rememberseptembermailart.com is the link to the NEW website created by Jane Davila for my project "Remember September Mail Art Memorial", the ongoing mail art project I started on the one year anniversary of 9/11. Each year, the collection has grown and is now an amazing collection of heartfelt art to honor & remember the victims & heroes of 9/11. Please visit the site and share it with your friends. Then, each September, make a small piece of mail art to add to this living, growing memorial.

I would love to hear your comments after you've visited the site!

A book of hearts...

This is a beautiful book, perfect for Valentine's Day. It is a brief story about enduring love. The pages are filled with an amazing array of hearts made from everything imaginable - crayons, toothbrushes, seeds, sticks and radishes, to name a few. I'm looking forward to making some hearts of my own - the permanance of them lies in the photo taken, and, of course, the message they convey. Wishing you & your valentine a perfectly sweet day!

The next book I've chosen to make projects from is "Altered Books Workshop" (North Light) by Bev Brazelton. I have two books that I've begun to altere, I'm planning on filling more of the pages using techniques & ideas from this book.

I like to always have a couple of journals and altered books "in progress" so I have a place to work when the mood strikes me. It's the same with small quilt projects and collages - well, to be honest, I guess my whole studio is filled with "works in progress"! I turn to them when I have only small bits of time to spend in my studio - it is surprising how much I get done after a few brief stints. Of course, that means that my studio is usually a bit of a mess but it's a work room and I've gotten over wanting it to look perfect!

I'll post some of my work next time! Until then, I hope you are finding time for creative projects of your own...

I'm back!

Well, I didn't really go anywhere - I just mean that I'm back to my blog! I have finished projects from the last two books I posted about. The first one is my quilt based on Nancy Crow's "Crossroads" series. All of the color combinations are relevant to people, events, places, or favorite things in my life. It is definitely outside of my "zone" that I normally work in! But it was fun to make and I enjoyed the process of trying to figure out how to represent my life through colors.

I got a little carried away when I started working on the fabric paper for the "Stitch Alchemy' book projects. It was fun to make the cloth paper, tearing, gluing and layering onto muslin to create the basis for the projects. I wound up with a little pile of cloth paper to work with.

Well, that is interesting, this is the first I've viewed the cloth paper beside an image of the quilt I made. Interesting how the colors are pretty much the same!
I made three quilt-collages using the cloth paper. It was fun to combine the papers with additional fabrics from my stash and then to find embellishments that worked. Here they are.

I enjoyed the process and will likely make another pile of cloth paper so I have a stash to turn to.

Last week, I started a beginner's printmaking class at the Center for Contemporary Printmaking in Norwalk, CT. I enjoy continuing to add techniques and media to my bag of tricks.

In June, I am going to be attending Squam Art Workshops in New Hampshire. I am really looking forward to working in such an amazing setting, near a huge lake with incredible views. The lake is where "On Golden Pond" was filmed. The lodge I've been assigned to has a direct view of the lake and a full wrap around porch. I'm already envisioning sitting on the porch in the cool evening, doing some hand stitching or knitting. Sigh.

That's all from here for now... I'll be posting about my new book choice tomorrow. Hope you have been enjoying some wonderful creative adventures of your own!