Something About Nothing

 Flew out to Sacramento to help my sister and it happened to be the same weekend the Social Justice Sewing Academy was meeting to put together more blocks for their remembrance project. Picked up a copy of this book while I was there too. Lots of wonderful people! I had the privilege of putting the borders on this banner. It was a joy to get to visit with my friends Martha Wolfe and Sara Trail. Sara is lifting herself up to be taller than us.    Great shot of Martha and I. Sara is an amazing woman. We had a wonderful lunch! It was a great day. Wishing I lived closer, but now that my sister lives closer maybe I will be able to visit again.

Between Thanksgiving, setting up for Christmas and getting a cold, I have not been very productive with my drawing. I have been doing a lot of hand stitching but don't want to share it yet in case I can find a show to enter it in.  I did manage to finish up this mandala I started a week ago.  I like the variations in color. Mister came to visit me this week, and he was kind enough to pose for some photos.   He loves going in the yard.

 I am so humbled and grateful to have had Cate Prato write an article about my art in the January/February issue of Love of Quilting .  As of today, November 21, 2021, the magazine isn't available on their website , but it will be online and in stores soon. I hope you will look for it. There are some beautiful patterns inside!

I decided that since I was drawing mandalas I should try drawing one on fabric. I have several tote bags I dyed a few years ago and thought they would make a good foundation for the mandalas. The first line I made with a Posca pen wasn't as refined as the mandalas I've been drawing on paper. I decided to see if the Pitt pens, which are India ink, would draw on the fabric. They did! And they made beautiful lines on top of the Posca paint! The mandala itself is about 6" in diameter. I decided to seal/set the paint with Golden Fabric medium, GAC-900 and ended up with some staining over my signature. I will wash it and see if the staining fades. I doubt it, but one never knows. I decided I probably didn't need to do anything more than iron the fabric to set it. Live and learn. When the bag is filled, the design doesn't seem as small but I didn't try this until after I drew on more bags.  Since the 6" size felt small at first, I decided to size up to an 8"

I'm excited to share my pattern for these fabric Take-out Boxes, It has been published in the latest Quilting Arts Holiday issue along with lots of other talented artists.  I really love the building in the middle. That roofline is awesome! You can purchase a copy of the magazine at this link or your local fabric or craft store starting November 23, 2021.

I'm starting to tire of creating mandalas but yet I can't seem to stop. One night, before I fell asleep I had an idea of creating a mandala that was a birds nest seen from above with the branches and leaves coming out from below the nest. I thought it would be clever to use a spirograph design as the nest and then paint eggs over the top of it. I forgot to take a photo of the spirograph colored in as a nest. You can kind of see it under the white I painted on top (bottom right). I really hated it. I was going to toss the whole thing, but decided to give it another chance by painting  over the spirograph immediately. I'm glad I gave it another chance. I like the way this nest came out much better. I have no idea what this one was supposed to be. I think I had sunshine in mind. After I colored it I thought it looked off. It took me a minute to realize I hadn't put any designs in the shapes! I like this better. More to look at, and more shading to add depth. Flowers and Tr

 I created a few patterns from the mandalas I have drawn and had them printed on fabric through Spoonflower. I really like the images Spoonflower creates with my patterns. All of these designs are available to be printed on fabric, wallpaper, or the home decor they are pictured on!  Here is the link to my shop. I would sleep in this bed! or this one. . . This looks very western to me. Lovely! Party time. Comfy I'm going to hand quilt this piece.