Watch me on The Quilt Show with Alex Anderson and Ricky Tims

Remember I went to Colorado in February to shoot an episode of The Quilt Show with Alex Anderson and Ricky Tims? My episode premiers today!



Subscribers can watch it here. (The Quilt Show is an online tv show with hundreds of episodes in their archives that subscribers can watch anytime.)

It will be free for anyone to view from October 15 to 21. It's episode 2108, so just visit The Quilt Show and search for me. I'd love to hear what you think.

I got to sit with Alex and Ricky on their living room set and talk about my workbook Head, Heart and Hands: Developing Your Creative Voice. To celebrate my appearance, both the spiral bound workbook and the pdf version are 25% off in my Etsy shop during the premier week and the free viewing week.



I did a surface design demo with Alex and I even got her to print fabric using a toilet paper tube!



Then I did a demo of my design and composition process while highlighting the Eight Design Guides from my book, Art Quilt Collage: A Creative Journey in Fabric, Paint and Stitch.



Signed copies are in my Etsy shop for $25!

Here's the finished quilt from the composition demo. It's called Light As A Feather and measures 16 x 12. It was really fun to make for the show and I loved talking through all the steps to get to the final product. (It's also in my Etsy shop.)



Let me know what you think! Are you eager to create some original surface designed fabrics? Are you ready to start a new project with renewed confidence in the design process?

Enjoying every stitch!

When I was at Quilt Market in Houston, I was delighted to see Carrie Bloomston. We've met before (I'm not sure where... maybe just through friends of friends in the online world.) and she warmly welcomed me into her gypsy tent introducing her fabric line, Dreamer, with Windham.

A few months later, she posted some fabric scrap packs for sale on Facebook and Instagram. On a whim, I treated myself. They sold fast and I was excited to get one. You can't really see them all here. It was a wonderfully fat bundle.

Later Carrie shared that selling the scrap packs allowed her to put down a payment on a studio outside her home, enabling new adventures and dreams for her professional and creative life. I found that quite gutsy and inspiring.

I wanted to use the fabric to generate some new adventure and dreams for my own professional and creative life. I set out to create several small art quilt collages each using at least one of Carrie's prints and some kind of shape symbolizing ideas to pursue and celebrate in 2017.

Here are the six finished art quilts. They are all 5x7 inches.

For Nourishment

The triangles on green are from Carrie's scrap pack.

For Growth

The bee is from the fabric collection.

For Family

The green fabric with the white plus that says "birds flying" is from Carrie's fabric. Does this symbolize Claire getting ready to fly away from home? Maybe. I loved stitching those tiny birds.

For Momentum

The blue bit with the selvedge at the top is from Carrie's line. I love incorporating an interesting selvedges.

For Stability

The bit under the rocks is a print from the fabric pack. This little collage surprised me the most. It took me a long time to put all the right fabrics, shapes, colors and stitches in just the right place -- now I think it's my favorite of the collection.

For Lightness

The green triangle points at the bottom (and on the left edge) are from the fabric collection. You can see I used a bit of my favorite stripe here too! You know the phrase, "Light as a feather?" Here I am thinking of clarity, buoyancy, illumination.

These were a delight to make. I enjoyed every stitch. They are all framed and available in my Etsy shop.

In addition to sales of the artwork, I will be developing a workshop around this series. It will be about personal symbols, simple compositions, working in a series, creating small art and enjoying every stitch! 

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Developing Your Creative Voice

A few years ago I brought this art quilt to a small critique group I belonged to.

Handwritten Heritage

One of my friends commented that it was different from my other work, but “It still looks like you!” I took this as a very high compliment. It meant I was using techniques, ideas, elements, materials, and themes that were truly my own. I had a unique creative voice.    

Artists often struggle to find their own artist voice. Sometimes people say if you make tons of art eventually you'll develop your own style. That’s part of it, but it’s more than that.  

I came across this quote from St. Francis.

He who works with his hands is a laborer.

He who works with his hands and his head is a craftsman.

He who works with his hands and his head and his heart is an artist.

—St. Francis

To develop your creative voice, I think you have to fully incorporate your head, heart and hands.

Thinking about these ideas and my experience easing into my own unique personal style, I developed several exercises and ideas around the concept of creative voice.



I put them together in a 29 page workbook includes exercises to fully explore how to use all three -- your head, heart and hands -- in your creative pursuits. It includes prompts, lists, check lists, word-webs and other ideas for artistic exploration. There are follow-up tips for every exercise. Plus specific ideas about how to use what you learn by completing the exercises in the workbook. 

Here's the Table of Contents.




It's available as a pdf download or a hard copy in my Etsy shop. Several of the exercises can be completed over and over as you continue to build your creative muscle and explore possibilities. (The pdf download will let you print individual pages as desired.)

One of my favorite exercises is the "Like List." When I've used this exercise with students, they instantly realize they have more of a creative voice than they thought -- and they have some words to describe it.



Are you ready to put your head, heart and hands to work? 

Download the pdf here.


Or order the spiral bound workbook here.

Did you notice I didn't use the phrase "finding your voice?" It's not hidden! You don't have to find it, you just have to develop it.
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My book arrived!

It's the day I've been waiting for! My book arrived! But I waited for Claire to get home from school to take this video of me opening the box!
 

Fair to say I'm excited?

I've listed the book in my Etsy shop for pre-order. As a special THANK YOU for purchasing the book from me, I'm including a fat eighth of original surface design fabric with the first 50 books purchased directly from me, either in my Etsy shop or in person here in the Dallas area or at my upcoming workshops. The book won't ship until late September, but I've got fabric ready to tuck in envelopes.



Can you believe I'm an author?

Poison Bottle Block Inspiration

My friend Misty Cole has developed a super cool block-of-the-month pattern called Poison Bottle. It's so unique. It's inspired by actual vintage poison bottles and she includes bits of history and interesting facts on her blog. She asked me to create something with one of the blocks.

I started by reviewing the directions and studying the image of the design for the full quilt.  I also pulled out some fabrics I wanted to work with.



I traced the bottle pattern onto freezer paper, then transferred it to some pre-fused fabric.


Of course, I had to give Misty's pattern my own spin. But that's the beauty of this pattern. You could do so many different things with it. I was really intrigued by the arch at the top of the label on the bottle and I thought it would be interesting to explore extending that arch.  I also thought it would be interesting to set this bottle in a suggested-landscape.

Eventually, I settled on this basic design. I really love how the bottle is clear and simple, but weirdly integrated into the landscape.



I added a strip at the top and got everything fused.


Playing with the landscape idea, I embellished the label with these tall sprouts.


More hand embroidery, marking these circle with an air-soluable pen.


Oops. I got distracted and didn't take process photos of additional embroidery or the free motion quilting. But here is the finished small art quilt.


Elixer, 11 x 8 inches

Misty's pattern really did inspire me and I was thrilled to use it as a jumping off point. In reading the history of some of the bottles on her blog, it's interesting to think about how we medicate ourselves. What does it mean to be cured? Or to be poisoned?



Check out Misty's website Pick Your Brain Designs for other cool projects, programs and workshops.

Elixer is hanging out in my Etsy shop if you'd like to consider buying it to hang next to your medicine cabinet.

Portfolio Booklet

I'm so excited to share this small portfolio booklet of my art quilts!

It's a beautifully printed 36-page booklet including sixteen of my original art quilts on nice, thick, glossy pages.

Each art quilt includes a statement about the inspiration and meaning behind the quilt. 

Plus, I've shared a behind-the-scenes story about the experience of making each quilt. Learn why I chose to include a tiny black and white square of fabric in one of the art quilts.

Read about the struggle I had sketching each little twig on a big branch. Discover which of my favorite fabrics came out of the free bin at a home decorator's shop.

Here's a sort of meta image... blue chair, blue chair, blue chair.

The booklet will be available when I give program and workshops. Or you can order it right here.

It's $15. Free Shipping.

Stencil Winner!

Thank you for such enthusiastic comments on the small art quilts I created with Terri's stencils. I am thrilled to hear that you were inspired.

Random Number Generator spit out the winner...

Congratulations, Linda! You win a set of Waves and Spinners stencils.

By the way, both the small art quilts are now up in my Etsy shop.

Can I tell you a secret?

A couple of you mentioned that you thought it was cool that I used the "waves" stencil vertically. In truth, I never even considered using it horizontally. Not until I looked back at Terri's images did I even realize it's presented as a horizontal image. Of course, they can be used either way (or even diagonally)! But, isn't it interesting that we naturally are drawn to a particularly orientation?

Ceramic Rings on Small Art Quilts

I'm so happy to be participating in a blog challenge via Lorelei Eurto. (She's an incredibly unique and talented jewelry designer.) She sent a set of ceramic hoops created by Karen Totten to six different artists and we are all revealing our creations today.

I made this series of three fabric collage landscapes using the hoops as embellishments.

This one is called Encircled Home. It's 9x4 inches.

I really love the way the beautiful ceramic ring draws the eye to the tiny house.

The fabric is printed with bubble wrap and paint. Of course, I included hand embroidery on each piece.

This is Scattered Sunlight. Also about 9x4 inches.

Each piece in this collection includes repeated elements... the bubble wrap pattern, the yellow bars at the edge ...

and the "stars" in the sky.

Lastly, we have Rosy Ring. It's 9x5.5 inches.

Don't those French knots look fun nestled in the dainty ring?

Here you can really see the subtle color variations in the ceramic embellishment. I took these colors as inspiration for the whole series.

Check out what the other artists created with Karen's lovely hoops.

 

AliMc
Barbara Fernald

Suzette of Ellie's Bijoux

SueBeads

Linda of MustHavesJewelry
Lorelei Eurto


Thanks Lorelei and Karen!


These three little fabric collages are listed in my Etsy shop.