Katazome Class...so cool

Just a quick post about my first, of a two day class, with Karen Miller, learning the Japanese technique called katazome. RAFA, Rochester Area Fiber Artists, allowed me to be a fill in for my friend Sharon. Thank you all!
I love every step in the process so far! We chose two designs from her collection of images and spent a couple of hours diligently cutting them out with a very small #11 exacto blade. Exciting to see your stencil take shape while learning to wield the knife. I didn't get a picture of my two I see, so tomorrow I will be sure to get one.  Fine silk is adhered to the stencils next using  black enamel paint and a roller. The paing and the type of paper you use makes for a very substantial stencil. Tomorrow we can print with them. Fun!
In the afternoon, Karen demonstrated how to apply the rice paste resist (which we made in the morning)then she graciously let us use her stencils to apply paste to a couple pieces of fabric.
It was a very full day with an hour ride each way, so I am sufficiently whooped.  My mind is reeling with ways I would use this technique.

It is hot. So hot." Cat on a Hot Tin Roof"  hot. "Some People Like it Hot".

I have learned:

1. My friend Sandy has had a lymph node that has tested positive for cancer. She begins chemo again. Please include her in your prayers as this has proven to be a great comfort to her over the last 18 months. Sucks.

Happy 4th of July!

Who can say it better than Bob? Everyone in Batavia knows him by his red Jeep that roams the roads decorated (and by that I mean DECORATED!) for each holiday. I love his get up! He is serious in a completely endearing way.
This and other sites to behold were part of 4th of July.......

A true small town gathering in  beautiful Centennial Park. There were not a lot of craft vendors but  I did find this awesome woman selling little works of art. Real collaged cards .I love collage. Always have. (I need to do more of it because it IS my mind!) Masonsalocards.com.  I bought 3 cards, but wish I had purchased more after really looking at them.
Michelle's baby will get this welcome. 

Someone, who's birthday is today!! will recieve this one!

This one is mine...of course..the dang bird drew me in! The background paper looks stamped with acrylic paint, the bird, tea cups and chair are intricately cut out and placed. The table looks to be a decorated paper and the dots are stamped also. 

The artist is from Pennsylvania and was up visiting her mom. While admiring her work she was so gracious. An artist that does what she does for love of the process....for her it's cutting up little bits of paper & making mini works of art! Making money doing it is secondary.

Do check out her website.

I don't have fantasical gardens but what I have managed to create are a few areas of flowering/foliage that I love. 

Mini tea rose from February. Made the transition to a pot outdoors....blooming again!

I have learned:

1. The Sketchbook Project. Maybe. I would choose "this is not a sketchbook" theme since I don't sketch or draw. Fibers would be my medium. Thinking..... 
2. Somerset Studio. New editor, refreshed & I am buying it.
3. Melissa on her own cell plan now! I will inherit her Blackberry. I need Blackberry 101, 102 & 103 lessons! Jody....help me!
4. Under the Dome by Stephen King, the 1074 pg. tome I am reading....is good. But heavy. Heavy as in it must weigh 8 pounds!
5. Bras for a Cause. Due August 30th. Will be displayed in GoArt! gallery in September this year. If you are local consider making one. 36C is the standard. A molded cup is best. Salvation Army. I picked up a pretty lacy Victoria's Secret number for 1.99. I have a couple of ideas!

"Crush"

"Crush"
I used layered sheers, beads, silver cording...all hand stitched around a velvet heart, mounted on canvas that has blue tissue (dollar store gift tissue) and white tulle over the canvas, sprinkled with pretty glitter! I loved every step of this project and you can see this along with 57 other small works of art from 5 talented women at GoART!'s satellite gallery at Batavia Sr. Center on Bank Street. You can visit the show in July & August. If you are able, you won't be disappointed. I am impressed with us!

Getting things finished for this show was a bit of work for me. I am focused on process so product is not that important to me but it does feel good to be done with some things! My next focus is a crazy quilted piece for my quilt guild's show in October. I have much hand stitching to do but it is truly my favorite thing to do.

My friend (and fellow art quilt show exhibitor) Sharon, has had a few harrowing weeks which have culminated in her husband being hospitalized. Because she will be busy with doctor appointments and hospital visits she has had to give up her spot in a few classes. I will be her fill-in for Karen Miller's 2 day class next week to learn katazome, an old Japanese stenciling technique. I am intrigued by screen printing  and the many ways to achieve this look and this will give me my first adventure!

Sharon has asked me to gather some crazy quilting, hand stitching bits to keep her occupied and productive.  I hope it will provide some comfort to her in those hours so I am going to mindfully gather supplies and a base block for her.

Last Saturday Melissa &  I spent 10 hours in my comfy, road worthy Trailblazer traveling to Virginia for her best friend, Michelle's, baby shower Sunday....then we drove the 10 hours home. Midnight. Thunderstorms. Rain. Tired.

This weekend I need to weed. Yuck. Just enough to appear home owner conscious, which means only the front gardens. Maybe. If something more exciting calls to me...I am there!

I have learned:

1. Melissa has cut the last apron string.....her own cell phone account!
2. I will be needing Blackberry 101 lessons soon when I get her hand me down. How cool will it be to email anytime? Wow. Who'd of thought this possible while sitting under the dining room table on a phone connected to the wall in 1978? 
3. Work of Art on Bravo is interesting. Sarah Jessica Parker is the producer. Artists given projects to complete in a frame of time and one gets eliminated each week. I just like any show that entertains me with creative competition.
4. I work with people that think I made the word "conundrum" up. Hmm. Now that is a conundrum.

Yep, this is rusty fabric! I rust dyed some pieces of white fabric on a large grate that at one point must have  covered a very large something or other. Now it it is serving a greater purpose! I just love it. I have quite a few pieces of rusty bits now. What a great little quilt I can make someday. Just look at the super close up of the rust. Gorgeousness! I highly recommend grabbing a little vinegar & water (1:2 ish)fabric, spray it, lay it on or place the rusty bits on it, cover it with plastic bag (keep wet if possible) and a few hours later reveal the wonderment!

Sunday, after a busy Saturday, Karyssa and Michael here all weekend....I picked up Jody's coffee CQ block, a small slew of threads and lace I knew would look great & sat on my little deck blissfully stitching for hours on it! I needed that. I really love hand work. It is my comfort zone. It is looking good Jody!!

Of course I should have been working on the unfinished pieces for the show at GoArt! I have til the 30th to finish but have to let the woman know by the 25th for the program. I have one piece in particular that is confounding me. Oh what to do next? I am not "seeing" it. If I don't get it done....maybe it can be displayed as a work in progress.

Melissa & I are going to Virginia this weekend to see her best friend Michelle who is expecting baby boy Evan/Ethan. I look forward to spending time with Genevieve, her first born, and Ella the adorable tiny chichi dog.

My FFT #10 (fabulous first timer) in the CQI yahoo group finally came back late last week. Alice, Colleen, Kerry & Jody all added spectacular stitching to my hand painted (DynaFlow fabric paints) recycled linen base block. Thank you all so much. Here are some close ups.

I do love a crazy quilt block that is just full of stuff. Encrusted is the CQ term.
I do believe my friend Melanie is going to be an addict soon! Right Mel?

It is dang hot right now...9:21 PM. I am sweating just sitting here. It has turned into a 3-shower day.

More and more I find myself happily ensconced in the silence of my house. Melissa has moved out, Michael is doing man work all week out of town and I am the lone soul, a constant inhabitant of these old walls. I like it. It is reward for all the busy years. A tribute to my 49 years to be able to enjoy where I am now in life. I am never lonely. I have never had issues with being alone. With that being said, I am not a loner either. I just like myself enough to not mind being with me so much! I here the birds singing in all the trees that surround me...I am listening, right now, to a frog that must be looking for love across the street...of course the traffic is a given since I live on Rt. 33. I have my 3 loyal cats and 1 Dean dog. ( I used to be able to say docile dog, but since the rabbit rampage I feel this is untrue). Life is good.

I have learned:

1. NYS. Cigarette tax. Native Americans. Oh my. My favorite part was where they outline how the billions in increased revenue will go towards health care. What?
2. DEC limits transportation of wood. I didn't know that. Seem valid.
3. Karyssa makes the best ever homemade (including crust!) apple pie. It is prize winningly delicious. 
4. I ordered one of these....Singer ER10 embellishing machine.

Cloth Paper Scissors Flag

I spent a bit of time making a flag for the Cloth Paper Scissors call for them for their CREATE retreat in Chicago in August. The base is black wool felt. I made fabric paper the night before from the gold dotty tissue paper on gauze. I added some old dictionary pages to the fabric paper too to make it more interesting. "create" was stitched by machine to some fabric paper and in turn to the flag background. Some black & cream striped fabric was added and is a great accent on the entire flag. A requirement was to have holes in it for hanging. I love using metal grommets. SO easy and so cool! This will be hung at the retreat. It was pure fun making this thing!

I continue my quest to finish the few pieces I will show next month. I just hate this last step....obviously...it is a monumental chore! If I could get at them early in the morning when I am full of energy to expend, that would be great. Coming home after work and trying to get to it is very difficult for me. I lose steam by evening! But I do have til the night of the 29th, so....you can be sure I will be sewing the last stitch that night.

Reminder: Raffle tickets for our gorgeous guild quilt are $1 each. They are put together in books of 10, so I am appealing to my online friends.....! email me at kdeverett@live.com for my address. Here is a pic to remind you how cozy it is~

This is the top before it was custom quilted by Penny McDowell. ( we need to get a good pic in daylight with the awesome quilting) We will be picking the winner at our quilt show in October.

I was craving a char-broiled hot dog today. Didn't get one. Maybe tomorrow.Summer food.

I rusted some more fabric bits today. I used a huge cover of some sort that showed up at work one day! It made awesome, spectacular really, rusty images. I will get pics and post soon. I think I am going to overdye them and use them all in a piece. I left two more pieces brewing overnight. Can't wait to see them in the morning!

I have learned:

1. Chester has gained some weight! I love that old cat and am happy to see him looking so good.

Allentown Art Fest

That precious painting in lower left corner of pic is my don't-let-it-pass-you-regrettably-by purchase yesterday at the annual Allentown Art Festival. Melissa Masterangelo, the woman in the white shirt, is the artist. I love the quaintness of the birds on a clothesline. That blue is a favorite color of mine. I am very pleased to be the new owner!

Here are a few pics of some interesting vendors.

What looks like metal in this piece is actually metallic paint.

Many interesting jewelry vendors. I actually made another purchase for Melissa's wedding next year...a silver & Swarovski crystal pendant. No picture yet.

This guy's booth was incredible. I loved the whimsical black & white pots but the oil cans were amazing. These are made of clay. Not metal. Cool.

Here we are...Sandy, myself & Carol on what we all agree is our favorite day of the year!

Carol also made her annual foray into her friends' stained glass booth. These are her 2010 acquisitions. They are gorgeous.

A day at the Art Fest is not complete without experiencing the clarinet man....

and the bubble man on Allen St.
Lunch at Fiddle Heads Restaurant was a welcome respite from the warm sunny day pounding the pavement at one of Buffalo's best annual events!
It is indeed one of my favorite days with two of my favorite people.

I have learned:

1. Melissa & Cory are the new caretakers of a bunny, as in rabbit. Free on Craigslist. I suggested they call him Chase!
2. How to change a few things on my blog. It looks better than it did two days ago.
3. I am intrigued by  Pandora charm bracelets.

I Have No Idea What I Just Did...

Before I knew it my blog was changing with the press numerous buttons.Oh what have I done? No undo button to be found. I never noticed the DESIGN box on the sign in page, but today it blurbed open with template options. Hmmm I said to myself...I love change, let's see what we have here. This is what happens to a PC illiterate. I got lost in the land of irreversible title, post, date, link color, template, layout options!!! Oh my.
I don't love it....I was eyeballing Poet & Painter on Shabbyblogs.com. But how do you import them? I want to change my header picture too. To what? I don't know. So many questions. Too many. My friend Thearica offered assistance with the whole shabang! I will train my ear to her very southern drawl and call her this weekend.
Allentown Art Festival tomorrow with Sandy & Carol. Hope to dodge the rain!

 One of the cool juried vendors from last year.
Time to walk the dog and read a few pages from the extremely heavy tome, Under the Dome, by Stephen King. Interesting characters.

I have learned:

1. I should have waited for help instead of pecking around in blogger template options.
2. It takes $480,000 to raise one child to 18. Is that all?
3. I need to write an artist statement and bio for our little show at GoArt! in July & August.
4. My niece Darcy (hey girl!) made varsity cheerleading team at St. Andrews for next year!