One Word Wednesday

Hanging Out

Happy 4th Blog-versary!

I just realized that its been four years since I began to blog....so many ideas and inspiration. Creativity and design have been a huge part of my life and I love to share with others through teaching, writing and more.
This is what I wrote four years ago:

Hi everyone,
I've become a blogger...its true! My children would say "about time, Mum!" I hope this is going to be easy...I'm not much of a techie/computer savvy person, so we'll see how this goes.
Welcome to my page and let's get started..... I'm hoping to post every couple of days, keeps me on track and focused. I'm hoping for lots of pictures to put up, its good to read stuff, but much more fun to "see". Just have to figure out how to do that!

Well, hasn't technology changed even in that short a space of time, now I use Facebook and YouTube as well, who would have thought?

So to celebrate I'm offering 15% off anything (before shipping) in my store at http://www.fabricimagery.com/ Just enter code QC11 and you'll automatically get that 15% off at the checkout. How amazing is that??? Act now, because the sale ends on February 29th!

Online Quilt Expo!

If you can't get to a quilt conference or want to try an event as close as your computer, how about joining hundreds of others and attend the "Inspired To Quilt" Online Quilt Expo March 7-10th!!!
Lots of great teachers and events to check out, you do need to register tho!

Why not join me and see what fun it can be!

One Word Wednesday

Blue Tail Lizzie

More about Sketchbooks

Size is important to think about if you work in a variety of styles, media and locations. I like the large 16" x 20" for working in the studio. I can paint the papers, move pages from book to book and more. for that size I like the coil bound ones, and Aqua Bee are my favourite with rich, firm 93 lb. paper.
Check these out here: http://www.beepaper.com/paper/classic-super-deluxe.asp

But I also like a 6" x 9" or so for carrying around from place to place....very portable and the pages are large enough to get lots down. For that size then a hard cover is important to take lots of punishment. I prefer a bound book with a heavy weight paper so it can take water media as I tend to use my watercolour pencils a lot with that size.
These are yummy! http://www.dickblick.com/products/hand-book-artist-journals/

Then there's the little ones, perfect for fitting into my purse, pulling out in restuarants or on the bus, easy to take notes or make a quick little sketch....and I love the Moleskine three pack that are about 4" x 6", some have a pocket at the back for keeping love letters and more.... paper quality isnt as important as I'm using mostly pen and markers, but Moleskine does have good quality paper in their books.
Here's some to tempt you: http://www.moleskine.com/catalogue/classic/cahier/

Learn All About Quilting Design

On February 24 my class on Quilting Design will open at http://www.quiltuniversity.com/ and its a class I always love to teach. There are limitless ways to design the quilting part of our work and its often overlooked as an important design element. Here's a little taster to get started.......

Keep a Design File
Now is a good time to begin collecting and organizing those design ideas. Have a couple of manila folders handy to put magazine clippings, photos and anything that can suggest a design possibility to you. Take pictures at quilt shows of designs and quilts you admire. Remember that you can pick elements out of several designs and combine them for your own. Of course, you must be careful of copyright infringements. The border treatment in one quilt could combine well with the corner and setting triangles of another.

Some of the items which might be included in your design folio

Start collecting quilting designs and stencils when you shop. I think dollar-wise, they are one of the best deals around. We will be talking about sources for these and other non-quilting ideas for your designs in the  class. there's still time to register.

Shattered Angles - Victoria Style!

Did you know how much I love to teach? Students around the world are the best part about teaching and I spent Saturday teaching in my own home town for friends in my guild....Victoria Quilters Guild!
I also taught my favourite class: Shattered Angles!!

Here are some pictures from the class, students had a blast playing with strips, sets and blocks and they came up with lovely combinations.

Bev chose vibrant reds and lime for her colours.

Karen is our Guild President and although she says hot pink is not her favourite colours....I wonder?

Lynn used a wonderful rainbow of colours from rich reds through to vibrant purples. You can see that all combinations work well!

Shelley is working with an autumn palette, not her usual combination.

Grace said she had a baby quilt in mind for her Shattered Angles quilt. ande her white insertions strips will work well here!

Loius chose black and white for her strip sets with bright pastels for the insertion strips, yummy!

Here's the gang with some of their completed blocks! Thank you so much ladies! Don't forget that you can order the book Accent on Angles from my shop http://www.fabricimagery.com/

One Word Wednesday

Alley in Curacao

Design Decisions

Yesterday I had a wonderful time in my wet studio playing with plain and coloured discharge paste. I'm preparing more samples for my workshops at Quilters Dream in Edmonton next month. I made some fat quarter sized circles on black:

I then layered them on top of one another, cut them into quarters and schuffled the quarters around.

I pulled out every thread I could find that would work on the discharged circles and quilted one of them heavily all over:

The other one awaits the sandwiching and quilting. Now, here's my dilemma---I like the uneven outer edges, maybe trimmed down a little bit. I'm thinking of leaving the edges like that, perhaps putting the piece on a deeper red or purple backing, perhaps quite narrow. What do you think?

I like this technique and could see doing lots more of these, perhaps larger and smaller blocks in a "sort of" mosaic. Options?

Books on Sunday

I belong to a couple of online groups and have met Robbi through those. She has a wonderful sense of fun and humour that definitely entertains and enlightens us. I love her art work for her use of colour and design and think this book is sure to be a hit with any quilter.

A funny thing happened on the way to the quilt show. . . .

So the story invariably goes, because, where Robbi Joy Eklow (a.k.a. The Goddess of the Last Minute) goes, something funny is bound to happen--or simply to occur to her. As colorful and surprising as the quilts Robbi is famous for, the stories and reflections gathered here create an irresistible picture of an irrepressible character quilting and quipping her way through life. Filled with the kind of gems that have made her Quilting Arts Magazine column so popular, this book includes Robbi’s musings on creativity and color, as well as on the trials and tribulations that every quilter faces. The Goddess of the Last Minute invites readers to take a wry look at those trials--and, with Robbi’s wit and insight, turn them into the sort of crazy quilt that warms and brightens daily life. The story of how she became a Goddess, anecdotes of life on the road, encounters with fellow quilters: these and other often hilarious tales of a not-quite-charmed life make this quilter’s compendium a delightful patchwork to contemplate, and to treasure.
ISBN 978-0760334294