Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Mountain View Art Festival

As a member of the Fibre Arts Network, I'd like to invite you to attend the Mountian View Arts Festival in Didsbury, AB this coming weekend. I have a piece in the Fibre Arts Exhibit but there's so many other activities going on, be sure to take it all in! Visit http://www.mountainviewartsfestival.ca/

My piece, All the Difference, is in the show.

Plus there will be a Mennonite Quilt Exhibit, October 1st and 2nd

Hosted by the Bergthal Mennonite Community at Victoria Square Mall, 2034 - 19th Ave

Didsbury was founded by Mennonites and the Bergthal community is known for its beautiful quilts. Most are made for refugee camps and most are hand-knotted, although some hand quilted or machine quilts may be on display - all various themes and colours. All fabric is donated so if you want to bring some with you, the ladies would be delighted! Quilters will be on hand to visit.




Sunday, September 25, 2011

More Shattered Angles

I love writing articles for quilt magazines and especially for Quilters Connection wwwquiltersconnection.ca so I was thrilled to make a table runner for their latest issue. Shattered Angles Table runner is showcased in Christmas colours and as well as wonderful textured prints from the Stonehenge Collection from Northcott Fabrics
So don't forget that you can order the book from http://www.fabricimagery.com/ and the magazine from Quilters Connection. But the first person to post a comment on this blog and then email me their name and address will get a complimentary copy of Quilters Connection! What a deal!




Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Meet Lenore Crawford-Artist Extraordinaire


Port of Cassis

Lenore has been working on art since childhood working in many different mediums such as pen and ink. Around 1996 she saw some watercolor quilting books and decided to try that technique using fabric to paint a picture using 2” squares. She has loved the texture and warmth that fabric gives, unlike other traditional mediums.


Using the 2” squares allowed Lenore to create scenes which hadn’t really done before. She had used pen and ink to create portraits in pointillism. So now she could use the squares to create gardens and architecture. This was very new and exciting. For nearly 12 years Lenore used this style to create impressionistic scenes letting the fabric lead her in design.

House Through Arch 2006

After some time Lenore learned about fusing and developed her own simple technique. This led her away from the constraints of only using the squares. At this time she took an oil painting class and loved the almost photo-realistic style of painting. Lenore began using her photos as inspiration and re-creating them in fabric along with using fabric paints to add the fine detail and shading that makes them look very realistic, a sort of impressionistic realism.

Some of her best photos were taken on her many trips to France. As teenager Lenore travelled to Europe while her father was working as an interior designer of offices in Geneva, Switzerland, and area. She made many friends and still goes to visit them and travels to France while continuing to be inspired by the architecture and landscapes.

Sunset Over Lac Leman

Lenore has been teaching her 2” square technique for many years as well as her fusing/fabric painting technique and saw the need for a line of patterns now totaling 18 different designs. She has also been teaching multi-day workshops where students can create designs from their own photos. Lenore’s latest development has been CD-ROMs that contained her 2” square impressionistic technique and her fusing technique. These are like a book in Adobe Acrobat and offer the student all of the advantages of an instructional book but at a much lower cost. Her CDs are:

“Impressionistic Fabric Blending”

“Blended Fabric Collage Technique”

“Fusing/Fabric Painting to Create Your Own Realistic Art Quilt”

These CDs are available from her webstore:
http://www.lenorecrawford.com/

See more of Lenore's inspiring work here: http://www.lenorecrawford.com/gallery

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Publication Date today!

Today's the day, I sure hope the post office makes an extra effort to get the boxes to my place! Its so hard to be patient.....
Here's a couple pictures of quilts from the book:
This quilt makes great use of scraps and who doesn't have a few of those? I've also included a few orphan blocks from other projects and I'll bet some of you have those too! So there's something for everyone in Accent on Angles!














Autumn Joys is a perfect quilt for this time of year! I've chosen complementary colours of blue and orange and cut both squares and rectangles to design the inner part of the quilt. Multiple borders also add a good frame around the quilt. I had so much fun quilting this one with lots of angular straight line stippling.

If you are loving this, join me for a Quilt University class with my Shattered Angles technique. Class begins September 30th and runs over several weeks. You will learn all the tips and great ideas for making your own special Shattered Angles design!






So the long wait is over and you can order the book here! I'll be shipping ASAP!

Monday, September 19, 2011

New Fat Quarters

Just put the finishing touches on some new fabrics I've created and put into my shop. I've used print rollers made by my friend Gloria Daly and textile paints, including an Interference Violet. Quite yummy!

Mad for Plaid

Midnight Dance

Short Circuit

Here's a couple pictures of Gloria's paint rollers being made and hung up to dry! Who would have thought rolling pins could be used this way. Check out Gloria's website here.



Saturday, September 17, 2011

Almost Here!

Just a few more sleeps until the big event! Accent on Angles-Easy Strip Set Quilts from Martingale & Co. is due to ship on Sept. 20th and I can hardly wait!
There are nine dynamic designs in the book, teaching my Shattered Angles technique as well as Dragon Bones and a new layered applique technique thats full of surprises! Over the new week or so I'll be giving you sneak previews to see the terrific designs that you can make using this technique! It's going to be fun, fun fun!

As soon as I have my shipment ready for mailing I'll let you know!

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

One Word Wednesday

Harvest

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

One Word Wednesday

Grotto

Friday, September 2, 2011

Think about Hand Piecing!

I'm preparing some updates to my Hand Piecing class at www.quiltuniversity.com that begins September 16th. Have you considered hand piecing your blocks or quilts? Does it sounds time consuming or monotonous? You might be very surprised at how quickly the work can go if you follow these simple steps:

• In hand piecing we can pick a comfortable chair, curl up in front of the TV or at the beach. We can relax and do the piecing any time and anywhere we choose. The stitching is repetitive, almost always it is a running stitch, which is easy to manipulate by your fingers with a few pins if needed.


• Preparation is key for hand piecing. By tracing and cutting all the pieces needed for your work and then having them ready for the hand work, you will save time.

• Few tools are needed for your work. Needle, thread, small scissors and a thimble are all the tools needed. Buy good quality and they will last a long time.

• We can use short periods of time to work on our project. It is easy to find a few spare minutes in our day to pick up a project and add a few stitches.

• If you have made the preparations, small amounts of time can develop into some wonderful work! With hand piecing it is easy to stop in the middle of a seam and then return to complete the seam later, you won’t have lost your place or dropped stitches. Imagine doing that with your machine piecing.

• Use small plastic containers with little compartments for storage. Zippered sandwich bags can hold your cut and prepared fabrics. Label them with block names for easy reference.

Here are two of the projects we'll be working on:

Petal Power Block

Black Diamond Block