hello 2010!

After the euphoria of welcoming the new year, the lovely dinner with friends, the fun times with friends and family in snowy cold Boston.. the reality sets in. Back home cleaning up after the festivities, getting ready for more (Russian Christmas), doing loads and loads of laundry...one can really hit the winter doldrums...

My antidote? To see what I accomplished in 2009 and plan for 2010! So while I cannot possibly come up with a list as extensive as Lisa's (my head can't handle that much, but she always inspires me to do more), I have come up with a small list of my own:

~ I created 26 new artworks.
~ I made 30 4"x4" pieces for an art exchange with a group of artists that I belong to.
~ among those 26 new pieces are three that are part of the figure series that I am really excited about.
~ and also among those new pieces are three larger new artworks for the St. Pete series that I am still passionate about
~ I reworked nine old okoshechki/little windows pieces that I wasn't happy with.
~ I had work accepted into 10 juried exhibitions
~ one of those exhibitions is Art Quilt Elements (which still makes me want to pinch myself!)
~ I sold two pieces of art!
~ I taped a DVD for Cloth Paper Scissors Workshop!!!
~ I wrote two online tutorials for Quilting Daily
~ I answered interview questions for Embellishments Newsletter from Quilting Arts Magazine
~ I taped a segment for Quilting Arts TV Series 500
~ I designed and made costumes for Russian school Christmas play
~ I designed and am still working on costumes for the new Russian school Christmas play
~ I attended a workshop with Jane Davila
~ I spent five weeks in St. Petersburg, Russia with my children
~ I spent a week on Hawai'i for our second honeymoon
~ I shepherded a second grader and kindergartener (my most important job!)
~ I took figure drawing classes for a semester
~ and I kept a sketch journal everyday....

OK so not too shabby... I feel better now! Thanks for indulging me.

Now I am ready to dive into 2010 with enthusiasm! I have chosen my word for the year, well, two actually ~ CLARITY and PURPOSE. Those are two things that I want to achieve in 2010 for my art. Which path do I want to pursue? Why do I want to pursue it? To get myself going on this I sighed up for a Blast Off class with Alyson Stanfield which starts tomorrow (aack!!)

Now you are probably wondering what that old journal sketch from last January is doing up there at the top of the post? I'll tell ya. I will not be doing a daily sketch journal this year or a weekly journal quilt. I decided to do monthly journal art quilts. I plan to choose a journal sketch from the corresponding month of 2009 and use it as inspiration for a monthly diptych in 2010. So that red sketch up there is the inspiration for January 2010 journal diptych. How will I translate it? What size will it be? Those are all good questions that I will find an answer to this month. And whatever parameters I choose, I will keep for the rest of the year.

There. That's the plan. What's your plan?

I've got a present for you!

Because it's my birthday! Could this be a shameless ploy to get more birthday wishes? You bet! But I am not the only one in the blogosphere doing it, so there.
Here's the scoop: leave a comment here today, all day, till midnightish...and tomorrow I will randomly choose one of you to receive a gift from me.
Want to know what the gift is? It's actually two gifts, yep, feeling happy around here. The first part is a copy of my brand new DVD for Cloth Paper Scissors 'Texture Transformation: stitch, alter, recycle'and the second part is a brand new artwork. This little piece (8.25"x6.25") was started as a sample for my segment in Quilting Arts TV series 500. It's been patiently sitting by my sewing machine, waiting for me to finish it. And last night it finally got it's wish! It's called Zakat/Закат/Sunset 2. It is comprised of completely recycled materials, mainly a dryer sheet, a color catcher sheet, muslin and fabric scraps. Painted and free-hand machine embroidered.
Come on! Leave a comment, don't be shy!

Texture Transformation: Stitch, Alter, Recycle

My DVD is now available for pre-order!! Woo-hoo!!! Cloth Paper Scissors Workshop: "Texture Transformation: Stitch, Alter, Recycle". Yep, only Pokey and her crew of geniuses can come up with an awesome title like that! And doesn't the cover look cool? Mine is one the first three CPS DVD's that will be available this season. Check out the link for the other two Cloth Paper Scissors and three Quilting Arts Workshop DVD's, I think I'm going to get those for myself. Can you tell I'd just a teeny bit excited here?

An adventure at Quilting Arts TV

I'm back from Cleveland! I had a wonderful time taping a segment for Quilting Arts TV season 5. The segment will be about machine stitching on various recyclables. And I had an even better time taping a Quilting Arts DVD Workshop. It was also quite nerve wracking too.. hopefully I wasn't too much of a mess on camera. My workshop is about transforming your art with unique texture (thus the tease in the previous post) and I think it will have lots of information for many different types of fiber artist. Here are the artists of the day in the green room: Pokey is checking out her schedule, Andrea Bishop from the Electric Quilt Company, Teri Harris Lucas is practicing on a sewing machine and Sarah Vedeler is updating Facebook. Lots of fun and interesting conversations took place in that green room while we were preparing for our segments or just waiting our turn. This is Jeanne Delpit from Bernina, she got to show us all the fun new sewing machines to play with. I kept myself from playing too much, as I didn't want to tempt my credit cards.. ahem.. Jeanne also gave me a pattern of a really cool tote that I am dying to make right away. Thanks Jeanne!Here is my table set up in the green room, actually three tables at one point. Everything was laid out on trays in the order that I needed it. Looks very organized doesn't it? That didn't last too long... Here's Pokey and I right before taping my segment. Guess I was too nervous to smile... A group shot of Sarah, Susan Brubaker Knapp, Jeanne, Diane Giancola from Rit Dyes and moi.
I'll eventually have details on when and were my segment and DVD can be seen, and I'll share all that as soon as possible. Thank you Pokey for the opportunity!

unique texture?

That's the plan anyway... these boxes contain unique textures that I'll be sharing while taping my workshop for Quilting Arts tomorrow. Good teaser? Yep!
This blog will back much more regularly after that... really....

it got me...

I feel like a vegetable... whatever the illness that have been going around the preschool and kindergarten sets, that plagued my children have finally gotten to me. So today I am in a vegetative state, no stitching, no doodling, hot tea with honey, wool sweater, blankie and on the couch. No excitement to report really..

But I have been watching the first season DVD of Quiting Arts TV when I can keep my eyes open. Interesting stuff there, and most exciting episode for my girls? The one that stopped them in their tracks and kept them glued for ten minutes? Pam Rupert of course! They loooved her demo! If I could have gotten up of the couch, I would have taken a picture of them watching it, really funny. But all I could do was operate the remote. They did manage to sit through my four minutes of fame too (episode 107). And the exciting news there to report is that my quilt Деревня/Derevnya/Russian Fairytale Village II is on the cover of the DVD and on each individual CD inside! I had no idea Pokey had such plans for my work... Thank you Pokey!

Art Quilts XII: Current

I am very honored to be included among the many distinguished artists in this exhibition at the Chandler Center for the Arts in Chandler, Arizona. If anyone is the area (wish I was) the opening reception is Friday, October 12th from 7 to 9PM. This is my quilt, Derevnya-Russian Fairytale Village 2, which has been accepted into this exhibit. It is all packed and ready to go tomorrow morning.

I have been neglecting to scan in my journal quilts for the past few weeks, so I thought I'd catch up now. Here are last four weeks and that brings me up to date. 35/52 36/52

These two were sketched with free-hand machine embroidery and then rubbed with Shiva Paintstiks®. 37/52

This one was my first attempt at punch-needle embroidery done while I was in the green room at Quilting Arts TV. The 3 journal quilts above are my tentative forays into imagery from Russian Orthodox icons that I would like to use more in my work. 38/52

This a piece that just begged for some free-hand machine embroidery, it's a dyed and painted silk noil by moi.

And a sneak peek at the Journal Quilt headed to the International Quilt Festival in Houston, Texas for the Journal Quilt Project. I am not allowed to share this until it is seen at the festival, so this is just a tease. But I am very happy with it and plan to continue working on this imagery.

Filming for Quilting Arts TV

Very exciting few days happened around here. I was in Cleveland to tape my four minutes of fame for Quilting Arts TV. It was such a pleasure to finally meet Pokey Bolton, the marvel behind Quilting Arts Magazine and Cloth, Paper, Scissors. Both publications that I have enjoyed tremendously over the years and even had the pleasure of being published in Quilting Arts magazine and calendar.

My segment was about my journal quilts and a bit about working in a theme. It'll be episode 107, and hopefully will be seen on a PBS station in early 2008. I also had the pleasure of meeting several other wonderful artists who were also taping that day, Susan Lucky Shie, Jane Dunnewold (wish I had brought her book with me for an autograph!), Betty Blais from Embellishment Village and Jeanie Ajero from Kaleidoscope Collections. And Merinda (who's last name I unfortunately can't remember) who introduced me to punch-needle embroidery and was such an incredible wealth of information on crafts and the quilt industry, that all I could do was listen in awe. So besides being a completely enjoyable experience it was also a very educational experience that day...I cannot wait to see this episode and the entire show, there's SO much more that I can learn...