I was a teacher before I became a quilter. So I’ve never stopped being a teacher. It’s one thing to work out solutions as an artist. But it’s always seemed wrong to me that those solutions should be secret. It’s back to what defines your art. If technique is what defines you, then you might […]
Just like I’m not a desert girl, I’m not a rock girl either. I don’t think in terms of dry. As an artist it’s always good to stretch past what you know how to do. The post, Good Bones:Rocks from Water, covers how I’ve usually done rocks. For the longest time, I’ve cut rocks out […]
Remember when I said I needed to calm down the mockingbird quilt I’ve been working on? The background was pretty wild. I don’t quite know what to do with deserts. so I don’t know when I’ve gone over the top. But I do know how to put out a visual firestorm. You go for the […]
Whenever you do any kind of representative art, you end up needing to do your research. Does the frog have three toes or two? Does it matter? Sometimes it really does. Sometimes it really doesn’t. But it’s always more impressive to get your details right. I do water lilies a lot. Lotus, not so much. […]
I’ve never gotten over sheers. As I child, I couldn’t imagine how I could ever wear them. outside They required a life I couldn’t imagine. Or really want. Someone who sat politely in a clean room and was polite to incredibly stuffy people, who made a life of being “beautiful”. It never appealed. But organza! […]
We’ve been talking about the variability of the zigzag stitch in free motion. Most of the time, I’m filling in a space where I want a line of color to show up. This is a trick that will give me a soft blend of color across the image without a hard line. I’ve heard it […]
Like most little girls, I had a pink bedroom. Unlike most other girls, mine was seafood bisque pink with brown. Needless to say, I’m hesitant about using pink. I certainly don’t wear it.. But in spite of my feelings about pink, I know better than to dismiss a color from the color wheel. They’re all […]
I know it’s not supposed to be quilter’s fabric. Sorry. I can’t leave it alone. It’s too much fun to play with test tube babies. Over the years I’ve collected a special stash of laces, organzas, chiffons, brocades and just plain weird stuff. It’s not anything I would piece. But no one would call me […]
When we applique something, we think most about the fabrics used together and how they interact. But the way it’s appliqued, the stitch and threads used make just as big an impact. I’m going to talk for a couple of weeks about applique edges, and how those change the look of our work. Soft edge […]
