Cyber Fyber

The internet has been a great resource in building communities that wouldn't exist any other way. Meeting people from around the world with common interests. Susan Lenz had a wonderful exhibit of small art in the form of ATC's and postcards called recently called Cyber Fyber. These AtC's & postcard started out similar to these -same velvet,plaid scarf,foil, sheers -different wool and sheer on top. The sheer is more reflective and called for a cheerier finish. I love the fuzzy multi-coloured yarn.

needlefelting

I like needlefelted work but prefer if all those little holes are not visible. Beryl Taylor always writes clear, concise instructions for projects that have such visual interest & depth. Her latest is in the Jan/Feb 08 issue of cloth, paper, scissors.
I had started working on my felt piece for Carmi's swap with a plaid mohair scarf. I bought the scarf at the Toronto Clothing Show but found it too itchy to wear. It was felted onto wool felt and felted to a piece of cotton velvet. circle of wooly yarn punched in & painted fusible ironed on.this is what it looked like at that point.
many more layers- copper & blue foil, punched sheer from an old skirt, a sprinkle of bo-nash & a layer of orange chiffon. then machine stitched, sliced & diced & the edges finished with yarn.
when I was cutting it up I realized it looks like rust or patinaed copper. Is patina a verb or a noun? both?
as a bonus the back looks great too.
this is the front scanned

and the back

ATC swap

I am participating In Lenna's ATC swap. She is the best swap hostess ever and I get to deliver my ATC's in person. We will both be in the same area at the same time - she is on holiday in Canada & I will be taking a summer course at a local college. These are my ATC's for her swap. check out some of the ones I might get on her swap blog.

I've been published!!!

Yup you heard right. I've been published or rather my ATC's in Quilting Arts newest book 1000 ATC's. I'm waiting on my copy from Chapters. Its here!! My ATc's are #'s 452 & 455. It was originally a machine embroidered design that came with my Husky D1. It was just hanging around so I hacked it up for the ATC's. They are much brighter in colour IRL. Like others I am disappointed in the quality of the colour reproductions in the book but it is still cool to see my name & stuff in a book!

I think this is my 100th post too. I started just over a year ago and want to post every single day!

Make-it-U!

The most fun I've had at school!! Quilting Arts & cloth, paper, scissors magazines had a huge section at the Chicago quilt show. There were vendors that advertise in the magazines as well as a teaching area for the 1 hour classes. I took three classes. Like a good artist I altered my tags.
The first class I took on Thursday night was with Pokey. We got to play with a variety of supplies to alter a canvas bag.
We stamped with Staz-on ink, painted with Lumiere paints by Jacquard. Mine needs some more work before I can put it to use! It was great fun to try new products.
The second class I took was with Shelley Stokes who does great things with Shiva oil sticks. We moved quickly trying different techniques. We rubbed the paint over a template -mine is alligator skin texture-
we did stencilling with a paint brush - I like the checkerboard pattern I did with the metallic paint. It shows up nicely on the dark fabric.
These are expensive art supplies so it was great to try & get a couple little sticks to bring home. I will have to go back to my copy of Quilt Toppings by Melody Crust to see her work with the paint sticks.
The third class I took at Make-it-U was with Jill Haglund of Tweet Jill Publications. We work quickly to get a good start on ATC made from playing cards.We stamped, used newspaper as background, painted with twinkling H20's which you can see shining on my ATC. The piece of newspaper I used was from the business section and was about stocks but I like how it relates to the 3 little girls in the image. It reads 'Six Year High'.

The second ATC is not as far along. but I like how the 3 on his little dunce hat relates to the face of the card which will be the back of the ATC.

So much fun. Thanks Pokey.

ATC's

It was wonderful to see the hundreds of ATC's that were sent into cloth, paper, scissors magazine. hundreds of exquisite little pieces of art. I don't know how Pokey gets any work done on her magazine receiving such treasures in the mail every single day!!
I heard a rumour they will be publishing a book with all the ATC's. As I was admiring them on Thursday night a woman next to me pointed mine out to her mother. The woman was from Toronto & her mother lives in the very next town to me. Small world eh?! She goes to a monthly ATC swap with mostly fiber artists at the Gladstone Hotel on Queen St. in Toronto. We didn't get to pick our own ATC's for the swap. It would be very time consuming if everyone had to choose. The top row is the 5 ATC's from the magazine swap and the second row is from the additional swap with the staff from the magazine. These are my first ATC's in what could become a large collection. I can see how this can become addictive.

ATC's

Two of my favourite magazines are cloth,paper and scissors and Quilting Arts Magazine both from the same publisher. In the spring issue of cps there was a challenge for ATC's to be exchanged at the Chicago Quilt Show. I sent in my 5 cards. I took one of the first embroideries I did when I got my machine. I cut it up & coloured with water-soluble fabric crayson. I don't have a picture of the finished cards. These are them in progress.
Now Patricia 'Pokey' Bolton, the editor of these great magazines has raised the stakes in the card game!! She has offered to trade 200 more ATC's & offered great instructions on making cards with felt. I'll see your offer & raise you 5 more cards!! See you at the table in Chicago!!


This is on of 10 ATC's I made. Butterflies on collage, covered with inked transparency then black mesh sewn on the top. I made them to give to people in my class at Joyce's Studio when I teach this mesh tote bag.