Back from Vacation!

We took some time off from normal life and spent a week in Galveston. Sunshine, the beach, lots of seafood (well, I ate the lots of seafood, Jeff ate lots of cow and chicken - just refer to us as "Surf and Turf"). We really enjoyed relaxing and getting some good sunshine. On the drive home we took the scenic route and stopped at the Antique Rose Emporium for some perennials. I've missed my Butterfly Bush that we had at our last house, so I bought one of those, Shasta daisies and a few other perennials and wild flower seeds. Got home and needed more for the yard, so off we go to Lowes for Knockout Rose Trees and herbs. Jeff is awesome when it comes to planting and only had to kill two snakes in the process. I'm anxious for everything to start blooming! Spring and Summer is going to be very colorful in my yard this year! Today while we were finishing up I walked across the patio and saw a future butterfly! Jeff came over and scared the poor caterpillar, so he curled up, but here he is!




I just love the little guys, they are so cute and fuzzy!

Well, tomorrow I'll be back in the studio. Right now I'm watching the Texas Rangers vs. the Angels (The Texas Rangers ROCK!!!). We have tickets next month to one of the Ranger games, sooooooo looking forward to it. Jeff is sitting here reading the latest "Popular Science", there was a UPS truck that turned over in Boston back in March and made a very pretty painting on the freeway it shut down with all the ink that was in the trailer. He also showed me an article of a mini ink jet printer called "PrintBrush", that is a handheld printer, only 8.8 ounces and prints a full page in 10 seconds! I just did a little web surfing for more information and yes, it prints on fabric!!!! Can you just see all the advantages and techniques the quilt art world can use this for! Quilt labels, surface layers, oh my, I think this just went on my "Gotta Have It" list! The article said that by the end of the year it will be developed with a camera for click and print capability. Oh my.....

It is Always Good to Sleep on it

When in doubt about certain fabrics you have put in a quilt, it is always good to sleep on it and have a fresh view the next day. And that is what I did. The blue in the middle of this quilt just seemed too dark and a little off. The colors of the swirls are more in harmony now. As I was working today I just wasn't feeling the paint trails I had made with the dark blue organza (see previous post for picture with the paint trails), so I removed them and will test later, on other fabric, the paint trails that will come off the blue fabric in the middle through the other colors. There are a few other places that I'm just not 100% happy with, but that is what I will sleep on tonight.
Well, Mr. Wonderful is on his way home, time to start dinner!
Happy creating!

Feeling Good

Feeling good and feeling creative today. After two days of a thunderstorm headache, today is a great day! Oh, it feels good to be pain free and feeling creative. I've been working on the first quilt of a triptych series. All the fabrics are ones that I have hand dyed, specifically for this series. I have just a little bit of fabric left to fuse onto the quilt and then I can start painting and quilting.



This past Saturday I had a great day with my friend Kathy Mayhew! We started the day with manicures and pedicures, stopping by Oxide Gallery and then off we went to the Denton Jazz and Arts Festival. What fun! The weather cooperated with cool breezes and the sun peeking through the clouds on and off. The shopping was fantastic! I found two great pairs of earrings, a summer dress and homemade jellies. Kathy bought some great jewelry too!
Okay, time to start dinner for Mr. Wonderful! Have a great evening everyone and keep on stitching!

Current Showings and Fusing

I've got to get busy!!! I have deadlines coming up and I really need to start and finish some art quilts!
Today I'm going to spend the day fusing fabric for my next series of quilts. It is a triptych series from water color paintings I made last year. With deadlines coming upon me, I have got to get busy! Fabric is dyed and the fusing has begun.
Yesterday was a good day, I got word that my new piece "Confused" was accepted into next months show at Oxide Gallery in Denton. I submitted two new 12x12 pieces to the Irving Art Center Gift Shop on consignment. June through September the Irving Art Center is having the Genghis Khan Exhibit and asked the Dallas Area Fiber Artists to contribute consignment pieces to their gift shop. I submitted these two art quilts that I started in a workshop last month with Deborah Boschert. Here are their pictures.


Shadow Circles


Sea Visions

Last night Kathy Mayhew and I taught a mini-workshop and gave a presentation of the SAQA-Texas members 9x12 Mini-Quilts that were on display last year at the International Quilt Festival. The mini-workshop was great and the creativeness of our group never ceases to amaze me. The 9x12's had a great response and the members really enjoyed being able to see the wide variety of quilting and surface techniques. Kathy is one of our Texas Regional Reps for SAQA and did a great job informing the DAFA members on the benefits of SAQA, what can be utilized by members and non-members on the SAQA website and the information, education and growth that SAQA encourages for all artists.
Till next time....happy creating everyone!

Completely Confused

Well....Confused is complete. I really enjoyed this new venture into mixed media. Working on canvas and not an art quilt. I incorporated jeans, silk, cheesecloth, paper, beads, acrylic and textile paints.

Here are some detail shots.

Trying New Technique in Hand Stitching

I'm working on a new technique. This came to me the other night, you know, one of those things that comes to your creative mind when you are trying to get to sleep, the kind that keeps you awake until 2am or 3am. I've been doing a bit of hand work lately, getting ready for a workshop and various art pieces. And it struck me...or should I say "stuck me" (like with a needle), make a hand stitched circle and use a medicine bottle lid as the stabilizer. Hmmmm, so I have practiced this afternoon and this was my best attempt. Still needs some fine tuning, I mean stitching, but hey, I just started this technique today.

Confused - In the Works

I'm working on a new project - very mixed media. You see, I have this canvas, it's 40" x 24". I've been trying to think of what to do with it. Well, the Oxide Gallery, Denton, TX, is having a call for entries, due on Friday/Saturday, that is a mono-chromatic theme. I chose Red. Since Red has so many moods and emotions that go along with it, and this project is going to be a broad range of mixed media, I thought the name "Confused" fit the media.

This project has been keeping my mind busy and everyday I have a new "Aha moment". Yesterday I was able to get started and right now I'm waiting for the paint to dry.
Here is what I've accomplished in my layering so far...


Silk with surface layers, painted cheesecloth and sequin waste.


Yes, a leg torn from a pair of jeans, painted, surface layers and the start of a few more small canvases.



Watercolor and acrylic on hand written paper. It is going to be mounted either in whole or in part on the canvas.



Closer view of some of the surface layers on the jeans.


Small canvas covered with surface layered silk and painted cheesecloth.


So far I've only dropped the paint brush on the carpet once, but the day isn't over yet. One of these years I'm going to get new flooring.

Have a great day!

New Pictures!

Last week I was able to spend some time dyeing fabric for my next quilt series. Hopefully I'll be able to start on the first of these four quilts next week. My schedule is filling up, so I'm going to have to make sure I have a day or two devoted to studio time.

Today I was able to make it to the photographer and have professional pictures made of three of my quilts. You have seen two of them already, but those were pictures I took. The colors and textures the photographer was able bring out are much better than what I can accomplish. The one you haven't seen yet is my "Outside In" quilt. I've shown you pictures of the detail of the quilt as I was working on it, but here is the full picture! It measures 21" x 71". When you zoom in you can see the detail of the beading and stitching.



Here is the "Truck Quilt". When you zoom in you can see the detail of the stitching and the beading.



Finally, here is "Sunflower with a Passion for Color". The quilting, brush strokes and thread painting show up beautifully in this picture. I love this quilt, and would love to sell it!

There is A Lot Going on This Week!

There is a lot going on this week. I'm spending time catching up on paperwork, cleaning up the studio, putting supplies back from a workshop with Deborah Boschert, and working on a few little projects. Today as I work on a few little projects, there are men downstairs taking the old tile out of the master shower....the drain pan is leaking. By the end of the week we will have a new shower with slate tile, so yum, I'm going to feel like I'm at a spa.
Last week I finished the "Outside In" quilt. There aren't any pictures to show you the finished quilt, my camera is at the manufacturer being repaired. Monday I have an appointment to have it professionally photographed, along with "The Truck Quilt" and "Sunflower with a Passion for Color". So, stay tuned, next week there will be pictures!
When it warms up a bit tomorrow or Friday, I'm going to get back to dyeing fabric for the next series of quilts. Hopefully I will be able to start on the first quilt next week.
Okay, just wanted to pop in and give you an update!

Quilt in Progress

Just thought I would post a few pictures of my quilting and mixed media techniques on my current quilt "Outside In". As I posted earlier, the initial intent of this quilt was to mimic the hydrangea's outside the window, but my husband thinks this quilt looks more like the depth of the ocean. My quilt, I win....it's "Outside In". I'm not done yet, but I"m getting there!

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.

Let Me Interrupt This Time of Creativity to Blog....

I just have to post a few quick pictures of what I'm working on. I have a quilt back hanging on my work wall that is going to be an art quilt for our family room. We have a dark corner and I want to brighten it up. Anyway, it's been hanging for awhile and I have been pondering what techniques I am going to use on it. Well, last night was a turning point and I fell asleep dreaming different techniques to use today. When I was digging through my drawer of textile/acrylic paints and things to use to paint with, I found an empty spool of thread! What a great idea for this quilt! You see, this quilt is going to hang next to a window where you can see all of our beautiful hydrangea's. The end of a spool of thread is similar to hydrangea blooms! I've also pulled out chiffon, organza, organdy, and silk to use to make artful hydrangeas.


Okay, I need to get back to work, but I also wanted to show you the fabric I dyed yesterday in preparation of the next four quilts I'm going to work on. I still need to dye more, but this is a start!

It's Been Slow Around Here Lately....

Well, not really. After I finish a quilt I have been working on for a while, I have to have some down time and catch up on things around the house and family. This past week I've picked up some of the trails I left off several years ago with my genealogy research. I'm working on my family and my husband's family. My dad's family has been hard to research because my great-grandfather ran away from his father at a young age, during the Civil War. This week I have had a break through on this trail and I'm so excited! But I'm putting this research work aside today and going to continue working on the patterns for my next 4 quilts. Three of them will hang together and one will stand alone. The one that stands alone has a lot of detail to it, so it will take me a good part of the day to trace out the pattern.
This past Tuesday the Dallas Area Fiber Artists had their "Meet the Artist" night at The Pointe, (C.C. Young) in Dallas, TX. It was a wonderful evening. The residents of C.C. Young who joined us had lots of questions about art work and were amazed at the variety of techniques used in our art and the Mini-Art Quilts made by the SAQA-Texas members. We even had a couple of DAFA members say they are going to join SAQA! Bonus!
Tomorrow is the first day of the Dallas Quilt Celebration. This show kind of snuck up on me! It's the first time in, gosh, 6 years that I haven't been working at the show in some fashion, either with the Bernina of Dallas store or the Dallas Area Fiber Artists. I'll be going tomorrow, can't wait to see the quilts (and shop)!

DAFA Workshop with Deborah Boschert

I'm excited to announce and encourage you to join the Dallas Area Fiber Artists this next month for our workshop with Deborah Boschert! Deborah is one of our favorite people, she was a member of the Dallas Area Fiber Artists before her family moved to Maryland. The workshop is "Techniques and Truths: Inspired by 12X12", on Saturday, March 26th, from 9am to 4pm. If the Saturday workshop fills, Deborah has agreed to teach an additional workshop on Sunday, March 27th. Click here for more information and the registration form.

Deborah will also be the program presenter at the DAFA monthly meeting on March 28th and also lead our mini-workshop prior to the meeting on Illuminated Letters. And one of the big bonuses about Deborah coming to share with us....we get to have her sign her new book Twelve by Twelve: The International Art Quilt Challenge!

This past Monday, Janet Reynolds, presented a wonderful program on photography at the DAFA meeting. She shared wonderful information to help us with our photos and how to present them for upcoming shows.

DAFA in April? Well, my dear friend and artist, Kathy Mayhew and I will be presenting a program on the benefits of being a Studio Art Quilt Association member and Trunk Show the SAQA-Texas Mini-Art Quilts that are touring the state. We will also be leading the mini-workshop before hand on Quick and Easy Mini-Quilts. The SAQA-Texas Mini-Quilts are the combined efforts of several SAQA members, from Texas, that were displayed at the 2010 International Quilt Festival. The only parameter we were given was that they had to be 9x12, the rest of the creativity was left up to the artist. The variety of artistic inspiration is awesome! Most of the time I just stand there and think "Why didn't I think of that?" or "Wish my brain would think that way....maybe I'll take that idea and spin it off...." It is so wonderful to be able to display the mini-quilts and inspire more people into stretch and challenge their creative side! We have them on exhibit this month with the DAFA show at The Pointe in Dallas. Our "Meet the Artist" night is March 8th, 6:30pm to 7:30pm. Join us!

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.

In the Meantime.....

Well, I ran out of thread while quilting the truck quilt.... I've quilted and picked out so much I've burned through an entire spool of thread. I've ordered more and am waiting on it's arrival. So, in the meantime I'm working on the patterns for my next 4 quilts. I was inspired by the watercolors I did during my workshop with Katie PM at the International Quilt Festival in Houston last year. I'm taking three of the selections I made from one of the watercolor exercises and I'm going to make a triptych out of them. I've drawn them out on clear velum, copied them and then had them enlarged to roughly 18" x 24".






I would show you pictures of the patterns I have drawn out, but my camera is on the fritz and I need to take it to the camera doctor.
Here is another one I'm working on. It was painted with acrylics during the same workshop. It looks like a flag to me.



Okay, blog time over, time to get back to my patterns!

Oooops

I've had a good day, really, until a few minutes ago... I was quilting away on the truck quilt, listening to "Crossroads" by Fern Michaels, and wondering if I have enough thread to complete my quilting, when I decided to stand back and take a look at the section between the barn and the windmill.....that's when I realized I was quilting at an angle and not horizontal....grrr. So, I guess while I'm watching TV tonight I'll be picking out this section of quilting and tomorrow I'll quilt as long as I can before I run out of thread.

At least I walked 4 miles today at lunch and Mr. Wonderful is on his way home from work. Time to go start dinner and enjoy a glass of red wine. Even though there is a hiccup in the progress, I'm determined to find a bright spot, or two.

Hugs and Kisses Mixed Media Art Quilt

Just finished this great little art quilt! My thanks go to my friend Kathy Mayhew who let me use one of her screen prints to start this project. Really, I started this back in August when I had my birthday "Dye Party". Kathy taught us how to screen print and this is on the pieces I started. After I screened it, I soaked it in a bath of turquoise dye. I then accent painted it, added some mixed media items, hand wrote some phrases, hand quilted it and then had stitched the binding. This week I hand painted a canvas to mount it on and I'm really pleased with the way it came out!
So, if you really love this piece, it's for sale in my Etsy shop, StudioJulesArt.

Early Happy Valentines!

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!

Testing Truck Quilt Background Quilting

The other day I started working on testing out the quilting for the "Truck Quilt". Today I completed my test and feel really good about what I quilted. I'll start with the "Truck Quilt" as it is at this moment. As you may remember from previous posts, this precious truck is from a picture of my fraternal grandfather's truck, we called my grandfather "Foxey" because his favorite cartoon when he was growing up was "Grandpa Foxey". Anyway, the truck was a 1956 Ford, and he drove it around the pasture and from the house to his fishing tanks. I think all but one of us 7 grandkids learned how to drive in this truck, so you see, it's special. But I just had to put a twist on the "Truck Quilt" and make it my own. It's turquoise instead of baby blue and I added long horns to the front (with several Univ. of TX Longhorns in the family, I felt it was appropriate, plus I'm a true cowgirl at heart).



Now for the quilt testing. With the hand dyed background being so intense, it needed to be knocked down a bit so the truck can stand out. So I decided the background was going to be quilted so I could paint the background white to tone it down. Now Foxey had a barn, several infact, and a windmill on the property. So I decided to quilt in a barn and a windmill behind the truck along with the clouds.

Now the bright fabric you see at the bottom left, well I left that bright because that is where the truck will be in front of the barn.



This next picture gives you a little closer look at the barn detail and how it lays with where the it will be with the truck.



The following picture is a close up on the windmill and the different cloud designs I quilted today. I usually do the swirlly clouds, but I tried the horizontal horizon lines and then also following the movement of the fabric. The movement of the fabric just isn't tight enough and I really think the swirlly clouds are too busy. The horizontal horizon lines help push the background back and help the truck pop.



Okay, couldn't resist. Had to cut out the bright area and pin it up on the wall with the truck quilt. WOW! I love the results! The white paint really tones down the background. The windmill is going to be over to the left above the bed of the truck.



This week I've got a fairly clean slate, so Lord willing, this baby will be quilted and thread painted this week. Yes, I still have to do the thread painting on the truck. Okay, feedback please!!!!!

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?

More Snow!

Well, I didn't think we would get any snow this year in North Texas by the weatherman's report a few months ago, but Mother Nature has proved them wrong and we are having our second snow for the season. So, this morning I set up to dye fabric (with the help of Mr. Wonderful) in the garage. I'm so glad he is a HVAC dude and has a HVAC unit on "his side of the garage" (aka the workshop, when it gets built out). Heat was on while I was mixing dyes, yum! There are 4 yards, 4 fat quarters and a couple of fat quarters that I did surface dyeing on this past Saturday.



Now for the snow....... this is the drift outside our garage.



Jeff took the shovel and just piled on the snow on the fabric for me.



In this picture you can see my little roll cart in the background. It holds my dyes and dye utensils. It's great for rolling from "my side of the garage" over to workshop sink area (and the heater).



This is my huge fabric snow cone. Colors of Midnight Blue, Chartreuse, Golden Yellow, Hot Pink, Robin's Egg Blue, Turquoise, Fuchsia, Purple, and Light Red. Yes, I like lots of color!



This next picture shows a small container. It has a couple of pieces in it that I surface dyed on Saturday. I just wanted to dye them Robin's Egg Blue, so we will see how the snow dyed technique works with it.



So that is my work for the morning. This afternoon I am going to iron the fabrics I parfait dyed on Saturday. Show and Tell for those fabrics tomorrow!

Stay warm Ya'll!