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Gel pens

Gel-inked ballpoint pens. They come in many different sizes and in a huge variety of colors. They are primarily used for thin patterns or writing, but can be used for coloring small areas in a specific color. The distinguishing characteristic is, of course, the gel ink, which is made of pigments suspended in a water-based gel.

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  • Fabric Painting Without A Brush
    While looking through past issues of Quilting Arts Magazine and past episodes of "Quilting Arts TV" for ideas, one easy method of surface design caught my eye.
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  • I'm New to Surface Design - Got Any Advice?
    One of the things I'm looking most forward to as editor of Quilting Arts Magazine is learning more about surface design.
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  • Get Our New free eBook with Easy Resist Fabric Dyeing Techniques
    Batik is one of the oldest methods of dyeing fabrics for surface design. Using hot liquid wax as a resist for dye, batik yields beautiful patterns and rich colors.
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  • New Life for Your UFOs with Re-imagined Quilt Designs
    It's a new year: have you made any fiber art-related resolutions? One of mine goals for 2012 is to complete — or repurpose — at least one UFO (unfinished object) in my stash, and I'll bet that might be on your list, too.
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  • Fabric Dyeing with a Side of Mashed
    Now that I'm all moved in down here in Houston, I'm ready to get cooking on some fabric dyeing and other surface design techniques.
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  • Best of Quilting Arts Book Giveaway!
    Guess what? Santa came a bit early to me this year, dropping a box of freshly printed copies of The Best of Quilting Arts: Your Ultimate Resource for Art Quilt Techniques and Inspiration on my doorstep.
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  • Fabric Painting Tip: Don't Go Near the Water
    Has this ever happened to you? You're in the midst of a good surface design session, blissfully working with fabric paint, masks, screens, stamps, etc., to create your own textiles.
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  • Quilting Arts February/March 2012
    Celebrate art quilt collaboration in the newest issue of Quilting Arts . Learn about the award-winning Coastal Quilt Artists, a husband and wife quilting team, and the Twelve by Twelve challenge group. Create stitched fiber photographs, make a monoprinted art quilt, and construct an artful and embellished
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  • Announcing the New Editor for Quilting Arts!
    A couple of months ago I announced a few sizable changes at Quilting Arts (you can read more about those changes in this post ). Now I’d like to share the fantastic news that we have a new editor for Quilting Arts! Meet Vivika Hansen DeNegre, a
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  • Breaking Down the Quilt Block
    When I first became interested in quilting, I spent hours staring at traditional quilt squares trying to figure out how they were pieced. Some, like the log cabin pattern, are pretty obvious.
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  • Interview with QA Cover Artist Cynthia St. Charles
    A warm welcome to the December 2011/January 2012 Quilting Arts cover artist Cynthia St. Charles. Not only is Cynthia an incredibly talented and prolific quilt artist, but she's also a repeat Quilting Arts cover artist and a frequent contributor to
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  • An Art Quilting Pattern of Success: Q&A with Helen Gregory
    Last week, my colleague, friend, and co-conspirator Helen Gregory took over the reins as Editorial Director for Interweave's Quilt, Paper, and Sewing Group.
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  • Jumpstart Quilting Designs with an Easy Sketchbook Exercise
    I usually have a variety of quilting designs kicking around in my head at any given time. But often, when I finally get around to actually designing a quilt, I draw a blank. Sometimes I'm overwhelmed by fabric and surface design choices. Other times, I just don't know where to start.
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  • Surface Design Delights: A Cornucopia of 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 of "Quilting Arts TV."
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  • There's a Science to Creating Colorful Fabric Art
    Why is fiber artist Candy Glendening holding up a dye chart that looks like the periodic table of elements? Her training as a research scientist made it seem like the most natural thing in the world to do.
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  • Quilting Arts December 2011/January 2012
    Quilting Arts has gone wild with our animal kingdom issue. Create stitched pet portraits, make a reptile raw-edge appliqué collage, and view a gallery of pet quilts from the Quilting Arts 2012 calendar contest. Don't miss articles on the latest art quilting techniques, including tips to create
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  • Our new eMag and the giveaway winner!
    First off, thank you all for your great patchwork ideas...They were all wonderful and I had a blast reading them! Congratulations to yarnlady@6 for winning the fabric bundle! yarnlady@6 , Please email me at lmurray@interweave.com with your mailing information
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  • Our International Quilt Festival schedules for Make it University!(R)
    Hello! November is right around the corner and for us at Quilting Arts and Cloth Paper Scissors that means we are packing like crazy to get everything ready for The International Quilt Festival in Houston. We all love this show, it is so alive with energy
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  • Quilting Can Be a Challenge
    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
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  • Interview with QA Cover Artist Enid Gjelten Weichselbaum
    The October/November issue of Quilting Arts magazine has the perfect autumn cover, featuring fall leaves that are both printed and stitched in a lively design. The artist behind this piece, Enid Gjelten Weichselbaum, shares her easy-to-make reusable silk
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  • Discovering The Path to Quilt Making
    I'm always intrigued to learn what started people on the path to quilt making . Did they stumble into it in mid-life or did they grow up among quilters, stitchers, and textile artists?
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  • Quilting Arts Gifts 2011/2012
    Quilting Arts Gifts is a special issue of Quilting Arts Magazine devoted to the art of gift-giving. Inside this whopping 144-page issue, you'll find dozens of festive gift projects, seasonal décor ideas, the newest and best tools and gadgets, and much more!
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    Quilting Arts Gifts is a special issue of Quilting Arts Magazine devoted to the art of gift-giving. Inside this whopping 148-page issue, you'll find 20 festive gift projects, 14 seasonal décor ideas, dozens of recommendations from our editors on the newest and best tools and gadgets, and much
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  • Holiday 2008–2009
    Welcome to our holiday gift to you, our largest issue ever! In this special edition of Quilting Arts Gifts you'll find a number of inspiring articles relating to seasonal home décor and gift-making for friends and loved ones.
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  • Quilting Arts TV Series 900 Recap (and other newsy bits)
    I think I've amassed about 10,000 miles in my frequent flyer program within the last month. Or at least it feels like 10,000 miles. I have been away more than I've been home the past four weeks, and have hightailed it all over the continent. My
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  • Quilting Arts 10th Anniversary Postcards
    We love to celebrate here at Quilting Arts. Whether we've just finished wrapping up an issue, found an exciting new product we want to share, or discovered a new artist we can't wait to work with, there are certainly a multitude of reasons to
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  • How to Paint Fabric: Two Techniques to Try
    After a whirlwind couple of weeks that involved traveling to Chicago for the CREATE mixed-media retreat, Cleveland to tape Season 9 of "Quilting Arts TV" (and to visit my favorite museum), and a quick trip to California to help a friend celebrate a special milestone, I've finally been able
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  • Learn more about Alisa Burke's new book SEW WILD!!!
    I am excited. Ok, maybe I am a little more than excited. Alisa Burke has created another wonderful work of art – and this time it is in the form of a book ! As a huge admirer of her work, I am very excited to get my hands on this book and start
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  • Quilting Arts October/November 2011
    Master your machine quilting with our stitch intensive issue. Explore new free-motion quilting motifs and learn how to use zippers to embellish your art quilts. Judy Coates Perez shares her guide to machine quilting success, Margaret Applin takes art quilts from flat to fabulous with digital monoprinting
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  • 10 Years, 10 Art Quilting Lessons
    Just as the summer is winding down (sniff!), so is the celebration of 10 years of Quilting Arts Magazine . It's not a sad ending, though, because it's been really gratifying to revisit all the talented artists we've worked with and all the gorgeous artwork that has come through our offices
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  • Make Your Own Paper For Fabric Art
    Have you ever made your own paper? It's easy, and a great way to create a unique piece of fiber that can be used as a component of your fabric art , or as a stand-alone piece. You probably have most, if not all, of the tools and supplies you need already...
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  • How to Quilt When It's Too Darn Hot
    I love hot weather. But this summer there have been some days so hot that even I felt it was too hot to move, let alone quilt.
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  • Embellish Your Quilts with Dyed Sticks
    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 spend as many of my off hours as possible
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  • Of Pets, Peeves, and Portrait Quilts
    What's your pet peeve? One of mine is when my cat, Dickens, sits on my fabric. Another is when Dickens hogs the bed. It's irritating, but I can't get too stressed about it: Dickens is, after all, a cat. And cats do what they want, where they want. It's just that . . . he's a very
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  • Quilting Arts TV Episode 809
    809 Mixed-Media Quilting Today’s art quilt movement has opened up a whole new world of materials for quilting. Mixed-media is a very hot topic where our fabric is joined by fibers, thread, paint and so much more to create a new fresh look. It opens
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  • Quilting Arts TV Episode 806
    806 Do it Yourself Fabrics for Quilting For some people, one of the most interesting parts of art quilting is actually creating their own fabric. Today, Lisa Kerpoe raid the kitchen cabinets for items like oatmeal and mashed potatoes for some very unique
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  • 'Just Right' Surface Design Tips with Everyday Objects
    I'm going to ask you a question and I want you to give me an honest answer. When choosing among items at a grocery store, have you ever selected one over the other based solely on how you could use the packaging to create surface design?
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  • Quilting Arts August/September 2011
    Check out our surface design issue, full of fresh techniques to create your own fabrics. Stamp and stencil with unusual objects, learn to dye with ice, explore finger painting on cloth, and much more; plus art quilts meet mixed media, color theory for art quilters, tips on working in a series, and our
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  • Portrait Art Quilts From Our Readers
    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
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  • My Surface Design Idol
    Someone recently asked me who inspires me, and it didn't take me long to answer: Kerr Grabowski. Why? Because she is so inventive with her surface design techniques and so open to the possibilities.
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  • Quilting Arts TV Episode 802
    802 It might be a technique we can’t wait to try – or maybe a favorite motif or color and sometimes we’re inspired by new media. Today’s guests share some rather novel approached. We begin with Ana Buzzalino and her technique of
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  • Quilting Arts TV Episode 801
    801 Animal Kingdom This episode features two unique approaches to embellishment. First, you’ll learn how to dye embellishments with Dianne Giancola, who shows how to color a range of materials to match your quilts, from buttons and bamboo sticks
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  • Fabric Art Swap a Success
    What do you get when you challenge a bunch of mixed-media and fiber artists to create their own 9" x 9" fabric swatches to be swapped? You get nearly 200 pieces of amazingly creative fabric and a whole lot of very happy artists. That's just what happened when Quilting Arts' sister publication
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  • Make Your Own Fabric with Easy Resist Dyeing
    I just love to design my own fabric. Sometimes, I love it so much, I get all mushy. That's when you'll find me whipping up resists in the kitchen using mashed potato flakes, oatmeal, or even rice cereal for babies.
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  • How to Dye Fabric with Insects (Not Cats)
    My Maine Coon cat, Dickens, likes to help me make art, especially when I'm dyeing outside. He has luxurious fur that is quite beautiful, but it is also has a magnet for the flora and fauna found outside my home. Burrs, sticks, and the occasional bug become enmeshed, and it's my job to get them
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  • A Father's Day Art Quilt
    In celebration of Father's Day, we turn to Dutch quilt artist Anneke de Jong whose work commemorates her father in stitch and fabric. Anneke was kind enough to talk about her work process, inspiration, and how her father influenced her as an artist
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  • Bring Your Landscape Quilt to Life
    We moved the Quilting Arts offices earlier this spring, and the change has given me a whole new outlook — literally. Whereas my former office didn't have much of a view, this one has windows that look out onto the wooded buffer between the office complex and the street.
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  • Surface Design On the Go
    As you know, I am a surface design junkie. As you also know, surface design is messy. So while I often take my beloved Bernina® on vacation with me, I'm not likely to lug my screens, Thermofax machine, paints, dyes, and soy wax with me.
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  • Enjoy a Surface Design Explosion this Fall
    Reports from Fashion Week earlier this year (how many of us knew the term "fashion week" before "Project Runway" came on the scene?) showed that color, graphic design, spots, and fabric that seems to move would be hot this fall.
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  • My Fabric Painting & Printapalooza Weekend
    I confess, if I didn't love Quilting Arts so much, I'd throw in the towel and spend all of my time painting and dyeing fabric . You see, some day when I finally grow up, I want to be Jane Dunnewold (or Kerr Grabowski). I save any kind of surface
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  • My Must-Read Quilt & Surface Design Books
    Now that the weather has finally turned and we have warmer, sunnier days ahead, I can't wait to bring out the portable tables and dye equipment to my driveway to screen and paint yards and yards of fabric.
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  • Memorial Day give away, CREATE recap, and Make it University - Long Beach!
    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
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  • Use Cast-off Threads for Surface Design
    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.
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  • Quilting Arts June/July 2011
    Don’t miss our portrait issue! Translate your photos into art quilts with Joan Sowada, explore detailed thread painting with Jennifer Day, and discover how to make a simple portrait quilt top in a weekend with Jen Eskridge. Stitch yourself silly with monoprinted art dolls by Tracy Stilwell and
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  • An Easy Way to Dye Embellishments
    The Monday after Easter this year, I noticed Cloth Paper Scissors Today Editor Cate Prato brought dark red hard-boiled eggs in for lunch. Cate is Greek, and their tradition is to dye their Easter eggs a deep red.
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  • Imagine a Fabric Dyeing Garden
    Finally, we've had a stretch of warm, sunny days and my spring flowers are starting to bloom. Local garden centers are awash with marigolds, pansies, geraniums, and herbs. All of which has made me think about gardening and dyeing. Sunny, windless days are perfect for dyeing. But while I usually use
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  • Put Your Patchwork Quilt on Paper
    Contemporary patchwork projects are everywhere these days. Even the artists contributing to our sister publication, Cloth Paper Scissors are getting into the act--but they're using paper!
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  • What's Weaving Got to Do with Quilt Art?
    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?
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  • Barbara Brackman: A Fabric Designer Profile!
    Barbara Brack man has come out with a line of fabric called “Civil War Reunion”. Read on to see the inspiration behind this line, and learn a little about Civil War quilts in the process! You have recen tly put out a new line of Fabrics with
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  • Enrich Your Surface Design Mark-Making Vocabulary
    I can still remember the thrill of first learning to read. When I realized those marks on the page meant something and I could figure it out all by myself, I devoured every book I could get my little hands on.
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  • Cover Artist Paula Chung Shares Her Tips on Buying Quilt Supplies and Finding Inspiration
    A warm welcome to Quilting Arts April/May 2011 cover artist Paula Chung! Paula’s raw-edge silk appliqué quilts predominately feature floral imagery and I was curious to learn more about the inspiration behind her work and how her home state
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  • Surrounded by Patchwork Projects: That's Our Ellen
    When I post pictures on Facebook of the team wearing sparkling leprechaun bowlers or upload a YouTube video of us getting our jingle on, you probably think it's just all fun and games here at Quilting Arts .
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  • Quilting Arts April/May 2011
    Celebrate spring with our nature issue! Get creative with Zen doodle quilts by Laura Wasilowski. Make a sweet little series of free-motion stitched wildflower quilts by Jeanelle McCall. Join Margaret Applin as she uses digital imagery in quilted collages. Check out our new materials column, Out of the
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  • Happy St. Patrick's Day! Celebrate with a FREE eBook! (and announcing the winner of a goody bag from Faith's Post)
    Happy St. Patrick’s Day! As promised I am pulling the name of the winner of a goody bag from my last post with guest blogger Faith Cleary. Congratulations to janicen7 , you are the winner! Please email me at lmurray@interweave.com with your mailing
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  • How to Make Amazing Fabric Art with New Fibers - Q&A
    I was first exposed to spunbonded "fabrics" like Lutradur and Tyvek several years ago and was captivated by their seemingly infinite possibilties for textures, surface design, construction, and more in your fabric art. You can paint them, heat-distress them, stamp on them, print on them, foil
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  • Do Something Different with Your Fiber and Fabric Scraps
    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
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  • Spring Trends in Quilting and Quilting Supplies
    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.
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  • 6 Keys to Metallic Thread Success in Your Fabric Art
    I love the sparkle and shine metallic thread gives to my fabric art, but the hassles--shredding, the curling, the broken threads-give me such a headache. I always approach metallic threads with trepidation, and I could swear the spool can smell my fear.
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  • My 10 Favorite Quilting Arts Tips
    Every time I come back to our editorial offices back east I'm greeting with more Quilting Arts @10 anniversary postcards. I love it! We'll be featuring some in the next issue of the magazine, so watch for them.
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  • Which Issue of QA Got You Started?
    I just completed a huge move so I can be closer to the QUILTING ARTS office. One of the best parts about moving is undoubtedly when all the hard work is done and it’s finally time to unpack the boxes, set everything up, and begin a new craft project
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  • How to Turn Pictures into Photo Quilts
    I almost fell off my chair laughing when I saw this fiber art postcard from U.K. artist Priscilla O'Rourke. It seems no sooner had she received her copy of the February/March issue of Quilting Arts Magazine than she turned a photo of the staff she found on the Editor's note page into quilted
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  • Make Quilt Art Backgrounds While You Make Dinner
    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 other responsibilities.
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  • Meet Ty, the Surface Design Guy
    You may recall a post on my Editor's blog when I mentioned meeting TV makeover show host and designer Ty Pennington, who has a new line of fabrics with Westminster Fibers. I also hinted that we had something planned for him, and you'd find out more later. Guess what? It's later!
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  • Quilting Arts TV Episode 111
    111 Text Messaging Writing on your quilts not only adds texture and interest, but can literally help get the message across. This show presents simple ways to add text to your quilts using the computer; hand-stitching, gel pens, markers, and lots more
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  • Quilting Arts TV Episode 110
    110 Quilted Collage—Getting Scrappy This program shows how to turn scraps into wonderful quilted collaged quilts using rubber stamps, sticky-backed fabric, and other bits and pieces of materials. First up explore fabric rubberstamping – what
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  • Quilting Arts TV Episode 106
    106 Pictorial Quilts Learn to make faces—creative self-portraits and quilts with figures, done with fabric, stitch, and embellishment. It’s hard to keep from smiling when you create your own self-portrait. Then it’s guest Pam RuBert
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  • Quilting Arts TV Episode 211
    211 Paints and dyes Perhaps one of the most exciting additions to the quilting market has been paints and dyes. We’ve opened the door to dyeing our own fabrics; creating one of a kind hand painted looks and added a whole new dimension of surface
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  • Quilting Arts TV Episode 207
    207 Trends Learn what’s new in quilting on today’s show. First, learn how to combine needle felting with quilting for unique results. Next Rayna Gillman shows us how to turn outdated, or “ugly” fabric into an original design by
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  • Quilting Arts TV Episode 206
    206 Fabric and Design The use of fabric and design is at the heart of your quilting projects. First, Claire Fenton uses images to create a unique background or as she says: “one mans rust is another’s dyeing material.” Then Andrea Bishop
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  • Quilting Arts TV Episode 204
    204 Embellishment Contemporary quilts often include some form of surface embellishment such as charms or fiber, or maybe the addition of paint or another surface design. First is a lesson on using puff paints to create dimension on your quilts. Then Ruth
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  • Quilting Arts TV Episode 312
    312 Inks & Dyes: roll up your sleeves with paints and dyes. First is Debbie Crane and her great fabric books featuring paint. Then it’s Shelly Stokes for a lesson on adding patina to sewing notions. Next Dianne Giancola joins us for a tutorial
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  • Quilting Arts TV Episode 311
    311 Color Our World : color as a key part of design. First up is Laura Wasilowski and a whimsical birdhouse quilt designed right on the spot with prefused fabric scraps. Then visit the True Colors exhibit for an inspiring look at color. Last up is Kathy
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  • Quilting Arts TV Episode 310
    310 On the Surface: creative ideas for surface embellishment. Our first segment was filmed on location with Julaine Lofquist Burch and a unique way of marbling fabric using shaving cream. Then join author Laura Murray and unmounted stamps as rubbing plates
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  • Quilting Arts Tv Episode 304
    304 Stitching with Alternate fabrics : quilting with a variety of fabrics and textures. First is using batting as an exciting surface for stitching. Then meet Melanie Testa for a purse using organza and freezer paper screen printing. Next Jane LaFazio
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  • Quilting Arts Tv Episode 301
    301 Fabric Collage : mix and match textures and techniques. Learn to mount a small collage onto a painted, gallery wrapped canvas with Lyric Kinard. Then meet designer Jane LaFazio; working with paper, canvas, and surface design techniques, she creates
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  • Quilting Arts Episode 405
    405 Fabric is our focus on today’s Quilting Arts. We have ideas on both creating and using fabric in a unique way. Malka Dubrowsky is first with techniques for over dyeing commercial fabric. She also shares information on discharging. Then, meet
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  • Quilting Arts TV Episode 404
    404 Quilting arts is all about trends. First up, is Melanie Testa. Her trend is artists’ trading cards and she uses them to demonstrate alternate finishing and binding techniques for quilts. Then, meet designer Sue Kelly with the latest in surface
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  • Quilting Arts TV Episode 512
    512 Liz Debellis starts us out with how to make a collagraph printing plate, from which you can create your own printed fabric. Then, meet Michele Muska for ruching and a challenge to try out new tools and trims. Next, it’s time to raid the medicine
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  • quilting Arts TV Episode 513
    513 Susan Brubaker Knapp returns as our first guest. Her inspiration was a plant from her garden. She starts out with a photo of a coleus leaf and creates a small art quilt using white fabric, textile paint, and thread. Then Jeanne Delpit is inspired
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  • Quilting Arts TV Episode 504
    504 Our first projects are no-sew fabric fortune cookies for a great personalized gift idea. Then, it’s a lesson on specialty shibori dyeing with Dianne Giancola. Next, we’re off to International Quilt Festival and a collage door book with
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  • Quilting Arts TV Episode 101
    101 Surface Design There is a rich array of commercially printed fabric to choose from ––but you can also make your own with paints, oils sticks, and stencils. First we go to our host’s personal studio and combine simple household tools
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  • Quilting Arts February/March 2011
    Check out our new machine quilting column, “Stitch This! Free-motion Motifs to Try” by Heather Thomas. Enjoy Lisa Kerpoe’s second installment of “Resists from the Kitchen” with a look at mashed potato flakes. Don’t miss Lyric Kinard’s suggestions for quilting
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  • Quilting Arts Episode 713
    713 Unique Quilt Embellishments This episode features two unique approaches to embellishment. First, you’ll learn how to dye embellishments with Dianne Giancola, who shows how to color a range of materials to match your quilts, from buttons and
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  • Quilting Arts Episode 705
    705 DIY Fabrics for Quilting Let your personality show by making your quilt unique. What better way to accomplish this than learning how to easily design your own signature fabrics? First, Kerr Grabowski gives a lesson on surface design, demonstrating
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  • New ways to Create and Display your Artist Trading Cards
    Cheryl Johnson decided to change up the way that she displayed and created Artist Trading Cards. For some inspiration on how to spice up your own ATC collection read on. What was your inspiration when you decided to change up the shape of ATC’s
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  • Improve Your Quilting Through Repetition
    There's an old joke, from well before my time, that is still around because it's a classic. An elderly gentleman is walking down the street in New York City. A younger man steps up to him and asks, "Excuse me, sir, but how do I get to Carnegie Hall?
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  • My Latest Quilting Arts @ 10 Giveaway--Free Fabric!
    In celebration of 10 years of Quilting Arts, I offer my 2nd (of 10) giveaways this month. This time I am giving away a stash of my own hand-dyed, screen-printed fabrics, some of which look something like this: My question to you: What is on your art quilting
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  • Get Through Winter with Wearable Art
    As I write this, the snow is coming down, I'm wearing extra warm socks and a scarf, and I'm wondering if I remembered to put the ice scraper in my trunk. The very thought of a being outside in a silk slip dress makes me shiver.
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  • Time-wasting Mistakes You Can Avoid in 2011
    One thing I've learned, and that I love, about contemporary art quilting is that you can't really make a mistake. Everything that happens is grist for the creative mill and happy accidents often serve as "aha!" moments. On the other hand,
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  • Fabric Painting Advice from an Expert
    I'm a fabric printing nut. I started with stamping, then added Thermofax® screen printing, and lately I've been churning out gelatin prints by the score. I couldn't tell you what I like best about printing-the graphic nature of the design, the thrill of pulling the paint through the screen
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  • Every Year One Stands Out
    Last week while back in Massachusetts I picked up a few essential Christmas mementos to send to our new Colorado home. As I was packing them up at Quilting Arts headquarters, people gathered around to comment.
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  • Too Yummy: A Sparkling Chocolate Fiber Art Project
    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 are 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
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  • Sewing for a Cause: Stitching Up the Spirit of Giving
    In many years of sewing, I've learned that sewists have incredibly generous hearts, and that's even more true during the holiday season. The spirit of giving is more important than ever this year, with so many people all over the world in need
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  • Behind the Scenes at an Iconic Quilt Exhibition
    The world of art quilting is partially defined by traditions that have existed since its inception and stood the test of time. One of these notable events is the exhibition “Quilts=Art=Quilts,” a juried show held annually at the Schweinfurth
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  • My Most-valued Quilt Art Supplies
    I'll bet that if you're 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.
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  • A Thanksgiving, Quilt-y Treat For You...
    We have an early release day here this Wednesday afternoon at Quilting Arts in order to get ready for tomorrow's festivities, and I don't know about you, but Thanksgiving is my absolute favorite holiday. No pressure for gift-giving or receiving
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  • Facebook Blogger of the week: Barb Forrister!
    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
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  • Interview with Kathy York
    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
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  • Quilting Arts December 2010/January 2011
    Celebrate Quilting Arts 10th Anniversary with 10 innovative techniques! From adding LED lights to your art quilts to screen printing with natural items and creating machine stitched reverse applique pieces, you're sure to find a unique art quilting process that catches your fancy. Learn strategies
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  • Announcing the Latest Fabric Winner & Lost Footage: International Quilt Festival!
    I have to say, a number of your responses to my last blog post about PPQSDS (Post-Partum Quilt Show Disorder) cracked me up, and I love many of your creative strategies for coping with winter! Many mentioned they bake cookies, some talked about snow dyeing
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  • Quilting a Story: A Quilting Arts Reader Challenge inspires a series
    Having studied French for many years, I’ve read The Little Prince , by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, dozens of times. So Heather Reid’s entry for our “How Entertaining!” Reader Challenge, based on this charming story, naturally
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  • Announcing the First Facebook Blogger of the Week: Susan Ettl!
    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
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  • A Top Art Quilter Talks Fabric, Fresh Quilting, and Festival!
    There are some artists whose work always puts a smile on your face. For me, this is the case with Malka Dubrawsky, whose vibrant and candy-colored fabrics and quilts are always cheerful, bright, and wonderfully whimsical. I'll take any excuse to chat
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  • Create Your Own Art Quilt Reference Library
    We always want to capture what's new on the scene and of interest to you at the moment. But while machine stitching, hand stitching, surface design, embellishment and the other big topics of contemporary art quilting are always covered, the trends in those areas change.
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  • Episode 603
    Episode 603 focuses on surface design. Jane Dunnewold returns as the first guest. She demonstrates stenciling and stamping hot soy wax and adding color with fabric paints. Then, Susie Monday shows how to make colorful screen-printed fabrics using water
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  • In My Travels: Art Quilt Inspiration
    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,"
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  • A Perfect 10: Quilt Studio Bliss
    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
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  • 5 Free Fabric Art Projects You Can Start Now
    A quick glance at my calendar for the next few months shows me that if I am going get fabric art gifts made for all the events coming up this season, I better grab my quilting fabric stash and get going. From weddings to fall parties (think hostess gifts) to Christmas, I need a reliable cache of textile
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  • Don’t Judge An Art Quilt By Its Fabric
    You've heard the expression, "Don't judge a book by its cover," right? Well, at the recent taping of "Quilting Arts TV" Season 7, I learned you shouldn't judge an art quilt by its original fabric.
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  • Quilting Arts October/November 2010
    Fresh surface design techniques and much more! Screen printing with shredded paper; oatmeal resist; digital imagery; thread sketching; tie-transfer dyeing; wire embellishment; sell your art; and the list goes on! Learn strategies for selling your artwork at fairs and festivals from Jane Dávila’s
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  • Don’t Fall for the Same Old Line
    Are you up for some fun? Then let's do some exercises today, beginning with free-association. I'll say a word, and you respond with the first thing that comes into your head. Ready? Here we go.
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  • I’m Sharing a Cool Fabric Scrap Project
    It's no secret I'm a surface design junkie. Over the years, I have amassed an overflowing stash of fabrics that have been dyed, printed, screened, stamped, and stenciled. Not only do I despair of ever using these fabrics up in art quilts, I have to admit that some of them aren't quite art
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  • What's So Funny About Fiber Art?
    When we first started Quilting Arts , one of the ways we spread the word about our fledgling magazine was by passing out lapel pins with funny, quilt art-related sayings on them at quilt shows. "Give me all your buttons and nobody gets hurt" was one. "I don't exaggerate, I embellish
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  • Go wild! Dye textiles naturally -- Q&A with India Flint
    When India Flint's book Eco Colour: Botanical Dyes for Beautiful Textiles landed on my desk, it seemed like fate. I don't think I've ever seen such a comprehensive guide to natural dyeing that also shows such amazingly beautiful and sophisticated results.
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  • Quick & Easy Ways to Create Interesting Fabric
    Like you, I love fabric. Like you, I collect fabric. And, probably like you, I'm always itching to change the fabric I have. Why? When there are so many beautiful fabrics out there, why do we art quilters feel the need to alter them?
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  • Where in the world is Pokey?
    My head is spinning. This summer has been a traveling whirlwind for me since I've been traipsing about the country for Quilting Arts and adjusting to a Massachusetts/Colorado living situation. There have been a few mornings over the past several weeks
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  • Improve Your Free-Motion Filler Technique
    I confess: sometimes I get so caught up in the "art" I forget about the "quilting." Let me explain. An idea for an art quilt forms in my mind based on, say, a favorite TV show such as (still--and forever) Tony Soprano. Or, a new line of gorgeous fabrics hits my desk and I have to
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  • World of Fabric: Scottish Tartans
    It's a plaid, plaid world at Stitch --we have a terrific feature on plaid projects in the upcoming issue, available in September, and we've noticed plaid all over the fashion runways for fall, often in menswear-inspired styles. In Scotland, plaid
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  • Meet Our Latest Cover Artist, Ana Buzzalino
    Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 It’s hard to believe that August is already here, and this new month brings a new issue of Quilting Arts. Those of you who have already picked up or received your copy of
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  • Use Your Brain: Become an Art Quilt Scientist
    What's the oddest thing you ever used to create a piece of fiber art? You know, something you just happened to have around that you were suddenly inspired to create with. One artist who constantly amazes me with her ability to create original pieces with commonplace materials and techniques is U
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  • How Fast Can You Make Art?
    "I wish I had more time to make art." I hear that all the time--from art quilters at shows, from my friends, the Quilting Arts staff...and out of my own mouth. Unless you're a full-time artist, you've probably said it yourself many times (and I'm willing to bet even full-time artists
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  • Quilting Arts August/September 2010
    Don’t miss the first of our newest series: Mary Hettmansperger presents “Metal as a Surface Embellishment” and dives right in with copper foil. Explore more thread sketching strategies with Susan Brubaker Knapp, with a look at dimension. Be inspired to start your own small art group
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  • Create a Series of Original Art Quilts with Needle Felting
    You'd think after 10 years and 45 issues of Quilting Arts Magazine , we would have written about every kind of process, technique, design, or supply that exists. But that's the beauty of contemporary art quilting: someone is always putting a new twist on an old technique, combining materials
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  • CREATing with Natalya Aikens
    Taking classes is one of the most rewarding and eye-opening aspects of the artistic process, exposing you to new processes, materials, and fellow artists. While tracking down a single class every now and then is easy to do, it isn’t often that one
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  • Afraid to Dye? Jane Dunnewold Makes it Fun & Easy
    I'm a California girl who has lived for several years in New England and I am now spending more and more time in Colorado. Each region has its own distinct visual appeal and the artistic possibilities of life in the Rockies definitely intrigue me. The mountains, aspen trees, wildflowers, cacti, and
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  • Project Diary: Refashioning a Summer Dress
    Today's post comes from Tricia Waddell, the editor of Stitch . Enjoy and be inspired! As part of my ongoing commitment for 2010 to buy no new clothes, and instead sew new clothes or refashion things from my closet, I went hunting through my closet
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  • Making fabric books at my family reunion
    I haven't written much on my own personal blog lately. Why is that, you ask? On top of an industrious work schedule, I have been camping out of a suitcase this summer. (I have it figured out that the only clothes one really needs in the sweltering
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  • Reap the Value of Creative Collaboration
    Sometimes when I'm in a rut--in my studio or in my life--all I need is a change of scene to get me going again. In the past month, I've had the opportunity to experience a lot of new scenery: a family reunion by the ocean, a speaking engagement in New York City, a planning session in Houston
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  • Art Books I Can't Live Without
    I love to read-fiction, non-fiction, romance, instruction--you name it. And I love it when other hardcore readers suggest books they love and think I would enjoy, too. So today, I thought I'd give you a list of some of my favorite books of the art and craft variety, the ones I have on my studio shelf
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  • Art Quilts Down Under
    At about this time last year, I was setting out for a month-long trip to New Zealand and Australia. It didn’t take me long to fall in love with this region, full of friendly people, beautiful sites, and delicious kangaroo meat. But I was also impressed
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  • Meet Our June/July Cover Artist, Diane Nunez
    Quilting Arts June/July 2010 issue has been on the newsstands for a few days now, so hopefully most of you have seen its fabulous cover quilt by Diane Nunez. The instant we saw this fun and funky art quilt with unusual embellishment techniques at the
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  • Revive Your Wardrobe with Art Quilt Techniques
    Every time I'm planning one of my crazy "Surviving the Runway" retro themes for Make It University! TM and we start scrounging up '80s prom dresses and Halloween costumes, the members of the staff who were teens in the '70s start going on about adding fringe trims to their bell
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  • Download Now: 6 Image Transfer Techniques for your Art Quilts
    Digital technology has opened up a whole new world of possibilities for designing art quilts. Whether you want to apply image transfer techniques to make a photo memory quilt, use digital imagery to make abstract designs, or a combination, we'll show you how to make a quilt with photos when you download
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  • Never fear! Screen printing myths busted
    Many people are afraid of screen printing. They're intimidated by the equipment and the process. Or they think it's expensive. Or difficult to get appealing results. Well, I'm going to let you in on a little secret: Screen printing is easy, uses very little special equipment, and many methods
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  • What Do Bikinis and Quilting Have in Common?
    I thought that headline might grab your attention. I recently took a brief three-day break to a beach before our publishing schedule vamps up this summer, and decided to turn my vacation a Stitch-cation. As summer approaches––and so do vacation
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  • Quilting Arts June/July 2010
    Inspiration and techniques! Thread sketching; needle felting; hand stitching; recycled sweaters; 3-D embellishments; batik with soy wax; Dunnewold on design; circular quilts; “Inner Animal”; and more! Continue thread sketching with Susan Brubaker Knapp, with a focus on texture. Learn Jane
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  • Make Your Quilt Studio Unique
    While I'm gearing up for Quilt Market, I asked Studios Editor Cate Prato to update us on what's going on in the latest issue of Studios. Cate spent a day last week hunting for fabulous studio finds at the Brimfield flea market last week, so I know she's ready to show you some clever ways
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  • Create Unique Impressions With These New Stamps
    Isn't it funny how sometimes the simplest of art processes can be so satisfying? I mean, you know I love my Thermofax screen printing and I am a sucker for hand embroidery. Thread sketching fascinates me and I never get tired of dyeing. But when it comes to hands-down fun, I have to go with stamping
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  • The Secret To Superior Ink Painting Results
    I love it when there is a simple solution to a problem, especially when that solution is readily available and inexpensive.
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  • Our Favorite Quilting Arts Issues Revealed
    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!
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  • Infuse Your Art Quilts with Mexican Flavor
    Since falling in love with the art quilting world more than a decade ago, I've seen thousands upon thousands of quilts. Despite the fact that each one is unique, I've noticed some themes and motifs that attract quilt artists repeatedly: nature, the sea, faces and memories of loved ones, and geometric
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  • Communicating Through a Quilt
    Many communicate with their loved ones overseas through letters or care packages, but when Pat Hamlin’s son was serving with the Montana National Guard in Bagdad, she kept in touch with him through a quilt. Each week that he was away (52 altogether
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  • Top 10 Ways To Create A Greener Art Quilt
    When it comes to celebrating Earth Day, art quilters and mixed-media fiber artists are lucky: for us, it's easy being green. Not that we don't love a bin full of crisp, new fat quarters, but finding creative ways to use reuse and recycle textiles and fibers--thus reducing what goes into the trash
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  • Master Foiling Techniques Easily
    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.
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  • Quilting Cats and Dogs
    It’s been a few days since Quilting Arts April/May 2010 issue hit the newsstands, and many of you may have noticed that this is our animal-themed issue, containing 21 creaturely quilts, Pokey Bolton’s article on “Pet-ty Journal Portraits
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  • Foolproof Recipes for Mixing Dye Colors
    I wonder if my love of dyeing came from coloring Easter eggs as a child. Setting out the little glass cups full of hot water and vinegar, mixing in the dye powder, and slowly lowering the hard-boiled eggs in one at a time, it seemed magical to me when they emerged all decked out in pretty pastels.
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  • An Easy Technique for Creating Natural Prints
    Although I live in what most would probably call a suburb, our home is surrounded by woodlands and plant life. In addition to the flora and vegetation we and our family members have put in (blueberry bushes, trees, and so on), there is a ton of stuff growing wild. If you doubt me, you should see the
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  • Boost Your Creativity with These Tips
    It’s officially spring, and not a moment too soon for me. I already traded my boots for open-toed shoes a few weeks ago--and I'm not going back! Now it’s time to open the windows, do some spring cleaning, and let some fresh air into my studio in the hopes that fresh ideas will float in
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  • Quilting Arts April/May 2010
    In the April/May 2010 issue of Quilting Arts Magazine , treat yourself to: more thread sketching with Susan Brubaker Knapp, focusing on line; silk-screen printing onto disposable facial washcloths with Leslie Tucker Jenison; Pokey’s journal quilt-sized and fabric collaged pet portraits; Susan Carlson’s
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  • You’re Invited To A New Retreat for Artistic Expression
    Join me and Cloth Paper Scissors Editor Jenn Mason for CREATE with Cloth Paper Scissors Mixed Media Retreat, August 25-29, 2010, in Rosemont, Illinois--just outside of bustling Chicago.
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  • Spring Into a Fresh Batik Technique
    I saw the most beautiful thing when I came home from "Quilting Arts TV" taping last week. Not only had all of the snow melted while I was away, but a small patch of bright green moss shimmered among the dull brown weeds on the hill behind my home. This spot of emerald was the first sign of
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  • Make It University/Chicago Countdown
    International Quilt Festival/Chicago commences April 16 in Rosemont, IL, and Yours Truly is counting down the days. If you haven't heard of Make It University!(TM), it's a hands-on area that takes place right on the show floor in the vendor area
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  • How To Make A Quilt Shine With Metal
    I'm pretty sure that when most people think about how to make a quilt, "metal" isn't the first thing that pops into their mind. But there are so many ways you can incorporate metal into your quilts and wall hangings, adding texture, dimension, shine, and that element of surprise. Here
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  • 6 FREE Patchwork Quilt Projects for Contemporary Quilts
    Knowing how popular patchwork is, we're offering you this FREE downloadable eBook, How to Make a Quilt: 6 FREE Patchwork Quilt Projects for Contemporary Quilts , that gives you six ways to use patchwork patterns.
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  • It's a wrap! Just returned from QA TV Series 6 TV taping
    Above: Diane Nunez's dimensional fabric flowers Five days, 39 segments, and 13 episodes later, Season Six of Quilting Arts TV is born. A number of very talented guests joined me this season: Jane Dunnewold was back to dazzle us with two surface design
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  • Nancy Crow: Three Decades of Art Quilting
    There is no doubt that Nancy Crow is one of the most influential individuals in the history of art quilting. From her intricate geometric pieced to quilts to her well-known teaching workshops and her co-founding of Quilt National in the 1970s, Nancy has
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  • A Sneak Peek at the Next 'QATV' Series
    I'm packing my suitcase again, getting ready to fly to Cleveland to tape the sixth season of "Quilting Arts TV." As hectic as the shooting pace is, I always look forward to taping, because I get to learn new tricks and techniques in person
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  • Art Quilting Over the Years: An interview with M. Joan Lintault
    I knew I had a difficult task ahead of me when my undergraduate thesis advisor informed me that my research on the history of the art quilting movement should focus on only a few innovative quilt artists. There were so many to choose from and narrowing
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  • Create Unique Prints with this Easy Technique
    Last week the staff in our Stow offices got together for some after-hours creative play-time, making gelatin monoprints on fabric and paper. I'd been cranking out monoprints for a segment I'll be shooting for the sixth season of "Quilting Arts TV" and everyone else wanted in on the
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  • The New and Improved QA Index!
    Quilters tend to be savers. We save fabrics (no scrap is too tiny), embellishments, threads, tool, and even ideas. This is a good thing—we find inspiration all around us and build a collection of resources that allows us to act on it whenever our
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  • Commit to a Weekly Art Routine
    In winter I crave creating with color-- during the darker, bleaker months, my studio is completely taken over by paints and dyes (think periwinkles and lime greens, cerulean blues and bubble gum pinks). Imagine my glee when I got the latest book offerings from surface design experts and Committed to
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  • The Winner of Lyric's Fabric Quiz
    A couple of weeks ago, I posted a fabric quiz based on Lyric Kinard's article on page 28 of the February/March 2010 Issue of Quilting Arts , "From Disappointment to Diva." The quiz tested your ability to recognize Lyric's clever techniques
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  • How to Turn A 'Mistake' Into Art
    When something goes awry in the creative process—the ink splatters, the dye color is murky, the stitches have minds of their own—you have two choices. You can toss it and start over, or you can, as my favorite fashion designer advisor Tim Gunn would say, make it work.
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  • Last Chance to Enter the Fabric Quiz Giveaway!
    Since the February/March 2010 issue of Quilting Arts has now been on the newsstand for a couple of weeks, I’ll be announcing the winners of Lyric Kinard’s fabric quiz this Friday (February 12 th ) at 12 pm EST. So if you still haven’t
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  • Interview with Kathy York: our most prolific QA cover artist!
    Kathy York’s work is like that of all the contributors to Quilting Arts Magazine – it never ceases to amaze and inspire me. I’ve been wanting to learn more about Kathy and her work, and with her quilt on the cover of the current issue
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  • Send Me Your Letters
    This new month also means a new issue of Quilting Arts hits the newsstands! If you don't already have your copy of the February/March 2010 Quilting Arts , don't waste too much more time. This issue features an array of art quilting techniques
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  • Batik Made Easy: Hot Tips from Kathy York
    I like to think I'm always open to trying new things, especially when it comes to surface design methods. But there was one technique I shied away from: batik. I loved the effects, but doing it myself always seemed so complicated and time consuming.
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  • Editor's QA picks for January!
    We're introducing a new feature to the Quilting Arts Community... Every month I will be cruising the site, noting what people are posting in the galleries and forums, and essentially looking to see how you--our cherished members--are utilizing our
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  • Especially for You: Six Issues of Quilting Arts on CD
    I have an uncanny (some on my staff would say freaky) ability to remember exactly what artist's article appeared in which issue of Quilting Arts , going back to the very first issue nearly 10 years ago. And up until recently, I've been able to put my hand on the printed page more quickly than
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  • Fabric Quiz and Giveaway
    I'm sure that many of you will be inspired by Lyric Kinard's clever methods for turning fabric dyeing disasters into works of art in "Disappointments to Diva," on page 28 of the February/March 2010 issue of Quilting Arts . See if you've
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  • mend, random, intuit
    I do not make resolutions in a yearly manner. I don't feel compelled to make a particular change on a particular day, but this year I have been thinking about words for creative exploration. After some thought I have come up with: mend, random, intuit
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  • Help! Quilt Design for my "Inner Animal" Quilt
    The deadline for Our Inner Animal Reader Challenge is coming up fast (January 22), and I thought it would be fun for me to play along, too, perhaps put my entry on my letter from the editor page and in our community. My inner animal is the cutest amphibian
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  • Quilting Arts February/March 2010
    Creating Figures in Fabric; Leftover Dye Pillows; Turning fabric dyeing mistakes into masterpieces; Experimentations in resist dyeing; Embellish your quilts with simple machine stitching; Lession 1: Focus on color; A conversation with art quilter Barbara Walter; Major works by leading artists; Creating
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  • Meet Virginia Spiegel, the Extraordinary Artist Behind ToteTuesday and FFAC!
    What's not to love about Virginia Spiegel? She's an exceptional fiber artist, has raised nearly $200,000 for the American Cancer Society with Fiber Arts for a Cause (FFAC), and heck...we share the same birthday (October 2nd in case you wanted
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  • Coming Soon to Your TV: Making Quilts in 3-D
    When I think of 3-D movies, I think of the old sci-fi horror flicks my parents used to tell me about where people would wear those funny 3-D glasses. Back then, apparently, they didn’t really work that well and it seemed the glasses were more entertaining than the 3-D effects.
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  • Good Food and Fiber Art: Enter our 2011 Quilting Arts Magazine Calendar Contest!
    This January, I’m all about soup. You see, I ate a little too much of this kind of thing while on vacation in Mexico: (the best chicken and mole I’ve ever had in my life) I received a glorious Le Creuset ® French oven for Christmas (basically
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  • A Magazine Cover to Combat Seasonal Affective Disorder!
    Have the frigid temps, icy roads, and price hikes in produce got you down? Let's see if we can cheer you up with a sneak peek at the February/ March 2010 cover of Quilting Arts... This cover features a detailed shot of Kathy York's "Falling
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  • Lacey!
    I have been making cloth and enjoying every minute of it! In a moment of, 'What if?' I created a freezer paper resist that reminds me of doilies and lace. I printed it on a green ground, where if you look closely you'll see rodeo arches, doors
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  • Enjoy 5 FREE Fabric Painting Techniques On Us
    Want to make a unique imprint on your handmade quilts? Learn how to create your own fabric with our latest FREE eBook, Fabric Painting: 5 Surface Design, Paint, and Monoprint Techniques from Quilting Arts . You'll learn how to paint fabric with textile paints, fabric paints, and oil sticks. Plus
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  • Giveaway: Ringing in 2010 with Some Color & Texture
    I hope everyone was able to enjoy some time to themselves over the holidays! Since I was at our Interweave headquarters just before the break, I went skiing in Colorado for a couple of days. (This was to make The Husband happy.) Then when we came home
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  • the Slowness of Being
    Being creative and fostering growth within that realm is a process of engaging with the world around you as well as that of other artists. Taking what you learn from these places and making it your own is the imperative of each of us as artists. A few
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  • You Can't Resist These Resist Techniques
    One of the most exciting ways to change the look of fabric is through resist dyeing techniques. Resist-dyeing is one of the oldest ways to transform cloth, used the world over. These methods are exciting, because they are unpredictable-perfect if you're a person who likes to play, because each time
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  • 6 Secrets of Successful Machine Couching
    I love the variety of novelty yarns and fibers available today: thick, thin, sparkly, variegated, fuzzy, sumptuous-and they come in every color you can imagine. They are a feast for the eyes and whenever I see a ball, skein, or even snippets of these yarns, I want to plunge my hands into them and get
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  • Slow Sewing
    I am preparing for a class I will teach later this week. In this instance I was asked to do my Small Works, Big Impact class with a leaning toward painted imagery (rather than dye) and hand sewing. I love dye for its vibrancy, but paint is pretty awesome
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  • Easy, No-stitch Holiday Decorating Idea
    Looking for an easy, no-stitch holiday decorating idea? Why not make fabric fortune cookies? They're a great way to use up those precious scraps of hand-dyed or commercial fabrics you can't bear to throw out, and you can slip artful wishes for the New Year inside them.
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  • Stitched Holiday Fabric Cards
    Over the Thanksgiving Day holiday, I knew I needed to do something with my bin of fabric runts. You know what I'm referring to: those fabrics you made that didn't dye or screen successfully, but you just can't bear to throw them out. I decided
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  • Getting to Know You.
    I love color and color mixing. I just bought a new palette of gouache and have been recreating the tools and methods with which I have been working. Pencil cases for figure drawing sessions, a smaller pencil case for everyday use, a new palette of paint
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  • The Importants and Niftiness.
    No, the title of this post is not spelled improperly. It is always a good thing when I delve deeply into working my journals. It means that I will have fodder for working in cloth and that I am staying actively engaged in my creative process. Nothing
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  • Quilting Arts December 2009/January 2010
    Achieving multicolored silkscreen prints; Taking stitch-resist shibori beyond the norm with Mokume and Ori-nui shibori stitches; Artist Profile: Marianne R. Williamson; Pushing the boundaries of geometrical art quilting; SAQA@20: Art & Excellence - A sampling from an art quilt exhibit; Create unique
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  • Handmade Holidays Fabric Winner
    I randomly chose the winner for this latest MODA fabric giveaway and congrats go to... LemonTreeTami ! Tami, please email me your address by noon EST Tuesday, November 17, so that I can get these fabrics to you. Enjoy! Thanks so much to everyone for your
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  • Useful & Beautiful Quilting Projects
    Downsizing and de-stashing are popular buzzwords today. We all just have so much stuff. So I think those of us who like to make gifts for others want to create something that's useful as well as beautiful. If it helps use up scraps from our stash, so much the better .
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  • International Quilt Festival/ Houston
    Greetings! As busy as we all were at Festival (check out Pokey's photos), it's not surprising that the time just flew by and here we are back in Massachusetts (a bit tired but truly inspired). It was a great week! We thought we were coming back
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  • What’s New in the QA Community
    Our readers and online followers instantly made the QA Community the place to come and chat, share, and play show-and-tell. But each month we've added new features or updated previous ones. If you haven't stopped by the Community in a while, here's what you might have missed.
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  • International Quilt Festival/ Houston Recap!
    Brace yourselves! I think I'm about to set a world record in the Blogosphere for the number of photos in a single blog entry. I took nearly 250 shots at International Quilt Festival/Houston, but I cut the lot down to 49. (The ones I don’t post
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  • What's New On the Quilt Scene: IQF/Houston Edition
    What's New On the Quilt Scene: IQF/Houston Edition - As you read this, I'm on the Quilt Scene at the International Quilt Festival/Houston , surrounded by some of the most beautiful quilts-and talented quilt artists-in the world.
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  • Bloggers and Interweave Authors Open their Studios this Saturday October 3!
    Welcome to the Fall 09 Studios Tour! **Notice: For some reason, not all of the links here will "refresh" to today's new posts with the tours. I am particularly having trouble with blogs on blogspot. I have refreshed, cut and pasted into
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  • Quilting Arts October November 2009
    Designing Fabric; Sketches on fabric; Mixed-Media approach to quilting; dyeing technique; Sub Urban Art - selective Rusting; Edges; Monoprinting with texture plates; Journal quilts; Spontaneous explorations in color; Re-create your sketchbook images on cloth; Edges; Goddess at the last minute with Robbi
    Read More >>
  • That's how we sing
    David and I were walking to Fairway last week and David gave me a lesson on street talk. He told me of the phrase, "That's how we roll". He'd heard our neighbor say the phrase and apparently it wasn't the first time he'd heard
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  • It's a Wrap! QA TV Series 500 just completed taping...
    I've just returned home from Cleveland where we taped our next series of QA TV (airing end of December). This new season promises to be a strong one! Not only did we tape some fabulous segments at International Quilt Festival/Chicago this past April
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  • I like to Dye.
    These little things are what I have been so crazed about. I have been making them by the armful and am preparing to sell them along with dyed embroidery flosses, Pretty Purses and other yummies over at my new Etsy account. Keep checking back as I learn
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  • The wonders
    I am back! While in Phoenix we stayed at a friends house. Upon entering her front door my guy noticed this mother and baby and it is a good thing I snapped a picture because the next day that li'l bird was fledged. Other great animals we saw? Bats
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  • Gone Fishin'
    Hey, are you on facebook? I am as Mells Testa. I say that because if you are on facebook and am my friend, you have probably seen these photos before. I am teaching Soy Wax with Paint over at Art Unraveled in balmy, Phoenix Arizona on Wednesday. Wow it's
    Read More >>
  • Long Beach, Baby!
    Arrow didn't want me to go to Long Beach, so he solved the problem by tucking himself into my luggage. Pretty lil guy. But went I did! Quilt Festival is new to me, it is like one big Partay, with the added benefit of gorgeous quilts, enthusiastic
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  • Recap of International Quilt Festival/ Long Beach
    Oh, I am so sad. Someone slip me a happy pill, please . It's actually over. 2009 International Quilt Festival/ Long Beach is now past, but what an indelible memory it left! International Quilt Festival/Long Beach, second year in the running, is, well
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  • Busy Bee
    I have completed the forth I2Q Vid Prompt: Soy Wax!!! I dyed and surface designed my peasant blouse. And, well. I don't like my results. I like the shirt better in white. That is the bummer about blogging, you have reference of before and after. My
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  • What's in a day.
    First off, a drawing of the Brooklyn Bridge from the Promenade . David and I walked through Brooklyn Heights and enjoyed watching small sailboats compete with water taxis and barges. There were trains, planes, boats, helicopters and automobiles, bicycles
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  • How about this episode?
    I will show you mine, if... well you know that deal. This is my sewing studio. It is a 6.5 foot by 9 foot room, just off our bedroom. If we were normal people, this room would be a walk in closet for clothing. But we are not normal. We are practical and
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  • Feeling the Love.
    I returned home from San Diego after teaching a great group of gals and found this! In my mailbox! Mailed. With postage applied to the back of the postcard and a hand written note from Jakquil (the woman who won my Pretty Purse give away). It seems to
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  • Feedback
    So, what did you think about the June/July issue of Quilting Arts Magazine? The art and artists we get to work with every issue are amazing. And this cover ; I love it! I find it very calming... It's the perfect issue to pack up and bring to the beach
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  • ATC with me! Plus, plus.
    Long Beach is coming! Are you planning to be there? I am and I have an invitation for you. Please join me in creating and trading Artist's Trading Cards inspired by techniques found in my book! And the neat thing is, within the next two Video Prompts
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  • Warm up, Samples, Winner!
    Hi guys! I have been bogged down with deadlines and some play, so I didn't blog last week, I hope you understand. Here is my warm up and craft foam stamp from the first Video Prompt Challenge . I haven't printed with it yet, it is that new. The
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  • Brief SAQA Conference/ Quilt National Recap
    I recently returned from the annual SAQA conference that took place in Athens, Ohio on the Ohio University campus, and what an incredible time! For those who are unfamiliar with SAQA (Studio Art Quilt Associates) , it is the non-profit organization to
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  • Just Keep Swimming
    I am working on this: This is a piece that I began as a project for my book, but that I it messed up and put it aside. Although I have been attending some knit groups, I have not felt inspired to knit. Instead, I bring sewing projects. I embroider, bead
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  • I spoke, sold and teach
    Last night I went to my Alma Matter, The Fashion Institute of Techology and gave a small talk to a silk painting class. The teacher was one of my favorites when I went to school there, Zsu Zsi Dalquist. Or at least I hope that is how you spell it. Zsu
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  • Quilting Arts Magazine April/May 2009
    Thread painting; pieced landscapes; perspectives on art and quilting with Inge Mardal and Steen Hougs; inspiration from the Symbolists; time management for artists; inspiration from a Kenyan tradition; image transfers; “Rock On!” challenge results; print fabrics with hardware store finds;
    Read More >>
  • QA TV Taping Pt III
    More images from our QA TV taping last week... Luana Rubin of eQuilter.com joined us this season! Here she is with our very own Helen Gregory and the Bernina 830. Pokey with Jay McCarroll just before his first segment taped. (I know this will come as
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  • SAQA (Studio Art Quilt Associates) Update!
    Please note: These exciting workshops are open to non-SAQA members! Studio Art Quilt Associates (SAQA) will be presenting 6 exciting 3-day workshops May 18-20, 2009 in Athens, Ohio. The 3-day workshops are open to all artists - you don't have to be
    Read More >>
  • 100th Blog Post & Happy New Year!
    Not only are we celebrating a new year, but also coincidentally this is our 100th post here on the Quilting Arts blog! I never thought I’d have the perseverance to make it to 100 blog entries.  Case in point: the fact that I have one diary I got
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  • Quilting Arts Magazine December/January 2009
    Katie Pasquini Masopust: profile and technique; Hollis Chatelain’s new exhibit; Byzantine inspiration; quick purses from wholecloth quilts; mid-arm quilting machines; dyeing and discharging fabrics; needle-felting techniques; dyeing with RIT® dye; men’s ties in quilts; Goddess on bikes
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  • Post-partum Quilt Show Disorder & a Giveaway!
    Ever since I returned home from Houston, I've been suffering from what I dub PPQSD: post-partum quilt show disorder. I'm home from the show I look forward to most every year, and now I'm back in my sleepy, bucolic town of Stow, MA. Quilt show
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  • Houston: What A long, strange (and wonderful) trip it's been!
    What an amazing, beautiful, surreal, funny, busy time we had in Houston! Thanks so much to everyone who participated in Make It University!(TM) I had every intention of blogging every day from the show floor. Ha ha, that's a good one. The laugh is
    Read More >>
  • Quilting Arts Magazine October/November 2008
    Designing with sheer fabrics; soy wax for batik; quilts from photos and drawings; expert advice on selling your art; mixed-media canvas books; quilt storage and preservation; printing on fabric with Maggie Grey; collaged journal quilts; collaborative stitched book project; more “Go Green!”
    Read More >>
  • Tricks and Treats
    What's that saying: When the cat's away the mice will play? My husband's been out of town for the past week, and while he was gone, play I did… A few things have been on my mind lately: my beautiful hometown of San Francisco, the Grateful
    Read More >>
  • Quilting Arts Magazine August/September 2008
    Quilted pet portraits; rusting fabric; ArtQuilts at the Sedgwick; digital design; deconstructed screen printing; hand-dyed silk charmeuse in quilts; needle-felted landscape design; dyeing cottons with indigo; 2009 Calendar; the “Green” issue with “green” wall hangings, “Go
    Read More >>
  • Dog Days of Summer and a Giveaway
    Did you know that not only is today the summer solstice but equally momentous is the fact that it's National Take Your Dog to Work Day ? We, at Quilting Arts have truly gone to the dogs. Today we have four of man's best friends here sniffing around
    Read More >>
  • Quilting Arts Magazine June/July 2008
    Fabric design with discharge dyeing, crayon rubbing, and painting; using your stash; digital design; machine needle felting; stamped fabrics with Adinkra symbols; designing with thread scraps; image transfers on fabric and paper; surface design in fabric collage; silk bowls; mounting quilts; “True
    Read More >>
  • Thermofax Screen Printing
    A sample of my hand-dyed and screen-printed fabrics. What would you do if you had a month off and could do any one activity? If I could take this kind of time, I'd scamper off to some secret destination (preferably a small creekside cottage in Sedona
    Read More >>
  • 2009 Quilting Arts Calendar Finalists
    Okay, dear blog readers, it’s that time of year again to announce our Quilting Arts Calendar finalists. (I know it seems a little early to be thinking about 2009, but welcome to my world!) With this year’s theme, “Celebrating Home,” we received 243 entries
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  • Quilting Arts Magazine April/May 2008
    Making stamps; painted backgrounds for art quilts; inspiration from Matisse; batik art quilts; profile of a hand embroiderer; thickened silk dyes; quilting with a longarm; finishing techniques for small quilt edges; free-motion machine quilting; working with transfer paints; stitched paper quilt design;
    Read More >>
  • Opportunities Knock
    Wanted! We have some very exciting publicity and publishing opportunities that I wanted you, dear blog reader, to find out about first. (Many of these aren’t even on the submissions pages yet on our website.) Go Green Quilt by Frances Holliday Alford
    Read More >>
  • Studio Space
    For all of you Project Runway fanatics, you may have been surprised by the size of Christian Siriano's studio when Tim Gunn paid him a visit on last week's episode. Upon seeing Christian's cramped space, Tim said, "Wow, you really know
    Read More >>
  • Quilting Arts Magazine February/March 2008
    Collaged fabric panels with found objects; wholecloth facing technique; monoprinting fabrics, including sheers; free-motion machine quilting; mounting and framing art quilts; flour paste resist with Jane Dunnewold; painterly quilt collage; eco-friendly journal quilting; 2007 Journal Quilt Project; Goddess
    Read More >>
  • Quilting Arts Magazine June/July 2007
    Design primer: space, notion, and rhythm; the Kemshalls on sketchbooks; rubber stamp stencils and Paintstiks®; paint and dye with Lutradur®; exploring fusible thread, water-soluble fabrics, and more; expanded squares with Jane Dunnewold; "Flower Power"paper quilt challenge results;
    Read More >>
  • Call for Art--Two Special Exhibits
    I wish I could explain my absence by saying I've been tossing back pomegranate margaritas on a Fiji beach, but alas, that remains a fantasy. Quick blog post to let all of you clever, creative people know that we're coordinating two additional
    Read More >>
  • Fabric Journal & More Blog Challenge Results
    Congratulations to the following five for winning a free one-year subscription: Terri Stegmiller Sandra Spagnuolo Carol Wiebe Sue Bleiweiss Joanna van Ritbergen In thanks to everyone who emailed me their thoughts on inspiring artists and works, I thought
    Read More >>
  • Inspired
    We enjoyed beautiful, Indian summer weather this past weekend, and I took a photo break Sunday afternoon to capture some images of my bucolic little town where I work and live: Stow, Massachusetts. When mishaps from the Big Dig aren't backing things
    Read More >>
  • Whoa baby!
    This is too cool for school... check out the loot that Jacquard Products sent us in addition to our order for fabric paints we placed with them last week: I asked for some product to help with my workshops for Make It U! and I'm positively bowled
    Read More >>
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