A surprise in the mail

There's nothing better than to open a box in the mail and find a surprise treasure of beautiful new fabrics and beads. Here is what I received today from my dear friend Sherry, from her trip to the Chicago Quilt Festival. These are so scrumptious I could just eat them. Thank you Sherry!

Paper Fabric

The Art Girls met today (well, 3 of us anyway), and made 2 slightly different versions of paper fabric. One was made with sheer fabrics and tissue papers glued in layers on an acrylic board (no fabric base), and the other was made with a muslin base, with sturdier papers added, then painted while the glue was still wet. Both were an interesting experiment, and both are intended to be sturdy enough to be stitched through. Our goal is to complete a project with one or both of our hand-made fabrics before the next meeting.

Wire earrings

Here are some earrings I made from nickel silver, just to see if I could do it. I like them well enough that I may try them in sterling next time. They are made of 16 ga. wire, and did require some hand strength to make the coils and loops. I kind of like the duller appearance of the nickel silver, though.

A day of junqueing

Twice a year in the tiny town of Warrenton, Texas (pop. 50), the highway becomes a mass of tents, lean-to's, trailers, and jerry-rigged open booths, with antiques, crafts, and junk. This year I went with a friend, armed with my camera in an effort to curb my spending ... but still ended up with some gorgeous hand-made African beads, a wonderful handcrafted silver-and-stone pendant from a Santa Fe silversmith, and more than a little junque. Here are some of the sights ... be happy that you can't experience the smells!

A beaded postcard

A fabric postcard for my friend who was feeling down. Photoshopped image printed on silk and machine quilted, hand beaded, embellished with copper wire. I don't think all the beading shows up very well in the photo. The large center "doughnut" is a raku bead by Rory Ross, and unfortunately I could not get its subtle colors to photograph well.

Bubbles

These are what I call "bubbles", but what I believe are actually called "Amazing Circles" in Photoshop Elements. My dear friend and Photoshop guru Darleen taught me this technique, even though she had to translate "down" from her more advanced version of Photoshop. The square images above are photographs of architectural elements, which are then processed in Photoshop to create the bubbles. Thank you Eenie!

From the Heart & Hands

This is an Opportunity Quilt pieced by Ann Lockard that I quilted for Annie Copeland to auction as a fund raiser for her non-profit organization, Fiberarts Connection of Southern California. It was finished in December 2005, and won this week by Ann Pugh. (That's a lotta Anns!)

Changing Perspective

I barely entered my piece in time for the QuiltArt challenge, "Changing Perspective", and today the on-line exhibition catalog went "live" for public viewing. This partial image is just a teaser of what you will see in the exhibit. http://fiberartsconnsocal.org/exhibiton_catalogs/changingpercatalog.pdf
There are some wonderful pieces of fiber art here, meeting the challenge of taking the ordinary and seeing it from a new perspective; seeing everyday things in a new way. Please take a look. Thank you, Anne Copeland and Michelle Verbeeck of the Fiberarts Connection of Southern California.

My challenge piece is on page 42, for those of you who know me and are curious ... but please do give yourself a treat and take a "tour" of the entire exhibit!

Pointless Questions

1. Grab the book nearest to you, turn to page 18, and find line 4. What does it say?

He was murdered in a Burger Bonanza his second night at camp.
It's from The Accidental Tourist by Anne Tyler

2. Stretch your left arm out as far as you can, What can you touch?

Printed catalog from the "Changing Perspective" on-line exhibit of art quilts; also a bag of natural fibers I just bought at the Upstairs Gallery in LaPorte, Texas.

3. What was the last thing you watched on TV?

"Big Love", a new HBO series about a polygamist family in California.

4. When did you last step outside? What were you doing?

About an hour ago to pick up a package outside my door. It was from Fire Mountain Gems, with my tiny bit of silver art clay to experiment with, Yay!

5. What are you wearing?

Typical for me ... bluejeans, sweatshirt, cotton socks with Merrell sandals.

6. When did you last laugh?

This afternoon, with my friend Darleen.

7. What is on the walls of the room you are in?

Let’s see ... quite a few of my own finished wall quilts, numerous quilts-in-progress, family photos, a design wall that is totally covered with STUFF, some beautiful photography by a dear friend, including a framed bogus "Quilting Arts" magazine cover with my picture on the cover naming me as the hottest new fiber artist, many skeins of strange and unusual fibers, many cones of thread for my longarm quilting machine.

8. What is the last film you saw?

"Brokeback Mountain" It is still haunting me. So beautiful and heartbreaking. (Actually, the last film I saw was "Madea’s Family Reunion", but it was so trite that I had to quote Rachel Kitterman’s remarks about Brokeback Mountain, because she said it perfectly.)

9. Do you like to dance?

No! Never have, never will. I dance like Elaine on the Jerry Seinfeld Show ... or maybe not even that well!

10. What do you want God to say to you when you reach the pearly gates?

"Well, nobody’s perfect, but you did OK."

11. Your name spelled backwards?

Notnim Adnil

12. Last incoming call on your phone?

My sister, calling to vent about doctors and medicine.

13. What is the last thing you downloaded onto your computer?

The "Changing Perspective" exhibition catalog. http://fiberartsconnsocal.org/exhibiton_catalogs/changingpercatalog.pdf

14. Type of music you dislike most?

Rap tops the list, followed by anything that is played so loudly that I can’t hear the tune or the words, and anything violent or hateful.

15. Have you ever ridden on a motorbike?

Yes ... a dirt-bike.

16. What's your favorite comic strip?

I don’t read comic strips anymore, but I used to love Pogo Possum. He and his friend Albert the Alligator had a favorite Christmas carol that they called "Deck Us All with Boston Charlie", and here are some of the lyrics:

Deck us all with Boston Charlie,
Walla Walla, Wash, an' Kalamazoo!
Nora's freezin' on the trolley,
Swaller dollar cauliflower alley-garoo!

17. Have you ever won a trophy?

Ummm, does "Betty Crocker Homemaker of the Future" in 5th Grade count?

18. Are you a good cook?

Yes. But I don’t cook anymore.

19. Last thing you ate?

Fried green tomatoes.

20. Who was the last person you visited in the hospital?

My sweet mother-in-law.

21. Would you rather be famous by face or famous by name?

By name ... absolutely.

22. What was the name of your first pet?

Frisky. She was a weird little mixed breed with probably a lot of Scotty in her. Black with pointed ears. She had to go to the pound for biting somebody.

23. What do you think of the person that posted this before you?

Rachel ... I admire her very much!

Collage Art Pendant

Ann, Patricia, and I took a "Collage Art Pendant" class at a local bead shop ... mainly so we could learn how to solder! It was a ton of fun, and we even ended up with some neat pendants. Two cut-to-size microscope slides sandwiched with images captured inside, soldered together ... and we even made and soldered our own wire findings.

A little handmade book

3-1/2" x 5". Our friend Martha taught us another method of simple book-making, with two signatures sewn together with waxed linen and beads. Thank you Martha!

Fiber Art Postcards for the Tate Museum

I just recently heard from my local quilt art group, Beyond the Borders, that the Tate Museum in London had put out a call for mail art for the First International April Fool's Day Mail Art Exhibition http://www.gfxartist.com/general/general_news/114330. So naturally, I just had to hustle up and send a couple of postcards in. These were my two entries. The top one is called "Ophelia's Baby Rug", and the bottom one is "Horsehead Nebula". Although they are quilted silk on a cardboard backing, both of them were stamped, hand-cancelled, and sent through the postal system just as if they were regular postcards, with the time-honored epistle, "Wish you were here."

Paste Paper

Making paste paper with Martha and The Art Girls (sounds like a 1960's girl band, doesn't it?)

Caribbean Blue

This Beaded Thing started out to be just a sampler of different beading techniques I was trying, and "grew like Topsy" into a fantasy undersea garden which named itself "Caribbean Blue". (Yes, I'm an Enya fan.)

Several years ago I took a "beading on fabric" class with Larkin Van Horn, http://www.larkinart.com , and was so inspired by her gorgeous work that I've continued to play with the concept ever since.

Since this particular piece was never intended as a "project", I don't know how long it took ... but I know it "seeded" about 6 months ago, and branched out bit by bit during that time. I framed it in a shadow box to give the beads some measure of protection ... but no glass, to give the viewer free visual access. Now I realize that it needs a larger frame.

The full piece is about 7" x 7.5" (9"x11" framed), shown in the top picture. The second pic is a closeup, followed by 3 detail shots.

Der Craigle on Fantasy Holiday

(Click on the picture for a larger view.)

My Baby Brother Craig (all 6'3" of him), also known as Der Craigle and the hardest working man in show business (or rather, the phone business) deserves a vacation, and so I have created a Fantasy Holiday for him, including a 1936 Ford Deluxe Cabriolet touring car, a castle for exploring, repairing, and napping, a Keeper's Gate House with Garden Baby Keepers for security, a lemon tree for exotic drink garnishment, and an entire Rubber Ducky family for comfort and entertainment. (Craigle, can I come visit?)

love,
Linda

Belated Christmas picture

See, I'm not the only artist in the family ... my brother Craig decided to surprise us with a unique Christmas tree installation in his home ... on his slanted ceiling, no less! Here's the Family Unit, with the culprit in his martini pajama pants. Left to right, my sister Suzanne, Dad (Jim), Mom (Mattie), me, and Craig. And this was before the eggnog!

The Fisherman's Wife

My lovely group of "Art Girls" met on Friday (minus a few sorely-missed members) to play about with making some art dolls. None of us had any experience with this particular medium before, but had the advice of dear Martha, via long-distance (who also sent us a gorgeous surprise package of scrumptious fabrics and trims to play with), plus some books and magazines. I will ask for permission from the others to post pictures of their results, but in the meantime, here is "The Fisherman's Wife", both in progress and completed.

Muslin body, domino face, hand-dyed and distressed cheesecloth, seashell hair, coiled wire and beaded face, braided leather arms, beaded necklace, bracelet, and skirt. Oh yeah, and silk cocoon bra (nothing but the best for our girl).

Mariah Needs Her Mama

Elizabeth and some folks on the DD list have been talking about shisha mirrors, so I thought I'd post my only attempt at one ... in the upper right corner of this little 4" piece. The stitching says, "Mariah needs her Mama. She purrs even while she's biting me - Ouch! Sandpaper tongue. Sweet sharp kisses. Only crunchy food please. No bouncing! Velvet fur and tuna breath Yum."

I made this little piece in a Susan "Lucky" Shie http://www.turtlemoon.com/ workshop at QSDS (Quilt Surface Design Symposium) in 2004. You can click on the image for a larger view of how the shisha mirror was stitched into place.

some beading

I've been playing with making beaded pendants ... here are some of the results.

Forest Ghost

This started as a black-and-white photo of only half a face -- I thought I'd "just" flip the image to make a whole face, but it was harder than I imagined. Then came the fun of playing with colors and background ... I like the result, and this may become an art quilt.