"Birds of a Feather"

I hope that everyone is enjoying the summer. It's hot and humid here in the upper corner of SC.
You can usually find me inside, far from the maddening humidity.
Playing with pen and paper, moving paint around or beading on some tiny birds that are hanging around in my studio.

This little fellow is just peeking out of my window.

This one looks kinda like a sea horse with the crocheted tail feathers!

Look at all of the beading fun on this little bird!

I love the tiny scrap of tulle that I used on the wings.
Lots of seed beads put to good use here.

Nothing like showing off a little bead embroidery, is there?

Here's a full view of the mobile with another one in the  background.

I am so excited to be one of the artists teaching at Art and Soul next year!
I'll be teaching one class in Virginia Beach in April.
The class, "Birds of a Feather", is a mixture of surface design (we paint our own fabric with Thermofax screen printing), a tiny bit of machine stitching, creating the stuffed birds (stuffed with a secret ingredient!), several different beading techniques, constructing a mobile and crocheting the wings (if you choose to use that type of wings).
Maybe that is too much for one class...maybe I will crochet the wings and bring them for everyone to pick from.
The photos above are of one of the first mobiles that I made.
Here is another -

The last one is particularly difficult to photograph...But you'll get the idea by this shot -

I'm working on (yet) another one and I think that I will weave bones and other found items into it.
Won't that be fun?!

So - you can register for next years Art & Soul now.
My class will have a kit so you won't have many items to bring at all.
I promise that it will be fun and filled with interesting techniques! You'll get a thermofax screen for the bird pattern and get to use my huge stash of screens for painting your base fabric.

I'm off to do some beading.
What about you?

Bead it Like You Mean it

I am honored to have an opportunity to review Lyric Kinard's new beading DVD today on the blog!

Lyric is a fellow host on the "Sketchbook Challenge" and I've enjoyed getting to know her there.
Oh, I've seen her work, watched her Quilting Arts DVDs and heard lots of good things about her but I've never met her in person.

Watching the DVD felt like meeting her though!

One of the things I really loved about the DVD was her voice...it sounds so calming and the distinct way that she enunciates her words made it so easy to understand what she was saying (coming from someone with a bit of hearing loss- that is important).
Bonnie McCaffery was the videographer and did a spectacular job with scene shots, the sound, and close-ups. She shot the close ups in such a way that you could see every movement that Lyric (and her beading needle) made.
Great job Bonnie!

Back to the actual content.

Lyric covers applying one bead at a time, attaching a long line of beads (seed beads, bugle beads), a curved line of beads, stacks of beads (including funky chunkies), caging a cabochon (or just making one look better!), scrumbling and how to attach beads to a finished quilt without leaving evidence on the back of it.

Whew!

I learned so many cool tips about needle selection and thread usage. Now I know why I was having so much trouble beading the edge of a small bag that I had made...

This video is PACKED with information! There is truly something for everyone here - from the newbie to the advanced beader.

And the price is right people...19.95 (plus shipping) until Oct. 12. The price increases after that to 24.95 (plus shipping). Grab it while you can save a few bucks...you can use the savings to buy more beads.

I'm giving away a copy of the DVD here on my blog!
There is one small catch though...you'll have to answer a question for me to be entered in the give-away.

Q:What is the craziest thing that you've ever seen anyone put beads on?
A: ??

So - leave a comment with your answer and I'll choose a name on Oct.7, this Friday. That will give a few days for everyone to leave a comment.
If you don't have an email attached to your blog name, please leave me a way to contact you.
Or be sure to check back Friday for the winner.

Good luck!

If you just can't wait - here is a link to go ahead and purchase it. Remember it's on sale until Oct. 12.

There are a few more blog reviews with give aways associated with them. I'll post a list of them so you can keep entering to win!


Oct 5 Sue Bleiweiss http://www.suebleiweiss.com/blog/
Oct 7 Jill Berry http://jillberrydesign.com/blog/
Oct 10 Jane LaFazio http://janeville.blogspot.com/
Oct 12 Tracie Lynn Huskamp http://thereddoor-studio.blogspot.com/

Good luck!

More Signature Wrap Art

Well, I finished the main signature wrap for my mixed media book.
The photos are out of order
but I think that you can figure out by the background fabric
what is the outside and what's the inside.
You won't be able to see the front of the back until the end of the book...
that sounded funny, didn't it?

Anyway, this is the front of the signature wrap. It will be one of the first things
that you will see when you open the book.
I added some beading to the edge, right next to the lace trim.
I love the deep dark red on the fabric I used.
The fabric on the very back is coffee stained light weight muslin.
I found it among my grandmother's doll making bags.
It smelled like my mom's house when I opened the bag.
A wave of memories hit me along with the scent of my mom's house.
The next two scans are of the inside of the wrap. I used post cards from my friend DJ Pettitt to make fiber/paper collages.
I love to repurpose vintage fabrics, linens and clothes for collage work.
Nothing is safe in my studio...
Nothing.


Here is the back of the outside of the wrap. I embroidered the stem and leaves and then added a little crocheted flower that I made. Oh and some beads for a bit of bling.

Bead Work

Why is it that you always find 872 other things to do when you have a deadline?
I do it - all the time.
I was (really , I was) working on the Deadline Project when I got side tracked
by The Camera.
Here's what I wound up doing with the beads instead of actually sewing them on the Deadline Project...

Hey! There's Jane's Wholey Paper in the above photo!
I love that stuff.

I was auditioning the colored glass beads to see which one looked the best...

the gold won out over the blue ones.

And the green ones.

It's a snow man stack of beads!

Hope that you all have a great day.

Remember to do something creative today- allow your creative spirit to play.

Meg Fowler

Have I ever talked about my buddy Meg Fowler?
NO?!?
Well, let's remedy that right now...
I met Meg at my favorite place - yep, Random Arts in Saluda NC.
I'll tell you right now that she wouldn't let me take her picture cause her hair is kinda short right now...
all you ladies certainly understand that, right?
Maybe next time Meg.
Anyway- she is a mixed media artist -an awesome artist at that!
She has done a lot of fiber art pages (like in a fabric book) but not art quilting.
She made - or tried to make- a log cabin quilt many many moons ago
but since then - no quilt.
Until this summer.
Meg decided to make an art quilt.
Just.
Like.
That.
My pictures are not good and I do apologize for that
because her quilt is just wonderful.
Just Wonderful.
Pictures (even great ones) would NEVER do this wall hanging justice.
Enjoy Meg's river art quilt.
All of the center section (the blue water) is hand stitched and beaded...
heavy beading.
The brown sections are the river bed. She even used beads to depict the pebbles along the river shore...
The outside sections are so heavily textured that it is unbelievable!
Gotta love that Sulky!



You can go to Meg's Facebook page and see a couple of other pictures.
And a picture of her feeding her "pets" - her raccoons!

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?

Her Awakening

Well, I can finally post a few pictures of "Her Awakening",

my latest mixed media fiber art.

I used a lot of rust media that my husband and I rust dyed.

All of our pieces have this wonderful depth of color, don't they?

My husband is the one that does the good job there...

I'm much too, ummm, well,

let's just say that he is much more organized and methodical for that job.

Be sure to check out my Etsy shop for some great

fabrics.

I'll be adding Rust Media packs soon...just keep checking.

Or, better still, email me and ask about them!

Lots of yummy rust fibers such as vintage lace, kimwipes,

tyvek, drawer liners, fabric, sheers...

lots of really cool items that we have rusted.

And at a very economical price!

Here she is, with some close ups.

I drew the face on rust dyed Kimwipes,

which are low lint wipes used in industry.

They are so durable and strong...

we dyed them (in a wet environment), machine washed

and dried them in a lingerie bag. You can see that

it has a few areas that washed out

but is still intact and quite vibrant.

I use these wipes for so many different things in my studio...

anything from general clean up to

the main element of a mixed media fiber piece!

This is a close up of the hand dyed cheese cloth on the left hand side.

I don't usually do hand stitching but this piece insisted on it.

I found that I really liked it too...

kinda like a kitty "making bread", the stitching is a calming, stress free activity for me.

I'm sure I'll be adding more to my work.

Here is the small mixed media heart on the lower right hand side.

It is gilded with a gold pen.

Behind it is a piece of the paper fabric that I made

with the word "believe" adhered to it.

The fabric behind that was sent to me

from Pokey Bolten.

I won a blog give away and have

been hoarding the fabric

for just the right project.

This happened to be one of the

"perfect projects".

Thanks Pokey!

This is a vintage doily that we rusted and I

did some hand beading on.

And yes, I sewed a bead at each little

intersection of the doily.

From a distance, it looks like there is

just some type of shimmer...

but when you get closer,

you are rewarded with

a slew of teeny tiny seed beads!

Dancing In The Moonlight

I have wanted to begin doing more hand work in my fiber art.

After seeing Susan Sorrell's detailed work,

I started this piece.

I don't know if you can see the beading very well

but I have added quite a few beads already.

I have been doing free form embroidery as well.

And lovin' it!

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