Yesterday I went into the studio to work on a project that has a deadline. I have been contemplating a design decision for a bit and decided on a course of action. I could not delay any longer so I made my cut and sewed my first seam.

You know the old adage, 'Measure twice, cut once'? Well I should have 'pinned and flipped twice' and then maybe I would have cut once. My first cut was in the wrong place. Get out the seam ripper and reverse sew what I just sewed. Re-cut, sew, figure out how to fix the first bad cut, repeat. I think I had to reverse sew every seam I put in at least once. Some twice. Not my finest hour or two.

I don't know if this was a case of my subconscious saying 'I didn't like the original design so I am going to change it without telling you' or just one of those days when I should have picked up a book and just read all day. I did get to a point where I left in what I had sewn. 

I will be back in the studio today to continue on. This piece is an original design. I have my design sketch and my basic color palette. I have tweaked some of the design areas and will be using some unconventional materials so there is a fair amount of problem solving that still needs to be done. I am hopeful that my problem solving switch is in the ON position today. It was definitely OFF yesterday.

What sort of trials or successes are you experiencing during our national indoor recess?

I currently have a gray flannel design wall that I attach my quilts to take photos. The only problem with that color is that I have been working with fabric that is similar in value around the edges of my quilts. When using software to remove the background it would invariably remove part of my quilt. I would then have to manually try to remove around the edge of the quilt. Not fun. (I used to have white but that didn't work all that well either. Mostly because of white fabric in the quilt, threads, lint, etc attaching to the flannel, and then it was hard to edit out in the photo edit software.)

So I decided to pick a color that neither David nor I have used on the edge of any of our quilts to use for my photo wall when I needed to do a shoot. I went online and selected sheets in a size that would also fit our guest bed (kill two birds with one stone). Walmart had a great deal on these 1500 thread count sheets and I am excited to try them out the next time I need to shoot photos that I will be editing to put on the website. 

I spent yesterday and today updating both of David's and my gallery area. That means I took pictures of our most recent quilts, put them into Photoshop to crop and clean the background out and do the write-ups.

I got to measure them, do all the calculations for pricing, and put all the information into Artwork Tracker. That was the easy part. Once I had all the work done it was just cut and paste the text, link the photos, and fill out the form. Most of the options are already in drop down boxes since I tend to use similar fabrics and supplies.

Remind me not to wait so long, (and this is a big one), DON'T put in lace or netting that doesn't have a quilt background behind it. It was a pain in Photoshop to remove the one in Talisman II. I was also reminded that I need a few different colored backgrounds for shooting the pictures. It will be much easier to select something that doesn't blend in with the edge of the quilt. Lesson learned. Hopefully, I will remember it the next time I start shooting the next quilts.

Let me know what you think of the new pieces. You can find them on our main gallery pages. Click on the one you want to see and 'as if by magic' you will be whisked to the page.

Ever wonder how to manage your artwork and keep a listing of:

• what you have made?
• what you have sold? 
• what galleries or shows you have submitted work to?
• etc.

At one time I was considering writing my own crude program to track my art quilts and the shows or galleries where I was sending them. I had mapped out the information that I wanted to include and how I was going to link everything in the database program. Then I started thinking about the hours and weeks it would probably take to get it written. I am so glad I decided to do some research first to find out if there was a program that already existed that would do everything I wanted.

I found a great program called Artwork Tracker. There is also an Apple/iOS version of this software. It is easy to use, reasonably priced and the publisher/creator is very responsive to questions if you cannot find help in the FAQ section or help files. There is also an app available to transfer your information to your phone or tablet so you can take the information with you if needed.

Like me, I am sure most of you have all your photos, full and detailed, along with descriptions squirreled away on your computer. It is a simple matter of pasting text into the appropriate areas and attaching your photos to the gallery area. What else do you have to do while you are at home during this time of quarantine? Lets get productive and organized and all ready for when all the shows start opening back up!

You can download a trial version but there are limits on it. The download version initially runs in an unregistered trial mode, limited to 5 artworks with 5 photos each, 5 clients, and 5 submissions. It will also only allow a single database window, and database import is disabled. The pricing for the full product is reasonable and any information you entered will be carried into the purchased software.

The current pricing for the PC and Apple versions is $14.99. A very good deal.

Do you have a favorite program to track your art? If so, leave a comment below of what it is and why you like it.

Visit the website for the full list of what the program can do but here are some of the ones I feel are extremely useful:

• Sort artworks by title, artist or status, sort clients by name or status, and sort submissions by date or status.
• View total income earned for each artwork.
• View the submission history for each artwork or client, sorted by date.
• Clients approaching deadline are highlighted with a tinted background on the client list.
• Past due submissions are highlighted with a tinted background on the submission list.
• Review statistics for your collection.
• Saves changes automatically.
• Print artwork, client, or submission lists, or information for a particular artwork, client, or submission.

There are several different theories on how to pick your thread to do the surface quilting. Do you want it to disappear, stand out a lot, stand out a little, a little of both? One thing to consider, especially with the intermediate (primary+secondary), or the complementary (opposites on the wheel) fabric colors is that you can use a grayed version of one of those colors to harmonize with the fabric but still add a little pop.

Brown is a complement color mix of red (primary) and green (secondary blue+yellow). This particular batik tends be a bit on the blue side of brown with some gray mixed in which is why I selected these particular colors as possible quilting threads. I have three matte colors and one with more luster.

The Mettler matte brown is barely visible on the darker parts of this batik but will be more obvious on the lighter areas. That means I have to decide if I want the quilting more visible on the light areas and disappear on the dark, or I may stop and switch colors.

The Mettler matte gray will blend more evenly across light and dark and show about the same balance of visual definition. The Mettler matte blue that is slightly on the gray side with have a bit more pop on the darker areas of this batik. This could mean a color change to transition between the medium and dark.

The DMC matte purple will play off the red and blue tones of the brown and give a little bit of unexpected color interest while still not shouting 'Here I AM!' like an orange thread would. The shiny Floriani thread I would probably only use for the dark and medium areas. The shine will make it more obvious on the surface and the dark on the lighter areas of the batik would just be a bit too dramatic than I have want for this quilt. I want the quilting to balance across all the color variations of this batik.

Detail views of thread choices: Which would you choose?

For the areas on the batik that go from very light to medium I played with these colors. A Mettler matte gray, matte medium brown and the matte gray lavender. As you can see, any of these would work and it is just personal preference and what you want to highlight and bring attention to on the surface of your piece.

Don't limit yourself to just a color selection that matches your fabric when picking your threads. Throw in some odd colors or zingers and see if you can't find something that will make your quilt sing.

If all this is a little confusing, get yourself a color wheel/guide that makes sense to you. These can be found at art stores, Jo-Ann's or just about store that has an art or craft section. There are also great guides on YouTube or online. Check out the painting videos of online artists. I watch them and always pick up new tips and color combination ideas.

I had to figure out a hanging system for two different situations for some of my new pieces. I am targeting galleries as well as shows with these new pieces. The problem comes in because shows typically hang on rods and galleries typically hang from picture hangers or 'nail' type systems.

I came up with a way to have a versatile hanging system that would work for either situation. I used double sided Velcro in a size that is in scale with the piece. This allows it to be opened up to accommodate a bar or rod (the standard for quilt shows is 4" opening), or tightened down to allow the ring to be mounted at the gallery.  The ability to tighten down means the ring will not show above the piece.

I am extremely happy with the function of this hanging system and will use it on some of my other gallery bound pieces that are narrow at the top.

Turquoise Threads in the Prescott area had a major sale before they moved to their new location on 69. As soon as they notified me that my order was ready, I went over the next day to pick it up. So excited to see the fabric in person.

I am happy to report that the colors on the website and on my computer matched the colors I ordered. Sometimes it can be a bit of a surprise especially if you are trying for a specific orange and it is a little pinker that the monitor showed.

The fabric was nicely folded, wrapped and packaged. The bonus is the nice turquoise tissue paper that I think I will be saving to use in a future project: a la Jane LaFazio.

I have been working on some smaller pieces lately and decided to make my SAQA auction quilt. I still have a little bit of work I want to do to this but for the most part I am happy with the result. I still have to block it, add a sleeve and a label.

I am thinking I might do just a touch more color work on it to add a bit more contrast in both the background areas and the foreground. I will be darkening some background so the hills are a little more defined. I will consider adding some lighter areas in the foreground to give a bit more definition in a few areas to draw the eye a little more.

The layers consist of painting and stamping on fabric in the background then as I moved forward I added commercial fabrics, batiks, dyed silk organza, tulle, and cheesecloth. I had a lot of fun working on this piece and I hope you enjoy it.

What have you been working on during the COVID-19 social isolation time?

I decided on a limited color palette for my first official pieces. I wanted something that would read 'Arizona' for a piece I have in mind. I mixed an orange, a deeper red orange and a turquoise blue. I started out lighter and added additional pigment to my mixing cups part way through. Since the paints are in a transparent base the lighter under colors will be overlapped in areas by the darker colors. Since orange and blue are compliments, I have a fourth, greyed color that works well in the piece.

I use several different tools to get my textures. I have different sizes of scrapers, toothed tools and brushes. I also used soft pastels on the lightweight cotton fabric. That gives a different texture as the pastel is dragged across the wet fabric surface. I used similar colors of chalk as my paint colors for subtle shifts.

Now to wait for everything to dry. Since I live in Arizona, that doesn't really take too long with the low humidity. I will be working on a full size pattern from one of my sketches I have done recently.

​Are you experimenting with new techniques or renewing your acquaintance with old ones? If so, which ones?

I cannot tell you how happy I am to be told by my governor that I should shelter in place. That means that I can play and I don't have to listen to that inner nag that tells me 'You have to get all your work and errands done before you can have fun creating art'. Now I can tell her to shut up, I am not allowed outside where other people are.

I haven't worked with my ProChem PROfab paints in a LONG time so I thought that I would do a couple of practice pieces and try to get back in the swing of things. The longest part was actually getting all my supplies together and the setup to start!

Lucky for me, when I took the class from Elizabeth Busch in San Diego, I also took videos as well as photos. I am able to review my notes and videos and figure out what I need to do in which order. Good thing I had the videos as it enabled me to get up and going without too much angst.

I had tons of fun working with these again and I can tell that I am going to be doing a lot more in the near future. The weather is warming up, the garage no longer feels like and icebox and I am motivated.

​What are you working on while you are sequestered?