Artist Faire @ CREATE Chicago

The Artist Faire was held on Friday evening of the CREATE event.  Artists who were teaching at the event participated, as well as other artists in the area who only participated in the Faire.  The vendors skewed heavily toward mixed media/assemblage work, but most of the vendors were pleased with the outcome.

These little dye pots lead to my end-result at the Artist Faire

mixed-media "mail art" postcard combined with screen printed bamboo batting, beads, and 

free-motion embroidery.  Mounted on black felt.

8x10 inches

Dye-printed post-consumer facial cloth, mail-art postcard, divided, grommets & beads, machine-stitched.

8x10 inches

dyed silk habotai, screen-printed facial cloth & bamboo batting, mail-art postcard, 

free-motion machine embroidered

8x10 inches

dyed bamboo batting and facial cloth, mixed-media mail art, hand-stitched beads, machine-quilted.

8x10 inches

posing at my vendor table behind my hand-dyed cotton knit scarves and other work.

I'm wearing a 25"x125" cotton-viscose tissue knit scarf, hand-dyed.  It's yummy.

Judy Coates-Perez gives me a hand at merchandising.

I needed her help!

Here is the lovely Alina Mardesich, who won my donated knit scarf!

Alina was a student at CREATE, and it was such fun to get to know her.

The lovely and talented Kelli Nina Perkins (L) and Alisa Burke.

Showing off my beautiful new red shoes, as well as my beautiful and luscious scarves.

I sold several, as well as my hand-dyed Radiance cloth.

Jamie & I, chillin at our vendor table.  

Hard to believe she is only drinking water, isn't it?!

Dino Attack @ CREATE!

Several of the teachers at CREATE have August birthdays so Melanie Testa decided we needed a party.
She provided the snacks, I brought the party favors.  Amongst them were dinosaur finger puppets.  Jeanne Moore put them to good use.  Enjoy!

Pokey Bolton is in danger!

flash-eating t-rex

Jamie fights back!

Googly eyes enhance our natural good looks........

Working hard and playing hard.  We had so much fun!

Images from "Musical Chairs: A Painted Collaboration"-CREATE Day 2

Class #2: This 3-hour evening class managed to produce 2 amazing painted canvases!
Here are some images from their collaborative experience:

work begins on the first of 2 canvases

progression of the painting

finished!

Canvas #2:  finished!

Our thanks to two incredible groups who attended our workshops.  We enjoyed having you!  Please stay in touch.  I want to finish this post with exuberance, and no one expressed it better than this student:

Please visit Jamie Fingal's blog for more images of our workshops.

CREATE workshop: "Dreaming In Canvas: A Painted Quilt"

Our first workshop at the CREATE! Cloth Paper Scissors retreat in Chicago was an overwhelming success!  Our fabulous students created 2 canvases that were truly breath-taking, and transformed sections from both into beautiful quilts fused to black felt.  Please take a look:

Part of the group works on the underlayment of the painting

Here is the second painting.

Groups switched back and forth between the two canvases!

Close to finished!

The second canvas is almost finished!

Each canvas was divided so every student got a section from both.

Pieces were cut and assembled onto felt, then fused. 

The fused designs were machine-quilted with our beautiful Bernina 440 QE machines!

Students hard at work on their creations.

Music playing, and we had a great time together.

Here are my 2 quilts, assembled and quilted in the afternoon.

Here are most of the students, holding their finished quilts!

Yay!

For additional photos please visit Jamie Fingal's blog: http://jamiefingaldesigns.blogspot.com/

Habitat for Humanity House Quilt

I just finished a small (12 inches by 16 inches) quilt to contribute to a project for Habitat for Humanity.
I had fun making this little quilt, which has colors that will coordinate with a specific families' home.
The background, as well as the palm fronds, are constructed from my dyed post-consumer facial washcloths.

the palm trunks are layered with fabric ravelings

quilt back label

Preparation for the Artist Faire at CREATE in Chicago

In addition to creating a number of small mixed-media pieces, I have been dyeing and printing both fabric and t-shirt knit (both standard and tissue weight) scarves.  Here are a few images:

I'm wearing a tissue-knit scarf that is 25 inches wide by 125 inches long!

It is soft, lightweight, and oh-so-yummy

this is another scarf made from standard weight t-shirt knit.

It has been screen printed with a dragonfly image.

For as much dyeing as I did, this doesn't look like a big yield!

Each piece of gorgeous cloth is one-half yard.

This cloth started out as white Kaufman "Radiance", which is half silk, half cotton.

It has a lovely hand, and really looks like silk charmeuse.

For quilt makers, the true beauty of this cloth is that it handles like cotton:  none of that skittery slipperiness that accompanies sewing with silk (or is that just me?).

Here are rolled bundles of bamboo batting (in the foreground) and more lovely scarves.

If you can see the background of these shots of the remains of my studio, my apologies.  I have SUCH a mess in here right now!  Staging all the supplies needed for teaching at CREATE, selling at the artist faire, taking a workshop at the retreat, and then traveling on to Cleveland to tape several episodes of Quilting Arts Television has been daunting, to say the least.  I have torn this place apart.  When I return, I vow to take time and re-organize this work space.  Really.  I mean it this time.  No, seriously.

Jamie and I still have a few slots available in each of our workshops.  Please drop everything and come to Chicago!  Cloth Paper Scissors CREATE retreat

Dyeing

Dye pots sit on my patio. 

This Texas heat should be good for batching cloth (if nothing else).

Please visit the Quilts, Inc., website to see an interview about Beneath The Surface

Bonnie McCaffery and Rhianna White interviewed Jamie Fingal and I about the special exhibition, "Beneath The Surface".  Please stop by and take a look!
http://www.quilts.com/lbqf10/enVivo/index.html

A humorous/cool photo from Kansas

Thanks to my friend, Billie, I can share this great photo from Cawker City, Kansas, home of the alleged largest ball of twine in the world.  Hey, you gotta be known for something.....

How cute is that?

The best recycling I've seen......

These images were sent to me by a friend.  They come from the Museum of Communications, in Frankfort, Germany:

OMG I'm in love!

Birthday dinner & toys

Four of five Jenisons

My family & close friends surprised me by taking me to The Lodge at Castle Hills  http://www.thelodgerestaurant.com/ for my birthday dinner.  We hadn't eaten here in a long time and, as a treat for my birthday, we decided to choose the 8-course tasting menu.  Each guest is offered 2-3 "bites" of exquisitely prepared food.  I took photos, but they are sadly overexposed.  Suffice it to say that everything was wonderful:  2 out of 3 daughters, husband, and close friends made for a perfect evening.  And, I got toys!

Stackable robots?  

What could be cooler than that?

I got some awesome chalk shaped like Greek columns, and a book of 

"Glamour Dogs".  Hilarious!

This beautiful lily pond is on the patio 

behind the main house.

This property was once part of one of the large, South Texas ranches

Gorgeous mexican tile create this sidewalk mosaic.

I love it!