-
From inspiration, to design, to finished piece, there are certainly times when working on an art quilt can be a challenge. Luckily the kind of challenge I'm referring to today is the fun kind: a Quilting Arts Reader Challenge. There have been quite a few reader challenges this year at Quilting Arts...
-
Paper Quilt Collage by Annette Morgan. I love summer. But unlike at some places where the warm weather and beckoning beaches slow down the pace, at Quilting Arts summer is one of our busiest times of the year. Still, even with all the deadlines and projects we have going on around here, I make sure to...
-
It seems as if summer is just flying by and I can't believe we're already well into July. Here at the Quilting Arts offices we're hard at work on the August/September 2011 issue of Quilting Arts Magazine. And while I can't wait for this issue to hit the stands, in the meantime I thought...
-
WEEKEND PLANS and a GIVE AWAY! Ready for the long weekend? I am excited for two main reasons: the sun is supposed to be out in Boston and I have set aside some much needed craft time. I can’t tell you how relaxing it is to just think about sitting on my back porch with nothing to do but craft....
-
I was pulling laundry out of the dryer the other day when I spied something among the folds that looked black, fuzzy, and about the size of a quarter. I dropped the laundry basket and jumped back, convinced I had just seen a giant spider. Then I noticed the fuzzy blob wasn't moving. Gingerly, I stepped...
-
Have you experienced fiber art creep? You know, when you learn one fiber genre, let's say quilting, leads to dyeing your own fabric, which may lead to screen printing or felting...which may lead to spinning...or paper making...and so on? C'mon, admit it. You know this has happened to you. It...
-
I have collected a ton of fibers in my career as a quilt artist. Everything from novelty yarns, to silk carrier rods and cocoons, to felt balls, ribbons and metallic threads, wool and silk roving. Not to mention the scraps of thousands of quilting fabrics, sheers, gauzes, saris, and the like. And don't...
-
Aren't we all craving signs of spring right about now? I know I am. Heck, I'd be happy to go right to summer! Back at Quilting Arts headquarters in Massachusetts, spring is slow to arrive. In fact, we can have snow as late as May. But everyone on the staff knows that once we get that first warm...
-
Do you have hours of uninterrupted studio time? Me neither. I would say that unless you work full time in a dedicated studio, finding time to create is one of hardest things about being an artist. For most people, especially women, art has to get made in between "real jobs," kids, pets, and...
-
If I could sum up the way the world looks to me during the holiday season in one word, it would be "sparkle." Sparkle is everywhere, from the moonlit snow that twinkles like diamond dust to the strings of Christmas lights up on the rooftops, to the flickering candles lit for Hanukkah and Advent...
-
I'll bet that if you've been a fiber or mixed-media artist for a while, then you've accumulated a rather large array of tools, gadgets, how-to books and the like. And I'm also willing to bet that, like me, you use only a handful of those items over and over again. In fact, I'd have...
-
Congratulations to Barb Forrister on being this week’s Facebook blogger of the week! When Pippa and I were going through all of the blogs that were entered this past week we were amazed by how awesome they all were – it was a tough to choose just one. In the end we chose Barb Forrister’s...
-
Kathy York’s quilt, "Fifty and Female and Fearless", graced the cover of Quilting Arts for the October/ November 2010 issue. At Quilt Festival a few weeks ago I had the pleasure of meeting Kathy, and I learned that she is not only a talented art quilter but also a fabric designer! I took...
-
Last week we asked our Facebook fans to share with us one of their blog entries in hopes of becoming the first Quilting Arts Facebook blogger of the week. There were so many great blogs that were posted it was nearly impossible to choose one! in the end, however, Pippa Eccles and I decided to pick Susan...
-
Designer Kaffe Fassett has said he finds much of his inspiration for his palettes and patterns from books on ethnic textiles and his own worldwide travels. "I follow women in the marketplace to get a look at the pattern on the edge of their skirts or the way they put a flower in their hair,"...