Sue Bleiweiss

lots & lots of books...

A shipment of our new book Creative Ways with Books and Journals arrived yesterday...

and so I've spent a lot of time in the last 24 hours packing and shipping and packing and shipping...If you were among the first 100 to pre-order a book  (or if you were one of the artists chosen for the gallery section) from us then you should receive your book by the end of this week if you live in the US.  International orders will take a little longer to arrive.  When you do get your book Terri and I would love it if you'd consider posting a review of the book on the Amazon product page.  We set up a special group in the ning group just for those of you who purchased a book so if you have any questions you can ask and of course we encourage you to post photos of what you make in the group so we can see what you've made.

And now that the books have been packaged and shipped and I've fulfilled all my other studio commitments I am now starting to brainstorm about where I want to go next with my work.  I've been spending a lot of time in the last few days making lists and mind mapping in an effort to narrow my list and determine what I want to focus on going forward.    But before I move into any new projects I spent some time cleaning up in the studio and decided to cut up the last of the leftover surfaces that I had made last week and turn them into some quick note cards:

I like to keep a stack of note cards on hand so I have them when I need them. These were very easy to do since the collage surfaces were created right on a piece of Mistyfuse on top of a piece of parchment to start with.  All I had to do was cut them up and then iron them right to the front of the card.  Easy!

QA Studios tour!

Quilting Arts is hosting a virtual studios tour this week! 

The theme of the Fall 2009 issue of Studios is Open Studios, so they're kicking it off with a virtual tour, and you're invited to participate.  Stop back here on Saturday October 3rd and I'll have a tour of my studio for you.

Mixed media collage surfaces with Mistyfuse

For the past week or so I've been working on several pieces made from my technique of mixed media collage surfaces using Mistyfuse that are for a gallery section in a book due out next year.  Unfortunately I can't show you the pieces (don't you hate it when bloggers say that!) but I can show you some of the postcards and ATC's that I made with the leftover surface pieces:

It had been a while since I had made any of these collaged surfaces and I had forgotten how much fun it was.  I spent a better part of a day just making one surface after another so I have a bunch more still to work with. 

All of these postcards and ATC's are up for grabs - if you want one, just drop me an email with your preference and address and I'll send you one.  Sorry all gone!

books, books, books...

I started these books last week while I was doing some book making demo's at the Danforth Museum.  I finally managed to get them finished this morning:

Love this next one done in faux lizard skin:

It has a great texture and feels really good in your hand.

All of these are in the shop. 

And speaking of books... our new book Creative Ways with Books and Journals is now available for purchase through Amazon.com.

there is nothing

that compares to the feeling you get when you open up a package that has your book inside it!

The proof copies of our book arrived yesterday and I can't even tell you how thrilled we are with the final product...

It's hard to believe that just 6 months ago we decided to publish another book and we're already holding a final printed copy in our hands...

Terri did an absolutely fabulous job with the layout of this book...

Lot's of full color full page photographs and step by step directions for each project and a gallery section of work by some incredibly talented artists (Lesley Riley, Virginia Spiegel and Violette to name a just a few) that will just knock your socks off!

We've opened an e-store so you can purchase the book directly from the printer.  Click here to order a book.  You'll also be able to purchase the book directly from Amazon.com in the next couple of weeks.

quilting?!! you bet and prizes too!

Terri and I decided to host her block of the month idea through Two Creative Studios so I thought I'd give it a try.  First let me say that I have a new appreciation for those of you who can create lots of these blocks in a day because it took me the better part of the morning just to get this one right! 

I did finally get to use the 1/4" foot that my machine came with which was very helpful however thanks to the cold medicine I've been taking this week I did have to take out the seam ripper a couple of times.   By the way, the purple fabrics in this block are from Vicki's Purple Tulip fat qaurter set.

If you want to participate in the Two Creative Studios Block of the Month project you'll find the first block here  and we've set up a special group in the TCS ning group where you can post questions and photos of your blocks.    Oh and did I mention the prizes?  Each month everyone who posts a photo of their block before the next block gets posted will have their name entered into a drawing for a special prize pack! 

Creative Ways with Books and Journals!

Terri and I are very excited to announce that our new book is now available for pre-order!  We are anticipating being able to ship books by the first week of November or sooner depending on how fast they come off the presses.

 In this 130 full color book you'll learn how to combine traditional book binding techniques with fabric and fibers to create journals to keep for yourself or give as gifts. You'll learn how to make beautiful hand painted fabrics using shibori and water soluble crayons and explore mixed media techniques with tissue paper, kitchen foil, paper fabric and recycled envelopes. Create gorgeous textured surface journals using machine cord, linen strips and pearl beads.

With easy to follow directions accompanied by full color photos even the most inexperienced book maker will have no trouble making the eight soft cover and four hard cover book projects.  

Click here for a sneak peek inside and to order your copy!

new bindings...

Over the last couple of weeks I've been getting some new inventory ready to go to the Danforth Museum gift shop for their grand re-opening for the fall this weekend.  I finished these two books just this morning:

 

This first one is done with Amate bark paper and the ceramic embellishments are from Gina's etsy shop.  This book has a fairly involved stitch pattern and I had to stitch it twice before I got it right.  I think the extra effort was worth it though.

This next one is covered with an embroidered paper:

This particular binding is called the Tortoise-shell stitch.  Another involved binding that's actually quite easy to do once you get going with it.  I used a metallic embroidery floss to stitch with which matches the paper perfectly but was quite a challenge to sew with.

Recently typepad made some changes to the way that comments are received by blog owners which makes it a bit of a challenge to respond via email to comments left on typepad blogs.  Because of this I am finding myself falling behind on responding to comments so if I haven't responded to you I apologize.  I like to respond to each comment personally because I am grateful to all of you take the time to leave one.  So if I haven't responded it's probably because the changes in typepad have prevented me from doing so but please know that I am thankful to all of you who stop and comment on my posts :)

Etsy shop update

added some new journals to the shop:

silk tri fold

 

Cork paper and chalk cloth

painted canvas

 

painted silk

 

cotton fabric

recycled jeans...

I haven't been blogging much lately because Terri and I have been so busy with book stuff and earlier this week I got bit by the fall cleaning bug.  Usually around this time of year I take a few days and go through all the closets and drawers and sort everything into piles: things to keep, things to donate and things to toss or turn into rags.   I had thrown in some old worn out jeans into the things to toss pile and just as I was stuffing them into a bag I had a flash of inspiration...

and since the jeans had two pockets I used one on the inside too...

 

I don't think I'll ever look at a old worn out pair of jeans the same way again!