Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Coming Fall

This piece, Coming Fall, is small, ten inches square. The limbs are thread lace. Freehand maching stitching on a stabilizer that dissolves in hot water. Then, I pin the limbs, let dry and stitch in layers onto the background of handpainted silk. I sew just enough of each branch so that other twigs are left 3d.


This weekend is the Best of the Northwest Art show. 230 artists, wine tasting, music, seminars, all kinds of great stuff. I've checked into my neighbors a bit and can't wait to see the work in person. For ticket info and directions, take the link http://www.nwartalliance.com/events/Fall_2010_Best_of_the_Northwest/



This is the biggest show I've done and I'm hoping for a busy weekend.

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Everett Home & Gift show


Hi all,

A week ago, I spent three days at the Everett Home & Gift show at the Comcast arena. My first three day show. I'm not sure of the numbers, but I heard 400 vendors, about 20 were artists grouped together. Lots of people, but I still had time to meet with my neighbors a bit.


Now, I'm gearing up for Best of the Northwest. http://www.nwartalliance.com/events/Fall_2010_Best_of_the_Northwest/ I haven't attended this event, but I've heard only good things about it. At Gal-aPalooza, I talked with another artist who has done BNW before. I asked her for any advice. She looked at my work, smiled and said, "Bring lots of inventory!" Great encouragement! So, back to making stuff! The satin bag here is "Night on the Town - Aruba"

Monday, October 4, 2010

Gal-aPalooza


This is the next event! The 13th annual wearable arts show presented by the Arts Council of Snohomish County. The link http://artscouncilofsnoco.org/events/gno/galapalooza.html will take you to more information on participating artists and businesses.

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Fresh Paint Festival


Fresh Paint is held at the Everett Marina. Great event! The staff and volunteers were all enthusiastic, even in the bit of rain one morning. It was so busy that it took me three hours to eat my sandwich on both days. I brought my sewing machine to do demos and that was a great draw and talking point. Some people said they were inspired to dig out their own machines and sew again and several that asked me to start classes. Great ego boosting couple of days of people enjoying art. Now, back to earth, back to work planning for the next big thing. In the next two months, I have four shows!

Thursday, June 10, 2010

La Conner Quilt & Textile Museum






















I haven't been posting, but I have been working and connecting. I have been honored to be asked to join the Board of Directors at the La Conner Quilt & Textile Museum. (www.laconnerquilts.com) This is an incredible place held together be an even more incredible group of people. I'm eager to contribute, but I'm also eager to learn from these folks! I'm also now represented at Scott Milo Gallery in Anacortes. They will carry my handbags and journals through the summer. "Cascade" is piece I've donated to the Museum of Northwest Art's annual auction next weekend. http://www.museumofnwart.org The pieces shown are Cascade, Night on the Town - Jakarta, Budapest.

Tuesday, April 13, 2010




I've been working the last week or so on evening bags. Here's one of the most recent. It's made of free motion quilting over satin and just big enough for the essentials along with your symphony tickets.

For the month of April, I have the honor of being "artist of the month" for Skagit Artists Together. This is a diverse group of artists. Take a look!

Saturday, April 3, 2010

Co-op show, Fidalgo Island Quilters





Hi all,

The last couple of weeks I've been finishing up pieces for a local co-op show of 27 artists. This is a great show for the month of April. We're set up in a local winery, next to the tasting room. (Tulip Valley Winery & Orchard, Mount Vernon, WA)I have lots of new bags and a few new wall pieces. The first photo is of Azzurro, 6x6", hand painted silk and free hand machine quilting. (Teeny tiny quilting)

This weekend was also the Fidalgo Island Quilters biennial quilt show. More than 350 quilts and wearables were displayed. I had two quilts, a jacket and two bags displayed. Blueberry Dream (jacket) and Tokyo (evening bag)are here. I'll share more later.

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Bryophyte

Sunday was a great day for my ego. It was the opening of a show that will display my work, along with five other artists, for the next three months. This is in a luxury condo building in Seattle; multimillion dollar views, 300 seat theater, four in-house restaurants kind of condo. The place was great, but the people made the whole day incredible. I felt like a celebrity, especially considering the caliber and experience of the other artists. Amazing work in a variety of other media. The images are of Bryophyte, in a new series I'm working on right now. The whole thing, including frame is 11x23. I start with white silk and hand paint it. All the little circles are free hand machine quilted over Peltex. (Peltex is an ultra thick stabilizer - the same as in the bills of baseball caps) The biggest of those circles is about 1/2". My next project is to work on a piece for the Museum of Northwest Art's auction, their biggest fundraiser of the year. I'll post pictures in process. I have intended to do that before, but I get involved and forget!

Friday, February 26, 2010

overwhelmingly good stuff!


I'm overwhelmed, by good things all related to art. In the next three months, I'm involved in, I think, eight shows and several more over the next few months. The piece I shared on the last post will be used in publicity for that show with Contemporary QuiltArt. Quite an honor. This week, I delivered nine pieces for a show in Seattle in conjunction with MoNA. (http://www.museumofnwart.org/) There are three deadlines coming in the next week. And I've only submitted one. Now you know what I'll be doing for a few days.


The picture is one of the pieces for the show in Seattle. It's called "Morning Light." It is pieced and tightly quilted. The textured leaves are made by sandwiching and shaping yarns between layers of dissolvable stabilizer, and stitching to hold it all together. The stabilizer washes out and I'm left with loose fabric like pieces. I hand stitch the leaves and allow them to stand out a bit from the base and add dimension.




Monday, February 1, 2010

Juried into CQA



“Cedar Path” is a piece that was just juried into a show in Issaquah, which is part of Seattle. Take a look at the website, www.contemporaryquiltart.com. I have recently joined and I am eager to learn from this terrific group of artists. This piece was also shown this past November in La Conner in the Arts Alive! Festival. (www.artsalive.com) A new section was added this year to recognize emerging artists for the region; it was an honor to be included.

Cedar Path is 33x35 and is densely quilted. The detail shot is about 8 inches wide.

Saturday, January 16, 2010

As yet untitled forest piece and yes, it's been way more than a week


So, my plan for posting once a week or so, hasn't worked out well. I'll get better, really.

My latest project is one for a show coming up soon. I ordered 30 yards of fabric, partly for this piece. The fabric came... and I got called in to interpret for the three days. The next day was spent washing and ironing. A couple of years ago, I got caught NOT washing a fabric when I ironed with steam and the color bled. Of course, it was red next to cream, it was in the middle and it was on a commission. I had to tear most of it apart. I learned my lesson.

This piece is about 11 1/2" x 36" and will be in a dark brown wood frame. The photo shows just a section. The orange lines are about 1/16" to 1/8" wide. I'm still thinking of a title. It's representing a forest, mostly greens with bits of red and orange. Any ideas?