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Whenever a new batch of commercial fabric samples arrives in our offices, everyone gathers around to ooh, aah, and dream about how they would use this or that pattern to make a quilt, bag, accessory, or baby item. I'm always first in line to see what's new, hungrily eyeing every stack of new...
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Where I live in New England, it gets dark at about 4:30 p.m. in the depths of winter. So when Daylight Savings Time kicks in and the snowbanks start to melt, I'm itching to get outside and do some fabric painting and dyeing. Sun printing with stencils. (Photo by Pokey Bolton.) I have always admired...
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Recently, I shared Marcia Derse's tips for making your own fabric stamps for resist dyeing . The way that Marcia came to surface design and incorporates fabric painting and dyeing techniques into her quilt art fascinates me so much, I thought I'd give you some insight into her thought process...
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Art quilting can be an expensive hobby. A good-quality sewing machine, specialty threads, and stacks and stacks of fat quarters, are just the beginning. It always seems like there's some new gadget, tool, or surface-design supply I absolutely must have. But I come from thrifty New England stock,...
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I just love the Fall. If I had my way, it would always be Fall. Perhaps I'm so enamored because I grew up in San Diego, where Fall is more a designation of time than an actual season, and now the beauty of the New England Fall has enchanted me. Maybe it's because I love the feel of the cool,...
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I have taken many classes from fiber artist Rayna Gillman. I love her warm, giving approach to teaching and I have acquired many skills from her lessons. The results of Rayna Gillman's "therapy sewing" using many fabrics she made more interesting with Thermofax screen printing . But maybe...
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Note from Vivika: This is the fourth in a series of blog posts by Candy Glendening showing you how to create unique functional pieces with artistic flair. Now that you've dyed a spectacular piece(s) of multi-colored fabric ,it's time to show it off. What better way than to make a one-of-a-kind...
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One of the things I'm looking most forward to as editor of Quilting Arts Magazine is learning more about surface design . Surface design fabrics by Julie Fei-Fan Balzer. Techniques like fabric painting, dyeing, printing on fabric, and foiling are all familiar to me and I admire other artists'...
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The Quilting Arts/Cloth Paper Scissors crew and my quilt full of surface-design love. On this Thanksgiving Day I am in transition. I'm settling into my new Houston digs in preparation for my fresh adventure with Quilts Inc. while still consulting for Quilting Arts and preparing for the next season...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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Judith Trager's Maine Coon, Pumpkin, sleeping on the job on top of Judith's art quilts. I had a sublime 10/10/10 weekend. Just perfect, and much of it had to do with Boulder's city-wide Open Studios program that take place four weekends a year (this being one of them). Imagine more than 100...
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Many of you probably know I have five furry, four-legged "children." But did you know I feel a similar motherly instinct toward Quilting Arts Magazine ? Asking me to choose a favorite issue is like asking me to choose a favorite child. I love them all equally! Having said that, an issue I revisit...
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I love the soft shimmer of metal embellishment on a quilted surface. Just a touch of metal can act as an elegant focal point. An all-over quilting pattern of metallic thread, couched wire, or foil can add texture and make the quilt seem to glow from within. Two fiber artists who are renowned for their...