Snowy Boughs

The snow has begun to fall and the shadow of a bunny has entered the scene...

Happy weekend everyone.

Playing...

Painting...

Distressing...

Dusting...

Drying...

Transforming...

Choosing...

Smiling.

Waving...

Her Majesty Margo

For the past few years, I have visited the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival on the first weekend in May.

And for the past few years, I have entered the Competition building and admired the winning designs of Margo Duke. The vest on the right won First Place last year...

I loved how she used all types of fibers, threads, ribbons, embroidery and beads to create new textures and textiles. They were amazing.

When I looked into it, it turns out she lives right here in Maryland, has a blog, a website, an Etsy shop...AND, she was offering a class in Alexandria, VA at Artistic Artifacts: Gown Fragments of Downton Abbey.

So I traveled the one hour to Alexandria last Saturday and now I'm in big trouble!

It was way too much fun and I have just scratched the surface of what is possible with this technique.

We built our fragments on water soluble fabric and felted all the fibers using the embellisher.

Being the neophyte felter that I am, I had never used an embellisher machine...I even asked where you thread it.

Thank goodness I was sitting next to my friend Elizabeth Woodford who is a pro and a teacher herself. I needed it! But oh BOY, that machine could get very addictive!

It was a bit like crazy quilting to me in that you can use all types of materials.

Margo brought dozens and dozens of examples to inspire like the ones below...

The trunk show alone was worth the price of admission, setting my brain on fire with all the possibilities! Smokin'!

I can't say enough about how wonderful my opportunity was to study with Margo...the only problem was that I could have spent a whole week working with her. I feel like I had barely gotten started before it was time to leave...

Here's my pile of silk cones, wool threads, roving and fabrics...and what I did with them during class. I was trying to make a gown fragment but I may have been getting too literal because I actually made a full gown...albeit miniature.

But...OH the colors!

Here is Elizabeth with her fragment ready to be wet-felted. Isn't it beautiful?

I can't wait to take another class...Margo is going to be teaching a fascinator class like the one she's wearing in this picture at the Midwest Felting Symposium in July...

I can't wait to take that one! You can see more on her blog here.

Plus...she is modeling one of her newest creations, a butterfly shrug...Here's the back...

She's just a walking bundle of inspiration, let me tell you.

Overall, I learned enough to know that I wanted to explore more.

Unfortunately, I didn't have much time to investigate Artistic Artifacts, the amazing store that was hosting the class...chock full of EVERYTHING a fiber artist could ever desire. And host to an Altered Minds textile group that meets once a month.

They also offer lots more classes...including ones by Elizabeth herself who will start a crazy quilt class in the next week or so and is planning to teach her beaded cuff in the future. Go here to check the teaching calendar if you live in the area.

Now, I'm off to finish up that January block...

Have a day full of joy and inspiration!

Sticks and Stones

My January reflections block is all about the color palette of winter.

So when it came to making a "flower spray"...well...let's just say...there aren't any flowers around here in winter...

But I live in the Patapsco River Valley in the Piedmont region...and the closest thing we have to a "flower spray" in winter are metamorphic rocks, tree twigs and dried leaves.

And so I set about making a bough of dried leaves by using some of that pre-made leaf trim...But I didn't like the satiny shine or the homogenous color so I colored it with acid-free markers...

And then to make the leaves look more realistic...I wrapped them around mangled and bent wire to simulate twigs...

I didn't like the dark color of the brown so I lightened the sprigs by adding some of this champagne mist Tsukineko ink, a new color they just introduced that I had picked up at the AQS quilting show.

Next up was making the pile of twigs...

It actually took a bit of time to make this small pile of twigs...I just basted some white, paper coated pastry wire that I had colored with my markers to soutache and used thread to "color" the branches.

So now I have branches and twigs. And thanks to nature, I have a few small stones from the river bank...

Mostly gneiss and schist for all you geologists out there ;)

These will probably be added to the block close to last. Just a few more details before I can call this project complete.

Happy Monday everyone!

Needlebook Encore

The Hari-kuyo Needlebook E-course is winding down.

And so is my dance with needlebooks for this Spring.

I just finished up the ties on this pastel version the other day...

It was a thrill to see needlebooks made all over the world...I especially loved the many little tweeks and personal touches that each bookmaker added to make their needlebook special.

Give yourself a treat and visit the Flickr group for the class to see how to say "Broken but not Forgotten" in different languages...

And to feast your eyes on all the different fabrics and approaches that were taken with this needlebook.

If you or someone you know is interested in taking this class...I will be offering it again...maybe in the Fall or January 2012. I'm not sure exactly when, but it will be before the Hari-kuyo festival in February of next year. If you'd like to receive advance notices about the next class, email me and I will add you to the mailing list.

In creating the lessons, I happened to make a few extra books along the way.

I have this one Needlebook available for sale today, first-come, first-served...

She was my Cover Girl and starred in all my photo shoots...

I'll miss her but it's Spring and it's time for this one to fly the coop...

Sold.

Thanks to you all for the support and enthusiasm you've given to my first online course offering.

It was a real thrill to offer a class to bookmakers all over the world from my own home here in Maryland. I still can't get over how cool that is...

I hope to offer more online courses in the future. I have some fun ideas cooking up in my brain but I'd love to hear from you. If you have any desires on what type of class you might like to take, drop me an email and let me know your thoughts...

Who knows? Maybe it could end up as an e-course.

Happy Needling everyone.

Oh Deer!

Since this crazy quilt block is about January reflections, I wanted to include one of the other friends I frequently see in my yard during that month...

And she, of course, had to have a mouth full of plants.

Just like the owl, I googled a picture of "deer face"...And then I shrunk the picture, playing around with the size until I find which one fits best in my space. In this case, I think it was 1".

I then traced the outline of the deer's features and cut out my shapes from felted sweater bits...

This time the pieces were so tiny that I did use interfacing on the backs of the pieces in order to hold the sweater fibers together as I cut them out. I then either use a hoop with water soluble stabilizer or tear-away stabilizer to assemble and embroider my deer.

And my favorite discovery?

Deer have really, really looong eyelashes...anywhere from 3"-4" long!

Who knew? I noticed them when I was googling deer faces...which led me to google "deer eyelashes". [Don't you just love google?]

That's how I found out that deer eyelashes are so long because they act as "feelers", providing sensory input to the deer about the proximity of branches or leaves that might damage their eyes while their feeding on my plants. Isn't that cool? [The eyelashes. Not the feeding on my plants...]

So I went in search of some false eyelashes I've had in my bathroom drawer for years that I keep threatening to wear but never have...and I stitched them on my deer.

So now, I've got quite the long-lashed, plant-eating, bush-hiding deer to keep my shaman-owl company.

Isn't that deer?

Happy Tuesday Fellow Needle People!

Seams on Monday

I've got most of my seams done on this block over the weekend...

It's coming along...

I was hoping that I would be finished this block by today, the last day of winter...

But it appears as if there's going to be a Spring snow no matter what I was hoping...

Happy Monday everyone!

Handmade Textile Treasures

This past Wednesday I drove up to Lancaster, PA to attend the AQS Quilt Show. I didn't have much time...it's almost a 2-hour drive and I had to go in the window between dropping Jack off at school and picking him up...soo...it was a quick trip.

I don't think I've been to a quilt show in almost 10 years. And, to be honest, I didn't have enough time to look at all the quilts...though I did see the winners...

Instead, I had a targeted mission of trying to find imported Japanese dobby cloth. It's that wonderful 100% cotton fabric with the nubby texture that I used for the cover of the Hari-kuyo needlebook. Well, I've been asked to teach it again and my sources for dobby cloth was quite slim...and searches on the internet didn't turn up much luck.

Yet, I knew there were Japanese importers who go to the quilt shows...so...I went in search...and hit the jackpot! Dobby cloth!

It turns out that Pat Maeda of Maeda Importing has quite an extensive selection. Not only that, she's very knowledgeable about the various designers of dobby and was able to explain her difficulty in importing the fabric.

Luckily for us all, she has a shop online but you may want to call her with your requests...I noticed her website doesn't show nearly as much as she physically has in stock. And she hasn't created a separate "dobby cloth" section on her website which might explain why she didn't come up in my search.

It seems like my day was going to center around imported, handmade and handwoven fabrics because I hit the jackpot again when I visited the booth of Susan Ball Faeder next door, owner of Quilter's Express to Japan.

She had this collection of handwoven, indigo-dyed (aizome)...I haven't seen this quality since I lived in Japan...all dyed in a vat with live bacteria using no chemical additives or fixatives...she even has that super-deep blue indigo-dyed fabric that's almost black...

But here, the story was similar...the dyer and weaver is in his eighties and not likely to continue to manufacture these hand-made fabrics for much longer.

A story that continued when I met another Susan, Susan McCauley from Mekong River Textiles...It was there that I found these wonderful, hand-woven silk ikat fabrics from Thailand...

And yes, she's telling the same story. There are fewer and fewer weavers.

I only had 15 mins left before I had to make my drive back to get Jack, but I hadn't yet gotten up to the third floor. So I sprinted up the stairs, and the one booth that caught my eye was yet another import booth...Batik Tambal.

Turns out Batik Tambal was just bought by Judy Gula, owner of Artistic Artifacts in Alexandria, VA. (My BNF [blogging needle friend] Elizabeth Woodford has been telling me I need to make a trip to this shop for the longest time and I have yet to make it there...)

Without a doubt, it seems like the theme for the day was unique, imported hand-dyed and hand-woven fabrics. Isn't it funny how some trips are like that...you tend to focus on just one thing...

And perhaps if you, like me, have trouble finding sources online...I've helped you locate a few gems...which also helps the importers and, ultimately, the weavers and dyers themselves.

Though the stories amongst all the Susans sellers were the same...not as easy to find, skills are being lost, the artists are aging...

Is that the same story you're hearing?

Happy weekend to you all...

P.S. Touching my heart today, Ode to Adolescence by Janell Burley Hoffman. I am there too. Thanks Maura.

P.P.S. And Wow. And this post too...from Tricia. Wow.

Open Photo Policy: It's a Good Thing!

No pictures.

I went to the Japanese Embroidery exhibit on Monday, Serenity and Silk. And, having been told I could take pictures, imagine my huge disappointment when I got there and was told by the embassy that they were forbidden.

Verboten. Not even without flash. Nothing.

The Museum and Exhibition world seems so confused on this topic right now. And though I appreciate some of the museum's views on their rights to intellectual property, the damage that flash photography has on artwork, the distraction that camera-wielding visitors can cause to other patrons, and the potential loss of sales in their museum stores...

I believe that a No-flash open photograph policy has advantages to the marketplace that far outweigh the negatives.

Enter the Louvre. One of the most magnificent museums in the world.

A place to experience some of the greatest works of art in the world...and yes, you may take pictures of them.

Raphael, Rubens, Da Vinci...it's all accessible...fully accessible...

And so if I'm interested in the study of wings...I have only to snap a few pictures and I can compare and contrast Gérard's Cupid and Psyche with Psyche Revived by Cupid's Kiss by Antonio Carrova...

If I'm interested in how to represent hands in my work...I can study Sir Henry Raeburn's Petite Fille and get a close up of just her hands holding a posy...

Or I can snap a picture of this Study of Hands by Nicolas de Largilliere...

And here's the reality. Except for the most famous of pieces, the museum store doesn't carry pictures of the things I want to study and remember. And they certainly don't carry close-up photos of painting details. I looked.

Like these two scenes from Francois Boucher. Boucher is known for capturing scenes from everyday life...And there are so many fabulous details...like the girl in the lower right and her toys...

Wonderful!

And his painting below called The Shepherd's Presents or The Nest...

And the close-ups of the faces, the flowers and the wooden bird cage...all these details are exciting to relive and study once I've come back home.

And, as you know, I have had owls on my mind...So, I am free to snap away and take away inspiration and share it...

And if I have a Carribean Garden collection box for a future project, I can slip in this photo of Anne Vallayer-Coster's Still Life with Shells and Coral...

And to be honest, I wouldn't have known her history...that she was a female still life artist in the 18th century at a time when neither females nor still lifes were welcome in the academies de peinture.

Taking pictures allows me to go home and research a subject further...to explore ideas...to research parallels...to participate in the museum's art and make it part of my education. It extends my visit beyond the one day and entices me to visit again.

To study the embroidered patterns on the dresses of Madame Pompadour, famous mistress to Louis XV (Maurice Quentin-Delatour)...

As compared to a full-length portrait of his wife Marie Leczinska by Louis Tocque...

And the study and contrast of these two woman, their relationships with the king, and their portrayal in these paintings is an adventure in itself...

My mind today is just as on fire as the day that I viewed all these pieces...so to have their pictures to review and to re-energize my life is a gift.

As is this picture of my brother interacting with ancient art...

And my sister explaining the history of the Mona Lisa to Jack...

And the picture of this generous and gentle soul who held everyone's coats...including mine...so that I could hold the camera...

Thank you Louvre for your open camera policy.

For what is not spread, is dead.

And I have no doubt that allowing me to take pictures and post about them will increase interest in the public and excite visitors to go to a museum, or to an exhibition or to a shop...

So...even though I have no pictures to share, the Serenity in Silk exhibition which runs through April 2, 21012 at the Japanese Embassy in Washington, D.C. is worth a trip...and the coordinating ikebana arrangements set the mood for a delightful detour if you're going to view the cherry blossoms.

Thanks for listening...and viewing...and sharing...