Published again!

A complimentary issue of the Summer 2011 Belle Armoire magazine arrived in my mailbox this afternoon with this enclosure:

Congratulations! You've been published in Belle Armoire.

Belle Armoire, Summer 2011

Here is the cover of the newly redesigned magazine and its 160 pages full of beautiful color photos of distinctive, artful garments and accessories. Quickly flipping the pages, I was immediately consumed by the wide variety of techniques shown in the full view and detail shots of the artwear pieces— felting, knitting, tatting, crochet, sewing, fabric dying, embroidery and more. As Amanda Crabtree, the Senior Managing Editor, states in her column, "... no doubt you'll be able to find something in these pages that will speak to you."

A 2-page spread shows my hand dyed shibori bog jacket, p.100-101.

My article, entitled "Compliments of the Dye Pot" [they chose the title], features two of my artwear pieces: a hand-dyed shibori bog jacket and a silk dupioni shibori vest called "The Power of Panthera Leo." The vest won the Best in Show at the Riverbend Fiber Arts 2010 Guild Challenge and was chosen for the runway presentation at the Tennessee Presents Textiles fiber arts show and sale last November.

The Power of Panthera Leo, hand dyed shibori silk vest, p. 102.

I'm honored and excited to have my work showcased in this issue of Belle Armoire and to accompany the other talented artists who are featured. The imagination and skills of these international fiber artists have taken so many traditional needle arts to a new elevation. I'm especially intrigued by the unique combination of techniques that was used in several of the pieces.

When asked to submit the article, I was asked to provide information on materials, technique, inspiration and tips. You'll find these details from all the contributing artists about each of their featured pieces.

So, if you want to nourish your creative soul, sit back and enjoy 150+ pages of fiber art eye candy with the Summer 2011 issue of Belle Armoire. Pick up a copy at your local bookstore or newsstand or order it on-line. Open the pages and prepare to be inspired! You'll find my stuff on pages 100-102.

ATCs: Last thing at night

Now exhibiting at the FiberAntics ATC swap is: "Last thing at night," the sequel to the May ATC swap, "First thing in the morning." What's your routine or ritual before you toddle off to dreamland? Here are what our ATC artists had to say...

left: "Last thing at night"
right: "... before the dreams begin"

left: "Turn off the light"
right: "R and R"

left: "Reading my Bedtime Stories... (sometimes with my eyes closed)"
right: "Counting Sheep"

above: "My cousins and I write our "2 for 2" to each other"

above: "2 for 2" inside

Lucy (short for Lucifer)

Lucy, the neighbor kitty, finds a nice comfortable spot (at our house) to sprawl out before he catches some Zzzzzzzz.

The theme for July ATC swap is "Memorable lines from the Movies." If you want to swap with us, e-mail me by June 27, 2011.

Quilt guild program on Color, Color Wheel

My quilt guild, the Choo Choo Quilters, presented a program on color at our guild meeting this week. We were only able to scratch the surface of this deep and expansive topic, but a review of the color wheel is always helpful to anyone who creates with fabric, yarn, paper, fibers, surface design or embellishments.

It's easy to remember the primaries (yellow, red and blue) and the secondaries (green, orange and violet), but trying to remember split complimentary color schemes and color triads makes me pause to visualize the wheel in my mind.

During her presentation, my teammate for this year-long program had us do an exercise by blindly choosing colored paint chips and building color schemes based on the chip colors we drew. It was fun and good refresher on the color wheel.

Here are a few great resources geared toward quilters.

Using a viewfinder to create designs

Shakerag banner.

I just returned from a week-long studio intensive workshop at Shakerag workshops. I attended a class taught by two fabulous textile designers, Jane Sisco and Clay McLaurin, called "Look, Play, Design."

The focus was on seeking and finding a source from which to create designs through the use of various abstraction techniques. The course was based on studies from the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) textile design program.

One of the first techniques was to use a viewfinder (a small, framed window) to isolate and focus in on a portion of a larger composition. It's interesting to see how your perception shifts when you hone in on a small distilled area.

Have you used a viewfinder for your work?

My friend, Joanie, took the photography workshop. Her first day began with this poem by William Stafford.


You Reading This, Be Ready
Starting here, what do you want to remember?
How sunlight creeps along a shining floor?
What scent of old wood hovers, what softened
sound from outside fills the air?

Will you ever bring a better gift for the world
than the breathing respect that you carry
wherever you go right now? Are you waiting for time to show you some better thoughts?

When you turn around, starting here, lift this
new glimpse that you found; carry into evening
all that you want from this day. This interval you spent
reading or hearing this, keep it for life—

What can anyone give you greater than now,
starting here, right in this room, when you turn around?

Stitches inspiration

From a class with Laura Bryant of Prism Yarns.

Students from several of my knitting classes have requested a class on color knitting techniques. I sent in a course description to my program manager. It was accepted. As I research, make notes, develop outlines and class projects that support the concepts I plan to present, I went back into my photos from Stitches South expo looking for inspiration. Here is some inspiration for color, fiber, pattern and texture that I encountered this past spring.

Laura Bryant's garment (left) and swing vest (right) from Barry Klein at Trendsetter Yarn.

Look up and down for patterns and color. Carpet in one of the conference rooms.

More carpet designs.

From the expo parking lot. This says it all.

Mitts are a Hit!

Even though the weather has been in the 90s this week, my knitting students braved the heat (in the air conditioned classroom) to work on their fingerless mitts project in my Knitting II class. Here are their completed projects.

Fingerless Mitts knitting class, Spring 2011

In the Fingerless Mitts class, students learn how to make cables, a gusset, work with the mattress stitch for an invisible seam and a few other things. The fingerless mitts are a fun, quick project and we discuss in the class how they can be customized with a variety of knitting and embellishing details.

Knitting in the Round class: Retro Cloche

My Knitting in the Round class ended last week. Students embellished their Retro Cloche with a 2-color knitted rosette. There are lots of great techniques to learn with this project as well. But, as one student voiced her preference for knitting in the round, there are no seams to finish when you knit in the round!