Houses article part 2- construction!

Hey, the Cloth Paper Scissors issue with the house construction directions is hot off the press. If anyone goes through with making a house, please send me photos, I would love to see what you make.

Quilting Arts Workshop DVD's

In other news Quilting Arts has just announced the release of the first 4 workshop DVD's. My workshop on mixed media painted fabric is one of the first four. This is the technique used to make the fabric for these houses and my tote bag. If you are a visual learner like me and need to SEE how something is done instead of read about it, this is the way to go.


Rebecca from VT has already asked for a supply list so she can be ready to go when her DVD arrives.

Here's the supply list for anyone interested:

• 1/2 yd white pfd fabric (the sizing in non-pfd fabric may cause the paint and gel medium to not bond as well)
• Paint brushes: several different sizes (you can use foam brushes for covering large areas but you will also want some smaller 1/4-1/2 inch wide bristle brushes for painting the second layer of paint)
• Acrylic soft gel medium semi-gloss (I think Golden brand is the best for this technique)
• Transparent and metallic textile paints (no opaque paint)
• Black permanent pen/marker (Sharpie)
• Images to collage printed on bond paper (use copyright free images from Dover books or go here)
• Scissors for cutting paper
• A junk mail catalog intended for the trash, I use this when painting gel medium onto the paper images, just turn the page for a clean gluing surface
  
• Plastic for protecting work surface

Optional Supplies

• Decorative or handmade papers
• Brayer (for making a good bond between paper and fabric)

Amy Tan: Where does creativity hide?

Have you ever watched the fantastic videos from the TED conferences? There are some really great lectures on a variety of topics on the TED website. I just listened to about a dozen fascinating lectures while painting. Here is a great lecture on Creativity by Amy Tan (The Joy Luck Club), I think it is fascinating learning about the sources of different artist's creativity. The description for her lecture is:

Novelist Amy Tan digs deep into the creative process, journeying through her childhood and family history and into the worlds of physics and chance, looking for hints of where her own creativity comes from. It's a wild ride with a surprise ending.

It is only 20 minutes, if you have time take a look.

The last Fiesta Ornaments

Things have been busy. My sister Deb has been visiting since the quilt show and you know how you have to got to all those places you don't normally go except when someone from out of town is with you...
I have also been working on two interviews, shuffling kids to activities, shipping quilts to the Denver National Quilt Festival for the Chicago School of Fusing Exhibit: Pressing Matters and we have friends from Los Angeles in town this weekend. I keep thinking things will slow down soon.

More Fiesta Ornaments

Finished Fiesta Ornaments

During open studios I sewed the metal on several ornaments, I have been slowly finishing the rest up.This is the ornament I made for the Quilting Arts TV segment. So there will be a pattern and directions on the website when ever the episode is released.
These are 3 1/2 inches square. I will post the rest as I finish them up.

Fun Festival Pics

Frieda and Tracy.
The sisters: Tracy, Deb (my sister), Me and Allison (Tracy's sister).
Helen in the Quilting Arts booth. I love it, my daughter Nina went through a phase when she was a toddler making that same expression in every photo we took.



Here's one of our pictures of Nina making "the face" when she was 8 or 9 months old. So you just know Helen is young at heart.









Open studios with my PAQA pal Trish Williams.Look at all that color! The Art Fabrik booth has to be one of the most vibrant in the vendor hall, with the lovely Laura Wasilowski.
I had to document this historic moment in the Quilting Arts booth (with Primordial Sea in the background) holding both magazines with my artwork on the cover and the Studios issue where I was featured in the vignettes section. This is definitely a high point in my career, thanks Pokey!

Quilting Arts TV again!

This is what I couldn't tell you about the other day, Quilting Arts TV had a camera crew at the show. I taped a segment making the Fiesta Ornaments. This will be shown sometime during the third or fourth season.

I tell ya. it was not easy sewing metal on a sewing machine I have never sewn with before while being filmed. It would be nice if they could do more than one take, so when it does not go quite right the first time you get a chance to do it again. It did work out ok, but it was a little stressful when I found there is no way to lower the presser foot into position manually before starting and then I reached over on the side for the fly wheel to lift the needle at the end and it wasn't there.

For more MIU and Open Studios highlights be sure and check out the Quilting Arts blog.

Surviving the Runway

If you have never seen Surviving the Runway at one of the IQA shows you are really missing something wild. This time there was a 70's disco theme, using authentic 70's albums to create wearable pieces of art. Here is Pokey with her editors Helen and Barb posing before the class started. Aren't they cute! Peace and love Bay-bee!Allison from the Art Girlz told her sister Tracy (short pink hair) that she was needed over in the MIU area, little did she know what she was walking into. You can see it on her face that she has now realized her fate. Sisters can be so cruel. As a fellow younger sister, I can totally understand how much fun Allison had watching this.
Part of the class involved dancing to "the hustle", I was having high school flashbacks watching this.
Pokey has such a great staff. I am sure Barb and Helen never imagined that their job at Quilting Arts was going to include this.
Tracy modeling her finished work.
Here is the lovely lavender tinted Kelli Perkins with her album.
They were all having so much fun.
Each contestant modeled their art while doing their best catwalk moves to Abba's "Dancing Queen" for Pokey's husband John.
There were five winners who scored great stuff from the Quilting Arts booth. What a hoot!

Open Studios

Open Studios was filled with so many people doing cool stuff. I wish I had gotten pictures of everybody. Here are just a few of the wonderful artists at work. The darling Lynn Krawczyk incorporates all kinds of interesting objects and images in her art quilts.
Here's Beryl Taylor working on an embellisher making her beautiful mixed media art work.

Bernie Berlin divides her time between altered art and finding homes for needy dogs. She had the most gorgeous paints, insanely vibrant and rich that begin as powder pigment that you mix with acrylic medium. There is both acrylic and textile medium that can be mixed with the pigment. I am thrilled to hear Quilting Arts is going to carry them in the store soon. I can hardly wait to order some, I love trying new products.
Frieda was busy making fused fiber cards, they were just like her beautiful quilts in miniature.

Make It University

10:30 this morning, just after the show opened, I taught my first class in Make it University on mixed media painted fabric. I condensed a 3 hour class down to one hour, thank goodness there were heat guns available to help dry paint. My fabulous students were troopers keeping up with the fast paced collage and painting process.












People were still coming into the show when my class started, and there were a couple spaces open so my sister Deb (with the bright red hair) took the class too.




















Everyone did a great job and we did not run out of paint!

Frieda snapped this photo of Deb, Laura and me in front of Laura's lovely quilt hanging in the Open Studios area. I will get a photo of Frieda tomorrow doing Open Studios and lots more.

Gathering Supplies

All week I have been gathering supplies for teaching two MIU classes, Open Studios and one other Quilting Arts event I will be doing at International Quilt Festival that I don’t think I can talk about yet. It is amazing how much time that takes. The hardest part has been estimating how much paint 25 people will go through painting the mixed media fabric and condensing a 3 hour class into one hour, it is going to be crazy.

I am so grateful for the internet, without it I would have had a hard time finding a resource for affordable paint brushes, I need to have 50 bristle brushes and foam brushes for the class, that alone could have cost more than what I am being paid. I hate to admit we will be using cheap brushes, no choice here. I am filling in for someone on friday morning so now I will be teaching friday morning at 10:30 as well as sunday at 12:30.