I've been under the weather these past few months with operations and infections and not feeling well.  I am thankful for my readers that come back over and over again to read my blog.  I am feeling better today, so I've included a new book review for a new book!

‘Mixed-Media Master Class’ by Sherrill Kahn covers 50 or more techniques for use on paper and/or fabrics.  It is a great reference book for anyone wanting to improve or change their artwork.  ‘Mixed-Media Master Class’ is also a very good book for beginning students.  Kahn shows examples of what the project looks like and then, she lists the steps on how to do the techniques.  Kahn uses wonderful photography to aid the students’ learning. 

Some of the techniques in ‘Mixed-Media Master Class’ include using resists such as petroleum jelly, using textures, stenciling, making rubbings,  making and using handmade stamps, silk screening, how to use lutrador, Transfer Artist Paper (TAP), and computer-printed images. 

I like Kahn’s book because no matter what level you are as an artist, there will always be able to learn more from it.  It is a great book to help resolve your artist’s block!

http://www.ctpub.com/productdetails.cfm?PC=2838

 I just received word that I have received the Alegre Quilt Art Camp Scholarship for 2013! It is in Colorado in April for 5 days in a beautiful retreat center. I want to take the shibori dyeing and design class, that will help me in my work at Pike Place Market, but otherwise I'll take a class with Katie Pasaquini-Masopust. The other instructor is Joan Meyers-Newbury. Oh, I am so excited!!!!!!

Here's the link to the program: http://www.alegreretreat.com/alegre.htm

I really enjoyed walking through ‘Barbara Brackman’s Civil War Sampler’.  Brackman did not make a book with 50 blocks in it, she tells the stories of the Civil War, and what each block would represent.  The Civil War Sampler is a history of the War Between the States.  The North and the South are each represented by the blocks, and Brackman even uses references to other books, where she obtained her information.  Each block is shown in two colorways and instructions are given on how to make each block.

I have never been a history buff, but books like Brackman’s Civil War Sampler have become increasingly popular to me.  After making a sample block for another person in a block swap for her own civil war quilt,  I am becoming to understand both the political views during the three years of the War, and the options that were(n’t) available to the quilters of that time in history.

If you would like to learn more about Civil War history, along with learning new blocks, this book will be a welcome addition to your library!

http://www.ctpub.com/productdetails.cfm?PC=2743

‘Doodle Quilting’ by Cheryl Malkowski is a wonderful book for quilters of every age and skill.   Malkowski begins with basic stitches and practicing on paper, then advances to multi-stitch designs.  Malkowski has included over 120 continuous line designs, meaning you can keep stitching, without having to lift up your needle and start and stop all of the time (at least until your bobbin thread runs out!).  There are some stitches that you will find are common in most quilting design books, like stippling, flames and pebbles.  Malkowski also includes some very unique patterns, such as intricate roses, and other flowers, but also combinations of stitches, including flowers with leaves, and different types of ferns mixed together.  Doodle Quilting also includes the feather, a standard in quilting, but some of her feathers are embellished with pebbles around the feathers, and designs within the feathers that are very unique and fun-looking to quilt out. 

Since one of my goals this year is to work on my free-motion quilting skills, this book will be included as one of my learning guides to sew along with.  I think this is a really great book to have in your library, whether you are a beginner at free-motion or wanting to get new ideas for your quilts if you are a more advanced quilter!

http://www.ctpub.com/productdetails.cfm?PC=2716

‘Bright and Bold, Cozy Modern Quilts’ by Kim Schaefer is popular book with patterns using the modern quilt theme. ‘Modern’ quilts are usually geometric designed quilts made with plain or color-on-color fabrics, or made with only one print, which is the theme and color palette of the quilt and plain fabrics for the rest of the blocks. Geometric prints can also be used in these quilts.
Schaefer has written several books, all very popular. Schaefer manages to design quilts that are bright, and scrappy and fun! Cozy Modern Quilts begins with general quilting instructions for beginners. All of the patterns in the book have instructions that are easy to follow and suitable for beginning quilters, but fun for intermediate stitchers, too.
http://www.ctpub.com/productdetails.cfm?PC=2598 (  )

I want to show you two different t-shirts that I discharged (bleached) last week.  I started out with 2 black shirts for a young man's Christmas gift.  I bought two because I wasn't sure how the first one would turn out.

This is the one I was trying to make, and it was the first try.  It is supposed to look like a tiger. After bleaching it, I dyed it orange, since the teenager's favorite color is orange. I tried it one more time to see if I could do better.  The second one is more like a snakeskin, and I ended up selling it on ebay.  The difference between the two shirts, is how much dye was used and how long I kept the bleach on the shirts before using Bleach-Stop.

I didn't get these ideas myself.  I'll tell you about the book that I used to get the ideas from in the following book review.

'Contemporary Dyecraft' by Melanie Brummer is a project book for learning to tie-dye using fabric reactive dyes.  The projects are for making scarves, dresses, t-shirts and other clothing.  Contemporary Dyecraft was published in 2010, but a lot of the clothing does look like it belongs back in the 60's era.  Even though some of the clothes do appear to be vintage, all of the projects are very educational, and I go back to Brummer's book to check on methods and techniques, and to learn another technique.  Since most of my business is in bamboo sock and scarf dyeing, the scarf techniques are especially relevant to me.      Contemporary Dyecraft is a great book in my dyeing library.  Check it out!

A New Beginning

After several months of non-blogging, I have decided to continue with my blog.  During the summer, I had achille's tendon reconstruction, which is very difficult to heal.  I am also awaiting my results of an eye test, which will reveal whether I am legally-blind from glaucoma.

So for the new beginning:  I will continue to do book and product reviews, but I will be concentrating more on free-motion quilting and textile dyeing.

I will be following Leah Day's Free-Motion Quilting Project ( http://freemotionquilting.blogspot.com/p/start-here.html ).  She has more than 365 or more free-motion quilting designs on her blog, and for each design, she has a little video about how to do that design.  She is also an author of several books.

I have also been dyeing bamboo socks and scarves for gifts and purchase.  I will show you some of the good and some of the bad, and what happened to the scarf to get the results.

So, I'm back again, and here is the beginning of a new book review:

‘Free-Motion Quilting with Angela Walters’ is a wonderful book for beginning and intermediate quilters that would like to improve their quilting skills.  Free-motion quilting is the name given for quilting freely on top of the quilt ‘sandwich’ of the quilt top, the batting, and the backing.  Usually, free-motion means the quilting is done without marking or stencils, covering the whole top or pieces of it with doodle-like stitching with your sewing machine. 

Walters starts with some easy patterns, giving good written instructions and examples, and advancing to more difficult patterns.  Walters has written several books on quilting, and currently teaches in an online quilting class.  Free-Motion Quilting is mostly given in the ‘modern quilting’ style.  After teaching several patterns, Walters shows how to use the patterns in different quilt patterns.  This is a good book with many useful ideas.

http://www.ctpub.com/productdetails.cfm?PC=2773