In Progress...

I looked around my studio and noticed a bunch of unfinished projects. Some getting too close to the deadline.

I started this little (10x15") acrylic ink piece in Judy Coates Perez' surface design class at IQA Houston last fall. I sponge-painted the background and cut freezer paper stencils for the coffee cups. I used a dry brush to paint around the edges of the cups and added detail with fabric markers and a white Prismacolor pencil. I still need to quilt this one.

I found this felted wool bag in a thrift shop. I'm looking for the right handles for it.

I stenciled dandelion leaves on this 18x18" piece of dyed sateen. 

After I quilt it, I'll stencil the words below...

and embroider some dandelion puffs.

This will be "One Fish" in my fish series. 

Lots of coral and sponges need to be added to the sea floor. 17x19.5"

Here's my entry to the Dallas Quilt Show's Words and Letterform category. 

Still need to bind it, label it and sew on the rod pocket. 57x39"

I painted sateen with thickened Procion dye in 1992 for a kimono. 

This will be the third small "Just Crabby" quilt made with the upcycled Kimono fabric. 18x18".

This was the back of the kimono, I'm still wondering how to finish it. 28x50"

This is a manipulated photo of Lorraine Kuehnel's cat Hazel. She is a grey kitty. I added the color and had her inkjet printed on muslin. I need to quilt her next. 18x18"

"Dragonflies at the Pond" is inspired by a poem of the same name by Richard Schinzel for the Merging Visions Exhibition. I hand-dyed cotton sateen for the background and added dyed cheesecloth to represent the pond's edge. The dragonflies, water bug, cattails and lotus are fused to the background. 

Next, I'll quilt all of the appliques. 21x31"

"Cedar Waxwing" is my second entry for the Merging Visions Exhibition. The poem Invisible Threads by Beth Honeycutt describes a bird sitting in a snowy nandina bush. I combined three photos and "painted" things with photoshop before having it inkjet printed on cotton sateen. 13.5x18"

Time to step away from the computer and get busy!

Ugly Batik Challenge

Grace had yards of this fabric and thought it was ugly.

She gave each member of the Not Your Grandmother's Bee
a fat quarter and challenged us to make something. 

Here are her rules.
"Use at least an identifiable piece of this fabric in your challenge piece!
Completed pieces are due at our April bee, and
there's a slight chance that prizes might be awarded"

 Grace provided prizes and asked Mary from
Minding My P's and Q's Quilt Shop to judge the entries and award the prizes.

Nelda Johnson, the Super Creative award

Grace Johnson, the Outside the Box award

Tonya Littmann, the Best Use of Fabric award

Linda Creagh, the Most Clever award

Tonya Littmann, the Make Me Smile award

Tammy Becker, The Precise Piecing award

Debbie Coates, the Wow award

 Marie Mitchell, the Very Impressive Piece award

Charlotte Rutland, the Super Cute award

Teresa Shirling, the Most Fun award

 Kathleen Francis, the What Were You Thinking award.

Donna Mullen Irving couldn't come to the meeting so she sent me a photo.

Nice job everyone. Thank you Grace for making it happen!

Paint Chip Challenge

Members of the Not your Grandmother's Bee were challenged to create something outside our color comfort zone. We were asked to choose a paint chip without seeing the colors on the front.

I drew Stop, Kaki Shade, Sawdust and Naval.

The navy fabric was rubbed with Shiva paint sticks over a spiral texture board. 

The red is from an overdyed cotton kimono. The khaki is a commercial batik.

I fused my pieces together on a teflon pressing sheet.

20x20"

Here are the rest of the members' creations.

Linda Creagh's "Rice Bag" purse.

 Marie Mitchell's "Chickens in the Garden"

Donna M.'s mini

 Teresas Sherling's "Four Doll Dresses"

 Debbie Coates's  "Love is a Journey"

 Grace Johnson's pillow "Woven Waves"

I enjoyed the challenge. It was uncomfortable to work in the colors I drew, 

but I suppose that is the point!

The Ants Go Marching...

In 1990 I pieced and quilted a black, red and white pineapple mini quilt. 

It had too wide black borders with not enough quilting.

The red fabric is one I marbled with fabric paint.

It caught my attention recently and I decided to change it.

I whacked off the big black borders, bound it in black, 

and sewed on bead ants for fun.

"The Ants Go Marching One by One"  14x14"

This will be a donation quilt.

Donation for The Arts Guild of Denton (TAG)

The 2013 Annual Auction for the Arts to benefit The Arts Guild of Denton (TAG) was November 9, 2014. I was invited to create 8 x 10" art for the exhibition and auction with the theme "Homegrown". I took photos of my friend Lynn's koi pond and altered the image in PhotoShop. I had the image printed on muslin by fotosonfabric.com and threadpainted it to add texture. 

 
"Water Lily"  8 x 10"

"Water Lily" detail

I was so excited to hear that "Water Lily" won first place in the exhibition.

Lynn, the owner of the Koi, was able to win the bid for this quilt 

at the 2013 Annual Auction for the Arts.

Thanks Shawn for being proxy.

It will be fun to visit my quilt when I visit Lynn.

Cicada Song

At my dye retreat in 2011 we experimented with some deconstructed silk screen 

prints. I have been looking for a way to use my prints. I started hand 

stitching around the colors with a single strand of embroidery floss.

Then I experimented with several direct transfer methods.

The most successful was a laser print – the kind with heated powder ink –

on high rag content letterhead paper. I transfered the print by applying Golden 

Soft Gel to the surface of the fabric. While the gel was still wet, I put the laser 

image face down on the fabric and rubbed to smooth out the air bubbles. 

After drying overnight, I wet the paper with water and when saturated, 

I rubbed the paper pulp from the print leaving the ink in the gel.

Here is a Website with video and instructions on 

“Direct Image Transfer” by Golden.

The cicada was a favorite of an old friend so I chose this vintage drawing.

I was inspired to try some freehand journaling by Deborah Boschert's 

blog here and here. Unlike Deborah, my writing is readable, 

at least to me. I wanted to explain my reason for the cicada.

"Cicada Song" 16 x 18"

I colored the cicada with Sharpie and added the organza 

leaf blades to pick up the red in the silk screen.

I'm still thinking about what to do next time.

I have lots more deconstructed silk screen prints.

Wanda

This is my latest animal portrait.

Wanda

12 x 15"

She is my dog Rusty's best friend.

Fabric & Thread at the Black Box Theatre

Seventeen of my quilts are on display in the lobby of the Black Box Theatre. The theater is located in Denton at 318 E. Hickory between the Denton Record Chronicle offices and the Central Fire Station. It is 1 1/2 blocks west of the Downtown Denton train station.

The lobby is open during office hours Monday and Wednesday from noon to 5 p.m. and Friday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The lobby is also open during theater performances. 

My exhibit called "Fabric & Thread," will be on display until July 14.

I hope you will stop by for a visit.

Fundraiser for TAG

The Arts Guild of Denton (TAG) presents their Annual Auction this Saturday night. 

The silent auction begins at 6:00 p.m., followed by the live auction at 8:15 p.m. 

Local artists were asked to create a 12x12" Denton-themed work of art. 

I can't wait to see all of the pieces in one location.

A photo of the beautiful produce at the Denton County Farmers Market was the starting place for my Denton-themed quilt. I digitally manipulated the colors in the photograph and printed it on fabric with my inkjet printer. I thread-painted the image with my home sewing machine to add shading and texture. 

I also donated two purses that I Zentangled with markers.

On this one I used silver Sharpie on black vinyl. 

On this one I used white Sharpie on green leather.

The Arts Guild is an independent organization dedicated to the promotion and development of the arts in Denton as the fundraising/volunteer support arm of the Greater Denton Arts Council. 

For more information about the event click here.

I hope to see you on Saturday.