SPORTS CAN BE EXCITING

I know.....probably about .01% of you will have any interest in this post....BUT.....I didn't want to leave you yesterday with the impression that attending a car race was always uneventful (or boring was the word I used).....

Although we weren't sitting within view of this spectacular crash.....it's pretty darn amazing that the drivers walked away!

There are two videos that will leave you shaking your head, wondering why anyone would put themselves in such a precarious position here's one and in the second......you'll be shaking your head double time as you watch the camera operator.

This is just a peak into a world far, far removed from quilting....but one that contains regular face to face contact with Dr. McDreamy.  He races competitively and is gaining a good reputation for not being 'just a gentleman' driver, meaning a rich guy that only wants to play with the big boys.  Instead, he's very serious and works hard to be respected in this incredible sport.

Please check back with me tomorrow when I will share some of the other quilts in our fiber groups' "Inspired By" exhibit.......  

SPORTS

While many of you were blissfully stitching away for the last couple of days....I was dragged (not quite kicking and screaming, but close) to yet again, another car race.

It was held at VIR (a race track in the middle of nowhere in VA)....  The bright spots were the two excellent restaurants we found last year and revisited again.

I'm thankful for our membership in a brand specific car club that offers respite from adverse weather conditions...so I mostly hung out there.  It was HOT, dusty, & boring (esp. after Dr. McDreamy spun out in the first hour of the race).  Did I mention I HATE porta potties???   

 The club hospitality tent is well located....in view of several turns where typically lots of action happens....though the cars go so darn fast....getting a picture on my phone didn't happen!

The club does a very good job of providing guest speakers....not long chats but informative and appreciated.  Here Patrick Long, excellent ambassador and driver for the CORE team gave us insight to the strategy for this track.  

Since that's what I've been doing there's no projects to share. I hope to unveil my current project soon.  Perhaps your creativity was being better utilized!!

I hesitate to even post this for fear of jinxing the Packers.....BUT - with 4 mins. to go in the 2nd quarter   Packers 6 - Lions 0.   GO PACK!!!!  

BOVINE LOVERS - 'INSPIRED BY' EXHIBIT IS RETIRING

This past weekend the Asheville Quilt Guild Annual Quilt Show hosted the final showing of our fiber group's (PTA - Professional Textile Artists) 2011 challenge titled "Inspired By".  What better place to say farewell to these wonderful quilts then our own quilt guild.

My photos didn't turn out well.....thank you Judy Simmons....for sharing yours with my readers.

Let me explain further.....

The "Inspired By" exhibit was created by members of our Asheville, NC area invitational fiber group PTA. In an effort to keep us motivated and our creativity growing, we issue an annual quilt challenge to our 14 members. For our 2011 Challenge each artist was to create a wall quilt inspired by a 2-dimensional, non-quilt artist. The finished piece could be hung in either a vertical or horizontal orientation and measure approximately 24” x 30”. The exhibit included a photo of the work by the artist who inspired each quilt. 

                                        WASH DAY  30" X 24" by Mary Stori
                                           AVAILABLE HERE
Mary designed the 'brick' cotton fabric for Kona Bay Fabrics, ultra-suede, hand appliqued and machine quilted.

My piece was inspired by Banksy, the famous UK street artist.  I blogged about this piece here.....where you can also see some of Banksy's work.  So, now after traveling with our challenge exhibit....perhaps there's a bovine collector out there who may be interested in giving this piece a new home.  Contact me....

I'm linking to Nina-Marie's Off The Wall Friday.

FIBER JUNKIES SEPT. REPORT CONTINUED....

Here's another look at the results of our experiments using fiber paste....

 Gen generously provided small canvas wrapped boards for us to play with.  We painted the background and when dry, colored some fiber paste and pressed it through a stencil.  Mine smeared a bit as I was removing the stencil....but it's still usable.....

 Denny added some beautiful feathers to a piece of deconstructed screen printed fabric.  Of course they don't need to remain white....once dried, the paste can be altered with paint or ink.

 A bright sunny day was helpful to speed up the drying time.

 Denny's pieces drying....

 Kate bravely did some continuous stenciling on this rather large piece of fabric.

And, we all loved Kate's very large bamboo stencil that Judy used....dang.....I wish I had another view..... as she went back and stenciled it again...using colored fiber paste....a real winner.

Grab some paste, grab some pals and have your own play date!

FIBER JUNKIES - SEPT. PLAY DATE - MODELING PASTE

The subject of our Fiber Junkies meeting this month was 'modeling paste'.

Did you know you could use this stuff to create a raised surface on fabric?

 We met at Gen's house.....who led us through the process.....our hero organized everything.....  All we brought were some painted fabrics and stencils, and various paste products.

 This is one of the resources Gen used as a guide to our experiments.

 There are scads of products that work for this process....here are two Kate brought.

 Gen provided this one

 She also supplied another that incorporated glass.....I was really excited to try it...thinking ahead to all the sparkle it would  create.

The joke was on me....I should have read the label better....it mentions "transparent'.....dah....when it dried....this is what I saw.

 Here's another piece of mine.....Denny and Gen had some really great nature stencils that we all loved.

The process is quite simple......place a stencil on fabric.....and smear the paste through the openings....remove the stencil and ta da.....  They require some drying time to set up.  

When we began, we worked exclusively with the white paste.....tomorrow I'll show you more results where the paste was colored first. 

I REALLY GOOFED THIS TIME

I got all excited about creating a sunset theme wall quilt using a piece of hand felted, dyed & sun printed wool.

 The idea was to print some foliage onto the felted wool.....the problem was....I didn't have a follow up to that idea.  Often I charge ahead...mess around and eventually find a way to pull a design together.

The leaves didn't print well due to the bumpy surface of the felted wool....and the scale was all wrong...and finding my way out of this mess seemed unlikely.

However, I tried.  But, why I thought fusing hand-dyed wool over the printed leaves was a good idea is still beyond me.  I've been super busy this week and really should not have jumped in with what little time I had w/o thinking it through better...... The motifs are simply overpowering....

 Well.....I figured I already hate it, so I hoped I will either like it by printing more foliage or decide to scrap it like I was going to do after step 2.  

I dislike it even more now......

Not being a person to give up easily.....I spent another hour plus fusing more wool over the newly printed leaves.  I still hate it......  Seriously, I RARELY give up on a project.....but this one is a definite candidate.  Another day or two of gazing at it will help me decide if this will be hitting the discard pile....

I actually do have some ideas for fixes....but not sure the end product will be worth the time.  I'll report back about this if a solution is found.....

STKR REPORT

 There's not much fiber art construction going on in my studio this week.....instead I've been concentrating on reconstruction of my body!  What do I mean?  Well.....it's a week of appointments to try to put my bone loss back on track, dental hygiene, and audiologist visits.  

Additionally, the Asheville Quilt Guild's Annual Show is this weekend, so starting with set up tomorrow....I'll be busy through Sunday.

However, I wanted to report back on my "Marketing" post where I introduced STKR.....a QR product that allows the viewer to hear the voice of the artist.  

My solo show at the NC Arboretum continues until Oct. 31, 2013 and I'm happy to report one of the larger quilts that featured a STKR has sold.  I'm choosing to believe the interaction between myself and the viewer aided in the sale. This piece was made for one of my Hawaii Quilt Tours....and this was the first time I've offered it for sale!

Hawaiian Moo Moo 

HAND WORK

I'm still licking my wounds after the heartbreaking loss of the Packers on Sunday afternoon.....sigh......  I'm puttering with another "use it up cotton" patchwork project underway but not yet ready for prime time..... 

 .....my evenings will be spent doing some hand embroidery on my indigo dyed linen piece. 

detail - still not sure where this is going......

ADVENT CALENDAR 2013 PROJECT

A fall Sunday afternoon, when my favorite NFL team is not on TV here in the mountains.....seems like a good day to finish up a holiday project.  I am however listening to the game on the internet and actually wish I could be spared the bad news....but it's early in the game......  so....GO PACKERS!!!!!!  OH ME OF LITTLE FAITH......I TAKE IT ALL BACK..........PACKERS ARE KICKING BUTT NEARLY END OF THE 3RD QUARTER........  oh no.....I spoke too soon.....crying in my Wisconsin beer and brats at the moment!!!

Our DIL was wondering out loud last year about displaying an Advent calendar for 2013.  Well......what MIL couldn't resist raising her hand....waving it a bit....and saying......me, me....I'll make one for you!

 This isn't an original idea....I found the inspiration on a DIY site......but felt it was perfect for their family.  You see, our DIL is a 3rd generation Japanese American.  Their Asian heritage is embraced and acknowledged.....especially a time honored commitment to family.  Something so many of us have forgotten!

I ordered 1/2 pint Chinese carry out boxes on line....made a template and proceeded to cut and glue a variety of green print card stock to each side of the boxes.

 Next, I cut out 24 Christmas tree shapes from white card stock & colored the trunk brown.  I experimented with several methods to add numbers to the trees......and ended up stamping them. 

 Production line ready....

 Numbers stamped....

Tree glued in place and each handle will be fitted with a miniature closepin.  DIL will attach a string/ribbon between a large doorway or over their mantle...depending upon which is the most unreachable for the 1 1/2 year old grandson.

Small treasures of course will be added to each box for the family to enjoy as the countdown to Christmas begins Dec. 1st.

It may seem early to be thinking about such things......but in the old days I always had all my shopping finished and gifts wrapped (a new theme each year) by Thanksgiving.  That allowed me the freedom to sit back and enjoy the holidays!!

So......I'd love to hear if anyone else has gone off the organizational deep end??  If so, how.....

CREATING WITH INDIGO DYED FABRIC

 Back in July, the Fiber Junkies spent a day Indigo dyeing.  I've been itching to create a piece ever since.  

It may not have been wise to have experimented with so many different fabrics; linen, wool,  silk, and some coarsely woven burlapy stuff....to name a few. The results were all so different and don't coordinate well, yielding only small amounts of any one kind.

 Being influenced by my darling DIL's love of lime green.....and with a hunk of ice dyed (on the left...overdyed what was once a country style yellow and white star fabric)....a palette is developing along with some possible embellishments.

After far more standing and gazing at the design wall than should have been necessary...shifting hunks of the linen around, I was able to piece them together for a background. 

Where is this going?  No clue yet........ The background will require lots of stitching as it's very flimsy (yes again.....but perhaps that's part of the challenge!).......   stay tuned.