Back to Life

I had a breath of fresh air this week. I went to a meeting of the Twisted Stitchers, something I haven't done in months. It felt good to have people excited to see you and to be excited to see them. Tonya, Carol, Sharon and Judy were there working on projects for the upcoming Dallas Quilt Show. I brought a project from the Prayers and Squares Quilt Ministryt to work on. I managed to only sew parts of 3 blocks the wrong way.

The quilt store where we meet, Quilt Country, is sponsoring a cruise to Alaska next summer featuring Carol as the main instructor. I am giving this serious consideration... I left our meeting inspired to do something, anything creative. I decided to make a wall hanging of the Man in the Maze. My friend Lorraine bought me a bracelet while on vacation in Sedona. This was my inspiration for the quilt. I was hoping to make it for the 12X12 challenge but it is too big. I made two patterns so maybe I will make the smaller one for the challenge. We will see - there is a boatload of cutting that gives you something like this:

but then you can change this garbled bunch of fabric into a positive

and a negative. They are fused and waiting for finishing work.

Ahhh! Feels so good to blog...

Shoot Me Now!!

Okay, so it is Wednesday and I am catching up on some mindless television. I thought Toddlers and Tiaras was disturbing but now I am watching a show called Truth Be Told. This week the show is about crazy, obsessive pet owners. Eleven cats! Yikes - that's a lot of poop scooping - and their names - Georgie Porgie Puddin Pie-come on. And this lady with this monkey - okay so he is a service monkey - and she has agoraphobia - but a monkey, in a stoller, wearing matching clothes - you just cannot domesticate everything. For grins, I looked up the definition of agoraphobia - whatcha think - a monkey for comfort - embarrassing situations??? Thank goodness the Health Dept. stepped in and won't allow 'Richard' the monkey in stores with food. Somehow I don't think agoraphobia is the worst of her problems. Did she not hear about the pet monkey attack that practically killed a woman???
Now - a Pageant Dog - and the owner wipes the dog's ass - I would go to my grave before admitting to something like that on tv. The dog has a better wardrobe than the owner.

I don't want any animal lovers to be upset with me - I love animals, have had dogs in my life and currently have a kitty - I just don't get anyone over the age of 10 dressing their pets in 'outfits' and letting animals climb on counters where you cook and eat - after all animals have their own special way of 'cleaning' themselves and I don't want those lips anywhere near my food. Hmmm...Swine Flu comes to mind... Oh stop it - now there are balloons and decorations (what else but Hello Kitty) for the cat birthday party - and catnip (kitty pot), look at them, they have the munchies now. Now the monkey lady wants to sue the county because she cannot bring the monkey into the grocery store. Let me change the station

What I really wanted to say in this post is - knitting is taking up my time. I am working on a Noni pattern called Urban Daily Adventure Bag. I am directing my creative energies in a different direction for a bit - kinda like cross training.

Happy August!

Since my last post, I have been busy doing things I love to do. I spent a day at United Cerebral Palsy , helping the clients celebrate the Fourth of July. This is the second or third year we have done this at work. We started with a cookout, a craft project and ended with a parade around the facility. I made a few new friends that I look forward to seeing again. I also spent quite a bit of time and energy on team for another ACTS retreat. Most normal people would have been done after the retreat on Mother's Day weekend but I have never been considered normal, even on my best day. I promised my friend Jessica that I would assist on team when her church had their first retreat and I try to honor my promises when possible. And as if I hadn't had enough, I was asked to be a co-director for the next retreat given by my church - sigh. I'm going to take 2010 off.
I managed to make a couple of art pieces. One was rejected by the Texas Fiber Arts Federation for their annual show - phooey.

I made a couple of small pieces using techniques from Kelli Perkins Quilting Arts Workshop - Stitch Imagery. I don't have pics on this computer so I will post them later. I also decided to knit and felt a couple of purses. I was inspired by a simple, yet beautiful purse Suzanne Morgan brought to one of our DAFA Board meetings. True to my nature, I had to try making one for myself. Here is the felted purse. I will needle felt a design later. I was very happy with the results and was inspired to make a cell phone holder. I used a pattern from Pursenalities Plus. The amount of shrinkage amazes me:

Pre-felted piece, look at how much room there is.

After felting and with snap closure.

Pre-felted piece

Finished piece with heart shape covering the magnet snap.

Life's a journey....

Terri and Sue have a Summer Giveaway of some of their hand dyes, books and other great stuff. Check out Two Creative Studios to sign up for their newsletter and to read more about it.

Still Here

I am still alive and kicking and working on a few pieces. Life has gotten in the way a bit but I have managed to start working on a few new techniques.

I have created this little ditty for our Art Swap tonight at the Dallas Area Fiber Artists meeting. I used a technique I learned on a QA Workshop video to make the flowers and I am pretty happy with the way they turned out. I waited until last night to start this even while I had other 'starts' laying all over the place. I didn't have time to think so I 'did' and I like the results. When will I stop overthinking every single thing I do????? It is a small (4 X 9) felted piece with flowers made of sparkle organza. Some other techniques I have been experimenting with are turning photographs into small artful pieces. These are in progress. The fabric version is in UFO status. This photo
became this watercolor piece which will become a cloth piece.

This watercolor piece started out like thisStill working ...

Collage Mania is On!

Collage Mania is on!
Go - buy - support - the American Cancer Society. There are still some beautiful pieces available. Today, the collages are available for a minimum contribution of $40. This is such a wonderful way to raise money where everyone benefits - the American Cancer Society receives the funds, the artist gains exposure and a feeling of community, and the donor receives a piece of art.
Collage Mania will be open until midnight.

Tote that Mat

Working on making a tote to carry supplies to class. Now to find a class...

front of tote, big blue square is a pocket to hold square ruler

inside of tote, entire length will contain cutting board and there are double set of pockets on either side

These are lousy pictures, hopefully the next set will be better.

I finished my entry for Collage Mania and got my picture in on time. I made a series of two and decided to keep one for my collection.I will post pictures later. I screened some of the fabric using the screens I purchased from Ginny Eckley during a DAFA meeting. I had a lot of fun and will post pictures of the screened fabric later. I really anguished over these pieces and I am not sure why. In addition to some screened fabric the collage pieces have some fabric beads and Chinese coins.
Bought a couple of new books: Mixed Emulsions Altered Techniques Photographic by Angela Cartwright (yes the one from Lost in Space and Sound of Music fame) and Exhibition 36 Mixed Demonstrations+Explorations.