Sunday, December 15, 2013

New Blues and Other News


The final blue spirals have arrived! Such a visual treat!
Thanks to Lisa Chin, Lesley Riley, Susan Purney Mark and Jackie Lams of The Printed Fabric Bee for this beautiful selection of blue spirals.

Look for an announcement after Christmas about how you can win 6" x 6" versions of all the blue spiral fabrics. To see some of the other photos click here and here.

On the book front, I'm chugging along. Today is the official deadline for the rough draft. Needless to say I'm still writing and trying to finish up the very last of the fabric samples. Fortunately, there's still a bit of time before the manuscript moves onto the next phase...not too much time though. I'll be bringing my laptop along with me on my holiday travels.

I hope to do a bit of posting here as well, if time allows. It's been so strange to be out of the loop with my blogging friends. I miss stopping by all your blogs to see what you're up to...I have A LOT of catching up to do!!! Hope that you are all enjoying (or have enjoyed) your holidays for this time of the year. Hope too that you're taking good care of yourself...maybe a little bit of pampering and are not too stressed out by the holiday madness.

January will mean the reboot of Searching for Roy G Biv (the colors of the rainbow). Jennifer and I will announce a date soon. January also means I'll be back to writing Julie B Booth Surface Design News. I must admit that writing my book, Fabric Printing at Home, seems a lot like writing numerous newsletters! If you haven't signed up for it, the sign up is in the top right-hand column. It's free, comes to your mailbox monthly and has a fabric printing project inspired by kitchen materials. You can view past newsletters as well. I've been pleasantly surprised that in my writing absence I've had over 30 new subscribers! So somehow the word is getting out there...which makes me happy and grateful!

So...look for lots of announcements in the coming weeks...now back to book writing!




Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Metallic Blues

Gerrie C.'s fabric is on the left, Lynn K.'s is on the right.

Two more blue spiral fabrics from The Printed Fabric Bee have arrived.

Gerrie Congdon and Lynn Krawczyk were certainly on the same wave length with these fabrics that feature blue metallics!


They are a perfect complement and seem as if they belong together in a future project.

You will have an opportunity to win 6" versions of these and the other Bee fabrics later this month.

Stay tuned!

Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Blue Spirals Making an Appearance!

Carol's blue spirals

It's my month as Queen of The Printed Fabric Bee. I requested the theme of blue spirals for my fabrics. Fabrics from Hive members, Carol Eaton and Lynda Heines arrived the other day and they are just gorgeous! Here is a sneak peak...

Carol's blue spirals
Lynda's blue spirals

For those of you who are curious about The Printed Fabric Bee, here is a post about it.

If you'd like to know more about how Carol created her fabric, she has a wonderful post about it here.

I mentioned to the Hive that I love fabrics from all over the world so Lynda designed one based on Kente cloth. Isn't it lovely?

Lynda's blue spirals inspired by Kente cloth

Guess what? You will have a chance to win 6" squares of all the fabrics I receive this month! Look for info about the drawing here and at The Printed Fabric Bee in the next week or so.

I can't wait to see what arrives in the mail today!


Thursday, November 21, 2013

Feeling Fierce!


This lucky lion arrived in the mail yesterday.

It could not have come at a better time.

I was starting to feel a bit like a scaredy cat looking at all that needs to get done on the book in the next few weeks.

This lion's fierce face reminds me to put my game face on and get it done!


Thanks Jeff and Robbin. My Good Luck Lion will be watching over me in the studio as I finish up the last chapters.


GRRRRRR.....

Monday, November 11, 2013

Turnips and Carrots and Pears...Oh My!

Floris F.: Lime and lentils

Yesterday, I taught my class, Beyond the Potato Print.

Floris F.: Carrot and turnip
Floris F.: Garlic and onion
Floris F.: Pomegranate
Floris F.: Broccoli and carrot

Turnips, carrots, onions, cucumbers, broccoli, pomegranates, pears and more were transformed into print blocks!

Barbara H.: Pear
Barbara H.: Pear
Barbara H.: Lime and pineapple
Barbara H.: Bay leaves

We had an occasional customer poke her head in...a bit perplexed...a cooking class in the fabric store?

Betty F.: Potato
Betty F.: Carrots and cabbage

What we were cooking up were some delicious fabrics!

Camilla L.: Pear and potato
Camilla L.: Pear, potato, turnip and carrot
Camilla L.: Lime, potato, turnip and carrot

On another note...I was so excited to receive my first paycheck from Quarry Books! Now I really CAN say that I'm an author.

Lynn Krawczyk has announced the winner of the fabric packet from The Printed Fabric Bee over at her blog, Smudged Textiles Studio --Congrats, Marsha!

Monday, November 4, 2013

The Printed Fabric Bee: Orange Circles and a Fabric Giveaway


In an earlier post, I mentioned that I'm a part of an online group called The Printed Fabric Bee. For the next year we all have a turn at being the Queen Bee. The Queen decides on a fabric theme for the month and the rest of the Hive gets to work! Lynn Krawczyk was the Queen for the month of October. Her theme request was orange circles.

Some test prints before jumping in to do the final pieces.

 After a couple of false starts, I decided to work with some coffee dyed fabric. Lynn says she's into that 70's palette of brown, orange and avocado green. Not a big fan of that combo myself but decided that the tan of the coffee fabric would be a great start (and close to brown). Next I decided to use some of the techniques that will be featured in my now-in-process book, Fabric Printing at Home. I printed a slightly darker tan background texture using a block made from rolled corrugated cardboard strips. This was followed by printing with orange fabric paint using a carved turnip! I did two versions of the fabric. One of them has the addition of some hand painted details in blue and dark brown.

Version without the hand painted details.

Each month, the group offers a drawing for 6" x 6" versions of the fabrics produced in the month's theme. Leave a comment by midnight, November 10th at The Printed Fabric Bee page or on Lynn Krawczyk's blog if you'd like to be eligible to win. The winner will be announced on November 11.

Here is the fabric pack that you can win!


For November, I'm Queen Bee and I've asked for blue spirals for my theme. I can't wait to see my fabrics!

Saturday, November 2, 2013

Latin American Influences...Color-filled Day!

Judy P.

What a color-filled day...all inspired by textiles and designs from Latin America!

Judy P.
Judy P.
Ann S.
Ann S.
Nonie S.
Nonie S.
We had a riotous-good time! Thanks Ann, Barbara, Cheryl, Judy and Nonie...it was lots of fun spending the day with all of you! 

Cheryl's colorful table
Cheryl V.
Cheryl V.
Cheryl V.
Barbara H.
Barbara H.

Barbara brought in 3 quilted wall hangings using her fabrics from the African Influences class. Aren't they wonderful!


Sunday, October 27, 2013

Wild Animal Saturday!


Yesterday, I had such an enjoyable time with two moms and their daughters creating a pack of wrapped wire animals!

Here they are...

Ava's chipmunk with acorn.
Aiyana's elephant
Jennifer's giraffe
Adelaide's horse
My book (Fabric Printing at Home) is moving along. Thanks to those of you who have given me supportive and wise words. It feels strange not sharing studio work here with you...but just know that the time is going to a good purpose!