Remarkable Symposium - New Zealand

I'm thrilled to say that I have sent off my latest fibre art piece to be displayed in a collection of works by 36 brilliant Canadian Fibre Artists. The event is Remarkable Symposium 2011 from April 18th to 23rd in Queenstown, New Zealand. It is the 14th National Patchwork and Quilting Symposium. The travelling show consists of 36 quilts made by the members of the Fibre Art Network and the theme of the 36 pieces is "Canadian Content." Although the art quilts may not be in our web gallery until the dates of the show, you can click on FAN to check out our fantastic website and see what we are all about. I'll be sure to post my entry here once the show has begun, but for now, here is a sneak peek at an extreme detail shot.

Studios Magazine - published!

I just got the news from the editor of Studios magazine that the spring issue goes live on their website this Thursday for pre-order. You may have seen my previous post about putting yourself out there and going for your dreams. Well, my cozy studio will be featured in the magazine! Hooray! I was so happy in November when they gave me the call back to submit professional photos, so I went for it. I called up a highly skilled photographer and here we have it. Success! Thank you Lori! Fabulous job! I am so thrilled and I can't wait to see how they've chosen to use my space saving tips and photos. Here is a snapshot of me and my pup Oliver hanging out in studio.

This calls for a toast. Cheers! You must put it out there if you want to succeed.

Painted Fabric Into Art

Anyone who reads this blog knows how much I love to create my own fabric, by painting, dyeing and all sorts of other fun techniques. But the last thing I want is a huge stash of crazy to amazing coloured pieces that I am not putting to good use.

So here is the latest piece I was inspired to use. First I made an acrylic gel mono print that I absolutely loved. Then I did some machine and hand stitching. I added beading in a wave across the centre and then I couched on some fancy yarns and floss. It turned out to be a beautiful winter snowscape perfectly indicative of the winter storm approaching my home town as I write this. We'll see if we are snowed in tomorrow.

Brrr! Love my warm cup of tea.

The fibre artist goes traditional!

As immersed as I am in fibre art, I have been pondering through some of my UFOs and realized I have more than a few projects started and left undone for one reason or another. I pulled out one particular quilt that I had put a lot of effort into getting it half done with the hand quilting and realized it needs to get done. It is time to go back to the roots of my quilting.

When I began to quilt before my son was born, I signed up for my first hand quilting class through the local leisure guide. It was a wonderful class and I was always motivated to finish the homework and more before the next week's class. I really loved it. But when the last class was approaching I decided to skip ahead and really start getting this baby sampler quilted. So I quilted a few blocks without much direction. When I brought it to the class. The instructor said, "Oh, this is so over quilted that you'll never finish it." I was very surprised and secretly devastated. Rather than doing one line of quilting on each piece of each block, I had completely quilted every square inch to the point that there was barely a quarter inch space without stitch. After the lesson, with me used as the bad example, she discussed ways of removing the stitches which sounded quite time consuming and difficult. I left the class and put the quilt away for quite some time. I even justified not getting it done because I had given birth to a boy and the quilt was in blues, but floral.

Now if that sounds like a sad story, no worries. I still dove deep into the world of quilting making several quilts for my son and have never looked back. But this project has been hidden away as my one major UFO. I have pulled it once in a while and added a few lines of stitching, but it has always seemed so daunting. Lately I have realized that for years I was letting the teacher's comments diffuse the joy I had in the process and I was focussed on the incorrect end product.

So here I am with a beautiful unfinished quilt. I have decided to pull out this quilt and have fallen in love with it all over again. The simple act of unfolding it and laying it across the table to look closely at it again gave me a huge rush. I am poised to finish it in plenty of time for my very first trunk show. I have accepted that the overstitching is beautiful because it taught me a lesson. I have learned to love the process of creation no matter what the outcome. And besides, I believe it is true that every quilt should have a mistake or even a bunch. It adds to the charm, the tradition and shows the heart that you have put into it.

My very first hand pieced, hand quilted quilt - all done!

Double the Pleasure!

Hi everyone - I'm pleased to announce that I have a new name for my blog! In fact I now have 2 blogs. I've been blogging with both of my passions of writing and fibre art in what turned out to be a jack of all trades looking blog, so I've split them in two and now I'm having twice the fun. My fibre art blog is now called Fibre Works and my writing and poetry blog is called Write Hearted. So please grab a cup of tea and follow along with my writing and fibre art adventures.

Cheers! Brandy Lynn!

Gel monoprints

The holidays have been so nice this year as we have decided to spend as much time as possible relaxing at home. We've chosen just a few family dinners and events and nothing else. So yesterday after the rush of Christmas was over, the boys were totally involved with their new toys and games and I found myself perusing an invitation to play with paint and fabric. There are few things as healing and calming for me lately as spending few hours playing with my passion, especially in the company of a friend. So, I said yes and I had so much fun yesterday doing gel monoprints. Pat is such a good teacher because she gives you the tools you need and then the freedom to do your own thing. So here are 10 photos of my new monoprint stash. I can't wait to play with them over the next few months.

Artful Clay

I just went to the most fabulous ceramic art sale over the weekend. Crystal Nykoluk is a fresh new ceramic artist stretching the boundaries of functional clay. Her pieces are stunning, textured and one of a kind. They provoke thought and inspiration. It makes you want to use those good dishes for every day.

These first 2 mugs are wood fired in a kiln for 24 hrs. I love the gorgeous crème caramel colour and how they fit so nicely in my hand.

These next 2 mugs are a gorgeous dripping shade of blue. They make me think of washing away the day's worries with a soothing cup of tea. I love the natural wood grained wrap like they are being hugged by nature.

And last, we have this very classy spoon rest. I absolutely love this piece. It's just so gorgeous! The green plastic tupperware spoon rest is a thing of the past.

All of the mugs posted here are gifts for my mom's birthday and christmas, but don't worry that I'm spoiling the surprise. She was at the show and picked them out herself.

Now that's holiday shopping in style.