Darlene's Design Studio

India in January

2012-01-12T07:59:00.000-08:00

I have a job that I am fortunate to travel to the orient twice a year. This year we decided to add production of our garments to some factories in southern India. It was decided that we should go visit our counterparts that we talk via email everyday and see the factories they would like us to use for future production. So on January 2nd, four of us from the office set out on a very long journey...Portland, Seattle, Paris, Bangalore...a good 25 hours of travel. We arrived late at night and drove 45 minutes to the Hotel Ista
I was totally planning to blog when I first got to Hong Kong but got so busy with work and got a nasty cold that I barely got my emails answered. I am writing this now that I am back. The driving in India was crazy and we laughed how they fill every space on the road with cars, motorcycles, tuktuks and trucks. I had lots of car time to look at the stencils on the trucks and how they decorated their vehicles. Women rode side saddle on motorcycles, holding babies, or bags or groceries. They looked so comfortable as their drivers whipped through traffic and narrow spaces. We saw one group with four small adults on a motorcycle!
The first part of our trip was to Bangalore India. This is Hotel Ista where we stayed near our first visit at the office. The pool and restaurant area was so calming.

We were in Bangalore for a day and then flew to Tirpur in the am and drove to a factory, took a tour, had lunch and then drove back to airport to fly to Chennai. The first factory is a knit factory that does knitting, silk screening and embellishing. I can tell you that there is a good bet that you have a tee shirt in your closet or drawer that was made in this facility. It was wonderful to see thier capcity and skills. Here are some pictures of the workers sewing sequin on tops. The workers are brought from the north as this is a specialized skill they told me.

The women wear the most beautiful wrapped sari's. The colors were bright and clean so amongst the background of the red earth and dirt streets , these beautiful women would stand out. Their hair would be pulled back in long perfect braids, some with flowers streaming down. This signage colors inspired me. It is a good example of the bright colors.

Not to bore you with details, we visited three factories in three days and ate very well, each showing us local cuisine that they favor. We went to the Shish-kabob Factory on the last lunch and the food just kept coming. I was so full! We had about 2 hours to shop before our last dinner, so our hostesses Suman and Saritha took us to a small mall where we bought some cotton scarves, then to a sari shop named Silkworm, that had the most beautiful silk and cotton fabrics for sari's and tunic tops. I bought a beautiful pink silk embroidered piece that I can make a top out of...they offer a service to make it up but I was leaving the next day and would not have time. I am excited to design a summer top with this.

The other piece I could not pass up and believe me I wanted to buy more..was this organic cotton hand woven Sari. It is bright orange and pink, it is appox 6 yards long and 46" wide. not exactly sure what I will do with it but I am sure I will find something.

Last Day of 2011

2011-12-31T15:44:00.000-08:00

Today is Saturday December 31, 2011. I am not much for New Years Celebrations, we usually have a nice dinner, watch a movie and head to bed. This year our daughter is a teenager and we want to make sure she is safe and sound so we offered our house as a place she and a couple close friends can come and hang out to play games and watch movies. My husband and I will hide out in my basement studio and watch movies on my computer. Sounds boring I know but it is worth it to know my 16 year old is safe.
This was a good year..Year of the rabbit. It was pretty mellow considering how awful 2010 was for me...Year of the Tiger. This next year is year of the Dragon. I hope it is another good prosperous year for us.
I will literally begin the new year traveling the world. I leave on jan 2 for India. I will be there on business to visit factories making our clothing. It will be a quick trip, traveling with my boss and his boss. I am sure I will not get any shopping in, but it will be my first time in this part of the world. I will take pictures of what I can to share. Once I am in Hong Kong I will write more. I will travel to Tokyo as well...so stay tuned. My goal is to blog my way along this trip. I don't make New Years resolutions...but goals. and my goal is to blog about this trip to share with my family and friends who care to read about it.
Goals for 2012:
Continue to sew my way through the studio.
Be able to make a smaller dress size and shop the Athleta and Title 9 Catalogs!
Have more Art play days in the studio.
Be more patient at home.
See my sisters and old friends I have not seen in a long time.
Completely finish my quilts. machine Quilting and all.
Participate in the PAC show December 2012 with a bunch of new stuff.
Get out and take more pictures with the digital SLR.
Think of a happy thought everyday to keep me going.
Don't let my daily job get me down and dry me up. Do the best I can but not let it consume me.
Make a piece of jewelry for every new outfit I make.

Ok that is good to start with. I will be adding more on my trip notes. So until Hong Kong and Japan!.

Day of the Dead Mask

2011-11-12T10:13:00.000-08:00

My daughter's Spanish teacher gave them extra credit if they colored a paper mask or made a puppet or dressed up for Halloween. Well when my daughter Cora tells me about projects like this...I have to ramp them up!!! Cora wanted to make a mask but with fabric or a store bought one knowing I would jump at the chance to go to the art or fabric store. After our brain storming discussion we came up with a canvas mask that she spent the weekend painting. I think it came out very well. Cora also made some paper flowers a-la Frieda and we pinned them in her hair. The teacher was impressed but wanted the mask to keep. Cora said she wanted it for her portfolio and didn't want to give it to the teacher so she only got half the bonus points! It was a good collaboration with what we had at home in the studio. Save my trip to the art store for another project...Christmas is coming!

Remnant Stash

2011-08-06T15:31:00.000-07:00

I am a self proclaimed "Remnant Whore" I scout out the remnants at most fabric stores but non better than my beloved Fabric Depot. My daughter, Cora, has been playing softball this summer and the practice location is a few blocks from Fabric Depot here in Portland. I love this place...it is big, well lit and has the best remnant rack I have ever found. They mark down the pieces 20% from the regular a yard price...then 50% off of that! One night I challenged myself to only spend $10 and I found lots of great stuff for the stash. One night I cleaned up on Oil cloth!
I was able to find fun flannels for some scrappy kids quilts, batiks, mesh and lots of solids to have for those arty quilts I like so much from Jean Wells lately. I will not miss the Softball schedule but I will miss going to FD twice a week! Look for some of this fab in projects I can finally make now that I have the weekends and evenings to myself again!

Project Runway Premiere Party!

2011-08-01T20:26:00.000-07:00

My daughter won tickets from a local radio station , 95.5, for a Project Runway Season 9 Premiere Party! We were so excited because it was hosted by Seth Aaron Henderson, winner of season 7! The girls gussied up and Dad put on a clean shirt and we headed down town on the beautiful summer evening. The stage was the bing Lounge. This small venue is used for radio concerts and small showings. There was quite the crowd so we squeezed in amongst the Portland Fashionistas. By the end of the evening Stephen and Seth were buds and the girls won lots of swag. Sorry for the out of focus...I did not have the flash on.

Scraps 101 - Real Scraps!

2011-04-20T03:40:00.000-07:00

A few years ago I made a few Valentines Quilts that I collected Red and Pink fabrics for. I love Valentines day..my birthday is in February..so I made a few of them and gave them away. But alas I bought too much fabric and still have a large stash of Reds and Pinks. So I drag them out every so often and make something. I made a nice Log cabin last year to try out my Log Cabin tool...a later blog. But the other morning I woke up with an idea of a collage piece then cut up into hearts to make some cards out of. I am trying to start early for the PAC show in December! So here is my process:

I cut a red piece as the base fabric..if any background shows through or raw edges at least it will be red and not muslin.
Then I cut random pieces and laid them over each other. I put variegated or red thread in the sewing machine and machine quilted over the peices. I just randomly stitched to make sure the edges were sewn down and it was pretty solid in the stitching.
I made a heart template to fit on a A6 card size. ( I have lots of red envelopes left from Christmas...using the fat of the land so to speak). I cut with scalloped scissors, wavy scissors and straight edge for variety. Then made a small bow from strips and a small shell button. I think they came out really cute and can't stop making them! I need to move to another color.....

Scraps 101 - Yo Yo's!

2011-04-10T17:05:00.000-07:00

I was not sure if I liked these little things until I went to my local fabric store where Clover was having a demo on their fun products. I love Clover, lots of great sewing tools. This Little yo yo maker was the coolest tool I had seen in a while and thought it was another great way to use up my scraps. So I bought two sizes, large which finishes at 1 3/4", and a small which finishes at 1". The gal also demoed an oval shape which I bought as well. When I got home I dug out some scraps and started making some while I watched TV. I had a little baggy full before I new it. While I was making them I thought of some different ways to use them, one is to make a little black tunic and sew them on the front and back. Now this picture is of them on top of a little tunic top I have so the finished project is not done but wanted to show my idea. I think it would be nice done with yo yo's in neutral colors as well with a nice linen tunic. I went and bought an extra small template as well to fill in the small gaps. The yo yo's can be flipped with the smooth, non gathered side up as well. I thought it might be cool to put both sides up. I think I will get out my batiks and do one in all batiks with a nice black rayon tunic. Also what about a small bolero vest to wear over my solid color tunics tops with a t-shirt. My ideas come faster than I can make them.

Scraps 101: Kaleidoscope Template

2011-03-23T08:07:00.000-07:00

I like templates and rulers for quilt making. I have always liked the Kaleidoscope block and found this ruler by Marti Michell. Last summer while cleaning out fat quarters and scraps I decided to start cutting scrap prints with this ruler. Before I knew it I had quite a few cut out and ready. Now for the back ground fabric. I put the project aside but recently found a nice light batik that I think will look nice. I cut a bunch of triangles and now have enough to start this scrap quilt. Here is the block lay out. When you do the opposite lay out of dark where the light is the overall quilt will take on movement.
For my favorite new book just out..check out Material Obsession 2 by Kathy Doughty and Sarah Fielke. They have used Marti Michell templates for traditional quilt blocks but with a fun new spin on fabrics and lay outs. It inspired me for more scrap quilts. Their use of color combinations and patterned backgrounds is wonderful. When you look at traditional quilt blocks and only see old boring fabrics and colors...you will be able to look beyond all that with this book. I love it for this. New ways to use up that scrap fab I have!
I am working on the "by product quilt" and making progress...I will post pictures soon. but I am really close with my jeans pattern and need them more then the quilt so that is priority in the studio this week.

2011-03-07T20:59:00.000-08:00

Well I guess I am not very good at this blogging thing. Too much happened the last 8 months...not bad things, just things that distracted me from being very creative or wanting to write about them. I am still sewing my way through the studio. Just not as fast as I wanted to. I am making pants trying to get a jean pattern perfected. It slows down the creative process. I still put my ideas in my sketch book so I feel I am still being creative. The sketches are patiently waiting for me to come back and make them 3 dimensional.
This past weekend I went to the beach with my quilting girlfriends and we spent the time sitting at a big table sewing. It was fabulous to just not think of work or needing to take care of the family...just two full days of sewing. Here is one of 18 blocks I made. I have been collecting the fabric for a year now so I thought it was time to get going, so a large log cabin quilt is in the process. I will post the finished piece once sewn together.

My other thoughts the past month have been on RE-USE and USE IT UP. I have scraps, old fabrics, left overs, bi-products, what ever you want to call them I have too much but can't bare parting with them. With the price of cotton fabric going up I thought how can I use it and make it worth while. so as I am sewing my way through the studio with clothing, I am going to also be using up my scraps and writing about it. It has given me new enthusiasm to write and I don't have to finish a big project to show you my ideas. My little green tunic top on the last blog was the first where I used scraps of fabric to make the rosettes around the bottom. The photo below is of by-product from another quilt I did years ago. They are triangles with reproduction fabrics and white on whites. They are on the flannel wall, I am tired of looking at them so I have set out to sew them up. I have set up an extra sewing machine so I can sew on two projects at a time...that way if I feel stumped with one I can just sit at another machine and work on another...or a garment. (It all has to do with thread color and machine set up) Stay tuned for ideas and pictures of how I use them up. I feel better already getting this going! I have a list of ideas to share.

Another new Top to show off

2010-07-25T19:18:00.001-07:00

So I thought I got this top out of my head but I didn't. I was playing with some scraps of vintage fabrics and a new book called "Fabrication" I liked some of her ideas for decorating garments or pillows and adapted this for my top. I cut circles of three different sizes and fabrics then sewed them on with a shell button. I washed the linen top to have the edges fray but it wasn't what I wanted, the fabric flowers stuck out. so I stitched them down with free motion quilting and ran that stitching to the next flower all the way around the bottom. This I liked. I just can't stop making these tops. I have another one on the drawing board!

Menucha Spring 2010

2010-06-04T17:43:00.000-07:00

The weekend before I left for Hong Kong I went to Menucha with my PAC sisters. It was another fun, inspirational, wild laughter of a time! These gals are the best. We started friday afternoon and didn't stop till sunday afternoon. I had to leave a bit early to get ready for my trip but these gals create with a passion. My table mate Debbie has some wonderful samples of work she did in a Traci Bautista class she took. I was so inspired I worked on a few pieces myself. I embroidered on an old Jean skirt I have been working on, we ate, laughed, told stories and just had a wonderful weekend despite the rain.

Inspiration Day in Hood River

2010-04-25T13:06:00.001-07:00

Yesterday, my quilting buddies, Sue and Gail, and I drove out to Hood River to go to the Columbia Center for the Arts. It is hosting a wonderful show featuring some local Fiber Artists. Fiber Arts Now is the show and is up till May 2. Wonderful show. As we looked over the show Hilde Morin, one of the artists was there taking a class from Trisha Hassler, another fabulous fiber artist in the show. I was so glad to meet Tirsha and hope to take one of her classes myself. Her juxtaposition of fabric and metal are incredible. The felt work in the show was wonderful as well, Laura Berman and Pat Sparks.
it was a fun day walking around Hood River. Yarn shopping, Bead shopping and quilt shopping all in town as well as other fun home stores. We were all inspired. I came home, popped in Julie/Julia and worked on my purse panels. I like the way it is coming out.
Today I am cleaning the studio and getting ready to long arm an old quilt I just want to get done. I don't want to give up on it. I have a class and fabric invested into it and think it will look good on our bed after we paint our bedroom light creamy yellow. I will work on the border this week. One down three to go on the long arm quilting.

New tops for Spring

2010-04-11T10:40:00.000-07:00

Well I have been busy with my new job but still finding a little time to work in the studio. I have made two new tops from an old pattern I re-fit. It is from almost 15 years ago when I was working in San Francisco. As I was cleaning out a few boxes of old clothes I found a great black with white polka dot top I made from the pattern when my daughter was born. This little black top looks great( I think) with my cuff jeans and Keen Mary Jane’s. It was just a little tight in the sleeve hem…easy fix with a small gusset. It was such a great piece of fabric it still holds up today. I realized with this project of “sewing my way through the studio” is that I still like the look of some of my old patterns, I just need to update the fit. I need to be fashionable for work but still comfortable. So I dug out some old rayon yardage I had from 8 years ago. The pieces again both hold up to the today’s fashions and my desire to look like an artist without looking like a short fat middle aged woman trying to look hip!. One in a taupe brown with black writing. Words like Create, Inspire, Play, Learn…..I still really liked it so I put together a top with black velvet piping around the neck and black velvet covered buttons. All stuff from my stash. I also added a small gusset in the under arm and that fixed the tight sleeve…Well I am loving it. So I made another one. This one in a purplish/blue batik. I had two fabric pieces that match in colorway. I put a collar on this one…I decided I like the collar better than collar- less version. I found some vintage buttons in my stash that go pretty well. I just bought thread so the topstitching looked good. I love the cool feeling of the soft rayon and the comfortable fit. I think I will call the pattern “Lovin’ it top”. I kind of like the look of a doll, with the mary jane straps, short cuff pants and big gathered top. Just need a flower in my hair! I think I can pull it off. My look is the same but more creative then 30 years ago. I think it can still work for me.
Next I am going to make some Linen Stripe pants and tops to match. I need to work on my vest patterns to dress up some of my outfits. Belted at the waist, palazzo pants out of rayon or linen….stay tuned.

Quilters In Motion Flag

2010-02-20T17:01:00.000-08:00

My Quilt group, Quilters in Motion, participated in a flag exchange this month. We had 12 participants...here are photos of 9 that were done last Thursday. I really hope to get the rest soon as I want to hang my banner soon!.

Spa Willamina

2010-02-20T16:53:00.000-08:00

My dear friend Karen took me to a girls spa night. She took me to a lovely place in NE Portland called Spa Willamina. It is in a cute little house that is warm and comfortable. Check out their monthly specials. We each had a Honey Chocolate Facial and a Cocoa-Butter Massage. It was a very relaxing evening. Check them out.

Studio Re-org for the new year

2010-01-31T16:03:00.000-08:00

I watched Julie/Julia right after the first of the year and I loved it. While away on a business trip I got to thinking about all the fabric and patterns I have been collecting over the years and how I need new clothes so bad! I thought why not sew my way through the studio! So I came home and tore up my fabric stash...it was a hassle but good because I found a bunch of stuff I don't want anymore and can get rid of....so maybe etsy. Anyway my daughter came down and said "What the Heck?!?!!?" So she grabbed my camera and took some pictures of me. She thought she would come down and see me buried under rubbermaid boxes I had them stacked so high! So heres my deal. I took out all the nice fabric I still like and stacked it up so I can get to it. I will only use fabric and patterns I already have. I will do a fitting on my dress form if need be. I want to perfect a few patterns like vest, pant and skirt. I want to try some embellishing as well so not just plain stuff...put some "ART" into them. I am off to a good start working on a pattern for a jacket out of green corduroy. I will post once I get done. I will also have a quilt going on the wall so I get the best of both worlds. I have a new full time job starting this week so I will have to fit it into the schedule but know it will be a good thing for me to relax and do at the end of the day. I have such great tools and so this will give me the challenge to use them. So here's to it...I will check in about it again soon.

Goodwill find!

2009-12-27T08:23:00.001-08:00

Look at what I found at Goodwill yesterday! I saw a lady pick it up and I thought is that really a whole box of embroidery floss!?!?!?! She put it down and I casually moved over to that part of the shelf and grabbed it! It was like finding a pot of gold! I have been trying to use up the items in my studio but just had to do a little looking around yesterday and it came up good with this. I have a box filled with embroidery floss already but love finding things like this. Thanks to Mary Ann's class I have new means for more stuff! My daughter is into going anytime so I can tell we will go again this week while on winter break.

New Journal for 2010

2009-12-27T08:10:00.000-08:00

I have been taking an online class with Mary Ann Moss. She is fabulous and I am having a fun time creating my new Remains of the Day Journal for 2010. We created a fabric cover and then paper pages with lots of goodies sewn on them for pockets, and decoration. It is a great way to get rid of my scraps I have been collecting and stacking up in the studio!.

PAC Open Doors show 2009

2009-12-07T09:32:00.001-08:00

This year was great. I am so lucky to be part of this group. Here is just a small sample of what was there. This is my table with earrings, necklaces and collage art in paper and fabric. I am so looking forward to next year!

Cynthia Mooney

Paula Macnamee

Robin Olsen

Tory Brokenshire

Lenall Siebenaler

Fun with PAC at Menucha

2009-11-01T11:57:00.001-08:00

I spent the best weekend up at Menucha with the gals from PAC. We had extra guests that made it even more fun. We had demos in Soul Collage, Wire Crochet, Zentangles, and many more fun stuff. Everyone had some projects to work on and we visited and went for walks in the woods.
This is my buddy Paula who brought me into the "tribe" and I just love her. Most of us are getting ready for the "Doors"Show on Dec 4-5 at the Multnomah Art Center here in Portland. This is one of the best Art show and sales in the city at that time so come on by and see everyones work.

Three Madonna's

2009-10-09T16:17:00.001-07:00

I just finished my Three Madonna's Wall hanging. It is three different fabric collages with rubbings and beaded embellishments. I transfered images onto fabric and colored them with colored pencils. The background is a rubbing of old crocheted dollies with crayons. It gave is such a nice glow that it looks like halo's. I then beaded around the halo's.

Technical Fashion Illustration

2009-08-13T16:31:00.001-07:00

I am finishing up my summer class of Technical Fashion Illustration at PCC. It was such a great class and all the gals were really great and very into learning what I had to show them. Tonight is the last class so I made them Completion Ribbons. I had some circle cuts of batik fabric left over from my quilt so I made them into little flower like pins and then made a ribbon to attach to the bottom with a vintage illustration. I really like the way they came out. I will be teaching it again next summer.
Also attended my first PAC (Portland Art Collective) meeting today. They are such a nice bunch of gals and I look forward to the Open Doors show this December. More on that as my projects develop.

The Art of Transfers

2009-07-02T11:00:00.000-07:00

I have a class at Fibers In Motion on July 20th and 27th.6-9 in the evening. I will teach 5 different transfer techniques as well as some other fun stuff. Call or go into Fibers In Motions to sign up. www.fibersinmotion.com

Art Fiber Fest, Reed College, Portland OR

2009-07-02T10:46:00.001-07:00

Had a great time with my one day class at Art Fiber Fest and Vendor fair. I spent time with Traci Lampe www.LampesLumps.com and www.RadicalRecycks.etsy.com on Wed. We went to Multnomah Village for shopping and lunch, then off to Fabric Depot. It was great seeing everyone on friday. I took Mary Stanley's felted Collage class and made some wonderful stuff. I made a little picture of my house, and a banner I will hang over my door. I will finish embellishing it with applique letters and embroidery. thank you Mary for another fun class! www.marystanley.blogspot.com

it's been too long...sorry

2009-05-30T13:51:00.000-07:00

It is May 30th and I have not written for a long time. I had a rough winter with snow and different things happening but things are better now and summer is here! I have gotten my camera out and started taking pictures of the flowers.

I have been working on some small quilts I will be posting soon when they are all finished. they will be For Sale...
I have been getting my classes going as well so check the side bar for classes I will be teaching this summer at Fibers In Motion here in Portland , OR.

Artistree, Reno NV

2008-11-30T17:19:00.001-08:00

I was just in Reno for Thanksgiving visiting my husband's family and went for a visit to Nancy Nelson's ArtisTree Studio. It is a great store with lots of fun things. We are going to work on a class for me to come teach after the first of the year. If you are ever in Reno go see her beautiful shop and look around. www.artistreestudio.com
She was nice enough to invite me to do an artist challenge, I am very excited and came up with a few ideas already...now to find the time! I have a Craft Fair at work on December 11th...sock creatures are the featured item. I have to put a pot of coffee on each night before then so I can get them finished up..another great batch of them if I may say so myself!
Happy Beginning of the Holidays!

Remember your small stores

2008-11-08T08:54:00.000-08:00

It has been a very exciting week for America. I want to remind everyone to remember the small businesses that we can patronize. The small fabric/quilt , yarn, bead and craft stores. Some are barely hanging on. I have gone into my big box stores to take advantage of the sales on some of my basic items, but I made an effort to hit a few small bead and quilt shops on my way to Port Townsend for AFF. Just a little bit helps is the way I look at it. I know we will make it through this tough time. I got discouraged in Sept and Oct because I have had to go back to work 5 days a week and wont' be able to work in my studio like I wanted, I decided to just plug along with my projects and not give up HOPE that things will turn around. I feel much better now and believe in that HOPE. I finished my best quilt to date and it will be hanging in Fibers in Motion for a while, I heard back from Somerset Studios and my piece will be published in the next HOME issue and my sock Creature Class is filling up for November. My husband and I are staying positive about the economy and the new year. Just wanted to say my 2 cents worth...will keep to my art in up coming posts.

Art Fiber Fest, Port Townsend, Oct 2008

2008-11-08T08:39:00.001-08:00

These pics are from my class "Inspirational Fabric Collage" at AFF a few weekends ago. The gals did a great job with them. We had a great time and I wanted to thank them for signing up for my class. I had a really fun time with my Dorm mates as well. Just like a big adult slumber party! I loved my class with Tracy Lampe and Lisa Engelbrecht. There were so many fun classes to choose from it was hard to decide but I liked what I had and look forward to the next AFF.

Fourth of July in Fossil Oregon

2008-07-07T20:30:00.000-07:00

I just spent two days at the Wilson Ranch Retreat for our annual Veltman Family gathering. My mother-in-law, Patty, is from Condon Oregon so we trek there each summer for a small parade and fireworks. This year we happened on the same weekend as the Wheeler County Bluegrass Festival in Fossil. It was great and in such a beautiful setting on the lawn of the old court house. The Wilson Ranch looked especially beautiful this year...even after coming for the last six years this one was my favorite for some reason. The wild flowers were beautiful, the hay fields were green and the Barn Swallows had me entranced with their swooping and diving. I did finally get a picture of one close up as it rested on the TV dish and it looked like it had a light peach velvet under belly and midnight blue feathers on his head and wings...I know now why artists find them so intriguing. I have always thought the ranch was beautiful but since my last visit I have taken a nature journal water color class and I met Kaffe Fasset. I look at so many things differently now. I love my pictures and did a little sketching. I would love to gather a group together of fellow artists and rent the big Homestead Room down stairs where we can do artwork at night and walk around the ranch and sketch during the day..a new retreat in the making!.

Kaffe Fassett Workshop

2008-05-13T20:32:00.000-07:00

Man what a weekend! Fibers in Motion hosted Kaffe Fassett here in Portland on May 10th for a slide show and lecture and then on Sunday May 11th there was a workshop in the store for 25 of us quilters...it was wonderful! I am on such a creative high right now I feel I can do just about anything! The above picture is Kaffe critiquing my quilt layout at the end of the day and let me tell you all 25 quilts were beautiful. He and his business partner Brandon Malby worked with us all day long going around and giving suggestions and pulling fabric suggestion together for each quilt. He came by and suggested an orange fabric and then wisked away. I had Luann cut me a half yard of it and another orange I liked and put it up and man oh man was it beautiful..."Juicy" as Kaffe would say in his descriptions of wonderful color combinations. I truly loved being around him and watching him look at all the layouts and fabrics. Thank you Luann for bringing him to us! We will never be the same.
This week is also Quilt market and I am able to go as a teacher connected with Fibers In Motion. I am extremely excited for this and look forward to seeing all the new fabrics, tools and books coming out. I have gone to the Outdoor Clothing and Ski shows for years but have never been so excited to walk the show like I am for this. I know I will come home and have to document all my ideas right away so I don't forget about them.
I am putting together my teaching schedule for the summer. Please see the sidebar for updated classes and schedule

New look for the Blog

2008-02-23T09:52:00.000-08:00

I hope you have a friend like I have...Paula you are the best. My art buddy here in Portland is Paula.www.dreamciclejourneys.blogspot.com I went to her house yesterday and she helped me go through all the fun things on customizing this blogspot . We had fun. I was so inspired by her studio and journals she is working on. I really needed that shot in the arm. So thank you Paula. I have been working on the not so fun stuff to pay the bills. I need to push through that so I can get back to the fun stuff in my studio. I did get excepted to teach Inspirational Fabric Collage at Art Fiber Fest in October 2008 and Silly Sock Creatures at Art and Soul Retreat in October 2008. I really look forward to both those venues. The class schedules should be up on their websites by end of March. visit them now and check the exact dates. View my side bar for pictures of the socks creatures and fabric collage.
Remember Life is Good!

Sock Creatures the Next Adventure!

2008-01-22T20:49:00.000-08:00

This was a really fun class I had a few weeks ago at Fibers in Motion. My Sock Creature classes were asking for MORE..show us MORE. So we had "The Next Adventure" We made some four-legged friends and had a great time laughing. Everyone did a great job. Look for more classes this spring at Fibers. LuAnn said she will put me on the schedule again!

Close Incounter

2008-01-06T17:51:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year! My slogan this year is "USE IT UP" I have way too much fabric and stuff in my studio and I don't want to get rid of it so I have to use it up. I was very inspired by the Uncommon Quilter where Jeanne Williamson made a small quilt each week for 7 years. Now I am not committing to 52 quilts this year but I am going to try and use up some my fabrics and "Do-dads" I have in my studio. My first one here was inspired by an exhibit at the Portland Art Museum my friend Paula and I went to yesterday...Chuck Close. He does wonderful stuff. This small 8.5" x 11 quilt was inspired from his color work. I love it. I will have more to come.
Remember Life is Good!

New Projects

2007-12-04T15:54:00.001-08:00

I have just finished up some projects for class proposals and for Fibers in Motion. They are my version of Inspirational Fabric Collage. I am trying to use up fabric, beads, 3-D scrapbook "goodies" and all this other stuff I have been collecting for years because my studio is bulging at the seams...yes pun intended! I truely love what I am making and can't wait to make more. I am going to stay with small items like purses and wall hangings. The budda is a work in progress and a sewing machine cover I started in my class to show my students. After going to the bead show I found some great stuff to sew on for embellishments.
If you are interested in taking my Fabric collage class, I will be teaching that at Fibers In Motion On January 26, 2008 here in Portland. www.fibersinmotion.com for more detials.

2007-10-25T10:09:00.000-07:00

Here is Dilda and Carla. You are just too funny!

ArtFiber Fest 2007

2007-10-24T17:02:00.000-07:00

Well, I am settled back at home and looking at my pictures...there are too many to post! I had a great class! Thanks to all my students who did a great job on their creations and made me laugh about them...even the unauthorized ones. (Dilda, you know who you are!) We had great weather up at the Fort and a really fun group. My fabric dyeing class with Denise Warner was so colorful and fun...I finally got the dye off my hands yesterday. My fabric journal is beautiful from Pam Garrisons class. Every ones was so pretty. Looking forward to next year!

Welcome!

2007-09-26T19:45:00.000-07:00

This is my new Blog! Yeah! We are almost ready to launch www.travelswithmarty.com, I will post when it is ready to go.