Have you seen this?

Pretty exciting to see the quilt I painted a year ago gracing the cover of Quilting Arts magazine!

It's like coming full circle. What a year it's been. I am in the very midst of the transition the cards spoke of that inspired this piece.

8 of Cups: Moving on and letting go. Time to change direction in life. Dissatisfied and disappointed, wanting something entirely different, but not knowing what. Finding courage, taking time to rest and heal.

If you are interested in seeing how the painting progressed and the symbolism of the imagery on this piece you can click here to read about it.

Now I'm packing like crazy, sorting through 20 years of shared belongings, dividing things up and getting rid of unnecessary things (which is taking a lot longer than a typical move). I am streamlining, if that's really possible for an artist, lol, but I'm trying.

I feel almost like I'm going through a birthing process, with the last year of gestation, knowing this time was coming, getting psychologically prepared, doing the work that needed to be done to make it happen. Now I'm in heavy labor, doing the hard work and soon life as I know it will be very different. I'll be moving on to the next phase of my life in a new place with lots of new adventures on the horizon!

Kudos to Jamie Fingal and Lesley Jenisen for curating the Rituals exhibit that my quilt is hanging in at International Quilt Festival and the other 10 artists quilts from the exhibit that are featured in this issue. Hopefully I'll get a copy soon so I can see it and read Jamie and Lesley's interview.

New Hand Sewing ebook

Interweave has compiled a wonderful series of Quilting Arts articles on handwork into a beautiful new ebook Hand Sewing.

What a nice surprise to find out my article on making felted wool ornaments from the first Quilting Arts Gifts issue is included.

There are also articles by Jane LaFazio, Victoria Gertenbach, Rose Hughes and Jude Hill, just to name a few.

Removing Color article Part 2

The second article in my 2 part series on alternative methods for removing color from fabric is in the February March issue of Quilting Arts magazine. This article focuses on several techniques using DeColourant, a product that removes color but also has the ability to put color back in at the same time. Because it is a thickened paste it can be applied with a paintbrush, painted over stencils or used with a thermofax screen. There are so many interesting possibilites to be explored with this product.

In the same issue there is also an article by Kathy York on making fabric houses with pictures of the Artist Village exhibit that she curated. As well as an article about the Between the Spaces exhibit.

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Swedish Magazine Interview

Last September 11th, I met with the editor of the Swedish Quilting magazine Rikstacket for an interview. The streets of downtown Chicago were unusually quiet on that somber 10 year anniversary, but the sun was shining and it was a lovely warm day. We met at the Art Institute for lunch and chatted about my work process, the differences between teaching in the US and Europe, exhibiting work and life.

It was fun to receive a copy of the magazine this week, not being able to read a word of it, lol, but enjoying the wonderful quality of the photos and printing and getting a taste of the European quilt world.

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The Best of Quilting Arts

 I just received my copy of the Best of Quilting Arts and was thrilled to see my art on the back cover!

This book is really a nice compilation of articles from the first 10 years of Quilting Arts magazine. I am so happy my article about using teabags and other paper ephemera with fabric to make small wall hangings was included in this wonderful book that is filled great techniques and big beautiful photos of lots of gorgeous artwork.

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New color removing article in Quilting Arts magazine

I wanted to let you know I have a new article in the December/January issue of Quilting Arts magazine about discharging fabric with an inexpensive and easy use product from Rit. I began experimenting with it and found a new method of using the product with shibori and had great results with hand dyes and commercial fabrics.

It's the first of a two part series of articles on removing color from fabric. The next article using DeColourant will be in the February/March issue.

These articles coincide with the segment I taped for Quilting Arts TV series 900, that should be airing soon.

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Check out my latest article in Quilting Arts

I recently wrote an article on the way I prepare my work for quilting for the October/November 2011 issue of Quilting Arts magazine focussing on Stitch. In my article I talk about my thought process for planning the quilting designs, my preference for batting, my tried and true method of basting and marking a top with strategic design elements when free motion quilting.

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Have you seen these great deals?

It's hard to even think about Christmas and the holidays right now, but you know it will be here before you know it. Get a head start on some projects with this great deal from Interweave. After all you can't get much for under a buck these days.


Download Cloth Paper Scissors Gifts 2010 for 10¢ !

Interweave also has $5 off the digital emag In Stitches, that makes it only $9.97. Volume 3 is the issue with my article (including video) of sewing metal.

Oh and while you're at it make sure you stop by Gloria Hansen's blog for a chance to win a copy of her book Digital Essentials for FREE!

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Have you tried Transfer Artist Paper?

My dear friend Lesley Riley has a new book out for how to use the transfer paper she developed called TAP. The book is filled with great information including the pro's and cons of using TAP on different substrates; fabric, lutradur, glass, metal, wood, paper, clay..., examples of all sorts of different ways to use it and project ideas.

Lesley invited me to create a project for the book, I have been a faithful user of TAP from the beginning. TAP is a coated paper used with an ink jet printer, the image is transfered to the substrate with a hot iron.

The cool thing about TAP is that after your image is printed out, you can draw or add color with a variety of media to the paper and when you iron it to your fabric it is all transferred permanently.

I drew my image on sketch paper, scanned it, changed my line drawing to a warm gray color in photoshop then printed it onto TAP. I used Cretacolor water soluble crayons to paint my image, then transferred it to fabric. I used Kona solid cotton leftover from another project, it worked great. I found when I used a tighter woven fabric like cotton sheeting it felt a little stiff. I did a little simple machine quilting and used embroidery floss to add hand stitched details.

My daughter Indigo (Nina) has also spent some time working with TAP. She drew directly on TAP with a ball point pen then transferred it to raw canvas.

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Spring has sprung in Quilting Arts

I just got the new issue of Quilting Arts magazine in the mail today.

What a great spring issue! Loaded with flower themed imagery, just what those of us in the gloomy, cold north need, to remind us that it really is spring!

Paula Chung's gorgeous floral silk quilt is on the cover and inside she has an interview with Pokey featuring a lot more photos of her painterly lustrous silk quilts.


My friend Jane LaFazio has a wonderful article on stitched sketches, I have an article on using Acrylic Inks

and on the next page my good friend Laura Wasilowski has an article on zen doodle quilts!

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My Christmas tree skirt pattern is now available on the Quilting Arts site

For those of you who bought the new Quilting Arts gifts magazine and want to make the deer Christmas tree skirt, there is a pdf of the pattern available for download on the Quilting Arts website, that you can print out and tape together.

Get your copy now!

Woo hoo, look what I have in my hot little hands and now you can get the new Quilting Arts gifts magazine too! This is a fantastic issue, not only because I have an article on making a graphic painted reindeer tree skirt ;-) ooh, I love how Quilting Arts photographs stuff!...

but also because there are some really great projects in here. I know I totally want to make some mistletoe like in Susan Brubaker Knapp's article (click below to see a bigger photo of it),

and I adore Kelli Perkins' rolling pin recipe books!!! I know I have mentioned that before, but they are so cool and there are couple different artsy pin cushions that look really fun to make, oh I could go on and on.

What a surprise it was when I was flipping through the magazine the first time, to see a picture of me and my friend Jane LaFazio in Melly Testa's article for making these cute little printed fabric photo frames!

Another fun project to do, especially since I already have some foam stamps that I made a few months ago, inspired by Melly.

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.

IQA Journal Profile

I am so honored to be profiled in the Summer issue of the International Quilt Association Journal. It means so much to me to be recognized by this amazing organization. Thanks IQA!

Remember this?

Last February I told you I was working on a project I couldn't talk about, well, now I can! I was dyeing silk for an article for Vogue Patterns Magazine. This is the August/September issue.

I dyed rayon/silk velvet with a variety of hand dye techniques using Rit dye to make a scarf using 6 rectangular panels of fabric that are sewn together in such a way that it creates an ever changing patterned scarf.

The rayon/silk velvet was dyed to match the fall fashion forecast colors using shibori, ombre, low water immersion and solid dye techniques, that are all explained in the article.  The scarf can be worn all scrunched up with lots of different fabrics showing or hang long and drape-y as shown on the mannequin. This was a really fun scarf to make from a Vogue pattern, I will definitely be making another for my fall wardrobe!

Hand Eye Magazine article on divorce

A couple months ago Dawn Goldsmith owner of the blog Subversive Stitchers: Women Armed with Needles asked me to share with her my experiences working through grief with my textile art for an article she was writing for Hand Eye magazine titled "Healing with thread and fabric". She also interviewed my good friend Kathy York and fellow textile artist Katharine Brainard.

As artists, I feel like we are so lucky to have the extra therapeutic tools of our artwork to process our experiences to help us get through difficult times. I am also extremely grateful to have such a wonderful support system of loving friends; thanks for being there.

My 3 of Swords quilt featured in the article, will be part of the traveling exhibit Beneath the Surface which opens at the International Quilt Festival, Long Beach, July 23-25.

Some inspirational gifts for your holiday shopping

Several talented artist friends have recently self published beautiful books with Blurb and the really awesome thing is Blurb is offering a special through December 31st $10 off any books with a value of $29.95 or more.

That means you can order an image wrap hardcover copy (mine is normally $29.95) for $19.95 or get a couple softcover books with the $10 discount. To get the discount enter one of the following coupon codes when checking out:

Orders from the US (using US $):   GREATGIFT
Orders from UK (using UK £):   GREATGIFT2
Orders from EU (using EU €):   GREATGIFT3
Orders from AU (using AUD $):   GREATGIFT4

BIRDWATCHING a metal clay adventure
Vickie Hallmark compiles a themed set of her mixed-media art jewelry, hand-formed from metal clay and glass. Images and descriptions of silver and bronze jewelry, accented with gemstones, enamel and hand-painted glass, all feature bird images original to the artist. The high resolution photographs alternate with famous bird-themed quotations.

Copper On, Copper Off an electroforming adventure
Based on her popular on-line tutorial, Vickie Hallmark presents an authoritative manual for copper electroforming onto glass beads. Topics covered include theory, equipment, design, and operation, as well as troubleshooting and sources. Illustrated with dozens of one-of-a-kind electroformed lampwork beads, including her signature carved copper encasements.

Wild at the Edges: Inspiration from a Creative Life
By Virginia A. Spiegel
"Wild at the Edges" is woven from the intertwined threads of writing, photography, adventuring, and making art. "I share my inspiration and influences as well as what’s beautiful and significant in my creative life."

 
art. stitch. life. works 2006-2009
By Kelli Nina Perkins
"I decided that it would be nice to have a compendium of the last few years' worth of artwork at a glance, so I knocked together a 194 page book filled with art. This represents at least my favorite, if certainly not all my work"


Painted Threads Mixed Media Textile Art
A Portfolio of whole cloth painted art quilts and mixed media textile art by Judy Coates Perez.

My first book!

I just self published this little portfolio of my art quilts and mixed media work using Blurb. I have seen several people write about using Blurb on their blogs and thought I would try it out myself. You can preview the book here.

The book is 7 inches square, 40 pages long, printed on premium paper and can be ordered with a soft or hard cover. One of the nicest things is that I can reorder any quantity of books whenever I need them without having to pay a whole bunch of money upfront.

I am very happy with the quality of the finished book. I love the size; small enough to fit in my purse, but big enough to get a good look at the work.

It certainly is not like making a book with a big publisher for distribution and all, one of these days I will get around to trying that too, but for now this was a fun baby-step into that experience.

Ooh, I'm so excited, look what came in the mail!

I placed a pre-order for Creative Time and Space by Ricë Freeman-Zachery from Amazon, and it arrived this afternoon, just in time for me to get in some good airport reading tomorrow. Yay!
This book is so cool, please forgive the bad/fuzzy photos, the sun is going down and I am anxious to give you a look, since I won't have time to post good photos tomorrow.
This book is sure to please every kind of creative soul, there are mixed media, textile, doll, sculpture, painter and jewelry artists represented here.

Cool montage using samples from everyone's work in this image.
Photos of beautiful art work on every page.
Look, there's me and PaMdora aka Pam RuBert on facing pages.
Gorgeous studio shots
Wonderful tips and ideas from all the artists, including one of my favorite sages Judy Wise.
This book is gorgeous, I can hardly wait to sit down and start reading.