LAST RACE OF THE YEAR - WHEW!!

While you all may have been enjoying creative stitching time, I on the other hand have endured another car race weekend.  BUT, it's the last one of the year that I will be dragged to!!

This may be more than you want to know about my weekend or car racing.....so feel free to close your browser now.

 A small payoff......Patrick Dempsey, lead actor of Grey's Anatomy - turned race car owner/driver came to the Porscheplatz (hospitality area for members of the Porsche Club of America) for a short chat.  For anyone into racing the fellow to his right is Hurly Haywood.....mucho famous driver.....who has now retired from competitive racing but is now a consultant for Team Dempsey. Yes, Dr. McDreamy is cute in person, however he is a little shrimp....as many race car drivers are.

 If you are still with me.....here's a peak at the Porsche garage.  BTW - these are temorary 'garages' put up and taken down at each race they attend.  And we quilters thought we hauled a lot of 'stuff' to our events!

...swarms of technicians surround the two factory sponsored cars.

 Road Atlanta, the host of the Petit LeMans, was PACKED with spectators..... every imaginable vehicle and some you can't imagine were there.  The majority of folks camp....tents, campers, trailers, mega motor homes and then this creative 'camper'.  We talked to some fellows who got in line 7 days early to get a number (12th in line) which allowed them early access, 4 days before the race began!  At least 'the husband' isn't that crazy!

 And another out of the box camper!

 Like I said.....the place was packed.

 There's an almost circus atmosphere....just prior to the beginning of this 10 hour endurance race....3 sky divers leaped from a plane and handed off a huge American flag from one to another.....landing on the starting grid.  I guess you needed to be there it was....awesome.

And of course there was the race.......which ended at 9:15 PM.  PS.....I don't think I've thawed out yet....it was cold....made more so by the non-stop wind.  

Now.....with a the rest of the week ahead.....I'm looking forward to sewing....

PURPLE AGATE - EMBELLISHED MARBELED PIECE COMPLETED

A stack of marbled fabric printed awhile ago kept calling me.  I blogged about the process here, and here too.  After many, many, and many more enjoyable evenings adding hand embroidery and bead embellishing......it's now finished.

This type of fabric can be challenging to work with.  It's beautiful on its own, yet very busy.....so finding the right combination to 'incorporate' into the design....that doesn't compete with it requires patience....and perhaps 'unstitching' more than I'd like to admit!  (click photo to enlarge)

PURPLE AGATE  10" X 8" -  MARY STORI  © 2014

 AVAILABLE HERE

Artist marbled cotton, hand embroidered, bead embellished, featuring a beautiful purple agate.  Museum wrapped on canvas frame, ready to hang.

Check out what other artists have been up to this week...I'm linking to:

Nina-Marie's Off The Wall Fridays, Sarah's Whoop Whoop Fridays, and Crazy Mom.

Sorry....I can't resist.......Packers 42 - Vikings 10 
We are happy Cheeseheads!!!

FOLK ART FLOWERS

I dug into my stash of marbled fabrics and found one that was fairly tame.....

My eyes kept drifting to the pile of over-dyed Weeks Dye Works wool samples.

 So, of course I combined them.....just a simple fun folk art composition.

........with colorful hand embroidery.  Will there be beads?  How will the background be finished?  hummmmm....don't know yet!!  But, isn't that part of the fun?

BLUE LAGOON - BEAD EMBELLISHED FELTED WOOL

 A few weeks ago I gathered with a newly formed felt group......and can't wait till we meet again!  We experimented with several ideas, one being petal flowers.  

After I got started, it didn't take long before I realize...hummm....flowers are not really my thing.......so I wet felted the fibers into this small piece instead.  It's made using dyed merino wool roving along with some snippets of silk roving.

Below is what I did with it........a little hand embroidery and of course some dimensional beading to add a bit more interest.  It's finished off with my trademark, a beaded edging treatment to help visually frame the piece.

BLUE LAGOON  6.5" X  5.5" - Mary Stori  © 2014

AVAILABLE HERE

Artist wet felted wool, hand and bead embroidered.

Ready to hang.

PACKERS VS BEARS

PACKERS 38  -   BEARS 17

ENUFF SAID!!!!!!!!

AN "OH FOR CUTE" MOMENT

Years ago, my Spritzer Sister (the other founding member of the Spritzer Sisters Two Person Quilt Guild)....and I attended a workshop in Duluth, Minnesota.  We loved a phrase one of the participants used.....  "Oh for cute"....really....that says it all......

 Sooty - our black lab and ?? breed that we rescued from the local shelter about 2 years ago.

FIBER JUNKIES CONTINUED - PAINTING FABRIC

This process was a lot of fun.....with such unexpected results.....the paint totally changes the look of the fabric and the quilting motifs. Who knew?!?

Before

After

Before

After

 I'm not sure who to give credit to for this in progress piece....Kate??

 Denny's completed piece.....we all LOVED this one.

 This is Gen's.  Her machine quilting is so beautiful she could smear ketchup on it and it'd be grand!

 I think this was Val's......done on a stitched (maybe linen) placemat.

 Judy shared a couple of pieces of canvas with me.  With one or two layers of house paint in place......I started mixing some acrylic paints, applying with a small foam brush in an attempt to create a landscape.  Again, there were many layers. One benefit of this crazy technique is the ability to keep adding layers and layers until you are satisfied with the look.  I'm very happy with this piece and hopefully can figure out how to feature it.

Here's another canvas piece I made. One surprise was how fairly flexible the fabrics remained....not nearly as stiff or plastic feeling as I expected. When we talked about doing this technique I was a bit dubious.....and am now so pleased that we explored this unusual version of painting on fabric. 

I'm linking with Nina-Marie's Off The Wall Friday, and Sarah's Whoop Whoop Fridays.

FIBER JUNKIES SEPT. MEETING - PAINTING FABRIC

In reference to your quilting supplies or projects, do you ever get asked, "What are you going to do with that?"  I want to screammmmmmm  "it doesn't matter"......it is making me happy!!!

Often after our Fiber Junkies monthly meetings, the results of our play day are interesting, yet I have no clue what to do with them.  BUT....do I care.....nope!!  I loved every minute of the day with the girls whether or not a masterpiece or an immediate use is the outcome.

Denny and Kate went the extra mile this month by preparing pre-quilted fabric for us to work on, as well as testing various methods ahead of time.  Denny saves everything, wisely even the trimmed sections of quilted pieces.  She stitched units together and brought a pile for our use.

 Kate does a lot of testing and warming up when she machine quilts.  These pieces were serged for us to use.....what great pals!!! 

 Here's a piece Denny and Kate prepared....they coated the surface with a variety of mediums.....thinned glue, matte medium, acrylic paint, etc.  The conclusion was that latex house paint...yes house paint, did the best job of sealing the fabric....in preparation for the next step.

This small piece was a sample for my hand stipple quilting & trapunto workshop.  However, for the sake of speed....it was machine quilted.  It's an example of how outlining a motif with contrasting thread can really make the image pop (outlined on the left, not on the right).

This is the back side of that piece.....despite stating clearly on my workshop supply list.....to bring SOLID fabric....not mottled.....each and every class.....someone didn't read or believe it.  It's very evident here how poorly the motifs appear on this type of fabric.

Okay....back on subject.....we began by laying a thin layer of latex house paint on pre-quilted fabric.  The idea is to have a foundation of paint that seals the fibers to enable further paint layers from soaking into the fabric.  

The paint layers are added with foam rollers, foam brushes, & textured rollers....as many or as few as you please.  Further interest can be added by stamping or drawing with paint brushes.

I lost count of how many layers and dabs of paint I put on this piece.....but it was certainly many, many.  Finally, I was happy with it.  Eventually, a purpose will develop.

Stay tuned.....there's more to come.....

EXPERIMENTING WITH CRACKLE PAINTING

Being drawn to rustic/primitive furniture with peeling or worn paint.  Surely this look can be achieved on fabric? 

 I got out my small container of faux crackled glaze, intended for use on wood surfaces.  What the heck.....let's see what effect it will give to fabric.  So, I wet a piece of fabric with the liquid in a shallow pan.  And let it dry.

 Next, acrylic paint was smoothed over the surface.  NOTHING happened...on wood it reacts almost instantly.

 ......and I waited, and waited......

Now dry,  the back is more interesting.

Since no master piece was created.....I cut off a section and washed it by hand.  Better......but I'm going to try to get it to look more natural....perhaps using a toothbrush and removing more paint will give me the look I want.  I'll report back.

GREETING THE NEW DAY

Morning routines are often so comforting to many of us.  Coffee in hand, I head to my studio loft.  My computer station sits next to an East facing window...where this unexpected colors of nature greeted me today.

I don't think I'll EVER get used to living in the Eastern Time zone....mainly because we are at the Western edge of it, where it stays dark far too long in the morning!