Vacation Week?

We are sometimes functional, but always strive to be funky! My husband, Jeff, son Jason and I are preparing for the week ahead. This is the annual vacation week that always occurs in August. We would rather be up in Ontario, Canada at "Luther Village" with other fun people from our church, but I do have an art fair to get ready for, and other stuff that needs attention. So.....we're doing the daytrippin' thing!

~~~There's a drive-in theater a hour away from us in a small town. We love drive-in theaters, and our son has only been to one - when he was 3 (?) - 10 years ago. It really doesn't even matter what's showing. Sitting in your car, bad speakers, food flying everywhere, sticking your feet out the window, having your child ask you why the windows are fogging up in the car next to you - it's the perfect thing to do on a summer night. I got excited when I read the show times for the movie: SHOWN AT DUSK ~~~
I wonder if I can talk the teenager into getting into his jammies before we go.....

My Mantra for the week of July 24, 2005

Julaine

Last weekend for the Postcard fundraiser!

Thank you, Virginia Spiegel, for all the incredible work you have done with this project! I was feeling guilty for having not made a postcard and sending it to her - she told me not to worry, and that I could participate next year. It's amazing how connected you feel with others who create art in the same medium as you, and that in itself is motivation and inspiration.....

Sometime between this morning and late this afternoon, she received my postcard, photographed it, got it up on her website, and it was sold!

"Buy some art, help save a life"

Ruanas -

Ruanas (roo-ah-nas) are loose fitting overgarments and can be worn over any top and a skirt, pants, or leggings. Made with two yards of rayon or silk, I dye/discharge/paint the cloth and then sew them up! I've been creating these for three years now, and I guess I have made about 75 of them.

I'm thinking that maybe 75 is enough - that I need to move on, and start designing something else. The problem, now, is that since ponchos have been popular, my ruanas continue to be popular!

They are beautiful, and do look great on everyone - once a man purchased one and when I asked if it was a gift for a special woman in his life, he said, "No - I play guitar in a band, and it's just what I need to look cool -"

Maybe I just need to experiment with other surface design techniques on them.

Leaf Study 8"x10"

This is one of the quilts in my "Leaf Study" series. Starting with my hand dyed cotton sateen, I rubbed Shiva Iridescent Paintsticks on top of the cloth, with my own leaf stamps underneath. This is such a wonderful process, almost magical. I place the stamp where I want it under the fabric, put a few pins to hold it in place, and then.....RUB AWAY ! The image is suddenly there - but then I have to be patient (tough one for me) and wait for the paint to dry in 24 - 48 hours ---

Who knew that when we did rubbings in elementary school, it would end up being a very cool way to add surface texture to FABRIC !

As I'm writing this, I realize that blogging can be like journaling - you know - that hammer on the head experience we all have - I'm thinking about all the times that I have included leaves in my work. I have lots of leaf beads, 5 rubber stamps that I have cut with leaves on them, and I love stitching individual leaves on my quilts. Guess who's the last family on our block to rake in the fall?

Time to explore this a little deeper, to find out why I'm so drawn to them.....

Words of wisdom on "The Estrogen Patch"

Here's what the words are on the quilt:
beautiful bones - healthy heart -
mellow moods - hot flash finis! -
??? - breasts beware - sublime

sleep -

The Estrogen Patch quilt

Yes, those are real estrogen patches on the bottom of the quilt - I did this quilt 2 years ago when there was a lot of controversy over hormone replacement therapy (that never changes). If you click on the image, you should be able to read the words stitched sideways and above the flowers.

The company that made the patches purchased the quilt, and then gave it as a gift to the nurse practitioner who arranged for their drug rep and I to meet.
Chapter 2 of the story: A doctor from France saw a picture of the quilt at the company's booth at a trade show/medical conference in France - she called her friend in Wisconsin and told her about the quilt - the friend saw a picture of it in my album at a quilt show in Wisconsin -
I'm so glad to be working in this medium!

materials: hand dyed and painted cotton sateen and silk, beads; free motion quilted

Birthday flowers, fabric and hammer.....The Unknown Path

My first try at flower pounding on white mercerized cotton! The flowers used were pink roses that I received on my 50th birthday! They turned out bluish purple - The raw edged background is an eggplant colored crushed satin
Other surface design elements: stamped images of the "character" made with my own hand cut stamp, using a purple Colorbox stamp pad; I pressed the stamp pad itself on the cloth; Setacolor and Lumiere paints dabbed here and there; beads strung on copper wire; painted silk mesh under the text, which says:

"We long for a path that we know, but are
given what is unfamiliar - so that which
is sacred in us can rise up and be our
guide." julaine

The Workshop was great!

"Art's a staple, like bread or wine or a warm coat in winter. Those who think it is a luxury have only a fragment of a mind. Man's spirit grows hungry for art in the same way his stomache growls for food." Irving Stone

This quote is on a rubber stamp that I found at the International Quilt Festival in Houston last November - I thought of it after teaching my workshop at the Rockford (IL) Art Museum this past Saturday. The workshop was incredible - everyone came well prepared, and these five very creative souls made their very first art quilt. They were not afraid of that 11x14" quilt sandwich with a WHITE top! It was their blank canvas, and they started fusing, preparing an image transfer, drawing with colored pencils, stamping,stitching with embroidery floss, attaching beads and special found objects from home. Time to celebrate, ladies.....