Sue Bleiweiss

My bags are packed

I'm ready to go!  I'll be catching a 9:00 a.m. flight tomorrow morning.  I still can't believe I'm going - we're almost there Terri!

You'll find me in the Mistyfuse booth #861 starting Wednesday night and I'll be there everyday through Sunday (except when I sneak away to do some shopping!).  I hope you'll stop by and say hello.  Don't forget that Terri and I have this huge pile of art tags to give away...

And I'll be teaching three Sew it & Take it classes sponsored by Mistyfuse.  You'll find the Janome Sew it & Take It classrooms on the show floor in Hall E.   My class schedule is:

Friday 11/2 4:30  : mini layered surface padfolio
Saturday 11/3 4:30 : mini layered surface padfolio
Sunday 11/4 12:45: fabric strip checkbook holder

All the threads for my classes were provided by the very generous Wonderfil people and all the fabulous fabrics were donated by  Hoffman California Fabrics.   The mini layered surface kits have extra goody bags in them provided by Joggles and of course there's lots of Mistyfuse to experiment with in all of the kits.

See you in Houston!

Paper bag pins

I didn't go into the studio this morning with the intention of making jewelry.  Actually my plan was to work on a new box design that I sketched up yesterday.  But I happen to be flipping through a jewelry making book while having my morning coffee and when I laid eyes on the new brown paper bags that I had painted up last night the muse took over and these pins are the result:

This last one is my favorite I think.  You can click on any of the photos for a larger view.  While I was at it, I decided to dress up a plain black sketchbook too:

okay now that I got all those pins out of my system I'm off to go work on my new box design!

Restocking

I was all ready to step into the studio on Monday morning to get working on some new projects when I realized that my stash of hand dyed fabric and cheesecloth was virtually non existent.  So I dragged out the dyeing supplies and got to work.  And the results of my labors yesterday...

A new stack of cotton:

and some cheesecloth:

And while all that was either in the washer or the dryer I spent some time experimenting with paper bag surfaces.   My goal was to create a metallic or stone like surface:

This first one almost seems to light up.  I took this without a flash so that light spot that you're seeing is the actual surface of the bag and not a reflection of the flash.

and another:

This next one is my favorite:

It amazes me how versatile the humble brown paper lunch bag is!

What I'm doing today...

Spending today being inspired by the latest books out by Jan Beaney and Jean Littlejohn...

A feast for the eyes and imagination, it's impossible not to be inspired by these two incredibly gifted artists.

just for fun

I know I haven't blogged much lately but I've been trapped in the studio getting prepared for Houston.  Yesterday I spent a good amount of the day winding 75 bobbins for the Sew it and Take it Kits and putting the finishing touches on the kits.  In the midst of all this preparation my studio took on the look of a small disaster area...

But I managed to get all the kits put together and packed up..

Then once I managed to find the top of my work table again I decided to do a "just for fun" project and made a fabric book.

Filled with pages of my own recipes...

Have a great weekend everyone!

Art, Nature, Creativity, Life by Virginia Spiegel

Virginia Spiegel has a new ebook  called Art, Nature, Creativity, Life .  It's an online book of 19 chapters that is filled with Virginia's essays, art, haikus and some great behind the scenes photos of her studios. 

Reading this ebook is like sitting with a good friend on the back porch on a warm spring day.  Virginia's smooth writing style combined with her ability to illustrate her point with the perfect photograph amazes me.   Each "chapter" of her ebook is filled with inspiring images, haiku and of course her gorgeous artwork.  What a priviledge it is to be able to glimpse into her world to see what motivates and challenges this incredibly gifted artist.   I will visit the pages of this book again and again when I am in need of inspiration, motivation or just a moment of stillness.

All the proceeds from the sale of this book go to the American Cancer Society and Virginia's goal is to raise $30,000 for cancer research and education.  Click here to read more about the book and information on how to order.

I've been working non stop the last few days on assembling the kits for my Festival Sew it and Take it classes and my studio looks a bit like a cyclone has gone through it.  I'll be back in a day or two with some photos and maybe a new project or two depending on how long it takes me to find my worktable under all the mess I've created!

and more paper...

I been playing with more paper bag surfaces over the last few days...

A journal:

yup, that used to be a plain brown bag.  Hard to believe isn't it?  My inlaws were in town over the last week and when I showed them the red folio that I blogged about a couple of post ago they held it in their hands and couldn't believe it wasn't leather.    I am looking forward to sharing my techniques for creating these surfaces with you all in issue 3 of Fibre&Stitch.  And yes you all have to wait until issue 3 because there is just no more room in issue 2!  But I promise it will be worth the wait :)

And what am I working on when I'm not playing with paper bags?  Well my trip to Houston is right around the corner so I've been putting the finishing touches on class kits for the Mistyfuse sponsored Sew it and Take it classes that I'm teaching.  The Sunday Nov 3rd class  (at 12:45) I'm teaching will be a checkbook coverup

I'll also be teaching a mini padfolio class on Friday Nov 2 at 4:30 and Saturday Nov 3 at 4:30.  It's going to be a ton of fun, I hope I see some of you there!

book review

I just finished the book "The Collection" this morning and enjoyed it so much I wanted to post a review of it.

With it's opening sentence of  "Instead of dying, I learned to sew" this book grabbed hold of me and would not let go.  Set in postwar Paris in the workrooms of the couture houses of Chanel this book is a delightful journey through the competitive and sometimes ruthless world of haute couture.  Told through the voice of seamstress Isabelle Varlet I found myself lost in the pages of this book and rooting for Isabelle to find love and success.  Author Gioia Diliberto does a superb job of taking the reader through the process of how a couture collection is developed and constructed with images of fittings and hand stitching that in another authors words would be dull and tedious.  A thoroughly enjoyable read!

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

more paper bags...

still working with paper bags....

Have a great weekend everyone!

Brown paper box

Remember this brown paper bag surface I posted earlier this week? 

I decided it would look good as a box:

The fabric that it's sitting on in the photo is the fabric I used for the lining.   Sort of an icy blue/gray silk dupioni.  You can see the turquoise that's on the surface a bit better in this photo than in the one above.   In person you'd swear that the squares on the box are really metal.