Warped Milwaukee Fiber Arts Show

I am happy to have my three quilted house squares selected for the 3rd Annual Warped Milwaukee Fiber Arts show organized by the ABK Weaving Center and opening tonight at 6 p.m at the Riverwest Artist Association's Jazz Gallery, 926 E. Center Street in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The gallery hours are Saturdays from 12-5 p.m. and Tuesday nights from 6-9 p.m. (with live jazz on Tuesdays). There may be additional Sunday hours depending on volunteer availability. And on the last weekend of the show, Sat-Sun Dec 1 & 2 the gallery will be open 12-5 with handmade items available for sale from the show's participants.
[Update: Here is the current gallery schedule as of 11/11/2012.]

I won't be able to attend tonight's opening as I will be at the Milwaukee Short Film Festival for the premiere of the short western that my husband worked on (and which I participated in last spring when they filmed in South Dakota). But if you are in Milwaukee on Nov. 24, 2012, the Saturday after Thanksgiving, to do your shopping at Art Vs. Craft, then swing on up to Riverwest to stop by the Jazz Gallery between 12-5 to say hi to me.

I hope those are enough links to keep you entertained and make up for my not writing a blog post in over a month!

Are You Afraid of the Dolls?

Recently I have posted some doll-related images in my Facebook feed (e.g., Barbie doll head gumball dispenser or the jewelry of Margaux Lange), and my friends who commented reacted either with "That is so cool, I want it!" or "That is so creepy, I wish I could unsee it!" So that was the inspiration for this Ten Two Studios Halloween challenge, my altered Altoid tin Little Shrine of Horrors using a lovely selection of dark and creepy images:
 

So when it comes to creepy dolls, do you fall into the category of "Want them!" or "Make them go away!"??? Feel free to leave a comment below!

If you love creepy dolls, check out the blog of my friend Gary Warren Niebuhr and his Flickr gallery of his mixed media sculptures. Or the studio space of my friend Jessica Poor who has amassed quite the collection of dolls & doll heads to use in her art.

And I recommend the documentary "Of Dolls and Murder" about miniature crime scenes made in the 1930s & 1940s that are still being used to train police detectives.

Beware of the Dolls....

I'm Undead and I Vote!

It is time once again for those of us on the Ten Two Studios design team to meet Lisa Vollrath's Halloween challenge. Since it's an election year and I live in a battleground state, I figured some political ATCs were needed, using zombies, witches and a dapper Day of the Dead gent. The initial theme and color scheme were inspired by Steve Hockensmith's latest novel Cadaver in Chief in which the president of the United States is suspected of becoming a zombie.

Inspiration also came from Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels which feature a plethora of undead characters including Reg Shoe, the first zombie member of the City Watch and an activist for dead rights. From his Fresh Start Club, we get the slogan "Undead Yes, Unperson No." Pratchett also wrote Equal Rites about a girl who inherits a wizard staff but is told that women can't be wizards.

Although apparently claims of the dead voting are more myth than reality, shouldn't the dead be allowed to vote if they can get themselves to the polls on time? Just think of the years of experience that the undead might bring to elected office! After all, being dead is only the beginning!

Art Marathon - Finish Line!

Made it to the finish line of the Cream City Illustrators Art Marathon by completing 26.2 works of art in 30 days.

  

  

For my fractional portion, I counted the pieced and quilted background, part of which became an experimental 3-D fabric house ornament. After free-motion quilting, I used some fabric paint and stencils to even out the patchwork a bit.

 

There's actually slightly more than 26.2 things in the Flickr set here.

More Art Marathon fiber art

This past week I've been doing some fiber art for the Cream City Illustrators Art Marathon, including some fabric collage ATCs:
 
I finished a crochet poppy pattern from the book Crochet Bouquet and did my variation on a jellyfish pattern from Amigurumi Toy Box

When I started the amigurumi jellyfish, it looked like a little Rastafarian hat so it is now known as the Rastafarian jelly fish....

I also finished these wee quilted houses, which may eventually end up in my Etsy shop.
 
You can see all my marathon art in my Flickr set here.

Art Marathon!

I'm participating in the Cream City Illustrators Art Marathon, which challenges you to make 26.2 works of art in 30 days from June 14-July 14, 2012. I've primarily been doing ATCs (of course), and here are some of my favorite ones so far.

Day #4 - Jellyfish (fabric collage)

  

Day #5 - Bird of Paradise

  

 Day #8 - Amigurumi Bear

  

Day #11 - Alone

  

You can see the full set to date on Flickr. Also check out what other participants have posted on the Cream City Illustrators blog.

I'm Baaaaack! (and still not organized)

Really I was never gone, but just very busy with non-artsy work. I had every intention of posting "before" and "after" photos of how I organized my creative space this spring, but unfortunately I never got past taking the "before" pictures. I did accomplish a few organizational things such as moving a good chunk of the art supplies out of the dining room and living room.  Here are a few very carefully cropped and staged photos that give me a vague sense of accomplishment while completely hiding the mess piled out of sight.

The living room was briefly craft supply free with new pillows made from fabric found at the thrift store. The area behind the couch that had been craft supply-infested is now "The Library." (And I admit there's a big pile of crochet supplies on the library table now.)
 
In the "Craft Room" we finally hung up the pegboard that had been sitting in the closet!

And the Ikea Bygel rail & cups that had been sitting on the floor! (Just ignore all the stuff that was piled on the floor next to it.) Unfortunately every time I try to clean I get distracted by things I would rather be doing. ("Look, unfinished art projects!" Or "I'd better go look up some storage ideas on Pinterest!") So it will be awhile before you see any real "after" photos.

Some Etsy Treasuries

Well, it has been a busy spring, and I'm slowly working on trying to reorganize and consolidate my work areas (which will be a future blog post). In the meantime here are some Etsy Treasuries I posted recently. Click on the image to to go the treasury, where you'll find the links to each item featured.

For the Birds

Is It Spring Yet?

Robot Roll Call

Yes, this last one was inspired by Mystery Science Theatre 3000, and though it says it was created in December, that's just when I started it, and then it sat pending until Spring!

You can see all my treasuries here. The older the treasury, the more likely items will vanish as they are removed from folks' Etsy stores. You can check out my Etsy store here.

Anti-Valentines

The first Ten Two Studios Design Team challenge for 2012 was to make Anti-Valentines in response to Valentine projects we had done in the past. I collaged some black-ribboned chipboard hearts and "Bloody Valentine" Artist Trading Cards, using images and text from the Ten Two Studios' Anti-Valentine and Black & White collections plus some vintage poison pharmacy labels.

Check out the front page of Ten Two Studios now through Valentine's Day to see the daily Valentine & Anti-Valentine eye candy from the design team!

In Memoriam: Nuts and Outdoor Cat

This winter we lost Nuts on December 20, 2011 and Outdoor Cat on January 9, 2012. Both were older with serious health issues so we knew it would happen eventually, but it was still heart-breaking. Nuts was my husband's cat, and she adopted him some thirteen years ago when a friend of his found her as a stray. When she was little she would run around like a crazy cat, and his young son said "This cat is nuts!" and the name stuck. She was the reason we kept a "Beware of the Cat" sign by the front door because she hissed at everyone except my husband and once chased our former landlord's dog out of HER yard.

Outdoor Cat was much shyer, and when we bought our house, we did not even know that she was living under our deck until our neighbor told us she had been there for some years. No one seemed to remember how long, but the previous owners used to leave food out for her, and everyone told us she was "not very friendly." I have described in previous blog posts how Outdoor Cat went through the Wisconsin Humane Society's Trap Neuter Return program and ended up coming indoors.

She adopted me and slept on my side of the bed at night, while Nuts slept on my husband's side. Often the humans would end up squished together in the middle third of the bed acting as a buffer zone between the two cats, who would hiss at each other on sight. Fortunately since they were older female cats, they mostly pretended the other cat was not there.

Our remaining cat Ruby would like you to know that we do not need another cat. Ruby is enjoying having full command of the humans' attention and having access to rooms that had previously been the other cats' territories. She distributes her fuzziness equally between our laps.