Published!

I had 3 cards published in this month's Vamp Stamp News magazine. It is so exciting to see my work in print. And Vamp Stamp News is a really interesting Rubber Stamp magazine. It is a one-woman operation, not your slick glossy full color magazine like so many others, but still very well put together with a lot of good solid information. I really enjoy the magazine, so it is quite a thrill that I've been published there several times. Here is a link to the website: http://www.vampstampnews.com/. The extra fun thing is that if you're published, you get a free copy of the magazine. And since I've been published in 6 out of the previous 9 months, I haven't even bought a subscription. If I ever get tired of submitting my work, I will definitely buy that subscription, but until then, I just buy it at the nearest rubber stamp store (about 65 miles away) whenever I'm not published. I've even had my work on the cover a few times.

Quilt Market

I returned home yesterday after spending a few days at the Houston Quilt Market. It was quite an experience! I have been to Quilt Festival once before, but this was different; Quilt Market is before Festival, and it is the wholesale market for quilt shops. Since my friends and I are teachers at our local quilt shop, the owners offered us the chance to attend market. It was a lot of fun, but many of the vendors weren't selling directly from their booths; they were taking orders to be filled after market. And the minimums in many of the booths were too high for individuals. But we still found things to buy; just no fabric and very few books.

My biggest purchase at market was probably paints and supplies for painting on fabric - really cool stuff and I can't wait to play with it. But the biggest expense of market for me is going to be the fact that I've decided I really want a new sewing machine. I was able to sew on a Bernina Aurora 440 QE with Stitch Regulator. What a nice machine! The stitch regulator will allow me to do free motion quilting and keep my stitches even.

It was MUCH less crowded at market than it is at festival (you could actually get into the booths and see what was for sale). The quilt show was up and almost empty of people, so you could really see the quilts. While I enjoyed the whole experience, and I'm really glad that I had the chance to go this time, I doubt if I will want to go again.

Embroidery Trunk Show

I went to a trunk show of machine embroidery designs today - spent way too much money! It's so hard not to buy designs when you see them beautifully stitched out. This is a designer from South Africa and I already have a few of her designs. Now I have more! I went with my two sewing buddies, and we all bought designs. I actually spent less money than either of them (which is not unusual these days). Of course, she offered some specials for the trunk show only, so I only bought designs with special pricing. I figured I could always buy others off the website later. Here are links to the designs I bought: http://www.hatchedinafrica.com/jacobeanjewels2lrg.html
http://www.hatchedinafrica.com/jacobeanjewels2sml.html
http://www.hatchedinafrica.com/fruitcutwork.html
http://www.hatchedinafrica.com/fruitcutwork5x7.html
http://www.allsortsembroidery.20megsfree.com/ethniquefish.html
http://www.allsortsembroidery.20megsfree.com/ethniquebirds.html

Now I have to find the time to embroider them! I'm going to search for some good blanks to embroider onto. The cutwork designs will be great on linen table runners and/or napkin corners.

Thursday, these same friends and I are going to Houston for Quilt Market, so I'm sure my spending spree isn't finished yet!!

Artist Trading Cards

I mentioned earlier that I love participating in swaps. Well, probably my favorite swaps are of Artist Trading Cards, or ATCs. These cards are 2.5" by 3.5" in size (the same size as sports trading cards), and can be done in any technique that an artist chooses. They are only traded, never sold. Other than that, and the size, there are really no rules for ATCs. There are a lot of internet groups for trading; this is how I do most of my trades. It works like this - one person (the host) decides on a theme (for example, dragonflies). The host then posts information about the swap (things like due dates, number of atcs to send, address, whether to send a self addressed stamped envelope, etc.). Interested participants email the host to sign up. Participants send their completed cards to the host by the due date, who then swaps them out to all participants. It is a great way to get a little piece of artwork from a wide variety of artists on a theme of interest to you. Here is one of my favorite atcs that I made recently - the theme was dragonflies.

Autumn Quilt

Here is the quilt that I have hanging right now. This one's actually my favorite, maybe because fall is my favorite time of year (and because there is a cat sleeping on a quilt in this one).

Quilting for Winter

After writing my post last night about my spring quilt that I finished yesterday, I decided to find out whether the Winter embroidery designs were available yet, and they are! Not only that, but I am going to Houston next weekend for quilt market, and Cactus Punch (the digitizer for the embroidery designs) is a vendor there. So I'm hoping that I can buy the design pack in Houston next week. Maybe I'll get this series finished before the end of the year!

Quilting for Spring

I sewed with friends today. There are three of us who get together about once a week to sew - we rotate houses. We are all fortunate enough to have large enough sewing studios to accommodate the three of us. Anyway, I finished quilting a little embroidered quilt called "Welcome Spring." I had started it last winter/early spring, with the hope that I could actually hang it this past spring, but I didn't get it quilted in time. Once I missed the opportunity, I put it aside. So this morning, as I was deciding what to work on today, I noticed this spring quilt. I decided that it would be a good project to do today - then it will actually be done in time for next spring. This is one of a series of seasonal quilts that I have completed - autumn, summer, and now spring. I will do winter as soon as the company that makes the embroidery designs makes the winter set (soon I hope). The quilt appropriate for the season hangs in my entry way. The other reason I wanted to finish this one is that I am helping another friend teach a beginning quilting class through our local city art center, and I want to demo how to put on the binding. I will need a quilt that is ready to bind in order to do the demo, so all I have left to do now is attach the hanging sleeve and label (and find my binding fabric!). I will post a picture of it when I finish binding it.

Calendar Swap

I am participating in a calendar swap on Our Stamping Studio. Participants choose a month (mine is January) and make 12 copies of a calendar page for that month. They send their completed pages to the swap hostess, who will then send 1 of each month to each participant, so we each end up with a complete calendar. I worked on my page today. I finished one page for my prototype, so now I just need to complete 11 more just like it. I love participating in swaps - I receive art from several different artists and share my own art with others. It also gives me a direction for my art, which helps me to create. Here is the page I completed today.

Another digital layout

Here is another layout I completed last week. This photo was taken north of Durango, Colorado. My husband and I started a hobby called "Letterboxing" which is a combination of art and a treasure hunt in a scenic location. Basically, someone hides a box containing a rubber stamp and a journal and then publishes clues to find it. We would probably not have taken this drive and hike if we hadn't been looking for letterboxes here - but it was such a beautiful place that we were very glad we found the spot. For more information on this hobby, visit this website: http://www.letterboxing.org/.

Back to School - sort of

I've been taking online classes to learn how to use Photoshop Elements to do digital scrapbooking. I have learned so much in these classes, and I'm getting some digital layouts done in the process. This is my latest one that I just finished today. The photo was taken in Colorado this past summer on a drive north of Crested Butte.

Trying this out

I've been wanting a place where I could post pictures of my work and include some details about it as well. So I've decided to join the rest of the world and create this blog. I expect to use it mostly for sharing pictures, but I imagine I'll share comments too. This may replace other personal web pages I've tried creating in the past, as well as some photo-hosting services I've tried. We'll see anyway.