Trick-or-Treat!

I just love the way these quilted postcards came out...and other people must have loved them, too because they've all been sold.

Weekend of art in Yellow Springs

Yellow Springs Artist Studio Tour: Sat. Oct. 16 & 17, 11 am-5 pm. For map of participating artists, click here.
- There is one other fiber artist besides myself, Lori Gravley will be a guest at Naysan McIlhargey's studio.

If you come out for the Studio Tour, here are some other art exhibits you might enjoy:

Uncommon Threads IV: In the Glen: The Miami Valley Art Quilt Network has on display art quilts made by their members. The exhibit is at the Glen Helen Building, 405 Corry St., and is open this weekend from 10 am-4 pm. The show runs through the end of October.
- Lori and I are both members of this group, I have one piece included and she has several.

Dare 2B Square: The Village Artisans is sponsoring this show of artwork that is 12" x 12". The exhibit is at the Village Artisans, 100 Corry St. and is open this weekend Sat. 11 am-6 pm and Sun. noon-5 pm. The show runs through the end of October.
- There are several types of media represented in this show, but I think my piece is the only fiber art in the show.

Out of My Box: An Exhibition of Extreme Quilting will be at the Yellow Springs Arts Council Gallery and will feature the work of multimedia artist Karen Russell and folk artist Sharon Mohler. The gallery is located at 309 Xenia Ave., and will be open Sat. from noon-4 pm.

Stitch Gasp, a one-woman show featuring stitched art and paintings by Corrine Bayraktaroglu will be at Would You, Could You...In a Frame and is open this Sat. 10 am-6 pm.

If you come to Yellow Springs a little early...

There are several art events happening on Fri., Oct. 15 during the Third Friday Art Stroll. Artist receptions for Dare 2B Square, Out of My Box, and Stitch Gasp will all be held from 6-9 pm.

Yellow Springs Artist Studio Tour: Meet my guest artists

The Yellow Springs Artist Studio Tour is this coming weekend...Sat., Oct. 16 and Sun. Oct. 17, from 11 am-6 pm both days. This is my third year participating on the tour, and this is the 10th tour so we've decided to do something a little different this year...guest artists! Each of the 8 host artists will have some guest artist in their studio.

My first guest is Theresa Mayer. Theresa lives in Yellow Springs and works with glass. She makes lampwork beads that can be worn as necklaces or used to embellish other projects. Above is a photo of the first pair of beads that I bought from Theresa...I liked them because they looked like a tiny universe. She also makes beads with tiny landscapes on them.

She says, "I began to play with glass when I took some traditional stained glass classes. Then I got a mini kiln and became enthralled with fusing. One day just for fun I signed up for a lampworking bead making class at the Springfield Art Museum. I became addicted to taking rods of glass and melting them in front of my eyes and turning them in to beads. As I began with my first nearly beads I struggled to get shape and form. As practice made that come more naturally I have discovered that I could express feelings and emotions in the beads. What I find the most fun is that different people see different things in them, so the adventure begins with the viewer and their imagination."

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My other guest is J. Austin Jennings, who lives in Kettering. She is a painter and has been exploring mixed media by incorporating a collage technique in her paintings. At left is "Less Traveled" which I own.

She says, "Creating art is a process of ‘seek and hide.’ I sort through life, selecting scenes, looking for secrets, and pursuing the oft-overlooked ironies of the natural world. In the studio the seeking continues. I search out colors, textures, value tones and fascinating images. Cut paper, shards of printed material lay scattered across the worktable. The pieces reassemble themselves to form a new whole in a process I like to compare to alchemy...a transmutation of small, ordinary scraps into a more profound whole. Then the viewer becomes the seeker—finding secrets I myself have hidden."

Shark Baby Quilt

My dear friend Erin is expecting her first baby. I asked her if she wanted a baby quilt to hang on the wall or one to use, and she said she wanted one to use, but that she had one request. It had to have sharks on it. Apparently her husband has a thing for the movie "Jaws."

They didn't know the sex of the baby at the time and were planning a yellow and green nursery, although she said she didn't care if the quilt matched the nursery.

Up until this point I hadn't seen any fabric with sharks, but I did an internet search and found lots of fabric with sharks on it. Including the one that I ended up using.

Sharks: check. Green and Yellow: check. Cute enough for a baby quilt: check.

Plus the added bonus: text. As a graphic designer, I've always loved text, so once I saw this fabric, I knew that was what I was going to use.

So here's hoping that Erin & Ben have a beautiful, healthy baby, just wait a few years before you let the baby watch "Jaws."

"Little Sister's Kite Tails" new little quilt

"Little Sister's Kite Tails," 12" x 12" x 1"

I made this 12" x 12" little quilt for the "Dare 2B Square" show. The only requirement for the show was that it had to be 12" x 12".

This quilt uses a similar layout and technique that I used on "All the Colors" where the triangles are sewn down in the middles, but their edges are left loose to curl up or bend in. I used softer blue and purple batik triangles and a white background. The variegated colored eyelash yarn acts as a binding.

More about Little Sister's Kite Tails

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The show is at Village Artisans, 100 Corry St. in Yellow Springs and runs through Oct. 31. They are open Mon.-Thurs. 11 am-5 pm, Fri.-Sat. 11 am-6 pm, and Sun. noon-5 pm. There will be an artist reception on Fri., Oct. 15 from 6-9 pm. All of the 12" x 12" art is for sale.