long beach quilt show part 2

"Very little is needed to make a happy life;
it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking."
~Marcus Aurelius Antoninus

(my table set up)

What a great weekend I had at the long beach quilt show!


A huge thank you goes out to Pokey Bolten and her amazing staff for hosting Open studio's and putting on one great show!
Open studios is such a great concept, I really love to see how artist work and getting to meet them in person creating there art was such a joy to me... being able to connect the process with there personality's really makes it all come together.

Alisa Burke
is such a joy! My daughter Sarah was captivated by her art!


I also got to meet Jane La Fazio
I am sad to report that I did not take a pitcher with her but it was so fun to meet some one who's work you admire.


Beryl Taylor
is such a warm person, this girl can really wow a crowd, her elegant style that she exemplifies in her art work is very much the lady that she is in person, I was thrilled to be able to meet her in person and be able to talk about fiber art with her.

Now you may be able to see Jamie Fingal
and I in the in the same quilting art tv show, episode # 204 Embellishment,


But our paths did not pass when we were in Ohio filming so it was great fun to at long last meet and admire her amazing handy work up close!



My Friend Nancy Nelson Came to support me all the way from Reno with her Daughter Noell.

Attending a large convention like this is always so inspiring , the energy that you get from being around so many people that are so passionate for there craft is so contagious. I Had so much fun meeting so many great people.

Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds you plant.
--Robert Louis Stevenson

long beach quilt show

this is 1 am blogging at its beast.... wow what a day at the quilt show so many people! it was a mob seen ! now how sweet to have a supportive friend like traci with her trusty iphone in hand taking a shot of me in action .

Now please note I really do have eyes and you have to give me full credit for posting this less the flattering photo of my self but Traci posted these to twitter so its already out they is cyber space so what is a girl to do!?


here is a sweet shot of myself along with Tracy Bautista and Marry Stanly .
Today I will take some more shots it was a little crazy for me yesterday and I forgot to take photos.

A Charming Exchange

I will be part of “Open Studios” at the Long Beach Quilt Show, this weekend,

my demo times will be :
Friday, July 25: 12:40–2:30;
Saturday, July 26: 10:30–12:30;
Sunday, July 27: 10:30–12:30.

With my sewing machine by my side, all three days you will find me creating and giving away mixed media ATC cards along with some jewelry techniques that can be incorporated into your mixed media or quilting art.

I am happy to say that at long last A Charming Exchange is starting to find it ways into homes and bookstores across the land!

If you can make it to the quilt show then you can thumb through A Charming Exchange
and see Jewelry from the book up close.

The pieces that I have decided to bring with me, involve fabric and sewing.
First up is:

"Up In The Sky"
Ruth Rae and Jade Pegler

(You can learn how to create this complete project in the book.)

I am a big fan of Jade's work so when she sent me these fabric orbs I was intrigued with the shapes of the her magical flying machines, I wanted to mimic her soft stuffed forms as I Incorporated the wire work, the lines of Jade's work were my guide as I came up with this design.


(close up detail of hook and eye clasp)

"Garden Of Delight"
Ruth Rae, Judy Scott and Martha Brown


When we were working on the jewelry for this book once all the submission's for a charming exchange arrived at my house, Kelly came over and we started to sort through all of the submissions. Once we got to Judy's box we were completely captivated by these leaves that she created by stitching on a watter soluble fabric then went on to add a layer of crocheted bead work.

(close up detail of bead work and the reverse side of "tree" charms created by Martha on a piece of bark)

Kelly and I tryed to pull all the colors out of these leaves with our stone color pallet... Now I will share a secret with you, this was one of the first pieces that we laid out.

(detail of bead work that is stepped out in the book )

but I will also add that it was also the most challenging piece for me from a construction stand point as with all the projects from this book our main goal was to enhance every ones work.


(toggle clasp detail)

that said, all tho this was the first to be laid it out it remained on a tray for a few months in my studio and ever now and then I would take a peek at it and it was as if every time it would say to me:

"not now, I am not ready to tell you what I want to be when I grow up"

so I would put the tray that held it away once more. Even Kelly would say to me:

"so what are your going to do with Judy's leaves?"

Then one night the bead work pattern came to me in a dream and became one of the last pieces that was created for the book.
and needless to say one of my favorites.

(details of the reverse side of the leave)

The most rewarding part of this book and the part that we hope to share with our readers is the collaborative spirit.

I hope you will pick up a copy of A Charming Exchange and start to create some of your own collaborative jewelry with some of your friends.

Kelly and I have set up a blog just for our book at:
www.acharmingexchange.com

At the charming exchange blog you will find links to all of the people that made this book a reality, and we will soon we will be hosting a swap in the spirit of our book along with a series of online auctions that will be held with many of the pieces from the book, with 100% of the proceeds going to Brest Cancer research. More information on this will soon follow as all the details are still being worked out.

I hope to see some of you this weekend!

"Say Not Of Beauty" (for she is a child)

"In masks outrageous and austere, The years go by in single file; But none has merited my fear, And none has quite escaped my smile."

~ Elinor Wylie

I just have a few weeks left to complete the work for my mixed media fabric book... the prof is a
a six foot table loaded up with projects along with the kits that I have stuffed into large zip lock baggies, that I will use to react the art for the week that I will be in the F&W studio shooting the step outs...


I have a list of projects that I must complete, and as I was working on one a few days ago and I needed a word...


I adore old books and have many... I am exceptionally happy when I find small and demure ones falling apart with micro text so I do not feel so bad when I rip out pages or cut out the perfect word.


I keep a small stack of books on my desk on my right hand side that I am always reaching for. I had just added to the mix The Oxford Book Of American Verse (1950) a few days ago and had not really given it a good look. but just as I reached for it I really hit a wall, and needed to some how dissolve and let the creative process flow from within and just create for the sake of play as my inner child has been suppressed working on projects from a list.

As I thumbed through this small thick book that fit so nicely in the palms of my hands, I became lost in the beauty of poets and found myself transfixed by a woman words.
Immediately I knew that I had to some how take what she had written well over a 100 years ago and turn a part of her into a part of me.

So with paper mixed with paints, pencil, pen combined with thread and cloth I started a journey that began many years even before my grandmother was born. Inspiration is all around us just waiting to spark and ignite passion and sometimes it is the spark that we are not even looking for that can change us the most.

(please note that all the photos that I have shared is not the piece in its entirety nor is it yet competed as it is still in its infancy)

Beauty by Elinor Wylie

Say not of beauty she is good,
Or aught but beautiful,
Or sleek to doves' wings of the wood
Her wild wings of a gull.

Call her not wicked; that word's touch
Consumes her like a curse;
But love her not too much, too much,
For that is even worse.

O, she is neither good nor bad,
But innocent and wild!
Enshrine her and she dies, who had
The hard heart of a child.

the laws of attraction.

I try to live a life full of peace and creativity as I hold fast to the laws of attraction, and the one true thing that I always try to do was best said by Rumi:

Let the beauty we love be what we do.

Today, like every other day, we wake up empty
and frightened. Don't open the door to the study
and begin reading. Take down a musical instrument.
Let the beauty we love be what we do.
There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.

Rumi: translated by John Moyne and Coleman Barks

(my work table after I completed the piece below)

And these are truly more words to live by:

"Watch your thoughts, for they become words. Choose your
words, for they become actions. Understand your actions, for they become habits. Study your habits, for they will become your character. Develop your character, for it becomes your destiny." --Anonymous

I made this gift for a dear friend so they could be reminded of their own personal mission statement and have it close at hand.

And Here is a Emerson quote that has been wrapped around my wrist for over 15 years and it reads:

Give All To Love Obey Thy Heart.

Do you have words that you live by? or a mission statement that you hold dear? if so please share them with me, as I would love to read them.

Quilting Arts Workshop DVD

Learn new art quilting and stitching tips and techniques through exclusive classes with top quilt artists on DVD or via digital download. Workshop classes are:

• Taught by some of the world’s best art quilting instructors
• Available now on DVD for $19.95 per class
• Available soon as downloads for $19.95 per class
• Each DVD ships for $3.00 to the US and Canada, or $6.00 internationally
• A wonderful opportunity for you to learn from the best at your own pace, whenever you like.

My “Soulful Doors” workshop DVD is now available!
along with 7 other great DVD you can check them all out here.

In my class you will learn the secrets of creating the foundation for multi-faceted interactive doors.




We will explore: Fabric and paper altering: dyeing, stamping, burning and hand embellishing.


(resin charms)

We will cover how to create resin charms, papers and basic wire work.

(layered resin papers)
You will discover how to embed hidden elements and meaning into your piece along with the joys of machine quilting on paper and fabric.

that all said... I got to see my lovely DVD for the first time last week and despite the lack of eye contact (every time I looked up at the camera, I got all freaked out and would look down at what I was doing very fast!)

It really did turn out well.
So if you would like to watch me as I show you all of my secrets then follow this link to order my DVD .

courage.

Art should astonish, transmute, transfix. One must work
at the tissue between truth and paranoia.
::: Brett Whiteley :::

I have been walking the line of my own personal artist paranoia... its so easy for me to get lost in my art at times that at some point I feel as if I must pull away so I can breath once more and regroup.

but sometimes when I do this I can become afraid and start to doubt my own creative nature and start to grind and pick at all the things that compel me to create in the first place...


To open up ones soul and let others look in is beautifully haunting. But Its so hard to see what others see in us... its easy to see the amazement in others but difficult to see in our self's. we come into this world willing to except everything at face value then as we grow we learn about likes and dislikes... truth and paranoia if you will.

I have been questioning my life and how I live it, in this year there has been both birth and death in my family... I am on the verge of having my youngest son starting high school just as my oldest daughter embarks on her senior year... I know that soon I will have to let her go, so she can grow into the wonderful woman that she is meant to be. But still I have a tinge of sadness to see my kids grow up into young adults. I miss there skinned knees and there messy little hands.


I see that my life is opening into a new stage and just as I have some fear, I know for sure that there are amazing things ahead for me. I have been so blessed to be able to share my passion to create... and so fortunate to have people enjoy seeing what I do.


we create, we grow, we love, we change, we mess up! but we live and find new hopes and dreams.


courage to change is a gift that we can only give to our self.

one last shameless plug ( for this week)

It's all right letting yourself go, as long as you can get yourself back.
~Mick Jagger

(charms that I made on quilting arts tv. rubber stamps from red lead)

A few days ago I received a copy of my segment for quilting art tv (I am in show # 204 Embellishment, follow this link to find out when the show will air where you live)

(I like this photo of me on the set... in some strange way I look like I just may be in control!)

now I will add that its hard not to be critical of ones self ... First I had on way to much make up (note to self: if ever on TV put on your own make up!) and I was so nervous that I acted like a zombie but in the end it all worked out fine!

Being out of control is one of the worst feelings in the world, sometimes even worse than pain. It is its own kind of pain. ~Danzae Pack

art quilting studio

Men must live and create. Live to the point of tears.--Albert Camus

It is my great joy to have my art work used in the advertisement for Art Quilting Studio
(its debut will be 2009.)
The piece that is featured is a personal one and holds so much heart felt meaning behind it.
So its extra special that it was chosen.

If you ever toyed with the idea of submitting your art work for publication then follow this link
to find out the guide lines and a list of new publications coming at in 2009.

And to demystify  submitting your art work a little more, Kristen Robinson has just posted her Secret to Getting Published.

The important thing is this: To be able at any moment to sacrifice what we are for what we could become. ~Charles DuBois