Time for another catch-up post, about my Decorative Stitch Applique class on Friday at Quilt Festival.   I’m on a yahoo group for Janome 6600-7700-8900 owners, and a discussion cropped up about using the decorative stitches and I realized I had yet to post this information, so here goes!

The Funky Chicken, from Sarah’s Decorative Stitch Applique class in Houston.  Right click to enlarge image.  I’ve stacked (grouped) stitches on this one.  For example, the checkerboard (in yellow upper left) is two passes of a satin stitch that has two columns of small alternating squares.  To the lower right of the green square, a scroll stitch is bracketed with scallops.  The center square is appliqued, stitched with the “V” stapes, then outlined with a bold straight stitch.  Done on a Janome 8900.

Ya know how we all have these fancy machines that do a bazillion things, and pretty much 98 percent of the time (or more) all we do is use the straight stitch and sometimes the zigzag?   Well, when I wrote my book, Threadwork Unraveled, I included a section to teach folks how to play with their fancy stitches. This is the project in the book and the regular class project.

Decorative Stitch sampler for my Decorative Stitch Class.

I teach that section as a class which was offered this year at Quilt Festival.  This year I came up with a couple new projects as class options for students. Most of the students did the usual tossed leaves project for this class, but one loved my Funky Chicken.   Here she is early in the day, filling the background with fun stitch combinations in fun colors:

This student used the same colors as my sample. We were luckily in the Janome classroom with the FABULOUS 15000 machines. I’ve never been a fan of computer-screen sewing machine models, as I prefer visual knobs and buttons. Well, let me tell that has changed! I have severe sewing machine lust for one of these babies! And they have even more (!!!) stitches than the already fabulous 8900!

Other students put their own spin on the leaves:

A student is making sample blocks with decorative stitches.  This is a great way to test out pattern combinations–here she has a practice square to toss out and her “real” piece on the left.  If you have a practice square, that means you don’t have to pick out the stitches if you don’t like them!

Close up of decorative stitching on an aspen leaf.

This student tried a very bold, wide multi-stitch zigzag.  You can see this is her practice bit–see how she has tested the appearance of various stitches in the strip on the right?

I made a smaller (about 9 inches square) quiltlet with the sampler leaf and the background stitching. If you right click on this image, you can see more detail. Notice how I layered up stitches to applique the green patch and how I used a decorative stitch on the binding. On the latter, I used matching thread to machine stitch down the binding, then went over that with a decorative stitch.

And a happy student with her nearly-done funky chicken:

Thank you, Barb Brown of Colorado, for taking my class! I love your chicken!

The day ended with one of my favorite things at Festival:  FRIENDS!  This evening was the Dinner@8 artists.  Jamie Fingal and Leslie Tucker Jenison curate an exhibit each year for several years now, and I am thrilled to have been both invited to submit pieces and accepted in the exhibit!   My orca quilt, seen in earlier blogposts on Festival 2013, was in this year’s Exquisite Moment exhibit.  Here a bunch of us who were at Festival enjoy dinner and friendship and art!

One of the two tables of folks in the Dinner@8 exhibit. Leslie is at the head of the table, next to Diane Rusin Doran (in pink), Susan Brubaker Knapp (glasses) and Lyric Kinard

And too much fun not to include, Susan and I taking pictures of each other taking pictures!

A brief interlude to entertain you while I slam away at finishing a quilt.  Entries are due Thursday….and it’s not half quilted.  EEEK!   Anyway, for all you Whovians, I spotted this on Gloria Hansen’s blog (here):

The artwork is just wonderful–I’d love to teach myself and practice enough to have that level of fluidity and spontaneity in my drawings.

Hopefully I’ll be back soon with more  quilts from Houston and a sneak peek at what I’ve been doing…..

Wind by Masanobu Miyama of Japan

When the curtain went up on this major prize winning quilt, I knew we had a game-changer.  With apologies for the analogy, this quilt is about the size of my placemat!  Finally, art quilters don’t have to force themselves to work somewhere between large and vast to have a chance at a top prize.  

The signage for that glorious dog.

That puppy made a second appearance in the quilt show in this larger quilt which Masanobu made with his wife:

A much larger quilt (I’d guess at least 60 inches) by Hiroko Miyama and Masanobu Miyama. Do you see the Golden with the little boy?

And the signage:

The artists’ comments about this quilt.

Here’s a detail of the small quilt…breathtaking!

Detail of “Wind” by Masanobu Miyama.  Perfection!

A two-fer, both wonderful!

The quilt on the left so impressed Karey Bresenhan and Nancy O’Bryant Puentes, co founders (along with their moms–they are cousins) that it won an Honorable Mention.  Here’s a detail:

Detail, A Truly Feathered Star by Karen Sievert

I was so tickled to see this quilt which I had first seen in the Art Quilts Maine exhibit at Maine Quilts. It is by Julie Weaver, and is her first quilt (but I hope not last!) to be juried into Houston.

Even more fun, I’m on the show floor when I hear, “Hi, Sarah,” And it is Sarah Carpenter and Julie Weaver, from Maine!

Artie Facts by Joyce Patterson. How can you not LOVE this image?

And the signage:

Artie Facts info

Hope you enjoy!

Just a quick dip in to share that one of my favorite magazines, Fiber Art Now, is trying to win a Fed Ex small business grant.

If you click on the link, you can vote for them.  And if you HAVEN’T seen this magazine, you must! Visit Fiber Art Now on their website here and look for them now on newsstands.  In the US they are at Barnes and Noble and Books-a-Million and in Canada at Chapters.  Check out the site and the issues.

The drawing is now closed.  Drum roll please for Daphne Greig!

And the winner of the DVD is Daphne Greig, comment number 3!

And I’ve selected one more person to be eligible to win some of Diane’s fabric.  Each member of the bloghop is selecting a second comment, sending that name to Diane, and at the end of the week she will select a winner for the fabric.  That was comment 26:

The second drawing to be eligible to win some of Diane’s fabric.

NOTE:   The DRAWING is OVER and comments on this post are closed.  You can comment on other posts though!

Oh what FUN!  There is a reason why Diane Rusin Doran’s blog is called Ooh! Pretty Colors!  In her new Quilting Arts Video Workshop,  Digital Surface Design, Diane shows you how to make your own cloth digitally:  just think of it: all the beauty of hand-dyed fabrics, of hand-printed fabrics, in just the colors and designs you want, endlessly re-printable, and as she said in the conclusion, if you can click a mouse and move a slider on your computer, you can follow her clear instructions and create your own digital art cloth.  The download is available now at the Interweave Store, here, and the DVD will be available for order in a matter of days.  I’m thrilled she asked me to be part of her bloghop and giveaway.  Keep reading to find out how to win a free DVD!

Diane Rusin Doran’s new Quilting Arts Workshop: Digital Surface Designs

This workshop is all about creating your own digital art cloth.  Diane teaches you how to emulate traditional surface design, which she defines as the application or removal of color and pattern on cloth, with your computer.  You’ll need Photoshop Elements (software available for under $100), and can print your designs at home or by sending your files away to a fabric printing service. I will be downloading my copy onto my iPad (I have a download, not the DVD) so that I can watch on my iPad, pausing when necessary, and work alongside Diane on my laptop at the same time; you could do the same by watching the DVD on a TV and working on your computer.

I can’t recall when I first met Diane in person, but we’ve “known” each other online for years.  Several years ago I saw her Return of the Grackle quilt in person and was absolutely riveted:  it is quite large, 40×51 inches–I just wish you could see how stunning it is in person:

Return of the Grackle by Diane Rusin Doran

The video has five sections:

1.  Introduction (7 minutes)

Diane talks about what she will teach us, what supplies you need, and why you might want to do digital rather than traditional surface design.   Diane’s lessons build on each previous segment so that by the end you can create a layered composition, breaking what at first seems daunting into an easy step-by-step process.

2.  Digital Backgrounds for Hand-dyed Effects (20 minutes)

Diane teaches us how to make a softly mottled cloth using a photo of clouds in the sky, and how to simulate drip-dyed fabric by carefully showing step by step how (and where to find the correct thing to click) to navigate Photoshop Elements.  Diane used a PC with a newer version of Elements than I have, but it was easy to follow.  I plan to re-play the entire video and copy down the sequences step by step for various lessons in this video so I have them for handy reference when I go to play.  Familiarity with Photoshop Elements is helpful, but by no means necessary.

3.  Digital Patterning using Brushes (19 minutes)

I’ve played around with Elements a lot and learned quite a bit, but this DVD is way better than just stumbling across something:  it is  guided play.  I’d already discovered many of the things Diane teaches in the previous section, but this chapter was uncharted territory for me.  My brain started into high gear as soon as she mentioned re-sizing motifs at will and creating your own brushes to supplement the default ones in the software.  For example, I can carve a block traditionally, but then scan in a print and use Diane’s methods to re-size and print at various scales without laboriously re-carving the block (only to decide that wasn’t quite the right size).  So I can still get the hands-on that I crave, but with infinitely more possibilities.

4.  Designing with Layers  (15 minutes)

In the last major section, Diane then shows you  how to combine what you did in simulating hand dyeing and stamping stenciling to create layers of imagery and color on cloth.

5.  Gallery and Conclusion (7 minutes)

Finally, Diane shows us fabrics, and variations on the themes, printed from what she has taught us in the 3 teaching segments of the video.  Here are some of her printed fabrics (and part of her portion of the giveaway):

Win these fabrics made by Diane by commenting on blogs in this bloghop–see the link below.

Her favorite fabric is the one used on the cover of the DVD, which I first saw in a shirt she was wearing in November at International Quilt Festival:  yes, she printed it on a knit fabric and made a shirt out of it, and I love it!

Diane had her design printed onto fabric, then made this beautiful top!

Diane’s first QA Workshop, Digital Collage for Quilt Design, is now on its way to me.  I can’t wait to combine the two and work on a quilt…I have this photo of a rose……

I’ve already ordered Diane’s first video workshop…this new one has whet my desire to play!

So I invite you to join me in thinking how to combine traditional manual arts with the computer!

Here’s the schedule for the bloghop and giveaway.  Like Candy, on January 28th I will be drawing one name from those who comment on this post on my blog to win the DVD.  That means for the next nearly two weeks, you can visit ALL of these blogs and get FIVE chances to win a copy of this DVD.  I’ll also pick a SECOND   lucky person to be eligible to win a packet of Diane’s custom digitally designed cloth (see her blog to read about it); that drawing will take place on Diane’s blog!

• January 14 – Candy Glendening – visit Candy’s blog or the Interweave link to see a preview from the workshop.  http://www.candiedfabrics.com/journal/
• January 16 – Sarah Ann Smith – https://www.sarahannsmith.com/weblog/ (you’re here now!)
• January 21 – Deborah Boschert – http://deborahsjournal.blogspot.com/
• January 24 – Susan Brubaker Knapp – http://wwwbluemoonriver.blogspot.com/
• January 28 – Diane Rusin Doran – http://oohprettycolors.blogspot.com/

And I’ll close with another fabulous quilt by Diane, California Dreaming:

Diane Rusin Doran, California Dreaming.  Printed on silk and just LOOK at that quilting!