7 Şubat 2013 Perşembe

Girl's Night Out Blogger Get Together

To contact us Click HERE
We're so excited for THIS:
We know it's going to be a great night with some amazing bloggers who love (love!) sewing.  But wait... there's more!CONTEST2
Join in on the fun by with the Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft Store Girl's Night Out Contest -- you could win your own sewing swag!


Entries can be made via Twitter or Instagram by simply answering the question: 
What's in your sewing stash that you couldn't live without?
Be sure to use the hashtag #sewswag in your entry!!!
3 winners will be chosen at random during the Event and tweeted out live.
Don't have a Twitter or Instagram account? Leave a comment on this post for entry.
Rules: You may receive up to (2) total entries by choosing one of the three methods listed above. No duplicate comments, tweets or photos. All entries made via comments on this post must have an e-mail address listed in the comment. The contest runs from 10/2/12 - 10/12/12, and is open to US Residents age 18 or older. Winners will be selected via random draw, and notified by e-mail, direct twitter message, or Instagram comment. You have 72 hours to respond, otherwise a new winner will be selected.
Want more Jo-Ann Fabric & Craft Stores Girl's Night Out fun?  
Follow along on Twitter and Instagram to see live tweets and photos before, during & after the event using the hashtag #getinonthefun.  Be a part of it!

SAQA "I'm Not Crazy" Exhibit Entry

To contact us Click HERE
Studio Art Quilters Association is having an exhibit titled "I'm Not Crazy" which explores mental health issues. I think the title  is offensive but whatever. It is the perspective or someone with mental illness, a caretaker or friend or family member of someone with mental illness. I have a very close friend who is Bipolar and is medicated to have balance in her life. This quilt is my interpretation of being bipolar-one minute she is happy, hyper bouncing off the wall and the next sad, depressed and angered. I used muted sad, dull colors to represent being depressed and, of course, the frustrated facial expression. I used bright colored fabrics with lots of chaos for the manic side's clothing, make up and jewelry. Her hair is out of control and her facial expression shouts "manic." I used lots of desciptive words on both sides of the personality in a subtle way in the background. I purposely went subtle because in society we don't want to talk about mental health issues and they are subtle and quiet  in our discussions. I found there is a two sided smiley face which symbolizes Bipolar Disorder and I added it to the quilt in the lower center of the quilt.This photo is a closeup of the depressed personality.And this is a photo of the manic personality. She's kind of "out there!" Her expression deminds me of Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter in Alice in Wonderland!!Cloeup of the Bipolar symbol and a few of the background words.I embellished the manic side with hand made Sculpey clay beads, a beaded earring, rhinestones for pierced earrings, orange lame' in the hair to symbolize being wired, and some fabric paint. The intent was for excess and chaos in hair, make up, clothing and jewelry. The depressed side has a necklace made to buttons made from leather (pretty cool from a quilt show!), a few beads for the necklace and a rhinestone for the nose piercing. Both have a little fabric paint for details.

The exhibit aplication is online at SAQA's website the month of May and during the summer we find out if we made the cut then the selected quilts will travel for 2 years to the various Mancuso Quilt Shows.

This quilt is not meant to represent beauty but a social issue. I was thinking of entering it in the local community art show at my library which runs through the summer but I'm not sure if the social issue would offend people. I guess art can do that sometimes...

Quilting Arts Magazine's Reader Challenge Reject!!

To contact us Click HERE
Well I am having a month of rejections!! I applied for an article in Quilting Arts Magazine and was rejected earlier in June. My piece for the "I'm Not Crazy" for SAQA was not selected. They had 128 entries and only chose 20. I'm very bummed about this one because this subject is very personal to me and I put alot of emotion into that piece. Then I entered the Quilting Arts Magazine's Reader Challenge on Signature Color and there were over 150 entries and only 15 were chosen. I had a blast on this little 8" x 8" project including the beading around the binding. This will be a cute addition to my studio and it makes me smile. I'm just a bit unsure if I want to participate in these things for a while. It seems abstract art is trendy at the moment and representational art is on the back burner. I still love to made art and will continue.

6 Şubat 2013 Çarşamba

SAQA "I'm Not Crazy" Exhibit Entry

To contact us Click HERE
Studio Art Quilters Association is having an exhibit titled "I'm Not Crazy" which explores mental health issues. I think the title  is offensive but whatever. It is the perspective or someone with mental illness, a caretaker or friend or family member of someone with mental illness. I have a very close friend who is Bipolar and is medicated to have balance in her life. This quilt is my interpretation of being bipolar-one minute she is happy, hyper bouncing off the wall and the next sad, depressed and angered. I used muted sad, dull colors to represent being depressed and, of course, the frustrated facial expression. I used bright colored fabrics with lots of chaos for the manic side's clothing, make up and jewelry. Her hair is out of control and her facial expression shouts "manic." I used lots of desciptive words on both sides of the personality in a subtle way in the background. I purposely went subtle because in society we don't want to talk about mental health issues and they are subtle and quiet  in our discussions. I found there is a two sided smiley face which symbolizes Bipolar Disorder and I added it to the quilt in the lower center of the quilt.This photo is a closeup of the depressed personality.And this is a photo of the manic personality. She's kind of "out there!" Her expression deminds me of Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter in Alice in Wonderland!!Cloeup of the Bipolar symbol and a few of the background words.I embellished the manic side with hand made Sculpey clay beads, a beaded earring, rhinestones for pierced earrings, orange lame' in the hair to symbolize being wired, and some fabric paint. The intent was for excess and chaos in hair, make up, clothing and jewelry. The depressed side has a necklace made to buttons made from leather (pretty cool from a quilt show!), a few beads for the necklace and a rhinestone for the nose piercing. Both have a little fabric paint for details.

The exhibit aplication is online at SAQA's website the month of May and during the summer we find out if we made the cut then the selected quilts will travel for 2 years to the various Mancuso Quilt Shows.

This quilt is not meant to represent beauty but a social issue. I was thinking of entering it in the local community art show at my library which runs through the summer but I'm not sure if the social issue would offend people. I guess art can do that sometimes...

Quilting Arts Magazine's Reader Challenge Reject!!

To contact us Click HERE
Well I am having a month of rejections!! I applied for an article in Quilting Arts Magazine and was rejected earlier in June. My piece for the "I'm Not Crazy" for SAQA was not selected. They had 128 entries and only chose 20. I'm very bummed about this one because this subject is very personal to me and I put alot of emotion into that piece. Then I entered the Quilting Arts Magazine's Reader Challenge on Signature Color and there were over 150 entries and only 15 were chosen. I had a blast on this little 8" x 8" project including the beading around the binding. This will be a cute addition to my studio and it makes me smile. I'm just a bit unsure if I want to participate in these things for a while. It seems abstract art is trendy at the moment and representational art is on the back burner. I still love to made art and will continue.

January in Upper Michigan

To contact us Click HERE
 I made this small quilt to celebrate winter where I live in Upper Michigan. I used my original pattern in which I made 2 square wall hangings last summer-one in purple/yellow and one with values of pink. I wanted to have a scarf that was blowing in the wind so I made this quilt in a rectangle shape. I cut 5" squares in variations of light, medium and dark values of blue including as many snowflake themed fabrics as I had (I bought a few extra!.) I changed my original pattern by adding an earmuff and the scarf and taking the hair to a closer to the head amount. I went total monochromatic with the color scheme-blue fabric, blue threads, and many blue embellishments. I found these great little hologram icecicle beads on my travels in Madison Wisconsin at the Wisconsin Quilt Expo and used them on this quilt. I have blue glitter on the eyelid, nail polish on the lips and scarf ends and a few rhinestones scatter about. I wanted an icecicle motif on the cheekbone area and created them this way-I Goodle searched icecicle images on the computer and when I found one I liked I drew up an image to the size I wanted. I then used Carol Doak foundationl paper in my computer and copied 3 icecicles-2 for the cheeks and one for the chin. Then I placed the icecicles on the quilt individually and stitches in a smaller stitch with blue variegated thread. When finished I removed the paper which comes off pretty nice compared to regular computer paper. I used a 2 color binding to accentuate the contrast of light and dark in the quilt. This quilt is just for fun and not for a quilt jury-somethimes I have to be be fluffy!!The second photo is a detail version to show the icecicles on the face.

Girl's Night Out Blogger Get Together

To contact us Click HERE
We're so excited for THIS:
We know it's going to be a great night with some amazing bloggers who love (love!) sewing.  But wait... there's more!CONTEST2
Join in on the fun by with the Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft Store Girl's Night Out Contest -- you could win your own sewing swag!


Entries can be made via Twitter or Instagram by simply answering the question: 
What's in your sewing stash that you couldn't live without?
Be sure to use the hashtag #sewswag in your entry!!!
3 winners will be chosen at random during the Event and tweeted out live.
Don't have a Twitter or Instagram account? Leave a comment on this post for entry.
Rules: You may receive up to (2) total entries by choosing one of the three methods listed above. No duplicate comments, tweets or photos. All entries made via comments on this post must have an e-mail address listed in the comment. The contest runs from 10/2/12 - 10/12/12, and is open to US Residents age 18 or older. Winners will be selected via random draw, and notified by e-mail, direct twitter message, or Instagram comment. You have 72 hours to respond, otherwise a new winner will be selected.
Want more Jo-Ann Fabric & Craft Stores Girl's Night Out fun?  
Follow along on Twitter and Instagram to see live tweets and photos before, during & after the event using the hashtag #getinonthefun.  Be a part of it!