A call for entries

The deadline for applying for this year's Texas Museum of Fiber Arts Exhibit is nearly here. 

Deadline for entries is September 17, 2011.

Texas by the Yard and Yarn – Texas a Fabrication
 Fiber Arts Exhibit

This state-wide fiber arts exhibit will be held October 18 – November 18, 2011 in Austin, Texas.

THEME:  The art may reflect the wondrous and varied landscapes of Texas by “the yard,” may tell the tall tales of Texas by “the yarn,” or may show “Texas a Fabrication – the People and Sites of Texas in Fabric or Yarn!”

ELIGIBILITY:  All submissions must be original in content and executed in a fiber arts technique or process. Applicant must be currently living in Texas, born in Texas, or is currently or has attended or graduated from a Texas educational institution. Once a Texan, always a Texan. (No age requirement.)

The annual event provides a social, cultural exhibit of fine artworks of Texas fiber artists. All events are free and open to the public.  For more information go to  www.texasfiberarts.org   or
 

Click here for further details.

                                        


SPONSORING ORGANIZATION:  The Texas Museum of Fiber Arts (TMFA) fosters education and creativity in fiber art expression, experience, and appreciation. TMFA exists to generate expressions in fiber arts of all kinds through its emphasis on fiber arts education, acknowledgment of established and emerging Texas fiber artists, and celebrating art made from natural and man-made fibers. In keeping with TMFA’s mission to exhibit excellence in Texas’ fiber arts, and to educate Texans about a wide range of original fiber art works, we call for entries that reflect the biggest and best Texas has to offer.

Another Little Quilt Swap 6

It's official...

I've signed up for Another Little Quilt Swap #6 and hope to finish one (or maybe two) quilts to trade.

This is a fun, no guilt, swapping group run by the gracious hostess, Kate North.  If you are interested in learning more about this swap, click here.  There is not a deadline for showing interest in the swap, but there is a deadline to get your digital photos sent to Kate (Oct. 3rd, 2011).  The swappers are scattered across the world, so before reading further, please be aware that you must be willing to ship internationally!

It is great fun and I hope you will join me in this swap ....

Reflecting...

 The tenth anniversary of 9-11 has arrived

with much reflection, thinking back and remembering simpler days.

My first (or one-and-only?) Presidential quilt. 

     This quilt was made for a local quilt shop's challenge, (required to use the colorful Washington, DC print at the center of the courthouse steps blocks).  My quilt won first place (visitors to the store were allowed one vote per canned item brought for the local food bank ... I may have stuffed the ballot box a little ... or did I?).  The quilt shop has closed, and I am still proud of this quilt.

Note: the presidential blocks were "inked" with crayons and archival pens.

 

We do treasure our life in the land of the free, the home of the brave.

Tulips ...

I am not April Fool-ing you .... Spring has definitely arrived in my hometown.

These tulips and pansies were blooming in the Dallas Arboretum.

I love spying the pansies peeking up from below the tulips ... don't you?

Ice Brigade

Do we really need a new reality show on television?  Haven't they all been "done" already?  You may think so, but take a peek at the newest being offered on Food Network, called "Ice Brigade."

In each episode, you watch the artists create new imaginative  ice sculptures for a diversity of events including:  a full-size working piano, something for Star-Trek fans, ice sleds (with which the crew raced each other downhill!  Looks like so much fun!)

 

I hope this promo uploads here nicely ... if not, go to http://www.icebrigade.com/tvshow.shtml as this is the home page for Ice Brigade on Food Network starting March 3 2011.

I hope this show continues to air during our lovely hot, humid summer months!  Although as it is filmed in Western Michigan, perhaps the number of episodes will be limited to the seasons.

OK OK, I confess, perhaps I am spending too much time in front of the tube ...

Sadly, I am not  playing with my fabrics and threads, instead, I am working on lesson plans or folding laundry, usually) ...

But it has not been totally illspent (this entertaining discovery of Ice Brigade proves that, doesn't it?)

Shopping at 2011 Empty Bowls

I spent a pleasant morning shopping for a bowl at the 2011 Empty Bowls event, held annually at the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft and Lawndale Art Center.

I wandered through, looking at the  many choices ...

circling through the tables and tables of bowls more than once ....

and still I couldn't decide ... so while pondering further, I looked at everything again!

The good news is, I did finally select one, with the help of my friend Tammy, who volunteers for Empty Bowls every year. 

The money I paid for my bowl ($25.00) goes directly to the Houston Food Bank to feed the local hungry AND it also bought a bowl of soup for my lunch today (creamy corn chowder -- yummy! Thank you Whole Foods Market).  Tammy took a break from volunteering to join me for lunch too.  She had selected a lovely gourd bowl -- gosh, I should have taken pictures of our bowls before they were wrapped up for the journey homeward.

If you missed this year's event, be sure to mark your calendars for next year's Empty Bowls .... date to be announced at some point in the future ...

Fiber Bowls

I collected bowls from two of my fiber art groups, Beyond the Sunset and Beyond the Borders (both are affiliated with the Quilt Guild of Greater Houston).  These bowls are donations for the 7th Annual Empty Bowls - Houston, but I thought I would share photos of my favorite ones before delivering them to the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft.

 

This "sunflower" bowl is the colorful creation of my friend Janice.  She has crafted the petals with fabric and fiber snippets and lots of stitching, anchoring each petal into the flower's brown center.  I like the red threads she's added for additional color.

Elaine, current leader of Beyond the Borders, created two bowls this year.  Both are made with fabric-wrapped cotton clothesline (a technique I plan to do one day, as I have the requisite clothesline ...now to find the time).  The green one (above) has green accent stripes incorporated into the bowl's design.  It has a slim, elongated oval shape, which I like.  

Her second bowl (below) also has accent stripes.  Elaine's bowls have decorative elements at the rim (helpful to disguise the ending of the clothesline!).  I love both the green button and the trio of yo-yo (similar, yet different).

Another donated fiber creation came as a match set of a bowl with a matching plate.  These were made by Pat, our leader of the Beyond the Sunset group.

The bowl was shaped by saturating with a liquid stiffener (watered-down glue), then draping over a plastic, fluted vegetable container to dry.  A wired beads were added as additional accents to the rim of the bowl.

A peek into the bowl, from above, reveals additional beading (tinier seed beads) anchored in the base of the bowl.  I love the variety of textures these beaded additions bring to Pat's bowl.

The plate is easily a stand-alone piece as well, and coordinates lovely with its matching bowl.

Perhaps the oddest of the bowls that I will deliver is one of my own....

I knit this bowl using a chunky (non-feltable) yarn.  I plan to stiffen this floppy piece into more of a classic bowl shape before delivering it to Empty Bowls, but time is always a tight element of my days.... Chances are strong that this soft, drapable bowl will be donated in this limp form.  It may be interesting to hear the comments of the bowl-shoppers at Empty Bowls!

The variegated yarn worked up nicely with the purple stripes going across the bottom and up the opposing sides (of course it is also due in part to the pattern of the knit-design).  This bowl can also double as a warm hat .... but only one liveds in a cold-climate area (which rarely describes our Houston winter).