Ixchel Art

Comadres

2011-05-05T21:31:00.003-05:00

If you're looking for my website after getting my cards at the Worldwide Comadrazo, please go to

www.tejanastudio.blogspot.com

See you there.

Moving!

2010-05-11T21:42:00.000-05:00

I am moving my blog to Tejana Studio and it will be focused solely on my fiber art and quilt projects. I decided on the name "Tejana Studio" for a couple of reasons. The first is pragmatic--the name "Tejana Studio" was available on etsy and blogger. The second reason is due to my personality--basically, what you see is what you get. I am a Tejana and this is my virtual studio. I don't do cute well and I'm proud of my Texas and Mexican heritage.

Anyway, please go here to check out my new (I hope improved) blog and here to check out my etsy store.

Finding the Right Background for a Heart

2010-05-07T17:41:00.000-05:00

In trying to find an appropriate background fabric for the heart I posted about last time, I found plain black fabric was too stark. So I started playing with stamping the fabric. I used acrylic paints thinned with a fabric medium on stamps I carved myself or bought from Ruthie Powers of Next Signal Designs. In the photo, the fabric on the lower right corner uses my stamps. The other stamp designs are Ruthie's. The fabric with the orange-ish colored stamp (top right section) is discharged using full strength bleach. I painted the bleach onto the stamp with a foam brush and then stamped the fabric. I really like the color on it.

While I like the experiments, now I feel that the fabrics are too busy for the heart. Where to now?

Starting a New Piece

2010-04-25T20:59:00.000-05:00

I had some leftover four patches made of black and white fabrics that I decided to use as the base for a small heart quilt. I started playing with a red batik and cut out large portions of the heart so you can see the black and white grid below. I don't like the stark black fabric behind it so I'm going to experiment with stamping random designs and hearts to the background fabric. I have white and silver paint plus I'm going to see if I dip the stamps in bleach if I'll get the black out.

Spring Blooms

2010-04-09T22:05:00.000-05:00

One of my garden beds is taken over in the early spring with bluebonnets. I also have a rose bush that is full of buds right now, with one flower starting to open, a Mexican Redbud tree, and a Pride of Barbados in the jumble of bluebonnets. If you look real close you can also see cilantro plants scattered around.

Tomorrow will be all about yard work. Making a bed around three crape myrtles and a Rose of Sharon, weeding and adding soil amendments to one veggie/herb bed and prepping another small bed for more veggies. Then it'll be time to plant and mulch. I'm tired already.

Making John Deere Pretty?

2010-03-26T21:27:00.000-05:00

Last year I began a quilt for the daughter of some friends of the family for her high school graduation. Unfortunately, she wanted a John Deere quilt. I have nothing against the tractors, however, the yellow and green logo is just plain ugly. So how could I make her a John Deere quilt that wouldn't make me cringe every time I looked at it? It's been a long row to hoe, to stay in the farming vernacular, but I'm closer to getting started quilting it. And yes, I'm going to try to quilt a queen sized bed on my little Elna Quilter's Dream. After, that is, I finish blanket stitching--by hand--about 40 jean flowers and flower centers, and a gazillion leaves in three different sizes along the four corners of the outer border. But it's the only way I can think of to make the quilt more feminine and prettier.

Baseball been bery bery good to me

2010-02-25T19:37:00.000-06:00

Remember that old SNL skit with Garrett Morris saying that line? Well, baseball has been "bery bery good" to my 15-year-old, Jake. He's a sophomore playing in Liberty Hill and today he got to travel with the varsity team to play in a tournament in Marble Falls. He actually got to pitch five great innings and my husband and I were so proud to see him in a varsity uniform.

This winter has been so cold, though, that we've had to take blankets and quilts with us and huddle together in the stands. Today was sunny but super windy and cold. Since none of my bags can hold a couple of blankets, bottles of water, a sack of flower seeds, a camera, and assorted and sundry other supplies, I made a mondo bag using canvas I bought at Best Fabrics in Houston. They've opened up a shop in Round Rock too. Jake's school has a Panther mascot and their colors are purple, gold and black. The bag measures 15"w x 24"h x 12"d. I told you it's mondo. I'm making a second one for my friend Robin. Her son, Bryce, has played baseball with Jake since they were both 5 years old and in tee ball.

I have to work some hand stitching and/or embroidery into my quilts so that I can have something to do between innings.

Textile Twists in Twenty Ten

2010-02-24T12:54:00.000-06:00

My Picositos is included in the AFA group piece. This should be a great show. If you can't make the reception, stop by Tokyo Electron, 2400 Grove Blvd., Austin, TX 78741 during business hours, M-F, 8am-5pm, through April 1. AFA has some incredible artists!

Real Life and Art

2010-02-08T21:50:00.000-06:00

At the beginning of the new year I posted about my New Year's Resolution to take time to engage in making art or at least think about art every day. I did pretty well until the end of the month when my uncle who has Downs Syndrome was taken to the hospital with pneumonia. My Mom's been his guardian since my grandparents died over 20 years ago. The week he spent in the hospital put the art intentions on the back burner. I am so very grateful he recovered and is back to his normal self. It really got kind of dicey for a while with the doctors asking Mom if she would want him on life support if the antibiotics didn't kick in. I remember thinking as I was driving home from my overnight vigil with him in intensive care that I hadn't finished the Christmas quilt I promised him a few years ago. It sits pinned and partially quilted on my to-do stack. I kept wondering what I would do with the quilt if he died. I felt sick to my stomach.

My art resolution was completely overwhelmed by my uncle's life and death drama. Over the course of the last three weeks I totally blew a bunch of quilt submission deadlines. In truth, the hospitalization was just the final straw in a string of problems starting with my terrible procrastination habit and ending with my rank failure at sizing electronic photos correctly for submission. Have I ever mentioned that I hate computers? Although it's a love-hate relationship with my Mac.

Now that things are back to (as) normal (as anything can ever be in my family), I've finished a small (and I mean small--6" x 18") quilt for the Austin Fiber Artists' upcoming exhibit at Tokyo Electron, a high tech company in East Austin. The quilt will be part of a non-juried group piece with the theme, Primavera (or spring). Each 6" x 18" quiltlet has to have some green in it and is supposed to represent a garden row. My piece is called "Picositos". That loosely translates to "small spicy hot ones".

Now that I've met that commitment I plan to work on projects that I started weeks, months, years ago that have patient, appreciative recipients in wait. I never want to have to decide what to do with a quilt that I didn't finish in time.

Second Baby Quilt Finished and Delivered

2010-01-20T16:29:00.000-06:00

I finished the cosmetic surgery on the second baby photo wall hanging and I am very happy with the patch job. I think it's better than the original because of the added embellishments. And baby's Mom really liked it and intends to hang it in her office. She may have it framed to keep the dust off. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I'm not posting a photo of the whole wall hanging given that it features someone else's baby, but here are a couple of photos of the ribbon I used to cover the raw edges of the photo. The buttons are all vintage that I've bought at garage and estate sales.

The top photo shows the upper right corner of the quilt and the bottom photo shows the middle left part of the quilt. The yellow and pink ribbons are velvet. You can see a bit of baby in this photo. She's adorable!

Come fly with me

2010-01-15T15:13:00.001-06:00

I love these playing cards. I found them at a garage sale last summer and I think I'll use them to make collaged mixed media Valentines. I was inspired by Susan at ArtSpark Theater blog.

And I have held to my resolution of doing some art every day--some nights it was merely playing with fabric, moving it from one stack to another, or taking some photos with my new camera.

On a related note, I finished one of the baby photo quilts. Here's a photo of one of the three tab tops I made to hang the quilt.

The purple button is a plastic vintage button I got at an estate sale. I finished the edge with a relatively open satin stitch couching double layers of two different yarns. Made the edge look festive. Baby's Mom was surprised and said she loved it.

The second baby photo quilt is undergoing some major cosmetic surgery at the moment. Pre-treated photo paper shows wrinkles very starkly so I was ironing it with steam and lo and behold, I steam in a big, ugly tar-colored stain on the photo--the baby's chin no less. Usually when I have these types of mini disasters I resort to cursing in Spanish. This time I merely whimpered. So now I've cut the photo out of the quilt and printed out a new, pristine photo. I will applique it over the hole I've left in the quilt top and cover the raw edges with these beautiful ribbons I bought at Stitch Lab in South Austin. Another few hours of work left to do on it. I hope I can post some photos of the "new and improved" areas over the weekend.

Tonight's Work

2010-01-05T22:22:00.000-06:00

Tonight I finished the edge treatment on the second baby wall hanging. I couched fibers along the edge. I also finished the first of two tab tops for the quilt for hanging. Tomorrow I have to attend the Austin Fiber Artists planning meeting so I'll have to take hand work to the meeting.

Wednesday's work

2010-01-05T09:09:00.000-06:00

On Wednesday I prepared the labels for the two baby wallhangings and bought more fusible to continue with the baseball background. Not much, but not bad for a workday.

Another Day

2010-01-03T19:11:00.000-06:00

Today I continued working on the background of the baseball quilt--I got up to about the shoulder then ran out of fusible.

I also am trying to finish work on the two photo quilts of co-worker's babies. I'd love to post photos of the two little wall hangings but think it's creepy to post photos of someone else's babies. So you get to see some detail work only.

Celebrate Spring

2010-01-03T11:11:00.000-06:00

Yesterday I started work on a piece I hope to have completed in a couple of weeks. I've just started putting the background together. It's for the IQA Celebrate Spring exhibit. The way we celebrate spring is watching our son pitch on his high school baseball team. Hope it turns out the way I envision it.

Every day in 2010 I will...

2010-01-01T21:38:00.000-06:00

I resolve to do something in my "studio" every day--even if it's something small. Today, I took the first tentative step towards dyeing fabric by using Jacquard's "Dye-lon" product. You basically dye fabric in your washer. These are supposed to be kelly and emerald green but the kelly looks more like lime and the emerald looks more like kelly. I have other dyes I need to use that I bought at Quilt Festival a couple of months ago. I have 364 days left to use them.

Happy New Year

2009-12-31T20:03:00.000-06:00

Life moves pretty fast. You don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.

-Ferris Bueller

New Beginnings

2009-12-29T14:25:00.000-06:00

I am working on setting up an etsy store but am at a loss on what to call it. Ixchel Art is a name I borrowed from a friend (she came up with the name for me) so I'd rather not copy that again. The name is interesting but it feels like I'm reaching when I hear myself saying Ixchel Art. Should I go with the basic and just list my name or should I try to do something different? I don't do cute well so that's out. Should I try for funny or descriptive? I will mostly be listing art quilts and other fiber pieces for sale. Any ideas?

On another note, I am so excited that I finally have a decent camera. I can finally post good photos.

For example, this is a nice close-up of Sunspots, one of my favorite pieces.

This is a detail shot of Calavera that shows the tiny seed beads I used. I have way too many tiny seed beads I need to use up. Way too much fabric too, for that matter. I hope 2010 is a productive year for us all.

Gifts

2009-12-13T12:54:00.000-06:00

Still finding myself in the gift-sewing mood (and avoiding quilting a full size quilt on my home sewing machine), I made a dog bed (based on a pattern by Jill Mead in Quilts & More mag) for Sunny. At 7 years old he's got some arthritis so he needed a fluffy, soft space to sleep--especially given our stained concrete floors. He wouldn't go near the bed the first night, but since then he's spent a longer than usual time indoors, sacked out on his new pad. It's so nice to see the recipient of a hand crafted gift actually use it.

The pattern called for a muslin lining for the bed. Since I didn't have enough muslin for that I lined the pad using some really nasty fabric a well-meaning family member got for me. Instead of fiberfill, I used torn foam pieces that come in bags like fiberfill. It took 6 bags of foam to fill the bed. I'm thinking of making one for his buddy, Lucky, but I'm afraid we'll come home to find his bed torn to shreds with foam pieces everywhere. Lucky's just 3 years old.

Christmas Gifts

2009-12-04T10:56:00.000-06:00

These two little makeup bags took me less than an hour to make and they'll make cute presents for some girlfriends. Used up scraps of fabric and only had to buy the zippers. I have a few more to make.

Autumn Color

2009-11-23T20:20:00.000-06:00

Although we don't get much autumn color in Central Texas, the red oaks are turning a beautiful shade of red right now. I will enjoy the color while it lasts.

Calavera

2009-11-08T14:24:00.005-06:00

I just finished working on Calavera. It's a wallhanging I made in response to the Austin Area Quilt Guild's challenge on using the color wheel. I decided to make mine monochromatic (which could include black and white). Of course I didn't get it done in time to submit it, but I really like it. The flower is made of batiks in the style of the Mexican crepe paper flowers. The beads at the bottom and on the flower are clay beads I bought a few months ago at the Austin Bead Show.

Please forgive the quality of the photos--I will eventually buy a good camera. In the meanwhile I just play with my iPhone camera.

Houston Quilt Festival & Make It University

2009-10-18T21:27:00.001-05:00

I've returned from the Houston Quilt Festival inspired to create. I had enough time to see every quilt exhibit, peruse and on occasion purchase some of the many vendors' fine wares, sew two quilt tops for Project Linus, luck into three (count them, three) Make It University classes, volunteer at the SAQA booth, and play with my newly bought wares in my hotel room with my roomies, quilt artists Barb Forrister, Kharon Clark, and Marge Carson.

I didn't take very many photos since I was too busy enjoying myself.

Pokey Bolton of Quilting Arts Magazine starting a demo at Make It University. I don't know how she managed to keep her energy up for the duration of the quilt festival. She and her staff were amazing.

My Candy Apple quilt at the Misty Fuse vendor booth. Iris was doing a very brisk business in the booth.

The fabric postcard I made in Leslie Tucker Jenison's class. Leslie is in my friend Barb's art quilt group in Austin.

Art Spark Theatre Drawing Challenge

2009-10-08T09:44:00.000-05:00

I found this challenge through a posting on the Spirit Cloth blog. Art Sparker posted this unfinished drawing and asked readers to finish it.

Here's what I came up with.

It was lots of fun.

2009-09-23T21:41:00.000-05:00

Driving home the sun was setting, dropping from the cloud cover to the horizon. It was raining on me. Was I in the rainbow?

Thermofax Screeenprinting with Kat McTee

2009-09-20T11:51:00.000-05:00

I had a great time last Sunday afternoon learning how to screenprint using a thermofax printer. I made two different prints from line drawings I made.

I made this toss pillow during the class.

The second print is a sun. I am doing some embroidery work on one of the prints and will use it in a small wall hanging. Screenprinting is a blast. I can't wait to take Kat's other screenprinting classes. She is a great teacher with a great sense of humor. She is teaching at Leslie Bonnell's studio, Stitch Lab, in South Austin.

Tried & Failed

2009-09-09T20:41:00.000-05:00

Damn. I wasn't chosen for the Copper Shade Tree Gallery's juried exhibit, "The Art in Fiber." Husband and friends are directing appropriately supportive remarks my way and satisfyingly inappropriate remarks toward the judge.

Actually, I've seen a few of her pieces and her work is pretty fantastic. And I knew the competition was really stiff. And this is the first time I've submitted a piece for consideration for a juried show. Still, it's nice to have friends and family act indignant and affronted on my behalf. I'm very lucky. You'll have to excuse me now while I go lick my wounds.

Austin Bead Show

2009-09-07T12:12:00.000-05:00

I made it to the Austin Bead Show at the Palmer Events Center on Sunday and found some great items. The heart-shaped beads are a matte-finish clay and will be perfect for the Dia de los Muertos pieces I've been planning. I got them from Kingdom Trading Company out of Dallas. They had some really nice beads. Their website is www.kingdomtradingtx.com.

The fibers are from sari waste and are spun together so you get lots of different colors and styles of sari fabric in each skein. They're silk. The light colored skein is very soft while the bright colored skein is thicker with a firmer hand. I got the fibers from Kipuka Trading in San Antonio. Their website is www.kipukatrading.com but they don't have their fibers on the web, only beads. Luckily, they're going to have a booth at the Houston Quilt Festival next month.

I enjoyed the difference the change of venue from the Crockett Center to the Palmer Events Center made to my shopping and perusing experience. I think having the Austin Area Quilt Guild's 2010 Show at the Palmer Events Center is the best decision the Guild could have made. It is going to bring the show up to a higher level and bring in people who wouldn't normally go to a quilt show or go to the Crockett Center.

Copper Shade Tree Gallery & Tamales

2009-09-04T22:43:00.000-05:00

I really enjoyed my trip to drop off my entry (as well as a couple of friends' entries) for the Copper Shade Tree Gallery's "Art in Fiber" juried show. Not only did I get to meet owner/artist Gerald Tobola, who is extraordinarily welcoming, I got to shop in the gallery. I bought a pair of earrings for myself and a silver bracelet for a girlfriend's 45th birthday. I also got to see the last group of entries Gerald had received. Beautiful work. I hope I am juried in but if I'm not, at least I know that the competition was very stiff.

Then, to top it off, a local lady who comes around to the Round Top town square came by selling homemade tamales. At first Gerald said he didn't want any; however, he did confide that the tamales were good.

We said our good-byes and as I'm about to drive off Gerald comes out of the gallery with money in hand and shouts at me, "I changed my mind," as he walks to the tamale lady's truck. Being born and raised in Laredo, I just cannot pass up a chance to eat tamales. Alas, I only had a couple of bucks in my pocket.

As I drive off, I see a bank two blocks away with an ATM machine. Jackpot! I grab some quick cash and speed back to look for the tamale lady. It was meant to be. She's at another set of shops on the other side of the town square. I pull up next to her and ask her what kind of tamales she sells. Pork, chicken and cheese. And for only $6 a dozen! I buy a dozen pork and a dozen chicken. What a score!

I call my Mom when I'm about an hour outside of Austin. Mom can't believe her luck. She'd just been thinking how she wished she could get her hands on some good tamales. With lots of chile ancho in the meat and the masa but not too spicy hot, not too greasy, and with a thin layer of masa. Well, the Round Top Tamale Lady earned her stripes by us. We all had tamales for dinner and leftovers the day after.

Now I'm hoping I'm juried in to the Copper Shade Tree Gallery's show so that I'll have another excuse to drive to Round Top--not only to drop off quilts for the show--but to find the tamale lady.

(I didn't think to photograph the tamales before they were gone. The ingredients in the photo, tomatillos, chile serrano, ajo, and limas, will be used to make salsa verde and Mexican Martinis this weekend.)

Mustang Island

2009-08-30T21:13:00.007-05:00

I am almost done with my entry for the Copper Shade Tree's show, "The Art in Fiber." I decided to work on the small piece on canvas with the required theme of American Landscape. My inspiration for the piece is a photo I took of my son on Mustang Island last summer.

I simplified the photo by taking Sam out of it but liked the perspective of the beach disappearing behind the dune. So I sketched a simplified version of the background and added vegetation that I had seen in other photos of the Texas Coast.

I painted the canvas blue and tan with acrylic paints but decided that the paints looked too flat. So I found an old set of maps from my days working at the General Land Office. The maps are representations of the Texas Gulf Coast's commercial development and natural resources. I used a collage of three maps of Mustang Island, the barrier island that protects Corpus Christi from the Gulf of Mexico's wave action.

I will post the completed piece when I find out if I'm in the show or not. I hope it makes it in. Copper Shade Tree Gallery is a great fine art and craft gallery in Round Top, Texas.

Seeing Sunspots

2009-08-13T20:42:00.003-05:00

Sunspots

20" diameter

It will hang in an Austin Fiber Artists exhibit at the Austin Bergstrom International Airport August 19-November 3.

Baseball and Budget

2009-07-13T21:31:00.003-05:00

I haven't had much time to work on quilting, design, or anything else this summer with the convergence of my 14-year-old's summer baseball league and working on the Travis County budget. Friday is Jake's last baseball game of the summer (Jake's the 3rd baseman in the photo) and July 27th we file the Preliminary Budget for Travis County (thank heaven).

I plan on dusting off my quilting ideas over the next couple of weeks so that I can produce some new pieces. I am looking forward to that so much.

2009-06-18T19:44:00.002-05:00

This quilt is called Fawohodie, after the Adinkra symbol of that name. It means emancipation. The Adinkra symbols originated in Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire. Members of the Travis County Juneteenth Committee asked me to make an art quilt for a silent auction to benefit charity. I painted the muslin background white with Jacquard textile paint. I carved the stamp of the Adinkra symbol and stamped the background. I then appliqued the female figure I drew inspired by various photos I saw of women at Juneteenth celebrations. This pose is meant to evoke joy and praise. I took the photo of the quilt hanging at a tent at Wooldridge Park in downtown Austin during today's Juneteenth celebration.

The Texas Capitol

2009-05-27T10:32:00.002-05:00

I work two blocks from the Texas Capitol building but I rarely go there. Memorial Day weekend I was there for the Big As Texas Fiber Art Exhibit and enjoyed looking at the great architecture in the Capitol Dome. It really is a grand building.

Estate Sale

2009-05-23T21:29:00.002-05:00

My Mom and I went Garage Sale-ing today and were having a great time. Went to one garage sale and bought some clay bead necklaces that I'll take apart and use at some time in the future on a quilt. I also got some old bridge cards that I can use on a mixed media collage piece. We had breakfast at Enchiladas y Mas (mmm, barbacoa and menudo--so bad for us). Then on to the Antique Mall off US 183 and Burnet where I scored a McCoy covered crock for $6! I love McCoy ceramics.

We made one last stop on our way to the TMFA Big as Texas Exhibit at the Capitol--an estate sale. I love estate sales but they make me a bit melancholy. It's sad to see a person's life reduced to the picked over odds and ends that family haven't already claimed. Old handbags and clothes, threadbare sheets and towels, the occasional quilt and fabric stash.

Today's estate sale was particularly sad. The house's windows and doors were boarded up and all the sale items were in the back yard. As I was picking through a table of hundreds of salt and pepper shakers, I noticed a box of blackened shakers--smoke damage. I looked at the eaves of the house and saw that there was smoke damage there, too. Then I remembered. An elderly, mobility impaired woman had died of smoke inhalation in that house. The house had security bars over the windows that delayed the firefighters.

I'm curious about her now. What I could find in news stories and on the web tells me her name was Mildred Haehnel. Married to William O. Haehnel, Jr., who preceded her in death. Member of St. Martin's Lutheran Church. Church members were asked to pray for "Millie" in their church newsletter a few years ago. Longtime resident of the Allandale neighborhood. Homemaker, mother of two. Born September 11, 1924 and died January 19, 2009.

What I found out about her through the estate sale is that she played Yahtzee with her daughters, she owned many handbags, she collected salt and pepper shakers, and she held on to some of her daughters' (and grandchildren's?) toys.

I bought the Yahtzee set, some decks of cards, checkers and an old box full of DMC embroidery floss--to use on a quilt in honor of Millie.

moo.com and the Big as Texas Fiber Art Exhibit

2009-05-13T21:39:00.002-05:00

I am so pleased with the mini business cards I received yesterday from Moo. Marge Carson told me about moo.com which is a UK printing business that just opened a print shop in the US. I got 100 mini cards for $19.99 plus shipping. The beauty is you get to upload a photo or graphic art for the cards--up to 100 different images on your 100 cards. I used nine photos of my quilts and the cards turned out fabulous. They also have regular size business cards, postcards, and sticker books. I can't recommend them enough.

And I received them just in time for next week's Awards Party for the BIG as Texas Fiber Art Exhibit. The party is at the Bullock State History Museum and the exhibit is Memorial Day Weekend at the Texas Capitol.

2009-04-20T21:33:00.003-05:00

I finally made Sam's dragon pillow. Sam designed the dragon and I appliqued it. He's a great artist--with a few strokes of his pen and never erasing he can draw great characters, dragons, Star Wars troopers, dinosaurs, all the stuff he likes.

Texas Drought

2009-04-07T21:01:00.006-05:00

Notwithstanding the recent rainfall, Central Texas is still in the midst of what the experts call an "exceptional drought." I tried to capture the feel of the sun beating down on the land. I've entered the quilt into the Texas Museum of Fiber Arts "Deep in the Art of Texas" Fiber Art Exhibit at the Capitol during Memorial Day weekend. I hope it gets juried in.

The quilt is a collage of commercial prints, batiks, and hand dyes over cotton batting and a muslin backing. This is overlaid with strips of different sheer fabrics. The four layers are quilted together using Madeira polyneon threads. The sheers were then scorched with a heat gun and the top was embellished with glitter.

2009-03-28T14:43:00.007-05:00

Although this space doesn't show it, I have been busy finishing up pieces and starting work on new ones for different shows.

I finished my apple piece and named it Candy Apple at my friend Barb's suggestion--I think the name really fits. I submitted it for the Misty Fuse challenge in my AFA group.

I also finished the sun collage piece I was working on. It's called Sun Salutation because the woman/goddess bead looks like she's doing yoga. I think she finishes the piece really well.

I posted photos of these two pieces in January before they were finished. If you scroll down you can see them.

Now I'm working on a large piece, about 5' x 5' called Texas Drought for the Texas Museum of Fiber Art exhibit. I hope I get it finished on time and it gets accepted. I'll post a photo when it's done.

Valentine's Day postcards

2009-02-09T20:40:00.003-06:00

I've been playing with some fabric postcards for Valentine's Day. These are for sale at Sweet Liberty Creations in Liberty Hill, Texas for $4 each. www.sweetlibertycreations.com

Baseball in the air

2009-02-09T20:19:00.002-06:00

I am so excited about baseball starting up. My 14 year old son is a high school freshman and may make the junior varsity this year. His first scrimmage is tomorrow against Leander Rouse. I can't wait to see his pitching performance. I only get to see a bit because my 10 year old has basketball practice about an hour into the scrimmage. I'll let Dad stay and watch the baseball this time.

Playing

2009-01-22T21:12:00.003-06:00

Last night I attended the monthly Austin Fiber Artists meeting that featured a lecture on creativity by Susie Monday. It was a different take on creativity and she talked a lot about playing with your ideas before you work to produce a polished piece. Here are a couple of play pieces on which I've recently been working.

New Year's Resolutions

2009-01-01T13:27:00.006-06:00

Another new year, but not another dusting off of the old resolutions. A couple of days ago I asked my 10-year-old, Sam, what his New Year's Resolution was. He immediately responded, "That's easy. I resolve not to change one bit." What a great perspective.

I resolve to enjoy the journey and let the small stuff work itself out.

2008-12-23T12:37:00.003-06:00

Here's a Clematis I photographed almost two years ago. The days are so dreary I can't wait for spring. Actually, the weather has been alternating between lower than normal temperatures and higher than normal temperatures so much that this Clematis vine had a flower blooming on a leaf-bare vine this past weekend--just in time for a light freeze.

2008-12-22T16:29:00.003-06:00

It is a cold, gloomy day in Austin so I decided to look at some photos I took of flowers in my garden two springs ago. I was amazed by the star that became evident in my photo of the pink hollyhocks. I love old cottage garden-type flowers. They're just so hard to grow in the hill country around Austin. There's hardly any soil--it's mainly limestone with some "caliche" on top.

Maybe I'll find another nice photo for tomorrow to liven things up.

2008-12-13T20:26:00.014-06:00

While I'm at it, here are the expanded squares my sons made. Sam, the 10 year old, is very creative and immediately knew what to do. These next creations are his.

My 13-year-old, Jake, was more tentative so I had to suggest some design ideas. He decided to do something based on the Red Hot Chili Peppers Asterisk design.

2008-12-11T21:36:00.007-06:00

I have been so busy with work and life in general that I haven't been very creative. Apart from seeing two of my quilts hanging in the Austin Quilt Show, I haven't done much. But this past weekend, I had the opportunity to take a design workshop with Jane Dunnewold of Art Cloth Studios. It was just the intense, creative experience I needed to jolt me back into the studio.

The photos below are the results of the first exercise we were assigned: Using an exacto knife or scissors cut black paper to depict a bird attacking and a victim. The bottom photo is my first attempt. The top photo is my second, more successful attempt. It was challenging not being allowed to draw our ideas out first.

Tomorrow I'll post some of the expanded square designs I made during the workshop. After I got home on Sunday I showed my sons the expanded squares and this week we've done a few together. I'll include those tomorrow.

Too many projects

2008-07-12T14:15:00.006-05:00

I have too many projects going at the moment and I feel completely scattered. I have one wallhanging partially quilted and two tops ready to sandwich and start quilting. I have one quilt that's pretty much done except it doesn't have enough quilting so I have to reassess it. I entered it in the AAQG 2008 Quilt Show so I have got to get happy with it. I also have two quilt tops I'm working on right now. One is the Loteria quilt I've been moving on very slowly since I started it earlier this year. It's called La Luna. I plan to quilt it, maybe do some ribbon embroidery, and embellish it with lots of beads. I still need to add a piece along the bottom that names it (La Luna) like in the Loteria cards.

Here's a picture of the La Luna card from a contemporary Loteria game set. I can't find my traditional Don Clemente game set. [As an aside, I have to get myself a good digital camera. The one I have now is awful. What terrible picture quality.]

The other top I am working on right now is the one for my former boss, Christian, who is semi-retired. It is the first part of a triptych I am working on with my girlfriends/co-workers Jessica and Belinda. I am starting to like it. I haven't decided how I'm going to quilt it and embellish it, but I plan on doing both rather heavily.

I designed the sunburst and decided to use bright colors because that's how I interpret Christian. He is bold and loud and larger than life. The green fabric that meanders through my piece is the connection that holds the three parts of the triptych together. It symbolizes Christian's path through life.

I need to finish these two quilts by September and I'm worried that I won't get them finished in time. I guess I should stop writing and start quilting. Okay, one final thing, there's a bead show at the Travis County Exposition & Heritage Center (on Decker Lane in East Austin) next weekend (July 18). I plan on shopping for beads for these pieces there--although I have several drawersful of beads at home already. Too bad they're not exactly what I need.

Africa Calling

2008-06-30T20:23:00.003-05:00

I had written earlier that I put together a little wall hanging for the Juneteenth celebration at Travis County for a silent auction fundraiser. The quilt is approximately 12" x 36". It has limited embellishment, just a few beads and fibers. My boss bid $100 for it and won it in the auction. He was going to give it to his wife for her birthday but then decided to hang it in his office instead (hence the nasty gray wall behind the quilt).

I'm trying to get some mundane quilt tops that I made months ago quilted so that I can start on my next art quilt project, a triptych that I am making with two co-workers for our other boss on his "retirement." I write "retirement" because he is still around but in a different role on a part-time basis.

Tagged

2008-06-24T14:22:00.004-05:00

I was tagged today by my friend Barb. There are six items to answer:

1. What was I doing 10 years ago? In 1998 I was the Coordinator of the Texas General Land Office's Coastal Management Grant Program. I traveled to the coast extensively which was a lot of fun. I was 6 months pregnant with Sam and craving jalapenos with every meal. I spent many hours with 3 year old Jake telling me, "Watch this, Mama. Watch. Are you watching?"
2. List five things on today's to do list. Write thank you notes to everyone who helped me and my friend Belinda with our Quilt Exhibit at the Travis County Juneteenth celebration last week. Take the bus to work rather than ride alone in my SUV. Enter the preliminary budget information for the Justice of the Peace budgets into the county's accounting system. Go to the bank. Update the AAQG 2008 Show Volunteer list tonight.
3. Snacks I enjoy. Chips and salsa, Hershey's kisses.
4. Things I'd do if I were a billionaire. Pay all my debts, quit my day job, travel with the family, set up college funds for the boys and retirement trusts for older family members, hire U2 for a private concert, provide endowment funds to my favorite charities-SPCA, Central Texas Food Bank, Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, etc.
5. Places I have lived. I was born and raised in Laredo, Texas. Moved to Austin for college. Worked in Brownsville for a year. Lived in Alexandria, VA when I worked at two internships in Washington, D.C. Lived in Princeton, NJ when I was a grad student there. Settled on 20 acres with my family on 2 acres, Mom on 16, and Sis and her family on 2 more outside Liberty Hill, Texas.
6. People I'd like to know more about. Linda Miles, Martha Tsihlas, and Mary Ann Vaca-Lambert.

Juneteenth

2008-06-13T21:09:00.003-05:00

Juneteenth approaches and I have yet to start the embellishment on my African inspired wall hanging. I've quilted it and finished the edges and it's looking okay, but the shells and beads will help.

Last month I took a class on pure metal clay (PMC) jewelry-making. Pure metal clay is pretty expensive (given the current price of silver and gold) but a lot of fun to work with. I took the class at Sweet Liberty Creations, an art gallery in Liberty Hill. The owner, Diana Kipfer, is a painter and jewelrymaker and holds classes in her art gallery. I made a pendant in the beginner class and with the remaining silver I made some charms to use on quilts. I plan to make milagros to use on my Loteria quilts.

The PMC is basically a clay laced with either silver or gold. You use the clay like you would any clay and then you bake it in a kiln. The clay is burned away and you are left with pure silver or pure gold. It is a fun way to create your own charms, beads and jewelry.

A few months ago I donated a small piece I made for a silent auction held at Sweet Liberty Creations benefiting local charities. I was experimenting with Matisse acrylic paints on muslin and this is what I came up with. I had fun with it even though the colors are pretty strange. Kind of a Halloween heart. At least it sold.

2008-06-09T17:09:00.003-05:00

Here's the invitation to the Wesley Art Gallery Exhibit of Fiber Art. I'm still having a hard time believing they accepted A Passing Storm. The postcard's cover art is my friend, Barb's, fiber art piece.

2008-06-04T15:02:00.002-05:00

Right now I'm preparing for a quilt exhibit my office is sponsoring at Travis County's Juneteenth Celebration on Wednesday, June 18th. We're going to hang quilts outdoors at Wooldridge Park, 900 Guadalupe St. The Celebration goes from 11am-2pm. That's a lot of setting up for three hours. The upside is that most people at the Celebration won't know a quilt from a duvet.

I'm also working on an African print inspired wall hanging. I'm about halfway finished with the quilting but I still have a lot of embellishments to sew on. I hope I'll be ready by the 18th.

A Passing Storm Selected for the Wesley Gallery Fiber Art Exhibit

2008-05-07T11:01:00.003-05:00

I learned yesterday that A Passing Storm was selected for the Wesley Gallery's Fiber Art Exhibit in mid-June. I am thrilled that my first art piece is selected for exhibition.

A Passing Storm--Latest Piece

2008-04-30T21:11:00.000-05:00

This is my latest piece, A Passing Storm. It is a collaged piece mounted on a painted canvas. It was a lot of fun to do because it was small. Almost instant gratification. It's composed of synthetic fabrics and paper collaged onto osnaburg. Some of the fabrics were distressed or burned with a heat gun. Then I couched fibers onto the piece, sandwiched it with cotton batting and backing fabric. I quilted and beaded it.

The disc in the upper left corner is from the interior of a floppy disk. I had a whole bunch at work that I needed to destroy because of the information on it so I decided to take them apart.

I decided to mount the piece onto the canvas because it was so small. I read in Quilting Arts Magazine that to keep a small quilt from looking like a placemat hung on a wall, a quilter should consider mounting it to give it visual weight.

I used acrylic paints on the canvas to make the quilt look lighter (it looked too gray on its own). It's sitting in my office at work and I am really enjoying it. Hope you do, too.

Close-up View

I love Estate Sales

2008-04-11T17:12:00.000-05:00

I went to an estate sale today and bought an antique quilt for $25. It's made of old flour sack fabrics and is in remarkably good shape. I'm looking forward to getting it cleaned and displayed. There were more quilts there that were above my price range but that I really liked. If they're still there on Sunday they'll be discounted 50%. I may have to drive down to South Austin again on Sunday.

I also found a length of fabric that looks vintage 1960s. It is aloud aqua and black print with silver metallic thread. It would make a great bolero or swing jacket or maybe a wrap. I'll need to look around for a good pattern.

Finally, I bought these two large pots to use when I start dyeing my own fabric. I've wanted to try that for a while but I'll have to wait until I get all the supplies I need. I'd also feel more comfortable if I took a class on it. I'm also hesitating to get started on dyeing fabric because I've been experimenting with so many techniques and tools that I haven't finished any one project in a long time. I need to hit my stash of fabric hard before I start dyeing more fabric.

What to work on next?

2008-04-09T09:27:00.000-05:00

I currently have a half dozen projects in various stages of (in)completion. I'm having a hard time focusing on what to work on next. Meanwhile deadlines for contest entries routinely tick past. I'd like to focus on the three moon-themed quilts I've started. The one that's closest to being finished is Blue Moon, a small collage wallhanging. I need to do some beading on it. I haven't decided if I like it that much. As soon as it's finished I'll photograph it and post it and maybe I'll get some critiques.

Another moon project is called Newt Moon. I have designed a newt that is made of fabric with threadplay. It'll be appliqued amid ferns and rocks in the light of a full moon to a background piece. I started this piece during a class with Ellen Anne Eddy. Ellen Anne's class was fun and she is quite a character.

The third moon project is La Luna. It is based on the Mexican game, Loteria. Loteria is a game like bingo, except that instead of having a number under each letter in Bingo on a card, there are pictures of various items and people. I'd like to do a whole series of these using some of the traditional images and adding my own.

I also have all the fabric cut for a simple lap quilt to donate to my quilt guild's Red, White & Blue Project. RWB donates lap quilts to soldiers wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan who are recuperating in San Antonio. I feel guilty that I haven't contributed a quilt to the project yet.

I have a bunch of other, smaller projects to work on when I get a free moment. I'm hoping that the new art quilt bee that's meeting today will inspire me to dive in and finish a few projects.