Stamps and such

I am trying to get back into a creative groove. School starting up for the kids has thrown my schedule into the twilight zone! So we are finally settling back into a new routine and I am trying to carve out some time for myself. Soccer was canceled on Saturday which gave me time to play catch up on projects! Yeah!

So I went to work on an idea I have had rolling around in my brain for a while. My inspiration was the fields of natural prairie grasses that grow so plentiful here in the midwest. I took pictures last fall (good thing as this fall has had nothing but rain!) I bought some fabric from my good friend Katherine Sands.


Well about a year ago I bought it! Anyway, I carved some stamps this weekend and played with them in my sketchbook to get my ideas down for the composition.




Not there yet but thought I would post and get some feedback.


This has a graduated background of blues and then I stamped the grasses in three colors. I added the other stamps and realized that I could do this as a piece near water and add reflections! Another avenue I hadn't considered.



This one was a simplified version of the different grasses. But I had sketched it in with colored pencils a while ago since I hadn't done the stamps yet.



This one was created like the first but on a previously painted background in my sketchbook. The colors are blending into the background so I need to add more darks. But this was just for ideas and working out everything.

The large stamp was of a teasel weed. Didn't realize it was an invasive plant until I was at a rest stop in Illinois and saw it posted on the wall! Yikes. I first noticed them last year and thought we were getting a cool thistle with some great flowers. All it did was turn brown.

It's Official!

My piece for Houston was juried into the IQA show but did not win any awards. But it was my first shot ever at entering a piece into a major show and it made it!! So exciting. Tanya Brown was kind enough to snap some pics of my piece as I was unable to attend! Thanks Tanya!!

Ugly Duckling into a Swan

Recently I visited a blog where the owner was showing all of her beautiful hand dyed fabric. (I have lost the envelope with her name on it and will post as soon as I figure out who sent this to me!) She also had some not so great. She called them ugly. So she decided to offer the "ugly fabric" in a giveaway if you left a comment. Well I won one of the pieces. Personally I did not think it was bad. I have made worse!



A couple weeks ago, I found it in my stash while looking for something else. I immediately thought of grasses and water and knew I had some great fabric I could destroy to make this piece sing.






I added in the reflections with some dye pens. Now I need to quilt in the water and reflections. I am really excited about the progress. Just wanted to give a look see of something I am working on. It has been a while since I have posted since life has been crazy.

Update: Katy Quilts is where I won the fabric!

Ever Watchful

I finally finished my piece for Art Now For Autism! The piece was due by September 1 so I am way ahead of the game for me!






This summer has been so crazy with weather and kid activities. I haven't had time to post anything in quite a while. I just got my sewing machine fixed and cleaned so I am now feeling more creative finally!

So I started out by rust dyeing some fabric and then drew the hawk with black fabric crayon. I had also painted the background in a blue which with the rust color background, turned the color more turquoise. So I thread painted the hawk in black and then quilted the sky. I used shiva paintsticks on the background and a little white on the hawk. I love how this turned out and hope it does well for the reverse auction.

Trying to Get My Groove Back

I have been in such a creative funk for some reason. I think this last school year was so incredibly crazy that my mind went blank when it finished. Trying to push through it and get back to creating. The weather hasn't been helping either. Below average temps, mosquitos the size of small dogs, gloomy days have really taken their toll.

But today dawned warmer and sunnier so I forced myself to get outside and work on a piece I had started a while back. I rust dyed some fabric and thought they would work so perfectly for hawks. I have them all over the place around my house and I could watch them for hours. I first noticed them in my life right before my dad was diagnosed with cancer. All the time leading up until his death, they were around me always. On the day he died, I was driving down the highway to see him and there must have been 24 of them circling and following me to my parents house. Since then I have always associated the hawks with my dads passing. I have had this piece stuck in my head for years and finally am ready to put it into reality.

I started with this smaller piece to see how it would work. I will use it to work out ideas for the bigger piece and it will be my donation to Art now for Autism.




This is the piece I will create for the Rust Tex challenge. I am planning on thread painting the hawks and my fathers face in black thread. Then I will quilt the background and add more details for the clouds as needed. I am happy to have gotten to this point. I just need to push through.



The photo of my dad was taken by my brother in law and I have had a copy of it for a few years. He granted me permission to use it for this piece. What a nice BIL. Thanks John Armentrout! a.k.a troutphoto.

Houston Entry Accepted!

I got the fat envelope on Monday saying my entry was accepted! This was my first try ever entering Houston and I made it in! I am still on cloud nine! Everyone on the Quiltart list is putting their entries up on their blogs. Apparently it is okay to do so. I was hesitant to post it but was told that it was okay. So without further ado, here it is:







The piece is 30" x 50" and a whole cloth piece. I drew out the design using watercolor crayons and water. I created the rocks using puffy paint and acrylic paint. I added details in the water using fabric paint. The trees are couched fibers, hand embroidery and beads. The face was made from the watercolor crayons and dye pens and hand embroidered with thread. The grassy areas were more couched yarns of various colors and weights. The flowers were made from painted cotton face cloths and cut to form petals and then sewn together. The leaves are created from various green batik fabrics fused together and cut into leave shapes, then hand sewn on. I machine quilted around the rocks to add more dimension. The red flowers were silk tangles from Jane Steinberg (Artistic Artifacts sells them).

This piece was from a photo my mother took out of a bus window and it was going to be thrown out. The picture caught a reflection in the glass of a lady on the bus and part of the scenery outside. The idea stuck in my head and I tried many different mediums to make it work - 15 years of trying! I finally tried it in fiber about 3 years ago and was liking how it was turning out until something made me stop. I let it sit for two years and then picked it up again and didn't stop until finished. I was so pleased with how this turned out.

Wish me luck in Houston!

Teacher's Gifts

I don't know what my problem is but this time of year I seem to have no concept of time! I am rushing to get teachers gifts made and they still have school for another week and a half! Oh well. I am finished and am extremely pleased with the results.








I found the pattern by Terri Stegmiller and decided that would be a perfect gift for the kids teachers.