home
about the artist
gallery
blog
links
contact

Archive for the ‘The Printed Fabric Bee’ Category

Winner of The Printed Fabric Bee

Tuesday, February 11th, 2014

1622589_10152267509149439_1429444428_n

I did the drawing for the fabric collection. I posted a new photo because Pokey Bolton’s fabric is now revealed. I had 50 comments on my blog and 39 comments on the FaceBook page. The random number generator selected the number 51 which just happens to be a good friend of mine, Gale Dupell, who is part of my STASH group. I will be able to deliver it to her. She has had some serious medical problems and this will be a nice treat for her – very serendipitous. Thank you all for coming to the blog and playing along.

The Printed Fabric Bee Giveaway

Wednesday, February 5th, 2014

wonky lines gericon

I was the Queen Bee this month and requested wonky organic lines for the motif. I said any colors, but that I am partial to red and chartreuse. Now, I get to select someone to get a piece of each of these fabrics (as you can see, Pokey and Lynn have been busy so I don’t have their’s yet, but you know it will be divine!!) You can click on the photo to get a better look, but, let me tell you, these are all beautiful.

So you have two ways to win this fabric collection, leave a comment here and leave a comment on our FaceBook Page. I will do the drawing on February 11th.

This and That

Monday, December 23rd, 2013

5kforcancerfabric

Multi-tasking is my middle name. I gave up on discharging this fabric. Instead, I used a Stencil Girl stencil with irregular lines to print. I experimented with some different paints and ended up with Jacquard’s Lumiere Halo Blue Gold. It was the effect that I was going for. This photo is not that good. It is hard to photograph metallic paints, I think. Anyway, I am happy with it.

Mr C has been busy. He spackled the nail holes from the wall where I had hung my crosses. Then, it got a fresh coat of paint. It looks pretty bare. We will put the mirror back up and maybe some generic art.

blankwall

That bench is a church pew that was gifted to us by our church in Wilmington, NC. We help to fund the redoing of the altar and a new organ. They had too many pews for the new space. It is one of those things we may have to give up.

Today, I wrapped gifts, which I do not enjoy doing. This one was pretty easy. I had a black box and I used Washi Tape to decorate it. Perfect for the architect in the family.

Processed with VSCOcam

After a quick trip to Trader Joe’s this afternoon, I set about baking some goodies for the Christmas Eve meal — the traditional chocolate mint brownies and two gluten free recipes for me — pecan tassies and Girl Scout Samoa cookies. I still have to do the chocolate dipping and caramel/coconut top for the cookies.

pecantassies

Tonight, we went to the local Paleo restaurant near us. They brought me this tumbler of wine, which I enjoyed. A little boy came over to our table and asked if he could have the dinosaurs. I told him I was finished playing with them. He looked at me quizzically and then grinned.

dinosaursandwine

And so tomorrow is Christmas eve. I am doing dinner here and Steph is doing Christmas Day dinner. I think she is making tamales.

Then, the crunch begins. More decluttering and organizing and cleaning. I move into my new little studio space the first week of January. It is both exhilarating and exhausting just to think about it.

Happy Solstice!

Saturday, December 21st, 2013

paigejacketback

I love both the winter and the summer solstice. Today brings the promise of the return of more light. The summer solstice is the celebration of the longest day of light.

I got so much done in the last couple of days, even though they were short on daylight. Yesterday, I embellished a little jean’s jacket for Paige. My sister-in-law in CA thrifted it for me. It is a size 2 toddler so she may need to grow into it. I put it and a few other things in the mail to her yestereday. Here is the front. Not terribly inspired, but it will be unique.

paigejacket1

I want to thank all of you who helped me destash my studio. I only have 3 bundles left! I might add some hand-dyes and some inexpensive scrap bundles later. Today, I printed all the labels and packaged up the goodies and dropped them off at the Post Office. You should receive your fabric a day or two after Christmas. Here is what I delivered to the PO this morning.

uspsshipping

Then, I went to work on de-personalizing our home to prepare it for selling to someone else. First, I took down my cross collection – didn’t want to scare off a potential buyer! I also packed up all the family photos from several different rooms. I got a bit weepy as I saw the transformation happening, but it will all be good when I can put every thing back in a new home!

Then, I scooted down to the studio and spent some time locating some of my tools and thermofax screens in the storage room. I need to print a fat quarter to go in The Printed Fabric Bee fabric pack for Virginia Spiegel’s 5 K to Fight Cancer. I wanted to discharge a pattern on a hand-dyed fabric, hoping the turquoise would remain where I discharged. I couldn’t find my Soft Scrub so I ran out to buy a new bottle. I wanted to use one of my favorite old screens with wonky lines. You can see where the softscrub is on the fabric.

Processed with VSCOcam

Processed with VSCOcam

Unfortunately, this Soft Scrub did not have enough chlorine to discharge the dye. So, I just have a very clean piece of fabric. I will try again with discharge paste, if I can find it!! Or maybe, I will screen on paint. That would probably be easiest.

Time Out for Some Creativity

Friday, November 22nd, 2013

8x18spiralprint

 

I took some time out from the sorting and purging for some creative time. I needed to get a print done for the current queen bee of The Printed Fabric Bee. She wanted blue spirals, 8 X 18 inches.

I started with one of my pieces of fabric that was over dyed with indigo. It was basically blue and yellow. I first printed small blueish spirals with a stencil.

small spiral stencil

Then I mixed up some  turquoise Dynaflow paint with this Liquitex iridescent medium. The directions said that a transparent paint works best and that it would be darker before it dried.

 

irridescentmedium

I used this large stencil that I made in a workshop with Jane Dunnewold.

largespiralstencil

One I finished the spiral printing, I thought it was a bit lifeless and needed some red.

spiralprinting

And so I got out some red fabric paint and some sequin waste and added some red. Here is a detail shot.

sprialprintdetail

It was fun even though I had to keep running into the storage room to find my printing equipment.

Yesterday, I finally finished the office decluttering. I kept getting sidetracked with meetings – SAQA was here on Wednesday and on Thursday, I had an SDA conference call in the morning and a Trinity Arts meeting for lunch. On Wednesday, we also celebrated Miles 12th birthday. He is wearing his new gray suit, on his birthday list. His mom found the cool hat at a thrift shop. We went out for sushi and then had a birthday mud pie at their home.

milesbirdypie

Also on his list were a new robe and slippers and some good toffee. We obliged by gifting him with those items. He loved his new robe so much that he got ready for bed early so that he could wear it. I love the rare times I get to spend with my growing grandchildren. I miss the babysitting days.

milesinnewrobe

Here is how my office looks now. I feel as if I am in some strange place.

declutteredoffice

Today, I started sorting and setting aside fabric for my studio sale on December 6th. I have so much fun folding and fondling fabric. I have worked my way through the fabric that reads as a solid in greens, blues, purples, reds, oranges and yellows. I have sorted out those that have small prints and a pile of marbled fabric.

fabricsortingI hope to get a lot done tomorrow. I am taking a break to get my hair colored in the middle of the day.