MY CLASS AT THE LAC

Look at the cool stuff that the women in my stamping & printing class did !!!
I was so excited with the way they just picked up on the techniques
 & then just let their creativity fly.

These techniques & tools are so simple that everyone can unleash all kinds
 of new ideas and ways to use their creations.


 I was having so much fun that I forgot to take pictures until the end
 and some of the pieces were already packed away & out the door.
They were all so unique & gorgeous.

What I loved was how we all kept discovering new ways to play
 with all the crazy found objects.  
  

Leslie brought these great lunch bags to print on - aren't they wonderful?

 

 

Everyone seemed to gravitate toward their own personal color palettes
 - very interesting how the same techniques produced such uniquely different art.

And, as always, I get as many new ideas from everyone else as I hope I give to them.
 It's all about sharing & bouncing things off of each other.
 Creative energy at it's best.

 

 

 

Thanks girls - I had a BLAST.








P.S. Don't forget to check out the exhibit at the Newport Library Arts Center (www.libraryartscenter.org).
 The Written Word show opened on Friday - the pieces are so interesting. I'm thrilled to have a piece in the exhibit.

SHE'S AN ARTIST

I've always loved the words to this Bob Dylan song (from She Belongs To Me - 1965 ) - so when I heard that the upcoming exhibit at my local art center was going to be 

 The Written Word, works influenced by books,writing & text, I knew I wanted to do this.

I've had this rattling around in my head for awhile so it was really fun to work on.  

I used a tie dyed fabric from my abundant outta control stash 

Had fun with some freehand wavy quilting - Love this kind of quilting -  throw on some

 Dave Mathews and just get a rhythym going with the quilt.

Opening reception is this Friday night, July 27th, 5-7PM at the Library Arts Center, Newport, NH.

The show runs through Sept 7th - stop by and check it out. More info www.libraryartscenter.org

ALSO.... WORKSHOPS
 I'm teaching a few workshops there this summer - my first class, Creative Exploration in Fabric Surface Design is actually tomorrow night (Thursday, July 26th 6:00-8:30 ) - a few spaces are still open - go to the website (above) for sign-up info. I'm teaching my fast, fun and frugal fabric printing and stamping techniques. There will be tons of tried & true, time-tested, terrific textile techniques for the timid, trepidatious and truly terrified !!!  Hope to see you there. BRING FABRICS TO PRINT ON (pre-washed cottons recommended for class)


AND ....
 Coming soon ... Thurs, August 9th,  TEXTile class - fabric printing with the focus on using TEXT.  Personalize those wearables, home dec items and unique fiber art pieces that you see in all the catalogs & shops, using words & phrases that have special meaning to you.


Weds, August 15th, Innovative Fabric Painting - This class will focus more on fabric painting techniques.  We will be using Setacolor paints - which create gorgeous watercolor effects on fabric. I will show you how to use salt & the sun to give the look of texture to your fabrics. You will also use these techniques to create a beautiful silk scarf - I will provide one scarf and will have more scarves available for purchase at at reasonable price.

Click on the SURFACE DESIGN tab under the header

 to see a sampling of things we'll cover in the classes.

FOR ALL CLASSES:

 PLEASE WEAR OLD CLOTHES/APRONS. 

 BRING LOTS OF FABRICS TO MAKE SAMPLES OF ALL THE TECHNIQUES.

YOU WILL BE GOING HOME WITH LOTS OF EASY USEFUL TECHNIQUES AND IDEAS FOR COOL THINGS FOR YOU, YOUR HOME AND GIFTS FOR EVERYONE.

HERE I AM IN CHILLY ATLANTA

I thought they called this place HOTLANTA.

Just arrived in Georgia this morning -whew it's cold & windy. Of course I left all my warm clothes in NH.  Murphy's Law for traveling -no matter what you pack, the stuff you wish you packed is not in your suitcase.

 Already hit a great quilt shop today

 Intown Quilters in Decatur - www.intownquilters.com

Lots of eye candy. Beautiful fun,fresh fabrics & patterns, especially if you like the Modern Quilting trend, which I love.

( Noticed that they also have Phyliss Anderson's templates there!)

 Tomorrow night I'm looking forward to presenting a lecture/demo for the

Spirited Quilters Guild in Duluth,GA

Here is a very nice promo for my program:
 Nancy Graham is a New Hampshire fiber artisan.  She has been quilting for over twenty years.  She is from a very crafty family – "they were always doing some kind of project".  She has done almost every form of crafting from sewing clothes, leather work, and tie dyeing to quilting.  There is nothing that she cannot make, but fiber arts have become her main focus.  She dyes and stamps fabric and machine quilts her projects.  One of her batik works has been displayed at the

New England Quilt Museum in Lowell , MA . 

Her lecture will provide the guild with several of her printing and stamping techniques and secrets.  Her style involves using found objects and making stamps from recycled materials.  This may provide guild members some ideas for ‘green’ projects. 

Soo Nipi Quilters

We had a wonderful guild program this week presented by Phyliss Anderson.

Phyliss has just written a new book, due out in June, titled  Sweet'N Sassy Templates Diamond Quilts.

Along with her new templates, she has created a foolproof method for creating diamond patterns with ease & accuracy. Although I'm not a traditional quilter I can't wait to try her templates with some hand dyes and bright wild fabrics.

This is the antique quilt that inspired her to design a way to simplify this pattern.

Her trunk show was wonderful and abundant - however I was assisting in holding the quilts and  just didn't get many pictures. The quilts were gorgeous.

Catch more here  www.silverthimbleonline.com

THE GIRLS

Art dolls made from fabric that I've dyed and stamped.

The stamps are handmade, super simple AND FUN. This doll pattern was in Quilting Arts Magazine Issue #8  Winter 2002

I've been dinkin' around with paper clay and air dry clay and these cool face molds. Very easy - just glued onto the dolls. The clay & molds can be found in most craft stores (ie. Michaels or JoAnn's ) usually with the Fimo clay stuff.

*** The face on the 3rd doll is pewter from Artchix  www.artchixstudio.com

MORE...

My friend Jann has made several beautiful Square Dance quilts. Jann is an accomplished weaver, beader and quilter. She has a wonderful mastery of color. She uses primarily batiks and hand dyed fabrics in her quilts. I am so happy that she uses lots of my hand dyed fabrics because I love seeing how she brings them to life in her quilts. And best of all, I get to machine quilt her pieces so I get to enjoy having the quilts in my studio for awhile.
Click here to see more http://jannblock.wordpress.com/category/quilting/

FAST FUN EASY QUILT

 Last November, at The Gathering  http://www.aquiltersgathering.com/

in Nashua, NH  we saw this pattern over & over. Several vendors featured it using different pattern names, tools & techniques.

My friend, Sandy has been intrigued with this design for quite awhile, so we had a mini retreat & we each made a wallhanging.

We used the basic techniques from the book Square Dance by Martha Thompson and then tweaked them a little.

I started by sewing 49  6.5" blocks together ( 7 blocks across x 7 rows ) Add a border all around - I used 6" wide, to be safe, but actually trimmed off quite a bit.

I made my own template using a 4.5" ruler. Measure 3/4" from each corner of the ruler

and connect the dots with lines drawn with a marker. *Use some clear tape on your ruler & draw on that if you don't want to permanently mark your ruler.

Next, position the  template (ruler) with the lines matching the seams on the blocks; as shown below.

*TIP - I found that my small rotary cutter was the easiest to maneuver when cutting around the template AND I put some sticky-back sandpaper dots on the back of my ruler because the ruler tends to want to pivot and skitter around in the middle where all the seams are joined and raised up a bit.

As you cut your new "pinwheely" blocks line them up on a design wall AS YOU GO ALONG -so you don't end up with a big jigsaw puzzle of mismatched blocks. 

Now, just sew your blocks back together.

Use care in sewing and pressing your new blocks as they are now cut on the bias. I really didn't encounter any problems with the bias issue at all.

You will have some waste blocks to use in some other project or use in your border - These are on the bias so use care sewing them.

Add a border or two.

Machine quilt.

And......

TA DAAAAAA !!!!!!

Here is Sandy's top. She used a package of 10" squares. It is gorgeous.
This fabric just sparkles. I love it !