I'm Honoured and Excited!

I'm on a bit of a high right now!

I knew I had had something accepted for publication in 1000 Quilt Inspirations, but I'm thrilled to announce I will have ELEVEN of my pieces published in this book, which will be available for purchase at the end of the year!

You can find out more about purchasing the book by going to Qbookshop.com

I can't wait to see a copy myself!

Photo Inspiration for Fibre Art...

The other day, while out for a walk, I came upon this wonderful wall of vines and stunning red leaves.

 

And that was all the inspiration I needed for a new piece of fibre art!


I hope to start this piece soon.  I'll show you the progress as it comes together.
Have a fabulous week!

A Bit of Inspiration...

I've really been struggling to get down to some fibre art work lately.  I have lots of ideas, but I just can't seem to get started on them...procrastination and lack of drive just have me spinning my wheels and wasting time. But, a couple of days ago my friend Heather gave me this skein of thread and it seems to have been just what I needed.

I've been in the studio pulling out hand dyed fabrics and other threads and there seems to be a bit of a spark...

Pull out a stencil (that's one of Terri Stegmiller's Stepping Stone stencils)...add a bit of paint and fabric medium...

                             Let the fun begin!

 

Hopefully I'll have something interesting to show you soon! 

Just The Right Inspiration

For a few weeks now, I've been meaning to create a journal to record my thoughts as I work through a book called Healing From Trauma by Jasmin Lee Cori (which I highly recommend if you're looking for this sort of book).  Anyway, I hadn't quite decided on the format I wanted to use until my friend Kathie told me about Valerie Sjodin's art journalling.  Valerie is an incredible artist and she has created a number of stunningly beautiful art journals.  This gave me a jumping off point.  I loved the idea of some interesting edges and flaps as well as little pages within the bigger ones.  

Once I had the journal bound, I got started on the first spread.  I've decided to call it 'a healing journey', so the journey begins with that first spread.  I've mentioned in the past that it is my goal to do Art Every Day because I find it very relaxing and even healing at time.  Today was no exception.  As I started working on the page, thinking about things as I worked, I felt the burning need to start journalling.




I stopped working on the overall spread so that I could quickly finish the lower left area in which I knew I wanted to do some journalling so that I could get my thoughts down on the page.

Once I had written down my thoughts, I got back to finishing the rest of the page.

I incorporated part of a map into the top of the page and drew a bicycle to represent my other passion, cycling, which is another vehicle (no pun intended) for allowing myself to work through issues when I just need some 'zen' time to burn energy and think.  Those endorphins do wonders!

Here's the finished spread:

I'm Choosing JOY!

Inspired by many influences, I've decided to choose an inspirational guiding word for 2013 to help frame my thoughts as I move into the new year.  As I said to a friend in an email this morning, it's so easy to slip into the bad habit of focussing on what is wrong but then we forget to enjoy and celebrate all that is right in our lives!  I have so much to be grateful for and so much JOY in my life.

I'm working on the title page spread for 2013 in my Art Journal Calendar, using these same words (I'll post that when it's done) but Kim's challenge in Beyond Layers today lent itself so well to this same topic that I wanted to use them on her sample photo as well.

For those of you interested, I used two of Kim's textures, kk_chalkmagic and kk_clarity, and the fonts I used are 1942 Report, Stamp Act Jumbled and aka Frivolity, respectively.

Quilt Gardens

Computer Gremlins reeked havoc and stole these photos.  I have tried, but I can not restore them.  Sorry!

Quilts are a big part of Amish heritage, and in this area of Indiana, they have created wonderful quilt gardens to showcase some traditional quilt blocks.   

By each garden, you will find a sign similar to the one shown here in which they show which flowers have been planted for each of the different coloured areas in the block.







At this time of year, the plants are still rather new, but I imagine as the season progresses the flowers fill out and the quilt block gardens become even more beautiful.

These next three photos are not terribly good quality because they were taken on my iPhone and they are of photos in a tourist flyer.

The gardens are located in many of the towns in this part of northern Indiana, around Elkhart, Goshen, Topeka, Middlebury, etc.





Tomorrow, while out on our explorations, we hope to see another couple of these gardens.  If so, I will share pictures of them here.

Until then, let this inspire your gardening creativity!

Texture Tuesday: Little Things

Today's Texture Tuesday challenge was simply to use Kim's 'little things' texture.  As I considered a subject matter for the photo, I remembered this photo of a monarch butterfly that I took last summer.  Seeing as it is a 'little thing' itself, I thought it would be perfect.  I opened Photoshop Elements and I started to play.  I tend to fall back on the same few blend modes when I apply textures (usually soft light, screen or multiply at varying opacities depending on the image I'm striving to achieve), but this time I was just exploring some of the other options when I came across 'difference'.  I thought it created a wonderfully intriguing change to the image.  So much so, in fact, that it has inspired me to create a piece of fibre art with this image.  I love the colours that resulted in the altered image.  I'm not sure the direction this piece will take, but I will certainly share it as it progresses.  For now, go ahead and mouse over the image to see the original photo.

Mouse over photo to see the 'before' image.

I will also be linking this to Bonnie's Photo Art Friday.  If you love photo art, you might be interested in checking out her blog.

Valentine Hearts

Valentine Art Quilts  8" x 10"

 Thanks to a recent post by Terri Stegmiller I was inspired to make some little Valentine art quilts.  Terri does have a tutorial if you're interested, but I chose not to use it.  I just don't seem to be able to follow patterns - instead, I tend to look at the picture and then just do my own thing. I probably should have read Terri's tutorial because I think I like her's better, but it was fun playing around in the studio for the afternoon, so what the heck.  

My friend Diane sent me a lovely birthday card and there was a wonderful bonus in that the envelop was made with this wonderful 'love' paper (plain on the outside, but the 'love' text was on the inside).  I took the envelop apart, tore some of it into small bits and added it to the neutral fabric I used for the background.  Thanks Diane :0)

Close up of 'love' paper

To Bead or Not To Bead - There Is No Question!

     Sometimes it's all about the message!  I saw a plaque some time ago with this wonderful quote and I knew I had to do something with it.  I've been struggling a lot lately with who I am and what's going on in my life right now, but this message make me smiles.  Depression sucks. (There, I said it.) We've (I've) got to get over the ridiculous stigma and move on.

        Anyway, I was inspired to pull out my beads [thanks to Anne Marie D :o)] and try to put some colour and bling into my days.  Anne Marie has also got me inspired to joint the Bead Journal Project 2012.  

     This piece is the result of hours of time wasted in front of the TV while watching too many episodes of Property Virgins, Income Property, House Hunters International and the likes.  The good thing is that you can't snack mindlessly while beading (although I do manage to get in some leftover Halloween Smarties).