12x12 in Dallas!

I have been packing, planning, ordering books and supplies and getting excited about my upcoming trip to Dallas! I'll be doing a program and workshop for the Dallas Area Fiber Artists. I believe there are still spots available in the workshop. If you are in the Dallas area, I would LOVE to see you. See the DAFA website for more info.

Techniques and Truths: Inspired by 12x12
Saturday, March 26 from 9 am to 4 pm

Taking inspiration from quilts created for 12x12: The International Art Quilt Challenge, we’ll explore various techniques including construction, surface design, embellishment and finishing. Students may create a finished 12x12” art quilt or simply explore the techniques. We’ll also discuss various ideas and “truths” about creating art and living a creative life.

I'm bringing all my "colorplay" challenge pieces. We'll be working on several of the techniques used on these pieces.

On Monday evening, I'll be doing a mini-workshop before the DAFA meeting. We'll be making these illuminated letter ornaments. I just LOVE the easy technique for creating that letter with foil paper. I used this technique on my illumination quilt. (Kits are $4 and will be available for the first 30 participants.)

Illuminated Letter Ornaments Mini-Workshop
Monday, March 28 at 5:30 pm (immediately before the DAFA meeting)

Then I'll be doing a digital slide show for the program portion of the DAFA meeting. I'll also have copies of the book to sell and sign.

Twelve by Twelve: Inspirations and Adventures from the Art Quilt Challenge
Monday, March 28 at 7 pm

The Dallas Area Fiber Artists is a wonderful group. I am honored that they invited me to share my artwork with them. I am thrilled to give a little insight into the amazing experience that I've enjoyed as part of our 12x12 group. If you're in the area, I hope you'll come -- and continue to be involved with other exciting programs and events with DAFA.

In Stitches Give-Away

Thanks so much for all your wonderful comments on my post on the In Stitches Blog tour. Remember I asked what you do when you are stuck on a challenging project? If you need inspiration, you should check out the comments. So many great ideas. Many of you said you just let the quilt sit and look at it for a while. I've found that if I fold it up and DON'T look at it for awhile, that can help too.

Lindsey from Quilting Arts offered a give-away through my post on the blog tour and I'll be throwing in a fabric ATC. The random number generator picked comment number 23... so that's Lindy! (Email me your address, Lindy. Use the email link on the left side bar.)

Well, maybe.

Here's a shot of an in-progress quilt sitting on my work table.
I worked on it for hours and hours and hours over the past couple of months. I previewed some sketches in this post.

I was making it to enter into a new exhibit through SAQA (Studio Art Quilt Associates) titled A Sense of Adventure. I was quite inspired by the SAQA exhibit in Houston this past fall and I felt like I should try to step up and enter. Of course, this means creating work that fits the size and theme requirement AND has some value through an artistic eye.

I ran into some bumps in the process and eventually concluded that it had lots of problems. I realized I would not be able to lift the quilt out of its medocrity before the deadline, so I folded it up and began work on a quilt for another deadline.

So it goes.
Then SAQA extended the deadline. Now I have a second chance to revisit it. I think I can look at it a bit differently now. It was helpful to put it aside for awhile.

mini book

I had so much fun creating this little mini-book! I've got a whole stack for my upcoming workshop in Dallas and also as give-aways with purchase of the new 12x12 book.
I created the little book to fit on an 8.5 x 14 sheet of paper, then embellished with rubber stamps and markers and folded them into the book format.

The needed one more interesting element, so I printed out these quotes about creativity on different colors of paper.


Here's my favorite...

You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have. — Maya Angelou

I zigzagged stitched down the spine to hold the whole thing together, adding the creative quote strip in the middle. It's kind of like a fortune cookie!

Every day I'm discovering new "truths" about being an artist. Today I've reconfirmed that when the mess in the studio gets out of control, loud music helps with the clean up.

Continuing

Here's another in-progress shot of the quilt I am working on for the "the space between" exhibit. I don't usually create art quilts that are so directly inspired by my surroundings. Then I found myself making a quilt about my back yard. This is rather a surprise to me.

When I needed to add a bit of detail to one area, I decided to stitch a cardinal over the sheer tree shapes.

I really do enjoy watching the birds in our yard. There are more robins this week than there were last week. Surely this means spring is coming. I decided not to stitch a squirrel onto the quilt, though I enjoy them as much as the birds, for sure. I thought it might make it seem like a quilt full of "woodland creatures." That's not really the vibe I'm going for.

In Stitches Blog Tour & Give Away!

I'm so excited to be one of the stops of the "blog tour" for the latest issue of In Stitches emag!

As a little bonus for the blog tour, I thought I'd share a bit about creating one of the pieces that is featured in my article about creating sheer silhouettes.

Vine Emerging, 16x16"

I was working on a big quilt that was very very challenging. I felt like I was working totally outside of my style and it wasn't going well. I needed to take a break and return to some of my favorite techniques and elements.

I played around with bits on my work table (and out of my trash can) and came up with this basic composition.

It was so refreshing! I even used some of the same fabrics from the challenging quilt. Seeing them in a different setting helped me return to the larger project with new ideas.

After completing the larger project, I returned to the fabric collage. It needed a focal point, so I added the sheer silhouette of the vine and berries. And lots of hand embroidery! My article includes step-by-step instructions for this sheer silhouette technique and images of other fabric collages I created using sheer fabrics.

I posted a few more details about the emag just a few days ago, in this post. Check it out!

Oh Yes! I know you read "give away" the title of this post. The fabulous Lindsey Murray at Quilting Arts is offering some fiber art goodies as part of my post! I'll throw in an original fiber ATC! Just comment on this post and I'll use a random number generator to pick a winner on March 11. Tell me what you do to take a break from a challenging project.

Michelle Allen is up next on the In Stitches Blog Tour!

Lots more great posts along the way on the tour, too!

Sunday (Feb 27): Pokey launches the tour!

Monday (Feb 28): Jane Davila

Tuesday: Lynn Krawczyk( March 1)

Wednesday: Jackie Cardy(March 2)

Thursday: Deb Bates (March 3)

Friday: Deborah Boschert (March 4): That's me!

Saturday: Michelle Allen (March 5)

Sunday: Liz Kettle (March 6)

Monday: Lyric Kinard (March 7)

Tuesday (March 8): A surprise guest on Lindsey’s blog will be the final stop of this tour!

12x12 Reveal Day

Even in the midst of all the excitement about the release of our book, we're still creating new work. Today is the reveal day for the color palette I chose: BrownSageBlue.

Here is my piece, Spring Suggestion.
Check out our 12x12 blog to see the other 11 quilts pop up throughout the day.