Wednesday, April 29, 2009

New Postcards

Last week I got an email from Overnight Prints advertising small quantities of business cards and post cards. The 4" x 6" postcards started at $4.95 for 25, so I figured that was cheap enough to try out several designs. The last time I tried to print postcards they came out too dark and I was not happy with them. I uploaded 5 designs and ordered 25 each. With the small (value) quantities Overnight prints specifies that they are printed on a digital press, when you order 100 or more they are printed on an offset press. I realized a couple days after uploading them that I had forgotten to change my files from RGB to CMYK, so I thought for sure they were going to come out awful. Boy what a pleasant surprise to find them bright, sharp and at my door in less than a week.

On Moon Garden I thought I would try putting the back of the quilt on the back of the card to show the quilting. It worked out pretty good. I really like how they came out.

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Quilting Arts TV

While at quilt festival last week I taped another segment for Quilting Arts TV demonstrating painting with Tsukineko All Purpose Inks and aloe vera gel.

Monday, April 27, 2009

The beautiful math that links coral, crochet and hyperbolic geometry

Another fabulous Ted talk. I have a fascination with many scientific and mathematical ideas, although many times I have a hard time grasping the full concepts, none the less when there is an overlap of scientific and artistic ideas it so interesting. I am probably especially drawn to these kind of things because my dad was a Naval engineer and my mom is a research scientist. In my teens and early 20's, my mom worked at an aquaculture lab in Northern California and I spent a lot of time peering into salt water tanks filled with creatures from the Pacific. My favorite thing to do was help feed the baby lobsters and see them swim somersaults in their little cubicles.

Sunday, April 26, 2009

Living next to Oprah

I live next to Harpo studios in Chicago, generally it is fairly quiet around here with the occasional squeals of excited woman in brightly colored clothing. This week there were a couple of groups trying to get Oprah's attention. On tuesday evening when it was chilly and damp there was a spontaneous concert on the sidewalk with a young boy singing.


On Friday, a group came down the street and around the block chanting "Oprah give us a voice". They were a group protesting the genocide of the Tamils in Sri Lanka.

It was a small gathering of people carrying Canadian and American flags. I did not realize the extent of the problem in Sri Lanka, this is something that really needs more attention in the media. I hope Oprah heard.

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Surviving the Runway 80's Prom night

The best Surviving the Runway yet happened at Festival this weekend. Prom Night got under way at 5:30 Saturday night, what a blast we had.

Laura Wasilowski was the official judge who had the difficult job of choosing the winners of the tiara making contest.

To get into proper 80's attire, one must have hair spray, and lots of it!
Barb got a little assistance creating mall bangs from Luanne.In preparation for his dance the prom king dons his mullet, constructed from two Brittany Spears, oops I mean Hanna Montana wigs, (thanks Robbi) bought at Target friday night, and a turquoise t shirt, splattered with paint in open studios saturday afternoon. Such a good sport, huh? It is amazing what Pokey can get people to do, lol!A few of the Prom Chaperons: Kelli Perkins
Belinda Spiwak modeling her 80's prom gown made by Glad.
This photo doesn't show my jeans very well, but I altered a pair of black jeans for that 80's look. I tapered them, painted and splattered bleach on them, then dyed them in teal RIT to give them that 80's overdyed look.

Melli Testa (above), Robbi Eklow and I were also chaperons but Robbi had to e put in time out by Pokey. Those who know Robbi probably understand why Pokey had to do it, lol. As chaperons our job was to advise participants for 5 minutes if they answered an 80's trivia question correctly.

Barb's getting her boogie down.
As part of a challenge to get feathers to adorn her tiara, this woman danced around the MIU area on the show floor, she even managed to find a man along the way and came dancing back with him, ultimately winning feathers for everyone.
Time to adjust those tiaras before hitting the runway.Second runner up won by being the class slut, proudly identified on her tiara. She even had the nerve to cut in on the Prom King and Queens dance!
First runner up.
The winner! The top prize was this huge box of Aurofil thread, is that a dream prize or what!
There were lots of videos shot, be sure to check out the video on the Quilting Arts blog.

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Make it University Chicago

On Saturday and Sunday I taught a project for Make it University called Metal Magic.

This project gave participants the opportunity to try out Lesley Riley's transfer paper TAP (I pre-printed it with images from my paintings), hand sewing canvas to aluminum metal, embossing and cutting the metal with decorative scissors and painting grungeboard, a very cool hybrid of chipboard and some polymer type material to make a fun little wall hanging.

I like seeing how each person makes their project unique with embroidery
or special painting motifs.It was fun seeing my friend Lynne Croswell from Vermont in my workshop. Lynne and I first met in Houston a few years ago. The quilt show is always such a great place for making new friends.

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Open Studios

Thursday I taught Tsukineko inks, it was a three hour class that ended just as the show opened, so people flew out the door and I never got any pictures.

After my class finished, I packed things up and headed for Make it University. I worked in Open Studios embossing the copper cover for my other mixed media canvas book.

Monday, April 20, 2009

Painting Whole Cloth Fabric Class at Quilt Festival

Friday I was thrilled to have a full class of 25 wonderful painting students, what a great class. Everyone worked enthusiastically applying paint to fabric while learning to control the flow of the paint, make smooth gradations of color, work with paint mediums for glazing among many other things.



So many beautiful paintings...


I would like to thank Cindy Kuo for taking many of these photos.

Friday, April 10, 2009

Surviving the Runway Chicago

If you have been on the fence about coming to Quilt Festival in Chicago, you need to think long and hard about missing Surviving the Runway this year on Saturday night. Quilting Arts editor Pokey Bolton always has something up her sleeve planning this extremely fun event, this year is going to be really wild with an 80's prom theme.

Pokey, Barb and Helen just went shopping for their dresses, you can see that hilarious footage on the Quilting Arts blog. Just think of all that great dance music from the 80's blasting on the convention floor and attendees furiously creating something to impress the judges and win some awesome Quilting Arts prizes. The competition is intense spurring people to do crazy things like put gel medium in their hair! Remember this from Houston last fall?

Tuesday, April 07, 2009

Make It University

This year, I will be doing two MIU workshops during International Quilt Festival called Metal Magic, the first workshop will be Saturday at 4pm, right before Project Runway at 5:30 and the second one will be Sunday at 12:00.

This project will give participants the opportunity to try out Lesley Riley's transfer paper TAP (I have pre-printed some with images from my paintings since we won't have a printer available at the show), aluminum metal that can be cut with decorative scissors, embossed and even hand stitched and also work with grungeboard, a very cool hybrid of chipboard and some polymer type material. This is a fun little project to try out several different products and techniques.

I am scheduled for Open Studios thursday evening from 6:00-8:00 pm, that's where I will be embossing copper for the small mixed media canvas books.


I just found out today that both my classes at Festival, Tsukineko Inks (thursday) and Painting Fabric for Whole Cloth Quilts (friday), are completely filled, wow! I am looking forward to meeting all of you who signed up. I can't believe it is only a week away, hopefully I won't be coughing anymore and will have my energy back, because I am really going to need it.

Wednesday, April 01, 2009

If only good health were as easy as taking a pill

March was one long series of illnesses in my house, I really hope that April brings some fresh air and sunshine, I could really use it. I managed to stay healthy the entire month taking care of sick kids, now it is taking it's toll and I am struggling to fight off a cold.

Yesterday, I received a wonderful email that brightened my cold and sniffly day. Diane Barret, who took both my workshops Mixed Media Painted Fabric and Tsukineko inks in Atlanta last August, sent photos of the work she has produced since then using some of the techniques she learned.

Absolutely beautiful Diane, you have been busy!

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