Saturday, December 14, 2013

Time For Making Christmas Cookies

I was looking around on the Web for some different cookies to make this year for the holidays.
I came across this site: http://www.thegunnysack.com/2013/11/peppermint-patty-stuffed-ritz-crackers.html
and I gave these cookies a try today.  I'm pleased with the outcome and they become a "regular" on my list of Holiday Cookies.  "Peppermint Stuffed Ritz Crackers, Dipped in Chocolate"!

Now I'm off to prepare dinner for some friends tonight.  Merry Christmas to All!


Friday, November 8, 2013

Another Crafting Space All Ready to Go!

My basement was full of "stuff".  It had collected there for over 30 years.  I put off straightening it out many times.  This was the year to Clean The Basement!!  Karen O'Shea of Tranquil Spaces did such a wonderful job cleaning out and organizing my sewing and craft rooms I hired her again, this time to clean out the basement!  She's a whirlwind!!!  I rented a dumpster for two weeks and we went to town.  I went through so many boxes and just had to wonder, why did I keep this??  Again, three groups: Save, Toss and Donate.
Goodwill and our local thrift shop were happy to see me.  Now it's cleaned out, organized and this week Ronnie and I put a new floor down in the room I'm using as my "wet studio".  Painting and Dyeing fabric!  I've already been busy in there and I know just how lucky I am.  It's been many years, wish I had this space when I was in my 30's but now is better than never. :)  New Hampshire Home Magazine has an article on Karen decorating a beautiful home for the holidays.  It's on newstands now, a lovely article!



This month I went to a meeting for the NH Quilt Documentation Project, Phase II.  I'm one of the directors and we are working on getting the book ready for publication.  We documented some very amazing quilts through the years and I enjoyed getting to know some new "quilting friends". Well at that meeting one of the members mentioned there was a quilt show in nearby Manchester.

After the meeting, I made my way there and I'm so glad I did.  It was a very good show and of course I love the vendors, who doesn't?






Peace and Have a Little Fun Each Day!
Diane

Sunday, October 27, 2013

Fall Quilt Show in New Hampshire

The Belknap Quilter's Guild of Laconia, NH held their fall quilt show a few weekends ago.  I thought I'd share a few photos I took of some lovely and amazing quilts. No, none of them are mine.
 Enjoy the show!























Very nice job by everyone involved in this show.  The luncheon was excellent & delicious!  There are some very talented quilters in NH!

Peace,
Diane

Saturday, September 21, 2013

Grand Isle, Vermont Visit

We had a wonderful few days in northern Vermont this past week.  Our little cottage was comfortable and in a nice quite location along Lake Champlain.
 
 We did a day trip to Shelburne Museum where I saw art quilter, Velda Newman's beautiful, large, Art Quilt Wall Hangings! When we planned our trip to visit Shelburne I was so pleased to learn some of her wall hangings were on display.  Now imagine my surprise when she walked in the door as I was admiring her work.  She was scheduled to give an hour presentation (that I did not know).  Sign up was for 15 people so it was time for us to go so the presentation could get started.  As we walked away from the building, a bit sad, a young woman ran up to us and said she had been told there was more room in the presentation and she was told to "go get the people from New Hampshire!"  Another wonderful surprise!  I went to the presentation and enjoyed talking with the others that were there and of course hearing from Velda how she created her wonderful quilts.  I got my picture taken with her in front of one of my favorite pieces (Zinnias).

 After the talk, we kept running into her as we toured the rest of the museum.  In the gift shop I was buying some of her post cards and she walked in!  I requested her autograph and assured her I wasn't stalking her :)
 
 

Shelburne is awe inspiring and if you ever get the chance, you must visit.

 
 
Take a little time each day to play!
Peace,
Diane

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Painting, Dyeing and Discharging Fabric

I've been having a good time with fabric.  Mono printing some which I featured in last months post, more shibori printing, dyeing and discharging cottons.  I completed another wall hanging using a mono print I did some time ago.  It's a "keeper" for right now, this one won't be going to any Farmer's Markets or Craft Fairs for awhile.  It's hanging in my living room.  I used some of my dyed fabric as well as rusted and painted cotton.  I stamped a dragonfly on a small piece of cotton to add a little interest. I also used some commercial batiks, love 'em!  I love poppy seed heads, as a matter of fact, I like most seed heads and that time of year is upon us.  I must get out to the garden to see what I can capture with my camera!  Below is a posting of the Poppy Seed Head hanging.  It looks a little warped in the photo, it really doesn't look this way on the wall but this gives you an idea of the piece.


Yesterday it was beautiful outside with little wind.  A very good day for Discharging fabric.  You need good ventilation when working with discharge paste and/or bleach products.  I also wear a mask seen in one of the photos. 

This first picture shows a shot of the paste after I have applied it to the black fabric. It has to dry.

 
The next step is to iron the discharged fabric.  I wear my mask to do this because of the fumes and I don't have my ironing board outside :)

You can see the results after ironing in this picture above.
Here in the picture below are some tools I used to print the fabric.  Just some things from around the house.  A piece of cardboard, a plastic tray something came packaged in and some netting from an onion bag.
The Final Results!
I'm liking this but I'm still not sure what I'll use it in.  I have been screen printing some black on white cotton too so maybe it will be an all black and white wall hanging.  Never know!

My good friend Kathleen invited me to go for a ride over to Keepsake Quilting recently.  It was a beautiful day and although I had some housework to get done, I thought I could get to that another time, maybe tomorrow. ;)  So we had a pleasant ride, stopped at the Moulton Farm for some warm, fresh apple cider doughnuts, delicious!!!  On to Keepsake.  I had to take a couple of pictures of the outside of their beautiful shop.  The flowers were just beautiful!
And of course the inside of the shop is amazing, soooooo much beautiful fabric!  Even though I don't buy much fabric anymore due to my playing with fabric, I still found some batiks to bring home.

Kathleen made a very cute baby quilt for a friend of hers. She bought the fabric squares at the Mancuso Show and  she found just the right solid fabric at Keepsake for the border of the quilt.
 
Remember to play a little every day!
 
Peace,
 
Diane

Monday, August 19, 2013

Well, here it is..August is almost gone :(
I'm not happy about that at all!
It's been a busy month with more to come.

I'm made a couple more Holographic Fiber Art Wall Hangings but I don't have a picture of one yet to share, must do that tomorrow.  I sold one at Hebron Fair and others are very interested in the process.

My friend Kathleen and I went to the Mancuso International Quilt Show, Manchester, NH on Friday.  We made a day of it, lots of walking and much inspiration.  So many wonderful ideas, great quilting, beading and embroidery!  I was sad that Pro Chemical didn't have a vendor space this year.  I was all set to spend some bucks there.  No one in our area sells MX dyes and I was hoping to get some without paying for shipping.  I expected to buy more silk scarves too, darn.  Now I'll have to order on line.  But I love getting mail so I guess it will be okay.

I've done more mono-printing on plain fabric, mostly muslin.  They need more attention and depth to them and that's my plan for playing tomorrow.  I stopped into Jo Ann's Fabric & Craft with my 40% off coupon and bought a new book Mixed Media Master Class with Sherrill Kahn.  More on surface design techniques!!

I hope everyone has had a good summer, take some time out to PLAY!

Here are a few photos:
Mancuso Quilt Show

The info with this quilt indicated it was her FIRST applique quilt and she completed it in 22 days while in recovery from an illness.  Amazing and again, no ribbon :(


Very nice, bright colors using construction fencing and printing.

The Kemshells are a couple of my favorite designers. This one was done by Linda.
 
 
 
This is a beauty done on silk.  We
could not believe it didn't win any ribbons!
 
 
I love, love, love this one. 
 
 
Enjoy what is left of summer!
Peace,  Diane