“There’s more than one way to skin a cat.” How many times did I hear that from my mother just about the time that there was a hitch in plans and it was time to regroup and try again? I always thought it was an odd thing to say, as she really did love […]
Heavenly Silk
There is a small but mighty fabric store in Boulder named Elfriede’s Fine Fabrics, after the owner. My first trip to Elfriede’s came not long after it opened upstairs in a building just off Pearl Street in Boulder. I marveled at the exquisite fabrics, wishing that my sewing skills were up to the level of […]
Floating Bison or We Get By with a Little Help from Our Friends
There can be drawbacks to working in a room with just yourself and a dog. I tend to lose myself in a very specific part of the piece I’m working on, even to the point that I don’t see the whole piece when I step across the room. This happened with the bison. What drew […]
Out of the Blue
I remember back in the day when the phone was black, had a dial, and sat on Mom’s desk. When the phone rang, you hesitated to see if it was going to be one long ring or two short rings before you answered. Funny, I don’t remember now which ring pattern we were. Awhile back […]
Artmakers Denver
Why would anyone just 25 minuets up U.S. 36 in Boulder shell out the money to stay in a hotel in Denver? I can tell you: to totally immerse yourself in the experience that was Artmakers Denver, 2014. I took a three-day class with Elizabeth St. Hilaire Nelson. It was so wonderful to be totally […]
IT WAS A GOOD DAY TO DYE
If you’ve been reading my blog for long, you know I love play dates with my artist friends. You have also seen the clothesline full of dyed fabrics. No clothesline this time, just stacks and stacks of awesome dyed, stamped, screen-printed, and painted fabrics. I kept the idea of “cultivate” foremost in my mind going […]
MUSCLE MEMORY
I was reminded the other day that muscle memory is used in many areas of our lives. I read more books on my iPhone now than I do “real” books. When I picked up a book recently, I found myself tapping the page expecting it to turn. Then I had a rental car for a […]
BINDING MATTERS
While manning the SAQA table at the Denver National Quilt show, I was asked by a former student my opinion on the finishing of her quilt. We talked about doing a simple “Artist’s” binding or facing. To illustrate what I was talking about, I walked over to a quilt in the show by my friend […]
UNDER WRAPS
I’ve been working furiously in the studio. Too bad you can’t see what I’ve been doing. I have completed the first, and now I’m working on the second quilt, to submit to Raining Cats and Dogs in Houston. This is the same show that Drew was in last year with Best Friend. Since the show […]
Mumblings from the Backroom
Sometimes I’ll make a design decision seemingly without thought, only to realize later there really was a reason for the madness. When designing Tiger Eyes, I had a huge constraint on my method of working. The fusible web I prefer, Lite Steam-a-Seam 2, had been on backorder for months with no ship date in sight. […]
RUSTY BITS
I have the most popular husband in the world of rust. He came about it quite by accident. I’ve rusted fabric from time to time with limited success. After participating in a critique group that included Regina Benson, I decided I wanted to try again and was mentioning to my hubby that I needed to […]
PAISLEY OR PERSIAN PICKLE?
Summer of love or cashmere shawl—which comes to your mind when you hear the word paisley? Since I was only 8 years old during the summer of love and I own four shawls with paisley patterns, I tend to go back and forth on the question. A recent donation of fabric contained a treasure […]
THE SCENT OF A BABY
Who can resist the sweet smell of a baby? The scent of fresh beef as they lick your face and sniff your breath. Yes, I prefer the four-footed, canine version of baby. Rosie and Tiger, who had been gnawing on raw beef bones before slobbering on my face, were 11 weeks old when I had […]
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
The three “Rs” of the green movement are not new. My mother was one of the queens of recycling in her day. To set the stage for our story, it is important to remember that the Sugar Loaf area is crisscrossed with mining claims. Each claim had a shaft or tunnel. The shafts came in […]
The Beauty of a Stash
One of the most common questions I am asked is, “Why did you pick that particular fabric?” I find that to be a hard question to answer most of the time. It always depends on the piece and what is in my stash at the time. Although I do gravitate toward certain colors, purple in […]
Everyone Take a Number!
Are you ever in search of an idea for your next artwork? Can’t decide what to do? Sometimes I wish I had that problem. More often than not my animals are knocking each other over trying to be next in line. My laptop is overflowing with reference photos I’ve taken at zoos, the National Western […]
A Question about Fusible Materials
A friend recently called me asking which fusible web I use in my artwork. She was excited about working on a fusible project, but the product suggested with the pattern wasn’t working for her because certain fabrics would not fuse together. The quick and easy answer is that my chosen fusible web is Lite Steam-a-Seam […]