Wind by Masanobu Miyama of Japan

When the curtain went up on this major prize winning quilt, I knew we had a game-changer.  With apologies for the analogy, this quilt is about the size of my placemat!  Finally, art quilters don’t have to force themselves to work somewhere between large and vast to have a chance at a top prize.  

The signage for that glorious dog.

That puppy made a second appearance in the quilt show in this larger quilt which Masanobu made with his wife:

A much larger quilt (I’d guess at least 60 inches) by Hiroko Miyama and Masanobu Miyama. Do you see the Golden with the little boy?

And the signage:

The artists’ comments about this quilt.

Here’s a detail of the small quilt…breathtaking!

Detail of “Wind” by Masanobu Miyama.  Perfection!

A two-fer, both wonderful!

The quilt on the left so impressed Karey Bresenhan and Nancy O’Bryant Puentes, co founders (along with their moms–they are cousins) that it won an Honorable Mention.  Here’s a detail:

Detail, A Truly Feathered Star by Karen Sievert

I was so tickled to see this quilt which I had first seen in the Art Quilts Maine exhibit at Maine Quilts. It is by Julie Weaver, and is her first quilt (but I hope not last!) to be juried into Houston.

Even more fun, I’m on the show floor when I hear, “Hi, Sarah,” And it is Sarah Carpenter and Julie Weaver, from Maine!

Artie Facts by Joyce Patterson. How can you not LOVE this image?

And the signage:

Artie Facts info

Hope you enjoy!

Just a quick dip in to share that one of my favorite magazines, Fiber Art Now, is trying to win a Fed Ex small business grant.

If you click on the link, you can vote for them.  And if you HAVEN’T seen this magazine, you must! Visit Fiber Art Now on their website here and look for them now on newsstands.  In the US they are at Barnes and Noble and Books-a-Million and in Canada at Chapters.  Check out the site and the issues.

The drawing is now closed.  Drum roll please for Daphne Greig!

And the winner of the DVD is Daphne Greig, comment number 3!

And I’ve selected one more person to be eligible to win some of Diane’s fabric.  Each member of the bloghop is selecting a second comment, sending that name to Diane, and at the end of the week she will select a winner for the fabric.  That was comment 26:

The second drawing to be eligible to win some of Diane’s fabric.

NOTE:   The DRAWING is OVER and comments on this post are closed.  You can comment on other posts though!

Oh what FUN!  There is a reason why Diane Rusin Doran’s blog is called Ooh! Pretty Colors!  In her new Quilting Arts Video Workshop,  Digital Surface Design, Diane shows you how to make your own cloth digitally:  just think of it: all the beauty of hand-dyed fabrics, of hand-printed fabrics, in just the colors and designs you want, endlessly re-printable, and as she said in the conclusion, if you can click a mouse and move a slider on your computer, you can follow her clear instructions and create your own digital art cloth.  The download is available now at the Interweave Store, here, and the DVD will be available for order in a matter of days.  I’m thrilled she asked me to be part of her bloghop and giveaway.  Keep reading to find out how to win a free DVD!

Diane Rusin Doran’s new Quilting Arts Workshop: Digital Surface Designs

This workshop is all about creating your own digital art cloth.  Diane teaches you how to emulate traditional surface design, which she defines as the application or removal of color and pattern on cloth, with your computer.  You’ll need Photoshop Elements (software available for under $100), and can print your designs at home or by sending your files away to a fabric printing service. I will be downloading my copy onto my iPad (I have a download, not the DVD) so that I can watch on my iPad, pausing when necessary, and work alongside Diane on my laptop at the same time; you could do the same by watching the DVD on a TV and working on your computer.

I can’t recall when I first met Diane in person, but we’ve “known” each other online for years.  Several years ago I saw her Return of the Grackle quilt in person and was absolutely riveted:  it is quite large, 40×51 inches–I just wish you could see how stunning it is in person:

Return of the Grackle by Diane Rusin Doran

The video has five sections:

1.  Introduction (7 minutes)

Diane talks about what she will teach us, what supplies you need, and why you might want to do digital rather than traditional surface design.   Diane’s lessons build on each previous segment so that by the end you can create a layered composition, breaking what at first seems daunting into an easy step-by-step process.

2.  Digital Backgrounds for Hand-dyed Effects (20 minutes)

Diane teaches us how to make a softly mottled cloth using a photo of clouds in the sky, and how to simulate drip-dyed fabric by carefully showing step by step how (and where to find the correct thing to click) to navigate Photoshop Elements.  Diane used a PC with a newer version of Elements than I have, but it was easy to follow.  I plan to re-play the entire video and copy down the sequences step by step for various lessons in this video so I have them for handy reference when I go to play.  Familiarity with Photoshop Elements is helpful, but by no means necessary.

3.  Digital Patterning using Brushes (19 minutes)

I’ve played around with Elements a lot and learned quite a bit, but this DVD is way better than just stumbling across something:  it is  guided play.  I’d already discovered many of the things Diane teaches in the previous section, but this chapter was uncharted territory for me.  My brain started into high gear as soon as she mentioned re-sizing motifs at will and creating your own brushes to supplement the default ones in the software.  For example, I can carve a block traditionally, but then scan in a print and use Diane’s methods to re-size and print at various scales without laboriously re-carving the block (only to decide that wasn’t quite the right size).  So I can still get the hands-on that I crave, but with infinitely more possibilities.

4.  Designing with Layers  (15 minutes)

In the last major section, Diane then shows you  how to combine what you did in simulating hand dyeing and stamping stenciling to create layers of imagery and color on cloth.

5.  Gallery and Conclusion (7 minutes)

Finally, Diane shows us fabrics, and variations on the themes, printed from what she has taught us in the 3 teaching segments of the video.  Here are some of her printed fabrics (and part of her portion of the giveaway):

Win these fabrics made by Diane by commenting on blogs in this bloghop–see the link below.

Her favorite fabric is the one used on the cover of the DVD, which I first saw in a shirt she was wearing in November at International Quilt Festival:  yes, she printed it on a knit fabric and made a shirt out of it, and I love it!

Diane had her design printed onto fabric, then made this beautiful top!

Diane’s first QA Workshop, Digital Collage for Quilt Design, is now on its way to me.  I can’t wait to combine the two and work on a quilt…I have this photo of a rose……

I’ve already ordered Diane’s first video workshop…this new one has whet my desire to play!

So I invite you to join me in thinking how to combine traditional manual arts with the computer!

Here’s the schedule for the bloghop and giveaway.  Like Candy, on January 28th I will be drawing one name from those who comment on this post on my blog to win the DVD.  That means for the next nearly two weeks, you can visit ALL of these blogs and get FIVE chances to win a copy of this DVD.  I’ll also pick a SECOND   lucky person to be eligible to win a packet of Diane’s custom digitally designed cloth (see her blog to read about it); that drawing will take place on Diane’s blog!

• January 14 – Candy Glendening – visit Candy’s blog or the Interweave link to see a preview from the workshop.  http://www.candiedfabrics.com/journal/
• January 16 – Sarah Ann Smith – https://www.sarahannsmith.com/weblog/ (you’re here now!)
• January 21 – Deborah Boschert – http://deborahsjournal.blogspot.com/
• January 24 – Susan Brubaker Knapp – http://wwwbluemoonriver.blogspot.com/
• January 28 – Diane Rusin Doran – http://oohprettycolors.blogspot.com/

And I’ll close with another fabulous quilt by Diane, California Dreaming:

Diane Rusin Doran, California Dreaming.  Printed on silk and just LOOK at that quilting!

Wow… I’ve certainly been AWOL (Absent WithOut Leave)!   That’s what happens when I get busy.  Between Eli’s wrestling, daily life, and working on a quilt for Joshua, I was appalled to see it has been over a week since I posted.  So I thought I’d share some photos from Houston’s Quilt Festival.  Though it was a while ago, I haven’t shared yet, and it is still good eye candy!

Since I’m thinking about beginning this coming year’s entry for the Dinner@8 exhibit, let’s focus on this year’s exhibit which was themed “An Exquisite Moment.”  I struggled to come up with a theme for Rituals, but so many ideas came for this theme:  childbirth, nursing, Eli peeking at me from under the highbush blueberry bush, munching away, the peaceful comfort of a cup of tea and a good book.  But when I remembered the night we heard the orcas sing, and because all four of us remembered that night, that had to be the quilt for me.

It always thrills me when someone likes what I have made enough that they take a picture. The blue quilt is my “Listen to the Song in the Night,” which I blogged about here.

I was doing much the same thing with several of the other pieces!  One of my favorites is by my friend Diane Perin Hock.  The feeling of tranquility and peace is palpable:

Diane Perin Hock’s “Serenity,” a portrait of the Adirondack chair under the tree at a quilt retreat fill me with calm. The colors, the calm…I love this!

And the same quilt in its “neighborhood.” The quilt to the immediate right is Fear of Flying by Judy Coates Perez. The next one over (turning on the ignition) is Speed by Cheryl Sleboda, while the passion flowers to the left of Diane’s are by  Frances Alford.

Two more friends: Deborah Boschert’s red branch is in the center and Rachel Parris’s feeding the chickens on the right.  I first met Rachel at a dinner of the artists (those who were at Festival) one year, and she is the most wonderful woman.  On the left is Jayne Larson’s Rainbow: A moment of reflection.  This year it was so much fun… I Facebooked my propped up feet at the airport on my way home, and Rachel promptly messaged me:  she was in the same terminal, so we got to have coffee together before we split to the corners of America!

I’m bummed that this photo isn’t in sharp focus, but I love Deborah’s quilt so much that I’m including it anyway. It is quintessentially “Deborah,” with her signature handwriting (this time on super-scale), branches, surface designs stamped and stenciled, but the colors are a-typical, giving it a wonderful freshness.

Rachel Parris grows as an artist every year. I totally adore this piece, “Ordinary Day.” It makes me think of our grandmothers’ time and lives, and love how Rachel used the writing on the apron.

Cynthia St. Charles dyes and does a lot of surface design.  For Winter Walk II, she has carved blocks for stamping as well as using thermofax screens.

Cynthia St. Charles, detail: Even in this photo it is hard to realize that she has stamped on many fabrics, collaged them, printed onto sheers, layered them…the piece is mesmerizing and is reinforcing my thnking that I really need to take more time to play, to dye fabric, to print and stamp and come up with my own cloth in addition to my signature tone-on-tone batiks.

I’ll close with a neighborhood shot of my quilt on one side of the Dinner at 8 display. I am so inspired by these women, and so pleased to be included in their company.

For more about the Dinner at 8 artists and exhibits, visit the Dinner@8 blog.  If you’d like a show catalog, you can purchase one here, printed by Blurb.  Thank you to Loris Bogue for taking the time to put this together again this year!

Well, I don’t know about for the state of Maine, but for us personally this is definitely the coldest weather we’ve ever been in!   Last night when I went to bed about 10, this is what the weather station showed!

At bedtime last night. Wind chill went down to -34, but thankfully not down to the -40 predicted! I can hardly believe I just typed that…this is Minnesota weather, not Maine!

It was a little less wind chill when I walked the dog at 9 pm, and I tell you it was seriously Nanook-ette of the North in terms of clothes.  Dog wanted to come back in ASAP, but once he got the idea that he was **not** going back in until he peed, he got to it right quick.   This morning, Paul decided he needed to shovel the walk before taking the dog out (I just waded out in top-of-knee-deep snow and the dog sorta swam out).  In half an hour the path will be blown full of snow again, but this will give you an idea of depth and drifts:

Why am I reminded of Sysiphus? All that snow hubby is shoveling will get blown uphill toward our neighbors, and more will fill in the trench!

So what do you do when snow, wrestling meets and what not are cancelled?  Why finish up on a much-delayed postcard swap:

My cropped version of Henri Matisse’s Purple Robe with Anemones

I’m on a small group called Postmark’d Art (site here), and every several months we swap and can pick our theme for the trade from several choices.  I immediately wanted to do Matisse and the cutouts, but I was slow and the other four did cutout type cards, so I opted to paint.  I learned that my fabric paintbrushes stink for details (sigh).  I also learned that the next time I decide to do a postcard swap and individually paint four cards someone needs to smack me upside the head.   Seriously…I spent three full days on these… nuts! Well, at least a large part of several days.   I’m just glad they are done, apologize for the bumbling faces, and hope some new brushes (THANK YOU Susan Brubaker Knapp!) will help when they arrive.

And if you ever want a laugh, watch a dog in winter booties.  Can you read the expression:

Seriously, Mom, you DID this to ME? Your beloved pug-love? ME? WHY? I am beyond humiliated…..I feel so betrayed……

And then: Ha HA! I’m not as much of a walnut-brain as you think I am, Mom! I can deal with Velcro. Well, at least until you come wrap it tighter and I can’t get the end seeing as I don’t have a snout!

With that, I’m going downstairs (hoping the power lasts…looking good so far) and working on the back of Joshua’s quilt and maybe even putting in some miles on the exercise bike!