“Out of the Box” is a one month once a year Holiday sale where about 30 artists get together and share expenses to sell their work. Today, I’ll be dropping off several of my quilts and new ones to hang on the stores walls. I will also be having scarves, eyeglass cases, bookmarks, and other little quilted items for sale. Here are the hours and information:
“Out of The Box”
November 27 to December 23
7423 West Madison Street,
Forest Park, IL
hours: Tues. – Sat. 11-5pm, Sun. noon – 5,
closed Mon. There will be a Forest Park Holiday Walk on Dec. 4, “with live Holiday Windows, sleigh rides, marshmellow roastin, music, merchants open house and more.”

Well, after much talk on SAQA about finding your voice, I looked at my work and I feel like Cybil with many voices. My latest voice is to go abstract. I have a solo show coming up in June 2011, still aways away, but I want to have a cohesive show. My thoughts are “Then and Now” showing my best of what I have from before now, and working on a new direction. As much as I’m not fond of paper piecing, it works quite well with the way I want to do abstracts. In college, way back when, I did hard edge paintings inspried by my professor. I want to explore this in quilting, but adding maybe crayon, colored pencil, paint, beads, or whatever for sbutleties to move the eye. Here are a couple that I did for “Out of the Box”, a Holiday sale coming up the day after Thanksgiving. There’ll be more information on my website.The first one is a quilt using silk screen, but the next two are the style I want to focus on. These are quite small, maybe 4″ x 6″ and 5″ x 5″. I’d love to know what you think.

This weekend I will be having 3 pieces in the Oak Park Art League Artist Members’ Fall Show with opening reception from 7-9 pm. On Sat. I’ll be having a trunk show at Pamela Penney’s Textiles from noon til 5pm.

I received two rejection notices from the show Q=A=Q. It must be a difficult job for the jurors to put together a cohesive show without having a particular theme involved for the entries. I think not having a theme makes it also hard on the entrants, because their work maybe excellent but didn’t fit the theme that the jurors chose. JMHO.

Last night I attended the Allman Brothers Band concert in Chicago with my husband and his cousins. The concert was great and while listening to the music, I was watching the background screen with psychedellic visuals. I think there might be quilt material in my experience. My favorite song was “Sweet Melissa”.

Yesterday, I received my response from “World of Beauty” exhibit in Houston. It was 2 thin envelopes, which in the quilting world is a “nonacceptance”. I had entered “Hambone” and “Creative Juice”. Trying not to hold onto discouragement, I’ll just have to enter into another show. There are a few coming up that I’m interested in.

I will try to explain the process I used, “Poured Paint”, and print to fabric. I am not a teacher so if you have questions, please email me.
First, you’ll need the following supplies;
1. fabric( I used cotton, both white and black, and commercial hand dyed or small print). Have it prewashed and ironed.
2. acrylic paint
3.textile medium
4.sheet of mylar ( I bought at craft store in stencil section)
5. water
6. plastic to cover table
7. vinyl gloves to protect hands
8. paint stirs (I used bamboo skewers)
9. cups for paint
Next, mix your paint with a little textile medium and water. You want the consistency of syrup. Stir.
Place your maylar on the table and start to pour one color of paint forming a line at the top of the mylar. Now pick up the maylar and tilt it so the paint runs. Add another color, perhaps in the middle or a different side. Tilt the myalr and let the two colors flow together. How many colors you use and where you put the color, how you tilt the mylar, all affect the design. When you are satisfied, lay your fabric on top and press down with your hands or use a brayer. Carefully, lift the fabric up and set to dry. If you slide the fabric as you lift it, you will get a smeary flow of paint. If you wet the fabric first and then print, this too, will affect your design.
Things to remember:
First, nothing is written in stone. Experiment and play. If your paint is to thin, and your get a big muddy puddle, wash the mylar and start again. If you print and want to add more color, print ontop of what you’ve done.
Your fabric will be a little stiff in some areas. I didn’t have a problem with this. I used a topstitch needle 90/14 and sometimes a 100/16 for thicker thread when quilting.
When you are completely finshed with your fabric, turn it all ways and look deep. Let your imagination go. What do you see? Then act on it. Just have fun! Here are some photos of  paint on mylar and fabric that I have yet to use.

Don’t forget to heat set. I used a pressing cloth.

Friday night was the opening reception at the Art Center of Highland Park,Il. It was a lovely place for an exhibit, but unfortunately the weather was rainy. Still there was quite a turnout. My only disappointment was that my work was hung too high. With one quilt on top of the other, the uppermost quilt was nearing the ceiling. I didn’t know what the protocol was as how to handle the problem.

I thought I’d post my latest quilt on my blog since I took a photo when the sun was way too bright and I got shadows from the quilting. But here’s a look.

And here’s the detail

I’m sorry it’s been so long since I’ve posted, but I’ve been finishing up my 2 entries for “A World of Beauty” in Houston, TX this fall. I’ve also, had to drop off some quilty things at a local shop, “Pamela Penney’s”, in Oak Park, for “What’s Bloomin on Harrison Street”. This is a spring festival in Oak Park’s artist district where all studios are open and local artisans sell on the street.
I’m also trying to finish up a new quilt for the Oak Park Art League Spring Members’ show. I don’t know if I’ll get it finished, but I’ll try.
To my surprise, I’ve been asked by a quilt guild in Toronto to do either a trunk show, teach, or lecture. I’ve never done any of these, but I’d like to start sometime.
I’ll post pictures of new work soon.