But Where Are All The Martians?

Well, it's very exciting that the Mars rover Curiosity has landed with newer high tech equipment ready to beam us back some new pics of the Martian landscape, but my guess is it's still going to look a bit stark.

I made this quilt after the first rover landed on Mars in 2004 and all the photos showed a barren rocky landscape. I prefer thinking of Mars as depicted in 1950's B movies with sexy Martian ladies and crazy carnivorous life forms.

Do you think we'll get anything more exciting to see this time around?

Hectic days, an old artquilt gets a face lift and spring fever.

I've had so much going on the last couple weeks it's been hard to sit down and write. Between my recent travels, I sold two quilts to a friend/collector who's moving to England and sent my daughter Indigo off on a last minute month long trip to help her get set up in her new place.

Getting Indigo off was an adventure in itself with procuring an expedited passport. Because of her less than traditional upbringing, moving many times over the years, being homeschooled for half that time and working as an artist/photographer herself, she's pretty much off the grid and having a hispanic last name probably didn't help. Her passport was stalled 3 times for requests for more information and identification. The most outlandish information requested was whether her mother had prenatal care and when the appointments were. Really?!?! Who the heck remembers that after 22 years!

When my friend asked me to show her what was available, I knew I had two quilts that would resonate with her. She has been going through a difficult divorce along the same time line as me and we have shared a lot over the last few years. So I felt like she needed to see 3 of Swords.


This quilt is about feeling torn open and raw (with exposed painted red batting) from betrayal and loss but finding peace while working through the pain and creating something beautiful from it.

The other quilt, Joan of Arc, hasn't seen the light of day in many years. I made it in 1999 after going through a breast cancer scare and lumpectomy that thankfully turned out to be benign. The style of this quilt seemed like a good fit for the historic town she was moving to and she was coincidentally dealing with a questionable mammogram the week I showed it to her.

This quilt is pieced and appliqued with painted and hand dyed fabric. I felt that before I could pass it on it needed a little more work, so I put a new back on it to help it structurally to hang better and added more quilting in several areas, near the sun, moon, flames and most importantly the horse.

I had a lot of fun adding ornate decorative quilting stitches to the horse, thinking about all the carved stonework in the gothic architecture of England.

I am happy these two pieces have found such a perfect new home.

Now I'm having a hard time sitting at the computer when I really want to be outside enjoying the beautiful unseasonably warm weather we are having. Who could imagine Chicago would be 80° in March!

8 of Cups - finished

After the quilting was finished, I marked out the finished size: 24" x 60", sewed a tight straight stitch just inside the marked line, then trimmed it to size.

To finish the edge, I chose 3 different cords that picked up the colors in the quilt and used them to make a couched twisted cord binding.

DETAILS

8 of Cups progress

I am finally getting some time to work on my latest piece. I decided I want the quilting to have less loft and dimension and instead have more stitched illustrative details, so I am using wool felt instead of batting. Luckily I had a big piece of yellow felt that a friend gave me during a recent purging that was just the right size.

I placed a layer of Mistyfuse between the felt and the painted top and did the same with the back. I wouldn't do this with batting because the fusible web penetrates the batting, glueing both the top and back together reducing the loft of the batting, but for this project that is not a problem.

For the back I used left over fabrics that had mistyfuse already adhered to them from the Agave quilt I made several years ago. I don't do fusible applique very often so the fabrics have just been sitting on the shelf not getting used.

For the quilting on the cups, I am using back thread in an illustrative way, using it to create more visual dimension that looks more like drawn lines.

That's it so far, I don't think I will make very fast progress on this piece right now. I have a very busy couple of months ahead of me, not only with the holidays, but I need to start clearing out possessions and get my place ready to put on the market in January. I am planning to move back to California in the spring. I need to stop living in the limbo I've been in the last three years and take my life back and that begins with moving and getting my divorce finalized. Never thought I'd be starting my life over at this age, but hey if it doesn't kill ya, it will make you stronger right?

Woo hoo! Just got notice

Oh Deer, Look What's Become of me! will be heading to Houston for International Quilt Festival!

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Summer long artquilt exhibit at the National Quilt Museum, Opening Today!

I am very excited to announce that 5 of my quilts will be in an exhibit at The National Quilt Museum in Paducah, KY with the Chicago School of Fusing gals; Laura Wasilowski, Frieda Anderson, Melody Johnson, Emily Parson, Anne Lulle and Jane Sassaman opening July 15 and running through October 4, also exhibiting with us is the amazing textile sculptor Susan Else.

There are also several other fantastic exhibits at the museum happening at the same time. It just might be worth a trip to Kentucky!

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Have you always wanted to paint but don't know where to start?

Oh Deer, Look What's Become of Me!   detail

In August I am teaching one of my favorite classes Painting Imagery for Art Quilts at the Create Retreat in Lisle, Illinois, just outside Chicago.

I love to teach this class not only because I love to paint, but also because I love seeing peoples amazement when they are able to do things they never thought they could. People are hesitant to try painting, because they have this misguided notion that certain people have an "artistic gift" that they themselves do not possess, so they don't even try.

Learn to use freezer paper masks and painting backgrounds

Well I am here to tell you that is baloney, painting is a skill, consisting of various techniques that with practice you can perfect, the more you practice the more natural it will become. The reason some people are so good at painting is because they do it a lot and you need to keep in mind it's never too late to start.

Learn to paint smooth gradations

Painting on fabric is unlike painting on canvas though, with canvas the paint sits on the surface and you can push it around and manipulate it. On fabric the paint sinks in and stays, so there are different techniques you need to learn to cover large areas smoothly, avoiding blotchiness and keep the paint from bleeding.

Learn what tools and techniques to use to control the paint more effectively.

The consistency of the paint is one of the first things we talk about in class, it is such a simple thing that can make the act of painting so frustrating for people. Too thick and the paint is hard to spread on the surface evenly, too thin and it bleeds in places you don't want it to go.

Learn to paint smooth gradations, work with transparent glazes and paint fine details.

Besides learning different painting techniques for creating gradations, glazing paint to create more visual depth and painting smooth lines, you'll also learn about different types of paint, how each affects the hand of the fabric, increasing value contrast in your work to create more dynamic imagery, basting a painted surface for quilting and non traditional binding methods.

This is an information packed class geared to help you feel more confident working with paint on your next textile project.

I would love to see you at Create this August, last year was a blast.

A quilt of love and healing for Melly

The day Melly Testa told a small group of us that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer, we started a massive email exchange brainstorming and designing a quilt that she could wrap herself in while going through chemo. We wanted a way to show Melly how much we loved her and no matter how far away we were, we would be with her in spirit to support her all the way through it.

Those of us who made blocks for the quilt were myself, Lyric Kinard, Jane LaFazio, Kelli Nina Perkins, Tracie Huskamp, Alisa Burke, Gloria Hansen, Jill Berry, Carla Sonheim, Diana Trout, Pokey Bolton, Jamie Fingal, Leslie Tucker Jenison, and my daughter Nina Perez

We decided the quilt would be made of 12 inch and 6 inch blocks featuring birds which anyone acquainted with Melly knows she loves. That it would have a lot of blue, a color symbolizing healing and would incorporate words. The back of the blocks would be cozy blue cotton flannel and the batting would be wool so it would be lightweight and warm. It is a quilt meant to be used.

Lyric generously volunteered to stitch the finished quilted blocks together and she added a pocket on the back so the quilt could be folded into the pocket with a strap for carrying. 

These are the blocks I painted.

12" x 12"

6" x 6"

6" x 6"

6" x 12"

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Down the home stretch

Two months ago I began this painting for a quilt, unfortunately it got put on hold because several writing projects came up. I have been very quiet the last two weeks because I had to get back to work on it full time to make the deadline for it this week.

When I prepare a whole cloth painting for quilting my secret weapon is Mistyfuse. I am not fond of basting and when I discovered Mistyfuse could replace hours of tedious basting with fantastic results, I never looked back. I love this product and never make a quilt without it anymore.

I place my painted fabric face down on a surface I can iron on. For that I have a large plywood board wrapped with batting and muslin that I put on top of my work table. Then I cover the back of the fabric with a layer of Mistyfuse.

That roll is a bolt of mistyfuse.

Mistyfuse is as light as a spider web with delicate little strands of fusible adhesive, which will not change the hand of the fabric at all.

I lay a large silicon pressing sheet or parchment paper over the top and iron at the hottest setting.

After the whole back is covered with Mistyfuse, I put a bed sheet on the floor and spread the wool batting out on top. Next, I put the quilt top on with the Mistyfuse side down on the batting. Starting in the center of the fabric and working my way concentrically outward, I iron it on the hottest setting, fusing the top to the batting.

Then I turn the whole thing over, with the painted fabric face down on the sheet. I cut one to two inch squares of Mistyfuse and place them in a loose grid approximately 6 to 8 inches apart across the batting. I carefully lay the backing fabric over the top and iron the surface, which effectively spot fuses the back fabric to the batting.

And then I begin quilting.

When the quilting is finished, I block the quilt by pinning it to the carpet and steaming it. This smooths it out, puffs up the batting and makes the quilt lay flat.

Next it's important to make sure the quilt is square by using large straight edges and triangles to check all the corners.

I use a Bohin chalk pencil to mark the finished size of the quilt for cutting.

Then I trim the excess quilted fabric away leaving an extra 1/4 inch seam allowance all the way around to sew the binding to.

I prefer a faced binding which is not visible from the front the quilt, giving it a nice clean finished edge.

Black and Bloom All Over

Finished size 36" x 48".  Lastly I have to stitch the binding down in back, then sew on a sleeve and label, but that can wait while I get back to other tasks, like cutting fabric for my classes next week. 

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Coming Soon!

Really, I always feel a little shy when it comes to promoting stuff like this, it's so hard to toot your own horn, but I taped a new DVD with Interweave when I was in Cleveland last month. It is due to hit the store shelves in a couple weeks. Below is the outside cover of the dvd, if you click on the photo you should be able to see all the details.

This DVD is filled with as much information and demonstrations as I could squeeze into an hour. I cover a lot of the tips, tricks and products that I have found work best for me when I make art quilts. Later in the month I will do a few blog posts to supplement some of the info on the DVD. You can pre-order Design, Paint & Stitch here.

Remember this?

Well, now I can tell you that this detail shot is from a tree skirt I designed and made for the new Quilting Arts Gifts magazine.

This tree skirt was made like a whole cloth painted quilt, but it could also be made by applique if that is the way you like to work.

This issue is full of really great projects. One of my favorites are Kelli Perkins' rolling pin recipe book scrolls, I saw these at the IQA Chicago show and they are too die for!!!!!! Pre-order your copy now.

I am featured on the Dinner at Eight blog today

I have been  interviewed for the Dinner at Eight Artists blog, coinciding with the Beneath the Surface Exhibit that will be opening at IQF Long Beach July 23-25. My 3 of Swords quilt will be part of this traveling exhibit.

Complimentary Encounter

Complimentary Encounter, Judy Coates Perez 12" x 12"

I made this little quilt for an exhibit that friends were putting together for the Dallas Quilt Show earlier this month. Some how in the midst of everything I forgot to post about it.

I started this little whole cloth quilt by drawing my design on paper and placing it under white cotton fabric and tracing it lightly with pencil onto the fabric. I traced the outline of the birds and butterfly onto freezer paper with a sharpie then cut them out and ironed them to the fabric to create a resist.

With a wide flat brush, I painted a wash of blue paint partially mixed with white paint over the fabric so that I would get streaks of light and dark blue. This would be very difficult to do if I was trying to paint around the birds and butterfly.

Because there is blue in the color green I knew that I could paint the stems of the plants over the blue background with out a problem.

Painting the orange on the birds would have been a problem because blue under the orange would have created a dull muddy orange instead of the bright clear orange on the birds breasts.