Busy Week

I am having a busy, busy week. I leave Saturday for Boerne, Texas. I am going to a workshop put on by Quilting Adventures out of Kerrville, Texas. Frieda Anderson is going to be the instructor for the three day workshop. I'm really excited to spend three days with other quilters and study under a quilter that loves color as much as I do!
This week has been full of appointments, errands and trying to get organized to pack my "supply list" and my clothes! My husband is going join me after the workshop is over with and spend an extra few days in Boerne, a little vacation at the end of summer.
One of the errands I did today was mail two boxes of fabric off to IBOL. I think this is an awesome ministry this serviceman is doing. Allowing us to touch people in such a special way! I love to touch fabric, and now I get to let my fabric touch others in another part of this awesome world. If you want info on IBOL see my previous post for the links.
Well, I've had the exterminator out today and the Sears repairman to stop the squeek in the washing machine. Now I'm off to get organized and pack some fabric to take to Boerne!
I'll blog some pictures next week from the workshop. Happy stitching!

Iraqi Bundles of Love

I was reading through some of the blogs that I follow and found a link to Iraqi Bundles of Love. This is an awesome act to send a bundle of sewing items over to Iraq to used. On the website is a FAQ section and how to make your bundle. The deadline to send items is coming close, September 7, 2009. Join me is sending a bundle to this selfless soilder to distribute to people in Iraq. OBOL is also on Facebook!

Three Day Birthday Sale at StudioJules!

Don't forget all Fabric by the Yard and Fat Quarter Bundles are marked down 50% at StudioJules on ArtFire! I wasn't able to offer this two days ago, on my actual birthday, but I can today....instead of 10% off EVERYTHING at StudioJules, for the next three (3) days, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, I am offering 25% off of EVERYTHING. Yes, that means that all Fabric by the Yard and Fat Quarter Bundles are 50% off and an additonal 25% off!!!
What A Deal!!!! Get it now, it may not be here later!

ArtFire Guild Monthly Contest

I think I mentioned before that I am in a couple of guilds with some of the other shop owners on ArtFire. One of them is called the "Shops With Less Than (10) Sales". Monthly they have a contest called "Where's Waldo", where shoppers can go to the different shops and look for the "Waldo" item they have listed. The August contest starts tomorrow, Saturday, August 15, 2009. It's a fun thing to do and there is a prize for the winner. The rules of the game will be posted tomorrow on the guild blog. You must follow the guild blog for the hints. So, go to the guild blog for
"Shops With Less Than (10) Sales" and join in the fun!

Networking

Networking is the name of the game when you are trying to meet others in your industry, it's that way in the Fiber Art world too. This past month I've been busy joining some of the professional organizations for Fiber Artists such as SAQA, Surface Design Association, and Dallas Area Fiber Artists. I've also joined several guilds and online networking sites. ArtFire has several guilds that are available, so I've joined one named Texas Artfire and another one that supports ArtFire shops that have minimal sales.
Shops with Less Than 10 Sales is an active guild supporting each other with ideas, contests and promotions to generate sales and traffic to each others shops. Both of these guilds have blogs too. Shops With Less Thans 10 Sales promotes different artists each month on their blog, plus there is a monthly contest for customers. Click on the link I just gave you for the blog and read about Rosetree Creations and Braggin' Rights. These are great shops with unique and fun handmade items.
Texas ArtFire is for Texans with shops on ArtFire. One of the great features on their blog is a block posting the sales and promotions of the Texas ArtFire members.
When you are on my blog and want to see what these two groups are up to, just click on the links in my section of "Blogs that I Follow" and check them out. If you are one of my fellow artisans and are looking for guilds to join on ArtFire, join in with us and have some fun networking!

Fiber

As many of you know I love natural fibers. I found a great little shop on ArtFire that has beautiful hand dyed and hand spun fibers. Fiber Cycle has some awesome products made out of Bamboo, SW Merino/SeaCell, Rare Bread Wools and Silk. If you are in the market for fibers, this is a shop on ArtFire that you must visit! I've added it as one of my Markets on ArtFire! Hope you will too!

Sunflower Center Progress

I was able to make progress on one of my sunflower quilts today. The first attempt that I made for the center of this quilt didn't turn out, but the second one did! I grabbed some cheese cloth, my paints and latex gloves and started painting the cheesecloth. I set it outside to dry and then I heat set it before I started working with it. Then I selected a scrap piece of batik looking fabric and started making circles and added a few scrap pieces on tulle and chiffon and circled those in too for texture and color. The next step was disfiguring the cheese cloth and completing the circles for the sunflower center. I used my 10" hoop to hold the fabric and then layered the cheesecloth so I could manipulate it as I wanted to as I was stitching. The first layer of circles are a dark brown Sulky thread and the top thread is a variegated thread by YLI. I used the variegated in the bobbin and if it showed through, then that gave more texture and contrast!
When you zoom in on the pictures you can really see the cheesecloth and circles.

Hand Painted Fabric Day! Gotta Love the Burst of Color!

Yesterday was so much fun! I think I painted over 7 yards of fabric and I really didn't want to stop, but I had to get some other things done. I'm going to Blog these one at a time so I can tell you about each piece. When I started painting I was using foam paint brushes. At one point early on in the process I wanted to smooth out some of the brush strokes and like the feel of just using my hands, well I threw out the brushes and used my hands. So, these pieces are really handpainted! Being able to control the paint and the movement felt so good and led to some very interesting results.

This first piece is one of my favorites. My daughter-in-law says it belongs on a canvas and hung, as is. I think that is what I love about it so much, it is spontaneous, colorful and vibrant. It measures 1 yard and may be put into my Handmade items in StudioJules on ArtFire.


I decided to show these two pieces together because they are so similar. I painted them with my Sunflower Quilt Project in mind, knowing that I will need a variety of greens for the leaves. Each piece measures 1 yard and whichever piece I do not use, will be added to my Handmade items in StudioJules on ArtFire.

This piece is bursting with color. I just love the intensity of the pink, orange, red and yellow. This piece measures 1 yard and will be added to my Handmade items in StudioJules on ArtFire.

I painted these two pieces with my current Sunflower Quilt Project in mind. These two pieces will supply the petals for the Hand Painted SunFlower Quilt. I used Rock Salt on these two pieces for a bit to get some extra movement and texture for the sunflower petals. These are half yard pieces.

This was one of the first pieces I started with yesterday, along with the two previous half yard pieces. I love the vibrant colors and how they burst out of the fabric. This piece measures 1 5/8 yards and will be added to my Handmade items in StudioJules.

I really love this piece and it will be staying in my stash. I have a quilt stirring in my brain with this one. The first process I did with this piece was pleating the fabric and then painted a medium green horizontally, so underneath all the bursts of color are green stripes. It is a half yard piece.

I'm calling this 1/2 yard piece "Red White and Blue, and Some More!" because I added in little bits of green, yellow and orange. Then I wet the fabric and smudged it a bit, the red bled through a bit and when it ran with the blue, purple arrived in the piece. The blue is really turquoise, and it works beautifully in this piece, I think a darker blue would have dulled the movement of the red.
I haven't decided if this piece is going on ArtFire or not. What do you think? My stash or yours?

Painting Fabric

Today I am actually going to be able to get outside and paint fabric in my new paint station! My wonderful husband and son created a paint station for me at the end of our backyard walkway, where a hot tub use to live (previous owners). I have a little fence with a shelf to place my paints and whatever on and two stainless steel tables! I'm so excited! Today I'm going to work on painting fabric for one of the sunflower quilts that I am creating and additional fabric for my stash. If time permits I will paint fabric to put on my ArtFire account to sell.

By the way, like my new banner? Yesterday I worked all morning on this one and the one for my ArtFire Studio and was having a terrible time getting the size right. Emailed the ArtFire banner to my son and he had it fixed in less than 5 minutes. What would I do without him! Thanks Ben!

My Birthday Sale at Studio Jules!

This is my Birthday Month, so I have decided to give YOU a Birthday Present. I have marked down the original price of all the “Fabric by the Yard” to $5 per yard and I have also marked all of the Fat Quarter Bundles to Half of the Original Price, that is $1 per Fat Quarter in each bundle!
In addition, I have marked down my entire Studio 10% for the entire month! Yes, that means the Fabric by the Yard and the Fat Quarter Bundles are an additional 10% off!

Enjoy my Birthday Present to You!

SAQA Silent Auction - September 10, 2009

SAQA has received 234 quilts for the 2009 auction. Here is the link to view the quilts SAQA 2009 Auction. Take a look at these quilts, they are inspiring, to say the least!