Oct/Nov Edition of Quilting Arts Magazine

Please pick up a copy of Quilting Arts Magazine, as yours truly is the Artists Profile for it! 6 page layout and interview, with lots of pictures!!

Here's a link to purchase the issue.

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Lightning Dress  recycled linens and hand dyed fabrics, hand and machine stitched, quilted and embroidered.

New work

The studio has been buzzing! I've worked on two new series of paintings. One is abstract and organic, one is figurative and moody. I love painting and I'm never giving it up. I have my sights set on a few shows to enter, so if I can get these done, photographed blah blah, I'm going for it. Painting is so personal for me, for some reason. Maybe just because I love it so. Here's a few studio shots. All of it is work in progress.

And of course, always something going on the sewing table. Lots of color.

FCCA show preview..

Here are some shots of my show at the FCCA in Fredericksburg Va. Opening is tonight 6-8:30pm and goes through the end of January.. it's a mix of new paintings and art quilts.

I made 4 element dresses, air, water, earth, sky. A slightly selfish symbol of the clothing I used to sew. Old habits don't die, they just become art pieces. I enjoyed making them, and breaking away from squares and rectangles. I'm exploring the art quilt/sculpture form, I love the idea of it.

                                               "My earth dress"            .. can you see it?

"My air dress"  wonderful hand dyed fabrics and ribbons.

                               "My fire dress" and "My water dress"  again, countless stitching hours spent on these.

I really enjoyed working on this show. To anyone who is in a show, START EARLY! It takes 10x more time than you think in will to do. On top of that, I broke my ankle in early October, so I was becoming quite clever at scooting around my chair from easel to work table.  I was not quite done hanging when I took these, no tags etc.. but I have a tendency to forget to take the pictures.  All pieces are for sale and will hang all January at the FCCA.

March show preview

Been busy...

getting ready for March show here..if you are around central Va. in March, come see it!

this is 'fields of fire' 15x38"  fiber, hand and machine appliqued, embellished and quilted.. all work will be for sale.

oh yeah, it's snowing again..

earth

I've started a new multi-media series on the four elements, earth, air, fire, water (no not the music group!) Here's the fiber start wip, earth:

About 16" square, and still a lot to go, this is fabric, beads, hand and machine sewing, couching going on.

Inspired by aerial maps, topography and especially volcanic flow.. this will evolve (ha!) into an art quilt, eventually!

slow, steady work, earth is..

stitching

I've managed to squeeze in a little stitching and sorting time..
This is a completed quilt top from Dinah Jefferies' patterns:

All of this is hand-turned applique, and it's taken me months and months to do, I always feel like I should hand quilt these, but I may be able to over come that idea!

I loved doing those ruched flowers.. pure joy!

I do still keep up the traditional quilt making, but have also worked on art quilting as well, I'm a fence walker to the end.

Here's a landscape quilt in progress:

I'm machine appliqueing the top, then I'll go back and layer hand stitching for the smaller details..

Amazing what you find as you clean and sort your stash. All of these fabrics were hand-dyed and/or discharged by me, I loved doing the discharge fabric especially. I love the result, it's the black/star patterned stuff here..

plenty of stitching going on..

This dimensional landscape is shaping up..I'm really enjoying the couching effect here!!

This primitive eagle it getting ready to take off! I haven't done needle turn applique in a while..

And this is a long scarf-strip with dyed acetate on the back, and dyed scrim (cheesecloth) on the front, interwoven with laces and floss.. a sampler of sorts..

ahh there it is, the pile of dreams!

Happy Thursday..

finished!

Well, at least 2 of them! These began as part of 'crazy quilting revisited" group, organized by Jude. Now they are on their way to here..starting in March! For sale!

Balm of Gilead:

Hand sewn, with cotton, wool and floss, hand and machine quilted, and mounted on canvas. 12x12" signed on the back.

A voice in the wilderness:

Hand and machine stitched, and quilted, embroidery floss, cotton and wool fabric, paper and yarn. Mounted on canvas.. 12x12"

These are going to be in APW gallery in NYC, starting in March.."World of Imagination" exhibit.

cleaning out

While cleaning out my studio space getting ready for the big construction deal down there, I found these from Jude's 'what iffing' group. I like the free thinking that goes on there, trying, retrying, throwing away rules and experimenting with formats and techniques. I would like to continue with these pieces, still keeping the small-ish format. Amazing what one finds when doing a bit of tidying..

Speaking of amazing, Selene's clothing blows my mind...

more

A little larger picture of the sea... about 24x36"..and has just been accepted into show! Yay! I am trying to take more pictures out and about. We really live in a very historical town, many old homes and buildings around..I just can't seem to point my camera at those, rather than the ground, or dirt or trees or water, wonder why?

orange county, ca

Is where I grew up in S. Cal. There were actual orange groves there at the time (70's-80's) but now not so much.


I am enjoying this landscape format I've been doing lately. It's a sort of painterly way to work with fabric. Not too controlled or stiff..

This is 12x12" and hand and machine stitched, with fabric, floss and beads. The smaller scale is a personal challenge going on with me lately too..

the sea

hmm, I see these pictures aren't too hot, well, that's what I get for waiting until 9pm to do something!
Anyway, this is an attempt to evoke the feel of the tide pool/ocean life without getting too literal, ie., fishies, sharkies etc.. I, on purpose picked colors and forms a little off the blue/green/aqua (ok, I had to put in some aqua..) scheme of things.

Many different techniques here, machine stitching, hand stitching, yo-yo's, beading, applique, over-dyed lace and fabric (very fun to do)..

I promise better pictures here of the latest, soon. Really.

seaside stitching

I'm working on this stitchery of a landscape, again, one of 3 I've got going, this one is done with machine and hand couching of fabric and floss. I love embroidery floss of all kinds. I wish it came 1,2 or 3 strands on a spool, though..the separating gets tiresome. *whine*

This is from some photos I took while at the beach last year, and transferred to my sketch book..

The pictures with the flash look a little better than without, I usually have the thing off..