every-single-day

Tantilizingly Toasty Toes

The Toe Throw is complete. I don't know if I got the effect I was hoping for but I do like what I got! So I am happy.

Toe Throw close up before washing:

Toe Throw after washing and on our bed:

A close up:

I love it and hope it warms us up without baking us awake. I like my toes warm but cannot sleep if they are too hot! So this quilt is 43x80" and it covers the bottom half of our king size bed. It doesn't match the Beast and I am not sure if this bothers me or not.
I can say that I love having so much color in our bedroom and that my bed quilts are not average or in the norm! This makes me super happy.
I have caught the bug though! Now I wonder if I need to quilt for my side of the bed. I think it would be awesome to have stacks of beautiful quilts, but I might get too hot. More on that after we sleep under the new beauty.

One more thing? I completed this in much less than two weeks! Horray!

New! Small! Improved!

I am going to post the little thumbs that will get you to my art galleries.
Presenting (drumroll please):

Nude.

Saguaro.

Witness.

Click on the images to go to my gallery pages.

Frazzle Toes!

Here is my inspiration for the Toe Throw, found in the Garnet Hill catalog:

Claire asked if I cut the piece on the straight grain or bias.
Hoping that the pieces will fray as much as the photo in the catalog, I cut the pieces on the straight grain!
As I started this project I was wishing I had the catalog on hand! This catalog gets delivered to work and because of the snow on Saturday, I couldn't even call to see if someone could tell me which magazine to do a web search on!
I cut my squares to three inches, which works well for a 80x44 inch throw.
I can't wait to finish quilting, bind and wash. I hope my edges fray! I didn't do a test piece! :)

One more question? Should I sew a raw edge binding? Am I that brave?
I was thinking I might cut a double binding, sew the folded edge to the back of the quilt, turn, iron and stitch. This would leave two edges to fray, anyone have a better idea?

Toe Throw!

No, it is not a game played on hot summer day while waiting to eat a tofu pups at your best friend's picnic! It's a quilt to tuck your toes under during the deep darks of winter!

I already have a fabulous bed beast (I mean quilt). But the thing is, my toes get cold! I put a blanket over the beautiful beast and I miss the fabu colors and textures! Not only that but I wake up too hot during the night!
The solution? Create a quilt that warms the toes, doesn't cover the entire body, and is as yummy and delectible as the beast!
She is pretty close to finished. She has raw edges and utilizes a piece of fabric I dyed last winter and fell in love with. The sort of hand dye that is a shame to use in any way but that shows off the original beauty of the piece.

And Geez! Is it cold out there?

They predicted 12 to 25 inches, we got about 10. As far as I am concerned, it afforded me two full days of sewing. Storm? what storm!

BTW, the above photo is one of my storm windows all covered in ice.

A Slight Tutorial

Claire asked me to explain [the] process of getting the image onto the fabric. So here goes:

I used thickened Procion MX dye in a monoprint manner on Plexiglas.
I painted a thick layer of dye onto the plexiglas. Dried my foam brush, and removed dye off the sheet of Plexi. I cleaned the edges of the image with a cloth before draping an ironed and prepared piece of fabric onto the image and brayering.
Pro Chemical, where I buy my dye, has some in depth instructions on the use of dyes.

Claire knows how to dye though! Check out her blog!

And because she did it:

I am definately a wanna be nerd. I have been told this before, now it is confirmed by an online quiz.

Quick!

This year, as I was last year, I am a member of my guild's challenge commitee. The difference being, this year... I completed the challenge!
I started it Saturday night and sewed the label on last night.
I am not good at challenges, they sap my creative energy and un-inspire me. But Jeri Riggs razzed me so well this year that I felt I had to complete a piece.
The other nice thing is that the entire guild challenge will be shown in Lancaster!
Guild is tonight!
The other thing I am challenged with is creating quick pieces. I tend to want to bead and embellish everything, every piece becomes a major work. I need to stop this behavior and have a few quick easy pieces now and again. Flat, simple, nice.

I am in Love...

with a spool of thread. I am not crazy, just loyal and a bit daft.

A few months ago EJP introduced me to CCE Supplies and Digitizing's rayon thread. It is beautiful, does not break and does not need a special needle (this is saying alot because EJP uses it to satin stitch).
While making my first order I bought a HUGE spool of silver metallic thread. Did I say big, honkin? Humongus? I will not run out for a very-long-time.

...it cost $30.00
Thirty dollars!

When I gave the go ahead on the price, the man was very nice and calmly stated that the roll was $30.00 and did I still want it? I questioned my sanity.
I don't regret a penny of it. Not a single dingle penny.
If you want a great quality rayon thread in a plethora of colors gradations that is very economical, buy from this guy! If you love shiny metallic threads plunk down the 30 bucks (for the silver) and don't look back!
I have no tie to him other than a healthy respect of quality art supplies.

Photos coming on Monday!

She Made me Do It!

Deborah, over at :::Whiffs, Glimmers & Left Oeuvres made me do it! I am the type to fess up and get it 'oeuvre' with anyway. I have to say! I tell on my self often, even at work, where I could get away with not saying anything- I tell.
I don't (nudge, nudge) hide my photos in links that could be oeuvre looked. I wear my slovenly behavior right out there:







And, because the possibilty of order and cleanliness is actually possible for me: here is a prior post where I photographed a clean studio! Click right here. That is a trip in the Way Back Machine, when my blog was in it's infancy! My studio, however, was not!

Other things she-made-me-do? Will it never end?

I joined the Artful Quilters Web Ring

Next I may even jump on the quilt police band wagon and photo the back of my current work. Perhaps I will feature it and not discuss the lowly and colorful front of the work, I mean hell! It means alot to the folks who judge and jury art. Maybe I should take slides of it. Lavish and embrace the simplicity and wonder of it. Maybe that is what it is all about; the dark and under-side of art.

A Smattering

These are some of my favorite blogs right now, I would love to be introduced to some more blogs that are sewing oriented, have beading, drawing and fine art content. If you have a favorite, please leave a comment.
And know that this is only part of my daily blog reading list!
Wee Wonderfuls has a really neat, upbeat tone. She talks about her family, and her creative explorations. Her site is clean and straight forwad.
Everybody loves LoobyLu! It is hard not to! She is infectious and she has a Softie Along going!
mmm.... coffee..... This is the first blog I found with textile content and I am a loyal reader!
I found Michele Goldstein this week. She is a bead maker and now I (of course) want to make my own. Heck, I love beads!

Stepping Up to the Plate or Embracing Ambiguity

I really like this piece. There is nothing wrong with it.
It is just that I worked it a bit too hard and now need to continue to bring it up to a level that I wasn't prepared to do. To top it off, I have photos to show my progress and remind me of what it looked like before I took it to another level.
I was going to do a whole comparison thing with close up details of the before and after but I decided that would keep me rooted in the past.
Embracing this ambiguity will help me to expand, grow as an artist (insert flowery sentiment here).
I do like the piece. The color is good, the sparkly-ness. It works.
And it will mean that I have three pieces for the invitational show. New invites can show up to three pieces, second time invites only one piece. So I am doing well by entering three pieces.
So! all is not lost, The world-of-Melanie's-Saguaro-piece-can-be-made-right.

Tucson

We left on Christmas day and came back a mere week later. We hiked, saw coyotes, deer and road runners, went to the border town of Nogales, shopped and had quality time together.
We tried many versions of mexican food and toot, toot, tooted from all the beans we ate!

I sat next to this cactus for about an hour, it had me at attention and I finally had to move away from it for fear of relaxing! It deserved a photo!

Luckily for me, a journal entry has inspired the third piece I need for the small works invitational I am participating in.

I hope everyone had a Happy Holiday and that we keep the tsunami survivors in our minds and hearts.