Lake and Mountain Quilt Guild

Last night I had the immense pleasure of visiting the Lake and Mountain Quilt Guild.
That place is filled to the brim with such nice folks
(can't say "ladies" cause there is a couple of male members too)!
They took me out to a nice, relaxing dinner before the meeting (thanks Nancy and Mary!),
keeping my nerves at bay for a little bit.
It doesn't bother me to speak in front of a small group, but yikes! a large group is a little different.
Thank goodness I was able to talk about my work instead of just talking about me.
I find that to be A Lot easier.
I had several questions last night about different links on the Internet.
I pointed people to this blog to find them but I thought it would be easier if I just post them all right here.
So, here goes. If I miss anything, someone send me an email and I'll post it too.
To navigate to any of the web sites, click on the highlighted or underlined link.
It will take you right to that particular web site.

I try to get a lot of my art supplies from my good friend Jane Powell at Random Arts.
She has closed her shop front but still has goodies to sell.
I do believe that she is selling on eBay as well.
I'll post her web site and her email address (randomarts@charter.net).
I know that Jane would love for you to email her and ask about anything that you need.
She is great that way!

I also mentioned Marie Seroskie and her Victorian Applique Designs.
She has a ton of really beautiful patterns and tools also.

I mentioned this awesome fiber art retreat as well.
Believe in Yourself retreat with Kristin Steiner and Susan Edmondson.
These two ladies run a wonderful three day retreat that,
if you liked the type of art mixed media fiber art that I brought, will knock your socks off.
I have learned so much from Kristi and Susan through the couple of years that I have known them.
And they are also two of the most creative spirits that I know.

Now, was that it?
If I forgot to mention anything or anyone, let me know!

Looks like the upstate is going to get more snow today.
I was supposed to teach the "Scraps, Fragments and Artifacts" class today
but we've rescheduled it to May 4. I think there are still a few spots in the class
so sign up before it's full.
I'll be collecting little bits of things to bring and share with everyone in the class.

I just love turning people on to mixed media art!
And their own creativity.
A lot of people have the whisperings of this fantastic creativity deep inside of them...
they just don't know how to caress it out
or how to get started.
Last night I saw a couple of people with that
sparkle in their eyes...they're onto something.
And all I can say is
Watch Out.
When they realize the power of their own dreams, there is going to be an explosion.
They are This Close to finding their tribe...
This Close.

Rose Applique Design

Yesterday I drew out this idea for a Victorian Applique style quilt. This is a picture from my sketch book.

I originally thought of it for a piece of 5"x7" fiber art...we'll see what comes of it (if anything). But the drawing is done so that I can copy it, then cut out the individual pieces for applique work. It could also be altered for stained glass.

If you have never tried the Marie Seroskie method of applique, you should. It makes the stained glass method of applique sooooo easy! Check out her web site for samples http://www.katielane.com/. She has a really cute Big Mouth Fish Bag pattern too!

Woodlands 1 & 2

I found pictures of the Victorian Applique wall hangings, albeit not that good. But the actual wall hangings are at My Quilt Shoppe so I can't try to obtain better shots of them.

Let me give some background on the series. They are a series of three wall hangings, all titles "The Woodlands" with each one depicting a different woodlands scene. Marie Seroskie, the designer, does a wonderful job with all of them. You can go to http://www.katielane.com/ and view all of her designs.

I loved going through all the hand dyed batiks and choosing fabrics. That was probably the most difficult thing about making them! I couldn't find any sky fabric that I liked, other than at http://www.skydyes.com/ but Micky Lawler was sold out at the time. Sooo, I did the next best thing. I purchased her book "Skydyes" and dyed my own! So all the sky fabric was hand dyed by yours truly. I had a ball doing it too! I plan on dying more fabric, possibly for sale or for use during classes.

Here is "The Woodlands 1- The Brook"

This is "The Woodlands 2 - The Fawn"

I do apoligize for the pictures, I'll try and get better ones when I get the wallhangings home.