For me, the hardest thing about dyeing fabric is predicting the final color. I think maybe I need a crystal ball! Case in point: I spent a lot of time getting this fabric just the way I wanted it. This is what it looked like wet. I was concerned that the delicate tone-on-tone area in…
After considering radical changes to my quilt in-progress, I was excited to implement new ideas! This was my initial trial and error placement. The twigs were part of the original version, along with the rust fabrics, but all the blue and black was new. I liked the arrangement and it changed very little. But, it…
I “blame” Pat Pauly. I was watching a video in which she was teaching about color. In it, she was switching fabrics on and off of her design wall, showing how different combinations might work. Or not. It was mesmerizing! I looked across the top of my laptop toward my design wall and KNEW that…
I enjoyed my last quilt so much that I decided to use the scraps from that one to start the next. With a little editing, I selected these fabrics as my starting point. Of course, I didn’t want this new quilt to look like the previous one, so I sorta shied away from the large…
My final post about all the great art we saw in St. Petersburg, FL. My photos won’t BEGIN to do this one justice! St. Pete has an outdoor fiber installation by sculptor Janet Echelman. It’s called Bending Arc and it’s made up of huge shapes of knotted twine. The photo above shows about half of it….
I imagine you’re already familiar with the work of glass sculptor, Dale Chihuly. He makes extraordinary sheer pieces that seem lighter than air. Many times, he creates elaborate installations in public gardens. I got to see some of his work in St. Petersburg, FL at Chihuly Collection. Here are a few of the pieces we…
I loved making this quilt and I’m VERY happy with the results! I dyed all the fabrics for this quilt, except for one. I love how they go together! (Note: I didn’t dye them specifically to go together. They’re ones I’ve dyed over a couple of years, but because I’m often drawn to the same…
In my last post I showed you the marvelous work of mixed media artist Gio Swaby. While those pieces were done almost entirely with stitch, she has other series in which she uses colorful fabrics. The body language! Again, these are life-sized. Don’t you feel like you know this woman? In her series, New Growth, Swaby honors…
I was really blown away when I saw the work of Gio Swaby, in her “Fresh Up” solo show at the Museum of Fine Art, in St. Petersburg, FL! The introductory text for the exhibit says “Swaby’s work functions as love letters to Black women.” I think that’s it, exactly! Just take a look. Isn’t…
I had some very lovely scraps from a recent quilt, but they were tiny. Too small to piece. So, I cut them into skinny triangles and started gluing them to a muslin base. I LOVED the colors and I also found this rather mindless task to be fun and relaxing. I added skinny “white” strips…