Chartreuse Pics of the Day

I can't help myself. Chartreuse is every where in Portland at this time of year. These were taken at the Rhodie Garden this morning on my walk with Scooter.

A googleplex of chartreuese

When we were working on the blue, brown and sage challenge, I Googled  an image search on "sage" which proved to be fun to see all the different shades that were being called sage. Today I did the same for Chartreuse. Beautiful, isn't it?

Threads, Assorted

Guess what I'm doing today?

Today...

... I've been checking my fabric choices and design ideas for the chartreuse Colorplay challenge,
and I also had a very quick play with fabric paints...
My conclusion is that I should make at least two quilts if I want to be happy with this challenge. ;-)

Research

I am working on two chartreuse pieces, and I took a break a few weeks ago to do some research on the big island of Hawaii.

The island was an overload of greens, and once my family members figured out what chartreuse was, they helped in the search.

I'm back in reality now, but still noticing chartreuse everywhere I go. I have found that to be true about all the color challenges. Once I see the colors the stick in my brain until the next challenge. Then I seem to do a brain dump and the next challenge colors take their place.

Book Launch in the Antipodes

It was a double celebration downunder last night. First up, Kirsten attended a book launch party by Skype with her extended family in New Zealand. Then we flung the doors open (or would have but the air conditioning was on) at Pompom Rouge for our Australian book launch.

Kirsty and I took the opportunity to hang our Colourplay quilts together.  Don't they look fabulous ?!(she says modestly).  We can't wait to see them with the rest of the collection at Houston.

 

We popped some pink champagne:

And we couldn't resist this pear with with a streak of chartreuse:

The quest for the ultimate chartreuse

I've been working hard today...
Hopefully, sewing will start tomorrow.

Twelve by Twelve Goes to Houston!

Longtime followers of Twelve by Twelve probably know that our Theme Series art quilts have been shown in Australia, at the Australasian Quilt Convention  in April 2010, Gosford Regional Gallery, May 2010, Textile Art Festival last July, and in New Zealand at the Craft and Quilt Fair (above photo) last September.

Coming up, our work will be on view in the UK at Midsomer Quilting 20 to 23 April, 2011 (that's next month!), and then it moves on to the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham, UK from 11 to 14 August, 2011.

If that's not enough, our quilts will make their US premier at the International Quilt Market* in Houston and International Quilt Festival Houston from 3 to 6 November 2011. AND, we'll be showing our Colorplay Series as well!

The show in Houston is a kind of quilt Mecca, so we are all planning to go! As many of the Twelve by Twelve artists as possible will be at Quilt Festival to sign books and "talk story" (as they say in Hawai'i). We are very excited to see each other (for many of us, it will our first time meeting in real life) and we look forward to sharing our work in person with many readers too!

The Exhibitions & Events tab has information on our upcoming events.

* Trade show only, not open to the general public.

12x12 in Dallas!

I have been packing, planning, ordering books and supplies and getting excited about my upcoming trip to Dallas! I'll be doing a program and workshop for the Dallas Area Fiber Artists. I believe there are still spots available in the workshop. If you are in the Dallas area, I would LOVE to see you. See the DAFA website for more info.

Techniques and Truths: Inspired by 12x12
Saturday, March 26 from 9 am to 4 pm

Taking inspiration from quilts created for 12x12: The International Art Quilt Challenge, we’ll explore various techniques including construction, surface design, embellishment and finishing. Students may create a finished 12x12” art quilt or simply explore the techniques. We’ll also discuss various ideas and “truths” about creating art and living a creative life.

I'm bringing all my "colorplay" challenge pieces. We'll be working on several of the techniques used on these pieces.

On Monday evening, I'll be doing a mini-workshop before the DAFA meeting. We'll be making these illuminated letter ornaments. I just LOVE the easy technique for creating that letter with foil paper. I used this technique on my illumination quilt. (Kits are $4 and will be available for the first 30 participants.)

Illuminated Letter Ornaments Mini-Workshop
Monday, March 28 at 5:30 pm (immediately before the DAFA meeting)

Then I'll be doing a digital slide show for the program portion of the DAFA meeting. I'll also have copies of the book to sell and sign.

Twelve by Twelve: Inspirations and Adventures from the Art Quilt Challenge
Monday, March 28 at 7 pm

The Dallas Area Fiber Artists is a wonderful group. I am honored that they invited me to share my artwork with them. I am thrilled to give a little insight into the amazing experience that I've enjoyed as part of our 12x12 group. If you're in the area, I hope you'll come -- and continue to be involved with other exciting programs and events with DAFA.

The French Connection

Maybe it's because chartreuse is such a quintessentially French word, and no doubt I am highly suggestible, but this colour reminds me of autumn in France. Here are some snaps from my holiday album:

Book Release Celebration Giveaway Winners

THANK YOU to everyone who joined our book release celebrations and conversation.  We always enjoy hearing from our readers and it's been fun to read about how our project has inspired creativity and exploration.  From the 447 comments, we randomly selected three - Susanne, JB and Creatology.  A copy of the BOOK will be dispatched to them very soon.

3 Creative Studios Guest Artist & Shibori Tutorials

I once infamously declared that I would never do shibori again. I should not have been so emphatic. These days, as shown by my Twelve by Twelve pieces, shibori is an integral part of my creative repertoire. So when 3 Creative Studios invited me to be guest artist for March, and to share a technique of the month, I instantly knew that I wanted to focus on shibori.

I am presenting four mini-tutorials as an introduction to shibori dyeing techniques. The first tutorial covers Karamatsu - Japanese Larch, a radiating circle design created with a stitch resist that I used in my Dandelion work. Different effects are achieved depending upon the number of circles you stitch; the number of rows of stitching; and how close together the rows are. I hope you give it a try and join the 3 Creative Studios TOM Flickr Group.

Chartreuse Pics of the Day

This is the newly painted front door of house up the street from us.


These are from my pasta/soup bowl set. I also have orange and yellow. One of these is not chartreuse.

Balmain Chartreuse Bounty

Yesterday I returned to Balmain, my old neighbourhood in Sydney. It was a beautiful autumn day and in the leafy streets, I visited Calico & Ivy and came away with a little chartreuse (the fabric paint was bought elsewhere):

My husband had put in a request for some ground bay leaves which also have a tinge of chartreuse:

Whilst in the neighbourhood, I visited Belle Fleur to buy some some chocolate for the Australian launch of the BOOK at pompom rouge on 25 March, and they had a chocolate sculpture of cocoa beans with a touch of chartreuse too:

PS: I also bought some cheese from our favourite Italian deli but that will be eaten well before it turns chartreuse.

Book Release Celebration Questions

It's not too late for you to join our book release party! Just click on the relevant link and leave your answer to one of the questions set out below. Each answer counts as a separate entry and all comments left by midnight Pacific Daylight Saving time on Thursday 17 March will go into a draw to win a copy of our new book Twelve by Twelve: The International Art Quilt Challenge. We will announce the THREE winners on Friday.

1. What technical and/or social media tools have you found useful in building or participating in a creative online community? 
2. Throughout our Theme series we chose a wide variety of topics from concrete objects like "Chair" to abstract ideas like "Identity".  Which of the 12 themes did you like best (or which one did you find most inspiring)? Did you make a quilt from it?
3.  If you could pick our next Colourplay challenge, what palette or colour would it be?
4.  How do you create time and space for your art?
5. Are you (or were you) inspired to try a new technique from any of the Twelve by Twelve quilts? If so, which one(s)?
6. How many of our readers are art quilters, and did you follow the path Karen did, with traditional quilting first, or jump right into art quilting?
7. How much time do you spend every day (every week) reading art quilting blogs? Do you spend more time reading online than reading books?
8. What size art quilt are you most comfortable making or if you do not quilt, what size would you like to have hanging in your home?
9. So, which do you prefer, hand quilting or machine quilting?
10. If you could join a group like this, would you? If so, what appeals to you?  
11. What is your favorite finishing technique for art quilts?
12. How do you celebrate when you've completed a project?

Alternative Edge Treatments

You know how one of our questions from last week involved which edge treatments people use?  Today I came across this free online video about Alternative Edge Treatments from The Quilt Show with Ricky Tims and Alex Anderson.  It focuses on Bernina but I'm guessing a lot of other machines will do these, too. 

Gathering

I gathered chartreuse fabrics from my stash yesterday. (My iron is almost chartreuse, too!)
As I was picking out fabrics, I discovered that ones that really seemed to fit the color concept were the pieces with various surface design or dye techniques. On the left is a hand painted piece given to my by Sonji Hunt. It would just be yellow without those green leaf shapes, but in combination -- I think it reads chartreuse. See that tiny piece of Lonni Rossi's ginko fabric line? Gosh, I love that print. I've only got scraps left. Under the ginko is a piece of silk I dyed in a Dallas Area Fiber Artists workshop. The piece with the greenish-yellowish stamped rectangles was also created in a workshop long ago. The fabric with the wavy green stamped images was part of a big stash of hand stamped and painted fabrics that some friends gave me for my birthday years ago. It's been waiting for the perfect application. This may be it. There is also a sun printed fern piece that I did in a workshop with Art Quilts Maine years ago!

It was like walking down a chartreuse memory lane.

Then I noticed this cigar box on my shelf. It holds various beads and bobs. Totally chartreuse.

Whenever a new color is announced, I always notice it popping up everywhere. I think when we are tuned to something specific, we can really open all kinds of possibilities.

My Chartreuse Inspiration

I've been enjoying all the photos that fellow Twelves have been sharing of their chartreuse experiences. Many of them from outdoor walks and such.

Unfortunately in my neck of the woods, it is still very white, gray, and brown with winter lingering on longer than I'd like it to. No chartreuse to be found outdoors just yet.

So I found chartreuse inspiration in my fabric stash. I love this color. While I don't know if all of these fabrics will make it into my quilt, I'm sure enjoying looking at them on my cutting table.

I recently took up sock knitting and I noticed some chartreuse in my latest sock yarn. Mmmmm, gotta love those colors!

Salad greens

I have no idea where I'm going with this but you can never have too many green hand dyes.

Chartreuse Adorned My Morning Walk

A great piece of fabric is a good start!

The other night, just as I was drifting off to sleep, I remembered a piece of fabric, purchased years ago. It was a marbled fabric in chartreuse! The next morning I found it tucked away in my stash and it was as interesting as I remembered. Yesterday I made a little sample piece using some of it and trying out some other recent ideas. Will my final 12 x 12 look anything like this little (6" x 12") piece? Maybe.

Autumn chartreuse

Autumn is my favourite season. Here is one reason - quince!  I also really like greengage plums.