Jet lag

I’m finally home !

I have to admit that I can’t see a plane for at least one year, despite that DH is telling everyone that he wants to go back !

I hate planes and their lack of comfort, well : I do not like it when I have to sit 9.30 hours on the same seat wit a fasten seatbelt.
And no : business class is not for me, yet.

I had a wonderful time in the States and everyone was so nice to us – tourist and guest – in your country.
New Orleans was an event. I do not know if Bourbon street is always so vibrant ; I loved the street musicians and the jazz and blues cafés.

You have to shake your body on that music !

In the cafés you barely dare to ask for juice so we drank a (1) cocktail and when you are not used to drink that…

The food was – well - the portions were more than royal. I liked what I have eaten and my DH even more.

We made a tour on a paddle wheel boat on the Mississippi.

We went to Oak Alley – HUGE - property.

We did the Swamp and Bayou tour where I met a snake.

We visited the garden district with the old houses.

All this in 4 days.

Not to forget all the walking in the French Quarter. I believe we did every street at least 2 times !

We arrived in Houston on Wednesday after a bumpy flight.
Houston was the primary reason we came to the States. DH knew that the only way to get me on a plane again was the BIG, HUGE quilt exhibition and the chance to met some of my internet friends. One must know her weakest spots !
On Thursday I had the incredible chance and honour (yes, yes !) to met Sue Bleiweiss (left)and Terri Stegmiller (right).

These two artists - who were there to help Iris from Mistyfuse- are simply fantastic.

I had the impression we knew each other for years.

It clicked, sometimes this happens, this is a friendship to cherish.

We had such a wonderful time that we went dining an evening.

Judy Hartman and one of her friends, Andrea (no blog) joined us. We were 5 women with one man (DH) having fun and enjoying a wonderful evening.

I hope, one day, Sue and Terri will have the possibility to come over to Belgium. The country is much smaller, so this make it easier to visit some fantastic places as Bruges.

They both gave me a wonderful present that I will share with you in my next blog talk. I like making people curious !

I had the chance to follow some workshops at the Quiltingart and Cloth Paper Scissors booth but more on those workshops later.

“Perfect numbers like perfect men are very rare.”
René Descartes

Write you soon
Nathalie

New Orleans and Houston

This will be my last posting till november the 6th. I hope I then will have recover from our trip to the States.
I made some more ATC's to trade in Houston, hope someone will be prepared to trade.
I made those using painted Tyvek and black felt. I also used foil on the felt. I stitched with a metallic thread to make some highlights :




"Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity."
George S. Patton

write you next month
Nathalie

Tyvek play

Since I didn’t find blank silk scarves to paint I have to wait with Lenna’s workshop till I’m back from Houston, You don’t know how sad I feel about that !
But, in my search to find stuff to make some ATC’s, I found TYVEK, yep !
Long time I played with Tyvek.
Aren’t we the most spoiled girls with such a ‘hobby’ ?
As textile artists, we can play with all we can think of, even with Tyvek envelops or bubblemail envelops. We can rip, torn , wrinkle almost anything we find everywhere,
I am the most stress free woman in the area.
For now I heated the tyvek with my iron :



Sunday I will add some colour and then sew it in one or the other way.
These are future exchange ATC’s in addition with the ones I have already made :
On the other hand I almost finished Terri’s workshop quilt.
I still have to sew the binding, but haven’t decided about the colour :

I added a detail shot to show the free machine flower quilting with embroidery thread.
Tomorrow I will also make the suitcases for our trip to New Orleans and Houston.

“Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.’
Thomas A. Edison.

Write you soon
Nathalie

ATC's

I have received my three First ATC’S ever. Janet Cassady was so kind to send me some.
And am I glad she did. They’re so wonderful and now, I know how I can make them to send some back to her !
Those she has send me :


And those I will send her back :

I hope she will be pleased with them ; as I told, I’m a complete novice in ATC’s.
I even didn’t realise ATC’s were so small till I received them !
I will make some more to trade in Houston. In fact : it is a nice size to try some new things and to use up some scraps.

I started to quilt my little work from Terri’s workshop :
I like the movement and the vertical line of it. I haven’t add leaves because I didn’t like it.
It’s not a masterpiece but it will be nice addition in a bedroom.

“Art is the desire of a man to express himself, to record the reactions of his personality to the world he lives in.”
Amy Lowell

Write you soon
Nathalie

Quick Collage Exercise

Since I can’t do fabric stamping every spare hour I have, I enrolled for a little workshop with Terri Stegmiller.
I already had followed a workshop with Terri and I liked her ‘naïve art’ and the way she’s explaining it.
She’s making art in a way I’m not used. It seems like there is no thinking in her way of doing but the contrary is truth ! What I like with her is that she don’t let you ‘agonise’.
Make some very quick simple sketches, use basic forms, take the best of the bunch and make it in fabric using rather strong colours.
Well, I made one quick sketch and coloured it :
I didn’t think what I was doing, I let my hand draw and coloured it with the crayons I had near me.
I picked some fabrics in my stash – as you see not the same as my coloured sketch but who cares ?
I absolutely wanted to use that candy check fabric and the green and black fabric for the strong accent.
This was all done in ½ an hour. Then I stopped to takes some pictures and start to write my blog.
After a little blog writing I continued and I added some purple dots at left and lighter purple flower heads at right.
To be continued.

“You have to have confidence in your ability, and then be tough enough to follow through.”
Rosalynn Carter

Write you soon
Nathalie

Stamping

After a First step in the Stamping World I have made a second step.
Again, a try-out in my sketch journal and then on fabric. No, the two aren’t the same.
In my journal I used bubble wrap as stamp :
I used several colours : butter cream, gold and silver.

For my fabric, I started with my pastels, I watered the surfaced, fixed the colours with my iron when my fabric was dry. Then I started to stamp butterflies on the whole surface.
Again some colour fixing ironing ;

I found that my background was not enough coloured and I decided to use some more pastels:
I ironed my fabric while still wet and - stupid me – without any protection on my ironing board.
Now I have the most original ironing surface !
I do not use this board to iron my clothes, so this isn’t a drama. In fact I had a good laugh !

I’m not used to use candy colours but the result is nice : All those butterflies dancing between the colours made me feel joyful !

“Joy is not in things, it is in us”.
Richard Wagner

Write you soon
Nathalie

Finished

I finished – completely finished ‘Marseille V – Frioul’ ! Binding on, label sewed and hanging on the wall !
This quilt was started some weeks ago in a workshop with Ellen Lindner.
In fact, I had the idea of that quilt in my head the second I took the picture ! During the summer months I had sketched the picture a few times as warm up and looking to simplify the design.
Then the workshop started and I could count on Ellen to give some constructive critique. The critiques permitted me to go further in my search of ‘the perfect design’.
Since the workshops from Ellen are small sized, she can give you all her attention and you have also the time to learn from the critiques she gives to others.
Once I was happy with the design, I started to construct this ‘souvenir’ quilt that I wanted to be ’large’ : +/-46 x 31 inch. This quilt is a ‘collage’ type quilt. This permits you to abstract the design.
Sewing all the little pieces took me ages but I loved every second I worked on this quilt.
I had a unbelievable positive feeling about this one. Probably because when I took this picture I was happy - not that I’m not happy for now !I also sketched a landscape from Frioul on the fabric for the machine embroidered label I made for this quilt :
Now I can concentrate on Lenna’s workshop. I had the intention to exercise a bit yesterday evening but it staid with the intention ! This evening will be the evening. And I have Sunday afternoon to play.

“Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple, learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen”.
John Steinbeck

Write you soon
Nathalie

Marseille V- Frioul

I have almost finished with my work. It turned out so well- OK, I know, I’m giving myself compliments !
I only have to add the border and an embroidered label on the back.
I have tried a curved border for this work :
I will have to rectify a bit : some curves are too curvy.
I also have added a detail shot to show the free machine quilting with embroidery thread :

I also tried to stamp and paint a bit, first in my sketchbook : I have to tell that I’m not used to use stamps and that my stamp collection is rather small, very small (I have a cherry-, bird-, rose- and tree stamp)!
I couldn’t try embossing powder on transfer paper because I didn’t find neither nearby.
But head up, be creative ! The result on fabric was – let us say – better that expected :
I used fabric-paint on my stamps and – don’t grin – again the caran d’ache neocolor 2 that I watered.
Lenna, I promise : I will buy some stamps and embossing powder in Houston.

Tonight I will exercise a bit more, I have some dried leaves and I will carve some design in a potato !

“A strong positive mental attitude will create more miracles than any wonder drug”.
Patricia Neal

Write you soon
Nathalie

Ignorance

Every time I tried to take my hand on fabric stamping and painting on fabric I had the feeling I was bored before I even started, I simply didn’t want to understand why someone should use stamps on fabric and have an artistic nice result.
Ha, stamping : easy : put a butterfly here, a spider there…colour a little up and a little down…
Well, I tried several times but no, I was not ready to stamp on fabric.
Till I followed Sharon B’s workshop and till I saw a project from Lenna Andrews workshop : Fabric Stamping and Painting Workshop.

Some time ago I started to use a sketchbook again and started to draw and paint again. I also used some ready made stamps and stencils with gesso and guess what : I liked it, I had fun.

Since I liked the pillow form Lenna showed in her blog, I contacted her if there was a possibility to take an online workshop from her to learn how to make something similar.
And yes, she was ready to send some lessons via e-mail – boy : do I love the internet, makes the world so much smaller and the possibility to learn so much bigger ! - and after some earthy arrangement were made I could start to juice my imagination.

I’m half way the reading of the first lesson and will start playing tomorrow evening, I do not have all the supplies, not even half the needed supplies but that’s part of the fun : finding substitutions for some products. I live in a place with no specialized craft shop.
This first lesson will be a good starting exercise for making ATC’s.


This 'horses stainded glass' was also a technique I said I wouldn't do, never say never !

“Men are born ignorant, not stupid ; they are made stupid by education.’
Bertrand Russell

Write you soon
Nathalie

Groups

I recently joined two groups : Arttechniques and artisttradingcards.
The first to try my hand on new techniques, the second to finally try and make ATC’s.
I never made one ATC, do you believe it ?
I will have to read what size and in what kind of material those are made.
I even don’t know if those are send in an envelop or like a postcard. I imposed myself a new challenge and I love it.
I will make some to trade in Houston during the festival, I think I have read somewhere that there would be a trading place for ATC’s.

My quilt ‘Marseille V’ is taking shape, I have included some pictures of the first round of stitches, I didn’t even take the time to cut the loose threads !

I also finished my agenda cover :
I will make some more to give as Christmas present. Fun to make and it is a personal present.
Today I had a call from my Husqvarna dealer who told me he will receive the Designer Diamond and that I could see the machine on October, 20th during the official presentation. I’m very curious because the comments in the yahoo-group are positive. Now I also have an idea of the price and I’m positively surprised ! I really thought that I would first saw the machine in Houston during the expo.

"Heaven is where the Police are British, the Chefs are French, the Mechanics are German, the Lovers Italian and it’s all organised by the Swiss.
Hell is where the Chefs are British, the mechanics are French, the lovers are Swiss, the Police are German and it’s all organised by the Italians."
Anonymous

Write you soon
Nathalie