RedBarn Studios

today was so nice.

i spent the the day with some of my favorite peeps. there was laughter and talking and eating and sitting in a space of contentment and friendship.

we hadn’t met, all of us, for some time…schedules. and family commitments and life interrupting….but today we came together and resolved to recommit to us, to the pandoras once again.

Today was ornament day at delane’s.   since Christmas is only a few weeks away, we each came with an ornament to share, bringing enough materials for each of us to make one ornament.

i was torn between two so brought both…both really easy to make.  for the first one you cut fabric {i used Onasburg fabric} into squares, spread glue all over and punched into a styroform ball.  love it!

susan working on her fabric ornament

rachel preparing her fabric

delane showcase her finished ornament…circles cut from scrapbook paper, folded in half, glued together and hung with a piece of ribbon….beautiful.

she glued and glittered all the edges and that just made the whole thing pop (not shown).

rachel’s ornament to share used string, glue and a balloon. we figured out that it takes a lot more time to dry than the directions prescribed so only a few of us got these finished.  here’s michele painting glue on her strung balloon.

and susan’s almost finished one, rolled in green glitter.  when the glue has dried you pop the balloon to remove it. we thought it would look real good with a few of them across a table or mantel with a battery operated light in the center or twinkle lights bunched up in its center.

we got such a kick out of her green glittered fingers….look at that gorgeous green colour!

i didn’t get to take a pic of any of delane’e ornament project….she bought clear glass ornaments, coated the inside with a small of amount of Pledge floor cleaner then tipped fine glitter into the opening coating all surfaces.

i worked on the project susan brought.  she needle felted some wool and roving, stuck in a dryer and brought the finished ball for us to stitch.  wool usually makes me crazy itchy but this one i had a ball stitching.

delane made a delicious chicken corn chowder soup for lunch with homemade bread and i enjoyed it so much i forgot to take a before pick but here’s the good-to-the-last-drop after shot…..hee hee.

we had special company while we worked….she played and talked and even slept a little.  it was rachel’s daughter {and delane’s grandaughter} kiyah.  what a sweetie she is!!!

toodles,

G

Tags: Art, pandoras by grace
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my dear friend, DeLane’s first grandchild, a girl, was born 2 weeks ago.  needless to say she has been on a natural high these last few days and so enjoys holding the newest member of her family,
kiyah lain.

she was so excited when she called to tell me that i knew i had to create something so she can capture all those special moments to come because we all know how fast time flies by.  one minute they are just born and the next they’re entering kindergarden.

soooo, I made her a new kind of brag album.

there are seven 2-page spreads, one for each of the next 6 months so she can record each moment as she remembers them.  i’ve also added a 2nd tag for her husband. the proud grandfather so that he can record his own memories of this special little one.

embedded by Embedded Video

hope you enjoy it omi and papa steve……many, many happy  memories to you both.

toodles,

Tags: captured moments, pandoras, paper art, patterns by grace
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yesterday i told you about all the fun the pandoras had playing together.  as promised here’s some of the prints i made.

the night before we met i cut out some pics of birds, butterflies and circles (my creative symbols) to use as resists.

I must have printed about 15 sheets of paper from the gelatin plate, some with just 2 passes and others reprinting 3 and 4 times  (ahem…only 1 of those really came out usable).

the prints below are my favs.  can’t wait to use in projects.

this print in olives and blues used the stone shaped paper and chunky bird i cut out previously, as well as a cypress branch we snuck a branch from. the things that looks like eggs in the branches (oh so cool!) are my finger tips from pressing the cypress leaves into the painted gelatin plate.

S E R E N D I P I T Y ….gottta love her hanging around.

yummy….yummy, oh so delightfully delectable is bubbly wrap (thank you Marc Chavannes and Al Fielding for inventing it before i knew i would love it so).  alison had large and small sizes available to use so i just went to town all around.

this print got a bit lost and convoluted over time. i really liked the 1st print….the 2nd overprint was okay (no pic- duh!).  so what does one do when something is just okay…they try to improve it
….and sometimes they fail. oh well. it’ll be used for something somewhere down the line and will fit the bill perfectly! maybe a quote under the butterfly and call that george.

from the print before i was left with the ghost plate and decided to smoosh my hand in there and see what i get.  the girl likes this one which means in order to have this one i had to go thru the trials of the above pic.  not bad for a morning’s work.

here’s the chunky bird again and i loved it in this print.  looks like the bird is gathering the string to make her nest.  (best make copies of these prints real quick so i have them around for future projects cause i’m wanting to use this now….yum!)

how scrump-dee -lee o-tious is this one?  towards the end i was trying all sorts of resits in in printing but, don’t care what you say…this one’s is a keeper.

leftovers.  nuff said.

toodles all,

Tags: mixed media, pandoras, paper art by grace
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yes, we did it again. we spent a whole morning talking and gabbing and playing and learning AND jumping into our “friend pool” once again. and the water was oh so lovely.

we’d done gelatin printing before but i don’t remember it being this much fun.

alison prepared a tray of knox gelatin for each of us (a large, large tray…nice!) first things first get that puppy onto the table. some had some mishaps with the gelatin cracking and tearing but all was still good.

as deLane said, serendipity became the word of the day, so we embraced our cracks (ha!) we painted and smooshed and revealed some amazing pieces.

susan commented that it worked best if we suspended trying to control the outcome. that girl worked her gelatin to the bone! loved this print she made.

as michele made prints we would hear this “oooh!! i like!” coming from her end of the table. tried to capture that tickled-pink feeling she was exuding

alison painted and played with Lumiere metallic paints and came up with this print she really loved (one of many mind you).

we each took home our bits of gelatin and will reconstitute them (cut up and nuke for secs) for more solitary playtime. all we all on for the challenge….see who can make the first project from these prints? C’mon girls, let’s do it!

Anyway, I have to get back to regularly scheduled programing (kid off bus thing) so will post pics of my gelatin prints tomorrow.
come on back, ya hear!

Tags: pandoras by grace
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today was a good day for good deals……and to spend time with friends.

we (the pandoras of course) headed off to greensboro for the gingher factory sale happening this weekend (and next as well).   believe it or not….NO item was priced over $10!

WHAT!!!!!  you say

i kid you not, all those beautiful gingher quality scissors at prices from 50¢ – $5.50, not to mention $2 and $3 mats and rulers for 25¢ and 50¢!

my stash

i got doubles of some of them (maybe triples too…hee hee).   they also had 15″ and 18″ paper guillotines and i got one of the 18″ ones.

was just thinking the other day that i wish the paper cutter I have was just a tiny bit longer cause sometime i need the extra length to make a large cut…..and voila!  now i can.   btw…..i have to tell that IT was a mere $10!

feels like i’ve been to chicago and hit the oprah winfrey show jackpot…”and one for you, and one for you, and one for you” (so she always says when she socks it to her audience with a big gift).

the sale took place in the warehouse, we believe it was probably a distributing center rather than an actual factory.

above you can see all the trays and boxes on the tables set up around the room.   considering the prices it was a very civilized affair….no one rushing and grabbing.  we got what we wanted then stood in line.   and this time i did not spend the most (hee hee).

here’s susan with her stash…and there’s more on the floor and under her arm.   we carried it wherever it would fit on our person.

posing with our loot
(photo courtesy of susan brubaker knapp)

had a blast on the drive up to greenboro and back and  it was ever so great spending time with the ladies i love to hang out with.   we hadn’t done a road trip in a while so this was so worth the effort on every level.

toodles,

Tags: pandoras, road trip, stash by grace
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this was a good one.  yesterday michele, susan and i gathered at delane’s house for a cool technique. we painted shoes! (a la Lyric)

once a month, the pandoras, as we call ourselves, get together to do something art related and learn a new technique.  this time we all voted to use lyric kinard’s painted shoes technique to create some sweet togs for our feet.

first we painted each shoe with gesso to give the leather some tooth then went at it with colour and design.   here’s some before and prep pics of my shoes.

before pic                         tapes up edges          painting w/ gesso

one of the wonderful things about getting together is that there is business part to get through so the chatting and laughter abounds as we each put our own lovely twist on the technique we’re trying out.

michele tip-toeing through the flower patch

delane getting serious with her swirls

susan bringing out the feathers

and here are the fantastic results.   i think we did a might fine job, even if i say so myself!

of course i have to show you some close ups:

delane’s shoes (sprayed with a gloss sealer)

michele’s shoes (simple and sweet)

susan’s shoes

(remember this peacock feather from the Quilting Arts cover a couple months back?)

my bright as sunshine shoes (will definitely see me coming huh?)

susan and i still have some finishing up to do.   i love the curl of the red into the orange on mine.

my plan is to do some more zentangles all over and then maybe paint in select areas.    might have to tone down the orange a bit tho…..eh, who knows what i’ll end up with.

here’s a funny pic….we put our shoes on the floor then clamoured over each other taking turns to get pics of everyone’s shoes.  i had to jump back to take of pic of us taking pics…..ha ha.

take care all,

Tags: Art, paintings, pandoras by grace
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this past Monday i hosted my 5th Annual Dye Day but didn’t dye any of my own fabrics…i was so caught up in seeing what everyone else was doing.    on Tuesday though, the itch to get my fingers in some dye couldn’t be stopped. I decided to try a new thing for me.

about 3 months ago i made a large portable flat top for surface design.   i spread my soda ashed soaked fab and painted on the dye…usually I scrunch in a container and squirt dye over it.

i LOVE how these new pieces came out!!! I call this one the Melody FAb cause this is just the type of fab she creates.

the Melody FAb

i know you’re supposed to work to get the bubbles out but look at the magic my bubbles produced… SPLENDID indeed!

Melody FAb detail

this one looks like beautiful stonework or a piece of granite…mmmh.   this was the one that started the itch….I sat up in bed on Monday eve and thought, what if I diluted black and havana brown.  can you believe those were the only 2 colours i used here?

stonework

the 2nd piece i painted was one of the gradation fabs I did for Nancy Crow workshop, originally golden yellow, it got messed up in the wash with green splotches so i saved it for the overdye pile.

forest fire

below is the 3rd piece I painted….lots of cerulean blue, sky blue, black and the last of the chatruese dye….a perfect storm.

storm

Doesn’t this next one look like an over saturated pic of an x-ray of teeth?   this was another that needed to be overdyed so i pleated and scrunched it then squirted (back to regular programing) 2 colours on it still managing to keep some of the original yellow colour.   this’ll be an interesting piece to use in my work.

teeth

so here’s who came over to play on Monday…

Michele (rinsing fabs)…

DeLane (on right mxing dyes)…

Susan (all geared up for play)…

& PJ (our resident newbie)

It were fun!
(Mummy please don’t mind the language).

Tags: hand dyed, hand dyeing, pandoras, surface design by grace
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My good friend Susan Brubaker Knapp has a new pattern booklet “Applique Petal Party” coming out in October 2009. She just returned form Quilt Market and got the good news that it is ready to announce to the world.

I am so very pleased for her……she has worked very hard to get everything ready for the publishers at C&T and it looks fantastic! Keep a look out for it later in the year and grab one when you can. Right now she is offering pre-orders on her website.

I am please to let you know that my one of the pieces I did to test her pattern made it onto the front cover.

That’s my piece, the coneflowers, on the right. Only for Susan would I tackle hand piecing and…..okay, okay I enjoyed it too but don”t tell her I said so. Her pattern was very easy to follow and the quilt is absolutely, positively gor-gee-ous in person.

Now how cool is that! Way to go Susan!

See ya next time “In the Hayloft”,

Tags: Art, pandoras, patterns by k grace howes
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I  just found out that my group, the Pandoras, have won Judge’s Choice for our group quilt “Motherhood”.

We each did a panel for the theme——-(L to R) Motherhood in Africa, Generations, Nursing & Infertility (click on pic for close up)—–entered it into our guild show and, lo and behold, one of the judges like it so much that they picked it as their favorite.

WOW! Cool Beans!

The Charlotte Quilter’s Guild Show runs from today thru Sunday at Fletcher School. If you are in the area and you want to see some beautiful work by lots of talented people go see the show (info below).

There will be lots of vendors and food and live demonstrations. In fact, I invite you to come on Saturday where at 2:00pm I’ll be doing a demonstration, “How to Add A Facing to Your Art Quilts” (in lieu of a traditional binding).

Don’t forget to indulge yourself by buying a raffle ticket and putting your name in the running for a Pfaff Grand Quilter machine (donated by Quilter’s Loft in Mooresville) All proceeds benefit the Charlotte Quilting Guild.

See you there!

See ya next time”In the Hayloft”,

For mapquest/google maps use the address below:
The Fletcher School
8500 Sardis Road
Charlotte NC 28270
Friday and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Sunday from noon to 4 p.m.

Tags: fiber art, pandoras by k grace howes
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Charms and Cloth, Paper, Scissors

Today was a wonderful Pandoras day. We met at Susan‘s to make charms, an idea she got from Elin Waterston’s article in the Jan/Feb issue of Cloth, Paper, Scissors (CPS) magazine.

Alison, DeLane, Susan DL, Michele

The six of us (Michele, Alison, Susan DL,  DeLane, Susan & me) played all day creating, laughing, talking and being together. First up was “shrinky dinks”.

Do any of you remember working with this when you were younger?

We each made a few and watched in fascination, with lots of hooting and hollering, when they shrank up in seconds in the toaster oven (sorry, no good pics of those).

Next we painted some wooden disks (at right) with Lumiere paints….some of us glued down small pieces of fabric but I decided to stamp an organic design.

The last type of charm Susan had us try was painting and stamping on clay. This I had a ball with!

I stamped the black clay (above)  then rubbed copper pearl ex powder on the raised surface.

Think I will set this on a square of copper metal to use as an embellishment for one of my journals.

The one that really got me going was the piece on the left. I stamped it, rubbed on the powder then scrunched the top to create a fan like effect.

Before I baked it, I inserted a toothpick to create a hanging hole for the black cording I will insert later.

The colour of the clay is actually black with a minty green Peal Ex powder rubbed on. The photo just doesn’t do it justice.

One surprise Susan had in store for us was the book “The Sneetches” by Dr. Suess.

She read from the actual book she had when she was a little girl and we were tickled to have her read it to us as we worked. Isn’t that a cool idea?

What a wonderful story it was and one that I had never even heard of before. And here it was I thought I had read all the old Dr Suess stories.

Don’t know if I’ll be participating in the CPS swap but I definitley will be using the pieces I made today.

And……another day of fun was had by all.

See ya next time “In the Hayloft”,

Tags: artful creations, monday posts, pandoras by k grace howes
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