I made something cool! (And once I started, I couldn't stop!) These are bowls made from my leftover fabric scraps. Because I do so much hand painting, stamping, screenprinting, etc. with my fabric, I end up with lots of teeny tiny pieces that I don't want to throw away. But they're too small for most sewing projects. So, they go into a big plastic bag. Well, this project is a scrap buster! I plowed through my bag of scraps while making these vessels. And I looove that I get to keep all my little scraps and make them into something... Read more →

I stumbled across some images of "interleave quilts" and I couldn't stop obsessing. The vivid, dynamic designs, the meticulous craftsmanship and intricate detailing, the glorious colors – all these combined to draw me in and make me want to learn more. source In its simplest form, interleave quilts are composed of two pieces of fabric that are sewn together in a pattern of continuous strips. Sometimes, the quilts will include a discernible shape or shapes. This optical illusion can be used to make the quilt look even more intricate. source And being me -- a curious explorer of all things... Read more →

I am currently working on a massively large (for me) art quilt. It has gone through 10,000 iterations. At the moment, this is my favorite arrangement: But it all could change tomorrow. To get a sense of the scale, you can watch this 12-second video: And here are a few close-up photos. It's almost all hand painted, hand stamped, hand dyed, and/or hand screen printed fabric. I'm currently taking a "class" with Irene Roderick that's all about personal style. I put "class" in quotes because it's more of a critique group. Each week Irene gives a short lecture about some... Read more →

This past weekend my local quilt guild held its biennial quilt show. (Special shout out to blog reader, Martha, for coming by to say hello when I was working the mini quilt table!) I thought I'd share a peek at some of my favorite quilts (and quilted pieces) from the show: There was a great mix of traditional and art quilts. I, personally, tend to gravitate towards the art quilts -- which you can see in these photos. Here are links to some of the quilters websites/social media where I could find them. I also included links to the quilt... Read more →

Back in 2018, I took a class from Pat Pauly. I came home with yards and yards and yards of fabric that I printed over the five day class. It's no secret that one of the keys to me being prolific is that I'm very fast when it comes to making things. I did so much printing that I had to buy more fabric half way through class! Over the past few years I've pretty much been hoarding my pretty fabric. I did use it to make some shirts for myself... ...but that's pretty much been it. (BTW: It's the... Read more →

I love the look of a quilted coat! I believe that all of these beautiful coats were made by the person who also made the quilt: source source source source source source Now, if you don't quilt you can buy a quilt and make it into a coat. But that turns out to be quite controversial. Someone recently sent me this video and I have to say that I had a strong reaction to it. I'd love to know your thoughts on quilts being cut into coats and other objects. Yay or nay? Thanks for stopping by! Read more →

Believe it or not, it turns out that I make more things than I can share here on the blog! It's crazy, but true. I make A LOT of stuff. And I've got the messy desk to prove it! So here are a few things I've made recently and haven't had time to share with you! I made this mug for my Mom! I used some food-safe markers I had sitting around from a project I did back in 2015. They're food-safe, dishwasher-safe, and microwave-safe. I don't think they're made anymore, but the Pebeo ones have been around for years... Read more →

I'm going to be giving a lecture on Surface Design in Quilting at the Watertown Public Library tonight. The event is free, but reservations are required. Here's the flyer for the event: If you're interested in learning more about Surface Design on fabric, here are four tutorial videos I've shared over the years, specifically about printing/painting on fabric: I'm going to tell you the most important things to remember about painting/stamping/drawing/printing/etc. on fabric. If you're not going to wash the fabric, then anything goes. Use any art supply in your stash and have fun! If you are going to wash... Read more →

Don't let the alphabet soup title of this post scare you! It's important to understand file extensions so that you can create all of the magical projects you dream up. FCM - This is the proprietary file extension that the ScanNCut uses for cutting data. PES - This is a machine embroidery file extension. I like to use a program called Simply Applique in order to help my ScanNCut and my Brother embroidery machine "talk" to each other in order to make projects like this: In the video in this post I share how to take a PES embroidery file...... Read more →

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 →