The 2011 Quilting Arts calendar is now available

My quilted artwork made it (again!) into next year’s calendar which can be ordered from Interweave. Below are teensy images of all the winning artwork for the 2011 theme, “Flavor of the Month":

Mine is on the left in the 2nd row down, the garden veggies floating on a light background. Not sure which month it represents, seems to be April. You can see a much bigger image here. If anyone would like more info, here are the previous posts about my calendar entries. 


Next year the theme will be “Feeling Pet-ty,” which will feature one of my favorite subjects, animals. The info about it is on page 70 of the August/September issue of Quilting Arts. I suspect there will be a lot of competition for this one and the entry date is earlier this year, January 7, 2011. Guess I’d better get busy!

See the 2010 Quilting Arts calendar finalists online

As I mentioned in a previous post, I’m a finalist in Fresh Picked, the Quilting Arts magazine 2010 calendar contest, which features a theme of flowers, fruits, and veggies. Surprisingly, this year they’ve posted all thirty-two finalists on their web site on this page and this page.My two entries are on the second page. The reason it’s surprising to me is that in many cases artwork is kept under wraps until the big announcement of the winners. Maybe this will create a lot of buzz prior to the calendar’s release.

It appears that they’re using the “social media” approach a la Facebook, since if you join the Quilting Arts community, you can make comments plus rate each piece. Just curious what you would think about having your work publicly juried, in effect. Do you think it would bother you? Personally I’m fine with it, but a few of the comments are critical of choices the artist made which could be upsetting to some people. It also could be a drag to get a low rating such as one or two stars! Hmmm, maybe we should get used to people posting ratings of our fashion choices, hair styles, type of car, what we’re eating for lunch, etcetera.

In any case there are some fascinating fiber art techniques and attractive designs that are well worth browsing through. The apple shows the basic technique used for my Handpicked entry. I made the fruit and other elements separately first as little collages of various fabric fragments. After much rearranging, the hand, sleeve, and fruit were placed on the background, glue-basted, then stitched in place.

I’m a finalist in the Quilting Arts 2010 calendar contest!

Wow, what great news to come home to after a week-long painting workshop! The list of finalists are on the Quilting Arts blog, plus a giveaway. This was my second time trying for the calendar contest... when I get a chance, I’ll post my non-winning entry from last year. A portion of it forms my blog header but the entire image has not been previously shown.

Getting back to the plein air workshop, my fellow workshop attendee Joyce Shelton has posted about it on her blog, including photos of instructor Larry Moore’s demos. It was a wonderful experience but I’m debating whether to show my less-than-stellar efforts. We shall see!

Update on the calendar contest (4.13.2009): I had sent in two entries, but on the list of finalists it didn’t say which one they wanted. Turns out they want to see both... cool!

Watercolor pencils on fabric

My first completed project this year is for the 2012 Quilting Arts Calendar... might as well try for three years in a row! The theme is Feeling Pet-ty, in other words animals, a lifelong favorite subject of mine. The previous entries had fairly bright colors but the subject this time called for a much more subdued palette. I had not used watercolor pencils on fabric before, but because they are transparent and the idea was to allow the patterning on the fabric to show through, wc pencils had potential.

First, a little organizing was in order. These pencils date from a book project eons ago and were scattered about in various nooks and crannies of my studio. After corraling them into a semblance of order, a coloring chart became essential because of the nature of wc pencils. It’s very hard to tell just looking at the pencil what color it really is.

As you can see on the left, the colors change drastically when water is added.

Because I was not going to use plain white fabric, the pencils would be interacting with the underlying color and/or pattern. The fabric needed to represent the fur of my critter, without getting literal, necessarily. Below are the four contenders:

The one on the left was a possibility, the next one was too spotty, the next one too contrasty... the one on the right with it’s pattern of leafy, woodsy imagery seemed most promising. So, I scribbled on some colors (below) and brushed over them over with water. So good so far, time to jump right in.

The sketch was done in Photoshop, won’t get into the details of that now. Once it was printed out, I redrew it onto tracing paper. Someone had asked me awhile ago about my unusual method of transferring sketches, so here are some photos. The tracing paper sketch is on top, and I just draw directly on the fabric underneath. The pencil point is visible through the tracing paper.

I roll back the tracing paper often to see how it’s looking.

Also, it’s easy to see through the tracing paper where the pencil is because it is darker.

This method isn’t suitable in every situation, but because I was using a dark wc pencil and a thick line, it worked fine. Why not use transfer paper such as Saral? I do on many occasions, but this works just as well for me and there are no worries about a Saral line ending up in the wrong place and being tough to remove. How about a light box? That’s a good option if the base material is see-through enough. But, if you’re transferring a sketch to primed canvas (for example), a light box won’t work.

Below is the colored line before and after being washed over with water. Quite a difference! You can always add additional layers of the pencil, if needed, after the fabric is dry. Or, you can use the pencil on wet fabric, which really lays down pigment but may be a tad less controlled. By the way, in this case the amount of water being added is just sufficient to melt the wc pencil, not saturate the surrounding area.

How about setting the wc pencil? I tried ironing it, which didn't seem to do anything much. A wet tissue dabbed onto the pencil work is an easy test of whether the pigment is set or not. Painting on thinned acrylic gel, textile medium, or Jacquard colorless extender (tutorial with wax pencils here) probably would have worked but since quite a bit of the image was involved, there was too much territory to cover. Instead, it was sprayed with two coats of Claybord matte fixative. This is the main fixative I use, because it has a relatively low odor that dissipates quickly. As you can see from the eye detail at the top of this post, there was another whole layer of stitching to add, so I didn’t want pigment from the pencils to get all over the threads or have to keep smelling a noxious odor. The other advantage is that is doesn’t stiffen the fabric much, if at all.

The watercolor pencils gave me the soft look I wanted, so that was the main thing. Wondering what this animal is? If it doesn’t get into the calendar, I’ll reveal all in a couple of months. If it does get in, I’ll post more about this project closer to the calendar’s release date.

Happy New Year, everyone!

Goodies... in the mail and made in the studio

One of the perks of being accepted into the Quilting Arts calendar is that they send you stuff. Last year, they gave a gift certificate to be used in the Interweave store, which made for some happy online browsing (and buying!) This year, along with the printed calendars came this pile of DVDs, two magazines, some Angelina fiber, a fat quarter, some batting, and what appears to be a very nice book about surface design on fabric, Art Cloth by Jane Dunnewold.

At first I was thinking I’d rather have made the choices, but though I haven’t looked at anything other than the mags yet, these all look great to me. When I get a chance to read/watch/use these goodies, I’ll pass along my 2¢ worth of opinion. The Cloth Paper Scissors Studios issue is very nice, full of inspirational photos of fab studios. If anyone wants to buy the 2011 “Flavor of the Month” Quilting Arts Calendar or any of these other goodies, click here.

What is that image at the top of this post, you may be wondering? It’s a close-up of the paper in the bottom row, second from the left (below). In a couple of different sessions, I cranked out loads of collage papers with the help of my artist friend Joyce and my 2 nieces. These were plain white cardstock, layered with regular and metallic acrylic paint and iridescent/metallic watercolors (from Daniel Smith.) Hmmm...except the one on the top right, which was painted on a restaurant napkin that was similar to interfacing, more substantial than the usual paper napkin.

The paper on the lower right was scribbled on with crayons, then painted with black paint, others were pressed together, stamped on, etc. It’s such fun to splash away without worrying about anything. One thing to remember when building up a stash of papers is to make plenty of light toned papers for contrast, and not just stick to the bright and dramatic colors. The plan is to use these in some upcoming collage work, along the line of these previous pieces. I also want to try these techniques on fabric, just am pressed for time at the moment.

Have a creative week!

I'm a calendar girl (again!)

Just heard that my entry for the Quilting Arts 2011 calendar won... yahoo! Here are all the winning entries. Below is a detail from Garden Fresh, not sure which month it will be yet. 

It’s been fun to enter this contest. The first time I tried, my entry Studio View didn’t get anywhere, but it came in handy as the header for my blog. I can see now why it probably didn’t get in. It had some nice parts, such as the cat or this squirrel:

But overall, it‘s a little murky, not enough contrast. For example, the red cardinal disappears into the rust-colored “pine needles.”

And what is that green blob between the squirrel and the birdhouse feeder?

2012 Calendar

Woohoo, I'm happy to say that my entry has made it to the finalist stage. Showed my critter’s right eye last time, so here’s the left. Guess I’d better sew that sleeve on now...

Update February 14: It’s in the calendar...so yay!

What is my 2012 calendar animal, you ask?

My entry was accepted into the 2012 Quilting Arts calendar, so WOOHOO! There has been a hilarious debate on my Facebook page about what animal it is based on only a section of the face. It’s been a good example of the power of the human mind to extrapolate on available information. Guesses for the image shown at left have ranged from lion to bloodhound to monkey to horse to bunny to goat to llama to emu to owl, and even pig or elephant! Then there was prairie dog, but that was a joke (I think!)

The closest guess (without hints) was wolf. But it’s not a wolf.

Without any further ado, here is Cautious:

It’s an animal that I’ve never seen before in person, but one day this little gray fox was investigating our bird-feeding station, and by sheer chance I happened to look out the window. The fox’s coat was beautifully glossy, and it had a full, bushy tail. The neck and ears were reddish, the rest was silvery gray. After grabbing my camera and snapping a few photos, I tapped on the glass and got this view. One of the fun characteristics I found out while doing research about gray foxes (but not red foxes) is that they like to climb trees!

Here is my post about making this artwork. And this Wikipedia page has some nice photos of gray foxes and more info.

The 2010 Quilting Arts Calendar is here!

The printed calendar came in the mail and it looks beautiful. The fruit, flowers, and veggies depicted every month will cheer up a studio, kitchen, or office all year long. And the variety of fiber art techniques will be an inspiration as well. You can order a calender at the Interweave store.

A nice little bonus that goes along with a winning entry is the $200 Visa gift card they sent us. I’ve already bought some art supplies and books, but there’s still plenty left! Hmmm... I wonder what the theme will be for the 2011 contest? Birds? Bugs? Beasts? All three? We shall see!

Toodles for now,

I always wanted to be a calendar girl

So, it turns out I’m Miss July... or at least my Handpicked art quilt will be, in the Quilting Arts 2010 calendar. This video clip from Quilt Market shows Pokey Bolton introducing the winning entries. I worked long and hard on my entry, so it is a thrill to be included. (By the way, for those of you I haven’t met in person, my name is pronounced LorEEN LEEdy, rhymes with Doreen Beedy. The way Pokey pronounced it is how most people say it at first. I often suggest that my first name rhymes with CHLORINE, and that seems to help people remember!)

The detail on the left shows the bright fruity colors used as well as the embellishments. There’s a little saga about the background fabric; it was a pale violet, but a little plain. To jazz it up and create more contrast, I painted swirls of white acrylic paint on it. It worked fine, then I proceeded to transfer the design with red Saral transfer paper. Big mistake. Perhaps I did something wrong, but that red line was NOT going to come out easily. After a thorough washing and scrubbing in detergent, the last of the red did go away. Now, how would I get the design on the fabric?

I ended up pinning the background fabric to foam core, then pinning the design sketch on tracing paper above it. I would lift up the paper, slide the piece of fruit underneath, and pin it in place. So, there was no design transferred onto the background fabric at all. For more info about how this piece was made, see this post.

A note about the beads: The large flat ones are made of dyed shell, bought at a bead show direct from the importer. To give you an idea of the price difference, this type of bead is often found at bead stores for 25¢ or more per bead. At the show, they were a mere $2 for a 16" strand, quite a bit less expensive. I arranged the various beads after quilting, glued them down with Gem-tac, then hand stitched them down.

Have a creative day!

My “fresh picked” calendar quilt came home

And it looks as yummy as ever. It has certainly traveled more than I have this year as one of the Quilting Arts 2010 contest winners. It has been at trade shows and appeared in quite a few ads in magazines and arrived back here in perfect condition. Thanks, Quilting Arts! The calendars are still available for the reduced price of $9.99 at the Interweave store. The July image is my Handpicked.

The theme for 2011 is “Flavor of the Month.” Yes, that means food, food, food! So, if you feel like quilting some comestibles, by all means enter. Here is the info, you just have to scroll down the page a little.

To see previous related posts, click here.

Book reviews: art quilts, bead embroidery, making glass beads

It’s long past time to catch up on some book reviews, so without further ado:

Twelve by twelve is a beautifully designed book that arose from a challenge group of a dozen artists who created one 12" X 12" art quilt every two months over a two year period (Thanks to Gerrie Congdon for straightening me out on the time factor). The themes varied from Water to Shelter to Mathematics.

There are comments from each artist, detailed photographs, works in progress, studios to see, discussions of techniques, and much more in this 176-page book. As you can see by the cover image, some of the quilts have non-objective imagery, many are abstract, some are more realistic.

I’ve made a few quilts this size for the Quilting Arts calendar contests and for auctions to benefit SAQA and it is a good size to work with. However, making the commitment to creating so many so consistently is way beyond me... hats off to these artists for getting it done!

My only complaint about Sherry Serafini’s Sensational Bead Embroidery is that the cover image doesn’t begin to do justice to this artist’s glorious work. It's an odd view of a bracelet and all that darkness looks gloomy, while her beaded pieces are a delight to the eye. Check out her web site to get an idea. And don't miss her handbags, they are amazing.

I’ve been a fan of Sherry’s (along with a zillion other beaders) for years, mostly from seeing her work in Bead & Button magazine. Have only attempted some small pieces, but love the technique. It allows you to turn humble seed beads along with a few stones, jewels, or Scrabble tiles into gorgeous one-of-a-kind colorful, textured jewelry.

There are 25 projects in this book with clear directions and supply lists and good closeups of the beaded earrings, brooches, rings, bracelets, and necklaces that show the details. There are projects for all levels of experience.

Creating Glass Beads by Jeri L. Warhaftig is designed as an intermediate level workshop, so beginners should probably start elsewhere. However, the tools and materials for the craft are well covered. Each “session” takes the reader through the process of making a project such as a pendant with gold leaf, an eye bead, and an intriguing combo of glass and silver “clay.” At the end of each session are numerous examples made by students plus a gallery of other professional artists’ beads made with similar techniques.

Making glass beads is a craft I admire but have avoided due to the use of actual *fire*...but if I ever dare to try it this book will be an excellent guide to exploring different techniques. After learning the basics from a very patient teacher, first.

It’s been fun being on Lark Crafts reviewer list, they publish some very inspiring books!

2 new quilting books

A surprising and delightful package arrived last week containing two new titles published by Lark Books. Apparently I had signed up to review books for them months ago, though had completely forgotten about it. I would have written about them sooner, but after starting to page through 500 Art Quilts, I put everything on hold to spend the next few days in the studio putting together an entry for a contest before the March 8th deadline. (Made it, see sneak peek below.)


So, I can personally attest that 500 Art Quilts: An Inspiring Collection of Contemporary Work, definitely lives up to its subtitle. The artwork juried by Karey Patterson Bresenhan into this book presents a wonderful overview of the variety of work being created by artists today using cloth and thread plus many materials that uninitiated readers might not expect. Each full-color photograph is accompanied by a materials and process list that may include newspaper, fusing, drawn threads, charcoal, gauze, stones, tulle, ink-jet printing, grommets, zippers, beads, shibori, and much more.  A portable quilt show in 432 pages (8" X 8"), it is a worthy addition to the books in this series, such as another one of my favorites, 500 Beaded Objects. 

For a more detailed step-by-step book, Pretty Little Mini Quilts can fill the bill. The small (under 36") quilts are original designs by 25 different artists. They include a variety of styles and techniques such as traditional geometric blocks, appliquéd images, a portrait quilt, “drawing” with thread, machine and hand embroidery, vintage fabrics, and the use of embellishments. The directions are clear and should provide enough information for sewers with at least some experience. Compared with the artwork shown in 500 Art Quilts, these projects are simpler overall and require relatively standard materials and techniques. The 144 page, 8" X 8" book includes a table of contents, supply and tool list with general instructions, and an index. 

Last week I wasn’t sure if there was time to pull together an entry for the Quilting Arts 2011 calendar contest, but things came together nicely for once... perhaps my biggest worry was having enough time to print out three 8" X 10" photographs without my printer balking. No problemo, this time. As you can see from the detail, I crocheted some elements, in this case the curly stem on top of a tomato. I was glad to be able to enter again, wish me luck!