Spreading Some Creative Cheer

Detail of a scarf printed with carrots and turnips.

I'm gearing up for a big end of the week! I have three events planned and if you happen to live in the Washington DC area, I hope you'll stop by and join me for one (or more) of them!

On Thursday, I'll be at teaching some mini-workshops at Stifel & Capra in Falls Church, Virginia. Sign up for a session of Kitchen Couture: Print Your Own Scarf. This is a great opportunity to take a printing workshop with me and walk away with a beautiful hand-printed scarf for only $10!!! I'll also be signing copies of Fabric Printing at Home. Pair the book with an additional scarf blank and you have a great gift for a crafty friend or family member!

I spent yesterday printing scarves in my studio. I'm going to have some veggies "blocks" available for participants, as well as hot glue, foam and carved blocks. I'll be demoing some printing "how-to's" and then you'll get a chance to play!

Here are some of the scarves I made.

Sign up for a time slot to save your spot.

On Friday night from 6:00 to 9:00 PM, I'll be demoing fabric printing at Artfete--The Art League School's annual Open House (Alexandria, Virginia). This is always a happenin' event...art exhibitions, demos, live music, food, jewelry and ceramic sales and even a runway show! Stop by my table and try your hand at printing. I'll have a number of copies of Fabric Printing at Home on hand and am happy to personally sign one for you!

Saturday, I head to the Artistic Artifacts Open House and Pop Up Holiday Market (Alexandria, Virginia). The event goes from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM, I'll be there from 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM. I'll  be demoing veggie printing and other techniques from my book. Judy Gula will have copies of Fabric Printing at Home on hand...which I will, of course, sign! This should be great fun and I'm looking forward to seeing all the wonderful art and craft work for sale at the Holiday Market.

Hope to see you at one of these events!

November Stitch-In

Some new pieces by Barbara M-C

Just three of us for the November Stitch-In...Barbara, Peggy and me. But, as always, great discussion and sharing...and stitching!

Barbara is working on a new series of hoop pieces to hang on her pink wall. These are a combination of gelatin printing and block printing on a sheer fabric. Barbara backed them on white cotton and is starting to stitch details.

Peggy brought in a number of small pieces that she printed and is now adding stitched details. These will either be turned into individual pieces or stitched together into a larger wall hanging. She also brought in two new stitch books. The book, From Art to Stitch by Janet Edmonds looked interesting. The author creates stitched works inspired by famous modern painters.

I brought in some of my resist rubbing and stitched mats. I started hemming the one that is the featured project in this month's Julie B Booth Surface Design News (Issue #31).

Ann is out west visiting family. She'll be heading to Texas to visit with her granddaughter and foster great grandchildren. She sent me some photos today to share. She's just about finished with Buffalo Boy (click here to read about him). Isn't he great! I also love that his cape is stitched with encouraging words. Ann says that these are the qualities symbolized by the buffalo.

We had a extra special treat today...Barbara brought along the French embroidery floss and books that she used to sell in her wonderful little shop in London. She now sells some of these items online.
Peggy and I dove into the basket of floss...so many colors! Thanks Barbara for bringing them to the meeting and also for selling them for such a sweet price!

Looking forward to next month's Stitch-In!

Searching for Roy G Biv 4: PINK Update #5

Orchids in November morning light.

Welcome to the next installment of the Search for Roy G Biv (the colors of the rainbow). We are continuing beyond the rainbow this month with the color PINK. Here's what I found...

Fuzzy pink.

Healthy pinks

Pink Speedy Carve blocks...my favorite brand to carve!

Poppy's purple and pink pup!

Once again, I'm surprised that PINK is a regular visitor to my creative exploits (well...mostly HOT PINK!).

Resist prints with leaves from Julie B Booth Surface Design News #30.

Tropical pinks using turnips and carrots printed for a Printed Fabric Bee Challenge.

Hot glue pinks...a technique being featured in one of my QATV segments next year.

Day of the Dead pinks (veggie prints and stencils) from my recent book signing in Frederick, MD

Hope you will join in the fun this month by posting up to five PINK photos on your blog and leaving a comment here or on Jennifer Coyne Qudeen's blog. I'll continue to update this post through Saturday. Be sure to check out the PINK entries below:

 Margaret at Charlton Stitcher has posted some "travelling PINKS". The last two photos are truly spectacular!

 Jennifer has found plenty of signs of PINK this month, both urban and suburban.

Fiona at Paper Ponderings has a wonderful quote about old books and a beautiful photo of one that she encountered in Japan with just a hint of PINK.

Roxanne Lasky posted some popping PINKS today...check them out!

Maya at Take Diversion has some very unexpected PINKS!

Susan and Elizabeth at PGFiber2Art have cheery PINKS this month.

Lisa at arzigogolare is thinking fondly of PINK with bouquets of peonies.

Sharmon Davidson has floral PINKS in every shade! I especially love those cone flowers.

Fran at At the End of the Day has poetic and powerful PINKS.

Mary Ann at Blue Sky Dreaming found family PINKS. I love the idea of the wedding scroll!

Linda Stokes has some artistic PINKS this month and some will be appearing in her "Gifted" show.





The final installment of Roy is December 17th and it is a Blogger's Choice. Hope you will join in next month...Jennifer and I are taking a break from Roy after that. It's been a great run!

Roy Reminder...PINK This Thursday!

Sorry to be so late with this reminder....have you noticed that time is flying by? The thought that Thanksgiving is next week is really blowing my mind! And Hanukkah starts the night of  December 6th...YIKES!

But I digress...Here is your reminder that this Thursday, November 19th, it's once again time to go on the search for Roy (as in Roy G Biv, the colors of the rainbow). We have moved beyond the rainbow and this month the search brings us to PINK.

If you'd like to play along, all you have to do is post up to five PINK photos on your blog this Thursday and leave a comment on my or my cohort, Jennifer Coyne Qudeen's blog. We'll link to your post so all those playing can see your entries. It's lots of fun so hope you join in!

Thick and Thin...Following a Thread

So....following a thought thread from my previous post, I decided to play a little bit more with thick and thin lines of stitching using back stitch, stem stitch, and running stitch. This is in preparation for the Hand Stitching class I'll be teaching in January and February.

This time, I stitched with strands of white DMC floss on two layers of black cotton. First I drew a 4" square image area and divided it into quarters. I then drew a circle in each square.  I marked parallel stitching guidelines approximately 1/8" apart in each square. I used one strand of DMC floss for the "thin" lines and four strands for the "thick" lines.

Starting with running stitch, I stitched the background with the single strand of floss and the circle design with the four strands. I tried to have the lines of running stitch line up vertically to form columns of stitches. I really like the subtle "appearance" of the circle and that the further away I hold the piece, the more defined the circle becomes (sort of like a Pointillist painting!).

Running stitch. I tried to have the stitches line up in columns.

For the next square, I stitched the background in a thick stem stitch and the circle using only the single strand.

Stem stitch (left square)

Then it was back stitch, with the background stitched in a single strand and the circle with four strands.

Back stitch top left.

For the final square, I returned to running stitch. This time, the stitches in each line alternate (sort of like a brick wall), with the background stitched with four strands and the circle with one.

Running stitch alternating stitches with each row.

After creating this sample...a whole lot of  what ifs exploded in my brain!!!

I wish I had several more pairs of hands to stitch all my ideas! I'm glad that I'm keeping a journal to jot them down. But...I have to keep in mind that I need more class samples that cover a number of topics such as stitch length and angle etc. The funny thing is...I could probably teach an entire class using just the running stitch...there are so many possibilities!

If you live in the Washington DC area, registration for the Hand Stitching class starts at 9:30 AM on this coming Monday, November 9th!