What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

You may have stumbled upon a thing called Inktober, or Drawtober, on social media this month. New art, like fall, is in the air. I love it. I've been following tutorials by BeeJayDel on YouTube and have been getting amazing results. 

Practice is how you get better. I'm getting better every drawing. And I'm loving the Halloween theme! Expect more of these before the month is out. Hopefully, long after that ...

I don’t know about you but the interminability, the endlessness of this pandemic hits me in waves. For the most part I am able to brush it off, keep going, keep stitching, keep designing, but there are other times when it all just feels like a massive punch to the gut. When is this ever… Continue reading The Pandemic & the Things That Unite Us

It all began with the Stem Stitch, a much over-looked stitch. I decided I needed to explore it and see if I could find a little excitement while doing so. I had no idea that this stitch would be the beginning of something wonderful! I pulled out some hand dyed linen that I’d bought and… Continue reading Design, Exploration & A Finished Piece

 Before I begin this post......does anyone have suggestions as to how I can respond to the comments left on each post. I'm at a loss. I use to get notifications via email but now.....NOTHING. It's frustrating because I really want to respond.  HELP!!!!!!!

Okay!

So, when I taught fourth graders, each Friday was art day. We had a blast. I'd stand at the chalkboard with a large piece of paper taped to it and all my pencils at hand. The kids were seated at their desks with all their pencils and colors. That's one ...

Let’s kick things off with a new design, shall we?! What? Didn’t she just unveil a new design a couple of weeks ago, you might ask. Yes. Yes, I did. I’ve been very busy! This last one is a companion piece to the Glasses Case. It’s a scissor case! Which, if you’re like me, you… Continue reading A New Design, A Stroll & Mischief

This summer I was surprised by several out-of-the blue, generous gifts. One of them was from illustrator Nina Bunjevac, with whom I communicate occasionally on social media – we have a little Mutual Admiration Society going. She sent me a set of beautiful French tarot cards, which I received last week and promptly stared at for several hours.

Although we share a first name, I promise that doesn’t bias me. Bunjevac’s line art epitomizes what I’ve always thought line art should be. She’s a direct creative heir to one of my all-time favorite illustrators, Virgil Finlay, and ...

This is the little promotional video I made for Instagram and below that is the slightly longer Youtube video I made. This is the first of two holiday projects I designed. They are small do-it-yourself projects that can be made up pretty quickly and are perfect gifts for yourself or someone else. I’m working away… Continue reading The Unveiling of a New Design & A Giveaway!

So what will I be selling? Well, I've decided to put out the cotton and magnolia paintings, perhaps a few of the stitched art pieces ...

First things first, this came from my mother the other day and I just couldn’t resist posting it here for all of you. A little humor to start the day off is always a good thing, I think. “Lexophilia “Lexophile” describes those that have a love of words, especially in word games, such as “you can… Continue reading From My Mother, The Highline & A Love Story

It was a bumpy start and I almost deleted the whole thing, but then thought better of it and decided it was a good marker of my FIRST ever public livestream! You can skip past the bumps, like the beginning where I talk to myself thinking since no one had shown up yet, it didn’t… Continue reading My First LiveStream & the Occasional Swear Word

Lots of new and exciting things are in the works! I’m going through my To Do list and making some headway. But the BIG news is that I’m doing a Stitch Along With Ariane Zoom series.   I have been working with the various thread companies and am pulling together thread kits for this project.  It… Continue reading New Projects & A Zoom Stitch Along Series

The weather has been quite blue/blah and gray/icky since the hurricane. We absolutely can't trust the sky. However, the temperatures make up for that. We absolutely CAN trust the temps. 

So I've been feeling a little gray and blah. I did load a quilt top on the long-arm and I've gotten in the groove. I had forgotten I had this top. It was in the bin waiting a turn. Apparently, there's no rhyme or reason to taking turns in my world. This is neither the oldest or the newest in the bin. So... 

But ...

There’s been a lot of sunshine here but with that has been intense heat and humidity. Many hours of sewing and quilting was becoming somewhat unjoyful for me so I went down a different path.  I had ordered some large art paper and the first happy thought I had was a sunflower and I drew a very simple drawing

The center of the flower is strip pieced, cut and sewn again to give the illusion of a woven center.  Beading in the center gave it more dimension and made it look more like a seed center.

The leaf is ...

As I grow older I am more and more appreciative of my parents and all they did and, in my mother’s case, still does. So I begin this post with a photo of my parents, above. It’s one of my favorites. I think my mother was a little younger than I am now, when this… Continue reading My Mother, British Humor, Thread Kits & More

Available now at PaleGrayLabs.com.

I originally created these for my bike Titania, but got enough stuff to make extras, because selling merch is what made-up religion is all about. Comes with a signed & dated, hand-stapled, 8-page Velosophical prayer book so you can conduct your own bike exorcisms, call for supernatural help on the road, sing hymns, and more.

With this, I think I’m finally done with this obsessive bike side-project, and can get back to animating the Apocalypse.

Velocipe Cycladia is the Goddess of bicycles and cyclists.

I had to make her up, because Madonna del Ghisallo just ain’t cutting it: not enough imagery, not enough paraphernalia, and no exorcisms I could find.

My new-to-me bike Titania needs an exorcism. Sometimes, if you want something done right, you gotta do it yourself, so I am writing it. (On the other hand, if I want bike repair done right, I take it to the shop. That’s the mechanic’s expertise; mine is art and making up new religions.)

Although not before named – or perhaps under many names ...

Exciting News! Both The ThreadGatherer and Global Artisans have put together thread kits for my latest design, The River Rocks Pouch. I’m so grateful to both, for all their hard work in putting these kits together. In addition, both have thrown in discounts to anyone purchasing the kits. Both kits are needed to complete this… Continue reading Exciting News & Questionable Humor

Oh the opportunity I saw when the Great Corona Lockdown began.  I was going to sew, sew, sew, and I did just that! I completed several quilts, made progress on several Works in Progress and best yet – I emptied many project bins! And then it happened – SLAM! I began to feel like going into my studio and sewing was a J-O-B.  So I stopped.  This is supposed to be a joy, not a chore, so…

I immediately ordered a large pad of drawing paper, some Tyvek sheets and checked on my supply of Lumeire paints.  The plan is to do ...