All is calm, all is bright

I bought one of Melody Johnson's vibrant, knitted long cowls this winter. When I'm not wearing it, the Buddha in our entry holds it beautifully. Melody's web site is http://www.wowmelody.com/ and it's the perfect spot if you need a color fix.

That's my "Other Worlds" quilt behind the Buddha statue. The colors of the quilt and cowl glow in the sun, although this time of year that's a rare treat. Today is one of those sunny days!

Have a colorful day

Red and green in the kitchen

Feeling good because most of the holiday food is prepared (spaghetti sauce and spinach balls shown here), the presents are wrapped, cards sent, house relatively clean. Now I can listen to carols on Pandora and enjoy the peace and magic of the season while waiting for family to arrive.

Hope you have a magical holiday, too.

Have a colorful Christmas

Winter Solstice quilt

"Winter Solstice" by Sherrie Spangler, copyright 2014

I made a little quilt to mark today's Winter Solstice. I might use it as my donation to Virginia Spiegel's "The 100 Fundraiser to Fight Cancer," or I might make another one. Details on the fundraiser are here:
 http://www.virginiaspiegel.com/FFACThe100Fundraiser.html 

I haven't worked in this "fragments" style in a few years, so I felt rusty at first, but I quickly got back into the swing of things once I started pulling together some combinations of hand-painted fabrics to audition for the base.

I settled on a background (below) that I bought from Mickey Lawler way back in 1996! It's so vibrant and beautiful that I was reluctant to cut into it for all those years for fear of ruining it. I added gold mesh, lame, some organza that I painted and some variegated yarn for the "floaters" that I like to add to my work.

I covered the layered collage with Sulky Solvy and stitched away with gold thread.

Instead of immersing the quilt in water to dissolve the Solvy, I peeled off the strips as I went. I like to do this so I can see the quilt emerging as I progress. Now I'm waiting for those longer, lighter days to emerge!

Happy Solstice!

Visiting Caryl Bryer Fallert-Gentry's studio

Quilt world luminary Caryl Bryer Fallert-Gentry opened her home and studio this week for a group from our quilt guild and we got to bask in the light of her colorful, glowing quilts!

Caryl, who has a fantastic website at http://www.bryerpatch.com/, recently moved from Paducah, KY, to Pt. Townsend, WA, just up the road from Gig Harbor. She'll be lecturing next spring at our guild and we can hardly wait!

Thank you, Caryl, for your generous hospitality -- and for inspiring us with your organization as well as your art!

Have a colorful day

Beading the fractured circles

I started beading my fractured circle blocks this week. I feel like I'm decorating cookies.

I've been playing with layouts and I think I may go with the swirly look this time. My last fractured circle quilt had the blocks arranged in nine circles, but I like the movement in this first layout.

 

Now I'm going to settle in for the evening and get back to beading. Hope you're all having a good weekend!

Have a colorful day

STITCH: Eat, drink and be merry!

I can't believe my art quilt group, STITCH, has just had its third holiday party! It seems like just yesterday that we gathered around a coffee shop table to get the group started.

We've bonded and inspired each other with monthly meetings, field trips and parties. I can't imagine life without them.

Every December, Karen decorates and sets a beautiful table for our holiday potluck party. She has quite a Christmas village that includes quilt and needlework shops.

Janet shared one of her holiday traditions with us that involves gold dollar coins. She gives her young relatives gold dollars every Christmas and tells them they can keep one but the others all have to go in the Salvation Army bell ringer baskets, along with a smile and "Merry Christmas." She gave us each two coins to donate and you should've seen the smile on the bell ringer's face when I put my first gold coin in his basket.

Lois shared her angel tradition with us, giving us each a homemade angel. There were also party poppers and gifts of fabric and thread and a great craft project by Andrea where we each made a beautiful pendant. (We're wearing our new pendants in the group photo.)

And of course there was great food.

Have a colorful day

Little white lights

I haven't blogged much lately about my art because my creative energy has been going toward decorating the house with thousands of little white lights, which will stay up all winter into early spring. This is our first winter in this house and we're blessed with a lot of windows that reflect the lights, multiplying the starry effect.

Instead of having a big Christmas tree, I have about 10 little ones clustered around the house, like little forests. I used to hang small ornaments on them, but lately I like just the white lights.

It starts getting dark around 3:30 and most of the day is pretty dim here in the Northwest, so I turn on all the lights as soon as I get up and they stay on until bedtime. I LOVE it! Hope you're all enjoying your December.

Have a colorful day

Fiber fundraiser for fighting cancer

I am thrilled to be an invited artist for "The 100" to be held Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2015. The goal for this fiber fundraiser for the American Cancer Society is to raise $10,000 in one day.

 

All the details and the list of 100 artists are here: http://www.virginiaspiegel.com/FFACThe100Fundraiser.html

The first 100 supporters to sign up to donate $100 will be randomly assigned artwork from a line-up of international fiber artists (including yours truly).

 

Fiberart For A Cause already has raised $240,000 through the generosity of fiber artists and patrons over the years. With the completion of "The 100" fundraiser, the amount will be

a quarter of a million dollars

raised to fight cancer

through fiber art!

 

My head is churning with ideas for the piece I will make. I'll share glimpses as it progresses.

 

Have a colorful day

 

 

Giving thanks

 
'Tis the day after Thanksgiving and I'm giving thanks for the wonderful people and bunnies in my life. Here are Bunners and Frankie celebrating the holiday with the ones they love!

I'm also very thankful for the family and friends who joined us around our table this year for a fabulous feast and rollicking conversation. And thank you to all of my blog readers who leave me nice comments and emails!

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving

Have a colorful day

Sew Day with the Nuts

Today I hosted Sew Day with the Nuts, which means I set a colorful table. Here it is, ready for breakfast casserole, fruit salad, banana bread and pumpkin bread. 

Then we had a hefty show and tell, with Nancy showing us a striking quilt top of overlapping squares (detail above) and a Christmas pillow top that she just finished embroidering (below). 

Linda J. showed us this VERY colorful bag she made that opens to store sewing necessities or whatever else you want. Speaking of bags, another show and tell was a gorgeous red, black and white one with zippered storage leaves inside made by Linda P. I was so awestruck by it that I forgot to take pictures.

Break for lunch -- turkey and cranberry sandwiches and more fruit.

Back to sewing, I worked on my embroidered and beaded fractured circles (above) and Nancy did some red work embroidery on another Christmas piece (below).

Carolynn used gold thread to quilt a fall table runner. Another productive day for the Nuts!

Have a colorful day

Snippets

This is what it looked like at only 3:30 from our living room a few afternoons ago. Beautiful, but so early! The rain makes me want to drink coffee and read all day, while the early dark has me heading to bed hours earlier than the rest of the year. Hibernation time. Not much sewing going on, but I did make these two dolls for some special friends:

Another friend brought two big bunches of cheerful orange flowers over a few weeks ago and even when the last few started drooping I kept them to brighten up the kitchen. I love flowers in all their phases.

For years I've been looking for a nice date book where I can record birthdays, and I just found this one on sale at our local quilt shop. Lots of eye candy and inspiration.

And of course there's nothing better on a rainy day than visiting Rocket Donuts in Bellingham. Here I am with Julia and my sister and her husband a few weeks ago. Love those custard filled donuts.
 

The rain and dark days also call for a lot of cuddling with Bunners.

Have a colorful day

"Ultimate Guide to Art Quilting" review

I was the lucky winner of this new book that was given away recently by Kathy Loomis at http://artwithaneedle.blogspot.com/.

 

"The Ultimate Guide to Art Quilting"

by Linda Seward

... covers just about every art quilt/surface design technique I can think of, and I've been making art quilts for decades. Click on the photo below of part of the table of contents and you'll see what I mean.

Linda, who lives in London and Oxfordshire, even covers physical exercises to prevent repetitive motion injuries and has a chapter on organizing school and community quilt projects, going way beyond writing just a technique book.

The photos sprinkled throughout are from more than 140 quilt artists from around the world, making the book well worth reading even if you already know all of the techniques.

It's been my bedtime reading ever since it came in the mail, sending me off to dreamland with images of gorgeous art quilts.

Have a colorful day