From Edge 2 Edge Blog - From Edge 2 Edge Art Quilts

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Back in the Painting Saddle Again

4/10/2020

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?

Wendy Richardson - Hand dyed Bamboo Socks Repurposed

5/27/2016

Finger-less gloves from hand dyed socks

I don't know about you, but I have been buying Wendy Richardson's hand dyed fabrics and bamboo socks for years. I love her colors and her fabric choices on the over dyes that she does.

I always visit her booth first at Road to California in January as that is the only place I can see her.

I have several pairs of her bamboo socks that have gotten worn at the heels and are no longer good to wear but I was unable to throw them out because they are so beautiful. This morning I had the brilliant idea to turn them into finger-less gloves.

I cut a little below the ribbing with my pinking shears so that I would have some thinner sock for the turn under. I tried them on to make sure there was enough stretch to go around my hand.

After turning them under I used a zig-zag stitch and slightly stretched as I sewed to make sure I will have enough circumference after I was done. I then turned them inside out, put them on and pinched between my thumb and forefinger to get the sizing for the thumb hole. I sewed up about 1/2 inch, over about 3 stitches into the hand side, then back down to the edge. I repeated this another 1-2 times to make sure I had a secure seam. A sharp pair of scissors to clip between the two stitch lines and then turn those gloves back to the right side. I am thinking I can probably do the same or similar with the foot area that is still good.

And there you have them. A pair of finger-less gloves to wear on a cool morning walk. What have you done with your 'Wendy socks'?

Word of the Year: Focus

1/4/2015

I have chosen my one thing (word) for the year and it is: FOCUS. I am no longer going to multi-task or try to. It only leaves me feeling flat when I don't get everything accomplished. This year I am going to focus on each task fully while I am working on it. It was very interesting that our church sermon touched on almost the same topic. That to make a change in your life pick one thing to improve for 2015, get specific, and focus on that.

This weekend I spent most of my time straightening and organizing my supplies in the studio. I am ridding myself of those things that I no longer use or have even attempted to use in 2014. I will bless someone else with those supplies. I will donate to a local charity or give my artist friends an opportunity to replenish their supplies or try something new.

I have gotten a huge start on getting my magazines back in order, my books on the shelves they belong on and the little odds and ends organized and put away. My goal is that by the end of January the room is completed.

What is your 2015 word of the year? Do you have one or do you have a list of goals.

A Perfect Friday

5/24/2014

Fabrics from our hunt at Rosie's

I had a great Friday. David and I decided to have a "date night" in San Diego after work. (This turned out to be a good idea as the freeway was backed up in the opposite direction because of some bumper car incidents.)

Waiting for David to arrive at my work, (we carpool), I was able to listen to my audio book from Librivox. I found a reader, Kara Shallenberg, that I enjoy (kayray.org) so have been listening to an old favorite. I was able to enjoy almost an hour of my book.

When David arrived we headed off to Rosie's Calico Cupboard for a fabric hunt. David was missing a fabric for his current project and I was just hunting for interesting (or pretty, or different, or....). I love the textures in the fabrics that we purchased and have some ideas on what I might design with them.

Thirty minutes of shopping later (I know, doesn't sound too long, but for us, a shorter visit is cheaper at Rosies!) we headed east to our favorite "fast food" establishment, Fuddrucker's. I love their ribeye steak sandwich and the jalapeno cheese fries are just too yummy. Thankfully, they do not have a store closer to Temecula or I would be eating there a lot. If I get there once a year I count myself blessed.

Do you have a favorite shop, food establishment or day trip that you like to spoil yourself with? Remember to treat yourself every once in awhile and enjoy a mini vacation day.

Money Can't Buy Happiness...

5/4/2014

Bins of Happiness (Clickable link)

So here I am wasting time on things I should not be doing and avoiding those things I should be doing. I am checking emails, looking at Twitter notices, but I am staying away from Pinterest. Today I should be dragging the quilt bins back out to the living room so I can get them in order for our upcoming talk. The house got cleaned on Friday, so it was a put everything away to clean. Now to bring the quilts back out so David and I can get them in order for our talk and decide on the final quilts that will be hung on the display racks.

While I was avoiding and going through all my email, I found this great quote:

Money can't buy happiness...
But it can buy fabric and that is pretty close to the same thing.

I have a LOT of happiness and I know for a fact that several of my friends and my older sister do too. I label my bins so that I know what style or color of fabrics are inside. I keep one bin just for the current project I am working on.

I have had a couple of designs swirling around in my head lately. I need to get them down in my sketch book. I am also getting ready to start quilting on my main show piece for the Textures Fiber Arts show in October.

If you are in the area, come see our trunk show at the Village Quilters Guild in Scripps Ranch, San Diego, Ca. We are speaking on May 10.

Creative Re-Purposing

3/30/2014

Re-Purposed Computer Disc Cabinet

As everyone is into re-purposing I thought I would share one of my very easy projects. All I had to do was haul it home and load it with thread.

I work for a company that has been in existence for decades and has a lot of computers for the offices staff, engineers, etc. Almost everyone has access to at least one computer. As such, there have been a multitude of storage requirements for floppy disc storage through the years. Now that everything is on servers, the cabinets previously used for housing the discs are no longer needed. As old equipment is retired, employees are given the opportunity to purchase or are given this old equipment.

I was able to bring home a cabinet that used to house 3.5" discs. Since the company kept "history" discs we had to have large cabinets to store them. This cabinet has two pull out drawers. The upper drawer still had the boxes that the discs were stored in. These are perfect for for the Hemmingworth threads that we own and they would hold taller cones. I have labeled them by color and group them in the boxes. This is helpful for David since his partial color-blindness can be an issue for him when choosing thread colors.

The lower drawer holds a selection of our larger cones and spools. This cabinet was originally designed to be stack-able and is sturdy. I am able to put more thread cases or other items on top. This maximizes my storage area. You might be able to prowl the thrift stores or used office supply resale stores to find your own.

I would love to hear what you have re-purposed for your studio.

Artist Development Day with Textures

2/23/2014

David's T-Shirt

I spent the day yesterday with my Textures Fiber Arts group having fun doing an artist development day. Most of our artists were able to attend and we had a great time.

Our day started at 10AM as we all met at Sharon's house. She has a perfect setup for a play day. Large workshop area with lots of table space and a work sink for washing and rinsing.

We started the day with Sharon talking about ice dyeing and walking us through her setup and showing the fabulous results she has gotten. I am really inspired and hope to go get a bag of ice so that I can do some experimenting on my own. My fabric is soaking in soda ash as I type. She has dyed on cotton and radiance fabrics (silk/cotton blend) and they are beautiful. It is a very serendipitous process so you just have to go with the flow (or melt). Here is an example of some of her work.

Trish's T-shirt

I was the demo person for the DeColourant portion of the workshop. Some of the artists were familiar or had worked with it before and wanted to create samples for controlled results.

I started the DeColourant demo showing everyone how stencils, stamps and other objects can be used to put the product on different types of fabric. I used a variety of makeup sponges, stencil brushes, regular paint brushes, foam brushes and wine corks. Just about anything you can put paint on can be used for applying DeColourant.

I like to overlap my designs so they integrate with each other. I like blending the colors together as this also gives a cohesive look to the design. I do this by either "painting" the colors through the stencil and overlapping them or blending them on the stamps. By using colors near each other on the color wheel I get a nice secondary color blend. On the T-shirts I use a sky blue, a lime green and a pearl white.

Everyone came away with great pieces that can be used in future projects. Has your group done a similar play day? What did you learn?

Several more examples of what we did are on the Textures blog.

New Fiber Art Project

12/2/2013

I have a project that I am working on in fits and starts. I have struggled over the past month in the design phase. I found an older project that I started at Morro Bay inspired by the beauty of the area. Up to now, I have never found a home for the small work but I think I have found it will be a focal point in my new work.

This Thanksgiving weekend I still struggled with my design. I pulled out all my bits and pieces to see what would work into the piece. I painted lace and cheese cloth. I found a great lace that has an open modern design at JoAnn's. Very fun to paint and blend colors across it.

Though I actually did not get any sewing done I did toss down some colored bits on the main ground and I am pleased with the color combinations if not the actual placements.

I don't have a "show goal" for this piece so I will only be showing small peaks in case I submit it to a show that has a no visuals clause. Plus since I am still changing the design a bit, I can play all I want. Just know that I am having fun with some of the Ghana batiks I have collected over the years.

Have you worked with your Ghana batiks or are you saving them for that "perfect" design? Let me tell you how liberating it is to cut into the fabric. I am having a blast seeing how I can get them to work and morph together.

Mini Vacation Day!

10/27/2013

Shopping at Rosie's

What a great day David and I had yesterday. We did a mini-vacation day where we did nothing that had to do with "real life".

After David's bike ride we headed down to San Diego and stopped at Pita's Mediterranean Grill for lunch. It is one of our favorite places to eat and we always get the lamb salad. It was excellent.

Next we headed to the Visions Art Museum to see what was on display there. Unfortunately they are installing the new exhibit and the Del Thomas Collection will not be open until next weekend. We did peek around the ladder to see a couple of the quilts. For the few that we were able to see, it is going to be a great show and we will have to make time to go back to see it. We did get to see the critique group exhibit in the main hall and it was inspiring. Lisa Yoder was there so we were able to catch up on what is going on with her and also the museum. A very fun time.

From there we headed to Rosie's Calico Cupboard! Awesome. I hardly ever have the chance to shop there since moving north so it was exciting. David had fabrics to pick up for a new fabric as he has been burning through his blacks and whites. I just picked up some because they were pretty. Not only does Rosie's have a great selection of fabric but she has the best prices around.

After enjoying our shopping spree (see photo above) we headed over to the Grossmont Shopping Center to listen to The Vinyl Pirates play. They are a great band that plays a wide variety of music. George, the drummer, has been a long time friend of Davids. I took a (not quite so good) video of them playing "Frankenstein". We enjoyed listening to them for a couple of hours on the patio of The Copper Pan. They have an excellent looking menu but I had my heart set on Fuddrucker's. I used to LOVE their steak sandwich and cheesy (I like the jalapeno version) fries and I am happy to report that they are still just as good as I remembered.

That was the conclusion of our vacation day. Heading home we listened to Rascal Flatts and enjoyed talking about the fun we had and our plans for the fabric we purchased.

Mixing Paint Colors

10/13/2012

Cad Yel Med, Cad Red Lt, Lt. Ultramarine Blue (Click for precentages)

Have you ever wandered the aisles of Dick Blick's or other artists supply store and wondered what colors of paint you needed for a specific project. We all know that you can mix lots of various colors from just three primary colors, but which three do you purchase?

Golden products comes to the rescue with a wonderful new on-line app, Virtual Paint Mixer. Pick your paint from the choices of Heavy, Fluid or Open colors. Pick your paint colors and apply to the tubes then just slide the caps to change the precentages of each in your mix. You can mix your colors, saving them in the "chip boxes". This allows you to verify that the colors you buy are the ones that will give you the precise colors you need for your project.

Saving money is always a concern, especially in this economy, and this is a great tool that should help any artist select just the right colors. My personal response to this site is that I am more likely to purchase Golden paint products because of this great tool. I will know the colors available in each product line and will be able to determine my purchase options. Knowing these before I head to the store will also save me time, enabling me to get back to my project faster.

Cad Yel Med, Cad Red Lt, Lt. Ultramarine Blue(Click for precentages)

Cad Yel Med, Cad Red Lt, Lt. Ultramarine Blue (Click for precentages)