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Archive for the ‘art quilting’ Category

Living Colour Textiles-Amaryllis

Saturday, May 10th, 2014

The Living Colour Textiles exhibit (you can see it online here and blogposts here), including my Amaryllis quilt, is going on tour–wish I could go with it!  And good news for us in the US, it and the exhibit will be at AQS Grand Rapids s next year, 2015.  I, alas, won’t make it, so if you get to the exhibit, I hope you enjoy it!

Amaryllis by Sarah Ann Smith (C) 2014.  See the Living Colour Exhibit at http://livingcolourtextiles.com/

Amaryllis by Sarah Ann Smith (C) 2014. See the Living Colour Exhibit at http://livingcolourtextiles.com/

Here’s where it is going:

  • QuiltWest, Craft & Quilt Fair: 21-25 May 2014 with curator floor talks at 1.30pm Wednesday-Friday (inclusive)
  • Sydney Quilt Show, Craft & Quilt Fair: 9-13 July 2014
  • Bunker Cartoon Gallery, Coffs Harbour, NSW:  8 August (opening 6pm) – 13 September 2014
  • Brisbane Craft & Quilt Fair: 8-12 October 2014
  • South Australia Festival of Quilts: 13-16 November 2014
  • Supported by BrotherGrenfell Art Gallery, Grenfell, NSW: 22 November-20 December 2014
  • Quilt Symposium Manawatu, Palmerston North, New Zealand: 15-21 January 2015
  • Northart Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand: Wednesday 28 January (opening 6pm) – 11 February 2015
  • Gosford Regional Gallery, Gosford: 21 March (opening 2pm) -22 April 2015
  • AQS Quilt Week Grand Rapids, Michigan: 12-15 August 2015

Thanks to  Brother International Australia for generously supporting Living Colour!

You can order the catalog directly from Brenda (good if you live in Australia) or Blurb (good if you live in the US or Canada or not-Oz), a lovely small book (about 6 or 7 inches square) with a page for each of the 32 works that includes a full photo and information about the quilt/quilter.  Photography is great, layout is great.  Price in the US is a modest US $17.25 plus shipping!

From Quilting Daily: Demystifying Mistyfuse

Wednesday, May 7th, 2014

Mistyfuse is by FAR my favorite fusible!  I’d been thinking (for years, sigh) of doing a good long post about using this wonderful product, when what should appear in my in-box on May 6th but this post, which is reprinted in its entirety with permission.  If you’re interested in the Mistyfuse Kit click here or, even better, click on the Interweave button on the sidebar to the left (just below my book/dvd/print):  type “fabric fusing fun” into the search box, then use the code in the button on the left to get a discount!    Here’s the fused collage I demonstrate in my DVD, which of course uses Mistyfuse:

Tomatoes, Basil and Garlic, No. 1, the start of what I will call my Quilting the Good Life series!
Tomatoes, Basil and Garlic, No. 1, the start of what I will call my Quilting the Good Life series!
In the copied post below, the things that appear to be links in the text below did not all copy.  To read more of Vivika’s blog, click  you can read the post below on Vivika’s blog, here.   To order Mistyfuse direct from the source, find Pigwidgeon, our pug, in the left column (where it says Sarah Ann Smith Mistyfuser) and click on him to go straight to the Mistyfuse site. And to see Jamie Fingal’s blog, visit her at Twisted Sister blog.  Jamie is also half of the Dinner@8 Artists who have curated some great exhibits for the past five plus years, and I’ve been quite lucky to have been part of the past four.  Check out Dinner@8 here.

And if you’d like to see how I use Mistyfuse, click here to see a preview of my DVD (available on my store page and as a download through Interweave–use the Interweave button on the left to click through to Interweave to order with a discount).

Fusible Web: Demystifying Mistyfuse

5 May 2014

Many art quilters find fusible web indispensable for quilt making. Fusible web is basically a sheet of glue that melts when you press fabric onto it with a hot iron, sticking the pieces of fabric together.

 

jamie fingal uses mistyfuse for quilt making
Quilt artist Jamie Fingal uses Mistyfuse
fusible for all her quilt making.

Because art quilts are not meant to be washed, fusible web gives you the freedom to cut and press on small pieces of fabric without the fuss of turning under or satin-stitching the edges. You fuse your fabric, cut it as you wish, and make a quilt with little or no measuring or endless seaming.

Every quilter has his or her favorite fusible, depending on the types of fabrics they use, the kinds of quilts they make, and often personal preference.

On the sturdier end of the spectrum , fusible interfacing lends structure to quilts and 3-D fiber art projects that need more support.

Mid-weight fusibles that often come with a paper backing work well for general art quilting purposes. Fusible fleece provides lightweight loft and can be machine washed and dried.

When fusing sheer fabrics, fabric that you want to drape or shape on a quilt, or quilt art with many layers, many artists choose Mistyfuse®.  Mistyfuse is a gossamer fusible that virtually disappears when ironed onto fabric and doesn’t change the hand of the cloth.

It comes in white, black (good for dark fabrics) and ultraviolet. It comes in sheets or on a bolt, and there is no paper backing. You just cut the size you need, lay it on your fabric, cover with a silicone sheet (baking parchment or a specially made reusable “Goddess Sheet”) and press with a dry iron.

Jamie Fingal always uses Mistyfuse when creating her art quilts, because the product allows her a lot of versatility with her fabric choices, she says.

“It fuses beautifully to wool felt, other felts, silk, sheers, photo transfer fabric, cotton, metallics, and even leather and velvet,” she says.

mistyfuse fusible web
Mistyfuse fusible web is so sheer you can clearly see the silicone
Goddess Sheet and a cutting mat below.

Jamie offers the following advice for using Mistyfuse to make a quilt:

1. Use the ultraviolet variety on sheers because it disappears when you layer the sheer fabric onto another piece of fabric

2. Save all your leftover snippets for future use. “I store all of my Mistyfuse scraps in a gallon zipper bag that I keep at the outer edge of my table-away from the iron-because you never know when you will need a small piece.”

3. Pre-fuse several pieces of fabric at a time and store them for later use so you are ready to go when you want to start creating. “I store all of the fabric that has been Mistyfused in bins by color, for easy retrieval.”

To teach you how to make quilts using fusibles–including Mistyfuse–we’ve put together a Fabric Fusing Fun: Complete MistyFuse Kit. It includes Mistyfuse, a Goddess Sheet, and three Quilting Arts WorkshopTM videos that teach you how to quilt with fusible web, by Jamie, Sue Bleiweiss, and the team of Laura Wasilowski and Frieda Anderson.

There are limited quantities, so be sure to order your Fabric Fusing Fun: Complete Mistyfuse Kit now.

My DVD on sale at InterweaveStore!

Friday, April 25th, 2014

Hi all!   Just got a Quilting Daily email which you can see here saying that (wheeeee!  Yipppeeeee!) that my DVD is among the most popular in March and that it is currently on sale for HALF OFF!   Use this link to get to the right place.  I don’t know how long they will be on sale, so if you’ve been waiting, now’s a good time to swing by Interweave.com and get it!

my video workshop that takes you from your photo to a finished art quilt

my video workshop that takes you from your photo to a finished art quilt

You can also get it from me, but alas at full price.  To all those who have ordered direct from me, thank you!  To all those who have ordered anywhere else, thank you!   It’s all good!

I’ve got a detailed description on my store page, here, and just below is a video excerpt you may enjoy:

Amaryllis in Living Colour

Sunday, April 20th, 2014

At long last I can share!   I still can’t believe that I am amongst those juried in to the Living Colour Textiles exhibit curated by Australian Brenda Gael Smith.

Amaryllis by Sarah Ann Smith (C) 2014.  See the Living Colour Exhibit at http://livingcolourtextiles.com/

Amaryllis by Sarah Ann Smith (C) 2014. See the Living Colour Exhibit at http://livingcolourtextiles.com/

To see the full exhibit, click on the link in the caption.

I knew I wanted to do something big and bold.  At first I wanted to do a lily, but when I began working on this piece it was mid-winter—not the ideal time of year to go out in Maine and snap pictures of lilies.  Then I realized I had the perfect image right in our own dining room:  an amaryllis.  So I waited patiently for the blossoms to open, took a ga-zillion phiotos, then selected the right ones.

I dyed the red fabric as well as the green/yellow in the centers (and used commercial batiks and my hand-dyes in the background).  I thread-sketched the amaryllis onto batting and backing, then cut away the batting/backing underneath the background, added a second layer of batting (Matilda’s Own Wool-Poly, and thrilled that this wonderful Aussie batting gets to visit “home”), quilted the background densely and around the petals and stamens.   Finished size pieces in the exhibit is 40 x 100 cm, or about 16 x 39 1/2 inches.

Here is a detail:

Amaryllis, detail, by Sarah Ann Smith (C) 2014.  See the Living Colour Exhibit at http://livingcolourtextiles.com/

Amaryllis, detail, by Sarah Ann Smith (C) 2014. See the Living Colour Exhibit at http://livingcolourtextiles.com/

Brenda has a full listing of where the quilts will be on display on the website.  You can also buy an exhibit catalog (published by Blurb) directly from Brenda or, more conveniently for those of us in the US, directly from Blurb.  I’ll add that link here, but at the moment I gotta run!  Spring break has arrived and we are heading out the door to take Eli on his first college visits!  Back soon!

Filming 3 segments for Quilting Arts TV! Part 2

Friday, April 4th, 2014

This post continues my earlier one, here, about taping three segments at Quilting Arts TV Series 1400, which will begin to air in July 2014 in the US on PBS.  For information on how to see this show, please check my earlier post.

With Susan Brubaker Knapp, the new host of Quilting Arts TV,on the set (you can see the top edge of the set in the background)!

With Susan Brubaker Knapp, the new host of Quilting Arts TV,on the set (you can see the top edge of the set in the background)!

My three segments are episode 2 (gifts), 5, and 12 (I think).  The topics are:

  1. My Inside-Out Bag with Easy-Peasy zipper (with a web-extra pattern/instruction on the steps to make the bag–when the episode airs and the instructions are available online, I’ll share here and on my Resources page),
  2. Thread and Needles
  3. Free-Motion Quilting
Getting ready to roll tape for my first segment on Quilting Arts TV, Series 1400.  I show you how to make my incredibly versatile Inside-Out Bag so you can customize size, pockets, techniques for the outside (pieced, applique, surface design).  The bag is quick and easy so it also makes a great special gift.

Getting ready to roll tape for my first segment on Quilting Arts TV, Series 1400. (and yes, you saw this photo in the last post!) I show you how to make my incredibly versatile Inside-Out Bag so you can customize size, pockets, techniques for the outside (pieced, applique, surface design). The bag is quick and easy so it also makes a great special gift.

The bag demonstrated is the one on the right.  If you LOVE that ribbon, it is made by Renaissance Ribbons.  I used about 24 inches to make this bag, and the ribbon is (YIPPEEE) available here.   In the bag on the left, which has both bluebird fabric and ribbon, I used their birds ribbon which is  still available.  Can you tell I love it? My favorite ribbon designers are Phillip Jacobs, Laura Foster Nicholson and Sue Spargo, but there is a LOT of ribbon to swoon over on this site!  Sue Spargo, by the way, has some “supporting cast” narrow ribbons that are fab!

At the start of a segment, the producer sets things out on the table so they look good.  And you get fitted for a mike.  I knew the mike would distort the neckline of my blouse, so

I suggested to the audio guy (whom I had just met about a minute before) that we could perhaps pin it to my bra strap.

I suggested to the audio guy (whom I had just met about a minute before) that we could perhaps pin it to my bra strap.

At that point…hilarity ensued:

Then I said, gosh, how am I going to explain to my husband that I asked a guy I met moments earlier to play with my bra strap!  Thanks Kristine for this great shot (yes, she was there with multiple cameras around neck and cell phones opened to camera mode on the table!)

Then I said, gosh, how am I going to explain to my husband that I asked a guy I met moments earlier to play with my bra strap! Thanks Kristine for this great shot (yes, she was there with multiple cameras around neck and cell phones opened to camera mode on the table!)

Here's another great shot for that first segment--this may be the best current photo there is of me!  Good make-up (hides much, so does not standing in profile to show the chin and neck!)

Here’s another great shot for that first segment–this may be the best current photo there is of me! Good make-up (hides much, so does not standing in profile to show the chin and neck!)  And I gotta say, I wasn’t nervous because having a friend as host made me SO comfortable with the process.  Having done the DVD in Colorado last year also helped a ton!   I knew what to expect:  be prepared and know that the cast and crew and all the Interweave folks are SUPERB!

Then

Time for a wardrobe change and getting re-fitted with the tiny mike.  It picked up the sound well I guess, as we didn't have ANY do-overs, but the prongs definitely pricked--like staples poking into you--because the backing tape moved.

Time for a wardrobe change and getting re-fitted with the tiny mike. It picked up the sound well I guess, as we didn’t have ANY do-overs, but the prongs definitely pricked–like staples poking into you–because the backing tape moved.

And here’s the requisite on-set shot for segment two.   Bought the blouse–sandwashed silk and YUMMY–at Coyote Moon in Belfast, Maine, on sale!  the week before taping.   I don’t usually wear colors this dark near my face, but just loved this blouse.

On the set.  We've changed clothes for a different episode of QA TV.

On the set. We’ve changed clothes for a different episode of QA TV.

Next, the final segment:

With Susan Brubaker Knapp, the new host of Quilting Arts TV,on the set (you can see the top edge of the set in the background)!

With Susan Brubaker Knapp, the new host of Quilting Arts TV,on the set.  Bought my top from Brie Kriebel at Quilt Festival Houston in 2013.  I think my first stop at Festival this coming year is going to be her booth!   Bought my button necklace at Festival several years ago.  Can you see I’m relaxing as we get farther along?

Yeah!  I was still there when Lyric Kinard arrived!  Does ANYone have such an infectious, impish smile?

Yeah! I was still there when Lyric Kinard arrived! Does ANYone have such an infectious, impish smile as Lyric?  I’m lucky to have run into Lyric many times at assorted teaching venues and shows.  We took turns looking first at my phone camera, then hers to take this tandem-selfie!

And then it was time to pack up and head home.   I had realized shortly before leaving for Ohio that a student in an online drawing class I’m taking (we’ve taken several from Val Webb, teacher extraordinaire) lives the other half of her year in Ohio.  We’ve met here in Maine (she lives several hours from me, but four of us met up in a middle-zone place); it turns out I was going to pass by her exit on the way home, so we got to meet for a late afternoon sip before I started racking up the miles to go home:

Carole Jurack came to meet me at the McDonalds at exit 200 in Ohio on I-90.   What fun!

Carole Jurack came to meet me at the McDonalds at exit 200 in Ohio on I-90. What fun!  It was great to see you, Carole.  Here’s to sketching at the Botanical Garden in June.

So now all we need to do is wait for the series to air!  I’ll keep you posted.  In the meantime, I’ve unpacked, slept, started to catch up on my online classes, and get ready for the next round of articles to write and quilts to quilt.  It is going to be busy in April and May!