Calls for entries and submissions

National Quilting Association Grant Program: deadline 10/15/09

Craft Challenge, Scarves: deadline 10/15/09

Current Trends in Print, deadline 10/20/09



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Another fractured photo

Here's part of the Smithsonian Institute, the "castle". I started with a plain image, added a sky color, and then began the process of fracturing the photo. Here are the instructions for fractured photographs.

Copyright 2009 Cyndi Lavin. Not to be reprinted, resold, or redistributed for profit. May be printed out for personal use or distributed electronically provided that entire file, including this notice, remains intact.

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Artsy blogging round-up!

Farm Girl Roots, City Girl Style
Do you sell your crafts? Have you ever? Read Linda's musings and share your stories in the comments section.

Naughty Secretary Club
Join Jen on a week long screen printing adventure as she reviews books, plays with a YuDu, puts a unicorn on a onesie, plays with vinyl records and more.

Stefanie Girard's Sweater Surgery
Army men are melted into service to make this cute coaster using the wonderful tutorial from the new book Craftcycle by Heidi Boyd

The Artful Crafter
Recycle artificial flowers into frilly fairies. Teens, tweens and kids-at-heart will love making and “hanging around” these little creatures.

The Impatient Crafter
The Impatient Crafter just debuted a brand new humorous how-to YouTube video! Check it out!

About Family Crafts
Never run out of Halloween crafts, activities, and motivation. Get new Halloween projects delivered to your email box every day for 31 days! Find out how...

Aileen's Musings
Aileen has a crafty Halloween project and template just for you.

Cathie Filian
Cathie has a quicky way to jazz up plain glass candle holders and it uses scrap ribbons!

Craftside-A behind-the-scenes peek at a crafty world
Craftside's got a crocheted pumpkin pattern, how to sew a shower curtain and towels, an interview with Tracie Lyn Huskamp author of Nature Inspired and a Mixed Media Dada Dolly TP cozy.

Crafty Princess Diaries
A granny square dress? Is it over the top or a true crafty fashion statement?

Cross Stitch at About.com
Louise is proud to show off her first project, a Peter Rabbit Cross Stitch Bookmark by Anchor. It's a great first time effort.

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Bower birds

Bower birds are known as nature’s assemblage artists!

The Zymoglyphic Museum Curator’s Web Log

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Recent publications: September 2009

Art + Quilt: Design Principles and Creative Exercises by Lyric Kinard

Good Mail Day by Jennie Hinchcliff

Nature Inspired by Tracie Lyn Huskamp

Stitch Alchemy by Kelli Perkins

Mixed-Media and Found Materials by Lucy Renshaw

Mixed-Media Books by Gabe Cyr

Image Transfer Workshop by Darlene Olivia McElroy



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Fractured photographs

I found my notes on how I made the fractured photographs! I'm so happy, because I'd really like to do some more, but it's been soooo long! It turns out it's not too difficult, but I had definitely forgotten about a few of the fine points that make it smoother. All these steps are done in Photoshop.


1. Make a copy of your background image and colorize it using the hue and saturation sliders.
2. Select sections with the polygon lasso tool, and use Ctrl-J to place each on its own layer.
3. Shift the color slightly and or move the selection slightly for each layer.
4. Turn off all but one layer at a time. Select the layer, choose inverse, feather about 50 pixels, and hit the delete key. Add a drop shadow effect to each.
5. Go back and adjust the opacity for each layer so that overlapping layers will show through.

Copyright 2009 Cyndi Lavin. Not to be reprinted, resold, or redistributed for profit. May be printed out for personal use or distributed electronically provided that entire file, including this notice, remains intact.

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Our town hall

Ayer Town Hall

I found this little digital piece that I did over four years ago on a gorgeous spring day, and I started to wonder what else could be done with the technique. I think I'll mess around with it over the next few days and see what pops out.

The best I can remember is that I "cut" the image into selections, placing each of them on their own layer in Photoshop. Each was then desaturated to a certain extent and colorized, and then shifted slightly. I'm going to have to look and see if I took better notes than that...I sure hope so!

If I can figure it out, I'll write up some better instructions ;-)



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Artsy blogging round-up!

Cross Stitch at About.com
Go Team! Make some sports-themed gifts or decorations using the free Sports Motifs Pattern Collection. Your fans will think you are "Number One"!

Farm Girl Roots, City Girl Style
What did I find at the Wisconsin Quilt Expo? Check it out!

Naughty Secretary Club
If it will sit still long enough Jen will find a way to make it into jewelry, even iron-on T-shirt transfers are not safe.

Stefanie Girard's Sweater Surgery
See how to make a patch with a rubber stamp project inspired by the Super fun book- Bend The Rules With Fabric by Amy Karol

The Artful Crafter
If this isn't a green craft, we don't know what is! Let Eileen show you how to make desktop organizers from junk mail. Saving the planet - one catalog at a time.

The Impatient Crafter
Madge talks about crafting a life of joy, which is a crafting of a sort indeed. The best sort.

About Family Crafts
If you are trying to find creative costume ideas for couples or groups of peoples, check out the lists I have compiled with the help of visitors like you.

Aileen's Musings
There is less then 14 days until the Ties That Bind Art Doll Raffle is done. Stop by and read how you can help us spread the word !

Cathie Filian
Dry hands and feet season is just around the corner...Time to whip up some handmade lotion bars. Cathie has a yummy DIY recipe!

Craftside-A behind-the-scenes peek at a crafty world
Craftside's got a chance to win a copy of Nature Inspired along with some original artwork by the author Tracie Lyn Huskamp, a fun Halloween ghost decoration delivered to you by Fedex, creatively photographing your shadow and a sneak peek into the soon to be released 1000 Ideas for Creative Reuse.

Crafty Princess Diaries
Tammy shows off the preemie baby blanket she started not that long ago. If you are looking for a super easy crochet project, this is a good place to start.



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And the winner is...

The Art of Fabric Collage
by Rosemary Eichorn

Lucky #18, Sweet Mama Jones, who wrote:

"..a beginner sewer with determination.." - hello, THATS ME! Count me in & thanks for the chance. ;)

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Calls for entries and submissions

Subversive Stitching: Feminist Artists with a Needle: deadline Oct 16, 2009


Handspun Gallery: Button-Up Neck Warmer: deadline Nov 9, 2009



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Finished tomato quilt

After I completed all the hand stitching, using embroidery thread to blanket stitch the pieces to the background fabric, I decided to cut it out in the shape of a tomato cross-section. This felt like a better "fit" to me, staying with the shape that dominated the quilt rather than leaving it square or rectangular.


Next, the quilt needed some filler, so I stitched a few clusters of the large purple seed beads (the same ones that I used for seeds in the largest tomato) all around the quilt.

I made a traditional "quilt sandwich" with the top, thin cotton batting, and a backing. Both the batting and the backing were cut bigger than the top. I quilted by machine, doing a very simple outline around the largest shapes. Next, I cut the edges even and ran a zig zag stitch around the outside several times through all the layers.



The final step was to add hand sewn blanket stitch all around the outside, picking up a large green seed bead with each stitch. It's easier to see them in the close up shots.

Copyright 2009 Cyndi Lavin. Not to be reprinted, resold, or redistributed for profit. May be printed out for personal use or distributed electronically provided that entire file, including this notice, remains intact.

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Artsy blogging round-up!

Crafty Princess Diaries
Tammy shows the beginnings of a baby blanket in progress, a super easy crochet project to consider for those who make charity items.

CraftyPod
Check out Sister Diane's newest ebook - Creating a Blog Audience: An Unconventional Marketing Guide
Cross Stitch at About.com
Do you find solace in your stitching? Vote in the poll, read the comments, and share your own experiences.

Farm Girl Roots, City Girl Style
I may have to tackle a t-shirt quilt---I'm getting ideas from all directions.

Mixed Media Artist
Cyndi has a copy of "The Art of Fabric Collage" to give away!

Stefanie Girard's Sweater Surgery
How to make a Cone Candy Holder Candelabra inspired by a pretty project from Paperie for Inspired Living by Karen Bartolomei

The Artful Crafter
Do you know how to make a secret box book? It’s not hard – well – except on your fingers. Eileen shows you how. She took lots of photos since she won’t be able to type for a while. LOL.

The Crochet Dude
Check out Drew's super cool Crochet Word Search that he has as a free download on his blog! I wonder how quick I can finish it!

The Impatient Crafter
Get your teens ready for Back to School with these recycled denim book covers from The Impatient Crafter for I Love to Create!

About Family Crafts
September is National Sewing Month! Why not celebrating by making one or more of these easy sewing projects.

Aileen's Musings
Have you heard the term Altered Art or Altered Artist and wondered what exactly that means? Aileen has given her explanation of what Altered art is and how YOU too can become an Altered Artist!

Alexa Westerfield a.k.a. Swelldesigner
It's the return "Terrorific Tuesdays" on Swelldesigner's blog! Learn about how you can participate in all the fun, spooky Halloween action!

Cathie Filian
Melt up some soy wax and make some easy candles with Cathie.

Craftside-A behind-the-scenes peek at a crafty world
Craftside's got a fun skull quilt tutorial inspired by a quilt in the new book Quilting Art, how-to's on painting rocks like skulls, eyes and more for Halloween, tips for re-purposing in the studio and the correct terms for the parts of a book.








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Tomato quilt

I'm sure that some folks would find the stitching down phase of this quilt project way too tedious, but I love the look of hand work, and I'm not really in any kind of hurry anyway! Even so, I'm almost finished with the piecing and embellishing, and ready to start thinking about the quilting.

Copyright 2009 Cyndi Lavin. Not to be reprinted, resold, or redistributed for profit. May be printed out for personal use or distributed electronically provided that entire file, including this notice, remains intact.

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Book review & giveaway: The Art of Fabric Collage

The Art of Fabric Collage
by Rosemary Eichorn

***Free Stuff Alert***Free Stuff Alert***

Beautiful to look at, and just stuffed full of wonderful ideas, designs, and instructions! The Art of Fabric Collage is subtitled "An easy introduction to creative sewing". I'm not 100% sure about the "easy" part, but the instructions are so clear and complete, that I definitely believe that a beginner sewer with determination will get a lot out of this book.

As for intermediate or better sewers, I think this book has the potential to open your eyes to new ways of using your machine. Rosemary steps you through the process of adding all kinds of interesting fabrics to a background. Once this piece is washed and dried, the edges become softened and interesting, and the new fabric can be used in all kinds of creations.

Here's the description from the publisher:

Fabric collage, which was developed by author Rosemary Eichorn, is an inspiring quilting method that allows crafters to experiment with color, design, and fabric while learning to sew. This inspiring, innovative method for the beginning sewer includes complete, easy-to-follow instructions and dozens of beautiful color photographs of finished pieces. Several surface design techniques are explored, including free-motion stitching, soft-edge applique, and continuous-strip prairie points.

Leave me a comment below and next Wednesday, Sept 16, I'll randomly pick a winner!


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Abstracting from Nature class - part two

On the second day in Jane Sassaman's class, Abstracting From Nature, I was able to make choices about how my quilt was going to be laid out. We had to figure out the order in which different pieces would be stitched down.


At first, I was planning on just using one tomato, but my eye wants to see the balance of a great triangle, so I plan to add two more. Their spot is just being held by the red fabric below.




Part One
Part Two

Copyright 2009 Cyndi Lavin. Not to be reprinted, resold, or redistributed for profit. May be printed out for personal use or distributed electronically provided that entire file, including this notice, remains intact.

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Artsy blogging round-up!

Craftside-A behind-the-scenes peek at a crafty world
Craftside has a bunch of cool photos that have words spelled out with objects, try it and post your photo in the Flickr group, fun photos from the Squam Art Workshops, single letter cards to send out for the Week of Hope Sept 1-7 and how to turn an old metal link belt into a fat cuff bracelet.

Crafty Princess Diaries
Check out this unusual call for entries the Crafty Princess found for Momiji doll lovers.

Craftypod
In Sister Diane's latest podcast, Patricia Zapata of A Little Hut talks about the intersection of graphic design and craft.

Cross Stitch at About.com
Get ready for Halloween with free Cross Stitch patterns. Ghouls, ghosts, bats, cats, About.com is where it's at!

Farm Girl Roots, City Girl Style: A crafty blog
A quilting project needs some attention--read the story, see the pictures, offer your suggestions

Naughty Secretary Club
Jen gets invited to a mustache party and busts out the fun fur and old records to make kitschy masks.

Stefanie Girard's Sweater Surgery
My Christmas tree is getting adorned with a cute crochet bird from the charming new book Crochet Adorned by Linda Permann

The Artful Crafter
Eileen would like to introduce you to Precious Metal Clay. It’s an amazing medium for jewelry crafters as well as polymer clay artists.

Vickie Howell-Craft.Rock.Love
Knit hats for the homeless with Vickie, Lands' End and Warming Families! Read more for a free hat pattern & the scoop on how you can be a part of the FeelGood campaign!

Aileen's Musings
Find out what Formica and Christmas have in common when Aileen shares a great gift idea with you! Check out her tutorial and download a free Vintage soda label while your at it.

Cathie Filian
Craft up an end of summer wine tasting with Cathie!





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Abstracting from Nature class - part one

Abstracting From Nature was the name of the class that I took with Jane Sassaman, and I highly recommend it for anyone who'd like to try their hand at a non-intimidating design class. Jane taught us how to see organic forms in a new way - new to me at any rate - breaking objects down into the traits elements that make them most recognizable as what they are. After spending almost a full day sketching and refining, I was ready to start to transfer some of my designs to fabric.


I was able to just get started on sewing near the end of the day. I'm not much of a machine quilter or piecer, so I was able to start by hand in class. Yes, I know that piecing and applique go much more quickly with a machine, but I just love doing it by hand. I will probably end up doing some quilting by machine, but I haven't really decided yet.

Part One
Part Two

Copyright 2009 Cyndi Lavin. Not to be reprinted, resold, or redistributed for profit. May be printed out for personal use or distributed electronically provided that entire file, including this notice, remains intact.

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Calls for entries and submissions

Art Quilting Studio: deadline Oct 15, 2009

Belle Armoire Jewelry: deadline Oct 15, 2009

National Quilt Museum Annual Competition: deadline Nov 3, 2009

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Class with the fabulous Jane Sassaman

I'm so fortunate to live near enough to Lowell Massachusetts that I can drive up and take classes there during the annual Lowell Quilt Festival. This year, my friend Debbie and I decided to take the two day class being offered by Jane Sassaman.

I've admired Jane's work for years, and although her style is totally different from mine, I was eager to take the class Abstracting From Nature. Or maybe it's because her style is so totally different from mine. What's the point of learning something you already know?

This line caught my eye in the class description: "This class is especially beneficial for the drawing impaired and the tragically literal." Well, that fits me and Debbie to a tee: I'm drawing impaired and Debbie is tragically literal. And we struggled with these shortcomings throughout the class!

Jane's gorgeous quilts

But a miracle happened. By the end of the first day, I realized that I had been drawing pretty much all day long, and I didn't even mind it! Jane is one of those amazing teachers that you end up thanking for making you do what you never thought you wanted to do. Not that she forced us...she just broke it down so it was doable and fun.

I'll be sharing the progress of my quilt with you over the next little while. I don't know how long exactly, but we'll see!

Copyright 2009 Cyndi Lavin. Not to be reprinted, resold, or redistributed for profit. May be printed out for personal use or distributed electronically provided that entire file, including this notice, remains intact.

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