Mother's Day at Studio Jules Art on Etsy

Just in time for Mother's Day! Jump over to my Etsy shop, Studio Jules Art, and pick out a sweet infinity scarf or hankie for your mom! For those of you that are TCU fans or support the Alzheimer's Association, there are some scarves that are just the right colors!

Infinity Scarf in Deep Purple and Wisteria

Snow Day = Snow Dyeing!

It feels good to be back in the Studio and being productive. Lately, I have been working on a new quilt for our bedroom (pictures to follow in a later post).

Earlier this week I enjoyed sitting at my machine and the sun shining on my back.

The next morning we woke up to a surprise snow.

Since enough had accumulated on the outdoor kitchen counter it was time for some snow dyeing. I pulled some of my favorite colors (Carmine Red, Teal, Golden Yellow and Wedgewood Blue) and sprinkled them dry on the snow covered fabric. 

One yard was put into a container with the snow, just to see how it would melt out. 

Container Snow Dyed

The container piece has it’s pluses and minuses, but I think the parts that look dark will be great surface work pieces.

Here are how the other four pieces turned out. They are all wonderful and I can see so many different uses and whole cloth quilts in each one. 

Can you see an English Garden?

Sunset over the mountains

Firework explosion.

Fall vegetable garden

Studio Redo In Progress

These past two months have been busy! We took a wonderful cruise to the Northeast to see the beginning of the Fall color. I took a disk full of pictures and have yet to go through them. I know there are several inspirational photos in the collection.

New Office Space

As soon as we got home, we started clearing out my Studio for some redecorating. We moved my office out of my Studio and into the playroom to give me more space. The Office/Playroom has been painted a soft yellow, called Peaceful Calm. The Studio will be the same color. This color gives energy and gives a “Peaceful Calm” to my nature. And, with all that is going on in my life, having a room, or two, to go to and have peace and find some calm, is definitely a bonus.

I have not had time to work on any art quilts, but have made several little doll quilts for my granddaughters for Christmas.

Here are the pictures of the Studio “Before” we started pulling everything out. This weekend we will, hopefully, be able to finish the painting the walls and start painting the worktable and the flat files. The flat files will be white, instead of industrial grey, and the worktable will be white with graphic/abstract accents. 

Right now the only item that is in the studio is the worktable. It was custom built by my husband and step-son for me several Christmas' ago and is too heavy to move out of the room. The carpet has been pulled up and we will put down 5/8" high density foam flooring that looks like hardwood. This flooring is what is put in weight rooms and is used by vendors at trade shows. The pieces interlock so it will go down fast and easy and if I ruin one of the tiles, I will just pop it up and replace it with one of the extra tiles.

Work Wall

Fabric and Thread Cabinets (and no, this is not all off my fabric!)

Flat Files for Patterns underneath my worktable

Flat Files for Mixed Media underneath my ironing station

Part of my Mixed Media Organization

Stay tuned! I promise not to wait 2 months to post again!

Beat the Summer Heat, Be Creative!

Will this heat ever stop? Not anytime soon, according to the weather people. Texas is headed to break the record from 1980 of the most consecutive days with temps at or above 100°. I remember the summer of 1980 very well. I was attending college in the Texas Hill Country, taking summer school, walking to classes and the cafeteria in the heat; it was not the best summer of my life (for several reasons). This summer, I’m lucky; I get to stay in the air conditioned house and I don’t have to leave, unless I want to and when I do, it is early in the day. Yesterday, my car thermostat read 103° and it was only 11am and today it is suppose to be back up to 110°. What’s a person to do? Well, I’ll tell you! BE CREATIVE!

To encourage all of you to stay inside and do something creative, I am running a HOT Sale on my ArtFire and Etsy shops. 25% off everything! Just use the code HOT2011 at check out, on either (or both) shops! Now, since it is hot outside, please remember to drink plenty of water before you shop, hydration is the key to successful shopping!

Stay cool and be creative!

Almost Done and Distractions

I'm almost done! Well...I probably have a couple of more days left of quilting. Quilting as densely as I am on this quilt and the thread color changes takes so much time, but it's work it. I love the way this quilt is coming together, but I keep getting distracted. Email, computer games, email, blogs, Facebook, email, show chair responsibilities, playing with the dog...get my drift?
So, for the rest of the day, no more email, Facebook, computer games, email... Luckily, the husband had to go into work this morning, so he isn't going to be a distraction for a couple of hours.
Now, let's see how much I can get done!
I'll be back when I'm finished!

To Pin or Not to Pin

What do you do? I usually pin my quilts. I have friends that use spray adhesive and ones that pin. And I have friends that work small art quilts, so they don't have to do either. I've tried spray basting before, but the quilt still shifted and I didn't like the layer of adhesive going through my machine and gooping up my needle. I just grab my bowl of quilting pins and Kwip Klip and pin.

Oh, like my little bowl? It is very special to me. My step-son made one year in elementary school and gave it to me for Mother's Day. Sweet memories every time I see it and use it. I've been using it for over 20 years now!

My worktable was designed so the height is easy for me to pin on, really saves my back. I use binder clips on the edges to hold the layers in place and depending on the size, I may use blue painters tape too.

So, my quilting friends, what do you do? Let me hear from you!

Cheesecloth Workshop

Well, I decided to start teaching. It’s part of my heritage, but I don’t want to teach school, I want to teach fiber arts techniques (play time) and projects. One of my fiber arts passions is painting cheesecloth and using it as a texture medium in my art quilts. So, I invited some of my fiber arts buddies over for a first run on my first workshop and we had a grand time! Here are some of the pictures I took during our day together.

Katina Hronas, Carol Reagan, and Barbara Kirksey talk about auditioning applique' fabrics and painting cheesecloth

Denise Spillane and Sherrie Tootle work on creating paint mixed media

Carolyn Skei works on her 12 x 12 art quilt

These are an awesome group of ladies and they gave me great feedback of what to add to my supply list and what to change in my pattern and procedures. They even gave me some great ideas for some other classes to develop and teach. I can’t say thank you enough to these artful women for spending the day with me getting messy and having fun. Here is a picture of my class sample.



If this workshop interests you, pass my name along to your workshop coordinator with your guild or art group. For my workshop I supply a project kit of a pattern, instructions for the project, cheesecloth to paint and a bonus of some of my hand dyed cheesecloth.


In my last post I mentioned that I would post pictures of my dyed fabric. Last week I was so busy getting ready for the Saturday workshop, I didn’t have time to take pictures. But their coming, I promise!

Ahhhh, Back in the Studio...

It’s hard getting ready for vacation and it’s hard getting back in the Studio when you get back… I’m finally getting back into the Studio and getting caught up. It feels good to be back in my Studio, surrounded by my fabric and paint….
First, let me tell you what I did BEFORE we left for the coast. I’m a one of those obsessive, compulsive people that likes to have a new purse before I leave on vacation and I usually make it. Rushing around, stressing out and making it worse by adding in a “personal deadline”. One day I was in the mood to paint duck cloth and be very abstract about it. This is what I came up with.






I used a pattern that I had borrowed from my friend, Lu Peters, and this is what it turned into!



I lined it with fabric I had bought from Frieda Anderson and used my own fabric for the binding and handles. Great Spring and Summer purse and all my junk fits in it perfectly!
Last night the Dallas Area Fiber Artists held their Annual Pot Luck and Artwork Exchange. Darn if artists are good cooks too! I was fortunate enough to receive this wonderful piece by Connie Akers.




I love Connie and she and I are “carpool buddies” to the meetings, so it was funny that the artwork I road to the meeting with, also road home with me. This happened to 3 other people last night too! Guess it shows that DAFA members are good artwork and carpool buddies!
Today I am back to work on my current quilt and planning out workshops to teach and catching up on computer work. And it’s time to get off the computer and pay attention to the design board!
Happy Creating Everyone!

A Wonderful Way to Wake Up!

This morning when I checked my email I had one letting me know that my "Sunflower with a Passion for Color" quilt has been accepted into the Lowell Quilt Festival! Yup, I'm a little pumped about it. Other than having a quilt travel with the International Quilt Festival, this will be my first out of state quilt show.
I have spent yesterday and today playing in the studio with newly dyed fabrics. I have a special order for hand dyed hankies and I just took the last ones out of the dye bath and they are so yum! I can't wait to send them to my customer, I know she will be pleased with them. Since I was dyeing hankies, I had to throw some fat quarters in to take up space in the dye....it's easier to add fabric than decrease the amount of dye you make up, right? They are all beautiful. The last piece of my "Show and Tell" yesterday that I said I would throw in a dye bath today, well it turned out very interesting! I can't wait to ponder what to do with it. Pictures to come later, I know you all love "eye candy"!
Have a creative day everyone!

Sunshine, Cool Breeze and Paint All Over My Hands!

I had a great day today, opened up the window to the Studio and enjoyed the sunshine, singing Cardinals and cool breeze. What an inspiration! Being in such a great mood and feeling very artistic, I spent the day dyeing fat quarters and hankies. While those were in the dye bath I painted duck cloth and PFD. Oh what a wonderful feeling to be back in the Studio and paint all over my hands! Kathy Mayhew influenced me to paint duck cloth, I’m hooked! I love the way the paint flows and the results. I’m anxious to quilt these pieces!
The first five pictures of painted duck cloth. The rest are painted PFD.


Painted Duck Cloth with Textile Paints

Painted Duck Cloth with Acrylic Paints

Painted Duck Cloth with Acrylic Paints

Painted Duck Cloth with Acrylic Paints

Painted Duck Cloth with Acrylic Paints

Painted PFD with Textile Paints
Over Painted with White Acrylic

Painted PFD with Textile Paints
Over Painted with White Acrylic

Painted PFD with Textile Paints
Over Painted with White Acrylic

Painted PFD with Textile Paints
Over Painted with White Acrylic

This is PFD that I rolled with another painted piece. I have heat set it and will throw it in a dye bath tomorrow.

Hope you enjoyed my "Show and Tell for today. I had loads of fun and wanted to share my "art excitement"!

Relief Efforts in Japan

This morning I awoke hearing the increased devastation in Japan. I can't imagine what the United States would be like if we had experienced this tragedy. The American Red Cross is in full action in Japan and they need additional funds to meet the increased needs of those they are serving. As of today, and until I feel the immediate need has passed, I am donating 50% of all sales through StudioJules ArtFire shop and StudioJulesArt Etsy shop to the American Red Cross.

Truck Quilt Finished and DAFA March Show

I feel like dancing around and singing "I did it, I did it" like Dora the Explorer (okay, you can tell I have grandkids), the Truck Quilt is complete as of this morning!
I love the surface technique of painting over the background fabric to calm it down, show the quilting of the windmill and barn and make the truck pop out.
To make sure I didn't get paint on the truck, I taped it off before I painted the background. I learned this technique from "The Painted Quilt" by Linda and Laura Kemshall. The Kemshall's also demo'd this technique on one of the Quilting Arts TV Series 200 Episodes. I can't wait to use this technique again.

The Dallas Area Fiber Artists are having their annual show at The Pointe ~ C.C. Young the month of March. Tonight is our monthly meeting and tomorrow I will hang the show. This year we are honored to also show the SAQA-Texas Mini-Quilt Exhibit from the 2010 International Quilt Festival in Houston. If you are in the Dallas area, join us for our "Meet the Artists" night on March 8th, 6:30pm - 7:30pm. If you can't make it then, make time to go my The Pointe and see the exhibit. Kathy Mayhew and I will be presenting a program on SAQA and the Mini-Quilts at the DAFA April program.

50% Off Sale Hand Dyed Handkerchiefs

I decided to get ahead of the curve and put my hand dyed handkerchiefs on sale 50% off. Get them now before Mother's Day, allergy season and for Teacher gifts!
StudioJules on ArtFire
StudioJulesArt on Etsy

Let the Quilting (and Thread Painting) Begin!

Okay, today is the day come rain, sleet or snow....and that is exactly what we got this morning! I've got the windmill and barn drawn out on the quilt top, the quilt is pinned and I'm ready to start.
Have a great day ya'll!

Watercolor Sketches

Well, I held to my guns and sketched with my watercolors today. The challenge with the Sketchbook Challenge this month is "Opposites". Hmmmm, several came to mind, but since I was sitting in the kitchen, Salt and Pepper shakers were handy, so here is my watercolor sketch.



The next thing that came to my mind, since I was looking at my watercolors, was the color wheel...complementary colors! Here is that one!



The artist I admire the most is Georgia O'Keefe. We have a print of her "Orange Poppy" in our family room. So here is my watercolor of it. Needless to say, I have a long way to go before I can accomplish what Georgia did, but hey, we have to start somewhere right?



So that is it for today, time to start dinner. Jeff is driving home in the cold and ice from the office. Maybe if I start cooking the kitchen will warm up. Tomorrow the snow dyed fabrics get washed!

Oh, I added a link to on the right hand bar to the Collection I curated on ArtFire!

ArtFire Collection - Hand Dyed Fabrics and Fibers

Well, it is so cold outside and the utility companies are doing rolling blackouts, so I decided to help out the utility company and keep the thermostat down low in the studio and work downstairs today. So, the truck quilt isn't being worked on...
I did decide to try something new though...I created a collection on ArtFire! It is called "Hand Dyed Fabrics and Fibers". I wanted to pull out some of the hand dyed fibers and fabrics and put them in a collection. Take a look and let me know what you think?

Parfait Dyeing Results from Last Week

Well I have dyed, ironed and posted fabrics on Etsy and ArtFire! Thought I would give you a peek at what came out of the dye containers. The colors are so beautiful and I'm amazed at how the dyes take so differently from the snow dyed fabrics. The snow dyed fabrics, the colors are so much more brilliant and the parfait dyed fabrics are softer. The movement in both are wonderful and unique. So, here are the parfait fabrics!


Hand Dyed Cotton Fabric Fuchsia


Hand Dyed Cotton Fabric Varigated Green and Yellow


Hand Dyed Cotton Fabric Fuchsia and Blue


Hand Dyed Cotton Fabric Blue and Fuchsia


Hand Dyed Cotton Fabric Purple, Fuchsia and Blues


Hand Dyed Cotton Fabric Golden Yellow and Green


Fuchsia and Blue Hand Dyed Fabric


Multi Color Dyed Cotton Fabric 1 Yard