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by Kathryn Schmidt, AQS Publishing, 80 pg.

The theme throughout Kathryn Schmidt’s Rule-Breaking Quilts is escaping from the quilt police and freeing yourself to break the rules.  “They tried to sentence me to a lifetime of tradition, but I ran from the rules and escaped … I’m here to help you make your way to the same type of freedom.”  There are no templates or patterns, but rather instructions for a variety of “stack-slash-and move” and “easy-curvy-sewing” techniques that are explained in chapters with titles such as “cell block walls” and “major crimes.” The book comes across with a very friendly, tongue-in-check, feel that is very much geared to helping traditional quilt makers take the step toward creating with more spontaneity.

Stacking, free-form rotary cutting, and reassembly is certainly nothing new, and there have been different takes on it over the years.  I have seen some stunning quilts made with this method, and in some very prestigious shows.  While the quilts in the book do not intimidate the reader,  the variety of methods explained have the potential to make those show-stoppers.  Beginners will like that Kathy keeps it simple using 6 fabrics.  Non-beginners should  see the potential when thinking of using more fabrics, such as a variety of graduated color runs , accent colors, and so on, and combining techniques.

Considering the topic is “rule-breaking” quilts, I expected a more quirkly layout other rather than its structured, two-column one .  Even so, this book contains some of the best instructions I’ve seen on free-form piecing.  This is a good book for any traditional quilter wanting guidance in learning to let go, or any “art quilt” maker looking for clear instruction on free-form piecing.  It’s also an excellent book for quilt shops to stock, especially when offering classes on the topic.

Robbi Joy Eklow, who is an amazing quilter, shared a fantastic way of burying her quilt threads.  It’s faster than what I was doing — well, I should say that I’m told it’s much faster than what I’m doing when I bury tail.   K. Grace Howes posted a video of this methoc on YouTube, which I’m sharing here.  Grace gives more insight here.

Wondering why my phone is sitting in a bag of rice?

Whenever I’m wearing jeans, I tend to slip my phone into my back pocket.  It fits great and is always handy.  More than once while in the bathroom, my phone fell out of the pocket.  Each time it fell out, I told myself I was lucky it only feel on the floor.

Last week I was in San Francisco for MacWorld.  Jeans were my staple item of clothing, and my phone stayed in my back pocket.  Until it was suddenly out of my pocket.  What happened you wonder?  Think porcelain throne. And in a nano-second my hand was in that water plucking out the phone.  I immediately dried it off, held my breath, and turned it on.  Nothing.  Total darkness.  I then plugged it in.  Still dead.  I used a blow dryer on it.  Still dead.  The Apple store was nearby.  At worst, I could buy a new phone.  But I really didn’t want to buy another, especially with rumors of a new model coming in June.

When I told Derry, my business and MacWorld partner, he immediately started searching the Internet for possible cures.  He read me several stories of woe.  Phones being dropped in the tub.  Phones going through the wash cycle.  Phones falling into a swimming pool. Most common were stories like mine – phones falling into a toilet.  We went through several different sites and read various stories and fixes.  Common to all was allowing the phone to completely dry however you can — that includes using a blow dryer or a heater.  There were also stories of leaving the phone in a bag of rice.  One person, whose phone went through an entire wash cycle, actually resuscitated his phone after it was in a bag of rice for a week.

That evening I left the phone on the grill of the baseboard heater.  In the morning when I went to retrieve the phone, I didn’t see it.  It fell and wedged itself into a very tight area of the heater.  Using a butter knife and patience, I got the phone got.  I plugged the phone in.  There was the Apple logo, and it was starting up.  I felt excitement.  But then the logo faded to darkness and my excitement drained.

Next up, finding rice. Being in San Francisco, the Rice-A-Roni town, we knew we could quickly find a bag of rice.  The first corner store we popped into, we immediately found rice.  We put the phone in the bag of rice, shoved it onto the grill of the baseboard heater, and left it there all day and night.  In the morning, I took the phone out of the bag.  Here’s a tip:  If you ever need to get rice to rescue your  phone, get the long grain kind so that you’re not using tweezers to pick out little pieces that manage to wedge itself into the connectors.

Success!

Once the rice was removed, I plugged it in and turned it on.  There was the Apple logo.  I waited.  It started up.  Wow!  I made some phone calls.  It worked.  Very happily, I returned the phone to the back pocket of my jeans.  Throughout the day I’d take it out, turn it on, and exhale as it kept working.  Return the phone to the back pocket of my jeans, you wonder?  Did I not learn anything?  Thus far, I’m being careful.  However, a hip little phone bag is most likely in my future.

I love this book!  I found it by happy accident and immediately bought it. It’s a collaboration by ten authors, each responsible for one of ten categories: art 101, the philosophy of art, art through the ages, profiles in art, a picture’s worth 200 words, art from the inside out, art around the world, unexpected art forms, artistic oddities, and step-by-step exercises.

Each day has a one-page nugget of art information to ponder. The book start with, what else, day 1:  The Elements of Art. Day 2: What is Aesthetics? and so on.  You certainly don’t need to read it in order.  Flipping through to Day 166: This is London, young British artists of the 1980s and 1990s.  Day 251: Using an Underpaiting.  Exploring the Initial Layer of Paint.  Day 316: Taking Art to the Streets.  Many days also have questions to ponder.  Day 232: Perception and Reality.  One question to ponder: When you analyze  a piece of artwork, are you analyzing its objective reality or just your subjective experience of it? Hmmm… I’ll have to think about that one.

The book is hardcover, with the cover art printed directly on the color rather than just the dust jacket (which I prefer).  It’s full color, nice quality paper, and includes a ribbon bookmark to hold your place.  It’s a comfortable size and feels good in my hands. The book is also very reasonably priced: $22.95 and less from Amazon.

It puts me in the mind of The Intellectual Devotional series.  Each book in that series include seven topics that rotate, one each day of the week (one per day) for 52 weeks.  If you haven’t seen that series, check it out.  There are various titles on culture, American history, and so on. You can learn more about this title: The Intellectual Devotional: Revive Your Mind, Complete Your Education, and Roam Confidently with the Cultured Class here.

Digital Inspiration and More

As noted in the post below, Fiberart For A Cause is the brainchild of quiltmaker/artist Virginia Spiegel.  Its purpose is raising money for the American Cancer Society. In addition to contributing to Peggy’s tote, there’s another tote up for auction: “Digital Inspiration and More.”

My tote contains lots of goodies that will help you take digital and traditional media and combine them into some new art work.  The tote includes Digital Essentials, The Quilt Maker’s Must Have Guide to Photos, Files & More; the complete set of Free Stuff on the Internet books; and over five yards of fabric that I’ve painted.  All books will be autographed (unless requested otherwise after the auction).  As a bonus, I’m also including three inspiring books: Design Explorations for the Creative Quilter by Katie Pasquini Masopust; Radiant New York Beauties by Valori Wells, and Magical Four-Patch and Nine-Patch Quilts by Yvonne Porcella.

The auction starts today and will run each Tuesday for the next several weeks.  My tote will be auctioned I believe later this month.  There are many totes filled with fun stuff.  You can see them all here.

I hope you join in the auction.  It’s for a great cause and you may have the final winning bid!

Peggy Schroder’s Have A Heart tote which I and others donated to.

Fiberart For A Cause is the brainchild of quiltmaker/artist Virginia Spiegel.  Its purpose is raising money for the American Cancer Society.  For several years she has been active in putting together various fundraising auctions and has thus far raised and donated over  $190,00!  (In the past I played a very small role by donating a small quilt which raised several hundred dollars.)  Now Virginia has created Tote Tuesday as another way to raise funds.

Tote Tuesday features themed totes filled with unique, beautiful, and
inspiring items from the worlds of art quilting, fiber arts, knitting,
 beading, mixed media and surface design.

  The totes are including original artwork, autographed books, hand-dyed
fabrics, gorgeous yarns, beads, handmade journals, fun and useful
materials/tools for mixed-media and surface design, online classes, DVDs,
 and much, much more.

A list of the more than 20 themed totes now in progress is here.  The bidding opens on February 2nd and continues through March. Check out the list, mark your calendar, and consider bidding on a tote filled with goodies.

100% of the proceeds will be donated directly to the American Cancer Society
.  For more information about the fundraiser, click here.

While doing the “big clean” — my delusion of some order in my life — I found myself looking at some encaustic pieces I did a couple years ago.  These pieces incorporate a mixture of waxes (beeswax, parafix, and soy wax, which tends to give me a headache) with acrylic paints and various other bits like netting and string.  I had taken a workshop and, a result of it, loaded up on various supplies so that I could experiment.  Working with encaustics is a great way to blend various media into lots of layers and textures — something I’m very drawn to and yet feel I don’t have enough of in my work.

Here’s a close-up showing more of the texture.

And a bit closer still.

I’ve also been in the sketchbook mood lately.  While flipping through the pages of what I’ve done these past couple months, I stopped at this page when seeing the relationship between the strong vertical lines in this watercolor/gouache sketch with the earlier painting.   If it were allowed, I’d post an image of the quilt I’m frantically working to finish for entry into the upcoming Visions show.  It, too, is right up this alley — verticals, layers, mood.

Here’s a different piece.

And another.

My journals have various notes — try this, try that; add more texture; work in ghost imagery, incorporate obvious line.  It’s good going through older  journals, comparing the ideas then with what I am doing now.  It seems there is something to writing these things down.  It’s possible the ideas do seep in and eventually flow into new work.

If you’re interested in encaustic work. here are two books that will get you started:
Encaustic Workshop: Artistic Techniques for Working with Wax, by Patricia B. Seggebrush; and
The Art of Encaustic Painting: Contemporary Expression in the Ancient Medium of Pigmented Wax, by Joanne Mattera.

I’ve been very behind in blog writing.  Chalk it up to a combination of work, trying to finish a quilt in time to make a deadline, the end of December frantic clean, and long reflections on the past year and decade.

Work: well, it’s work.  It’s always good that work continues to come in, especially in these times when people are struggling.  I am aware that I’m fortunate in that regard.  I’m also aware that things can change on a dime.  The quilt:  I finished it, and that entry is in the mail.  The cleaning:  Well, that’s me operating under the delusion that me cleaning the house will bring some order as I enter into the new year (as if).  Then we come to reflections.  As I mentioned a few posts down, I’ve been going through my journals, falling into that flood of memories mode.

And, to keep things light, while working in the family room one evening, I got up to get something to drink.  When I returned, our dog Buddy decided to take my place.   It reminded me of that old saying, “When you’re on the Internet, no one knows you’re a dog.”

Here’s Buddy!

How could I resist.

Yes, I got carried away.  He’s such a cutie!

London Dreaming

Cay Denise wrote me regarding a poem she wrote inspired by my “London Dreaming” piece, a digital collage and small textile wallhanging I created a few years back.  She gave me permission to post it here.  Please keep in mind that it’s her work, and please don’t use her work without her permission.  If you need to contact her, please do so here.

EMBOLDENED

Momentum
sweeps us
towards the fractals of our future…
…clouded
by an inability
to time travel the distance.

Propelled forward…
…we write our history by
the last footstep
on the path taken
of the paths not taken
where our actions and inactions
our words and
our works
make meaning of us.

A step is a mighty bridge,
from the land of what we were
to that of what we will become.
With each one
a version of us,
blooming with memory,
time and place,
creates a sculpted depiction
of that moment…forever.

Buried in future’s tombs
statues of our choices.
Some gilded… others,
ghosts of guilt,
unlived pleasures
unforgiven pains…
…haunting the histories we live with
and the origin of our next journey.

So, with every beginning
consider each step anew.
For the bridge
can take you anywhere
and be the becoming
you wish to step in to.

By CDMacKenzie 3/26/2006 (in collaboration and based on ‘London Dreaming’ digital collage by Gloria Hansen)

Wow, 2010.  A new year.  A new decade.

These past few days, maybe weeks, I’ve been in an almost manic cleaning mode.  Some evenings I was up silly late, like 4-5 a.m., cleaning and tossing and cleaning more.  Maybe it’s some subconscious thing to clean and clear and make way for the new decade.

I’ve also been hard at work on a new art quilt.  The quilting should be finished tomorrow, the finishing on Saturday.  Then I’ll have it – the first completed work of the new year, new decade. I spent months working on this design within Photoshop, and then a lot of time on it with color pencils, pastels, and some paints.  I always know when I did a lot when I begin second-guessing and entertaining the notion of tossing it all. I’ve been close a couple times, and I’m not even sure I like this thing.  But I’m carrying on. The piece is another in my illusions series.  Maybe the last – a bridge from one decade into the next.

There are a pile of journals from this decade that I’ve been paging through.  It’s amazing how much stuff has gone on in these past years — the people I’ve met, places I’ve traveled to, things I’ve accomplished.  While I have kept journals since being a teenager (and I am sorry that I tossed many of those early journals in the garbage some years back), after my dad died in 2000 I stopped for a while.  I started up again in mid-2001.   I was tempted to photograph a pile of the journals to add here, but it’s after 3 a.m. and I should get some sleep.

Oh, good book alert: Visual Poetry, a Creative Guide for Making Engaging Digital Photographs, by Chris Orwig.  I stumbled up this book today while  in Barnes & Noble. It should simply be called Visual Poetry, but publishers seem to like the lengthy, more descriptive titles.

The book is beautiful and well-written. It’s some 280 pages and loaded with stunning photos and interesting commentary, including interviews – or “guest speakers” – with noted photographers such as Pete Turner (I remember him from years back when I use to cut out the photos from Nikon ads and collage them together to create covers for school books).  It always fascinates me to read the answer to “What inspires you?”

While the book does give photographic instruction, I am far more attracted to his creative process.  The instruction is icing.  Learning to see light, color, and shape certainly does not only apply to photography; nor does appreciating the passion the author has for his art.  In Part II of the book, tips, gear, and inspiration are given for different types of photography such as portraits, wedding, travel.  There are workshop assignments that include a good range of resources for further information in each area.

This is an excellent book, one well worth the $44 price tag (although you can get it for less at Amazon).

The book is a great way to start the new year, new decade … here’s to it!  And with that, I’m off to get some sleep!

I was very excited to learn that Digital Essentials was a USA Book News Best Book award finalist!

In part …

USA BOOK NEWS ANNOUNCES WINNERS AND FINALISTS OF THE NATIONAL “BEST BOOKS 2009” AWARDS

LOS ANGELES – USABookNews.com, the premiere online magazine and review website for mainstream and independent publishing houses, announced the winners and finalists of THE NATIONAL “BEST BOOKS 2009″ AWARDS (NBBA).  Digital Essentials: The Quilt Maker’s Must-Have Guide to Images, Files, and More! by Gloria Hansen was the 2009 Finalist in the Technology/Computers/Internet business category.

I’m grateful for the additional exposure the award gives to the book.  I also appreciate the many people who write telling me how much they learned from the book and how they are recommending it.  Word of mouth is a great thing — especially when some quilt stores are hesitant about the book because it’s viewed as a computer book while some people involved with computers are hesitant because it’s directed at quiltmakers.

If you want to know more about the book, click here.  You can download a free PDF chapter on image protection on the Web.   Soon I’ll be adding the table of contents of the book to that area.

Fibreart Montage, Combing Quilting, Embroidery and Photography with Embellishments, by Judith Baker Montano

When I hear the name Judith Baker Montano, I think queen of crazy quilting.  I think silk ribbon embroidery.  I think renowned teacher, author of many books.  I also think of a gracious woman I met more than 15 years ago, filled with stories and laughter, and who was holding a  beaded and embroidered bag that was so beautiful that I found myself  staring at it.  When I learned Judith had a new book coming out, I couldn’t wait to see it.

Fibreart Montage –  Judith’s exciting new 256-page hardcover, spiral-bound book by published by Dragon Threads Ltd. — arrived. A visual feast,  this book is packed with inspiration to get the mind revved up with ideas and  instruction to give the confidence to make it happen.

The book has nine chapters: getting started; crazy quilting; the cottage journey; photography; silk dyeing; landscapes and seascapes; underwater; patterns; and stitch guide.

In addition to an overview of color and palettes, Getting Started provides five pages of step-by-step instructions for creating a machine-sewn foundation for crazy quilting.  Judith shows how to add curves, miters, and angles.  Any person starting out will appreciate this hand-holding.  An understanding of this important step can make all of the difference in the quality of your work. The chapter also has beautiful examples of crazy quilting and information on cords and braiding.

In The Cottage Journey, Judith explains how she photographs a cottage, brings it into an image editing program, and converts the photo into a line drawing.  That line drawing is then used as the basis of a watercolor painting, and she explains the steps she takes to create her painting.  The painting is then scanned in, printed on silk, and the silk is then embroidered.  While a later chapter includes several patterns, this chapter gives the necessary guidance to inspire the reader to convert their own photo into a unique, stitched work.

In Silk Dyeing, she describes three methods of using dye — painting with it, using it within plastic bags, and using “blobs” of it on silk .  She also provides thorough instruction on burning silk to create beautiful silk leaves.

Both chapters stir the creative juices, and could even be the basis for a book on its own, yet they are just part of this gold mine of a book. The Landscapes and Seascapes and Underwater chapters completely guides the reader through specific stitched projects.  Luscious supplies, such as organza, netting silk ribbons, threads and yarn,  are discussed.  The creation of various textures, such as twisted and couched seaweed, are explained.  Every step from start to finish is detailed.  Even student work is shared. Want more?  There is a nearly 50 page stitch guide.  Beautifully illustrated, it covers working with embroidery threads and silk ribbons.

The photography throughout the book is top notch; the illustrations very clear.  The spiral binding makes it easy to keep the book open to follow a stitch guide or drool over an image. This book is such a winner.  It is among my favorite books of this year (another being Quilting in the Limelight, also published by Dragon Threads). The only thing that could make it better is if one of the beautiful embroidered pouches from page 193 jumped out of the book and into my hands. This book is Judith Baker Montano at her very best.

Fibreart Montage is available directly from Dragon Threads Ltd.

"Petite Woman 2" by Susan Schrott

Susan Schrott made me this gorgeous quilt as a birthday gift!  It came as a total surprise, and I am overwhelmed by her generosity.  Wow!  The photo doesn’t do it justice.

Susan tells me that she made it using a photo transfer of a drawing she did, putting it onto fabric she painted and bordered with Swarovski crystals.  She also made the yellow fabric about a year ago by leaving painted cotton fabric to dry in the sun after she scattered it with leaves.  It’s free motion machine quilted with cotton and metallic threads.   Susan has more information on how she made the quilt on her blog.  You can read more about it here.  :)

"the little book" by Laura Cater-Woods

Laura Cater-Woods makes these fantastic “little books” that she sells on her website here, and she surprised me with one!  It’s a soothing book that has an original cover and includes quotes, photos, and other stuff to inspire you.  There are index tabs within the book so you can rearrange the items or add to them.  Peaking out from under the book is the face of the hand-painted card Laura included with the book.

The very first quote I read was: “Self indulgence in the service of art: highly recommended.  Feed your Muse!”  Sounds like a plan to me!

I thank you both for your generosity.

There are many ways of creating repeating patterns using computer programs.  The following are basic directions for creating a repeat pattern using Photoshop or Photoshop Elements.  Again, basic, but it should get you started.

1.  Open a new document.  It really doesn’t matter the size, as it will be re-sized later.  I selected the default paper size.

2.  For illustration purposes, I’m using a custom shape from the custom shape palette.

Tip:  To find  more custom shapes, open the flyout menu and select All and click Append.  This will append a bunch more shapes to your shapes palette.  This is in Photoshop CS4.  Elements has this feature (top right illustration)

3.  Drag to create your shape, hold down the shift key while dragging to constrain the design to a square.  Select the crop tool.  The goal here is to create a square with a border of white.  Put the crop tool in the center of the design.  Hold the option/alt key and the shift key together and drag out.  This will make an square around the item.  Turn on your Rulers if they are not on.  View>Rulers.  Drag a vertical and horizontal guide to locate the center of the shape. (top left illustration)

4.  Use the marquee tool to select the left half of the image. (top right illustration)

5.  Open the layers menu (Windows>Layers).  Copy the left half that has the selection around it and then Paste.  You’ll see the copy of the section on its own layer in the palette. (top left illustration)

6.  Click on Layer 1 to make sure it is active (it is highlighted in color) and then use the move tool to drag it to the right.  (top right illustration)

7.  Click on the background layer.  Marquee to select the right side. Copy it and paste it.  The copied image will appear on its own layer, in this case Layer 2.  (top left illustration)  Drag it to the left. (top right illustration)

8.  From the fly-out menu on the Layers palette, select Flatten Image.  This will merge all of the layers into one (top right illustration)
9.  Repeat the steps, but select the top half, copy/paste it, then move it to the bottom.  Return to the background layer, select the bottom half, copy/paste it, and move it to the top.  (top left illustration)

10.  Determine the size you want your repeat pattern.  Go to Image>Image Size. Leaving Constrain Proportions and Resample Image ON, insert 60 x 60 pixels in the top Pixel Dimensions area (or insert whatever dimension you want).  Click OK.  The image will change size. (upper top right)  If you cannot initially see it, be sure you are viewing it at 100%.

Note: Ignore the Print Size box underneath it; it only applies to printing and has no relevance here. Also, my 60×60 pixel size is a good size for the web.  For print, however, you’ll need more resolution.

11.  To define this design as a pattern, go to Edit>Define Pattern.  (above this illustration, on the lower right)  Name the pattern.  I named mine flowers. (top left illustration)  Click OK.  (top right illustration)  The flower is now part of the Patterns Library.

12.  Open a new document.  I opened a document that is 640 pixels by 480 pixels.

To create your pattern, go to Image>Fill.  Select Pattern from the dropdown menu.  Select the pattern you just created, which will be on the bottom right of your palette.  Voila, you have a fill pattern.

Experiment. Consider different sizes, shapes, colors, and so on.

Also, you’ll see my pattern has a small gray line.  That means that I didn’t select my image quite right.  I should have turned on the grid.  Even so, I’m okay with the gray line.  It sort of looks stitched.   A happy accident.