A January "Anything But White" Sale!

Quilt artist Frieda Anderson is offering a terrific special during the month of January: With every order of $20 or more, she’s including 48 (yup – 48!) 5” pre-cut hand-dyed fabric squares.


 And just look at the colors!  The fabric shown at the top of the photo is the one-yard piece of Lime/Purple that I ordered, and these are just half of the squares she sent along as my gift!  And she tied it all together with a gorgeous strip of more fabric, shown at left.  I’m in Hand-Dyed Heaven!  Visit her web site and take advantage of this fantastic, colorful offer.

And a very Happy Birthday to my “twin sister” Marilyn Rock – be sure to take a peek at her blog for more visual delights.  Have a wonderful day, Marilyn!


Diane

"It Was a Very Good Year"

I seem to be quoting Old Blue Eyes a lot lately . . .

My thanks to all of you who took the time to leave some great advice on my pre-Christmas blog post.  You reminded me of the important things to remember during the holiday season: letting go a bit, focusing on family and friends, remembering to breathe in and out.  Sometimes we just need to hear someone else tell us what we know to be true.

It really has been a very good year, and it was made even better by some recent exciting news: one of my quilts, "Dizzy," was accepted by Lark Books to be included in their upcoming publication, "500 Art Quilts," due out in the spring of 2010.  What a thrill!  I am so honored to have this little art quilt selected by juror Karey Bresenhan for inclusion in this collection.

Thanks you all for sharing in my joyful news -- and here's to a most creative 2010.

Diane

You CAN Teach An Old Dog . . .

Obviously, I’m learning many new things as I travel through my corporate commission experience.  Here’s a picture of one of the color boards that was given to me so I could coordinate the quilt colors with the furnishings of the nursing home.  As many of you most likely already know, colors of home decorating fabrics are difficult to find in the quilting world.  Even when I had decided to use Kaufman’s Kona cotton, with over 250 colors available, I found I couldn’t match some of the shades in the upholstery fabrics or in the Formica© countertops as well as I had hoped.  I did my best, and the directors were pleased with the choices I made, but it was time-consuming and more difficult than I had imagined, especially since I was working with those itty bitty squares of color in the catalogs.

And then, because of the long period of time between my presentation and my receipt of the check for the second installment, I discovered that Kaufman had discontinued one of the colors (your groan goes here).  A bit of scrambling ensued, and I located it through eQuilter, bless them. 

So here are the fabrics, all washed and ironed; I plan to starch them as I use them to make the cutting and piecing process more accurate (I've read that, if you starch fabric and then store it for too long, you run the risk of the fabric attracting silverfish – has anyone had that problem?  Please let me know!). 

As always, thanks for taking this journey along with me – it’s a lot more fun with company.

Diane

Postcards With An Edge

"Garden Party I"
In the spring of 2006, I challenged my self to make one small art quilt each week. My goal for each piece was to try a new technique or to experiment with new design elements. I named the collection "The Notebook Series," both for the size of each piece (8" by 10") and the idea that each one told a story of my inspiration for that week. You can see some of these pieces on this page of my web site.

The project lasted about 6 months, and I concluded recently that one of the reasons for its demise was that I had chosen a relatively large size within which to work (that's my story, and I'm sticking to it . . .). So, I've decided to revisit the idea of weekly art quilts, but to limit the size of each one to 4" by 6". This smaller format should be more conducive to starting a design, knowing that I'm more likely to complete it in a few hours. Also, I'll have a finished piece that I can use in several ways -- to give as a gift, to trade with another artist, or to sell at quilt shows in which my art group, ARTAA, participates (sounds good on paper . . .).

Here is the first of what I hope will be many Postcards With An Edge. The elements are fused, the piece is machine quilted and embellished with French knots, and I printed a fabric address label for the back (do not adjust your computer -- the printing is a little wavy, but I plan to get better at this).

So, in addition to my resolution to Live Outside The Box, I also plan to Make More Art in 2010.

Here's to a New Year filled with creativity, happiness, and good health for all of us.

Diane

"It's That Time of Year . . .

. . . when the world falls in love . . .", sings Frank Sinatra from my radio, except I can't seem to get into a very loving mood right about now. The Annual December Stress Level has reached amber, and I'm getting a little crabby. A good friend of mine told me to let some things go, so I tried to eliminate eating, but I became even crabbier.

I do want to thank all of you who wrote such lovely comments on my last post; I did not thank you through individual emails, as I would have liked to do, so I guess I did let something go last week. I just don't like the way I feel when I can't do everything that I feel I should. I don't bake Christmas cookies anymore, and somehow the time that I think I'm saving has been filled up with something else -- I haven't figured out what that is, though.

Okay, enough grousing. Let me tell you instead of how grateful I am for family, friends, and health, and for the wonderful connections that I've been fortunate to build with all of you. Your kind words of support and encouragement lift my spirits constantly, and I look forward to reading your comments, as well as your blogs, each day. Bless you.

And if anyone has any tips on Surviving The Next Twelve Days, please let me know.

Diane

Outside The Comfort Zone: The Holiday Version

In looking through Mary Nordeng's book, Extreme Makeover: Feather Edition, I came upon a page of sketches with a lattice design that reminded me of holiday ornaments nestled against each other. I thought it might be fun to make a Christmas card featuring one of these ornament shapes, and I started playing again (this "play" thing is addictive, isn't it?).

After drawing the design and tracing it onto green background fabric, I sandwiched a layer of batting between the green fabric, a piece of Pellon Craft Décor (a stiff fusible interfacing), and the backing fabric. I then stitched the design, using Sulky rayon and Madeira metallic threads. I attached a hanging loop to the back, and since the piece is 5" by 7", it could also be displayed on a tabletop plate holder.

I hope to try making these in different color combinations -- a goal for Christmas, 2010, if I want to keep my sanity this month . . .

As I was writing these last two posts, I remembered a student in one of my math classes from many years ago. "Phoebe" was every teacher's dream student: She was hard-working, polite, and intelligent, and she loved participating in class discussions. She also happened to dress in a style that could best be described as Emo: dark clothing, dye-streaked hair, black boots. One day, she volunteered a wonderfully innovative solution to a difficult problem on the board. I became really excited (we math teachers live for such moments) and I said, "Wow, Phoebe -- you're really thinking outside the box!" And she said, "Mrs. Evans, I live outside the box."

So one of my goals for 2010 is to do more living outside the box, and I'll remember Phoebe every time I do.

Diane

Stepping Outside the Comfort Zone

Feather Play I

(16" x 16")

Inspiration for this little art quilt came from several terrific sources. During a workshop in May, quilt artist Sharon Schamber encouraged me to include more texture in my quilting by adding small scale stitches to the larger motifs. And quilt artist and fellow blogger Jill Buckley posted a lovely piece of work to her site that helped push me in the right direction. I asked Jill's permission to adopt her idea and blog about it.

I then referenced Mary Nordeng's Extreme Makeover: Feather Edition, a gem of a book which I purchased from Kim Brunner's web site, and I adapted one of Mary's sketches for my design. I auditioned a number of different micro-stippling patterns inside the feathers; in the end, I decided to use just one pattern repeated in each feather.

I used my lightbox to transfer the design to the fabric; then I pulled out the 30-weight and 40-weight rayon threads and began stitching.

I had so much fun playing with this technique, but it did take me some time to complete the piece because I work so s-l-o-w-l-y. I wouldn't want you to hear the sound of my machine as I quilt -- a friend who took a class with me told me that she thought I could probably hand-quilt faster than I was machine-quilting. Watching me stitch is as exciting as watching grass grow. But I do find that quilting is meditative for me -- works better than sitting in the lotus position and chanting "ohm."

So, I say "thank you" to Jill for her inspiration and to all of you who follow my blog and send along great words of support -- you lift my spirits.

Diane