Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween - hope it's lots of fun. I've always loved Halloween but here in this subdivision, we never get any little trick or treaters - not in 9 years which is a disappointment for me. Our subdivision is small with large lots, well no fun in that for the kids. It's too far to go between houses for candy. In my old neighborhood, the houses were close to each other and we got 150 little trick or treaters every year. Living next door to an executive for Mars Candy helped a lot. The Terrys dropped 15 - 20 candybars in each childs' bag.

 BUT we still we decorate - buy the pumpkins..

 and the beautiful mums...

 and interesting gourds...

 and our favorite candy so we can eat the leftovers...

and read our favorite Halloween book which was my daughter's favorite and over 37 years old.
We will turn on the outside lights and have the bowl of candy ready!  We will order pizza, turn on a scary movie and wait for the doorbell to ring....and finally....after a long time....give in to the fact that once again, we'll be having LOTS of candy for dessert! Hope your Halloween is wonderful, safe and full of little trick or treaters!

Fiber Junkies - Do What You Want

We met on Monday at Vals for our last outdoor meeting of the season. It was a cold and rainy day but lots of great things happening in Vals garage. We planned to do fugitive materials, something we've done before, but it turned into a do what you want which usually translates as "saving an ugly piece of fabric". I brought a bunch of new stencils and masks I wanted to try. If you've ever purchased on Amazon, you click on "put in shopping cart" and then along the bottom comes this message - "If you like this, you might also like this'...Wellllll heck, you know I will.... soooo... in goes something else until it's out of control, which mine was. Solution - split the order in 2, spread them out - end of guilt!

This was one of the masks which was used over a piece of fabric I liked....

and it turned out fine. I may go back with paint sticks and do some shading.

This was a deconstructive piece - over sprayed with paint using sequin waste. It's still very busy but I like the added color, now what to do with it.

I loved this piece of wool Mary had already screened with circles, made with looseleaf paper reinforcements - remember those? She then went back and did some screening using letters from a stencil Gen had brought.

This was an old rusted piece that used a very subtle stencil of random dots. It didn't need that much so the stencil was a good fit for this.

This was one of Vals exquisite pieces. Val was making masks out of freezer paper that she could iron on and fill in the negative areas with paint sticks.

This was a stencil Kate was using over one of her "needs more" pieces.

and the results.

This piece I really like. Last month Kate used a silk screen and thickened dyes to create the boughs. She thought it needed more and added a gentle blending of gold from a paintstick; it was just what it needed.

Gen used a very interesting "crackle" pattern stencil on top of her already pretty fabric but the added patterning made it pop.

This felted piece from Mary and the ones below all came out really nice. - I see beading in their future.

Kate had a piece of circle fabric from the month before. She had a thought to do some Shibori on it and folded it - 3 sets of hands used - 2 sets to hold and 1 to paint the edges...

Nice - sometimes it does take a village.

Our Show and Tell was small but always inspiring. Gen had been working with Citra-Solve and  created some interesting effects with magazines.

This is Gen's clean up cloth from last time. It's amazing.

Mary brought a luscious new piece made with beads. She gave me the go ahead to show it even though it hasn't appeared on her blog yet but keep a watch as I'm sure she'll have lots of details.

That's all for now!

A New Piece - Ruins I

I've had a lot of company for the last 3 weeks - my daughter and granddaughter, followed by friends from Seattle and last but not least - my sister in law and her hubby. It was great fun to say the least but studio time was not happening - making it that much more fun when I got back to it. This little piece was something I finished right before everyone came. It is based loosely on a technique I learned from a Wen Redmond DVD. I've always loved layering, especially using sheers.

 I started with a pre-stretched canvas.

 The back of the canvas is stapled and left intact.

 The center of the canvas is removed - it doesn't have to be a perfect job as it's covered up.

 Next, came the layer which would serve as a base and placed on the bottom of the canvas in the cut out area. I chose a very colorful picture which I printed on fabric. This was of an old ruin we came across while in Ireland last year. It was very bright and I thought would be effective with a sheer layer on top. I did layer it with a thin layer of batting and backing and then quilted it. The quilting really doesn't show that much but if you use a glitzy thread in some areas, you do get a wink of it as you look at the picture.

 A layer of organza was printed with another image and laid on the top of the canvas, leaving some space in between. The edges were finished with a darker fabric and brought around to the back....

 which was finished by hand and a picture frame wire attached for hanging.

And the finished piece - "Ruins I".

Fabulous Fiber Junkies

Our Fiber Junkies group recently met to play with dye painting which was great fun. We really didn't have a plan, just anything we wanted to do using thickened dyes. This is the great fun in working/playing with friends - everyone came with a different thought and the creativity was flying.

I decided to do some deconstructive screen printing using leaves and ferns.

Val was just painting shapes and hers will turn into a masterpiece. If you follow my blog, you've heard me talk about Val and what a truly talented lady she is.

Mary was painting on thread as she does a lot of handwork and uses all kinds of floss and heavy threads - yummy.

Gen was working with stripes that she was going to cut up, sounded very interesting.

So we all got the bug to do stripes.

Kate was using stencils, painted with dye and stamped on fabric.

Denny had screened newsprint on fabric; she then silkscreened images of houses she went back and painted - a great look.

And then came the circles. Kate started using the lids of containers, dipping them into dye and stamping with them.

I was also silk screening on top of a deconstructed piece that needed more something.

I also decided to put some crinkles in fabric, paint it with dyes and then silk screen images over that. This was really a "this might be horrible or really nice"!

After washing it out, I liked the results and the little bit of white from creases sets off the pop colors....

and another one I did.

The results from my deconstructive screen printing were not as good as I had hoped for. I think I used too much foliage.

It's hard to distinguish what is happening.

Sometimes the last swipe is the best as a lot of the design elements are gone and you get some "quiet" areas.
Til next time...

Asheville Quilt Guild Quilt Show

The countdown is on. As I write this, only 16 more hours until the Asheville Quilt Guild opens its doors once again for their annual quilt show. Just when you think it can't get any better, lo and behold, it does and this year is no exception.

 I can't begin to imagine the amount of hours spent on putting this wonderful show together. So many ladies and many husbands setting up, hanging quilts and turning this very large and sterile facility into a quilt wonderland if only for a few days.

 I hope you'll stop by and see for yourself.

 There are many wonderful vendors...

 color, color everywhere.

 There is a quilt gallery shop...

 where members can sell their work - so many beautiful quilts all at such a reasonable price. There is also a quilt gift shop where members can sell smaller, handmade items.

 And the quilts themselves...

 beautiful!

 One of my favorites is this one by Kate Weston The piecing in it is incredible and I wish I knew how many little pieces went into making this....

 and Marilyn Wall's wonderful thread painting of her grandson (on left). I've been following the progress of this piece on her blog.

And this one, in person - believe me when I tell you, it's worth the price of admission to see. The quilts did not have name labels on them as yet but I have a hunch who this one belongs to. So if you're in the area, come on over to the Ag Center on Airport Road in Asheville. The quilt show runs for 3 days - Fri - Sun, Oct 2 - 4 and it should prove to be inspiring as well as great fun.