September Classes

I'm going to be teaching at Karen Gray Design in September! Her shop is located in Reynolda Village in Winston-Salem. I was one of her first customers (click on that link...isn't her shop GORGEOUS!?) and I'm excited that she is starting to offer classes there.

My classes will include Fun Fusing, Bowled Over (fabric bowl), and Fabric Journal. More information is available on her blog.

I hope you will join me for one - or all - of these fun classes. Remember, Christmas/Hanukkah/ Kwanzaa will all be here before you know it. It's never too soon to start thinking about creating special, one-of-a-kind gifts for everyone on your list!

Also, I am very thrilled to have been asked to teach at the fall meeting of North Carolina Quilters on September 18 and 19 at the Haw River State Park Conference Center in Brown Summit, NC. We will be rust dyeing on Friday, and I have designed "Falling Leaves", a fall table runner, for this event which I will teach on Saturday. Come join the fun!

Art Now 2009

This is the piece I have created for this year's Art Now for Autism fundraising event. It is 8 x 9.5" and incorporates paint stamped puzzle prints, teeny wonky strip piecing, commercial batik, printed text on fabric, FMQ, and a hand painted and gloss varnished puzzle piece using Lumiere paint, sewn on with hand dyed floss.

I knew I wanted to incorporate the puzzle pieces in some way, but otherwise I just set about creating. I love when a piece comes together without much preconceived notion of how it will finish.

This year seems to have been an especially trying one for my friend whose son has Aspergers. He will be starting 6th grade in a few weeks...middle school. The time in life where friends start to move in new directions, some going to this school, some going to that, some going to others. My friend worries about how her son will adjust...that's a big transition for any kid, where they leave the security and familiarity of elementary school, the place of friendships nurtured since preschool, and seek to find their way in a whole new realm. Where will he fit in?

I thought about that for a long time...it's like a puzzle. Where do all the pieces fit? Is there a place for all of them?

Think about the hardest puzzle you have ever done. It takes time to sort it all out and to begin to put the first pieces together. Some of the pieces look exactly the same...some look like they couldn't possibly belong. Yet, the picture cannot be completed without all of them. And usually the most unique ones are the ones everyone wants to find. At our house there's always a race to find them and to be the one who gets to put the last piece in place.

So this year's creation gives voice to my reflections. The size is a little off "standard"...the strip piecing goes this way and that...the puzzles pieces are scattered and there's no telling yet where they fit. But in the end it all comes together.

And I know him...he will find his place too.

:-)

Be sure to click on the Art Now link above, or scroll down the blog until you see the Art Now logo in the right hand column. There's still time to contribute if you want to help out, and it's not just for fiber art! Also, hop over to Colorful Art Girl's blog for a fantastic giveaway celebrating this event!