Something About Nothing

I've been working on a few projects that I can't completely share yet, but I've been working!  Here are a few sneak peeks I've shared on Instagram and Facebook.  If you don't already, please feel free to following me on both social platforms!  I am Somethinglisa on Instagram and I have an artist page on Facebook called: Lisa Chin, Artist .  I know, it's really a clever name don't you think?! Anyway - I have been working on a baby quilt for my grandson who is due in June.  The top and back are all pieced and it is much larger than I originally planned.  I guess he will be using it forever. *grin*  I just need to baste, quilt and bind it by the end of March before the baby shower.  I also put together a quilt that will be published in the fall issue of Fons & Porter Quilting Quickly magazine: (Can you find the helper?) I really liked this quilt a lot more than I thought I would! And lastly I started a free form quilt ...

A Candle for  Yvonne Porcella . A call went out on social media for people to light a candle for Yvonne Porcella as she was in the last stages of battling cancer.   I have never met Yvonne but I have felt connected to her through her bright smile and art. I felt the need to create a candle that would continue to burn through out the generations, just as her influence in the art quilting world will continue to burn, and so I created a candle stamp. I think this quote from Maya Angelou says a lot about Yvonne as well. It's funny how the death of someone you have never met can still greatly sadden you. Rest In Peace Yvonne.

I'm very excited to be the First Friday Artist over at Diana Trout's blog today. I am talking about my experiences with hand carved stamps, and you can see the post here . Diana is a mixed media artist I follow and I love her work!  She posts great videos and has wonderful online classes too.  I think you will love her work too.

Lots of exciting news last week! The Quilting Arts TV DVD, Series 1700 ,  arrived as well as the Feb/March 2016 issue of Quilting Arts Magazine .   I have two episodes on the DVD which were filmed back in September. . .  . . . and an article in the magazine! Both of these dreams can now be checked off my bucket list. I love teaching and am very excited to share my knowledge about cutting stencils and sun printing. Both items can be purchased at the Interweave Store .

The Salt Lake Modern Quilt Guild presented a fabulous trunk show at the Quilter's Holladay meeting the other night.  I love Modern Quilts and really enjoyed seeing everything they brought.  Modern Quilts are mostly functional quilts with a modern feel to them.  They often use bold colors and graphic designs, and lots of negative space, but they can also be traditional quilt patterns which have been greatly enlarged or reduced.   Click here for a better definition .   I have tried to get everyone's names connected with the correct quilts.   Hopefully someone will let me know if I need to make any changes. JaNean Frandsen created this quilt for a challenge.  The challenge was to use a Dresden plate ruler.  I thought this was a very clever use of the ruler, and a beautiful design. Some members of Quilters Holladay put together a few charity strip quilts last year and they were commenting that none of their strip quilts looked as goo...

Want to see how a stamp is carved? Click below to view the sped up and condensed video of me carving.  The original 20 minutes is shortened to 2 minutes.  The video is not intended as a tutorial, but you might learn something new.  Enjoy!

The most important part of a stamp is the rubber that it is carved from.  Depending on how long you want to use the stamp and what detail you need, almost anything soft enough to carve will work.  A few years ago I collected a number of erasers as I was getting ready to teach a class on stamp carving.  It was fall and there were lots of back to school sales, so why not buy all the stamps? Just kidding.  I did manage to restrain myself but it was still a lot more erasers than I needed and I am still using them.  They have been decent little stamps and are easy to find if you don't have an art supply place near by, but there are a couple of issues with eraser stamps:  1) It can be difficult to tell which eraser is going to carve nicely until you try it out.  Some carve just as well as the rubber made just for carving and some are crumbly.  If this is your only resource then buy one or two and give it a try before stock piling the eraser...