TOO BEAUTIFUL TO USE

Recently I received this gorgeous handcrafted pillow in the mail 

from a remarkable Mixed Media Artist,

Jen Mullen of Bayou Quilts and Dolls.

I have showcased a couple of her pieces over the years under Professional Fiber Artist Jenclair,

but she is so much more than a fiber artist!

I hope you are able to take the time and pull her up in my search engine

 to see the pieces she has made for me over the years,

and to visit her blogsite to  see all that she does.

Her work is exquisite as you can see here in the close-ups.

When she read on my blog that I had retired she created this amazing piece for me.

It's too special to put on a couch or chair 

so my husband suggested I put it in a shadowbox type frame

and display it on a wall in our home.  

Brilliant idea!

The only thing about that type of display is you won't be able to turn it over

and see this very cool hand holding a pen writing with Kantha stitch around it.

Love that detail Jen!!

Thank you,

I adore your work and so appreciate all your time and energy you put into this.

FOR YOU LIZ

EXTRA CREDIT OPPORTUNITY

FOR ALL STUDENTS

tea bags, batting, embroidery thread, watercolor

At the start of this school year in an earlier post I featured Mixed Media Artist,

Jen Mullen,

and her delightful tea bag quilted piece that she sent to me to teach with.

I offered EXTRA CREDIT to all my art students who wanted to try doing something similar.

I know for a fact that two of my blog readers are taking advantage of this opportunity.

An artist in her own right,

Liz Ackert from I'm Going toTexas blog fame,

 and my Ceramics I senior,

Eunice Shim,

 have responded that they will give it a try.

The piece has been hanging in my room for the past two months since school started

for all to see and get close to.

But Liz has requested a few close-ups cuz she's far, 

far away in Texas,

but one day hoping to have her drop by here for a visit.

I've been promising her that I will deliver,

so here they finally are.

Sorry it took me so long Liz.

The start of this school year has been a bit of a challenge,

and I'm just now starting to get caught up.

Thank you for your patience.

Looking forward to seeing what you and Eunice will create,

and hoping that more of my students will still take advantage of this great opportunity.

Jen Mullen

Blog friend & mixed media Artist Jen Mullen

 has recently been experimenting with painting and quilting on tea bags.

I liked what she was doing so much that I asked if I could buy one to share with my students.

She wouldn't let me pay for it so I sent her a trade,

a vintage appliqued tea towel.

Her gift to me arrived in the most exciting envelop.

It looks as if she had hand marbleized it,

then sewn up the sides.

Here is the lovely quilted tea bag,

and when I laid it on top of the envelop I felt they belonged together.

But needed just a tiny bit of contrast, 

so I found a dark gray paper and mounted it in between the two for framing.

Ahhhhhh.

Lastly,

I'm trying to decide between the grey backdrop or the white one below.

Send me your thoughts.

All Art Students,

an EXTRA CREDIT OPPORTUNITY.

Brew up a cup of tea and afterwards let the tea bag dry out.

After it's dry carefully open it up and shake out the loose tea.

Borrow some watercolors from me and paint on a design.

When dry,

bring it in and I'll cut you a piece of batting so you can quilt in down.

Never sewn before?

Let's set up a lunch date and I'll show you how.

Turn in before Dec. 22nd for some first semester extra credit points.

The more you work on it the more points you will earn.

Anyone up for the challenge??

Weavings of Jen Mullen

Whimsical and fun, this is how I want my students to know weaving, and this is what Jen Mullen of Bayou Quilts explores on a daily basis.

Look youngsters at how she sets up her foundation, wandering here and there and then filling in later.  This is how I learned to weave in my Crafts Class at Sunny Hills High in Fullerton, Ca. in 1973 with  my instructor Rose Ann Johnson.  

Jen is also exploring the possiblities of burlap as warp below.

What a great idea!

And Jen calls this Nature Crafting, going outside to see what nature has to offer.  Love how she has thought to bring her weaving into these very simple natural objects.

For more on Jen and her art, please see my Featured Artist of the Month across the top of my Home Page.

Jenclair at Bayou Quilts and Dolls

This exquisite piece is the one I was telling you about in yesterday's post by Jenclair at Bayou Quilts.

It's amazing how different lighting and times of the day can affect the 2 photos I took of it when it arrived.  I've never heard of or seen encrusted embroidery before I saw it on Jenclair's site.  They are so intricate and fascinating.  But what I love the most is it seems they are done in a free form manner.  Each one that Jenclair does is unique and it seems she works very intuitively with no pattern.  

Thank you again Jenclair for this lovely gift.   

When it arrived in the mail I was inspired to make a background to showcase it on.  I'm also currently enrolled in Jude Hill's online Cloth to Cloth Quilt Weaving class, so I thought I'd weave a small quilt with some of my favorite old linens.  The red stripped fabric is from my Aunt's dishtowels that she embroidered on as a young woman.  The cotton hankie was my mother's that my grandmother embroidered the dainty flowers on.  The loosely woven fabric were from linen place mats that belonged to my husband's mother, and the back piece that the whole piece is stitched onto is my husband's old shirt.  Jude refers to these kinds of fabrics as story cloths. 

Last night I came across a pressed leaf from this last fall that my daughter picked and gave to me and it seems the perfect piece to put behind the encrusted piece.  I think I might brush some polymer medium over it to help preserve and strengthen it so I can stitch thru it.

So Jenclair, I hope you like how I'm going to frame out your gift.  I'm thinking a shadow box in a natural wood trim to hang the whole work in.  :)

Who Knew That Saying Good-Bye Could Be So Nice?

My new blog friend, Jenclair, at Bayou Quilts recently sent me the most lovely encrusted embroidered art piece that she made after I inquired if they were for sale.  I told her I wanted to show one to my crafts students since they all do stitchery now and could appreciate such fine workmanship.  Instead she told me she'd just send me one since I expressed an interest.  Wow, I was floored, really???  The piece probably has at least 50 hours or more of stitching in it.   I will post the piece tomorrow so you can see it, and also what I'm making to showcase it in.

Such overwhelming generosity, I felt I wanted to give something special back to her.  So last week when the weather was cooler here, I sent her a clay slab candlestick holder I had made as a demo this year for my beginning clay kids, plus the candle I demoed for them.  The candle is made from beeswax and I was scared it would melt in transit.  But as you can see here it didn't and Jenclair posted these pix yesterday on her blog to show off my work.   I love how her camera was able to focus in close on the colorful metallics I rubbed over the embossed clay.

So if you haven't had a chance to check out Jenclair's blog, click on the link and enjoy her site.  She is a fiber artist, an eco-dyer, a gardener extraordinaire and a loving grandmother.  Plus she does work and art for the Alzheimer's Organization which is very near and dear to my heart.  Jenclair is a very special woman!