What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

In the week since I wrote about the Map Play class I took with Valerie Goodwin, I read two posts about art classes. The first by Jane Davies responds to a student’s comments that she wanted to play and have fun at a workshop and then had a meltdown when she was asked to dig deeper.

From Jane Davies’ blog.

Making art IS about play and it IS fun, but that is not all it is, usually. If you are always playing and having fun, with no angst or frustration, and you are also generating images that really speak ...

I have so many pictures to post -- there just isn't enough time. I'm teaching an in-person class today, and everything is prepped and ready to load into the car! Yeah! 

I still have pictures from the weekend to post, and I don't think I'll get them all done today. Let's see what happens. 

Maryke, Carol, and I did some swapping; here is part of what we exchanged. I loaned Maryke some templates, and I got two books in return. The first one, I've put with my Mixed Media projects for the year, and I ...

It’s hard to say goodbye to a friend who is moving many hours away. I know, it could be much further away, with visits possible only by cross country or ocean trek. Still, the easy spontaneity of living a mere 20 minutes from each other will be gone.

Since we are both arty types of course we gave each other handmade farewell gifts. I created (with the help of Shutterfly) a book of my friend’s photos she had shared with me. In return she created a mixed media piece she called “Expecting to Fly.”

And ...

The past week I’ve dabbled in quite a mix of projects and techniques, probably revealing I’m a Jill of all work but mistress of none. (I don’t get the they/them thing, so I went the old fashioned route. Though I … Continue reading →

I’ve mentioned before that I’m enrolled in a mixed media class called Wanderlust. The idea is to learn to use several mixed media materials that are considered staples. We’ve run through gessos and image transfers. Now we’re doing modeling paste. … Continue reading →

Sometimes I like a continuing program of classes rather than a one shot deal, and Everything Arts’ Wanderlust lessons in mixed media and art journaling are delivering weekly doses of something new. Since I started exploring mixed media in 2020 … Continue reading →

Yesterday I released a new Youtube Video with the same title. Go check it out! There are a few other key factors to interpretive hand stitching, improvisational hand stitching, expressionist hand stitching or whatever else you might want to call it.  I think all of these are good descriptors of my process when taking a […]

So here’s the thing…  I feel a whole lot better when I show up even when I feel awful, even when I feel things are rough and I’m tired, even when I don’t want to.  I’ve also learned that showing up anyway is the single best remedy for not continuing to feel that way. Except […]

Thanks to my brother I have a digital archive of photos passed down from several family members. Many identify the people and places shown, but some are just plain mysteries. My cousins have tried and failed to name the people, … Continue reading →

In between lengthier projects I often do mini pieces that may not always involve quilting. Sometimes they are inspired by something I saw or read; sometimes by gifts or supplies from my stash that I have rediscovered. Most recently I … Continue reading →

I am doing a new 5-day workshop! Improvisational Stitching! But what does that mean, exactly? Well funny you should ask, because I’ve given it a great deal of thought. Improvisational Stitching is what I call what I do when I begin with a piece of fabric, usually a piece of hand dyed linen, with no… Continue reading New: Improvisational Stitching Workshop!

My husband and I were fortunate enough to be able to self-isolate for much of 2020, so we’ve remained untouched by the Corona virus. Self-isolation gave me lots of time to devote to my art, and I think I made … Continue reading →

I love mixed media, especially when textiles are involved.  I love the process of combining found objects, purchased objects, paint, sewing, textile, construction, and on and on.  This post is about one exploration into mixed media. (Today’s post in the Blog Writing series detours from the prompt.) Several years ago, I read a  wonderful Book, …

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My latest mixed media creation is built with materials supplied by friends. I just arranged them, added a few leaves and did some sewing. “With Little Help From My Friends” began with a monoprint swap with a friend. The leaf … Continue reading →

 Day #25: Tokyo Life

I made this quilt in 1999, a cathartic project working through memories of living in Japan for a year and a half, in the early 1980s.

Tokyo was indescribably dense, and everything seemed tinier than in the US - cars, furniture, cups, plates, clothes, and especially the people. Most of the women and many of the men were smaller than me - I felt like a massive Barney the Dinosaur, especially when perched on ludicrously petite chairs. Each day, I lumbered through a fascinating shopping street, decorated with strings of artificial flowers. The novelty fabric in the center ...

I realize that small is a relative term, both for ice cream servings and works of art. For me, a small work of art measures less than 25 by 25 inches, which is a medium for some. A small ice … Continue reading →

Green has finally returned to northeast Ohio, and my eyes can’t get enough of it. A mixed media piece I’m working on uses a lot of what I thought was spring green. It turns out that my crayon memories are … Continue reading →