Information or Fun Overload...

Just spent a great 5 days. Different activities but fun non the less...

Grey Cup Activities:  Adrenaline Zone Zip Lining, Pancake Breakfast from the Calgary Stampeders, Bands, Dancing, Laughing, Walking, Great Bakery, Parade, Smiling, Lobster Hat Wearing.

Then a milestone birthday: visits with good friends, and a great Floyd Elsinga Sculpture from my husband. http://www.floydelzinga.com  He is currently displaying at the "One of a Kind Christmas Show" at the Direct Energy Building in Toronto at the Grounds of the Exhibition.

I will post a shot of my sculpture when it is hung.

Then Yesterday I went to the "One of a Kind Christmas Show" mainly to visit my friend Lisa Skog who is a Raku Artist.   http://www.oneofakindshow.com/toronto/artisans.php?

   
               

It was great to see her work displayed! If you go say hi to her from me!

The show is on until Sunday December 2, 2012

My friend I went with and I tried on hats.

I loved this one the best.


After all this activity my mind is swirling with ideas.

Time to concentrate and write some of it down before it is all gone.

Jo


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Instead of....

Instead of getting ready for work...
I put in my resignation about 5 weeks ago... It is good. I need time to take care of me and my family.
But instead of going in to my soon to be not my work...
I was reading blogs...
This is good and bad...
Bad because so much time goes by and nothing is done.
Good because I read Kit Lang's post of today.
I have never met Kit in person but I love her blog. http:www//kitlangfiberart.blogspot.ca

Her post today was about what she was doing while she is recovering from being under the weather...
And her word for 2012 was "Intention"

In your art work how much should be intention and how much just play?
I suppose it depends on your goals and skills.
I have always thought I have to make something functional... practical...
Now that I am trying to develop my art skills (and sometimes it is not pretty lol) I want to be intentional but I also want it to be fun....

So I am borrowing if I may from Kit's 2012 word "Intentional" and adding "Play and I think 2013 will be the year of "Intentional Play"
That sounds fun and practical...

Thanks Kit - your blog inspires me! 

This is a picture taken a few weeks ago when I was in Intercourse, PA and my husband let me loose in this store.... My bag came out with lots of batiks and some white Kona cotton for me to dye and play with. 

I am sure I will get some Intentional Play done with this! 

This was a great store. Beautiful fabrics, great prices and a quilt museum on the 2nd floor. 

TTFN

Book Review ...

I bought another book a couple of months ago.

After seeing Kristal Wick on You Tube

I was interested in reading her book. Can't get stuff like this at my local library so I  did the Chapters thing and treated myself.... again.

- read lessFabulous Fabric Beads: Create Custom Beads and Art Jewelry

by Kristal Wick

Interweave Press, LLC | September 1, 2008 | Trade Paperback

A spectacular combination of beading, scrapbooking, fiber arts, and mixed-media techniques, this amazing handbook describes how to create 30 handcrafted beads from rolled tubes of silk, muslin, or ribbon. With more than 20 easy embellishment techniques incorporating glitter, paint, crystals, or wire, these projects result in stunning beads that can be created with inexpensive and readily available supplies and tools described in this guide. Detailed discussions on choosing appropriate fabrics and creating a variety of surface designs are coupled with well-documented instructions on how to cut, roll, dip, and dry collage beads, and how to cover inexpensive wooden and plastic beads to easily achieve different shapes. Additional sidebars and tips include bonus information on selecting successful color palettes and 10 simple stringing techniques.

And Here is my Review.... I put on Chapters 

I first saw Kristal Wick on You Tube via the beading show. 
I had seen in some books and online fabric beads but they were not what I wanted to use in a project. 
Kristal shows how to make beads that are a great addition to your jewelry making toolbox. 
Out of remnant fabric and some glue you can make beads that no one would know that they are not "real beads. 
These beads can not only be used in jewelry but also art quilts and other design places like as the centre of a fabric flower and more. 
Kristal show many different colour ways and styles of projects that will spark anyone's imagination to continue to make interesting designs. 
I would recommend this book to fabric artists and jewelry designers for the simple steps to make the beads and the great use of colour and showing what can be done with fabric beads. 

An Art Book or a Technique Book....

My husband and I belong to a small group book club. It is kind of cool we each take a turn hosting and picking a book. We have come from different reading backgrounds and so some of the choices are very different than what  we are used to reading. This months choice is a fantasy book. But that is not what I want to talk about....
In order to get free shipping from Chapters/Indigo (a Canadian bookstore chain...) we had to chose another book. The shipping was going to be half the price of another paper back or more. Usually we pick a historical murder mystery. But I through out that I had looked at this book when we were shopping in Lancaster, Penn. a couple of weekends ago... 

It is listed on the back as $35.99. I did not mind paying for the book in the quilt store but I was trying to keep my spending down and had just bought 30 yds of fabric at a price much cheaper than I could buy at home in Ontario.

So we added this on to our book order for $25.25...

S

* Prices may vary in store.

Fibreart Montage: Combining Quilting, Embroidery And Photography With Embellishments

by Judith Baker Montano

Dragon Threads | November 1, 2009 | Trade Paperback

2010 Benjamin Franklin Gold Award winner

A huge contemporary trend in the industry, mixed media is taken to a new level here with a unique combination of watercolors, pen and ink illustrations, needlework design, and more. The montage effect, taught in this volume, begins with a computer-edited image that is transformed into grafted patterns and then enhanced with crazy quilting, manipulated fabrics, embellishments, dye, and embroidery techniques. The friendly prose and enthusiastic, straightforward instructions take readers step by step through the process to achieve texture and depth in fabric landscape quilts while full-color, stunning photographs accent this guide to the newest mixed media techniques in the world of quilting.

- read less

This is a beautiful book!!!!
The pictures are stunning. The techniques are detailed. And it also tells a lot about Judith's life and journey as an artist.

This book will not only be used for techniques for me to expand my skills but also to use for inspiration, colour study and sheer enjoyment.

If I could rate this book it would be an A+

An added bonus is that it has a binder like binding so it lays flat when opened!

Where can you get this book...
Many places I am sure. But you can't have mine! lol