Cay Denise

You can see some of Paula Nadelstern's work in this video as well as find out all about kaleidoscopes!

The Hundertwasser look is more recent. Do you like the direction this piece is headed?

Happy Halloween to everyone! I just found a neat animated coffin toy at the resale shop. It has a spook whose eyes light up and there are screams from it, when motion is detected. If I were a kid, that would be pretty scary. Anyway, I had to get it for a fun and ghoulish porch display to go with the pumpkin haunted mansion. The photos are from a recent outdoor quilt show in Livermore, CA. Its so fun to see quilts hanging in the out-of-doors, and they just add special to the environment! By the way, if you think you notice (in one of the photos) a piece that looks like Laura Wasilowski's work...it is Laura Wasilowski's work. She was there and brought many delightful pieces.

This smilebox video is unfortunately no longer available for viewing.

The San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles has just announced a juried International TechStyle Art Biennial, a signature event, to coincide with the ZeroOne biennial festival of art on the edge (that utilizes technology). For information on the exhibit, click on this post's title.

I'm an original Star Trek series fan...and this sounds like fun! For more information, click on this link: http://www.thetech.org/StarTrek/ .

The Fabric of Life Boutique in Edmonds, WA is doing some very special work...giving a lifeline and livelihood to creative women in poverty-stricken areas of the world. There is some very neat quilt/art work available from the shop. For a video of the shop and its offerings, click on this post's title. This story was originally learned about through a Quilt Show e-mail. For those of you who don't know about the show, it is co-hosted by Alex Anderson and Ricky Tims, and the website where you can find out more information about it is: www.thequiltshow.com .

To help reassure people during these difficult economic times, Artist Bren Bataclan had an idea and is making it real. He is leaving his artwork for people to find with the message that the art is theirs and just asks that the receiver smiles at strangers more often. So far, he has left over 400 free paintings througout 20 U.S. cities and 20 countries. Read more about the 'Smile Project' by clicking on this post's title.

Great new book! Charlotte Ziebarth has done what I hoped she would (after seeing her art quilts) which is to create a how-I-did-it book. She provides the guidelines on how to 'play' with your photographs in Photoshop to digitally alter them for printing on fabric and then using that fabric in the creation of unique art quilts. The book itself is easy to read and beautifully photographed. Also, the steps for using Photoshop's layers to create the kinds of images the author uses in her quilts were clear and photographs were used to further illustrate the results of each step. It is interesting that the photos used in the authors works haven't been the best in terms of focus or quality, but they have served to create wonderfully etheric forms and effects for the author's fabric art pieces. The author's goal for the book is to inspire readers to play with their photographs in Photoshop. Well, I'm inspired and planning to do just that!

Some really neat work is being done quickly and quite effectively with this application!

Using Angel card with word 'Peace' on it as inspiration: Waxing moon whispering stem blowing stories of a flower's blooming fired by seed and sun green phoenix rising in a a dance of orbs.

In the New York Times today, there is an article with 15 rules for theater etiquette. Thank you, thank you, thank you to the author! You can find the article by clicking on this post's title. In this day and age, when common courtesy seems to be a rarity and our once-known and -observed respectful actions seem to have all but disappeared, this list would return theaters (including movie theaters) to environments where you could go for good entertainment feeling like the play, concert or movie was just playing to you (since you wouldn't be distracted by your audience neighbor). Let's get back to some sanity and self-control!

Interesting article today in 'The Dispatch' about how arts/culture groups are using social networking sites to entice people to see shows, exhibit and buy tickets. To read the article, click on the title of this post.

The magazines listed below are available for trade. If interested in exchanging embellishments for one or more of the following, please contact me at caydenise@pobox.com and note in the subject line 'Interested in Trade'. Machine Quilting Unlimited - Winter 2008 Quilting Arts - April/May 2009 Belle Armoire - May/June 2009 Gifts to Make - 2008 by CraftStylish Marie - April 2009 FiberArts - April/May 2009 Irish Quilting - Vol I, Issue 2

I've had very little creative time lately! But I have managed to finish 1/7th of a large wall quilt that is all curves and is being hand-pieced. This is a major accomplishment!

Preview this upcoming album release NPR by clicking on this post's title. It reminds me of a Beatles release of decades ago but a bit more blues-y!

Watch CBS Videos Online

This will be a tablerunner for an upcoming Mother's Day brunch I'll be preparing. Its pinned and ready for quilting and then binding which I hope to complete by mid-day tomorrow. It should add a bit of fun and cheery ambiance to the table that will also be topped by a vase of colorful flowers!

I found these pairs of earrings at a local consignment store yesterday for $5 each. The metal ones were very tarnished and looked pretty poor. But I polished them up and they look great! The metal ones are going to be fun once I finish adding some beading to them through the pre-existing holes.

I've just finished watching the Series 100 DVDs. The segments that were most interesting to me were those with Beryl Taylor. The interviews with her can be found on DVDs #1 and #4 of the series. I also enjoyed seeing Pokey Bolton's work and watching the studio segment she personally does at the beginning of each show.

Neat video that shows how artist goes from sketch to image!

As a memento from a recent trip, a friend brought me a wonderful series of cards called "The Major Arcana" that show the textile work of Silke currently on exhibition at the National Museum of Decorative Art in Buenos Aires , Argentina. My friend loved the exhibit! The images of the work are stunning and evocative. There is great texture in the pieces. While one might think the work is made of silk (because of the exhibit name), I'm not so sure they are. If any of you have seen this exhibition and/or know of the artist and her work, I'd love to hear more about her! To link to Silke's website, just click on this post's title.

In Bonnie McCaffery's latest vidcast, she interviews Maggie Grey. Maggie has developed a website with short workshops, authored by herself and others, downloadable via Adobe PDF files. Maggie doesn't consider herself a quilter because of her interest in using a broad range of unusual materials. One of the teaser workshops is Maggie writing about using alcohol inks. In one of the current quarter's workshops, she writes about the uses of grungeboard. All workshop materials include photos. For information, there are new workshops available every quarter. There is a reasonable fee (in British sterling) for accessing the workshops. You subscribe for the current year and have the option to request access to a previous quarter's workshops for a per quarter fee. After paying the fee, the subscriber is sent a password in order to access the password-protected and downloadable workshop documentation. I'm tickled to have found the site! Click on the title of this post to be ta...

After 30+ hours of stippling (micro-level), my 29.5" x 41.25" piece is finished! You can't see the stippling from the front (because its black on black), but you can from the back and here is what a part of the back looks like: I used two types of batting in the sandwich one which is high loft and the other cotton. I'm glad I did because the overall piece feels strong, like canvas, rather than wimpy.

My 'Metamorphosis' challenge piece is backed with a bright colored fabric in which the stitching from the front can show through. Of course, now that means that the problems with stippling are showing through as well. They are even more obvious because I'm using a black top thread and orange bobbin thread. I've had a very difficult time breathing while trying to do the stippling tonight...not good! Its time to stop, then try again tomorrow. Postscript: The problem was that the top thread was heavier than the bobbin thread. I've since changed the top black thread to a different weight black thread which is the same weight as the thread in the bobbin. The resulting quilting has not shown the kind of thread blobs as seen in the above photo.

I took an all-day photography class yesterday. Each of the 17 students received a critique of their work based on a portfolio of up to 30 images everyone had been invited to bring. The instructor has suggested that I do an exhibition of my photographs . Wow...how validating! My photos are non-traditional (just like my 'quilt' work) as well as dramatic. The question would be whether the photography and quilt work could be mixed in a show, or if it would be better to keep the two art forms separate. (The instructor does not know I do quilt work.) Since there are different markets for the two types of art work, it may make more sense to keep them separate. I should mention that my husband's work was also critiqued in yesterday's class, and he was told he is also ready for a show, and that we could do a joint one if we wanted. We were the only students in the class that the suggestion of a show was made to. Now I have a new door to think about stepping through with a willi...