Dallas Museum of Art

The kids and I had so much fun at the new Center for Creative Connections at the Dallas Museum of Art. It was our Mother's Day outing.

We went out to lunch after church. First we tried La Madeline, but the line was winding out the door, so we left. We decided to give Panera a shot. We've tried to go to Panera for lunch after church in the past and they refused to serve their full menu until noon. The Panera is located in a mall, so I suppose that had something to do with it. But still. Dumb.

Thankfully, they now have breakfast type stuff on their menu and were ready to feed us. We had scrambled egg sandwiches and a chocolate croissant. Yum. Claire and I agreed that they must be trying to compete with Corner Bakery. (Also yum.)

Then we headed south for the museum. The new Center for Creative Connections just opened. It used to be their "kids" section. Now it's just a creative, amazing, interactive wing for all ages.

The exhibit in the gallery in this wing was called "Materials and Meanings" and focused on why artists choose to use particular materials. Here are Claire and Benjamin studying a piece made of velvet.

Another notable piece was two molded self portrait busts, one in chocolate and one in soap. A bit odd, but certainly good for discussion. And for smelling!

There was a wonderful open studio area right in the midst of the gallery. Endless tape, cardboard, raffia, pipe cleaners, pencils, scrap material, shells, etc etc etc. They had a big wheel you could spin to help give you ideas about what to make. Why didn't I take a picture of that? I guess I was too busy making stuff.

There were boxes for building.

 

A whole counter with various textures on the surface on which to create rubbings.

And then we discovered another open studio area! This was a separate room that is only open on weekends. More supplies! Felt, wire, screen, modeling clay, googly eyes, pipe cleaners, markers, pom poms, hot glue, tape in many colors, yarn, etc. There was a museum staff person and a volunteer who welcomed every single person who entered. The idea was to create an imaginary creature based on the velvet "thing" in the earlier picture. But, they encouraged you to go your own way as desired.

I didn't take too many pictures. We were just creating and hanging out. Benjamin and Claire are very creative in very different ways. It was wonderful.

Can you read the sign? Take a stool and spend some time. Well, of course.

Tomorrow!

Hey, I'm speaking at the Denton Quilt Guild tomorrow, Thursday, May 15! I'm doing my program titled "From Start to Art: 76 Ways to Jump Start Your Creativity!" I'll be sharing tons of quilts that show my development as a fiber artist and relating tips and ideas for others to take into their own studios.

I've got my quilts all packed up and lots of other goodies too!

There is my handout for the evening, plus my Small Art Quilts: Designing a Series book and my 5 Artists: 5 Views collection. I made some more Interactive Journal kits and I have a few copies of the new Creative Quilting with Beads book. If you're in the area, I hope you'll come! Please come and say "hi" and tell me you read about it on my blog.

Denton Quilt Guild

Thursday, May 15 at 7 pm

Denton Visual Arts Center

400 E Hickory, Denton

 

I know it's super short notice. I could really be doing a much much better job of "marketing" myself. I have plans in the works for a super fantastic e-newsletter full of ideas, news and creative spirit. I'd like to have a regular e-newsletter and a local e-newsletter. In the local version, I'd be able to get in touch with all you North Texas people about events that are happening right here in our own backyard. (We'll, not really our back yard... but if you'd like to come over for some burgers on the grill, I'd be happy to see you!)

If you're interested, please send me an email. Let me know if you want the regular e-newsletter, the local e-newsletter or both.

Sign up for Deborah's Newsletter!

Hope to see you in Denton tomorrow!

Springy!

As usual, every Spring I get itchy to make clothes. Sometimes I am able to resist the urge. Sometimes not. Last spring I made a cute simple skirt out of some fabulous fabric. We won't talk about the times I've cut into a pattern and ended in complete failure.

I really wanted some new blouses this year. Something unique and flattering. Nothing which could possibly construed as maternity -- which is so "in" right now. Ug. I shopped a bit at Anthropologie and found lots of really arty pieces and I even considered the spendy prices, but nothing was just right.

I skimmed the pattern books at Joann's when McCalls were on sale for 99 cents and picked out this one.

I knew I wanted try a patchwork look by mixing some fabrics. I found several lines I liked on ReproDepot and settled on this line called ZaZa! So here is the finished blouse.

My mom helped me with every step along the way. She and my dad were visiting last week. We did lots of fun stuff including getting this shirt made. I don't like to follow a pattern, so it was very helpful for her to keep me on task. Thanks Mom.

We played with the sleeves a bit. The pattern has a sleeveless option and another option with 3/4 length sleeves. I didn't like either. But I did like this shirt I found online at Nordstroms.

It was easy enough to replicate that cute cap sleeve. I think I like the neckline better in the Nordstrom blouse. The band on my blouse actually sits up on my neck. Very Asian. I like the deeper V in the white blouse. But plain white? How boring!

I'm not sure if Benjamin liked the blouse or not. But he wanted to join in the photo shoot.

So excited!

I am so thrilled to announce that my quilt, "Construction: Concrete and Stone" was accepted into Tactile Architecture 2008: Modern Art Quilts with Architectural Themes.

Tactile Architecture is an annual juried show that debuts as a special exhibit at Quilt Festival in Houston. I'm not sure how many years it's been going on, but I was so inspired and impressed by the exhibit in 2007 and 2006 when I was in Houston.

The quilt was also accepted in a show that will be in the Texas state capitol building over Memorial Day weekend. It's called Fiber Art: Deep in the Art of Texas. I packaged it up today and a friend is driving it down to Austin.

The Tactile Architecture show will travel to other IQA shows through 2008 and 2009. Maybe you'll have an opportunity to see it.

I am so thankful for my fiber friends here in Texas and the Frayed Edges and many many blogging friends. The inspiration, enthusiasm, support, encouragement and camaraderie from all of them is a big part of making these exciting opportunities a reality. So, thank YOU!

Pretty Pillow

Remember those composition exercises I did in the Katie Pasquini-Masopust workshop a couple of weeks ago? I actually "finished" a little piece. Here is the new pillow on the bed in the guest room.

Just in time for my parents, who are visiting this week! Nothing too fancy, but a nice little addition.

Katie had tons of pre-fused fabric for the workshops -- which was wonderful for efficient work!

She used Heat and Bond. Now I remember why I prefer Wonder Under. Of course, these projects were meant to be just exercises. In fact, most students fused them to paper. I fused them to parchment paper, because I just hate the idea of "wasting" potential art by fusing it to paper. Since my little compositions were fused to parchment, I was able to just peel this design off the parchment and fuse it to some batting. I added a bit of quilting and then sewed it to the pillow fabric.

I didn't have quite enough extra fabric around the composition to turn under the edges. I think it would have looked better with a cleaner edge. Oh well. I'm also not complete confident that all the teeny tiny pieces will hold with the Heat and Bond.

But, I like the blues. I like the very simple, serene composition. I like the piping I added to the edge. (Not my favorite tedious sewing process.) And I like that it's done!

Don't Go In The Water

Claire's class has been studying sharks. Parents were invited to help dissect sharks last week. It was so fun! The specimens were dog sharks, about a foot and a half long.

The school district required the kids to wear goggles. And they were not allowed to use the scalpels. Moms got to do the cutting!

We found several organs quite easily. There were other parts that were harder to identify. One group found tiny shrimp in the shark's stomach. Yum! I've always loved dissection. There really is no substitute for learning about the body. A picture in a text book is just not the same.

The kids (and the parents) learned a lot. Maybe some of these third graders are already planning their applications for veterinary school.

**Thanks for all your suggestions about uploading pictures. You are probably right. My pictures are too big. But I just hate to take the extra step of resizing the pictures. (I know. Lazy.) I've downloaded Windows Live Writer and I'm composing this post in the new software. I can actually drag and drop pictures into the post. We'll see how easy it is to upload.

Photos

I gave Benjamin free range with the camera one afternoon last week. From the looks of this snapshot, he enjoyed himself.

He decided to take a picture of two empty toilet paper rolls sitting on the stairs waiting to be carried upstairs to be given to the gerbils.

He took the picture, but he DID NOT take the toilet paper rolls upstairs. Ahem.

I'm posting these random pictures because I think they are funny, but also to ask for help from blogger experts about uploading pictures. It's taking F.O.R.E.V.E.R! And even then, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.

I'm using the "add image" icon within the blogger posting window. I've tried to add more than one image at a time. That NEVER works. Grumble. I've tried using Firefox. It goes faster, but still feels slower than it used to. I've cleared my cache. Is there another way to add pictures to posts? I'm lazy. I want it to be speedy and easy.

I'm eager to hear your advice. In the meantime, here's a picture Benjamin took in the backyard. It's spring in Texas.

It won't last long. Summer will be here very soon!