OK, I guess I'm an official soom-to-be-grandmother of a little girl. I did my first baby girl stuff. Stefanie (Jayden's mom-to-be) is being given a baby shower on Saturday. She really likes these little outfits that open at the bottom. Makes for easier diaper changes. I noticed that Dharma had some so I ordered a couple along with little booties and caps.
First I dyed one sleeper pink and one a light purple (of course!!) and the third cap a light green.
JAYDEN'S BUTTERFLY
I took shades of purple and caymen island green and squirted and patted them onto the pink sleeper, booties and cap. Let it batch and wash and dry. Then I stamped a cute little butterfly on it. It was a larger butterfly so on the bottom of the booties I only did the top half of the butterfly.
LITTLE GIRL JD
Our son's name is Joshua David. He goes by JD. Our grandson is Jeffrey Dominic, or Little JD. So I titled this outfit Little Girl JD. I used a stencil and paintsticks to put the JD on the sleeper, cap and bottom of the booties. That has now dried for 4 days. So today I cut out a circle of bubblewrap and painted it with Jacquard purple neopaque and halo violet lumiere and then stamped it onto the sleeper, cap and tops of the booties. I needed a dash of red so I took a stencil brush because it was the right size circle and dipped it into Jacquard red neopaque and made one dot in each circle red.
JAYDEN'S DRAGONFLY CAP
I had an extra cap and Stefanie likes this light green (along with pink and purple) I used Jacquard halo blue-gold (which seems more green to me) and stamped a bit dragonfly on the top. Then I used the same paint and stamped little dragonflies coming up from the cap rim and onto the top. I wrote Jayden on the top with a gold marker pen.
I'm sure this is just the beginning of making things for our new little sweetie pie.
Yep, that's me dancing my heart out!! Just received a letter from IQA saying "Congratulations! Your entry has been selected as a finalist to be exhibited at the 2007 International Quilt Festival in the annual IQA Judged Show, Quilts: A World of Beauty."
I am so very excited! 
I won't know if it wins until after Sept. 17th. But, even if it doesn't win anything, I am so happy it was even a finalist!!! Especially since I have never entered any quilt to be judged for a show!!
Thanks to all of you who have sent me e-mails of enthusiasm and encouragement. I appreciate them more than I can say.
Some of you haven't seen the quilt and requested pictures so here they are. These are not the best ones (they are somewhere but haven't found them since the computer crash last week.) But, if you are in Houston, please check it out!
The title of the quilt is "It's About Time" It has a double meaning to me. First, the quilt has several quotes about TIME that I enjoy and a lot of watch parts and ephemera. Second, having just recently discovered the world of art quilts I feel so much like I have found a home and a niche. Being 57, I have the feeling of - It's About Time!!! While I often wish I had found this art form earlier in life I am thrilled that I finally found it at all!
This quilt is the first in a series entitled "TIME PIECES"
Full View - All fabrics except ribbons and cheesecloth are my hand dyes. Time quotations were all done by gel medium transfer.
Detail 1 Upper Left - Pocket watch outsides with time quotations inside, an old envelope used by a watch repairman, wtwo more quotes about time, 3 mainsprings
Detail 2 Upper Right - Railway pocket watch face, pocket watch gears, discharged black fabric and cheesecloth. More time quotations.
Detail 3 Bottom Right - Watch stamp in purple overlayed with gold foil, clock hands, mainspring, watch face box, Scrabble letters, button, another time quotation
Detail 4 Bottom Left - Old watch faces, another mainspring, Angelina, small old envelopes for watch parts, another time quotation.
Close up of part of Detail 4 - old watch faces and small envelopes for watch parts
Close up of part of Detail 3
If you are interested in the quotations here is a list of them since they are difficult to read in the pictures.
Take time to deliberate; but when the time for action arrives, stop thinking and go in -- Andrew Jackson
What we love to do we find time to do -- John L. Spalding
Time you enjoyed wasting is not wasted time -- T.S. Elliot
You cannot kill time without injuring eternity -- Henry David Thoreau
Nothing is a waste of time if you use the experience wisely -- Rodin
Time and memory are true artists, they remold reality nearer to the heart's desire. -- John Dewey
Regret for wasted time is more wasted time -- Mason Cooley
Calendars are for careful people, not passionate ones -- Chuck Sigars
The future is something which everyone reaches at the rate of sixty minutes an hour, whatever he does, whoever he is. -- C.S. Lewis
The two most p owerful warriors are patience and time. -- Leo Tolstoy
Even though I'm not TOTALLY moved in.....I wanted to have a few of my family and a few of my very closest friends in to open the studio officially. While they are all very very supportive of my artistic efforts, some are not totally sure just what it is that I do! So, I put a few samples of things on the design wall.
I also put out my project journal so they could see some of the other stuff.
I also printed out a few of the seemingly hundreds of photos of the building progress so they could see it from old patio to new studio.
One of our great friends, Chuck, was drafted as "Mayor". He and his wife Ginia brought crepe streamers to tape over the door opening and I got to cut the ribbons to officially open the studio. Chuck gave a very wonderful speech, too!
Then he ushered everyone into the studio
I got to open the wine
People mostly just milled around for a little while looking at things.
Chuck, Diana
Rob, Chrissie
And since there was food and wine......guess who showed up!! Yep, PC Biker!!! He started out tending bar.
Then PC went out schmoozing with the guests. Here he is regaling them with some story or another......true story or not..... who knows!!!
Chuck, Ginia, Chrissie and PC
Then we sat and enjoyed each other's company while snacking, drinking and talking.
John (Tom's brother) and Becky (our sister-in-law)
Tom, Rob, Diana
Then a little later, our wonderful grandson Jeffrey showed up with a gift for his Papa (aka Tom). It's a plastic duck that has flashing lights when you push a button. Those of you who know Tom know he does a great Donald Duck impression (and an ordinary duck quack, too!)
Being a budding artist in his own right, Jeffrey did some face painting for Chrissie!
It was a wonderful day which I enjoyed very much. It means so much to me to have the support and encouragement of my wonderful and amazingly patient husband, my family and my friends (both those who came to the open house and those who couldn't - especially my online "family") All of you enrich my life and inspire my art. I love you all!
Our DyeHard group is doing a sunprint swap for August 07. These are the ones I've done so far.
BEACH BASH - I painted the fabric first with yellow setacolor translucent. Jeffy (our grandson - the budding artist) sprayed silly string on it and sprinkled it with salt. When that was dry I painted it with a blue mixture of setacolor translucent. Then we placed foamie shapes of sand castles, sunglasses and palm trees on the painted fabric.
BEACH BASH
BEACH BASH - detail
PURPLE RAIN - I painted the fabric with purple setacolor translucent. Jeffy sprayed silly string on but in thick ropes this time. Then salted it.
PURPLE RAIN
PURPLE RAIN - detail
PRETTY SHADY - I painted the fabric with a lilac setacolor translucent. The masks are: the side of a plastic tote, milk bottle lid collars, circle foamies and one of those plastic leaf guards for the gutters. When it was dry, I painted it with a darker lilac setacolor translucent mixture. Then I placed the same masks on offset just a little bit.
PRETTY SHADY
PRETTY SHADY - detail 1
PRETTY SHADY - detail 2
PRETTY SHADY - detail 3
SOMETHING FISHY - I painted the fabric with blue setacolor translucent. Then I scrunched it a little laterally and placed fish shaped foamies on the fabric. Then I salted it just a little. When it was dry I painted it with a green mixture of setacolor translucent, scrunched it laterally again and placed the foamie fish shapes on it again.
SOMETHING FISHY
SOMETHING FISHY - detail 1
SOMETHING FISHY - detail 2
Finally, when each of them was dry, I heat set them with an iron, washed and ironed them.
OK, here it is. I finished my latest project and cleaned everything away. So, here is the official unveiling of the studio!! We'll start at the island than the north wall and move clockwise around the room.
The north side of the studio overall view
Stools for visitors who come to play!! The green holders on the side are for supplies I am using for the current project -- or just for stuff I leave out all the time.
Here's the green holders on the other side of the movable island. These are for my rotary cutters, scissors, thumb tacks, pencils and Pigma pens. These stay out all the time!!
Now!! What's INSIDE the island?????
These are all my paints and inks
These are my stamps, stencils and a lot of surfaces I use to stamp and sunprint and use for rubbing plates. Also some rubber placemats I use to cut out stamp designs.
Top - all my paint burshes and other tools. The big mess at the back of the drawer are things that I accumulated during the build. I have PLANS for these little tidbits!
The second drawer are some rubbing plates and the bottom has rubber bands and strings I use for resists.
Not much in this part yet. The bottom shelf is for all the electrical tools I use. Still lots of room for other stuff!! I wonder how long it will take to fill it????
Here's my Wall Of Rulers!!! We put up pegboard so they could be moved around easily. The closet houses the HUGE water heater and stays rather warm all the time. GREAT for a batching room and storage for my plastic tubs and trays!!
These are the full extension drawers I had built so a 1 lb jar of dye powder fits EXACTLY. Please note that I still have TWO EMPTY DRAWERS!!! Dharma and ProChem watch out!!!
The "tray" cabinet was built to hold the plastic lids that I do a lot of my dyeing on. The top shelf of the other cabinet is all my dyeing tools and the second shelf holds all my plastic baggies, etc.
The shelves above the washer and dryer house all my chemicals and a container for Rust, Discharge and Monoprinting supplies so they are all together when I get ready to do a project.
On the left is Jeffrey's art easel. Below it is a 5 gallon pail that currently has a bunch of fabric in soda ash soaking. All the boxes hold great stuff -- flowers, rocks, yarns, threads, etc. Bunches of stuff to put on quilts! The top of the shelves is the tea center!!!
This is probably the creative beginning center! The big comfy chair is where I write my pages so on the table are my art journals and sketch book. Please note the POLAR BEAR!!!!! His name is JR. He is great to cuddle with while I dream of art ideas!! Behind me are my wonderful shelves of fabric, books, magazines and more "stuff". I love the rug....it reminds me of a 4 patch quilt with black sashing! Notice something missing????? Yep, I don't own a quilt of my own to cuddle up in!! That will have to be remedied!!
These little cubbies are the smaller version of the boxes from the previous picture. They house buttons, charms, eyelets, and other smaller pieces to put on quilts!
Here is where I sew and visit with all my online friends...oh and sometimes I even work here!!!
Here is my view from my big chair and from my desk. Can hardly wait to see what it will look like in the fall and winter!!!
And another place where there should be a quilt or something!!! Actually, there was something up there but it is not for public display yet. On the right is my bulletin board where I put things that attract my attention (consisting of one postcard as of today!!) and below that is Jeffrey's design wall!! One of my joys is sharing this space with him.
OK, so that is the tour. My one wish is that some of you will drop by and have a play day!!! The invitation is always open!!!!
October, 2007
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