Winter is good, and a polar vortex is welcome when you have an awesome sewing machine, and piles of colorful thread and fabrics. Rochester, New York (where i live) is right smack in the middle of the most snow and frigid temps in the US, so my nice cozy sewing room is the best place to be. When i am not on the road travel teaching, I'm in the zone buzzing around on my BERNINA. It's so exciting to jump out of bed every morning, energized to make new art. I am really looking forward to many hours of evolving my artwork with my sewing machine this year. Having my new BERNINA has infused a whole new direction to my art and creativity. I sew something every single day and have been exploring the bazillions of possibilities with my art quilts. Color, thread, fabric and free motion is my total bliss!
Here is my New Year piece, "Fly" a fused, 14"x14" mini quilt using commercial batik fabric, and Magnifico thread by Superior Threads. I am preparing mini tutorials for this blog, so stay tuned all year. But here's a little peek into the direction i am heading:
I start out with a color palette in mind. It's liberating to use fabric as a paint palette working with shape and design to create a focal image. To me, it's like painting without the mess! You know I love a good creative art mess, but stray thread snippets and cut fabric is much easier to get off my clothes than acrylic paint, so that's a plus!
After all the pieces were fused in layers, i pretty much went nuts with free motion stitching around the edges, drawing around the shapes as if the sewing machine needle is my doodle pen and the thread, endless colored ink. Sigh...........I'm so very much in my most happy, lively, colorful and creative place.
And in 2014.........i hope you "fly"!
