More purses for "It's in the Bag" 2014

In addition to the two purses I blogged on March 31, 

"Gilded Coach",

and "Looney Dooney", I've finished three more for the "It's In the Bag" fundraiser.

 "Fun Fossil",

 "Vintage Floral",

 and "Gilded Trio".

Thank you Grace, Mary and Stephanie for providing the purses for me to embellish.

The Greater Denton Arts Council will host a fundraiser 

benefitting the Greater Denton Arts Council

called "It's In The Bag" on Thursday, May 8, 2014.

The auction begins at 5 pm at the Center for the Visual Arts,

400 E Hickory St, Denton, TX 76201

You may purchase tickets for the event here.

All five of these bags will be in the silent auction.
It's a lot of fun and the food is great!

White Butterfiles

Every April, the Denton Poets’ Assembly teams up with VAST (the Visual Arts Society of Texas) in a collaborative exhibit called “Merging Visions” in celebration of National Poetry Month. 

All poems and artwork are originals created by members of the two groups. Some of the poems are created with the artwork as inspiration, and some are inspirations for the artwork.   

The 7th annual Merging Visions Exhibit will be held at the Center for the Visual Arts, 400 E Hickory St, Denton, TX 76201. The exhibit will be free and open to the public 1 pm - 5 pm Tues.-Sun., April 24 through June 6, 2014. 

For the last several years I have collaborated with Beth Honeycutt to create an entry for this exhibit. 

This year I created "White Butterflies" to illustrate Beth's poem

 "Her Dreams".

The background is free-motion machine quilted hand-dyed cotton. The butterflies are painted on cotton, cut out and fused to the background then thread painted. The flower petals and leaves are made of hand-dyed cotton that has been fused back to back and stitched on individually.

The opening reception -- free and open to the public -- will be held on April 24 from 

5:30-7:30 pm at the Center for the Visual Arts, 400 E Hickory St, Denton, TX 76201

3ARTHWURX Art Exhibition

I will have four quilts in the 4th Annual 3ARTHWURX Art Exhibition this month.

April 4-25, 2014

The exhibition will be in SCRAP's ReVision Gallery.

215 W. Oak, Denton, TX 76201 Monday-Friday 12-6pm Saturday 10am-6pm

The opening reception is April 4 during First Friday Denton Texas.

The reception is from 6-9 p.m.

Marrakech Express, 12x12"

 Beyond Infinity, 30x24"

 Aquarius, 18x18"

 Just Crabby, 18x18"

I hope to see you there!

"It's In The Bag" 2014

On May 8, 2014 the Greater Denton Arts Council will host 

a fundraiser called "It's In The Bag". 

Here are two of the purses I'm entering.

The auction begins at 5 pm on Thursday, May 8, 2014 

at the Center for the Visual Arts in Denton.
You may purchase tickets for the event here.

It's a lot of fun, the food is great and the bellinis are wonderful.

Dye Workshop

You might think that someone who has been dyeing fabric since 1986 would not need to take a dye class. Probably not, but I did. Frieda Anderson taught a workshop in Denton on Saturday. We learned the recipes for four different 12-step graduations and more.

 In the morning we did lemon, fuchsia and turquoise.

 Then we added more water to get a pastel version.

In the afternoon we did yellow, scarlet and cerulean blue.

We added black to the remaining dye and did another 12-step graduation.

I had some bedding factory remnants of an unknown white sateen that I used to wipe out the wash tub we were using. I'm pleased with the hand of the mystery fabric and happy to know that it will take dye. Thanks Marie for sharing your remnants!

I poured some of the leftover pastel dye on two pleat-folded T-shirts, and stuck them in a gallon baggie.

In the afternoon Frieda demonstrated squirting dye on a flat shirt and showed us how to roll in into plastic for the ride home.

...and how to make three layers of ombre fabric on a flat surface.

This shirt was dyed on the ground with dye squirted from a bottle.

Frieda's method is much more controlled that the method I use at our dye retreat. 

Here's a peak at retreat 2013.

I'm happy to have samples of Frieda's recipes.

I'll make swatches and add them to our dye books.

Thanks Frieda.

He's in the NAVY now...

Our son Berek has joined the Navy.

He signed up to be a submarine electronics and communications specialist.

Our neighbors had a going away party for him.

Berek asked his friends to shave his head.

Some of them had more practice with the clippers than others.

 They did a great job!

Jon served two tours on a Navy destroyer during Vietnam.

He found his old sailor hats and they posed for this photo.

We think this will be a great career path for Berek.

Jon and I drove to Dallas to watch the swearing in ceremony.

He's off to Great Lakes, IL for eight weeks of boot camp.

Then 28-37 weeks of school.

 We are so proud of you Berek!

Dallas Quilt Celebration 2014

Wow! It's been an exciting weekend. 

The Quilter's Guild of Dallas' quilt show has ended. 

I was honored to be asked to show a special exhibit of my quilts.

I took everything off my walls and borrowed from my friends 

to collect enough quilts to hang this exhibit.

My parents drove in from Baton Rouge, LA for the weekend. 

My son Berek will be joining the Navy as a Submarine Communication 

and Electronics Specialist on Tuesday, so they come to wish him well too.

Berek posed with his quilt.

All I Want for Christmas...

And so did Jon.

Jon's Big Adventure

When I agreed to the exhibit I didn't realize I would be asked to lecture as well. 

Speaking in front of a crowd is way out of my comfort zone.

My friend suggested I talk about all the challenges 

I have done over the last 25 years.

I had four quilts entered in the Judged show.

The Omelet Sisters, 36 x 21”

Inkjet printed by fotosonfabric.com on hand-dyed sateen.

The leaves were painted with Seta color.

We had four chickens for about six months last year. 

Jimmy’s General Store - 19.25 x 29.75”

Whole cloth, inkjet printed by fotosonfabric.com to illustrate

 the poem "The Doorway of Another Decade" by Beth Honeycutt.

It won an honorable mention in the small quilt category.

Kamon Odyssey - 81 x 94”

I worked on the blocks from 1999 to 2009.

 The blocks are from the book Circles of the East by Kumiko Sudo.

 It was beautifully quilted by Carla Hamm this year.

The Year of the Horse - 42 x 42"

This quilt was made for the Twisted Stitcher's Red Challenge.

The red chopsticks blocks were from an exchange. 

The gold organza horse was appliquéd and embroidered.

It won an honorable mention in the wall quilt category.

My "It's a Bug's Life" challenge block won a blue ribbon. yeah!

I worked with four friends on this group quilt.

4@40 commemorates the 40th anniversary of the dye retreat we go to each year.

I pieced this quilt for our guild president, Judy Kriehn,

and Carol Morrissey quilted it.

I'm so glad to be a part of this wonderful show. 

It's such an honor to be surrounded by such talented friends.