karenworks

Link to my blog

2011-04-28T17:59:00.000-07:00

Here is a link to my new blog location: http://karenworksart.com/

Please join me there.

Karen

My blog has moved

2010-07-31T19:19:00.000-07:00

Check out my new blog at www.karenworksart.com.

I am very excited about my new website.

Let me know what you think!

Whats going on?

2010-07-25T07:31:00.001-07:00

It has been one of those crazy weeks when I did a lot but don't have much to show for it. My friend, Denise came to visit and we cut 20 balls of yarn into 4 yard cuts and then knotted them together randomly and rolled them into this big ball. Now I have to figure out what to do with it! I am open to all suggestions. We also spent time in the dye studio with Debra and here are some of the results. I dyed silk and polished cotton and did a lot of overdyeing of yucky fabrics.
I also spent time fusing Wonder Under to the back of fabric and slicing it into different shapes in preparation for a "summer" series. It has been hellishly hot here so yellow, orange and red seemed appropriate with a touch of purple to cool us down.

My daughter is in the editing phase of a novel and I am chief editor so I have spent a lot of time with a red pen this week. I love it but it does take me away from my quilting. So....hopefully next week I will have a finished project to share. Thanks for your patience.

Phoenix Rising

2010-07-18T07:42:00.001-07:00

Okay, I can not tell a lie. I made this quilt 5 years ago to celebrate my 50th birthday. As you know, the Phoenix rises out of the ashes and is reborn. So I figured that was a good way to start the next 50 years. This piece hangs in my studio and watches over me while I sew. It measures 58 x 70. Each feather was free hand quilted and the purple feathers and head are wrapped around timtex so they stand off the quilt. I put in 20 hours satin stitching the flames alone. They whole piece took me 65 hours and I do remember that it was pure fun.

I have lots of projects in process right now but nothing quite ready to show. I am also working on a new website that will feature my quilts instead of my patterns. I will let you know when it is up and running.

Circles and Crop Circles

2010-07-11T10:15:00.000-07:00

Recently I was introduced to Perfect Circles, an easy and quick way to make fabric circles for my quilts...and as you can see, I am hooked. After making a number of circles I had to ask myself...what the heck am I going to do with them? Then it dawned on me...crop circle inspired quilts.

I had seen crop circles in a magazine 10 years ago and I had to buy the magazine just for the pictures. After a little research on the internet, I was hooked. The designs are so beautiful, intricate and precise. I truly can't believe that they are being created by humans. They appear overnight without a trace of human involvement. And there are lots of them appearing each summer in England and now in Italy. For great pictures check out this site: www.lucypringle.co.uk

This is just one of the many fabulous patterns. Needless to say, I am inspired. How about you?

Fabric paper

2010-07-04T16:38:00.000-07:00

I have been reading about fabric paper and although I did it once with my quilt "Reaching for Torah", I wanted to try it again. The weather was gorgeous so I set up a work table outside covered in plastic and put down my piece of muslin. I watered down white glue and merrily sloshed it onto the fabric using a foam brush. I did small areas at a time so that the glue didn't dry before I was ready for it to. I placed tea bags randomly onto the fabric and covered them with a coating of glue. My friends and I had saved tea bags all winter and after they are used and dry out it is easy to open them up and dump the tea. I love the colors that the tea stains the paper. You can see that I had a few circular tea bags and a coffee filter too. I added some mulberry paper that had similar colors and let the whole thing dry. The next day, I covered it with a teflon pressing cloth and ironed both sides and it flattened out beautifully. I may cut it up or I may quilt it as is. For now, it is hanging on my design wall until I get a brilliant idea.

End of the book

2010-06-27T11:20:00.001-07:00

So now we come to the final pages of the book This is a picture of my parents at UCLA where they met. Needless to say we are steadfast Bruin fans.

I used clear buttons and handmade lace pieces to highlight this snowy scene.
I love this picture of them sitting on the car.
And this is my favorite of them all. Couldn't my Mom have been in a Betty Crocker commercial? Here she is with her first Thanksgiving turkey. The picture just screamed for rickrack!

More Mom

2010-06-20T09:56:00.000-07:00

Here are more pages from the cloth journal. I love the paw prints with the dog.

This is the only picture that my Mom did not want in the journal. Any idea why?

My Dad was a pilot in World War II. They met at UCLA after the war.

The lace squares were hand made by my father's relatives.

A book for my mother

2010-06-13T07:50:00.001-07:00

We got some wonderful blank cloth books in the quilt store and after seeing a blog by Bee, I just had to try my hand at decorating pages. I opted for old photos of my parents - my mother in particular. I used buttons, ribbon and embroidery for embellishment.
I started out by cutting the doubled pages apart and sewing the framed pictures to the background of each page. I tried spraying the background of this page with paint but I didn't have much control over the paint. The reason for slitting the pages is so that your stitching doesn't show on the back side. When the pages are all completed, you sew them together again in pairs.
This one has old hand made lace around the picture. It was handed down through the family and probably made by my father's mother.
I had a great time playing with fabric, embellishment and design. Next time I will show you more pictures from the book.

Happy quilting!

Green

2010-06-06T03:33:00.000-07:00

I took an online class by Susie Monday about using graphics on fabric. I decided to print the word green on thick handmade paper from Thailand. I used different fonts and different shades of green. In some places the paper was a little too thick going through my printer so there are dark ink marks but for the most part, the lettering worked well. I cut out the individual letters and glued them to the background fabric after playing with the arrangement.
I sewed down the skeleton leaves to my batik background and did some hand stitching with my hand dyed threads. It was a wonderful opportunity to use what I had learned in a project. Be sure to check out the other pieces for this challenge at www.12connected.blogspot.com

Tidal Force

2010-05-30T06:30:00.000-07:00

I created this quilt for the SAQA show called Creative Force. What is more creative than Mother Nature at work? I used two photographs that I took while on the Oregon coast as my guide. The quilt did not get into the show but only 50 quilts were chosen from more than 350 so I don't feel too bad.
I did a lot of intense quilting on beautiful hand dyed fabric. I used Angelina fiber to get the splash of the waves and added seed beads by hand.
Here you can see the Angelina better.
It took me 12 solid hours to quilt the whole thing but I listened to some good books on CD in the process and I truly enjoyed watching the quilt unfold before me.

Galaxy

2010-05-23T05:51:00.000-07:00

This is a close up of the quilt that I did for Kreinik using their blending filament and braid. I wrapped some metal washers with the braid to get those perfect circles.
I used the blending filament to couch down the braid and because the colors match, it was perfect.
Here is the whole quilt....looks like outer space to me.

Compartments

2010-05-16T11:00:00.000-07:00

The art critique group chose compartments for the next challenge word. We revealed them on Friday and these are the results. Sadly once again blogger has decided to tilt some of my pictures and I don't know how to correct that. This is Nancy Pagani's wonderful quilt made out of tea bags. I wish that you didn't have to tilt your head to the left to see it correctly.

This is a close up of Tina Somerset's Kangaroo quilt.

Luckily the full size is the right direction.

Shirley Snowden opted to create bowls and they remind me of Chihuly's glass pieces.

Rona Barnes made a purse with lots of compartments.

Lola made this container using wire and beads.
My piece is made out of wool felt.

Here is Elaine Turcke's piece using photo transfer and a 3-dimensional apron.

Debra Wolfson used her own dyed fabrics and thread.

And Betsy is our painter in the group. We certainly have a wonderful mix and I love the way we all processed the word in different ways.

Pillows

2010-05-09T08:41:00.000-07:00

I have been making pillows using some wonderful thread made by Kreinik. The kitty was drawn by my friend, Jayne Wangen years ago and we made patterns for hand embroidery from it. It is called Purr-fect Pillow after our cat by the same name. For this pillow, I sewed every line twice using Kreinik's blending filament.

Sunny Smiles is another of Jayne's designs. This time I used braid and sewed it down with the blending filament. I love the thickness of the braid and the sparkle in all of the threads that I used.
I found the threads to be strong and easy to work with. I have a small art quilt to show you using these threads in the future!

Happy Mother's Day everybody.

Dunderhogan #9 - Flying High

2010-05-02T07:20:00.001-07:00

My latest challenge was to create my own fabric and use it in a quilt. I stenciled with Lumiere paint and rubber stamped with paint to create the texture on the bodies and the borders. I used embroidery floss wrapped around those white plastic curtain rings to create the eyes and I used wire for the balloon strings.
It was fun to return to the Dunderhogans again.

Embroidered and Embellished

2010-04-25T11:31:00.000-07:00

I just completed a wonderful online class through Joggles.com called Scrumptious Surfaces. We began with a picture which we simplified into lines. I enlarged the lines and outlined them in embroidery thread. Then I got to play with stitches to fill in the spaces. I sewed on linen which I have never used before and I learned new stitches along the way.

My design began with the image of a tree with moss growing on it. The heavily embellished areas are the mossy areas.

I used different kinds of threads, yarns, buttons and beads. I created the little circular shapes using chiffon and the netting underneath them that reads darker in the photo is actually netting that I bought in Morocco. They use is as a back scrubber but it looks like fishermen's net. It came in a number of earth tones and I had to have some of each!

I used wooden buttons that I found at yard sales and stone beads that I purchased along the way. The chiffon circles are sewn down with seed beads interspersed.

I loved creating this piece probably because I love handwork and embellishment so much. Each step required a decision and the choices were endless. I am happy with the outcome and would love to find the time to do this again. It was the perfect project for a trip....those early mornings when I couldn't turn my clock around and needed to entertain myself!

The Fritilleria Challenge

2010-04-17T07:49:00.001-07:00

The most recent challenge for the Rogue Art Quilters was to create quilts celebrating Jacksonville, Oregon's signature flower...the Gentner Fritillaria. We all began with the same fabric and went in any direction we wanted to. They are being displayed in a local restaurant in Jacksonville.

I already posted mine earlier on this blog.

This one was created by Jill Lee-Jones and I have been told that she has already sold it to someone who saw it at the show. Congratulations, Jill!

Kathy Lang created this piece.

This is by Suzanne McBride.

This quilt is by Kathy Robbins.

Here is Elaine Turcke's quilt.

And Carolyn Wolf's quilt...our wonderful show coordinator.

Since I was out of town, I haven't seen the quilts in person yet so I can't give you detailed descriptions but we are getting wonderful comments from people.

Time out

2010-04-11T06:07:00.000-07:00

I thought I would share pictures from my show at US Bank in Ashland. It will be up until mid-May.
A bunch of Dunderhogans hanging out together.

My daughter Shayna is an au pair in Milan and my mother and my son, Jordan and I are visiting her. We are all going to Morocco together for 10 days so I may return with new inspiration for future quilts. Hopefully I will also have something to share when I get back. I can't go anywhere without some needlework project to keep my hands busy.

More soon,

Karen

Radiating Color

2010-04-04T05:49:00.000-07:00

The word for the 12 connected group is color and the grand reveal took place on April 1. You can see the rest of them at www.12connected.blogspot.com. For my piece I chose to cut up a lot of different batiks with a serrated rotary cutter. Then I fused the batiks to my black background fabric and free motion quilted over them to hold them in place. I quilted the background fabric and bound the whole piece about a month ago.
It took me until just last week to finish needlepointing the circle using lots of different fibers. I cut away the excess canvas and sewed the circle to the quilt. Then I crocheted two of the needlepoint yarns together to form the edge around the needlepoint. I sewed this yarn on top of the canvas by machine. I really enjoy hand work so the needlepoint was fun to do when I had quiet moments in my day.

Liquid Thread

2010-03-28T06:00:00.000-07:00

I love reading blogs and one of my favorites is by Terry Grant at www.andsewitgoes.blogspot.com. A while back she explained how she uses a product called Liquid Thread instead of a fusible like Wonder Under...and of course, I had to try it. She waters it down using 1 part water to two parts Liquid Thread and I followed her instructions. However, I thought I should shake the bottle to mix it up and I think that may have been a mistake because I had to deal with a lot of air bubbles when I went to use it!

I also learned not to put too thick a line of glue down so I am practicing using a lighter touch. In any case, I created this little wall hanging using Liquid Thread and was very happy with the results. The Liquid Thread does a great job of sealing the fabric so that it doesn't fray and once it is glued, that fabric is not going anywhere! I have started using it to glue my labels onto the backs of my quilts and it works wonderfully for that. No more sewing labels on for me!

Inspired by Nature

2010-03-21T06:34:00.000-07:00

SAQA put out a call for small quilts to auction off as a fund raiser and I got inspired. I began by playing with dyed fabrics on a black felt background. I added silk, upholstery fabric and painted tyvek. I did a lot of hand stitching using hand dyed thread but it still needed something more. That is when I went to nature and added a piece of bark and those little stems with the balls at the end. They are actually from a package of potpourri that has been airing out in my garage for awhile! Stinky stuff but when the smell goes away, the materials are great for quilts.
If you click on a photo to enlarge it you will be able to see the stitching better. I had a lot of fun making this piece.

Endless Leaf making

2010-03-14T11:20:00.001-07:00

My son, Jordan is getting married in December and he and Katie want me to make a wedding canopy with a tree on it. So I am making leaves....lots of leaves. I start out by fusing two batiks together with wonder under in between. Then I draw a leaf shape on the fabric and start free hand quilting the outline and the veins. I go around the outside twice to make the stitching more secure. When I have a sheet of leaves finished, I cut them out and soak them to get the marking lines out. They curl up a little as they dry which makes me happy because they look more natural that way. Hopefully you will see a finished tree by the end of summer.

Gentner's Fritillaria

2010-03-07T07:59:00.000-08:00

The Rogue Art Quilters have a challenge going with the subject being the Gentner Fritillaria, a wildflower that is only found in Southern Oregon. The town of Jacksonville calls it their signature flower. We are hanging a show in Jacksonville and the flower was the perfect choice for subject matter. We are all using the black and grey batik that is in the center of my flower.

I used a variegated thread for all those little filler stitches in the background of the flower....kind of fun despite being very time consuming.

I crocheted a fuzzy needlepoint yarn and appliqued it down for the centers of the flower. I love the fuzziness and the sparkle that I got from the yarn.

Sanctuary 12 x 12

2010-02-28T06:00:00.000-08:00

My art critique group unveiled their sanctuary pieces on Friday and I took pictures. Sadly Blogger has decided that some of them look better sideways and try as I might, I cannot convince it otherwise....so you will have to tilt your head. GRRRRRRRRRR....

This first piece is by Tina Somerset who did a wonderful job with machine embroidery. Outside of her sanctuary door are all the things that pull on her...and inside is her sanctuary....a wonderful bathtub waiting for her to relax in.

Rona Barnes finds her sanctuary in the Sabbath and she created a piece that shows the Sabbath candles. She isn't quite finished since her puppy decided to chew on her sewing machine cord but she is almost there.

I photographed the duck pond at Lithia Park and transfered the picture onto silk. Then I needle felted the tree on the left and used silk ribbon and silk thread for the leaves on the trees. There are a lot of French knots in those trees.

Elaine Turcke created a wonderful tree with machine thread work and bead embellishment. I love the way her small piece fits perfectly onto her larger background.

It was a good challenge and hopefully I will have more to show you as people finish them.

Citra-solv collage and sneak peak

2010-02-21T16:31:00.000-08:00

The latest Cloth, Paper, Scissors Magazine had an article about using Citra-Solv Concentrate on the pages of a National Geographic to get an other worldly affect. I tried it one day and was thrilled with the results. Of course, my kitchen smelled overwhelmingly like an orange orchard and I had pages everywhere...but oh, the fun every time I pulled a new page from the magazine. I finally tried my hand at collage with some of the pages yesterday. I fused a layer of Wonder Under to a canvas and then I fused the National Geographic pages on top. I came back in with some markers to highlight a few areas but the pages were pretty phenomenal without my help.

Quilting wise....I have been working on a large wall hanging to submit to SAQA's Creative Force Show. I have been listening to great books on tape like Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell so I know that I have 16 hours of quilting in the piece and another 13 hours of embellishment. I don't even know how many hours I spent creating the top in the first place.

I can't show you the quilt until it has been juried in or out but here is a sneak preview of the quilting and the beading. I used Angelina Fiber to add some glitz.
I am working on the binding right now.

Dunderhogan #8 - Attack of the Butterflies

2010-02-13T21:14:00.000-08:00

In my art critique group we challenged ourselves to use a panel and create a quilt from it. We all started with batik panels that I had purchased in Bali over 10 years ago. My panel looked something like the picture on the right.

I wanted to do another Dunderhogan since I seem to be on a roll so I put Wonder Under behind the whole panel and cut out the butterflies and the leaves. I backed each piece with a second fabric so that they would be more sturdy when I sewed them to the quilt.

I wove the background again and stuffed the Dunderhogan a little once he was on the quilt top.

Then I sewed the leaves and butterflies down - only partially so that their wings flap. Ilan decided that I should call it attack of the butterflies and I think the Dunderhogan would agree.

Now I am trying to finish a quilt for an SAQA call for entries. I have 16 hours of quilting in it and the embellishment is about to begin. Sadly I can't post it for awhile. Check back later!

This week I also began an Etsy store where I have begun to post some of my patterns. I was surprised at how many I have! You can check them out at www.easy2sewpatterns.etsy.com.

12 connected : Sanctuary

2010-02-07T08:04:00.001-08:00

I am in a new challenge group called 12 connected. Since my last name was the earliest in the alphabet, I got to pick the first theme for the group. My word was Sanctuary and the results from the group are wonderful. You can see them all at www.12connected.blogspot.com. Be sure to look at older posts because they aren't all visible on the first post.

I chose to use a photo that I took in Lithia Park while walking with my mother. We came across a fearless young deer (aren't they all fearless around here?) who let me take his photo.

I transfered it to fabric and created a collage around him using dyed cotton and silk. Then I quilted around him so that he would stand out against the background and I continued the lines of the branches behind him into my background.

All the quilts are supposed to be 11 x 17 which is not a size that I normally work in so that was the real challenge for me. Our next challenge word is "Color" and the challenges will be revealed at the beginning of April. Stay tuned.

Dunderhogan #7 - Lost in the forest

2010-01-31T10:31:00.000-08:00

My quilting buddies encouraged me to do a 3 dimensional Dunderhogan so I created Lost in the Woods. All of the leaves are two fabrics fused together with Wonder Under and then free hand quilted individually. Then I cut them out and sewed them to the piece.

You can see from the close up that she has 3-D antenna which were created by wrapping florist wire with variegated yarn. I sewed her body to the quilt and then stuffed it to get the dimension I wanted. Her feet and arms are made of felt so they flip up off the quilt too.

Here is a side view so that you can see how dimensional it really is. I seem to be on a roll with these little guys....wonder what I will come up with next?

More Dunderhogans

2010-01-22T04:12:00.000-08:00

Two more Dunderhogans to add to the family. This is a close up of "Multiplied". I practiced my free hand quilting on their bellies.
Again I wove the background fabric and used metallic washers fro their eyes.
This Dunderhogan is called Exploded. I began by weaving the background and then decided to leave half of it free and wild.
I am still using puff balls for their bellies.

I am going to LA for a Craft and Hobby Convention so I decided to post early because I won't be around on Sunday. I have another Dunderhogan in the works to reveal next week!

Adaptations:What empty nest syndrome?

2010-01-16T20:50:00.001-08:00

The Fiber Arts Connection in California has a challenge called Adaptations...how we adapt to changes in our lives. I pondered the subject for a long time and finally decided that I would create a happy quilt about how I have adapted to an empty house after raising 4 children. This quilt is the result. The "nest" began in a class with Carol Taylor where I learned how to couch wonderful yarns. The small embroidered pieces were inspired by an article in Quilting Arts or Cloth, Paper, Scissors...I love both magazines and can't remember which one I got the idea from. If you click on the picture, you can see a larger view of it.

I thought about how I fill my time now that the kids are gone and travel is high on my list of things to do. I went to Egypt last December and will visit my daughter who is an au pair in Italy this Spring. My oldest son is getting married in Thailand this coming December so my life is full of travel plans.
I love being out in nature and I try to walk in the mountains every day...if it isn't raining.
Rascal is my Labradoodle and my baby. He follows me everywhere and I would be very lonely without him.
Art is a high priority for me...especially any kind that involves fiber.
I love to read and since my daughter, Marni published her autobiography last year, it had to be one of the books in the pile.
Gardening is a new adventure for me. I grew wonderful tomatoes last year and the deer even left a few for me to eat. This year they will be seeing stronger fences around my garden.
My newest hobby is playing the guitar. I treated myself to one for my 55th birthday and have been teaching myself by watching DVDs. I absolutely love it.

Each embroidered piece was done on linen and then mounted on timtex and felt. I used variegated embroidery floss, crystals and some silver needlepoint floss to add glitz. I also used fabric markers in places to add color. The nest was made as one large piece and then cut into smaller units. I sewed each unit to a backing fabric so they are all finished pieces. Everything was sewn to a piece of tulle and then mounted on a larger piece of purple felt. This was an ongoing project over a number of months just because I only did the embroidery at odd moments when I had time. I loved getting back into embroidery and hope to do more of it in the future.

Rusted

2010-01-10T11:02:00.000-08:00

This was my last challenge for 2009. I used fabric that I rusted this summer using bicycle parts and vinegar on an old, rusty cookie sheet. The spokes between the circles are tea bags that look kind of rusty after the tea dries and you empty the bags. I used a pink mist to even out the colors a little.
I also got to use real metal parts that I have been hording for a long time. Hopefully this quilt will travel. I will let you know.

2010 plans and blessings

2010-01-04T09:29:00.001-08:00

Maybe I should start the new year with prayers and blessings. I finished this tallis (prayer shawl) and shipped it off to New York so that Jordan (whoever he may be) can use it for his Bar Mitzvah. In a way, it was the perfect project to end a wonderful year of creativity. I haven't spent time looking back over my blog but I know that I created a lot of work and didn't miss too many Sundays of postings...and I do feel so blessed to have the opportunity to create my art.

My word for the new year is Focus. When I put up my show at Grilla Bites, I realized that I do a lot of different things - always trying the newest products and techniques which is great for teaching but not necessarily great for coming up with a body of work that is identifiable as mine.

So I have been examining the things that I real like ....lots of free machine quilting, lots of texture whether with yarn, beads, soy silk or fabric. ....and I love using batiks and hand dyed fabrics.

Now to the goals for the year: to do two series - continue with the Dunderhogans and create a more deep and meaningful series. Continue to do work for challenges and call for entries and aim to get another piece in a SAQA show this year. So where is the Focus? I guess I will need to pass on a few minor challenges and focus on the big stuff.

Don't worry....I will continue to post weekly but maybe I will post works in progress instead of finished pieces. In any case, the postings keep me on my path and I appreciate that you are out there reading them....I would love to hear from you too. Any suggestions? What are your goals for the new year?

Heart book and practice

2009-12-27T19:05:00.000-08:00

My sample book is finally finished and I am pretty happy with the results. Sadly blogger has decided to show the pages turned sideways so you will have to twist your neck to look at them. Ah well....

Anyway, I will be teaching these techniques at Quiltz as one hour hands on classes starting in February.
I also found a wonderful website by Leah Day. She posts new free machine quilting patterns regularly with a video demonstrating the how-to of it all. Email me if you want her blog address. I did these two pieces in a matter of minutes and plan to continue practicing with others. She already has over 100 of them on the web and plans to create 365! Worth checking out for new ideas.
I have been working on a few pieces that will be unveiled in the New Year. Speaking of the New Year...my resolution is to continue with the Dunderhogan series and come up with a more serious one too. I want to use my dyed fabrics and do a lot more free machine quilting and embellishment. What are your goals for the New Year?

I would love to hear from you.

Dunderhogans

2009-12-20T08:58:00.001-08:00

I have been wanting to create a series and over Thanksgiving my son Jordan suggested that I do a whimsical one. We came up with this creature who we named Dunderhogan since my father used to call us that when we did something silly. All the creatures have washers for eyes, stripes on their antenna and fuzzy belly buttons. I wove the backgrounds out of two fabrics before creating the Dunderhogans. I did this series in conjunction with my critque group. We were studying the color wheel so the first one was black and white and he is The Original.

The second Dunderhogan was all green fabric or monochromatic.

I call it "Going Green".

The third Dunderhogan was created using complementary colors and I call him "Check it out". It is amazing how the backgrounds change appearance depending on the value of the fabrics used.

The fourth Dunderhogan was a double-split-complementary color scheme and I really had to think about that one. I plan to do more in this series using other restrictions rather than color. I learned a lot from this exercise and had fun in the process.

scarf, t-shirts and more

2009-12-13T10:28:00.001-08:00

It has been very cold and icy here lately. This is a picture of the stream in my backyard. I am guessing that a neighbor had a water pipe burst because I never get this much water flowing until the snows melt! It is beautiful to look at and very solid.
Another t-shirt quilt for my friend Therese in memory of her father.
This scarf was made from a silk hanky. I spread the fibers between two pieces of Solvy and sewed them together with metallic thread. It is delicate but warm.
And lastly a picture of a part of my show that is hanging at Grilla Bites. I was surprised at how large the walls were and had to run home for more quilts. It is great to be able to show my work to the public.

Symbiosis challenge

2009-12-06T09:29:00.000-08:00

My critique group chose the word Symbiosis for our challenge this month. We all created 12 x 12 pieces and they are phenomenal. Tina Somerset used foiling to get that sparkle on her spiderweb and she stenciled leaves over the top using paintsticks. Very effective.
Shirley Snowden used dyed fabric for her background and black and white felt for her zebra. I love the rear view!
Nancy Pagani used wonderful batiks for her piece and I realize that blogger turned it 90 degrees so you have to tilt your head to get the full affect. Sorry Nancy!
This one by Lola Sonnenschein is obviously turned too. It is very dimensional and the next picture shows how her spider stands off the piece.

I opted for black and white velvet and a chance to use some of my button stash.
Darn it! We have a bird on his nose! He is actually on the back of a rhino. Elaine Turcke made this one and she bound it with a chiffon ribbon.
This is a photo that Carolyn Wolf manipulated in photo shop. I love the colors that she used.
Betsy Beyer had fun needle felting onto mesh wire. Her piece stands on it's own and you will have to ask her for a detailed explanation.

We were all very pleased with our work and hope to hang a show one of these days so you can see it in person.

So. West Nine Patch

2009-11-29T09:41:00.000-08:00

So, here it is at last...my South West Nine-Patch, a commissioned, Queen size quilt....just when I swore I would never do a big quilt again. What was I thinking??? It took 29 hours just to piece the top! But on the bright side, I did listen to some good books on tape in the process and I got to use a few beloved fabrics from my massive stash. Working at a quilt store means that I am always using the newest fabrics so my stash rarely gets touched. It was so nice to revisit some old favorites.

I am happy with the results but you are all my witnesses...I never want to do a queen size quilt again. Don't let me!!!

Irises

2009-11-22T08:20:00.001-08:00

Almost three years ago I took a workshop with Phil Beaver and we painted on fabric. These Irises came from that painted fabric. As usual I went home and painted a lot more fabric and haven't gotten around to doing anything with it yet....but the Irises have been haunting me. The quilt top was finished and the pieces were all tacked down with glue which was what had me really scared. What would happen when I started quilting?

I finally bit the bullet...mostly because I was procrastinating about beginning a new series and I quilted the piece last week. Amazingly everything stayed pretty much in place and the glue washed out when I needed to reposition a few leaves.

I used 30 weight thread in some places and I love the way it came out. If you click on the photo, you can see the quilting better. What a relief to have this one finished at last.

My texture series

2009-11-15T20:40:00.001-08:00

Okay, so I joined the SAQA Visioning Project and I decided that my goal is to work in a series this year. While I pondered the true nature of my series, I decided to return to the series that I began upon my return from Ohio. All of these pieces are done on 8 x 10 wrapped canvas pieces which I bought in advance. Six are on black canvas and 2 are on dark green canvas which I painted that way. They all have at least one object from nature and they use the same color families....and lots of texture. I have used papers, fibers, soy silk, chiffon, velvet, mesh...the list goes on and on. I did some gluing and as much stitching as possible. The stitching was difficult since the canvas is wrapped on wood and the wood got in the way of the needle.

I found this piece of sea weed at the coast.

I used silk coccoons

and bark that was dyed green.

Love the sparkly yarn in these two.

Seed pods and wood that I found on a walk in the woods.

Purple cheese cloth that I dyed myself.

I posted these two a while ago when I began the series. They were the inspiration for the rest of them. ...and I still have four more to do.

Maybe next week....

Lots of Gingkos

2009-11-09T08:39:00.001-08:00

I designed this quilt a few years ago using silk pieces from a grab bag and fusing them. Yesterday I was inspired to finish it and quilting gingko leaves seemed to be the thing to do. I used variegated metallic thread and a technique for binding that I learned from Carol Taylor. I am very happy with the results.
I also finished this gingko sampler that I have been working on for Quiltz. If you click on the pictures you should be able to see more detail. Every square uses a different "art Quilt" technique - lots of fun new materials to play with. I printed the names of the techniques onto TAP - a transfer paper that is new on the market...but first I had to figure out how to mirror image the words in photo shop. TA DA! I am getting better at this computer stuff.

The hearts that I showed in earlier posts use the same techniques and materials. I plan to make those blocks into a book.

In the meantime, I have committed to the SAQA Visioning project and my goal is to work in a series this year. It inspired me to return to the collage series that I began when I returned from Ohio....a sort of warm up before I do larger quilts. I will post a few collages next time.

Fast, Skinny and what I have been up to

2009-11-01T08:12:00.000-08:00

I have returned at long last to the word of the week and the word for last week was fast. I had marbled this fabric years ago and it just looked like fast moving air or water to me.
Skinny gave me the opportunity to couch yarn and to free hand quilt with metallic thread. Neither of these pieces had me really excited.
My art critique group did an exercise where we began with our own design using values in black, grey and white. Then we did the same layout using colored fabric of the same values. Those are the pink and teal pieces. The purple piece used the same values in the same layout but I placed the values in different positions. The last piece is going to be using the same layout and values to create an out-of-balance piece. It will be a challenge because I definitely like balance in my work.

I just completed a Queen size quilt top in earth tones and as soon as it is quilted, I will post a picture. Stay tuned!

Squared

2009-10-18T08:44:00.000-07:00

This is my newest pattern made from 40 strips of Metro fabric. I love this fabric line - stripes, dots, plaids and florentine designs all blending together. I was really pleased with the results. One of these days I will get it quilted!

Passion

2009-10-11T10:31:00.001-07:00

Our Friday morning critique group decided to create art pieces that are 12" x 12" around a theme word. This month's word was Passion and a lot of us thought red or purple. Tina Somerset used some of her recently hand dyed fabrics, added folds, stenciling and angelina for glitz. I love the curvy lines that she got from a lasagna noodle!
Rona Barnes did lots of felting. She molded her 3-dimensional shape, appliqued cording that she had made herself and played with circles on her Bernina.
Nancy Pagani made the center of this piece a while ago and found the perfect Asian fabrics to go with it. It has a very calm and watery feel to it.
I designed this piece to have the Dragonfly flying off from the upper right hand corner but blogger has other ideas. I painted canvas a purple color and wrote the word Passion at various angles across it. Then I collected anything that I could find in my studio that was red or purple including the Dragonfly that was left over from another project. I enjoyed working small but it was definitely a challenge.
Elaine Turcke got lots of texture on her flame piece. I love the beading that she did by hand to highlight the outside curves.
Debra Wolfson's piece is still in progress but everything is fused and ready for quilting. She is passionate about water too.

Carolyn Wolf's passion is her garden right now and she took some amazing photographs of her tomatoes. We decided that they were very erotic. She is ready to quilt her piece too.

Our next challenge is due two months from now and the word is Symbiotic. Now that is what I call a challenge!

More hearts

2009-09-27T09:14:00.001-07:00

So here we have another bunch of hearts. Top right was done with hot glue sticks and a powder, top left was twisted yarns that were couched. Bottom left is foil on glue and the hearts on the right were down by ironing painted tyvek. That is my favorite piece.

In the meantime, I am still playing with Kumihimo braids and will show a picture eventually!

work in progress

2009-09-20T10:57:00.001-07:00

My critique group did an exercise where we looked at a masterpiece and reduced it down to darks, mediums and lights and put those shapes into fabric.
Do you recognize this piece? It was a great learning process for me to see how the artist made the different values flow across his painting.

I am working on squares that will be turned into a fiber book or an art quilt eventually. There will be 16 hearts for one piece and 16 gingkos for another. Each block involves a different product or technique and I will be teaching all of these block in a class next year. The top left hearts are made from Angelina fibers, top right are felted.
On the bottom I did beading on the left and fiber paper on the right. I am still working on the others...more next week!
I just learned Kumihimo which is a process for making braids. It is very addictive and I think that I am in big trouble now.

Rogue Art Quilters at The Key of C

2009-09-06T10:15:00.000-07:00

We just put up our latest show at the Key of C coffeehouse here in Ashland. The theme was coffee or music and we all used a piece of fabric called Dimples that came in many colors to tie the quilts together. Tina Somerset took a photo of coffee beans and manipulated it on her computer with the Kaleidoscope Maker program. Then she printed it onto fabric and embellished with beads and beautiful dyed fabrics. Be sure to click on the photos for a close up look.

Her beading is gorgeous.

Suzanne McBride also used photo transfer with a picture of her daughter. The guitar and the woman are very 3-dimensional.

Shirley Snowden made her own coffee beans out of a light weight clay so that she could sew them to her quilt. I thought they were real!

Rona Barnes created her first Crazy quilt using lots of lace and beads and tea dyeing fabric to get that antique look.

I had fun embroidering coffee cups onto felt. Shayna came up with "Mug Shots" and since I love play on words, it was the perfect name.

Elaine Turcke went with the music theme embellishing with hand quilting.

Carolyn Wolf also connected with music and used the opportunity to embellish with home made beads and pieced circles.

Carol Stocking did a wonderful job with her free-hand quilting in the background of her quilt.

The quilts will only be up for a month so tell all your friends to check them out.

Just a taste

2009-08-30T08:45:00.000-07:00

This is Shayna's quilt for Mila.

The Rogue Art Quilters are hanging a new show at the Key of C tomorrow. This is just a taste of the quilt that I am hanging. I will post all of them next week. I embroidered black felt using rayon thread - love the sheen, hate the way it twists!

I have also been making fabric earrings and helping Shayna finish a quilt for a friends new baby.

She appliqued the squares and designed the whole quilt by herself. She may have caught the quilting bug!

sparkle added!

2009-08-16T07:44:00.001-07:00

I wanted to do a sample with a new glue that we carry at Quiltz. It comes out white but when it has dried clear, it is ready to use. I dipped the tip of my finger into glitter and it stuck to the glue immediately. I used foil in the same way.

Hopefully the picture will enlarge so you can see the details better. It really added sparkle to the piece.

Paper clay?

2009-08-09T09:31:00.000-07:00

I have been playing with a soft clay that I bought in the kids section at Joannes. It is easy to work with and feels like soft paper. I smoothed it onto a piece of felt and pressed a foam stamp into it. When it dried, I painted the clay with lumiere paint and when that dried, I rubbed Pearlex powder on top to give it some sparkle. First I sewed the felt to the background piece and then I sewed the yarn around the clay to cover up the felt.

I want to play with this technique some more.

batik circles

2009-08-02T09:37:00.001-07:00

I am still playing with that curved template and loving it. ....and of course, I can never resist batiks. This one went together quickly.

Spring Table runner and Marni at Barnes & Noble

2009-07-26T08:14:00.000-07:00

I created this table runner to use as a class sample. I will be teaching curved piecing and fusible applique. I love the cheery fabric.

Marni and I discovered her book on the shelves at Barnes & Noble in Medford. The release date is Aug. 3 so we were thrilled to see it there early. We are hoping that it will reach a lot of people battling Trichitolmania and help them to realize that they are not alone.

New Series

2009-07-19T10:05:00.001-07:00

I have begun a new series which I am mounting on black canvas that measures 8 x 10. Each piece will incorporate different fibers and textures and at least one piece from nature. This time I used green velvet, soy silk fiber, a dyed bark and that orange thing is something weird from nature that came in a scented mix of leaves and roots from Thailand. I plan to repeat the same colors throughout the series. I am having fun!

Rascal went with me and Marni to Sisters for the quilt show. He posed nicely for the camera - a real first. Must mean that at 2 years old he is finally calming down.

Abbie's graduation quilt

2009-07-12T06:19:00.000-07:00

My niece Abbie is off to college at Rice University specifically in the music program. She loves opera and she is amazing at it. In fact, yesterday she performed at the Kennedy Center to a sold out crowd. Unbelievable.
I chose fabric with musical notes and Pam McAuliffe did incredible quilting with musical notes.

Here is a close up. I hope she feels warm and loved and wrapped in music.

t-shirts and fuzzy flowers

2009-07-05T10:23:00.001-07:00

I was commissioned to create a t-shirt quilt by a woman whose husband has recently passed away. We used his favorite t-shirts and logos from his hats. The quilt is a memorial to a life well lived.

This small quilt was the outcome of a new product that I saw in Ohio. I sewed straight lines across 7 layers of fabric following a grid. Then I cut the strips apart, and glued them to the already quilted fabric. When the glue dried, I sewed the strips in place. I soaked the whole piece to get the glue out and while the quilt was still damp, I went at the pink layers with a bristle brush. I actually bought a brush meant for cleaning grout and tile at the hardware store and it worked great. It fuzzed up the fabric so that it is very dimensional.

This is the result! A very fuzzy flower.

Cinnamon sticks and pink sunflowers

2009-06-28T09:31:00.001-07:00

Here I am with my piece "A walk in the woods" at the Works Gallery in Ohio. I was thrilled to have my quilt hang with so many beautiful pieces.

I had an incredible trip to Ohio where I took a Shibori class at QSDS and saw Quilt National up close and personal. What an experience to see those amazing art quilts. I had quilts in two other shows and had a wonderful time visiting them.

The cinnamon stick piece was inspired by one of the quilts that I saw in my travels. I love the textures and colors that I put together.

Pink Sunflowers is a store sample. I began with a batik and used a Tsukineko fabric marker to highlight some of the sunflowers. Then I beaded the centers. I sure love embellishing with beads.

Mind bender and embellishment

2009-06-12T17:03:00.001-07:00

Mind Bender is a Bali Pops quilt that I designed and made a pattern for. It is already hanging at Quiltz if you want to see it in person. I love the colors and all the subtle patterns that appear when you stare at it long enough!

This piece measures 9 x 12 and is mounted on black felt and foam core. I used more of the water soluble paper and fed some drinking straws through it. Since the straws are made of plastic, paint did not want to stick to them so I wrapped them in eyelash yarn and beads. The fabric beads in the lower righthand corner were created by wrapping fabric around a knitting needle, painting it with glue, rolling it in glitter and then wrapping painted tyvek around that. When the tyvek was heated, it melted to the fabric.

The blue background here is brown paper that was scrunched and then painted. Angelina fibers were fused on top. The weird shaped giant beads were created by wrapping a synthetic green and purple fabric the full length of a knitting needle. Then a strip of acryllic felt was wrapped over the fabric and it was hit with a heat gun. The metal wire was wrapped before the fabric was removed from the knitting needle and it allows for the bending in the bead. The beads are glued to the black felt background which is mounted on cardboard.

I am off to QSDS in Ohio tomorrow. I will be taking a class on Shibori and seeing lots of incredible quilts at a number of shows. Can't wait to report back!

Rogue Art Quilters Environmental Challenge

2009-06-07T07:53:00.001-07:00

Our latest challenge will be hanging at U.S.Bank in downtown Ashland through the end of July. The challenge was to do an environmental quilt and find a poem to go with it. We all used some soy silk fiber somewhere in the piece and we had a common fabric that comes in 5 different colors. In my quilt it is the blue fabric behind the fish.
My quilt is all about water - rain, oceans, etc. I used a batik from Indonesia as my jumping off point and I spent many hours embellishing with beads and fibers.
Each piece was created individually and then it was sewn together in a collage format.

The soy silk is the lightest fabric with the pearl beading on it.

This is the first time that Tina Somerset has participated in one of our challenges. She created her polar bears by felting wools together. Aren't they cuddly looking?

Suzanne McBride created this quilt after being inspired by a walk in Lithia Park. She did a lot of piecing to create the background before embellishing with yarns.

Shirley Snowden had fun creating lots of 3-dimensional leaves for her tree.

I love the stitching on the tree trunk. You really need to see this one close up.

Rona Barnes created this owl by thread painting. Isn't he wonderful? We watched him come to life over time - many hours of stitching and massive amounts of thread!

His face is so expressive!

Pat Gleitsmann did an incredible ocean quilt featuring this whale. This is another quilt that needs to be seen close up. She has embellished it beautifully with ribbons and fibers and there are fish in her quilting.

Can you see the fish in the upper right hand corner?

Elaine Turcke experimented with raw edges when she created her flower. It is a Fritilleria ( I may be butchering the spelling!)
Her quilt has a real feeling of depth.

Carol Stocking amazed us all with her polar bears. She used fake fur and colored it with pencils. Her Northern Lights are all free hand quilted and this quilt is just gorgeous. You have to see it in person.

There are some other quilts at the show with a nature theme that are also worth seeing. I am just showing the challenge quilts on this blog. Please visit our quilts in person and let us know what you think.

Paper waves

2009-05-17T07:43:00.000-07:00

I have been playing some more with water soluble paper. This time I painted it completely after dissolving parts of it. I used acryllic paint and added pearlex powder for sparkle. I sewed it by machine to a piece of synthetic felt and took a heat gun to the felt afterwards. The felt crinkled up in places and holes appeared so I mounted it on a piece of bright blue felt to allow the color to show through the holes.

If you click on the picture, it should enlarge for you. I have also been working on some larger quilts with Bali Pops and new marble fabric but you don't get to see those until they are quilted!

IF: Talisman

2009-05-10T09:04:00.001-07:00

I played with water soluble paper this week. I used two pieces for thickness and drew lines with ink on the top one. Then I added water with a paint brush and the uninked areas began to dissolve. I manipulated the paper with the hard end of the brush until I was happy with it and let it dry.
I painted the whole piece with lumiere paint and when it was dry, I glued it to the felt. I used fusible cording for the string and voila!
Interesting stuff to work with.

Cabbage Patch

2009-05-03T08:01:00.001-07:00

One morning while taking a shower, I focused on the tiles in my bathroom and realized that they created a pretty cool design. I jotted it down and went to work where I spent quite a while trying to figure out which five fabrics would work best together.
Cabbage Patch was the result and from that came the table runner design. They are constructed a little differently from each other so I wrote them up as two separate patterns.
They look especially nice with batiks but I would guess that any fabrics would work well.
Yesterday I scored at a garage sale on art supplies and old photos. Some of the photos date back 100 years and I can't wait to try them in a collage. Now...if I just had the time....

Raspberry Pops

2009-04-26T09:35:00.000-07:00

Quiltz finally got in a collection of fabrics called Bali Pops. There are 40 different strips measuring 2 1/2 inches each.

I selected a package of jewel tone prints (of course) and added the raspberry color to create this fun quilt. It is about twin size and it went together in a very short time.

I have created a pattern called Raspberry Pops which is now available.

In the meantime, I am playing with water soluble paper. I will show you those results in the near future. Just having too much fun!

King size Lone Star

2009-04-19T08:10:00.001-07:00

Here is the long awaited Lone Star that I created for my friends, Anne and Bob. The quilting was done by Shelley Knapp and she did a beautiful job.

This is the outside border quilting.

Here is a view of the quilt on their bed.
I haven't made a Lone Star in years and it was fun to revisit the pattern. Most of the fabrics are batiks...my favorite.

More quilting in the background around the star.

And wonderful feathers in the star itself.

The quilting is really gorgeous.

Heartist Shrine challenge

2009-04-12T10:17:00.001-07:00

The art group decided to create our own shrines after looking at an article in Cloth, Paper, Scissor Magazine. I created mine as a gift for Shayna who is graduating from Whitman College this year. I printed a photo of one of my orchids onto watercolor paper and added watercolor paint around the edges. I used a combination of papers and fabrics to create the body of the work. The butterfly is tissue paper and the shells are real. I mounted the whole thing onto Fast2fuse to give it support. The back side is another piece of Fast2fuse covered in fabric with a letter to Shayna printed on it. I fused the two sections together and satin stitched around the outside a couple of times to get a smooth edge. There is hand stitching and once again, I had fun beading the leaves that hang from the bottom. The piece evolved as I went along and I loved watching the ideas unfold as I needed them.

The yellow paper was a little too bright so I covered it with a colored tulle to mute it a little.

I got to use my new gromet gun to cover holes where I connected pieces with beads.

This is Wendy's Shrine to playfulness. I love her use of yellow. She started with a cigar box which she collaged and embellished.

Here is the inside. Doesn't it make you smile?

Patty is learning about Zen Buddhism and her shrine is a collaged piece also. She used some wonderful velvet pieces for the top part that seem to swirl around.

I love her lotus flower too.

Maya did a shrine to food. Those are real forks and the shrine is created on a bread pan that she found at a yard sale.

I love her collaged vegies in the background.

Jayne opted for a nature collage with lots of butterflies.

Her circular disk says it all: Simple Happiness asks for nothing, just breathes, just accepts, just is.

Denise used a beaded cabachon

that we made in a class with Larkin Van Horn and she mounted it on a beautiful blue batik.

She has a hummingbird in the center and wonderful pieces dangling from the bottom.

I think the curved pieces are bone and it is a shrine to creativity...if I remember correctly.

All of the shrines were unique and wonderful in their own way. It was a great project for each of us.

IF: Poise and Butterfly

2009-04-05T10:41:00.001-07:00

What better way to illustrate "Poise" than a girl trying to walk with books on her head? And it is Marni of all people! Shayna wants to know how big these pieces are - each one measures about 5 1/2 inches square. This time I printed the photo from Fabric Fun for Kids onto photo paper and sewed the paper right onto the felt.

I did this piece with my art group last Sunday evening. Just played with fusing fabrics, a little quilting and some cool buttons. I love these small (8 x 10) collage pieces. They are quick, easy and fun to create. I am just finishing up a Lone Star - king size - pictures coming soon.

IF: Subtract and Legendary

2009-03-29T09:09:00.001-07:00

Subtract gave me a chance to paw through my fabric stash and find a few cute novelty prints. Actually...I did the same thing with Legendary.
I was hoping for a dragon but Kokopelli seemed to fit the word.

Dream catcher

2009-03-22T10:06:00.000-07:00

I was given a hand dyed silk scarf to needle felt fibers onto. The silk was so light that the fibers dragged it down and I hated it as a scarf. So, I cut it in half and hand appliqued one half to some gorgeous hand dyed brown fabric. I used a thick fabric that I bought in quantity at a yard sale for the batting and it really shows off the quilting. I needed a little more sparkle so I hand stitched the ribbon yarn around the outside after binding the quilt.

There are a variety of fibers and the needle felting went very quickly.

I let these pieces dangle a little.

IF: Breezy and Intricate

2009-03-15T09:44:00.000-07:00

Here are my latest Illustration Friday pieces. Breezy started with some fabric that I had made years ago swirling paint. I added hand stitching with metallic thread and a few rubber stamped clouds.

Intricate reminded me of lace so I used some that my Great Grandmother had made and I added pearl-like beads for decoration. I have a lot of other projects in the works but they are not ready to be revealed yet.

Rogue Art Quilters new show

2009-03-08T18:10:00.001-07:00

Our latest quilt challenge went up on Friday at Fabric of Vision in Ashland. The challenge was to create a quilt that speaks of Ashland or the Rogue Valley and to use a sequined fabric in pink or silver. The results are wonderful:

Shirley Snowden created this park like scene.

Sarah Breckenridge used the pink sequins to create her wonderful circle.

Rona Barnes did two quilts based on plays that the Oregon Shakespeare Festival will be performing. We have Don Quixote fighting windmills....

and 76 Trombones leading the big parade.

Pat Gleitsmann recreated the Elizabethan theater with gorgeous thread painting.

I opted for pictures of Ashland and lots of green! I had great fun beading the leaves.

Elaine Turcke recreated night skiing on Mt. Ashland.

And Cynthia McKee gave us a taste of Lithia Water from the drinking fountains on the plaza.

Christine Smith recreated her Craftsman house and the cat on the stairs is wearing a sequined collar.

Our newest member, Carol created this wonderful Shakespeare quilt.

Note the sequined beard!

The show will be up for the next two months. Don't miss it!

IF: Instinct and Urban Decay

2009-03-01T09:43:00.000-08:00

This is my photo of Urban Decay in Ashland. It is the remains of a greenhouse which has completely disappeared since this photo was taken. The challenge was to take a section of the photo and create a quilt out of it.

I used soy silk to replicate the plastic sheeting and my gelatin printed fabric to replicate the wire fencing.

Buttons were added where there are circles in the photo. I mounted the quilt top on black batting, layered a backing behind it and quilted the piece leaving the batting exposed around the outside. No binding.

Insinct was more difficult. As you can see I am not much of an illustrator but my first thought when I saw the word instinct was to run!

Celebrate and Modern Amish

2009-02-22T10:07:00.001-08:00

This is my Illustration Friday piece using skeleton leaves and colorful yarn. I felt like celebrating nature.

I created Modern Amish for a challenge where we were to begin with a traditional pattern and make it contemporary. I love Amish quilts with their use of simple shapes and solid fabric. I used hand dyed fabrics from Cherrywood that I have been hanging onto for a very long time. I chose the simple Bars quilt design and broke the bars into a lot of little pieces. The Amish always seem to throw in a zinger fabric and mine is the red.

I quilted heavily across the surface of the quilt ignoring the pieced design and just having fun.

IF: Time and a velvet container

2009-02-15T09:47:00.000-08:00

Diane Ericson gave us an assignment to make a container for something we hold dear. I began with my hand dyed velvet and started beading in a circle. That turned into the flower in the center. I continued with swirls and just let myself play. Very enjoyable and relaxing.
I topped it off with a couple of large beads in the corner.

The Illustration Friday word was Time and since I have been playing with rusting fabric, I decided to use a piece of it for this week. Rubber stamping and some old lace which I stained in a cup of tea finished it off. I have had a lot of fun rusting fabric. I walked Rascal along the railroad tracks and picked up lots of rusty metal things. I layered fabric and metal things on a rusty cookie sheet and put another layer of fabric on top. Then more rusty things and more fabric. I poured a solution of 1/2 vinegar, 1/2 water over the top and left it in a trash bag for about 36 hours. Voila...rusty fabric.

IF: Flawed and beaded bag

2009-02-08T08:03:00.001-08:00

I am taking a class with Diane Ericson and her first challenge to us was to create a container for something you like. I decided to start beading on velvet to create a bag to hold special cards that I look at daily. I began with the flower in the middle and let the project speak to me as I went along.

I have been taking a watercolor class and realized very early on that I am not meant to be a "painter" who does landscapes or anything realistic. I just like to play with the paint. Since we began by making a lighthouse, I knew that it would be the perfect way to express the word "flawed". I am having a lot of fun doing the word that comes up every Friday. I ponder it during the week and usually get around to making something on Thursday...just before the next word is revealed.

I spent a good part of Saturday playing with gelatin printing. Rayna Gilman's video and book inspired me. Debra joined in the fun and every piece looks different and wonderful. Now I need to figure out how to use them in my quilting. We printed on black fabric with lumiere paint so they have real sparkle. I will try to post some next week.

Climbing and helpers

2009-01-31T17:04:00.001-08:00

First I want to show you the helpers who hang out in the studio with me. Ilan is 6 and Rascal is almost 2. They are evenly matched at tug-of-war and they keep me entertained.

Darcy is a collie who just got a complete makeover. He seems much happier now that he can actually feel it when we pet him!
The Illustration Friday word this week was "climbing" so I used my rubber stamps again and had fun embellishing the piece. I have also been working on lots of other projects which will be unveiled slowly. Stay tuned!

IF: Pale

2009-01-25T10:04:00.001-08:00

Once again blogger has decided to turn my photos when I post them. Grr.... I am going to have to figure out why this is happening. In the meantime, I will tell you that I have started a new project. If you got to www.illustrationfriday.com you will see an incredible number of blogs by artists in lots of different areas. Every Friday a new word is posted and the idea is to create something inspired by that word. My first word was : Pale and aside from the look on your face when you see something scary I wasn't sure what to do. I checked out the dictionary definition and the first description that came up was talking about pale as being a division between one area and another so I ran with it.
I have also completed a King Size Lone Star quilt top but I won't be posting it until it is quilted.
We had a great meeting with Diane Ericson at Quiltz on Thursday night. I came away with a lot of ideas on how to get creative but the biggest thing for me was her comment: You want people to say "look what she did with the fabric" not "look at that fabric". That one hit home. I also got the message to stop saving my favorite fabric - use it! And I plan to do just that.

Art group Self portraits

2009-01-18T16:32:00.001-08:00

My art group has been working on self-portraits for the last few months and we unveiled them the other night. Carol made this beautiful bowl and brought it with the following words:

Her life is at a turning point and she is waiting to see what will fill her bowl next.

Denise did this piece using wax and angelina fibers and all kinds of found papers. Unfortunately it didn't photograph well.

Jayne began with a cigar box which she decorated completely.

Inside was fully decorated with found objects pertaining to her or beginning with her initials: JLW.

She included a book in which she collaged pictures of herself in new and different settings:

Unfortunately, blogger wants to tilt the picture so you have to tilt your head with some of these!

I created a piece from things in my studio and gleanings from garage sales. I began with the circle and had fun attaching items. The smiling photo is me when I am in my studio. The other photo is me when I have to cook for people! The photos spin around.

I attached cooking items and sewing items and wrote my name with game board pieces.

Maya made a beautiful book of collages and once again you have to tilt your head to see them. They were hard to photograph and I wish that I had gotten pictures of more of the pages.

Patty says she has big ears and never leaves her house without lipstick so here she is....freckles, bags under her eyes, wrinkles and all.

We sure don't see her that way!

Wendy's piece is also about finding herself - a common theme among us. She is definitely not afraid to use yellow.

We all had a great time creating our pieces and sharing them with each other. Now we are pondering the next art challenge, a name for the group and direction for the coming year. It is sure to be a good one.

New Year - New show at the Medford Library

2009-01-11T11:01:00.000-08:00

To start off the New Year, the Rogue Art Quilters have a show at the Medford Public Library. The theme is books or reading and we all used one particular batik in a variety of colors. We also had to put text on the quilt somewhere. This gentleman belongs to Terry Stone.

Sarah Breckenridge did a lot of bead work and hand quilting.

Rona Barnes used lots of "fish tales" for her quilt. Can you identify all of the stories? Her sign gives the answers:

Patty Duggan created a whimsical piece with a book worm on it.

Pat Gleitzman featured "The Secret Garden" in her quilt. Wonderful details:

I photographed my two favorite kids, Shoshana and Ilan and photo transfered them to fabric.

Elaine Turcke used her grandaughter as her model.

Denise Johnson used Rumi for inspiration.

Cynthia Mckee scanned books onto tissue paper which she affixed to fabric. The bindings on some of them look like real leather. This is one to see close up.

Photos just don't do it justice.

Christine Smith retitled her books to be appropriate for cats.

Carol Stocking opted for a book on Penguins

Her ice is fabulous. The show will be hanging for a few months so all you locals should check it out.

Last post of the year

2008-12-21T07:36:00.000-08:00

Since it has been snowing a lot here my evenings have been pretty free - my days too for that matter. So I finished up a lot of projects. We got some great new striped batiks at Quiltz and I just had to do something with them so this wall hanging was born. It is a great brightener on a gloomy day. We also got in a gorgeous line of flannels and I just had to create a snuggly rag quilt using some of them. Luckily my co-worker, Carol volunteered to do all the snipping. It took her three hours. .. and I really appreciate her help.

I knit these scarves for the two kids who I babysit for. Shoshana picked the yarn and Rascal had a field day with it before the knitting began. Two balls of ribbon yarn wrapped around him, Darcy(the collie) and the coffee table. It looked like Mardi Gras in my house. He was so pleased to see me when I returned home to the mess.

I am teaching a class on felt applique and I needed a quick and easy sample.

This one was fun to create and the sewing was easily done during a couple of meetings that I attended. I was really tempted to buy more wool felt after creating it but I stopped myself from filling that online shopping cart when I realized that I really don't need $150 worth of felt....the colors were so gorgeous that I wanted it all. Ah well...

maybe next year.

Hi Everybody,

This is my last post of the year because I am off to Egypt on Tuesday to celebrate my mother's 80th birthday. She is a retired travel agent and we just can't get the travel bug out of her blood. Should be an incredible trip with the whole family.

I am pretty proud of myself looking back on this year. I actually posted something every week except one! Not bad. And I have four things to post today to make up for future misses. I intend to continue my weekly postings upon my return so expect to see something mid- January. I do love blogging because it keeps me on track and it is great to share what I am up to.

So a special thanks to those of you who read my blog and especially to those who make comments. May your holidays be full of love, health and happiness and may your New Year bring more of the same plus a lot of creativity.

Much Love,

Karen

Add Pizzazz

2008-12-14T08:44:00.001-08:00

It has been another busy week with lots of quilting going one. I started the Asian quilt at the store a while ago and I just had to get it off the wall and finished so that took priority. It is a simple pattern using great fabrics.

I am gearing up to teach some new classes so I also needed to get some samples done. This one is for my Add Pizzazz class. We will be playing with Angelina fiber, fusible braid and crystals. I had so much fun creating this one. The braid fuses really easily and I like the look.

I quilted it with a variegated thread and I was very happy with the outcome. The flowers seem to be dancing.

I know this picture is in here twice but I can't figure out how to get rid of it!

Batik Scarf

2008-12-09T08:41:00.001-08:00

First I have to apologize. I have been so busy the last few days that it only hit me Monday morning as I was running out the door that I had forgotten to post! This has been a crazy week. I was notified that "Slick" was accepted to the SAQA Transformations Show and I am thrilled beyond belief. The funny thing is that I made that quilt for me - because I wanted to try new techniques - not because I was hoping to get it into a show. So I have learned a huge lesson - I need to create for myself rather than for others....
My mother saw a scarf at our fabulous local yarn store, Websters and she wanted me to see it. The original is made from silk but I tried it with batiks. After a few mishaps, I finally figured out an easy way to create it using Solvy and I love the outcome. I will be teaching a class on it at Quiltz next year.
I have also been making a Lone Star quilt as a commission and after sewing diamonds together for about 4 hours, I discovered that I cut them at the wrong angle and I have a 6 pointed star instead of an 8 pointed star. Quite the surprise! Back to the cutting mat...
I will post more next Sunday. I promise.

Tallis and bag and wedding collage

2008-11-30T17:05:00.001-08:00

This piece was created as a wedding gift for Rebecca and Danny. I used parts of their invitation in a collage format.
It was great to work with paper for a change.

I was commissioned to create this tallis and matching bag with my friend, Maxine. She created the corner pieces and I put it all together. We enjoy collaberating on these projects and people definitely get one-of-a-kind tallit. For those who don't know - a tallis is a prayer shawl that is worn during Jewish services. When you put it over your head, you create your own sacred space within the congregation. A tallis is often given on a Bar or Bat Mitzvah when the child is considered an adult and can lead services as a full participant in the community.

Art pins

2008-11-23T22:07:00.001-08:00

It has been playtime at my house this week and I have had the best time making unique pins out of Tyvek...yes, the stuff you see wrapped around houses when they are under construction. I paint it, melt it, add glitter and beads and a pin on the back and voila! I have a one-of-a-kind piece of wearable art.

I am selling them at the Artisan's Gallery in downtown Ashland and at Quiltz if you want a closer look. They are $10 a piece or two for $18.00. I have been wearing one on a vest for over a year and they hold up well. Once the plastic is melted, it is not going anywhere.

Here are a few examples. No two are alike and I could never repeat a shape even if I wanted to.

I think they are really fun!

Slick

2008-11-16T22:03:00.001-08:00

Slick was created in pieces as a collage. I began with a batik that I purchased in Bali years ago. I cut it into pieces, layered it with batting and backing and quilted the pieces individually. I zig-zaged the edges to complete each piece. Then I carried them around with me and spent a lot of time adding stitching, beads and a wonderful fiber that I bought at the fly fishing store.
I quilted two other fabrics and played with the arrangement of them all. I still needed a lighter fabric to link the larger pieces so I created a new fabric using soy silk fiber. This fabric was cut into narrow strips and sewn between some of the other pieces.
I allowed pieces to overlap each other as the collage grew and took shape. It reminds me of an oil slick and the colors that we see reflected in oil thus the name.

I also used large sequins in places to cover circles that I didn't like in the batik!

The finished piece is pretty large and would cover a wall nicely. I loved the process and plan to do it again. It is the perfect way to feature unique fabrics.

Beach art

2008-11-09T09:14:00.001-08:00

My art group spent a few days camping at the beach and we challenged ourselves to create art from found objects. We did use glue and wire to hold things together but almost everything else came from nature.
Wendy created this wonderful 3D piece using lots of driftwood, seaweed and a feather. I particularly like the circular shell that hangs off the end in the upper right hand corner.

Patty made two creations...one using crab shells and a feather and the other using dried seaweed and shells. She mounted everything on a board.

Maya created a self-portrait using colored pencils, shells and wire. Do you see the resemblance?

Karen made two projects - one using

driftwood and shells.

The other was inspired by Wendy's 3D piece. It uses seaweed and lots of shells.

Here is a close up.

Denise painted her background and used shells, feathers, seaweed and driftwood. The two pieces on the left side dangle from her work.

We all had a wonderful time - stretching ourselves in the process.

In Stitches

2008-11-01T05:44:00.001-07:00

In Stitches is a show that the Rogue Art Quilters created for Middleford Yarn Store in Medford. We all used a piece of an off-white fabric, "Seduce" yarn by Berocco in any color we wanted and lots of stitching! The results are wonderful.

Carol Palmer worked on her piece up til the very last minute.
It has a definite Asian feel.

Denise DeMarie was our organizer for this one and she came through with a heavily hand embroidered piece despite the fact that she moved to a new city in the process!

Elaine Turcke knit the red version of the yarn into long strips and wove them with her fabric

to create this alphabet quilt.

Karen Bates decided to do a lot of freehand quilting. She knit the yarn and sewed it to the upper lefthand corner. The odd piece on her quilt is some sort of dried mushroom.

More quilts from the show are in the next post.

Rogue Art Quilters - In Stitches

2008-11-01T05:33:00.001-07:00

Patty Duggan created this nature quilt after observing trees on her daily walks in the forest. She used the yarn very effectively on the leaves of her trees.

Rona Barnes used the yarn in the circles of her clocks. They are battery operated and keep time perfectly.

Shirley Snowden used her yarn around the bottom edge of her quilt. She did a lot of experimenting with fabric dyes to get that beautiful background fabric.

Suzanne McBride took a class at Websters to learn weaving. Her border is woven with the yarn.

Terry Stone created this dragon by knitting the yarn for his body. The needlework on this piece is amazing.

All of the quilts can be viewed at Middleford Yarn during the month of November. We are looking for more venues after that. This show is not to be missed!

Through the Looking Glass

2008-10-26T08:02:00.000-07:00

Here is another Black and White quilt. This time I began with a pattern from a stained glass window design book. I altered it a little and enlarged it greatly. Then I fused all of the pattern pieces to the white background before sewing it to the black background. The photo was printed on Extravorganza so that you can see the shiny material that I put behind it. It is a picture of my youngest daughter, Marni. She looks a lot like I did at her age so when I look at the quilt, I see a reflection of myself! She just went off to college so this is a transformative time in my life as well as in hers.

Close up of Marni and quilting.

Harmony

2008-10-19T20:52:00.001-07:00

I created this quilt during some slow days at the quilt store. I used subtle fabrics for the background and Asian fabric for the circles. It was actually designed to hang horizontally so if you tip your head to the left, you will see the way I designed it.

Here is a close up of the Asian fabric.

Lifelines

2008-10-12T07:27:00.000-07:00

This is one of two quilts that I submitted for a Black and White challenge. Since all of the quilts submitted have been accepted, I decided to post mine. To make this quilt, I drew the different swirls onto freezer paper and then I sewed the pieces to each other, folding back the paper each time so that I was not sewing on the paper - just using it as a guide. After I appliqued the black to the white background, I sewed black cording to all of the raw edges.

You can see the cording on the edge of the black pieced swirl. I don't work in black and white as a rule but I had quite a few tone on tone black fabrics after collecting for 27 years. It was good to be able to use some of them.

Black pear

2008-10-05T08:32:00.000-07:00

Here is another small pear quilt using cottons, silks, scrap booking paper and ribbon. This time I drew a pear into a styrofoam plate, applied paint to the styrofoam and printed onto black fabric. It was quick and easy and I have a 6 year old who is going through styrofoam plates like crazy. He loves drawing into them. Now we have to try his masterpieces with paint. Last week's quilt used the same technique.

A close up of my printed pear.

Off the Grid

2008-09-29T08:26:00.000-07:00

This is the piece that I began in Sherrill Kahn's class. We painted and stamped on fabric. Then I cut the pieces up and sewed them to a placemat! It saved time when it came to quilting and binding. I embellished with yarns, beads and buttons.

I have a collection of antique buttons which I rarely use so it was nice to find a place for them. I loved the process of making a stamp from a styrofoam plate and printing on fabric. I especially like the effect on black fabric. Sherrill has a wealth of information and I highly recommend taking a class from her.

needle felted bird

2008-09-20T12:38:00.001-07:00

I scored on hand dyed wool at a garage sale recently so I decided to felt a Toucan-ish bird on the back of a jeans jacket. I enlarged a pattern from a stained glass window book and traced it onto solvy. I pinned the Solvy to the back of the jacket and punched away. I used black yarn to outline the separate sections. It was a good project for my long drive to Los Angeles....but it really didn't take much time at all. When I was finished the Solvy tore away easily. I didn't even have to use water to make it disolve.

Pattern of the month

2008-09-12T11:03:00.001-07:00

I skipped last week! Did you miss me? It was the first Sunday all year that I didn't post anything - too busy in a 3-day workshop with Sherrill Kahn. You should see some good things from that one soon.
In the meantime, I got the Pattern of the Month quilt back from Pam who did a fantastic job quilting it. Be sure to look at the close up and visit the quilt in person at Quiltz. All I had left to do was the binding. So here it is...my post for this Sunday a little bit early.

Artistic hats and high tea

2008-09-01T18:46:00.001-07:00

My art group got together on Sunday for a wonderful High Tea at Carol's house. We were each to decorate a hat and wear it. I took a wool hat that I found at a garage sale and added tulle and beads.

The flower is made out of soy silk fiber and held on with the beads.

Patty made her hat from scratch by shaping buckram around a bowl and adding lace. She looks like such a lady!

Wendy started with a hat from the dollar store and added the feathers, pom-poms and yo-yos. Talk about bright and colorful!

Maya bought this crown at a garage sale - turns out it was Wendy's garage sale and she had made the crown. They didn't know each other at the time....small world. Maya decorated it with playing cards and all kinds of fun things.

Jayne's hat also came from a garage sale but she cut out the back and added the birds, bees and butterflies. Everything wobbles when she moves.

Denise found the centerpiece for her hat at a yard sale and went wild adding the extras.

Carol decorated corks left over from her husband's wine makingdays. They are painted with glitter and shake all over the place.

A wonderful time was had by all.

More and more pears

2008-08-31T20:18:00.000-07:00

This week the goal was to play with piecing. I started chapter four in the Art Quilt Workbook by piecing strips into a background fabric. My strips were cut 1-inch wide and it was interesting to see how they came together. I used one of my photographs and tried covering it with an orange colored net.
It is the first time that I have used the blue batik in this series so I decided to use it again in the next quilt.

This time I cut curves and pieced them together for the background. I used a pear that was printed onto paper which is why I got the nice white outline. I also wanted to try using a bark that I had purchased for an online class and never used. It is the green fibrous looking stuff. I fused it and the pear to the background using misty fuse. I love using a wavy rotary cutter around the edges instead of binding them - more artsy and very easy.

Pears #3

2008-08-24T07:01:00.001-07:00

Pears #3 began with the photograph which I wanted to be the center of attention. Usually I put my focal point in the middle or the lower sections of my piece so I challenged myself to make the piece work with the focal point higher up. I am happy with the outcome. I think the reddish batik helped balance the pears.

In the meantime I have a fig tree in my front yard that I have been guarding anxiously. The deer already ate my ripe figs once and there is a gorgeous one just waiting for one more day to be perfect. I should be doing figs! Maybe that will be my next series. I love the look of fig leaves.

Tote bags and pears

2008-08-17T09:29:00.000-07:00

We got a new pattern at Quiltz so I had fun making tote bags this week. I am going to teach a class this fall - they are quick, easy and make great gifts! They each took about an hour to create.

I created my second pear quilt using a photo that I took in the kitchen. I had so much fun playing with my pears and photographing them. You may see more photos of them in the future. I really like being restricted to one color palette. I think the pieces will all look beautiful together when they are completed.

In the meantime, I did finish my second Black and White quilt but I can't show photos for a while. I also started a large collage type quilt using painted fabric from Bali. You will just have to wait a while longer for that one too!

Branching out

2008-08-11T07:41:00.001-07:00

I began "Branching out" after a walk up my favorite mountain. I had to fend off Rascal who thought that my wonderful sticks were for him. When I placed them on thick teal paper from Thailand, I loved the contrast but the color was a little too bright so I covered the paper with navy blue tulle. Quiltz is carrying gorgeous "Silk and Ivory" thread for needlepoint and I just had to play with a little of it.

I laid everything out on the brown fabric, took a photo and then took it all off so that I could do the quilting. Then I sewed the pieces on top. The red skeleton leaves came from Thailand too. I really like the yarn that travels underneath the leaves and needlework.

Pears

2008-08-02T20:23:00.001-07:00

I have been extremely productive this week. I made this leaf for my friend Sherry who wanted a fabric piece to protect her hand painted wooden chimes from Bali. The leaf is similar to that painted on the chimes and the colors match. Best of all, I used Bali Batik fabrics for the project.

I am beginning an online workshop using Jane Davila's book. I have decided to use pears as my theme and stick to the colors that I found on some scrap booking papers. They were at a yard sale and the pears came with them so I decided that it was meant to be. This is my first in the series. I used some hand painted fabric, silk, scrap book papers and sheer ribbon. It was so much fun to just play with a manageable size. It is 9 x 12.
What I didn't tell you is that I finished a large black and white quilt for a contest and a challenge quilt that will hang at Middleford Yarn Store in November. I can't show you those photos until closer to that time...unless you want to see them in person....

Faces

2008-07-27T11:13:00.001-07:00

This is one of the faces that I made for the "Full of Smiles" quilt. A new line of fabric came out in skin tones so I just had to make a quilt using the different fabrics. My dear friend, Jayne volunteered to do all the hair and I think she did a super job.

Rogue Art Quilters Beach challenge

2008-07-20T08:40:00.001-07:00

Chuck Schulman took this beautiful photograph while on vacation in Italy. We chose to use it as our inspiration and we picked two fabrics that everyone had the choice of using. We also required some glitzy thread and a curve in the quilt somewhere. Here are the results:

Suzanne McBride calls hers "Life is a Beach" and she created that umbrella by covering one she found. It is a very 3 dimensional quilt.

Patty Duggan loves the human form and the string bikini is the challenge fabric. She calls it "Beach Plans".

This is my quilt. I used both challenge fabrics for the sand and I played with soy silk fiber to create the water and the waves. The umbrellas are also very dimensional.

Ellen Cholewa created "Sun Brellas" by playing with photo shop on her computer. I love the graphic design.

Elaine Turcke use rocks that we made in a Linda Schmidt workshop. They are created using puff paint and fabric paint. Very effective.

Cathy Lang painted her umbrellas and added beads for fringe.

She also played with soy silk fiber.

Carol Stocking calls her quilt "Beach House" and she used both the right and wrong sides of the challenge fabric in the foreground. She also used soy silk, fabric paint and cotton balls to get that wonderful water.

All of the quilts are on display at Quiltz in Ashland.