Relaxing day

Today I met up with some friends and we headed over to the local Japanese gardens.. I didn't even know we had one. We went with the intention of seeing a fiber (banner) exhibit by 3 local fiber artists except I didn't read the fine print. Apparently they only do the fiber on weekends.... I didn't have my reading glasses on and didn't see that part.... that is my story and I am sticking to it! The gardens are gorgeous and the day was perfect... sunny and comfortable. We bought food to feed the Koi and watched as they fought themselves and the ducks for it. Sometimes it is fun acting like a kid. The Cherry trees were starting to bloom and the air was fragrant. We had a wonderful stroll. They have a Tea House and they do demonstrations once a month. We are going to try to sign up for next month.
We topped the day off by going to a fabulous Japanese restaurant. The sashimi was delicious. Now I need a nap.

Ego boost

Everyone needs an ego boost from time to time. I got mine this morning totally accidentally. I was catching up on my email and followed a link posted by someone else. Imagine my surprise at finding my quilt "The Path Not Taken" picked as one of their favorites from the Arizona Quilt Show Sol y Sombre. I was out of town and could not get to see the show. For more of their favorites and other interesting postings check out http://quiltinspiration.blogspot.com/.

I am off today to the local Japanese Gardens where there is an exhibit of banners from local fiber artists. The sun is shining and I am hoping to take some pictures.

Alive

Just a heads up... this post is not quilt related!
Ned and I got back from 10 days in Reno for a bridge tournament. It was the worst bridge either of us have played in 10 years.. and to top it off I came down with bronchitis and sinusitis. I am finally feeling somewhat human again as I managed to sleep last night. Sleeping sitting up is not restful. That is the good news. When we go away, our neighbor usually takes care of our kitty, Sammy. This time it coincided with her kids spring break and they weren't going to be around either. Sammy went to the vet to be boarded and we found out the really bad news. He is 16 1/2 years old and still pretty spry, but he has one kidney that is non functional and one that is only partially working. He lost 2 lbs in the past year. We have changed his diet to try to keep him hydrated and take some of the stress off his somewhat working kidney. We have to give him an antacid and off course he is not cooperative on that score. We are hoping to buy some time here. He is not currently in any distress and as long as it stays that way we will continue to do what we can to help him along. There is nothing else wrong with him.

I have to finish up the binding on my QA@15 challenge.

Breaking Out

This is going to be my auction piece for SAQA (Studio Art Quilters Association) for this year. Auction will take place next September.  I have titled this "Breaking Out". I decided to play with some of my leftover pieces of the fabrics I dyed last week. It is 12" x 12".

Pass the smelling salts!

My quilt, The Path Not Taken got accepted into Paducah!!! To say I am excited is the understatement of the century. I have not entered many shows and this is the first national caliber show I ever entered. I am honored to be among the stars of the quilt world. You can see it on my website Fields of Color or the January 9, 2010 posting on this blog. Most definitely doing the Happy Dance!

Making a sample piece

I posted a few weeks back about a piece of fabric I had dyed that reminded me of the caves in Lascaux, France. I want to do something with that piece in keeping with the ideas it sparked but I was afraid I would ruin it by just jumping into it. I found another piece of fabric in my stash that sort of comes close and I decided to play on that piece first to see if I could pull it off. Since I cannot draw anything other than stick figures (and no I do not want to take classes) I depended on the photos of a good friend of mine John Blubaugh who has been traveling to some of our national parks and monuments and taking wonderful pictures. I asked him if he had photos of rock and cave paintings and if I could use his photographs as a basis for my piece. He kindly sent me about a dozen. I am happy with the way this one is coming out and my future plan is to make a large piece that incorporates the ancient art of the many areas of the world. The paintings from Europe, Australia, Africa, and the Americas all have similarities yet each retain the flavor of the local flora and fauna. I have used trapunto , layers of paint, and pen on this piece. I have shown here just a small piece of it. It will be 15" x 15" when done.

On a Lark

… pun intended. Several months ago I responded to a request from Lark Books  looking for reviewers for their Art Quilt books. I never heard from them and  I will admit it had slipped my mind. I arrived home yesterday to find a package by my front door… I couldn't recall ordering anything and the return addressee did not ring a bell. Of course I excitedly opened the package! Inside were books… before I pulled them out, I was trying to remember IF I had ordered some books and forgotten about them.. no. I now looked at the titles and knew I hadn't ordered them, although one was on my list. So now I am thinking, maybe I have a secret admirer and they were sending me a gift. Not quite that kind of luck. Inside was a letter from the senior editor at Lark Books hoping I would review the books. I guess they had not forgotten me. The books are "500 Art Quilts: An Inspiring collection of Contemporary Work" and "Pretty Little Mini Quilts".  On to the reviews:

Pretty Little Mini Quilts by Ray Hemachandra
This book contains 30 mini quilt projects from 26 quilt designers. The book is well laid out and has nice photos. This book would be appropriate for those who are very new to quilting or want to step out and try their hand at a simple art quilt. The projects include piecing, applique, hand and machine stitching, and some embellishment. The more advanced projects include printing on fabric (but doesn't tell you how to treat the fabric or which treated fabric to purchase), watercolor painting, and trapunto. Most of the projects are pretty basic and those are very clear. The few more advanced projects really do not explain the techniques very well and unless you are already familiar with them, might be confusing. If you understand these techniques then this book is not geared to you. I think this should have been 2 different books. One on basic mini quilts and another book on basic mini art quilts BUT with more expanded explanations and instructions.

500 Art Quilts: An inspiring Collection of Contemporary Work by Ray Hemachandra and juror Karey Bresenhan

WOW is my first reaction. The photos are spectacular and each artist is given space enough to shine. Some pieces have close up detail shots as well. This is a very diversified and eclectic mix of styles by very talented artists. There are well known names as well as those who are not up in lights and the mix is refreshing. Any technique that you can imagine is used by these artists and there is something to please everyone. The styles range from the more "traditional" art quilts to the totally avant guard. These are truly pieces of art and could easily rival paintings on canvas. Some pieces are representational and some are totally abstract. It is pure eye candy and a must for every library. This is not a book you would ever get tired of looking at.

As an aside... I would like to kick myself. I had an opportunity to submit a piece for this book and felt that my work was not good enough. I do not know if  I would have made the cut or not, but NOT trying was one of the most boneheaded and idiotic decisions I have recently made. Bad on me. Kudos to all who submitted and congratulations to all whose work was accepted.

Counteracting a blah day

Raise a toast to bloggers!

I love blogging and I am happy to see the progress of my online buddies via their blogs as well. I am also happy to celebrate the 333rd blog post of one of my friends Wil Opio Oguta , who is giving away one of her beautiful snow dyed fabrics to some lucky winner if you post a comment on her blog. Hope I win!

I finally cut into some of the lovely fabric I dyed last week.. we didn't bleed! Sometimes it is hard to make that first cut... the fabric is so luscious looking that I just want to pet it . Yep, I am probably nuts, but I know I am in good company.

My Darth Vader respirator arrived yesterday so next week I am going to attack (discharge) the piece of ugly freeze dyed fabric.. it has a cousin that has been sitting in my closet for 8 months. Watch out! I am going to beat them into shape.

Overcast and chilly here but it beats snow.

I will have a yard of fabric in "To the Studio" sponsored by Peggy Schroder. Check all the totes  out at http://www.virginiaspiegel.com/ToteTuesdayLast.html 

All proceeds go directly to the American Cancer Society.

Freeze dyed gets....

... 2 thumbs down. The idea of dyeing frozen soda ashed fabric intrigued me so I decided to give it a try. I placed my frozen fabric on netting over a container so it didn't sit in the liquid. I squirted dye all over it and let in sit in the cold garage for 20 hours then brought in back in the house for about 5 more hours. When I started to rinse out the dye, I noticed that there was a whole area where the dye never penetrated. This is butt ugly. My dye rags come out better looking! I have a bunch of choices here... I can try to discharge the right side and do some deconstructed screening on the left, or I can cut it in half and use the left side for a dye rag and just cut up the other side as needed. I think I am leaning towards that. I really do not need another piece of fabric that needs so much work to be salvaged. ... or I could give it away to someone who thinks they can fix it up.

Things did get better. I rarely use premixed dyes but I fell in love with Grape so I have been using it. It does some really lovely things. I had just a bit left from the crossover dyeing and wanted to use it up so I added it to some yellow hoping for a nice brown. When it was batching I wasn't real happy with it and still wasn't thrilled when I was ironing it, but when I hung it up on my design wall I had all sorts of ideas pop into my head. This reminds me of the cave paintings at Lascaux. I am happy with this piece. I even wrote down the measurements and might be able to duplicate it.

It is yet another rainy, gloomy, chilly day here... it's getting depressing. Maybe I will go back to my hand stitching. Got the sleeve on a piece yesterday and need to make a label for an upcoming show.

I was recently invited to join a great new group.. the Textile and Fiber Art list. The members come from a very varied background. It is run by Rachel Biel. Please check it out .. Her other group is Fiber Focus and that looks like fun as well.

Hopefully, I will get to the piece of fabric I froze and try out some dyeing, since thankfully we have no snow.

Hope you all have a great weekend.

Quilting Blogs

I found this neat site called Quilterblogs. It lists over 800 quilting blogs and other neat stuff. They post interesting blogs daily so if you join you can get a much wider audience. Quilterblogs.com
That sounds pretty cool to me.

New web presence

I have been trying to get a web site up for months.... used all sorts of tricks to procrastinate and find other things to do, but this morning I bit the bullet and cheated.... I used a template from iweb and it went together fairly easily. With the feedback from my online buddies I made changes so that it was not too over the top. It still needs a bit of work but it is UP and running! URL is http://www.sherrylbuchler.com
Comments for improvement are always welcome. I will get a links page up and would be most happy to exchange links.
And on another happy note.... most of my fabrics are gone. I have yet to get the rest of them up on the other blog. Other things have taken precedent. I am going to have to do some more crossover dyeing though.

Mellow Yellow?

... not for me. These are the last of the dyed fabrics.  I am just not a yellow person but I realized that I had no yellow in my stash so I did a fat quarter gradation. Most of these will probably languish in my stash pile. Two of these fabrics came off the bolt with imperfections so I cannot unload the set, pity.

I will do more dyeing later in the week. I think I am going to go back to crossovers. I really love the way they came out, AND I have gotten requests for them before I have gotten them up on my other blog. That will happen later... for whats left.

Move over Snow dyers!

I didn't have snow and I didn't freeze my fabric but I did get similar results from my efforts at multi color dyeing. I wanted some deeper colors so used full concentrations for most of the pieces. I did try for some lighter values as well but will do more of those another day. I finally got these washed out and ironed. Enjoy.

More fabric

I did some black/gray gradations. I like the darker values but the lighter ones have too much mottling for me. I have yellows in the wash and a bunch of multi colors washing as well.  Enjoy.

Snow envy

I need to preface this post by saying that I do not really miss the snow. That said, I AM envious of being able to play with the snow and do some snow dyeing. It sure looks like fun. I might try some in my freezer. Reading all about the fun everyone was having motivated me into doing some of my own dyeing. I did some crossover colors and have more waiting in the wings. I have a black/grey gradation about to go in the washer. I will post photos as I get more done but this is a busy weekend for me so probably not much more till Tuesday. In the meantime, here are some photos of what I have done. I love these. I just have to decide which I will keep and which I will sell.

Playing the UFO game

I decided to participate in Quilting Arts fix the UFO game. This is my first ever attempt at an art quilt. It has been languishing in the closet for some very obvious reasons. It is pretty bad. If one of their geniuses can make a silk purse out of this sows ear, I will be very surprised... shocked would be closer to the truth.

The sun is shining and I am in a good mood. My DH will be home on Thursday.

Flowers in your face

I have been plugging away at this piece... has no name yet. I got all the flowers machine stitched on and have been doing lots of hand stitching. French knots get old really fast. Trying to figure out exactly what I am going to do with this when it is done. I am hoping to have it ready for quilting next week. I don't even want to think about that yet!
The rains from California arrived here in Arizona over night. We had torrential downpours most of the night along with thunder and lightening.... pretty weird for this time of year. After overcast skies this morning the sun broke through and it was lovely.... then I heard this weird noise and looked out the window to see hail.... with the sun shining! Did not last long and no damage. We need the rain desperately but I wish it would come in small doses instead of flood stage all at once. I think we get more later in the week. At least we are not shoveling snow.

My daughter adopted the cutest kitten... 9 weeks old. She says it has been growing in the past week. I think she wasn't being fed enough. Turns out the kitty is picky about food, so as of today she has a bunch of new stuff to try. My daughter doesn't know that cats train us... not the other way around! Welcome to my world where Sammy runs this house.