Fiber Freaks

Well, I finally got up and managed to do something in this heat.
My fiber art group, Fiber Junkies (more commonly known around my house as the "Fiber Freaks"), got together at Val McGaughy's house for some Deconstructive Screenprinting. I love doing that but it's a lot of work, especially in the heat. It was cooler in Asheville though.
Judy Simmons and Val McGaughy did the prep work for us, mixing dyes, setting up the space...all that "pre-work".
All we had to do was show up with the rest of our supplies and get to work.
I didn't take any pictures (bad Carol) but I'll be willing to bet that if you go to Mary Stori or Judy Simmons blog, you'll find some in a day or two!
I've got two screens here at home that I am going to print. I'll post some pics of that.
And I also have several pieces of fabric that I am batching. When I finish them, I'll try to post some photos.

So - there you go.
I FINALLY got up and did something!

A Busy Week

Last week was so busy for the Sloan household!
We were finishing up the Big League World Series obligation,
continuing to rush about getting my son ready for art school this fall. He was accepted into Winthrop Art School- but we only have 2 weeks left to get EVERYTHING ready to go...wow- it pays to check all of your paperwork early and not wait until the last minute!
In my own defence, I have been so crazy busy dealing with my mom's estate and family members that refuse to cooperate with "due process"...
some people just do not understand that there are certain things that have to be done.
And it's not about what they want or I want - it's about what HAS to be done...
I had two demo's last week in Asheville. One on Tuesday at the Fiber Art Alliance that I am a member of.
It went very well! I think that it can be an eye opener for people to watch the mixed media background demo as they begin to look at their supplies a bit differently...
I did the same demo at the Asheville Quilt Show.
Did any of you go to the Show?
My. Oh. My.
Julie Simpson and all the other ladies did an awesome job! What a fabulous show it was! And so many great demonstrations! I was honored to be a part of the event also.
Such great talents right here in our back yards.
I was so busy looking and then teaching that I didn't take pictures. I'll bet if you go over to Judy Simmons or Mary Stori's blog they will have pictures.
Then yesterday, I sent in two project proposal's for a book that is being written.
Keep all your fingers crossed (and maybe your toes too!) that at least one of my project's will be accepted. I think they will be notifying people around the end of this month - maybe next month.

I'll try to do a better post a bit later on.
I'm going to my studio now to begin work on two small (short not small) books to send in for possible publication.
I'm real excited about this project - scared but excited!
I'll let you all know what happens with it all - one is for a magazine and the other is for a publisher (book).
I've released my dream to the Universe - let's see if it's meant to be.

Alabama Stitch Book

Have you ever heard of the Alabama Stitch Book? I found it at my local library last year and checked it out so many times that they ask me to purchase one...
well, not really (the purchase part) but I HAVE checked it out over and over and over...I just need to buy it I guess!
I love the book, I love Natalie Chanin's story and her awesome clothing designs.
I've done reverse applique in quilting before and love the textured look of it.
I love that you can take scraps of fabric, sew them together, cut out a few well placed holes and you get a totally new "look"...but I've never combined the quilting technique with regular cotton jersey (I always used cotton quilting fabric), button thread and a stencil pattern...
I'm always looking for projects that travel well...and I've found a new one!
I took one of the patterns (or I should say directions- I took the directions) from the book and gave it a run as a "travel project" and it worked wonderfully!
So, I am hooked on the technique now!
You should go out, get this awesome book, read Natalie Chanin's story and learn a few things about our friend cotton.
After that, you'll be as hooked as I am with the Alabama Chanin's approach to design and the Making of Clothing.
Here's what you're looking for - right here...
This is what I made - a reverse applique book cover.
I've added some random beading (see Mary Stori? I'm beginning to put them on Everything?!). Oh, and I'm not finished with the beading - I'm planning on adding the "fade beading" to every reverse applique opening on the front of the cover.
And here is the front cover-
And here is the back. My initial idea was to make a tee shirt but I decided to just do the book cover (journal cover actually!) instead. Wouldn't this color combination be a great Clemson Tiger fan gift?

OK- there you have it. My weekend fiber fix. That's what I did.

What about you?

Christmas News...a little late

Guess who I spent my Christmas with?

No Ideas?

How about Mary Stori,

Cate Coulacos Prato,

Rayna Gillman

and

Lynn Koolish?

Betcha' never guessed that?

My husband bought me three great books

"Mixed Media Self-Portraits" by Cate Prato

"Create Your Own Hand-Printed Cloth" by Rayna Gilllman

and "Fast, Fun & Easy Fabric Dyeing" by Lynn Koolish.

And an awesome beading DVD from Mary Stori!

I had told him that I wanted Cate's book and Mary's DVD

and then good ole' Amazon told

him that I would probably like the other ones!

How cool is THAT!

At first I thought that he had seen my "wish list" on Amazon,

but then I remembered it is not in a public form.

Then I remembered that I had seen the "If you ordered this, you may like this" list

after ordering in the past.

I, for one, am very thankful for the

"let's prompt this man to spend more money "

list from Amazon.

And I am thankful for all the talented ladies

that put so much hard work

into writing and contributing to these wonderful books and the DVD!

And if you have not see these books or Mary's DVD,

then run over to your favorite book dealer (or Amazon!)

and

check them out!

Happy Holidays All!

At the Fiber Art Alliance meeting this month, Cheryl Alderman presented Clever Ideas To Hang Your Quilts. And clever they were! I've included some pictures of various sticks and pieces of drift wood that she has used on her own quilts. It was very informative and had me thinking of quite a few ideas of my own. Check out Mary Stori's blog for more pictures (www.marystori.blogspot.com).

I loved this wall hanging! If you can enlarge the pictures, please do. You will be able to see the beading she did in the upper right hand corner. And the use of different fabrics really sets this one off.

We all thought that this wall hanging had a felted background. Upon closer inspection, you can see it is a piece of batik fabric that has been machine quilted along the design of the dye itself. How awesome is that? She added home dec trim to it as well. Very imaginative use of what is around your studio.




Look at the beading with wire that she has done to attach this to the wood...


That is one talented lady!
Thanks Cheryl

Fiber Art Alliance

Last month I joined a wonderful & talented group of fiber artists in NC. Collectively they call themselves the Fiber Art Alliance Group (http://www.ashevillequiltguild.org/FAA.html) but separately the names that they are known by may be quite well known to you. I must say I am in awe of the talent, vision and focus all of these women have. The small sampling of work that I have seen in the meetings is nothing less than breath taking.

The speaker this month was Judy Simmons (http://www.focusfabricart.com/). Her topic was Ink jet Printing on Fabric.

What an awesome teacher she is! If you ever have the opportunity to go to a lecture or a workshop with this talented lady, please do so.

She was so organized and the material was so concise and understandable. And the samples that she brought! Wow! They were all organized in notebooks with the type of fabric, backing info, all the necessary info to reproduce the results right there at your fingertips.

I have asked Judy if she would mind if I posted pics on this blog and she has kindly allowed me to do so. Have a look at the quilt with the roses on it. It is named "Memory Collage I- Japanese Beetles". There is a cute story that goes along with it that I believe is on the back of the quilt. We all need to take a clue from Judy here and be sure to document all those precious memories and the details about our art. Imagine how you would feel if you had a piece of art work or a quilt from your ancestors that had all those details on them. That would be priceless.

Look closely at the beautiful background fabric.

It is all hand dyed by Judy. She told me that the background was dyed in the microwave. It was then dyed again in a different color. Also areas are over dyed and then fused to the background. She has several overlays of photos, old recipes (handwritten) on muslin and organza. She used various painting techniques, sponging included along with metallic Jacquard paint as well. All combined it tuned in to a fabulous piece of background fabric.

When I first saw it and heard the story, what came to mind was that the quilt actually looked like what a fading memory would appear in your mind. Does that make sense? Anyway, it's beautiful and has so much dimension. If you look closely at the above photo you will see the Beetles eating away at the leaves of her Grandmother's roses...those petals are sure to be next...

The next quilts is one where Judy was encouraging us to use non copyrighted images for our fiber art...like her fingerprints to be exact! This was for a challenge , involving glass I believe but she used her fingerprints for some of the images here. Isn't that the most creative thing you've heard of?

Speaking of creative, look back up at Judy's shirt. She not only made the shirt, she colored the fabric! I can't remember all the techniques but discharging and dyeing were two of them. It is so beautiful and looked to be so cool and comfortable as well.

She is teaching a workshop in August that I hope to attend. You can check out the details at the Asheville Quilt Guild web site. (http://www.http//www.ashevillequiltguild.org/). Go to the Workshop page and scroll down to August. Here is the description from the newsletter sent to me by a dear friend.

Fabric To Dye For
Students will learn the basics of low water immersion
dyeing and microwave dyeing. Using Procion MX
fiber reactive dyes and low water immersion techniques,
students will create beautiful yardage to use in
quilts and wearables. Students will also experiment
with microwave dyeing, which creates a pale mottled
fabric wonderful for backgrounds. Both techniques
are fun and easy and students will go home with beautiful
fabrics (10-15 yards) to add to their stash. Many
visuals for inspiration and many handouts given. Supply
fee ($20) includes dyes, activator, urea and synthrapol
– payable to instructor. WEAR OLD
CLOTHES. Cost: $35.

Now, for non members, it's an additional $15. But what a deal! To borrow a catch phrase from the younger generation...I am so on that list!

Now, I've included some "candid" shots of the crowd...some names are included.

This is my buddy Patsy Thompson, with the blue shirt on. Perhaps you've heard of her or seen her awesome machine quilting? You should go to her web site and check it out. (http://www.patsythompsondesigns.com/)

There's Mary Stori and Gen Grundy oohing and aahing over the notebooks of Judy's samples.

If I have time later, I'll add more. I'm so behind in things now that I probably won't though...

Have an awesome day!