I thoroughly enjoyed my trip to the Minnesota Quilt Show and Conference with my friends from the DIVAS. The quilts were marvelous, the class I took was delightful, and I had the chance to catch up with tons of people I know. And I did some shopping, of course! Although I have honed my ability […]
The Pleasure Of Slow Stitching
When I first started off on my Shape Shifter adventure, I decided that my fabric needed stitching to enhance the painted motifs. I have to say that hand stitching is a HUGE departure from the way I normally work. I’ve always been a “put it on the machine and git ‘er done” kind of girl. […]
Candace Makes Her Shape Shifter Debut
I’m really excited. I finally got into my studio and finished my new Candace Bag, and she’s absolutely beautiful! Before you ask, I used the Candice Bag pattern by my good friend Joan Hawley at Lazy Girl Designs. This is the second bag I’ve made from this pattern and it’s even better than the first. […]
Add Stunning Stitches To Shape Shifter Projects
You may not know it, but I’ve always considered myself “allergic” to needles and thread. Yes, I confess. I’ve pretty much avoided hand-work for all the years I’ve been playing with quilting and fabric art. After the past week or two, I think it’s safe to say that’s going to change. As I mentioned in […]
Stabilize Your Shape Shifter Bag
One of the things I love most about Quilt Market is the opportunity to catch up with my friends and find out what they are up to. When Joan Hawley (THE Lazy Girl, in the flesh!) stopped by, I got a first hand look at her new line of interfacing products. When I decided it […]
Featured Artist: Kathy Rentz
Some of our community members use our Shiva Paintstiks to add subtle embellishments to their quilts. Others, like Kathy Rentz, use them on every square inch of a quilt. I think you’ll agree that this quilt is really fabulous – and Kathy made incredibly good use of her Paintstiks. Here are Kathy’s comments from her […]
Create a Gratitude Folder
Wow! I couldn’t believe the response to the Gratitude Folder I wrote about last week. I lost count of how many of you chimed in requesting the instructions, but it was great to read your messages. This message was pretty typical. I have been wanting to make such a folder for quite sometime, but I […]
OUTRAGEOUS IDEA: Transfer Foil to Paper With A Laser Printer
In last week’s blog post, I was talking about creating Foil Accents on fabric and paper with rubbing plates, adhesive and craft foil. It’s a really neat process — perfect for those of us with a weakness for shiny stuff. (If you missed the newsletter, the instructions can be found in Rubbing Plate Roundup.) On […]
Add Sparkle and Shine with Foil and Rubbing Plates
Foil was one of the first fabric embellishment toys that I learned about back in the late 90s, even before I learned about my beloved paintstiks. (Oh my goodness! Has it really been that long?) I took a class in St. Paul from Laura Murray at a lovely quilt shop that is no longer with […]
Cold Weather Play Day – Paintstiks on Leather
I always chuckle when I see “bitterly cold” in the weather forecast, but that was about the best description for our weather last weekend. We dodged the snow storm that buried the Twin Cities, but it was colder than cold and the wind was howling. Definitely a good weekend to hibernate in my studio. I had an itch to try something new, so I pulled out the beautiful pieces of yummy colored suede that I acquired at the Houston Quilt Market. (Yes, one of the dangers of attending quilt market is the temptation to do a little shopping with the other vendors…)
Jayme Crowe and Megan Cook over at Bella Nonna Design Studio have introduced a new line of sewing leather. They sell it in 4″ squares and 8.5″ x 11″ pieces. Megan brought a few squares over to our booth at Houston to see if we could stencil designs on the leather with paintstiks. I’m happy to say the answer is most definitely yes! Here’s what I did this weekend.
Celebrate All Year with Celebrate Stencils and Bosa Nova Bags
Celebrations aren’t just for the holidays. There are countless reasons to celebrate over the course of the year. We all have birthdays (whether we want them or not) and most of us have reason to celebrate weddings, anniversaries and other gift-giving events throughout the year.
To make a gift truly special, I like to wrap it up in a hand-made gift bag, preferably something that can be used more than once. And I really like the gift bag to match the occasion. Here’s an example I made from our Bosa Nova Bags pattern and the new Celebrate Stencils. And don’t forget about that new Lime green paintstik – I love that color!
Make a little Design Magic!
I know I’ve been missing in action here on the blog, but I’ve been totally immersed in finishing up my new book called Design Magic for Paintstiks on Fabric. The book went to the printer at the end of April, and I should have copies in my hot little hands sometime next week! And just in time for Spring Quilt Market. Whew!
Here’s the cover of my new baby and a few paragraphs from the Welcome section:
Welcome to the world of Design Magic. It’s a magical, mystical world indeed, where simple shapes are transformed into easy-to-use tools, and fabulous fabric is created in far less time than you ever imagined possible. It’s almost like having your own magic wand!
And now that you’re here, I hope you enjoy the Design Magic adventure as much as I have. The path is full of exciting “aha” discoveries and “wow” moments. There’s never a dull moment in the world of Design Magic.
So, what’s it all about?
Design Magic is a really slick method for making your own designs and putting them on fabric with minimal tools and time. It’s faster than fusing and easier than appliqué! Here are the 3 main steps.
* Create a design by cutting shapes from a square of black paper.
* Make a set of equal and opposite stencils.
* Stencil repeating images on fabric with paintstik colors and stencil brushes.
The book includes complete instructions for making your own designs and stencils (of course), but I’ve also included a set of pre-cut mylar stencils for those of you who just want to jump in and paint. Here’s a picture of some fabric I’ve painted with the Primrose stencils that are tucked inside the back cover of each book.
There’s way too much to tell you in a single post, so I’m not even going to try. If you want to see what else we are introducing at the Spring Quilt Market, jump on over to the New Products page on our website.
We’ll be shipping the new books and stencils out to our retailers and distributors within 2 weeks, so you won’t have to wait too long to get your own personal copy of Design Magic.
Happy painting!
Shelly
