Nature Therapy

Spent a day wandering through the arboretum with my watercolors and sketchbook. I needed a retreat from daily routines and some anxiety that's built up. Being in natureis the best therapy for me. It's hard to do while living in the big city, but not impossible!

Page for Journal Excahange with dvd

The dvd 1000 Journals is making it's way around the US & Canada thanks to Rice Zachary Freeman who initiated it's exchange. Along with the dvd, there is a journal and this page is what I added to it.

Click here for information about the dvd 1000Journals.

Click here to visit Rice's blog.

Fruit&Fiber

Are you getting enough fruit & fiber?
I've been making & wearing these flashy fiber bauble bangles.

Art Quilting Studio Magazine

I'm not just saying this because my art quilt is published here, but this is a really inspiring magazine. I was skeptical at first. I wondered what else is there to see in the world of art quilts that hasn't already been shown. The editors at Stampington have generously given us plenty of ideas for stitching and embellishing. It's not just the projects, but the layout of the magazine featuring such well composed photographs, that make it very appealing. What's missing? Page after page of ads! With minimal ad space there's room for the fabric eye candy showing a variety of techniques that keep you coming back to the pages over and over.

A Visit to Tish's Studio

Spent the day with my art pal, Tish. Here is a tour of her studio. At the end of the video you can see the zippered pouches we made together. We followed these instructions

I just discovered polyvore!

e14studio page by Artl8dy on Polyvore.com

Show & Tell

Just click on image to enlarge.

Blog Party!

Please join Joy Jones at Cupidscharm for a Blog Party! This will be a great opportunity for everyone to see your blog and to tell why you love blogging!

I love blogging because...

1. I'm in touch with so many people who share my interest in art, fabric, photography and mixed media out there in cyber space.

2. I can share my techniques and ideas and get inspiration from others.

3. the blog serves as a visual record of my progress. I can go back to older posts and see what I've done and it's all still there.

4. keeping a blog challenges me to update my technical skills and learn new things (like posting you tube videos).
Thanks for stopping by my blog!

Good News (and not so good news)

First, the not so good news. Shown here is the art quilt that didn't get picked for 2010 Art Quilts Calendar. The theme was Fresh Picked . Pokey Bolton from Quilting Arts magazine announced the finalists today. There were over 300 entries. Congratulations to the winners!

Now the Good News! I was contacted by Jenny Doh and will have an art quilt printed in a brand new publication called Art Quilting Studio. I can't reveal the entire piece before publication but here's a sneak peak
I must say getting the news about being published is a whole lot better than being rejected. Honestly, I don't make art for recognition, I make it because of the joy it brings me.

Work of Art

This painting was hanging in the front room over the fire place of the Married Ladies Social Art and Charity Club. It's such a compelling work of art and the story about the artist is even more so. I was drawn into the piece by the figures and how well they were shown together. The grandmother is focused on her sewing and the granddaughter looks on with such intent. Look how they both give it all their concentration. Michelle told me it was painted by a man who was incarcerated and he did it all from memory. I wrote down his name but now I can't find it. So I enlarged his signature. I think this painting belongs in a museum!

More pictures from my quilting class with Michelle

My classmates were Jessica and Barbara. We were all amazed how quickly the time went while we made our quilting blocks. I am holding up my "Friendship Star" piece in the picture with Michelle. My challenge was to work on a pattern that contained a diagonal or triangular shape.

Meet Michelle Barnes

Michelle was my teacher for my traditional quilting classes. Here she is hand quilting her latest quilt. The girl can sew! I superimposed an image showing the detail of her very first quilt in the background of the picture. It's all appliqued with a circular wreath pattern and each flower motif is unique. The entire piece was hand quilted. Amazing! She won an award at the Houston Quilt Show. Michelle is my friend for life now. Isn't that cool?
More quilting pics coming......

Quilt School

Back in January, I took a Basic Quilting class to help me learn the fundamentals. I like making art quilts, but I thought I should learn how to do traditional blocks. Today, I went back for another class held at a real cool place here in Houston - The Married Ladies Social Art & Charity Club. (How's that for a name?!) I'll have a follow up about it in my next post.

Small Art Journals

There's so much out there about journaling and how to go about filling the pages. I enjoy looking at what others share when they post pages on their sites. As far as technique, I have come to the realization that each individual finds their own way of journaling and goes about it by discovering what works for them.

As for me, what works, is to make my own small journals and fill them in with pieces of fabric, paper and photos left over from projects. I also add scraps from brochures, magazines, catalogs and gift wrap.

Because my books are small, I can fill them quickly and see common denominators in some themes. From these small books, I've recognized that the fabric I pick when I do art quilts is chosen from patterns I develop in my collages. I like how one medium feeds the other and I have a record of it in my small book.

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Have you seen my art journal music video ?
Click here to watch!