Balzer Designs

Screen Printing Class Demo Pieces

I had a wonderful group of artists in my live online Screen Printing at Home class. Here are two nice notes I got from students after class: "Thanks for an awesome class Julie! You're an excellent teacher. I came away with a much better understanding of the process and some good ideas for the future." "Thanks for demystifying screen printing -- so much simpler than I thought, and no fancy anything required! I can't wait to start playing!" I thought you might like to see some of the demo pieces I created during class. We printed on paper and fabric.... Read more →

Screen Printed Flat Bottom Bag

I took some of my screen printed fabric and made a flat bottom zipper bag with it: The screen printed fabric I used for the pouch has a real grungy feeling to it (as opposed to the screen printed fabric I used as the background in these photos). I think that the grungy feeling makes it feel perfect for storing art supplies. It has funky flair but I'm not at all worried about accidentally ruining it with a splash of paint or an uncapped marker. Originally, I was going to use the fabric you see in the background to make... Read more →

Fiber Artist Erin Wilson

I stumbled across Erin Wilson's work on Pinterest and it was love at first sight. I like all of her work, but her works on paper are the answer to so many questions I have about my voice in quilting. From her website: 8” x 10” paper dimensions 5” x 5” approximate artwork dimensions hand-dyed cottons pieced and stitched onto archival paper I loooooooove it. I love piecing. I love the art and architecture of piecing. But I haaaaaate the quilting part. This feels like such an elegant solution to that problem. (Also, I love that it isn't square and... Read more →

Margo Hoff's Painted Canvas Collages

Have you heard of artist Margo Hoff? This is her bio from the David Cook Galleries website: A prolific artist, Margo Hoff's exquisite style evolved throughout her career yet was always rooted in the events, people, and places in her life. The human experience was her sole focus, expressed through her eyes alone. Born in 1910 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Hoff began creating white, clay animals at a young age, giving them to her friends and family. At eleven she contracted typhoid fever and was bedridden for a summer. During her convalescence, she drew and made cutouts, and it was during... Read more →

Mixed Media Canvas from April's Member Livestream

I finished up the piece I started during April's Member Livestream by adding a bit of hand stitching. I guess the stitching on my small quilt pieces is "catching." ;) In all seriousness, I think it makes sense that all the different projects I work on influence each other. Why wouldn't they?! You can see that I added both french knots and simple running stitches. I used one of my favorite stencils, Cut Outs... ...and you can see that it looks like a lovely botanical here: I also used my "Croquet" Art Foamie... ...for some subtle visual texture. In fact,... Read more →

More Small "Quilt" Art

I made some more small wall quilts! Remember this quilt top that I couldn't decide what to do with because I didn't like it that much? Well, you can probably tell, I chopped it up to create the base for 3 of these pieces. I'm enjoying exploring these small (8"x8") pieces. I brought them to a improv quilting critique group that I belong to and I was heartened by the group's response to them. I don't think that a quilt purist would be okay with the raw edges or the way they're mounted to canvas or the lack of intense... Read more →

Two Small Art Quilts

I'm diving into a new area of artwork. (What an exciting sentence to write, btw!) If you've followed this blog for a while, you know that I love to make quilt tops, but I hate to quilt them. Case-in-point, this one has been in my drawer for more than a year (and has the wrinkles to prove it): I also love hand embroidery. Well, I'm mushing the two together: quilt tops that aren't quilted + hand embroidery. These are 8x8 "canvases." In essentials, I made a mini quilt top, added batting, and then wrapped it around a canvas. I'm really... Read more →

I Made an Ugly Monster Doll!

Check out how cute this fleece ugly monster doll is! This is a project that Michaels hired me to do and by their request I have the full tutorial in my instagram stories (follow the link and click on my face). I hope you'll check it out! Thanks for stopping by! --- P.S. The Member Livestream is tomorrow (Wednesday) night and ScanNCut: CanvasWorkspace for Mac is on Thursday night. Read more →

Sarah Bond Workshop: Coming Full Circle

Back in November I took a one-day live online class with quilter, Sarah Bond. It was called "Coming Full Circle" and it was all about making different kinds of super cool circle designs, as in this photo from her instagram: Or this one of my laptop during class: I decided to use fabrics and rules from the Modern Quilt Guild QuiltCon Together Floral & Vine challenge while learning how to make these circles. I figured that way I could kill two birds with one stone: learn something and make something for the challenge. It didn't quite work out that way,... Read more →

From the Archives: Zipper-de-do-da!

This post is from February 2014. Learning to put in a zipper is one of the best skills I've ever learned. It's extremely useful and easier than you think! Given that it's New Year's Eve, what crafty skill are you hoping to learn in 2021? ---- I've been wanting to learn how to put in a zipper forever. I find the whole thing very intimidating. But, last weekend I was bound and determined to make it happen! I googled a million tutorials and finally found one that made sense to me. It's from a woman named Debbie Shore: Of course,... Read more →