Post Cards for Fiberart for a Cause

This is a small sampling of the 40 postcards that are on their way to Virginia Spiegel for Fiberart for a Cause. The postcards, hopefully 1000 of them, will be shown at the
International Quilt Festival in Houston later this year. I am proud that I have contributed many to two previous shows, Houston last year and Chicago this year as well
as participating in the reverse auction. This has been a very easy way for me to assist in the fundraising for the American Cancer Society.

more of what I have been doing

I was really trying to get these three pictures in the previous post but blogger wouldn't let me so I started all over again. This is ordinary time at church and is the green season. At our church, we call it the green growing season. Last year I have made a set of green things for church but I got tired of them so last week I pulled out various silk fabrics and hit the dye pots. These are all fused. The way the silks are turned makes the light reflect differently.

On the left, if that is the way it comes on, is part of the stole. I have used foiling to make the crosses which were silk screened on using foiling glue through the silkscreen.
The next piece is the hanging for the Holy Table which we are using for our altar during this hot time as we are meeting in a smaller, lighter room. And then the third is the front of the veil which goes over the chalice. In addition to just finishing these pieces, last week I sewed up some sheers for the meeting room at church that were two panels of 90" x 16'...sure don't want to do that again but it does cool the room off a little in addition to cutting the glare in the morning.

My rant came about because I was busy sewing and listening to news...now I just listen to music!

what I have been doing besides ranting

I have been very busy working on various things. Several weeks ago I did some overdyeing, using acrylic circles and rectangles for the resist. Now I have finished the two small quilts that have come from them. They are each about 28 x 36" with the overdyed piece in the middle and then fused more stuff...whatever. They were both fun to do to just play with the fabric and to figure out what I was going to do. This makes my third piece using my overdyed, resisted fabrics. They are so much fun! Instant gratification!

Last week I spent time pulling together these first two pieces and then I pulled together a larger piece that I had painted and started doing some silk screening on but hadn't gone any further. So I finished up the design part and now I am in the middle of quilting it but wanted to show it off. This is about 36 x 55 or so.














I have another big one that is ready to sandwich and hopefully I can get it quilted new week. In addition, I am finishing the binding on the blues and greens quilt that I did on the long arm.

Public Correction!

Tonya pointed out that I discussed the religious left when I really meant the religious right. I am so sorry. I just can't keep my left from my right, whether it is my brain or my lack of politics.

Next time I will post pictures of some new work.

Hate

This morning I was busy sewing away on this new piece. I took a break and looked at a few of my favorite blogs and stopped by Gerrie Congdon's blog. She has some beautiful pictures that her son took at the Japanese gardens in Portland. In fact, there are a couple that I would like to ask if I could use for inspiration in some new work! As I was reading about what was going on and about her daughter's wins at the swimming meets, she also posted a link to a picture of a man holding a sign that says "God hates fags"

This has been on my mind all the time I have been sewing and I finally decided that I had to stop sewing and respond to this.

I am so very tired of people way out on the left thinking that they represent all Christians. My God and my Jesus do not hate "fags". In fact, hate in not in the vocabulary of either one. Jesus joined us on this earth to teach us what God wanted us to know...to love one another, to treat all as brothers, not to judge, and that His death brought Grace to us all. I am tired of things being taken out of context in the bible to justify someone's personal belief.

No matter what one's religious beliefs are, loving one another is a part of the teachings of all of them. Hate is not a part of any of them. If someone tells you otherwise, they are taking something out of context.

so much for my rant of the day.

Meanwhile, I have thoughts about making my Katrina quilt...it has been in my mind for sometime and will be titled "Nagin's Folly". I am in the middle of reading the Great Deluge which is a history of Katrina and who did what and who did not do what. It is really fascinating reading and I suggest anyone who lives in any area subject to natural disasters of any kind should read this. The best message coming out of this book is that we need to be able to care for ourselves, and care for each other and to not expect anyone else to do it for us.

On Birthdays and other such stuff

Today is my 59th birthday. It was really nice having it celebrated at church this morning. One woman said it was nice to see someone happy about their birthday for change. I am happy that I was born and my birthday is the celebration of my birth. Now that is something to be glad about! And turning 59 is just fine, as will turning 60 next year will be. This year has been full and rich, complex, difficult, funny, happy, sad, and lots of times, just rolling along okay!

The more I understand about my spirituality and my creativeness, the more I can understand why it is so important to be able to be in the moment. This comes relatively easily for me. I am curious, easily entertained, and very grateful for all of the beauty around me. To be able to take moments to appreciate the shape of the clouds, the color of the sky whether it is blue or grey, the sound of the birds in my backyard, the colors that come out of my fabric dyeing...these are all such wonderful things. Take the time to recognize them, to revel in them, to enjoy them because that is what makes life really worth living. Connecting with the moment puts us closer to our God which has created all.

During July and August, our 10:30 service on Sundays has been moved to 9:30 because it is cooler and we are meeting in our "fireside" room rather than the sanctuary. Our services are not big...about 40-50 people with a bunch out and away for the summer. So we have a small table for an altar, our priest wears only her stole, our cup bearers are not in their robes, and we all sit in a semi-circle so we can see each other. We have developed a much stronger sense of community. Our service is much more informal but also far more personal. It will be hard to move back to the dark sanctuary which is covered in 100 year old redwood paneling...

My husband and daughter and her husband gave me a purple Tutto tote which is for putting your machine in wheels. I really didn't want it for my sewing machine...I want it for a carry on...when I do get to travel on an airplane to give a lecture and workshop, I travel with my computer and projector for my power point presentation. The computer has it's own bag but it is really heavy...the projector has it's own case which puts be over the limit when I have a purse also. So now, this tote will work great. It pulls from the end so it will go through the airplane aisles rather than requiring carrying. It will hold the computer, projector, cables, water bottle, food snacks, and some clothes and a book and magazine along with a project to work on. What more could I ask? (well some bookings would help!)

I am now deleting most of the posts on the list. It's really sad that it has fallen to this level...too much talk about TV, too much talk about who is right, too much offense taken, too much offense given. I learned some time ago that I cannot allow myself to be brought down by negative people and situations. I am now able to excuse myself, or ask that the situation be changed, or just not invite negative people in to my life. I have suffered from clinical depression now for 11 years. Unfortunately, therapy did not provide long term answers but medication has really assisted me in living a normal life. With a change in medications a year and a half ago, things got much better. But my mental health is too important to me to allow others negativity to effect it. So, back to being in the moment...when things get negative around me, I look for that something special somewhere where I can be in the moment with beauty. And thus, my art is generally about making beauty (at least from my perspective!)

I have been getting a lot of work done recently. Will try to get pictures up soon although some has been put on my website.

Art for the Soul or Art to Sell?

Well, as the list continues with it's ongoing discussion of cows, pigs, patterns etc. someone mentioned the issue of making art from our soul versus making art to sell.

When my children were young, I used to make a lot of baby quilts and sell them at Children's fairyland in Oakland, CA. Most were from patters...that is before the big brouhaha over making things and selling them from patterns. It was a way to could earn a little extra money for my fabric. I have also done assorted types of greeting cards, especially when I was working. This was an easy way for me to be creative, without putting a lot of time or thought in to what I was doing. I sold those also.

Now I just make art that comes from within. Is it all ART FROM THE SOUL? Well, it comes from inside me.

Does it have angst? No.
Was it all hard to do? No.
Did I wrestle with the design? No.
Did I worry about the color choices? No.
Did I stay up forever trying to decide just how to quilt it? No.

Now, why do I say no to many of these things? Isn't art supposed to be gut wrenching in the making? I don't think so.

I believe that the more we make, the easier it gets. Like learning the rules. When you learn the rules, think out loud about them as you are doing them, and make them a part of your brain, then they are very easy to use without thinking. Same thing with color. One needs to become color confident and that comes from doing a lot of work to see what works and what doesn't.

In order to do a lot of work, it helps to work small. That way we can do a lot of stuff and get a lot of practice. Too many people on the LIST get too concerned about if something is art or not, will it sell, what size should it be to get into whatever show they would like, what does the judge like, etc?

Just do the work. It isn't until you have a body of work together that you are in a position to start showing it out there.

When I retired, the first year and a half were spent in producing work. I started entering shows during the second year and continued, with the goal of getting my work out there in quilt and art shows. I have won awards in art shows. I have won awards in quilt shows. I don't win top awards in quilt shows because I am not always as careful as I should be on the backs of my quilts and sometimes the bindings aren't straight or done with the proper stitching in the corner of the miter. Oh well. Does that bother me? NO.

Because my work is getting out there, it is selling. Now that is validation! That is what I want? Why would I want to make one quilt every other year that is perfect and will win big awards in every show I enter it in? Well, maybe that would be nice because there is far more money in the quilt show awards in the big shows than there is in the art shows. But, more work sells in the art shows.

I have a big pile of art of various sizes (that look like quilts) piled on the bed. I also have about 40 pieces that are out at various galleries and shows. And right now I have two fused, large pieces that need to be sandwiched and stitched, another one that is almost finished in it stitching, a piece made with resisted dyeing that needs to be stitched, one that is partly stitched and two that need to get sleeves put on so they can go out to shows. Plus tons of pieces that need to have labels made for them!

But, I have now had an art consultant come to me to see about selling my work (now that is the really easy way and boy does it feel good). That is what I want!

Boy that list is getting to me! Would you believe I don't read it much but just scan the index in the digests?

web site and art issues

I have finally updated my website. If you are just interested in the new pieces, you can scroll down on the first, home page, to new quilts and take a look. The new pieces are in the abstract gallery and the sun gallery. I have posted all of the pieces made for Quilting Arts Magazine along with several other new pieces, several of which have been shown here but have now been professionally photographed.

The Art Quilt list is back to "Is it art?" again. Unfortunately, too many people just don't get the big picture. There are so many levels to this whole question. Anyone can call something art but then, the question is, is it good art? I get very few quilting magazines and many more art magazines. It is really interesting to see what is being presented in the world of painting as opposed to quilting.

I think that pieces that are art quilts that show up in quilt shows are not always very good art. Sometimes they just try too hard.

Textile pieces (quilts, fiber, etc) that show up in art shows are another matter. They are juried in based on the art and workmanship. ( and I don't mean the stitches to the inch type of workmanship, but the overall quality). And the heavily embellished pieces don't usually make it to art shows. I think that if one really wants to see art, that happens to be fiber, would be in the shows that Joanie San Chirico curates. Not the type of work that the people on the art quilt list do!

It is also so sad that people are quick to negatively comment and miss the entire idea of the comments made on the list. I believe that most of those who get defensive are, unfortunately, those whose "art" is the weakest. The reason behind my doing the articles for Quilting Arts was to help educate people about the art part of quilting. Embellishment, new techniques, etc., do not make art. If you look at some of the modern art, it really isn't about the finished product, but about the experience of the creation...therein lies the art! Creating is a process and works best when one understands the rules of the medium used. Once one firmly grasps the rules, then they can be broken with knowledge and intent.

I used to do a lot of pottery on the wheel. I really loved it and admired those who did distressed work...work that had bangs in to them, etc. But I couldnot flop a pot off kilter until I had learned to make one that was perfectly centered and even. Then, the piece was strong enough to get whopped and whacked out of round! But it had to have been made properly before I could do something else with it.

The same goes with art. If one has not learned to use the medium correctly and well, then it just doesn't work. There will always be art that is considered outsider art...that which defies all of the rules but somehow works. But we generally see too many "technique" pieces at quilt shows and not enough art. The comments about older work being art is so true. But not all older work fits the art definition. The good, old pieces have outstanding use of color, balance, design and workmanship that are so often missing in today's art quilt world. As Rayna Gillman says, we are too insular and need to get out in to the world (well, she sort of said that!)

New Work

So this past weekend I did some more dyeing...this time using my flat boards. I don't want to spend the money that Melody Johnson did for her acrylic plates, plus I don't have the drying racks she has. But the temperature was in the high 90's so things dried pretty quickly.












I finally finished that piece that was a little pouffy....I did all of the heavy stitching in the blocks and then into the orange and turquoise areas in the background. Then all the rest of the background needed to really get quilted flat which I did with a meandering stitch. This piece uses dyed fabric for the background and monoprinted fabrics for the blocks.

And the I finished the piece with the dyed fabrics I overdyed, using washers clamped together to make the yellow circles. This was a lot of fun to do. I have even done some beading in the yellow circles which doesn't show up very well in the photo.

Well, have to trim that big piece that I quilted on the long arm, fix a couple of places that I had to take out and put a facing on the piece.

Then I am finally ready to start some new work. I want to make two stoles, a veil and altar frontal for our church in the ordinary greens...have an idea for fusing various green fabrics on to the stoles (using silk) and then maybe adding some highlights. Well, we'll see. The ideas are starting to flow!

Life Gets in the Way

Oh dear, the babysitter's son has foot-mouth-hand disease...something I had never heard of before when my children were young but evidently has been going around. So Jacob has been spending a lot of time with his grammy and granpa...but mostly grammy! So, of course, not a lot else gets done!

I do have a couple of pictures to show you though.

This piece was cut off in the article in Quilting Arts magazine which was created to show formal balance. I really like it and had a lot of fun doing it as I don't usually work in this way. I much prefer asymmetrical balance but once in a while it is good to do the exercises and work with something different. It is done in a triadic color scheme.



And this is Canyonlands. I think I had shown it before but it wasn't really finished. I added the purple and then mounted it on stretched black cotton duck and did an uneven satin stitch around it to set it off more.

And this piece is my favorite. I actually pieced it...not fused!

I used Thai silk for the black and then some of my hand dyed silk charmuese...the quilting lines are hard to see but are really neat with lots of lines adding to the composition. Each black block has its own lines...

Well, got to get going on working with some more running fence stuff. there will be a show coming up with work from all of us who are working with it and I want to get a couple of pieces done to include with the two that are already with Dianne.

Meanwhile, I've had a blast discharging cotton. Will show you shortly.

A Couple of New Pieces

So here we have a couple of the many pieces that just came back from the photographer.

The first is Blues in the Day. I thought of calling it Study of a Red Line but I have another piece that is getting that title and I didn't feel like having another series. This piece has two red stitched lines, one of which is stitched over heavy cording. Then there is a chartreuse line which doesn't quite show the right color in this picture. It is made from painted canvas. Now, this is really in my simple mode! This piece is about 34 x 55 or so...I haven't measured them yet.








And the I have Harvest Moon. You saw parts of it some time ago but I finally got it finished and photographed. It was interesting working in tones rather than clear colors. Quite a change but a fun exercise. This piece is about 58 x 58 or so. Haven't measured this one, either.


Tomorrow I will get the tape measure out, and start cataloging them.

Today was spent all on art. I had to finish up a piece (by that I mean put a sleeve on it) and get a slat cut to fit so that I could deliver it for a show the California Fiber Artists will be in in Half Moon Day.

So, tomorrow I work at the computer for a while, getting photos edited and sized for the web site, measuring, naming and pricing...all that kind of stuff. And enter the info for each on into my catalogue so I can try to keep track of it.

And I am still trying to get the smaller quilt finished...almost done with the heavy, heavy quilting that is on it...that is to make of for the minimal quilting on Blues in the Day! And then I have to trim and face Waiting for Spring, a large quilt about 60 x 60 that I quilted on the long arm. Never time to sleep. and then I hope to be able to start some new work...perhaps it is time for orbs, but then I keep thinking of fences running across them. Can't get those fences out of my mind!

Playing with Fabric

I guess what I am doing is procratinating...I've checked out Rayna's blog and what Ted Orland has to say...I've read every Quiltart digest that has come my way. I have been doing the quilting on a piece but it is a lot of work since I heavily quilted the design area and now I get to fight with the pouffs all around it to get it smooth. Well, next time I will just fuse it down...thought I would do one without fusing. Oh well.

So, I have pictures of fabric to show you.


The first is a piece of cotton that I painted with blues and greens. It has a little sparkle to it and is really ummmmy. But my favorite is the painted purple and gold to which I added (why I don't know) silver metallic paint (should have been gold) but it is pretty thin so it adds an interesting shimmer to it all. Finally got them ironed after doing them about 3 weeks ago. They both keep the wrinkled look even tho' they are ironed well.

Then I did a little dyeing. Mixed up a bucket of purple and golden yellow and had at it.



The first piece went in to the purple mix...obviously I didn't mix it very well as the fushia struck immediately and gave me dapples...but then it did it on all three pieces so it looks like I sprinkled dye powder over a piece of wet fabric! It was intentional. That's what I love about dyeing, especially the way I do it. I am never quite sure what will come up and that is just fine...interesting things always happen.

The next piece is pole wrapping Liz style which means that it isn't like the way anyone else does it. I wrapped the fabric and then poured purple down one side and the golden yellow down the other.





The last picture is os a piece of yellow fabric that I had previously dyed but I then ironed it into squares, used a couple of large heavy metal washers and clamps and dumped it in to the dye. What fun! Now I have more things to do this way!





So now I am thinking about all the interesting ways I can use these last three fabrics...each of the yellows also has a lot of the purple but you just don't see it in the part I scanned.

I'm thinking/contemplating orbs...with fences marching past them?
Who knows.

A couple of new pieces

Well, besides taking pictures, I have finished a number of things. This first piece is Canyonlands. It includes pieces of lutradur that has been painted and heated. There are fine lines in the other areas, remeniscent of a topo map. It is mounted via satin stitching to stretched black cotton duck.

I am sorry that this second piece is so off color. The piece is mounted on to a natural color piece of decorator fabric with a great texture to it. The piece was created using transfer dyes and was then foiled via silk screen. I love the way I quilted it...minimally!

I have been working on a series of these pieces (like the last one), one of which will be mounted like a scroll.

Tomorrow I will start putting some of my thoughts about Ted Orland's book, View from the Studio Door. Rayna has started to comment on it so I thought I could add more of my thoughts about it here.

Pictures for inspiration

So we will start out today with a beautiful picture of one of the falls at Yosemite National Park. We went up on Friday with our daughter and her family. We stayed just overnight and went around taking pictures and having a nice break. Lots of clouds and lots of water.

I don't remember which falls is on the left but the one on the right is Yosemite Falls. Last week the flooding crested and the water was not coming down quite as much as previously but it was a beautiful spectacle!



And what would Yosemite be without a picture of Half Dome?
And a picture of El Capitan.


And Mother's Day pictures to boot! On Mother's Day we went with my daughter and her family to the beach in Alameda where Jacob had a great time playing in the sand and the water!

Long Arm Quilting Adventure

How many times have you looked at those huge quilting machines at the big shows....that is, unless you already have one of those $17,000 babies...I have tried them at Houston last fall and last year at our own quilt guild show, but always on muslin.

I happen to know a representative of American Professional Quilting Systems (APQS). Chery Uribe is a drop dead gorgeous woman who is voluptuous...you know, the kind of woman you like to hate because she is so lovely! Well, you would except that she is absolutely one of the nicest people around. She is the one who has been by my side telling me about the various machines...but without trying to sell me one (yeah, right, she knows when I make the decision I will go to her!). She had invited me out to her house to try her big machine anytime I wanted.

Well, this was the time. I had finished a 60 x 60" quilt which needed to be quilted. So, thought I, let's try the long arm machine and see what I can do with it on my own work and not just rambling around on a blank piece of muslin. Was I in for a learning curve! I have taught machine quilting for about 20 years but all of a sudden, moving the machine around was something different. Cheryl kept telling me I was doing really well for a first timer. I used the stitch regulator but didn't really like it so went to the non regulated stitching. The most important thing I learned was to shut off the machine when I needed to pause so it didn't keep on sewing!

What an adventure!

Cheryl has provided some pictures for your enjoyment! I'm surprised my tongue wasn't sticking out as it usually does when I am concerntrating. Anyway, I finished the quilting and then this evening, in front of the TV I did the unquilting so I can fix the major boo-boos on my machine.

Oh, and by the way, Cheryl quilts for other people, including Alex Anderson, so I know I have a good teacher!

time to blog again

I figured that I had better get on line with something or I will be kicked off the ring!

Have been really, really busy making some new art work. It is really different from what I have been doing but can't post a picture just yet since I haven't taken any. One piece is actually pieced!...silk...my hand dyed and black Thai silk. It is wonderful to touch! Another is a larger collaged piece. I have finished one Lutradur piece and have been doing a bunch of postcards. So, should get those posted in a day or two.

Just finished up an interview for Quilter's Newsletter...they will include it in the Meetin' Place section in the October issue.

Also received a wonderful bundle study from Sonji Hunt. It is part of an exchange we are doing...Now I just need to get hers off to her...told her I would today but it really looks like it will go tomorrow. I have been very guilty of fooling around today and not getting much done.

Thought I would give you something to ponder. This is from Matthew Fox in his book, Creativity.

"The liver cleanses and recyles. The artist, too, cleanses, and recycles the toxins in a culture. Artists turn pain into insight and struggle into triumph and darkness into light and ugliness into beauty and forgetfulness into remembering and grief into rejoicing. Artists add awe to awe and beauty to beauty and wonder to wonder. When the liver is healthy, the person is healthy. The artist is to the community or body politic what the liver is to the human body: a cleanser and reclyer of waste and toxins."

Now I thought this was very interesting in light of the conversation that has been ongoing on Art Quilter's Network...Joan Colvin once told me that she didn't think it was really necessary to put all of our angst out there for the public. She felt, and I agree, that we need more beauty in the world. Sometimes putting out public statements about inequities, or life's difficulties is really necessary but I don't know that I really want to share the angst that I have gone through.

Well, it's something to think about!

Interview Posted

Karen has finally finished with me...I can get really verbose!

The interview with the Center for the Quilt is in their Save Our Stories section.

Amazement

I am so absolutely amazed about how things are going with my art.

Karen Musgrave is almost finished with her on-line interview of me for the Quilt Alliance SOS. Why they chose to do me is beyond my comprehension but I sure am having fun doing it. I have a captive audience and she just keeps saying nice things about whatever it is that I dribble on with. Since I read Virginia's I feel like I am suffering from terminal diarrhea of the mouth. This goes along with the surprise when someone (a guild) is willing to pay me big dollars to talk about myself for an hour! Can life get any better?!!

Well, yes it can!


When I got home from taking my dad out and about, my husband indicated that the Textile Center in Minneapolis had called to tell me than they wouldn' t be able to return my quilt, Cross Roads 8, the Passion, to me. It took a minute for it to sink in. They sold it!

So much happening

Life has been so much fun! I'm not sure it can get any better!

The Alameda County Arts Commission has made the decision to purchase four of my works. On Good Friday, I went to the opening reception of the textile show at the Olive Hyde Gallery in Fremont, CA and met one of the commissioners from the Art commission. She said all sorts of positive things about my work. The curator of the show at the Gallery had recognized me and told me that the commissioner had wanted to talk to me. Boy, am I doing the schmoozing now!

The next week got the notification that they are purchasing the art. Trying to borrow Summer Fun from them for Quilter's Newsletter won't work. QNM said they would take slides of my work for publication...not sure if, when or where.

California Fiber Artists have been really busy getting shows together. One suddenly came up at a winery in the foothill country so had to get a piece off for them. There there are two more coming up very quickly, one in Half Moon Bay, and the other in Petaluma.

Then, of course, we had Holy Week. I was only able to get to a couple of the services but finished up with our Easter Vigil on Saturday night. The story of creation is told during that service and my six creation banners are taken off the wall and used to illustrate the story.

And then, I have just been working away...and away, and away. Can hardly find my studio and I had done some clean up before hand so I could do some work. I have the big quilt finished fusing but have decided that I want to add another 10 inches to it so it goes in the large art quilt category at shows where there is less competition (oh, did I let that secret out?) Have been working on post cards, some for my Art2Mail group and some for Virginia's Fiber Arts for a Cause. Virginia has also posted the pieces with prices for the reverse auction, also a fundraiser for the American Cancer Society.

I have spent all day (except for a trip out to the gym) in my studio...doing art? No way...doing email stuff, paying art bills, getting things promised off to people, and doing an interview with Karen Musgrave for the SOS (Save our Stories) with the Quilt Alliance. It is really an interesting project.


But I thought I would share some of my photos of my studio with piles of semi-finished things. Did get a lot of small pieces on to stretched black cotton on stretcher bars, now need to do the screw eyes and wiring. Have one piece that I am putting on to an off white heavy weave linen and need to stretch it and do the screw eyes, etc. And then there is a pile of pieces that have been finished except for sleaves and labels (nothing has labels right now!) And then there is the pile on the ironing board.

I Can't Believe It's Been Two Weeks

I have been sooooo busy I don't know which way is up! But a good busy!!

Went to ArtQuilt Claremont with Gerrie Congdon. Picked her up at the airport just after I dropped off my college roommate who visited for a couple of hours before having to leave.

Gerrie and I got settled in to our room.

You will notice that there are two laptops in this picture...woe be to us to not be connected. Of course, I didn't post anything while there but Gerrie was very good about letting every know what we were up to!

We were both in Jane Dunnewold's class. The entire floor was covered in blue tarp taped down with duct tape. The tables were covered in plastic. We each had our own eight foot table...didn't know what to do with so much room!

Jane had us up and running right away. Had to get fabrics ready for dying and seperated cotton from silk and rayon going in the cotton pots. It was so confusing...we were supposed to get at least all six colors but you can see that I didn't quite get there. There was so many people trying to get stuff in to the dye pots that I couldn't figure out which pots I had put mine in. Then it was time to start carving stamps out of plastic errasers...what fun...I did that everytime I had a few minutes. Then off to lunch, back to wash out our fabric and we just kept on going. Working on over dyeing, stamping with our stamps, re-folding the fabric for over dyeing, getting our silk screens taped and washed, creating stencils using fusible interfacing with netting in between which was all covered with latex house paint to make a stiff stencil. Then made a permanent screen design and got busy silk screening, stenciling and stamping everything under the sun!

Got home and had to just take a break for a day and then the next day I started making silk screens using my thermofax...boy have I made silk screens...I think about 25 different ones. Well, then I had to start using them and the next day was busy screening ink and the waiting until the next day to start on discharging, using Soft Scrub through the silk screen.

This is a piece of fabric that I did a discharge on just to check out the screens. One is a brush stroke that I had done on a screen and the other is one of several images from Dover of Greek women...I see a new series coming!

This leaf piece is a small piece of Thai silk that I dyed, folded, over-dyed, stamped, and then stamped with adhesive and foiled. I love the colors in this.

Got some interesting mail yesterday. A big envelope from Primedia Publishing came, asking for me to send my quilt, Summer Fun, to them for photography as they are considering using it in their publication. More than that, I don't know. (Primedia publishes Quilter's Newsletter Magazine, Quilt Maker, and McCall's Quilting, as well as Sew News) I have a problem though, the quilt is currently with the Alameda County Arts Commission for consideration for purchase. I should find out tomorrow if the Arts Commission is going to purchase it and several others they have or not. If they do, I will have to ask if I can borrow it for a month while it goes to Primedia. such problems...I know! LOL!

I am so happy that the Fiber Arts for a Cause that Virginia Spiegel has been doing as a fund raiser for the American Cancer Society had done so well at Chicago. She told me that mine sold pretty quickly.

I have just sent her the jpg of the quilt, Spring Day, which will be on the reverse auction on her website. I had told everyone that another quilt would be going but Virginia liked this one best. It is 16" by 19".

Meanwhile, I have had several contacts from various placing to see if I could come and give a lecture and/or a workshop. I would like to do about six or so a year which would help my income but not keep me out of the studio for too long.

I'm working on another fused piece which will be considerably larger than Spring Day. The title is really about what we haven't seen since December, except for one day increments every once in a while. Rain, rain, go away, come again another day. The deer bed down in the hills right close to the freeway because the grass is so tall you can't see them. Oh well...of to work I go again.