Goldfish Blues

Posted by Dij Pacarro.
I created this collage using Susan Carlson's "Free Style Quilts" technique. It was fun gathering just the right fabrics to make him fanciful yet lifelike. I covered everything with dark purple tulle before quilting, which gives it an underwater feel.

What I'm Made Of

from Martha Wolfe

As part of your membership in the Dirty Dozen, you need to create a representational, self portrait. Being a fairly new member, I am working to complete mine for our upcoming show in October (more details soon!).

The technique I have been using lately for representational images is pretty simple. Starting with a photo (in this case, not the best, but an interesting one), I open it in Photoshop and use one of the stock filters---in this case I used "Cutout", then played with the number of levels and the edge settings until I got an image I felt I could collage successfully.

The collage is all raw edge with machine applique. I chose batiks, because the variegation in color makes the image look more alive. The striped shirt will be a challenge! Here is the work in progress.

Design Opportunity

From Irene Watson

I recently had time to play with the techniques in C June Barne’s book, Stitching to Dye in Quilt Art. I really like the pieces she’s done using her foundation technique so I ran out on a shopping spree and bought every white and off-white cotton and cotton blend in the area.

Armed with my new stash, I loaded a plain piece of muslin onto my long-arm. I stitched down strips and quilted as I went. I really liked the results of the undyed piece and struggled with the decision to dye or not dye for weeks.


Last week I threw caution to the wind and decided to dump that bugger in a bucket of dye. I made two mistakes. The first was dyeing on a day when I was fighting a virus. I sneezed while holding the dye container over the bucket and spilled a good amount of dye into my solution. The second was ignoring the first mistake. My little golden yellow piece is now lovely neon orange. The color in the picture is not true. It’s a really eye burning orange.

I haven’t decided whether to view this as a challenge and work with it as is, to overdye it with bronze or a light red to try to tone it down, or to bleach the heck out of it to remove some of the color. I’m leaning towards bleaching it. If it ends up with holes, it’ll just be another design opportunity. Right?

Reward for a Morning Walk

From Ellen Lindner

I know that observation is a large part of inspiration. And that practicing those skills improves them. So, I was delighted when, after four days of walking past them, I finally noticed a patch of Black Eyed Susans. As the dog tugged impatiently on her leash, I gleefully picked handfuls. As I did so, I noticed that the flowers that were past their prime were equally interesting. (Another observation!) I picked those ratty flowers with only half their petals, and ones that had no petals at all. Plus the buds. What a wonderfully diverse collection.

Since I'm doing a series called "Around the Neighborhood," I think there's a good chance these flowers will make their way into a quilt.

Abstract from Realism

From Ellen Lindner

At our recent play day, we did an exercise about finding abstract designs around us. The assignment started with photographing objects throughout the house. Later, we were to sketch one of the objects, removing as many details as possible, in order to reveal "the essence" of that object.

I decided to try a similar thing with some photos from that day. My question: How much could I omit and still be able to show the essence of these items?

I'm sure you can identify the old phone, above. I was struck by the strong design of this little photo. Maybe a future quilt design?

Can you identify the items below? (They belong to Jill.)

Yep. Her crocs.

This is a fun, and I think, valuable creative exercise.

Fun Play Day

From Ellen Lindner

We had a fun play day at my house, yesterday, with projects ranging from hand work to computer work. Although we were initially spread out, by late afternoon we had all migrated to one spot. After all, it's all about the socializing right?

Above, L-R: Ruth Anne, Paula, Peggy and Barbara

Above, L-R: Martha and Jill

Brevard Live Magazine Featured Artist *NEWS FLASH

Posted by Dij Pacarro.

*NEWS FLASH!  Dij just got accepted into the Art Gallery of Viera.  Check out their website  to see more of her quilts. Grand opening is Friday and Saturday, June 19th and 20th.

Lou Belcher wrote the most wonderful (and kind) article about me, complete with photos, in the June issue of Brevard Live Magazine. 

You can download it online at: http://www.brevardlive.com/

Once you download the June issue, scroll down to pages 56-58 to see my article. I'm so jazzed!