Happy Halloween!

Things I finished recently

I have been busy and finished four things recently!

Here is the letterpress book that I made in collaboration with my classmates, during "Experimenting in Letter Press Print Making" at the Irvine Fine Arts Center. It reflects the diverse personalities of each person. The quote is "Ink is the blood of the presses." - John Milton

I also finished this jacket. About half of the fabric is recycled from an old, dated jacket. It was fun!

Here's the back.

The button was made from an old, rusty, flattened bottle cap. I backed it with cork because the bottle cap was so thin. Now it's thick! Seemed like a good idea at the t ime. The cork will protect the fabric from the rust. I drilled the holes with a drill bit for metal.

Here's the stocking I made for my annual ornament exchange. The cookies were inspired by the tree cookie ornament I made for my very first ornament exchange in the early 90's. I embellished each cookie with various beads to imitate sprinkles and red hots. I added green rick-rack around the edges. Now I want to make one to keep!

I also finished my Summertime Cat quilt. At least I think I finished it - I have been struggling with the face. This is the third version of the eyes. I may change it again - it doesn't have to be turned in until the end of December.

Here she is, finished for now. As I've said before, it portrays my very shy cat, Olive. She's so shy that most people never get to even see her. She's quite a gorgeous, fluffy cat who likes to murmur at the birds.

Flying Geese Quilt Show

Here's the scoop on my guild's upcoming quilt show. My friend Carol McDaniel is the featured quilter. Her art quilts will make the show a standout!

I'm in charge of an exhibit called Clothing, Dolls and More, from guild members. There will be some wonderful items.

If you're in the area, I hope you come to the show.

Visalia fiber exhibit

Visalia, CA







Oct 7-31, "Layer Upon Layer" textile art show by the California Fiber Artists is showing at Arts Visalia Center, 214 E. Oak Ave, Visalia, CA. I have two pieces in the show.

Houston Quilt Festival 2009

 

I was pleasantly surprised to learn that my photo of Matilda on my fabric was selected to be in the "Eye of the Quilter" photographic exhibit at Houston Quilt Festival!   I also have two quilts at this festival in special exhibits, "Detours" and "Edges." Here's a photo of my "15 Selvedges" which is in "Edges.

Pacific International Quilt Festival

On Thursday, I went to the "other" quilt festival that's currently going on, Pacific International Quilt Festival in Santa Clara, CA. I flew up just for the day with Terry, and we met her friend, Sherry, who now is my friend, too. It was fun, but by early afternoon we were pooped! We each had at least one quilt there, so it was fun to see as many quilts and vendors as time allowed.

This is me by my "Hope is the Thing" quilt. It's been touring with the "Unfettered Letters" special exhibit from Quilts on the Wall.

This is SherryKleinman in front of her beautiful quilt.

Here are Terry and me in front of our quilts in the "Spring" Noble Seasons special exhibit. Mine is on top, and hers is on the bottom.

It's been a busy week! Tuesday night, I finished my Experimenting in Letter Press Printing class at the Irvine Fine Arts Center. I never did get around to printing words on fabric, because we were kept so busy with other projects. There were so many new terms to learn, my head was spinning! But now I know what a quoin is, do you? (It helps to lock the type into the proper position on the printing press.)

We made our own business cards in assorted colors, including cardboard. We also made note cards with our names and a motif on them.

I got a head start on some Christmas cards! The inside message is letter press. The front of the card will be printed with two block prints as shown on the left; one was made from a rubber block and linoleum cutting tools; the other one I made with fun foam, because it was getting frustrating cutting the flowers with my ancient lino cutters.

So this is just a sneak peak.

Finally, everyone in the class made a page for a book that we collaborated on. We each were assigned a word to print, and we added our own background and our own print from a rubber block. Can you guess? Mine is the one with the baby hummingbirds in a nest! I haven't put my pages together yet, because I was busy printing my Christmas cards. I'll show you when it's done.

In the bottom of the photo I showed where I printed the new hummingbird block on Dupioni silk. I'll probably do more of that.

Anyway, the teacher, Madeleine, was really good, very knowledgeable and patient with those of us who were slow to catch on. :-) And the students were really friendly and eager to learn. It was a great experience, and I recommend it.

Muckenthaler Artists' Reception

I just came back from the artists' reception at the Muckenthaler, and it was wonderful. It was well attended, and the exhibit was hung very nicely. Lots of food, friends, music outside from the outdoor stage, all at this beautiful old mansion in Fullerton. I'm thrilled to be part of this. "Contemporary Quilts" runs through December 31.

This photo shows my two quilts.

Here I am with Stacy, Jamie and Peggy. Great photo of everybody! Jamie and Stacy also had pieces in the exhibit.

A nice man offered to take my photo by one of my quilts, "Slide Ahead."

I hope you get a chance to see the exhibit!

See you at the Muck!

On Sunday, October 11, I'll be at the artists' reception, 12-3 pm, at the Muckenthaler Cultural Center for its Contemporary Quilts exhibit. The address is 120l West Malvern Avenue, Fullerton 92833. Check it out at TheMuck.org. I will have two quilts in this exhibit, "All My Hexes" and "Slide Ahead."

what I've been up to lately

I've been busy doing a variety of things. I still have to finish the face of my summertime cat, seen in previous posts.  And I'm also working on something for an ornament exchange. Here it is so far. This is what I do in the evenings in front of the tube - handwork!

I'm putting beads on all the ornaments to look like sprinkles. I made Christmas tree cookie ornaments for my very first ornament exchange, just like the one on the stocking.

I also made some jam, of all things. It's my first experience, and I found out how much work it was! I made strawberry-rhubarb jam with homegrown strawberry guava juice. It only made six jars, and one of them didn't seal so we have to keep that one in the fridge and use it up. :-) Hmmm, I think it would taste good on cornbread. Maybe I'll make some for tomorrow night.

I'm also working on a jacket. Half of the squares are recycled from an ugly old peach-colored jacket. The jacket was silk - I dyed both the silk and the inner acetate lining, first with Koolaid and then with Jacquard silk paints. I also did some stamping on them. The color turned out better than the photos. I was amazed at how pretty the acetate lining colors turned out.

 The photos show the unfinished shell, and I'll add a red lining and a big arty button. I'm thinking of making a button from a rusty old flattened bottle cap! I'll put a cork backing on it, so it's not so thin. Notice I kept some details from the jacket, such as buttons from a cuff. Elsewhere there are buttonholes and a tag sewn into the lining fabric. I'm having fun with this project!