The Process!

Hi! Thank you for viewing my art process! Each piece is an original piece of art created by myself.

The Zentangle inspired art pieces are created with a blank white piece of fabric. Temporary lines are drawn as the base of my art planning. Then I free-hand everything else with black ink and add color with ink or paint.

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Once the ink and color are done, I add cotton batting and quilt the piece, sew a fabric border and staple it to a stretched canvas frame.

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The photo quilts start with a photo that I have taken of scenes around our Buffalo, NY area. I create my pattern by tracing the colors, shades, and shapes on the picture, enlarge it to the size I want. Using this paper pattern, I cut the big shapes out of fabric and glue each piece on, then sew around each piece to secure the fabric to the base of the quilt.

Then the fun part comes! Painting brings out the specific color that I want as well as the fine details that I cannot achieve with fabric. Lastly, each piece is quilted, sewn fabric border, and stapled onto the stretched canvas frame.

Little known fact……My dad was an upholsterer and he taught me some of the upholstery skills like using a staple gun that I still use today!

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My pocket hugs started in January 2021 during the Pandemic. I saw that other people were making this same basic idea of showing someone you care by sending them a token they can touch and hold.

Mine turned out to also include words of positivity and gratitude as well as the Zentangle inspired artwork I draw on each one. Some of these photos show the temporary registration marks that I place on the fabric to guide me. These marks are removed.

Below are more photos and videos of me creating my pieces. Enjoy each one, and thank you again for viewing my work! Please leave a comment and tell me your thoughts!

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Part of my drawing process! If only I could draw this fast in real time!

Thank you once again for viewing all of the photos and videos. If you have any questions about my work and/or would like to purchase a piece or have a custom piece made, please contact me.

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June Art Show preview!!!!

Here’s some of the art I’m in the process of creating:

Jewel Zen Art

Jewel Zen Art

I’ll be posting more as the time goes on!

Roycroft Art Show – June 26 & 27

I was recently accepted into the Roycroft Artisan Group. They are having an art show in June and I am busily making art to sell as well as painting my display for the show!

Mark your calendars to come to the show and see all of the wonderful artists!

Paper-Pieced Table Runner

I am going through a slow process of organizing myself and my work area. It was looking like a hurricane hit it. Little by little I am (with my husband’s help) picking up everything. One of the things that I have to do is complete the multitude of unfinished projects (UFOs) that I have. Some are from when I was going to teach and I was in the process of making samples for that class. Others were me trying to learn art quilting and just gave up on it and moved onto another project. Kind of a “Shinny object” disease (new things always catching my eye and interest).

The first one that I am working on completing is this table runner. I designed it and it was suppose to be a class until Covid hit and my plans were altered. So once it is finished I’ll add it to my Etsy list or in one of the shops (haven’t decided that yet).

After I designed the table runner, I print a piece of paper for each square I need. In this case 12.

Then I sew on the pieces of fabric on. Actually, each piece of fabric is sewn on the paper side for accuracy. I’ll have to do a video another date showing you that process.

This is one of the squares with the paper still on the back and all of the fabric sewn.

Now the fun part comes!!! All of the squares are sewn together and I get to pull off every little piece of paper!!!!

It’s all ready to layer, quilt, and add a binding! WooHoo!

Hope you enjoyed this blog! Have a wonderful day!

Applying to Roycroft Artisans

Since the November, I have been on the fence as to applying to The Roycrofters-At-Large-Association, Inc. (RALA). From what I understand, RALA is a group of very skilled artisans who help educate and foster the continual growth of the Arts and Crafts Movement.

Why do I want to be in it? (I really struggled with the answer.) I feel that I am in a very unique spot between quilting and fine arts that I can help inspire other people/artisans to grow as well as them inspiring me. I am imagining that I would teach, be taught, continue to grow, and sell my art all in one group! I know that I love to teach and see people grow in a field that I am so passionate about.

So, why was I on the fence? It’s that old, whinny me saying “I’m not good enough – That might not be the right path – It’s too much”. Yesterday, when I saw the deadline to enter as 3/10/21, I really made a conscious decision to just go for it! I might not be accepted on the first attempt, however, I should be able to get good criticism to apply again next year and maybe the year after that! This could be the place that will help me grow in the way that I need to!

The jurying process is April 10 and below are the pieces that I submitted to them. I will keep you posted as to the results, and I can tell you now, that I am so excited to go through this journey!!

Please send me a message of your favorite piece!

Peace –

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Emotions

We are all in the same boat with this novel virus. Today, my emotions are getting the best of me. I want to share with you how I handle emotional days. (Not that I’m an expert)

To date I have made about 600 masks. Some are donated and some are sold. Some of you have donated extra money which I have contributed to Buffalo Resilience ($380).

As I work on the masks, I am praying for the health of the people who will be wearing them, all of the essential employees, first responders, and any people who have contracted the virus. These are heavy days for all of us.

So, I find my happiness comes from my art quilting. I am making little art pieces (which are for sale). Today I’m going to continue on a piece to help me get focused again.

Elephant

I have to find about one hour per day to do my art which will bring me peace. Some days it may be half of the day or all day just to give myself some peace and happiness.❤️

If you find that you are struggling emotionally in these times, do something that makes you happy for a portion of the day! Please share with me what makes you happy!

Dog

Flowers

Above are a couple of art pieces I have done. Please contact me if you would like to purchase them.

Until next time, stay safe and healthy.

Peace.

Keeping Busy!

Since I posted last with my wonderful plan of projects to do, I saw on the news that masks are being made with cotton and flannel. I was all over it and started making them like there was no tomorrow! To date, I have made over 300 masks and still going.

I was making them at a rate of 50 per day which totally wiped me out, energy wise. I realized I needed (actually craved) my art quilting and time to be creative.

So, today I did a piece that is a quick “sketch” in thread, painted, and put onto a frame. It helps me get focused on the masks more.

Size: 5” x 7”
$20

I will be doing some small pieces like this to keep my creativity (aka: my happy place) flowing while still helping during this crisis.

They will all be for sale. If you would like to purchase one of these pieces, please message me. Also, if you have an idea of a subject to sketch, please pass it along to me.

Thank you for reading my blog. Stay safe and healthy!❤️

It’s in the show!!!

Continued Progress!

Still working on this quilt for a December 4 due date and competition. I came across some issues as I was working on it. I wanted to share with you these issues and my decisions.

I was wondering how I was going to quilt this (common question). I decided to outline it in black 30wt thread to pop the individual colors and shapes. Then do the extremely dense quilting between each design with a white background to have a trapunto look. This also lead to a question of what kind of batting to use. So, for the first time, I am using cotton batting and wool batting on top. Decisions are good at this point!

As I’m quilting along and in my “zen” state, I realize that this challenge quilt is suppose to be 24″x24″ and bound. If I’m doing this much work, I want to be able to submit it to the AQS Shows. After looking at the AQS competition sizes, I discovered that the size of this quilt will be too small. A 4″ border needs to be added around the quilt to make it qualify for the competitions I want to enter this quilt in.

My predicament is….how do I add a border onto an already completed and bound quilt? The decision is to unbind the quilt after the December 4 competition, add at least a 4″ border by doing a “quilt-as-you-go” method. That’s as far as I have got with the decisions. I don’t know what the border is going to look like. I have a bunch of ideas, just don’t want to make that decision yet. I’ll keep you posted as to the results!

Thank you for reading my blog! Have a wonderful day and a very Happy Thanksgiving!

Pam

Guild Competition!

This week I’m starting on a challenge that is through one of my Quilt Guilds. Their challenge is to choose an envelope that had two crayons (I did not know what colors I was choosing). Create a quilt using these two colors and add up to four more colors.

I received BLUE and BLUE/GREEN.

I came up with drawing rings on white fabric, add designs in the rings, painting the fabric with the colors.

And the following photos are my process thus far. Quilting will begin tomorrow. It’s due December 4 at our Christmas party.

Enjoy the photos!