Summer Camp was a huge hit!

When I arrived at camp to bring Sarah home, she hugged her bunk bed and said: "Nooooo, I'm not ready to go. I want to stay a week!"

The Girl Scouts do an excellent job of keeping their campers busy with fun activities. Sarah went canoing, roasted marshmallows, sang camp songs, hiked and swam. Mixed in between were fun games and crafts.

I suppose I have a year to prepare myself for a week of sleep-over camp.

Sleep-over Camp for the first time.

Today I delivered my darling eldest daughter to the Girl Scouts for her first ever sleep-over camp. She was nervous and scared -- until she saw the bunk bed assignments and climbed up to where her name was posted. She made her bed, unrolled her sleeping bag, tucked her flashlight under her pillow and turned to me and said:

"You're right Mommy, there's nothing to be scared about."

There were weeks of planning for this summer camp excursion. Making sure the camping list was complete, does she have enough towels, was that enough shampoo? Will she be able to brush the tangles out of her hair? Will the food be okay? Will she be able to sleep without her beloved lullabies?

Ah, but will I be able to sleep?

And then I conjure up the memory of Sarah's words. She's right. There's nothing to be scared about. She'll be okay. She'll have a great time. I'll sleep a bit less without her in the house. I'll be a bit worried. But She will be occupied with swimming, crafts, roasting marshmallows, singing around the campfire and giggling with girlfriends.

Testing Watercolor Media on Fabric

Our group, Fiber Art Fusion (formerly known as the Contemporary Quilt and Fiber Art Alliance but nobody liked the acronym for our website -- caqa or the formality of the name so we changed it a few months ago) met a few weeks ago. Our workshop was led by an incredible artist named Heidi Miracle-McMahill. She does wonderful work with watercolor crayons and utilizes her art on fabric. We all experimented with watercolor crayons on paper and then on fabric.

I decided to test different methods of using watercolor crayons on fabric and then to test colorfastness.

I gathered my supplies: Twinkling H2O's from LuminArte Inc.. a bottle of Delta Textile Medium and a set of watercolor crayons. I used 100% PFD cotton from Dharma. I mixed 1 Tablespoon of Textile Medium and 1 Cup of water.

WATERCOLOR CRAYON EXPERIMENT:

For my first experiment I colored on dry fabric,
then I used a brush and brushed on the Textile Medium/Water solution.

I let the piece air dry, then ironed for 30 seconds with a hot iron and pressing cloth.
I cut the piece in two and washed one piece in the washing machine in hot water.
You can see the color remained virtually the same. This was the most successful test.

For my second experiment I soaked the fabric in the Textile Medium/Water solution. Then I colored with watercolor crayons.
then I used a brush and brushed on the Textile Medium/Water solution.
I let the piece air dry, then ironed for 30 seconds with a hot iron and pressing cloth.
I cut the piece in two and washed one piece in the washing machine in hot water.
You can see the color almost the same, with the right side fading just slightly.

TWINKLING H2O's EXPERIMENT
Twinkling H2O's are little pots of watercolors which when used on paper give you great color and a lovely glittery shine.

For my first test, I painted the Twinkling H2O's on dry fabric, using the Textile Medium/Water solution as my water. (1 Tablespoon Textile Medium and 1 Cup water.)
I let the piece air dry, then ironed for 30 seconds with a hot iron and pressing cloth.
I cut the piece in two and washed one piece in the washing machine in hot water.
The color faded significantly but the sparkles were remaining. This was the most successful test.


For my second experiment I soaked the fabric in the Textile Medium/Water solution. Then I painted the Twinkling H2O's on using the Textile Medium/Water solution as my water.
I let the piece air dry, then ironed for 30 seconds with a hot iron and pressing cloth.
I cut the piece in two and washed one piece in the washing machine in hot water.
Not only did the color fade, but there seemed to be a total lack of sparkle.

Posting neglect

I have not posted much these days. I have not been very prolific and feel that I have not had much to post. Then I poked around a few of my favorite blogs and realized that not everyone posts finished works. Art is a process and the process of fiber art can be relatively slow. It is all those little things in between finished work that make a blog interesting and feed the art we make. It's part of what I enjoy reading on other blogs, so I'll add a few of my own.

On the third Tuesday of each month, I meet with a fantastic group of fiber artists at Fiber on a Whim. We are working through the Littlejohn and Beaney books. One exercise was to make a tissue paper picture and then take that picture and make it out of fiber. Here is my finished piece. The beading technique I learned in a class at Fiber on a Whim taught by Larkin Van Horn. I love Fiber on a Whim and will have to dedicate an entire post to this one-of-a-kind place.


Drawing inspiration from other activities. I always am rejuvinated and inspired by children. My husband and I have an hour-long program o children's songs and stories. We performed at our daughter's school for Multi-Cultural Arts Day. 40 kids per set, three sets. It was incredible. Children are so open and available to art and music. It truly is inspiring.

On the same day I performed with my husband, I raced to my youngest daughter's school to hear her perform in a Mother's Day concert. She was wonderful.

My 6 year old daughter wanted to make a gift for her teacher. My friend Sharon and I went to Beads by Design and selected some lovely stone beads for Sarah to use. Here she is intently stringing them.

And proudly displaying her nearly finished necklace.


And finally, I recently tye dyed t-shirts with my 4 and 6 year old daughters and a 7 year old friend. The shirts came out fantastic. My husband is a true supporter!! He opened the fridge the morning after and found these bottles of dye where he usually finds his milk.

And now I will get back to my studio and a small project I am working on in the hopes that I finish in time to submit to my traditional quilt guild's show. If you are in the Atlanta area, mark your calendar for September 14-16 and check out the East Cobb Quilt Guild show. I'll be doing demos for Fiber on a Whim and in general hanging out and helping as much as I can.