The 'Busy' Doesn't Stop

I've been a little worker bee all week, toiling away on this project and that. In the process, most of the garage studio, the indoor art studio, and one of the fabric racks got cleaned and organized. I can hardly believe it!

The cleaning was necessary for something that frankly I've been dreading- I need to have my photo taken in my studio. And I have a confession to make- I'm a frumpy, middle-aged, more-than-a-little overweight suburban housewife. Now, of course I'm also an artist who craves, requires, demands explosions of chaotic color, texture that makes you want to sink into it, complex layering and blending, and tons and tons of barely controlled movement.

But, yanno... it's my photograph. Bleh. But now that my secret is out, well... it's out. I'm frumpy. Yeah.

Onward!

I've started on two more small test quilts this week and will post photos of them before they go in the dye baths (probably by Monday or so). Actually. one will get the full Procion treatment, while the other is going to get painted with Dye-Na-Flow and dried upside down. I'll explain why in the appropriate post!

With great relief and no small amount of gladness in being able to help a fellow artist, my funky little donation to Hearts For Anna sold. Dear buyer, if you're reading this, thank you. You've done a good thing for a good reason.

My donation to Art Now For Autism was submitted today. I've very pleased with the result and hope it will also bring a nice price to benefit a particularly poignant cause.


If you click the above image, you'll see a high-res version.

This is a small orphan quilt I did a few weeks ago. I started with white cotton fabric and white cotton thread, and created a pillow-case turned quilt top. To that, I stitched dozens of torn strips of white cotton. The whole thing was then low-immersion dyed in green and aqua. It was beaded with my own hand-made fabric and paper beads, as well as some commercial beads and vintage buttons.



The quilt could be displayed on it's own, but for ease of hanging, I chose to mount it on a stretched canvas that I painted with acrylics in complimentary colors.



It measures 12" x 16" in total. If you've had a fortunate year, I would ask you to consider purchasing a piece of art (it doesn't have to be mine- any will do!) for this cause.

And finally, something just for fun! While cleaning out the freezer tonight I came across a bag of blueberries that were pretty badly freezer-burned. That was all the excuse I needed to toss them in a pan with a little water, boil and squish them, strain out the juice and, yes, you guessed it, dye some fabric. Will post some photos when I have the fabric out of the bath.

Happy creating!