Lots of Stuff Going On!

Some scarf samples for my upcoming workshop in Savannah.

Hi there...I haven't been spending too much time in Blogland recently. But wanted to let you know what's been up!

First...you might want to stop by The Printed Fabric Bee blog for the next installment of my Kitchen Resist tutorials. This one shows how to use two resists--knotted resist and wheat flour paste resist-- to create a festive Valentine's Day gift wrap. Leave a comment on that blog to be eligible to win a giveaway...a copy of my book, Fabric Printing at Home, and one yard of Prepared for Dyeing cotton.

Learn how to make this fabric in a tutorial on The Printed Fabric Bee blog.

Turn your fabric into a gift wrap!

I've been prepping for upcoming classes too! I'm heading off to Savannah next weekend to visit my Mom and to teach a four-hour scarf printing workshop to the Landings Art Association. I'll be giving a lecture too...on Kitchen Resists!

Scarf samples.

I'm also continuing to prep for the upcoming Hand Stitching class. I'm SO excited by the possibilities!!! I've been playing around a little with Buttonhole stitch. I have so many ideas...only wish my hands could stitch faster :)!

Playing around with Buttonhole stitch to create patterns.

More Buttonhole with Running and Back stitches, in process.

Next month, I'll be teaching at A Fibreworks Gathering in Harrisburg, PA. More info about that to come. But here's a link in case you live in the general area and would like to take a class with me!

Hope that your 2016 is off to a creative start!

Happy New Year and a New Start for The Printed Fabric Bee

Happy New Year! Hope you all have lots of creative projects planned for 2016...I know I do...probably more than I have time for :)!

To get you started, I've posted the first of three posts on The Printed Fabric Bee blog. The Bee is heading off in a new direction this year and I think you'll love what we have in store! Each month, a Bee member will post mini-tutorials and surface design projects for you to try. In addition, each month we will have a fabulous giveaway!

January is my month and I'm planning three Kitchen Resist projects...starting with the one I just posted today on Rubbings with Liquid Dishwashing Soap. Hope you enjoy the project. Leave a comment on The Printed Fabric Bee blog on any one of my three posts this month to be eligible to win my giveaway.

Have fun!

All Caught Up! The Printed Fabric Bee Architecture Theme Challenge

I'm finally all caught up with my Printed Fabric Bee fabrics! It's been a great two years of learning, stretching and making new virtual friends. I've now also had the pleasure of meeting some of my PFB buds in person! What a treat! This has been an awesome group and an awesome experience! Some of us have agreed to continue and, as I mentioned in the last post, we are coming up with a new format. All of this will start in January...so stay tuned!

I just finished the Architecture theme fabric for Deborah Boschert. The winner of the fabric collection was chosen on September 15...congrats to Nancy Roberts...I'll be sending the 6" square off to you this week.

Here's how I made the fabric...

Deborah requested blues for her fabric color. I mixed up a couple of blue transparent fabric paints and free-hand painted the background.

To give the piece a bit of texture, I slipped one of my hot glue on cardboard texture blocks under the fabric and did some brayer rubbings using a couple of blue opaque fabric paint colors.

For the architectural motifs, I researched on Pinterest and found some column and arch designs which I enlarged and traced. I then transferred the designs and carved a number of Speedy Carve print blocks. I also created some adhesive fun foam blocks in the shapes of some of the motifs. I had such a great time playing with layering that I ended up creating two pieces for Deborah.

Here's the second piece I designed for Deborah.

And here is the 6" square that will be heading Nancy's way.

This theme stymied me for a while...but I'm finally happy with my solution.

The Printed Fabric Bee Caribbean (Ocean) Giveaway

It's time, once again, for a Printed Fabric Bee Giveaway. This is the last giveaway of the year. The group is "re-grouping" and will have an exciting new series of online "how-tos" and giveaways starting in January 2016. We'll be spending more time posting on the official The Printed Fabric Bee blog. I'm really looking forward to it!

In the meantime...this month's Queen Bee is Judy Gula. Judy requested a 12" x 12" fabric with the theme Caribbean Ocean...colors were up to us. Well...you can probably see that the "ocean" part of the theme seemed to slip my mind...only the "Caribbean" part seemed to register. Fortunately, Judy is a good sport and seemed just fine with my tropical addition to her collection.

Here's how I made the fabric...

I tore strips of freezer paper and ironed them to my fabric. Then I painted between the strips, alternating colors and let the fabric dry before removing the freezer paper.

I cut a slice from a large turnip and used a cookie cutter to cut a shaped piece. I carved a design in the turnip slice with my linoleum cutters. I also cut a large carrot and carved that for the smaller motifs. You can see the final fabric at the top of this post. If you want to see some more inspiring ideas about how to print with fruit and veggies...I have an entire chapter about it in my book, Fabric Printing at Home!

Here is my 6" giveaway fabric.

And here are the giveaway fabrics for this collection so far.

To be eligible to win, leave a comment on The Printed Fabric Bee blog or on Judy Gula's blog. Judy will be announcing a winner on October 15. Good luck!!

See how the rest of the Bee members created their pieces...

Jane Davila

Jackie Lams

Carol Eaton

Leslie Jenison

Susan Purney Mark

Lisa Chin

Gerrie Congdon

Lynn Krawczyk

Deborah Boschert

Lynda Heines

Another Printed Fabric Giveaway...Architecture!

It's been a while since my last post and I have a bit of "housekeeping" to do. The Printed Fabric Bee is having another fabric giveaway. This month, Deborah Boschert was Queen Bee and her theme was Architecture...12"x 12" and all blues.

Above are the 6" giveaway fabrics so far...many more to come...including mine! If you want to be eligible to win, be sure to leave a comment on either Deborah's blog or The Printed Fabric Bee blog. She'll be picking a winner on September 15th!

I've been a busy bee myself...I'll be heading off to Cleveland, Ohio in a week and a half to tape two TV segments for Quilting Arts TV! I'm very excited....and a little bit nervous! What an honor to be asked! So...I've been spending many hours in the studio painting and printing fabric in preparation. A big box full of samples and supplies headed off to Cleveland yesterday.

Today, was the first day of my Healing Cloth workshop...I'll be posting about it tomorrow...such promise so far!

The Printed Fabric Bee Giveaway: Insects!

July's Queen Bee was Jane Davila and she requested that we Worker Bees create fabrics that incorporated insect designs.

I was inspired by my recent trip to Cape Cod. We stayed in a house in the woods...which also happened to have a wonderful ocean view (the best of both worlds). What surprised me the most was the constant fluttering that was going on in that woods...not butterflies...but moths! I'd always thought of moths as being nocturnal creatures...not so, in this case!

My moth design was based on a paper cut design I'd done a number of years ago. I reduced it down and modified it a bit. I made a tracing of the design and then transferred it to a Speedball Speedy Carve block to carve.

For the background, I found some dyed fabric in my stash. I decided to add some more texture with a hot glue block which I slipped under the fabric and then rolled over with two different paint colors. To me, the texture of the rubbings represented the pines and scrub oak.

I slipped a hot glue block under my fabric for brayer rubbings.

I then over-printed with the carved block in three different colors (see fabric at top of post). A fluttering forest design!

Here is my 6" square that is part of the monthly fabric giveaway.

And here are some of the other fabrics you can win.

To be eligible to win, visit Jane Davila's blog or The Printed Fabric Bee blog and leave a comment. Jane will be announcing a winner on August 15. Good luck!

Be sure to stop by the blogs of the other Bee members to find out how they created their fabrics.
Lynn Krawczyk
Judy Gula
Jane Davila
Lynda Heines
Deborah Boschert
Lisa Chin
Gerrie Congdon
Susan Purney Mark
Carol R. Eaton
Jackie Lams
Leslie TuckerJenison

The Printed Fabric Bee Vintage Giveaway

Detail of Vintage fabric.

It's time, once again, for another Printed Fabric Bee Giveaway! This month, Lynn Krawczyk was the Queen Bee and her theme was Vintage. I scratched my head a bit about that theme...then went through a number of possible ideas until I realized that the answer was in my grandmother's sewing basket!

I inherited Nanny Schein's sewing basket, and folks who have taken either my Story Cloth or Healing Cloth class know that I am in the process of completing a book about Nanny through the objects in the sewing basket. It occurred to me that the wonderful scissors in that basket would make a great subject for a Vintage fabric.

Here are the three pairs of scissors from the basket.

I photocopied them and then traced them.

Photocopy and tracing.

Then I transferred the designs to Speedball Speedy Carve blocks and carved them.

I chose some fabric from my stash that I'd created by printing a resist onto the fabric before painting it. I randomly printed with the carved blocks with black and Sienna brown Setacolor fabric paints.

Here is the final fabric.

And the six inch square that you can win as part of the giveaway.

Here are some of the other fabrics you can win from the other Bee members.

In order to be eligible to win this collection of Vintage fabrics, leave a comment on either Lynn's blog or The Printed Fabric Bee Facebook page (under the photo of the collection). Lynn will announce the winner on July 11. Good luck!

Be sure to stop by the blogs of the other Bee members to find out how they created their fabrics.
Judy Gula
Jane Davila
Lynda Heines
Deborah Boschert
Lisa Chin
Gerrie Congdon
Susan Purney Mark
Carol R. Eaton
Jackie Lams
Leslie TuckerJenison

And Finally....The Petrogyph Fabric!

Do you know how it is when you get behind on something...but have to keep moving forward with other things...that thing that you didn't get to just "niggles" away at you (guilt?)!

Well, finally...I've finished The Printed Fabric Bee fabric for Lynda Heines. Lynda was the Queen Bee WAY back in January! So sorry Lynda. And...also so sorry to the winner, Janice! So these will be off in the mail to the two of you tomorrow.

Since I was feeling especially bad about the hold up, I did a bit of hand stitching on them to make them extra special. Hope you like them!

Here are the two images I referenced:

I also used a liquid dishwashing soap resist for the background.

Whew! Now to move onto other "niggly" things. Trying to get them all off my plate so I can focus on my summer art project plans. What are your arty plans for the summer (which has already started!!)?

I plan to...

--Get back to my hand stitching "roots" while producing some hand stitched book samples for my new Winter session class, Stitching, Printing, Mark Making: Developing a Personal Vocabulary with Hand Stitching.

--Work up samples for a special (wonderful!) something that is happening this fall (more about that later).

--Start working on some pieces about my Dad using cotton handkerchiefs.

Got to get back to work!!

The Printed Fabric Bee: Marks with Found Objects Fabric Giveaway

It's time, once again, for another Printed Fabric Bee Challenge and Giveaway! This month the Queen Bee was Leslie Tucker Jenison. Leslie requested that we print fabric "making marks with found objects". She wanted neutrals with a "pop" of color...though I think I ended up doing color with a "pop" of neutrals! This fabric design was inspired by one of the fabrics I made for the Fabric Printing at Home Scavenger Hunt.

Here's how I made my fabric...

The first layer was printed with a block made by gluing lentils to a piece of cardboard.

For the second layer, I decided to use a plastic takeout coffee top.

For the third and forth layers, I used two of my very favorite "found" objects...a milk bottle top and a "C" battery!

I thought I was finished, but then realized that the fabric needed something more. So I printed with the edge of a business card and then a piece of corrugated cardboard. I really like how that came out and plan to use that idea again. Sorry, I forgot to take photos of this step!

Here is Leslie's final fabric.

And here is the 6" square you can win by leaving a comment on either The Printed Fabric Bee blog or  The Printed Fabric Bee Facebook page under the photo of the collection.

Leslie will announce a winner on June 15. Good luck!!

Be sure to visit the blogs of the other Bee members to see how they made their fabrics:

Carol R. Eaton
Jackie Lams
Lynda Heines
Gerrie Congdon
Susan Purney Mark
Deborah Boschert
Jane Davila
Lisa Chin
Lynn Krawczyk
Leslie Jenison
Judy Gula 

My Geometry Fabric and a Guest Post on Cloth Paper Scissors

I finally finished my Printed Fabric Bee Geometry fabric for Gerrie Congdon. Gerrie's choosing a winner today for the 6" squares of the Geometry giveaway fabrics, so be sure to stop by The Printed Fabric Bee Blog to leave a comment!

6" square giveaway fabric

I decided to use a couple of my favorite "found" objects to print this fabric...a milk bottle top and a battery!

If you want to know the specifics on how I used these items to print my fabric, stop by the Cloth, Paper, Scissors blog TODAY...I'm the guest blogger and will show you how to make a "Top-Op Art" fabric! I was so excited to be asked to do a post for them! Hope you enjoy reading it.

The Printed Fabric Bee Geometrics Giveaway

I'm a bit behind in announcing that it's time for the monthly fabric giveaway from The Printed Fabric Bee. Gerrie Congdon was this month's Queen Bee and her fabric theme was Geometry. The above mosaic shows you the fabrics so far and the rest of us are now working away on our pieces. I plan to work on mine on Thursday and will post about it on Friday. BUT in the meantime, if you would like the opportunity to win the 6" square selections of the fabrics featured above you'll need to either stop by Gerrie's blog or The Printed Fabric Bee blog and leave a comment. Gerrie is selecting a winner on May 15th...so don't delay!

And the Winner is...

...Barbara Woods!

Congrats, Barbara! Please email me with your mailing address (threadborn@cox.net) and I'll send off the mola-inspired fabric collection from The Printed Fabric Bee.

Hope that these fabrics inspire you and that you let us know what you end up creating with them.

Mola-licious! Last chance to enter to win the giveaway!

What a treat to receive packages full of mola-licious fabrics! In case you are scratching your head, I was Queen of The Printed Fabric Bee for the month of March. My theme was molas...the colorful layered reverse applique designs created by the Kuna women of the San Blas Islands (Panama).

I've been drooling over the results! I love how the fabrics seem to complement each other...Great job Bee members!

Today is the last chance for you to leave a comment on my April 2nd post or on The Printed Fabric Bee blog, in order to have your name included in the giveaway drawing for 6" versions of these and additional fabrics. I'll be announcing the winner tomorrow. Good luck!

The Printed Fabric Bee Giveaway: Molas!

It's time, once again, for The Printed Fabric Bee Giveaway. For those of you unfamiliar with The Printed Fabric Bee, we are a group of 12 surface design enthusiasts. Each month, one member is designated the Queen. The Queen gets to select a theme and colors for her fabric collection and the rest of the members get to work. The result is an original and eclectic collection of fabrics. And since we like to spread the fun around, each month we put together a collection of 6" square versions of the fabric that you can win!


This month I was the Queen! My theme was Molas. I just love molas... a reverse applique technique developed by the Kuna Indians. I'm attracted to the symmetry, the contrast and bright colors and also the playfulness and mastery of the technique. I'm so excited to have the Bee members interpret this theme.


Now...for the giveaway...Here is what you have to do...leave a comment on this blog post or go over to The Printed Fabric Bee blog and leave one there. I'll be choosing a winner on Wednesday, April 15th (just to cheer someone up on Tax Day!). You'll have up to midnight Eastern USA time on April 14th to leave your comment.


In the meantime, stop off at each of the Bee member's blogs to find out how they created their mola fabric designs. Good luck!!!

Carol R. Eaton
Jackie Lams
Lynda Heines
Gerrie Congdon
Susan Purney Mark
Deborah Boschert
Jane Davila
Lisa Chin
Lynn Krawczyk
Leslie Jenison
Judy Gula

The Printed Fabric Bee Giveaway: Forest Floor Final Update

This month's theme is the "Forest Floor".

For those of you unfamiliar with The Printed Fabric Bee, we are a group of 12 surface design enthusiasts. Each month, one member is designated the Queen. The Queen gets to select a theme and colors for her fabric collection and the rest of the members get to work. The result is an original and eclectic collection of fabrics. And since we like to spread the fun around, each month we put together a collection of 6" square versions of the fabric that you can win!

This month's Queen Bee was Carol R. Eaton and her theme was the Forest Floor.

I decided that I wanted to work with one of my favorite kitchen resists...confectioners' sugar syrup! I love the rich, velvety marks that this resist makes. I have a great microwave recipe for this resist in my new book, Fabric Printing at Home.

I also decided that I wanted to do two layers of brayer rubbings using the resist and one of my favorite print blocks...a hot glue on cardboard block.

I slipped a hot glue block under the fabric and rolled a layer of the sugar syrup over the fabric to pick up the designs.

After the sugar syrup resist dried, I painted washes of fabric paint over the resist. After heat setting the paint, I washed out the resist and repeated the whole process with a different hot glue block design.

With the background complete, I printed with a carved Speedy Carve block with images of dandelion leaves.

See the first image in this post for the final result.

And here is the six-inch fabric square that you can win.

Here are all the fabrics (so far) that are in the giveaway this month...what a great collection!

Carol will be choosing a giveaway winner on March 15th. You can enter by either leaving a comment on Carol's blog or The Printed Fabric Bee blog under the Forest Floor 6" square giveaway mosaic. Good luck!

Visit other Bee members' blogs and find out how they created their fabrics!
Jackie Lams
Lynda Heines
Gerrie Congdon
Susan Purney Mark
Deborah Boschert
Jane Davila
Lisa Chin
Lynn Krawczyk
Leslie Jenison
Judy Gula