*NEW Article* and Part Two of the International Quilt Festival

 

 
My latest article is out. I am on page 51in the magazine Quilting Arts December 2019/January 2020. In my article I show you how to make an inexpensive and durable stencil so you can add a new layer of color of a polka dot design to commercial or hand-dyed fabric.
 
Photographs above shows samples of dotted fabrics and the cover of the magazine.
 
Now, as I promised...Eye Candy from the International Quilt Festival:

 
 
Being and Time by Natalia Lashko
 
 
Detail- Edo Spring by Masako Sakagami
 

Texas boy with Fish by Carolyn Skein
 

Last Huntly Aberdeenshire by Kathy Whitby
 
 
Foxgloves at Widnsor by Sandra Mollon
 

Hanok by Mikyung Jang
 

Two Friends by Gabrielle Panquim 
 

Jubilation by Ellen Lindner
 

The Sum of Seasons by Chang Misum
 
 

These two last quilts by my dear friend Vanessa. I am so proud of her! She has a
wonderful BLOG
 

From the exhibit *Quilting as Therapy* Behind the Mask by Glena Gordon

You can read more of Quilt Festival HERE
 
Go and visit Off the Wall links for more eye candy!

International Quilt Festival 2109- Part ONE


This is my 5th year teaching in Houston! What an intense experience this last meeting was.  I met wonderful students, quilters and artists. I also reconnected with friends. I am grateful for the opportunity to teach at this show.

The photograph you see above is my quilt *BLUE* which was a finalist in the contest *The World of Beauty*.

I will share some photographs of the people I met. With early mornings and late nights to prepare for my workshops, I had little time to socialize.


Here I am with Vanessa (first on the left, my traveling pal and dear friend), me, Felice and Mary Ann (new friends I met in Cyber space).

 
I am glad I spent some time with Kate Colleran, who always comes for Market but this time stayed extra days that happened to coincide with my stay.

 
I had the opportunity to meet Ricky Tims, who interviewed me. He has a great personality.


I met sweet Jo Avery. We had great laughs together.

 
Every year I stop at the  French - Quiltmania booth to say hello to Carole (the owner). This time I remembered to take a picture with her. I can't believe it has been 5 consecutive years working with her publishing articles since the release of her magazine Simply Moderne. Currently I am working on next year's article!

 
This is my donation quilt for this year's silent auction, since Quilt Festival celebrated its 45 year Anniversary, I decided to write the word *sapphire* and the number 45 on the background . Of course it is a paper and fabric quilt. It has been made with the technique I developed and named INC (Infused Newsprint Cloth)

 
A picture taken from the second floor to give you an idea how big this show is. It basically occupies the entire Brown Convention Center in downtown Houston..



Some of the Blue and White Exhibit. These quilts look wonderful together!

It is a beautiful feeling when many people show interest to learn from my ideas. I work hard to create projects based on new techniques. My heart smiles when my students immerse themselves and realized they can also create in a different way.

Here are some photographs of my students.






















Houston celebrated *Dias de los Muertos* on November 1. I was lucky enough to pass through the park returning to my hotel and participate for a while in the festivities. The music was fantastic and the show phenomenal. All was in Spanish so I felt right at home !


My heart is content!

I did have time to take photographs of magnificent quilts which I will share in my next post.

Infused Newsprint Cloth (INC) WORKSHOP 4

TWO day workshop (12 hours)

 Learn how to make a washable paper and fabric cloth. Learn how to work with "masks", by design, shapes and repeats with recycled newsprint. We will finish with yards of INC cloth which can then be used for your next project.

You will also learn how to create an economical hand-cut silkscreen.

SKILL LEVEL
You need some experience on surface design.
Please contact Margarita via email (margascrafts@gmail.com) for details

*Quilting Arts TV* Tapings


Vivika  Denegre, myself and Susan Brubaker
 

Myself and Kristine Lundblad

A couple of weeks ago I went to Ohio to film 4 segments for Quilting Arts TV *QATV*. It was a wonderful experience. I met Susan a few years back when she came to my town to give a workshop. I have been working with Vivika and Kristine for 8 years writing articles for  Quilting Arts Magazine. During this time we've exchanged lots of emails but never actually met. I was very happy to finally meet them both in person and share moments that I will never forget.
 
These three ladies are wonderful to work with. They made sure to make you feel comfortable and relax on the set.
 
I had to prepare all my samples beforehand. Each of my segments needed to be organized into steps, These were:

- Cheesecloth Skins: two ways; colored and with hand-calligraphy
- How to make a polka dots stencil economically and sturdy with a one hole punch
- Sheer paper-cloth
- Dimensional accents for Art-Quilts with modeling paste

The filming company instructed me on what to wear or what not to wear in front of the camera. I had to choose my wardrobe carefully because all of my segments used wet media. This meant that I could not bring my *best* clothes since the paint sometimes is sneaky and lands in places you don't desire. Believe me I have enough painting clothes in my closet already!

Also, they asked me to do a manicure. It is something I usually don't do since I am always working with paints and dyes and my fingers end up very colorful. But for this occasion I complied.

The filming studio is located in the city of Solon, which is a 35 to 40 minute drive from Cleveland. The name of the studio is KS Productions and the owner is Kathie Stull. She really knows how to run her business. Kathie knows how to guide you and to keep the segments on schedule.

Once I arrived at the studio, I entered through the green room.

Each presenter has three tables where you can use trays to prepare all of your materials.

 
Then you enter the make up room. Oh, I felt like a diva.The stylist was magnificent, she knew exactly how to cover the unwanted blemishes.

 
I peeked into the filming area to familiarize myself with it. In the above photo they were just starting to put all the set together.



Then, you review each step before they start to film.


The KS crew were very easy to work with and professional. They started to do some editing on-site as the tapings finished but it will take months until the episodes will be ready. They will air on PBS stations all over the country. Check your local stations around the last weeks of December this year or beginning of the year 2020. My segments will come out in the Series 2500 and 2600. I will let you know when exactly they will air as we get close to the date.

In the night before my tapings I  met three wonderful artists from the west coast: Denise Oyama Miller, Nancy Ryan and sweet Mel Beach. I failed to take a picture with them; I guessed we were busy talking trying to know each other in the couple of hours we had together.They left the next morning when it was my turn to film.

On the day of my taping I met another great artist, who's specialty is wearable art.
Rachel DK Clark and myself
 
I keep thanking the world of art quilting for my wonderful and memorable experiences. Experiences that would have otherwise never happened.
 
This is just one of the  samples of one of the segments: *Dimensional accents for Art-Quilts with modeling paste*

I am linked to : ninamariesayre.blogspot.com Go and visit the work of other artists and get inspired!

How I made my Quilt National'19 Entry?

 

 You can  watch these videos where I explain my process:

           How I did my Quilt *Orange Blossoms* 
                    How I did my quilt *Orange Blossoms* 2   
   
 
 
 
 

Story of *the quilt*

 
 
If you have been following me you must know by now that I enjoy doing art quilts. Let me tell you the story and technique of my latest *utility* quilt. It took me double the normal effort to fabricate it. Add on the piecing and it took even longer!

I made this quilt for a very special person. The only thing that she wanted on the quilt was the presence of bright  colors. And since I love lettering of course I had to include a personal message.

I wanted to do a no pattern quilt.
 
I got his book more than 10 years ago and I've used it only once ever since. The author makes the lettering based on strips, narrow and wide. No letter is the same. Hmmm, I like that approach.

I started by dyeing pieces of fabric, all the color of the rainbow and a grey fabric for the background.
 
I did not like the very first word I made. I don't know why. Could it have been the blue letters? I took the word and hanged it on my design wall. Then I realized it was the grey fabric. Yes, it's a neutral color but this grey felt unappealing...

So....
 
I went to my garage/wet studio and ice dyed fabric. Then I cut some of this fabric in strips and silkscreened designs with opaque paint. Afterwards I started piecing the colorful letters and my enjoyment grew in the process...

Half way through I ran out of fabric but since I dyed my own, I knew exactly which colors to use. To tell you the truth I didn't even know how big it was going to be.

I combined the lettering with hearts and kisses.




And here are some details combining the silk screened designs:



In some areas I sew simple lines with 12w cotton thread.




The backing fabric it's also an iced dyed fabric combined with leftovers fabrics. I like the back as much as the front so I called it a two sided quilt!



 
I am standing beside the finished quilt. The special person absolutely  loved it. The surprise on her face was priceless and I will keep that happy memory in my heart!

I am linked to : ninamariesayre.blogspot.com Go and visit the work of other artists and get inspired!

International Quilt Festival *CLASSES*

 
 
#713 Cold Foil and Tulle?- International Quilt Festival
Saturday, November 2nd 9-5 pm 
 
CLASS PROJECT 
 
I will teach you how to add metallic color to your fiber art with this unique Cold Foil technique. Combining Deco foil sheet with tulle, make delicate designs for an unusual fish quilt top. Complete your project by adding simple embroidery stitching.
 
(another sample)
 
 
Hand-dyed fabric, tulle, foils, Aurifil threads, mistyfuse and  foil pen is included in your kit.
 
 

#520 Hand Appliqué with Paper and Fabric - International Quilt Festival
Friday, November 1st 9-5pm

 

 
CLASS PROJECT
 
Magazine clippings meet fabric to create this unique fiber art. Learn to stitch on paper as you design, cut, and hand stitch pieces in place. As a bonus, see how to laminate and foil the magazine clippings.


 detail



Magazine clippings ready to laminate and stitch!


 
Hand dyed, silkscreened fabrics, laminated magazine clippings, foils, mixed media sheets and Aurifil thread is included in your kit.
 
 
 #470 Mixed Media Forum * Modeling paste for Art Quilts* International Quilt Festival  Thursday, October 31st  2-5pm
 
 
 
 
I will demonstrate how to apply  light modeling paste to create dimensional accents for your next art quilt as the samples shown above.
 
In this forum five other wonderful mixed media artists will participate: Esterita Austin,Cindy Lohbeck, Nancy Roelfsema, Cecile Whatman and Lori Triplett.
 
I hope you will join me and have fun in my classes. 

*Simply Moderne* Magazine.. my latest Article

 
The summer issue Number 17 of SIMPLY MODERNE MAGAZINE is out.
It shows my latest article on page 120 under the title Technical Lesson. Here I explain how to print a whole quilt top with hand-made stamps and paint.
 
 
The inspiration for this project came when the Pantone color 2019 - Living Coral- was announced. I knew I had to do a project in this color so I started mixing the paints to achieve the exact hue.
 

The stamps were then hand-carved based on my designs included in the article.




You can easily follow the instructions on how to print the rows and on how to complete each motif.
 

 
Afterwards, hand stitching was done with 12w thread. I used the same color as the binding.
 

 
This is the finished *Stamped Quilt Top*  
 
I hope you will try to stamp your own quilt soon!.