilts are going to be on display at the International Quilt Festival (Houston) in 2007. I made Sally Sells Sea Shells for that challenge, so folks. Sally's going to Houston!!

I guess that means I need to sew a 4" tucked sleeve to the back!

To read more about Sally click here, or here, or the funny story here!

P.S. Or here.

A sneak peek at my latest project

My very very messy studio. There is a box of acorn tops, half painted, half naked. Left-over supplies from homemade Halloween cards. Yarn and snippets from another one of my brilliant million-dollar ideas, my empty sewing machine tote, and gobs and gobs of leftovers from October and early November projects.
Really as soon as this one is done. . . . . Creative chaos!

Since my life changing weekend with Laura Cater-Woods, I have been working. I have ignored pages and pages of Quiltart.com and the dust on the mantel and the laundry in the upstairs hall, and the mess underfoot in my studio to focus on two projects. And still, there never seems to be enough time to do as much work in the studio as I want. How much time do I want? Unanswerable. Even an hour a day is hard to scrape up between my beautiful girls and my "job" as a volunteer mom at school.

My "job" at school entails writing the weekly communication bulleting and the quarterly PTA newsletter. Doesn't sound like a big job. Especially for someone who has words spilling out of her mouth-er-hands at a rate of 140WPM. But it is the information gathering that is so slow and tedious. If folks would just email their info and keep me from hounding them for it, or guessing what they want to go in it, things would go a lot quicker.

Today my friend Jules posted her finished rag quilt. Jules has four children, including her newborn son, Sam. When Jules was at my house a few weeks ago, we played with hot wax. It was great fun. Here she is batiking away. Her daughter played with my daughter, beautiful Max slept the entire time. Blissful.

So here I am with only two, both in school, no babies suckling at the breast, wondering why I don't have time to finish anything!?! Hmmmmm...... Jules could it have anything to do with communications? ;)

Here's a sneak peak at my more "traditional" piece for the She Made her Mark Exhibit. I have another very "non-traditional" piece I am working on. A new friend gave me the courage to pursue it. However, it will remain under wraps until it is accepted, or rejected.

Who picks your fruit and vegetables?
This is something we should all take into consideration every time we go to the grocery store. This is Dolores Huerta. As a child, I remember never eating grapes because my parents were big supporters of Caesar Chavez and the National Farmworkers Association (now the United Farm Workers Union.) Dolores Huerta played a key role in the Delano Grape Strike of the 1960's and hasgone on to be the leading champion for farm workers in our country. She's an incredible woman and my choice for the She Made Her Mark Exhibit.

THE PICTURE of my piece depicting Dolores was removed in order to qualify to enter the She Made Her Mark challenge. But here's the inspiration picture -- click on it to read more about Dolores and the Dolores Huerta Foundation website.

And now, I have a rare afternoon, when my children are playing at a friend's house, I'm going back to the studio instead of playing on the computer.

You too, scoot.

Post Script: In the picture of my studio, see the roll of wonder under laying right next to the parchment paper? It is. And Wonder Under looks just like parchment paper, especially if you are in the throes of creative excitement. Which I was when I fused a nice large piece of it to the top of Dolores' face! Ugh. Another hazard of a messy studio!

A life changing weekend with Laura Cater-Woods

Thursday night I heard Laura Cater-Woods speak to the Contemporary Quilt and Fiber Arts Alliance. Friday and Saturday was in her workshop Tempting the Muse at the studio of Fiber on a Whim. Today I am floating a little closer to the ground, close enough to try and post something about this experience.

Tempting the Muse was like intensive therapy. Laura’s piece "Peeling the Onion" would be perfect to grace the cover of a marketing brochure for this workshop. She peeled us. Along the way, we cried, we discovered, we created and we celebrated.

I don't know if all of her workshops are like this. Most of the participants in our group knew one another, we were connected, and we knew we could trust one another. By the end of the workshop, the entire group shared an intimacy and connection that will continue beyond this weekend. I have written and rewritten this post many times trying to capture the magic of the weekend. Yet no matter how hard I try, it eludes me. In our cohesive group, it was personal and raw. Perhaps it is just too personal to share. It was magic.

The experience was life changing for me and I suspect it will have significant impact on the work I produce. It already has. My morning journal was filled with more images and less words the past few days. My senses are more tuned in to the world around me. I feel peeled and exposed. This peeled feeling is nice. It is raw, it is vulnerable, it is scary, but it is real.

Batik with the Bee

Finished piece and close up.




Friday the FiberArt Bee met at the studio of Fiber on a Whim. We played with hot wax. It was fun.

My primary form of fiber art back in the 70's was batik. I used to batik and dye in the basement of our house. The street was stained with a rainbow where I poured the dye out (of course I would NEVER do that now, but I was young and didn't think about the environmental impact).

It has been more than 20 years since I have picked up a tjanting. I had forgotten how satisfying it is to paint fabric with hot wax. Sharon was a true sport and brought me a pot of good old-fashioned beeswax and paraffin.

I batiked a piece of black fabric, came home and discharge dyed it, gave it a good soak in anti-chlor and then ironed it.

My husband will be hard at work this weekend setting me up a wax studio in the garage. Now I'm off to Dharma to order tjantings and wax.

After discharging and a soak in Anti-Chlor.

What have you been working on?

This is one of my favorite questions on Quiltart.com. I love to read the responses of the members as they relate their current experiments and projects.

As the mother of two children under 7, I've been working on Halloween. The girls love Halloween, and Sophia pretty quickly decided to be a cheerleader. Sarah was a little bit more indecisive. First she wanted to be a robot -- a costume Joel and I happily embraced and were excited to make. She drew up the plans, decided the colors, helped to pick the electronic components -- it was going to be fantastic. Then the next day she decided she wanted to be a princess, a pretty pink princess. Then a doctor, a monster, a ghost and finally a hula girl. Yes, a hula girl with a leigh and grass skirt. She was adorable.

This is most of the gang of trick or treaters.
Two more caught up with us a few minutes
after this picture was taken.

Creepy Halloween Cupcakes were required for two parties.

The week before Halloween, and Halloween week, I stayed focused on a project I"m working on for our school's PTA -- Reflections. Reflections is a fine arts program where students submit their entries for literature, photography, video/film and visual arts. This project was FANTASTIC.

I know I am a bit overanalytical about my work. Putting it down on paper is easy, but taking it to the final medium of fiber is always a bit daunting. Perhaps it is the expense of the medium, or the commitment of time to complete the piece. I never had this hesitation when I painted or collaged.

But back to Reflections. . . it is easy to see when a child suddenly becomes very interested in the finished product. About third grade. The entries from Kindergarten and First and Second grades were so free and colorful and BIG. Those kids filled up each and every page. And if stuff was available to glue on, well they used the supplies with abandon.

Then came the third grade entries which show the artists have become very careful about their work. They started in pencil, you can see the erasure marks, the hesitation and (okay I'm projecting here) the worry that it might not be "right." That continues in fourth and fifth grade, although the realism is better.

The winning entry for Fifth grade visual arts looks very much like the winning entry from First Grade. It is colorful, BIG and FREE. It is fantastic.

And hopefully I'll take some of that artists' permission-to-self to be free and let loose. To not worry about things looking exactly as I think they should and let the fabric take control every once in a while.

Boo!
Go back to work!

More fun! Silk Fusion

Silk Fusion Heart

It started with a simple question: "Want to meet me for a cup of coffee?" Sure, I replied, but only a quick one, I have tons of stuff I have to do (stuff=work for the family, errands, dry cleaning to pick up, bank deposits, oil change, etc.)

2 1/2 hours later, I'm running out the door trying to make it to preschool on time to pick up little bits.

But what a fun couple of hours, spent with Jan, Kristin and Sharon as we played with felting and silk fusion.

Time Flies when you're having fun!

I joined the Fast Friday Fabric challenge, a spin-off from Quiltart.com the first challenge was issued a few weeks ago. On a Friday morning the challenge is issued and participants have a week to finish their quilts.

September's challenge was Fall Colors with a 3-d element. Scores of ideas came to mind, but I settled on this one.

Harvest Moons

I love to free-form-cut fabric. This fabric is ArtFabrik that my mom bought me for my birthday last year. (Thanks Mom, it is gorgeous). I tightly quilted the piece, leaving half moon shapes as contrast. The moons are appliqued. I am going to take them off, make them slightly larger and re-do my edge stitching which was done at 3:00 am so I think it's a bit sloppy. My 3-D element? The moons, the stitching, hey come on, quilting makes fabric 3-d!

Harvest Moons - close up

Like Illustration Friday, Self Portrait Tuesday, Photo Friday and other creative challenges in cyber-space, the FastFriday Fabric Challenge is a great way to stretch your creative mind, execute a project on a small scale, and under the pressure of a looming deadline. What the deadline does for me is it pushes me to finish, and not continuously alter, "correct" or completely change my concept halfway through!

Don't let life get in the way of creating. That's hard to do especially if you have children, a job, a husband, a dog, or a cat! And certainly if you have a blog! Bye, gotta go make some art.

Postcards for Virginia Spiegel

I love making postcards. It's fun, fast and rewarding. This project has raised a bit of money for the American Cancer Society. It has also brought the medium of fabric to many who may not have ventured into the world of art quilts without this small format! Kudos to Virginia Spiegel for all her hard work on this project.



If you don't get to Houston in time to get a real Pamela Allen postcard, maybe this Pamela Allen Icon card will do!

"Oh, now don't you take my picture!" Guess who!

Cave Mama

Full Frontal

From the rear.

And because the theme for Houston is World of Beauty, so I made some flowers.

Hey! Where have you been?

On Monday 9/4, I sent the girls off to school, sat down in the studio and worked on postcards for Virginia Spiegel's FiberArt for a Cause.

On Tuesday, an independent utility auditor knocked on the door to tell me I had a pretty significant gas leak at the meter -- of course it was on MY side of the meter. He recommended we get it fixed ASAP.

About 1/2 hour later, there was an explosion that rocked the house! Nope, not the gas meter, the water main!


The explosion was so powerful, it blew chunks of asphalt the size of dinner plates halfway down the street. This picture was taken about 10 minutes after the blast. For the first 5 minutes the water was shooting twenty feet into the air!


The water department responded pretty quickly to get the leak under control. Thankfully it was on THEIR side. The yard is pretty trashed, and it will take them about 12 weeks until someone comes out to fix the street and lay some sod.

The rest of the week was spent on the phone. Talking to plumbers and my home warranty provider to see if a portion of the gas leak problem would be covered, and to actually get a plumber to come. Several promised to come, and never showed up. One finally came late Friday afternoon, demolished a wall in my husband's studio and then said: "This is beyond my skill. I think I need the boss to come work on this" and then he went home.

On Monday, 9/11 the plumber returned at about 4:30 pm and began to work on the gas line. At 9:45 pm he finally finished, cleaned up and went home.

Tuesday I visited the Blue Frog Gallery with Sharon. They have a Tuesday morning gathering of local artists. We all sat at the gallery and worked on our stuff. It was awesome. Several jewelry artists were there. A lady came who makes incredible lampwork beads. Sharon was working on a beautiful bracelet. Another lady came with canvas, paints and brushes. I sat and worked on Sally Sells Sea Shells. Someone asked me: "How much will you sell that for?" I just laughed and said "not for a million dollars. I've been working on this thing so long I could never charge enough." In their eyes, I think that firmly put me into the category of hobbyist.

On the way back to my house, the phone rang and Joel was calling. Sarah was sick and had to be picked up from school. I guess I didn't hear the phone while in the gallery.

For the next 3 days I tried to keep Sarah comfortable and entertained, yet productive. I didn't realize how much I missed her happy disposition, cheerful birdsong chatter and witnessing her unending creativity. The teacher now gets most of that, and what comes home after a day at school is, well, a different child. I enjoyed each and every minute with her and am sad [for me] that she will be going back to school tomorrow.

Deadlines loomed. I stayed up all night Friday night quilting a quilt for my church group which was due to be completed Saturday. At 5:20 am I still had two sections to go, but had to go to sleep. I went to the quilt meeting at 9:30 only to be told it really had to be done by October 22! Yikes.

Even though I'm not superstitious, I kept waiting for the THIRD thing to happen. First the water main, then the gas line. . . what next? Ah, the computer. In the midst of all this, my computer crashed. I never realized how dependent I am on the computer. I told my husband the other day: "Dear, I can sew with a needle and a thread, so if my sewing machine breaks I'll survive. But this, [computer crash] is unendurable. I feel like I am lost at sea."

How does any of this relate to art? It doesn't really, except this is life. The best laid plans to accomplish much are often interrupted by urgent life events that must have your attention. And by the elimination of something that calls to you too loudly (like the computer and email), other things start to happen. Without convenience of my computer, I spent more time in my studio. I was more productive and focused than I have been in a few months. Oh, maybe it is that time of year when after a summer of directionless children we regain our focus.

But as the weeks pass, I miss my computer less and less. I can use the computer in my husband's studio. It's not as convenient or accessible, but it is there and I have to really plan a time to sit down at it! Now back to my own studio.

Postcards for Virginia Spiegel Fiberart for a Cause

Gotcha! Ha!

Yesterday the Contemporary Quilt and Fiber Arts Alliance and Fiber on a Whim hosted a postcard making party at the studio of Fiber on a Whim. We had a great time sharing techniques, talking and sewing. Many had already made postcards and came to make even more. Thus far our count to go to Virginia Spiegel is 67. We're keeping our box until September 21 and will ship it via Federal Express. If anyone wants to bring postcards by Fiber on a Whim, we'll add them to the box and pay your shipping! Deadline is September 20.

I spent most of my day gabbing and giggling. The only thing I accomplished was finishing one of my derieres and coming up with this little lady. She needs eyeballs! I've had the breast fabric for a while. I bought it at a local quilt show, it was bundled with two other fabrics I didn't want, but I had to have it!




One of our members is the regional Janome representative. I have a Janome 6500 my mom gave me for a combo Birthday/Christmas present TWO years ago. After spending the day sitting next to Karen, I realized I had been given a big rig truck, but I only have a learner's permit! Man, the things this machine can do that I never knew. So I took out the M foot and did a little bit of satin edge stitching on this piece. Beautiful!

A color altered macro shot of a coneflower head. Printed on fabric. I thinkI'll bead each little "head."

I marvel at the work of several of our members. Unfortunately I was so busy running around I didn't take very many pictures. . . . but more pictures will follow in the next few days as I ask members to email me some shots!

Here is Heidi Miracle-McMahill with her incredible illustrations.

Fiber (art?) postcards and my Play Date with Sharon!!

Today was the second day of preschool for my youngest daughter Sophia. And on the first day of preschool, I wandered the house and wondered what I should do first. Laundry? Dust? Vacuum? Wash dishes? Unpack suitcase?

Nope. I read Quiltart.com and was reminded that in less than a week, the Contemporary Quilt and Fiber Arts Alliance and the wonderful Fiber on a Whim is having a sew-in to make postcards for Virginia Spiegel's Fiberart for a Cause. Suddenly dressing out of the dryer didn't seem as dire as planning this event and having no postcards to show for it!

And, reading Jamie Fingal's question on Quiltart.com -- "What are you going to do this coming week that is going to stretch you artistically?" prompted me to go outside my box when creating this batch of postcards. The rest of the first-day-of-preschool I sketched and went through old sketches looking for old brain farts to air out.

So on Sophia's second day of preschool, Sharon came over and we both worked on postcards. Sharon had done her homework and quickly was able to produce 6 postcards -- not finalized, but put together and next steps mapped out. I really admire her for that ability.

I was moving a little slower -- mulling over my pile of batik scraps, wondering if these sketches would work, having a bit of trouble with my hi-tech light box (a Lite Brite Deluxe). . . oh gosh I was procrastinating. Is this what working outside the box does to you? I just didn't have the confidence to put my ideas on fabric. So I just decided to jump in and go for it.

Here's what I came up with -- these are works in progress, still needing quilting and finishing. Beads on many, I don't know what on others. In the end it was fun and now I have three more sketches resulting from this playdate which I hope to execute on Saturday.

This was started at a previous playdate with Sharon. Using Model Magic by Crayola, I made the base on top of acrilyc felt. Let it dry and then painted with Lumiere paints. Next will be stitching, beading and finishing.

These are puff paint, painted with Lumiere, then heated with an iron to let it puff up, then painted again. I will stitch and bead these.

And then back to what I love to do RAW EDGE FUSED APPLIQUE. Ah but(t) these were fun. Sorry I couldn't resist.

My parents bought a painting in Paris of a nude lady from behind. She is on her side and has the most beautiful bottom in the world. It is entirely blue with only one spot of yellow, which as I remember is a flower. Inspired by that painting and a recent viewing of my own bottom (which looks nothing like these) I thought I'd try this.

And for fun a different color combination with a butterfly batik. Interesting tattoo!

Adam and Eve? John and Yoko? Joel and Becca?
Heck I don't know, but I like the nekked people.

Detail of stitching.

LAST YEAR'S POSTCARDS. I haven't made postcards for a while. They are addicting, and I really wanted to work on larger pieces. But here are a few I made last summer.

"Margie's Damn Robot" - my buddy called to ask me a question about where to get nuts and bolts fabric for a robot she was making to applique on her son's jacket. I offered her my stash, but she declined. For the next two days, I worked on this little Robot. The nuts, bolts, and washers made it fine through the mail. NOT HAND CANCELLED. I just stick stamps on and drop them in the box. I've never lost one yet.


These were made for my mom the week of her birthday. She had just recovered from an attack of diverticulitis and so I was inspired to make this series of postcards for her.

Fortune Cookies.
Each of these fortune cookies contained
a removable fortune about food and health.
Remember to add "in bed" at the end of your fortune.

Box of Chocolates

Our Lady of Guadalupe

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