Zentangle

Southern California has been having a lot of rain and now it feels a little more like the Christmas Season, as we all think it should be cold this time of year.  As a kid we had snow in Chicago, but am glad, as adult, I don't have to drive in it or bundle up in it -- too old too make snow angels, snowmen and sidewalk tunnels from old memories.
I have been a little house bound this last week after surgery on my foot - can't drive.  I cherish any time out in somebodies car.  Due to a wonderful friend, Phyllis, I was able, yesterday, to attend a very fun Christmas Class at my friends house, Dianne of  Desiree Designs.  We made Zentangles and it was a real inspiring day. It was a great day to celebrate the season, meeting new friends and artists, drawing and painting, and eating wonderful Potato Soup, Quiche and rich goodies on a rainy day. I'm sure all the calories was removed from the food before we got there!  This is the Zentangle I created and I know I will do more - have lots of ideas for a new quilt coming up.

Soft Expressions local news

I'm always exited, as any artist is, to see their work in print. Local shop and Online store "Soft Expressions" is featuring a Quilts on the Wall exhibit.   My quilt "Pieces" is featured on their advertising. Go to the link below and scroll to the bottom for the Exhibit information .Copy and Paste the link into your browser.
http://www.softexpressions.com/frames/Flinkindex.html

New Project

Finally getting back to some quilting.  I have been working intermittently on a small quilt with lots of beading.  Not finished yet, but have posted this photo of a partial corner.  It has been a really fun project and I am hoping to finish it by December 22nd to enter in an upcoming quilt show.  Parts were a big experiment with attaching the panels together with free motion stitching using "Blendables" 12wt and 30wt thread. 

Making Videos

All this is new to me, but I am learning. Today I was making a video using some of my photos from over 1500 photos I took on my trip to the Northwest this summer.  I used a program I have called "Muvee" and this is the result. Photos are beaches, birds, sunsets, family, and quilts from Sisters Quilt Show I was able to attend. You can view it on You Tube .  Enjoy!

I also did a video on my camera while visiting my brother in Penn Valley.  He has been building a model train layout in his barn.  A new engine he just got has sound and I took the video while he was running it for me.  A little blurry because I had to stand too close as there is little room around the setup.  You can view it on You tube.

Jeans Jacket

While traveling this summer I found this wonderful jeans jacket at Cold Water Creek outlet in Washington.  I really liked the multiple panels it had and that is was not regular jeans fabric.  It is a soft silky fabric.  I did some basic stripping, and added an embroidered panel I colored with water color pencils, then beaded the seams between each panel. 

Dyeing

It's always fun to do simple projects, and today I am doing just that, with dyeing some doilies for my current project.   Usually working on my patio with plastic bags draped on the table is what I do most often. But, today it is very windy and I have draped my kitchen with plastic bags.

A few years back, I got some silk dye, that is iron-set, from a friend who bought it in Switzerland.  The dyes are very brilliant in color.  I needed some turquoise, purple and pinks doilies today. .  The process is very easy: 1) you spray the doily with water. 2) Put small amounts of dye into an artist pallet dish, using a large eye dropper. 3) Using an soft, brush from the orient I dab color onto the doily.   I let the colors run into one another, and I also overlap them for obtaining other colors.  The result is always surprising!   I dry them on a large plastic bag -- don't use paper towel or this will soak up all the color. Do this only if you want very light pastels. When dry they should be heat set with an iron.

The photo above is some of the finished project drying.

I use paper towels for my mop up after each doily is colored - I save them - who knows what surprises I could get using them in another quilt.
Thank you Karen and Christa for the doilies you added to my collection.

Back to work

Sorry for no posts lately.  While in Yosemite, we got a call that there was a sewage back up in the park where we live and had to hurry home.  We have been frantically trying to get the house repaired and back into our home.  Thankful to have had the trailer for this time, but all has been very stressful and it's been kind of like packing to move and then unpack again.  We are finally back in our home and hopefully I can get back to creating starting this week.