More from New Mexico

Here are a couple more shots I took last week in New Mexico:

This view is from the Acoma Pueblo looking down to the valley below.



I took this one outside of Taos early Sunday morning.


An interesting wall in Santa Fe.

Back from New Mexico

Last week, my friend Cinde and I took a 4-day trip to New Mexico, and it was fabulous! We stayed in Santa Fe for 2 nights, then travelled north to Taos before returning home. Lots of shopping and eating, but I loved the sights most. We stopped at 2 Pueblos, and drove around outside Taos where I took a lot of landscape pictures. I'm hoping to do more fiber arts pieces based on some of the scenes I captured. Here is just a taste of what we saw:

This was taken at the Taos Pueblo... I love the angles and shadows here, and hope to use this for one of my fiber arts pieces. I took 139 pictures on our trip, so I have lots and lots of inspiration! More to come...

Taos... framed at last!

I officially removed 'Taos Art Quilt' from my project board this morning... it has been mounted and framed:

It's a little cock-eyed... I had to take the photo at an angle, because the frame has glass that isn't glare-resistant.  I was lucky I was able to find a ready-made frame that wasn't a small fortune!  Custom framing was out of the question... this is my exhibit piece for this year's Prelude Exhibit, the show for participants of the annual Flagstaff Open Studios tour, so I needed to keep my costs in line.  And even if I wanted to swap the glass with glare-proof, the glass is imbedded in the mat, so I would have to replace the matting as well... there goes the cost!  At any rate, I'm very pleased with the end result, and if it doesn't sell, I already have a spot picked out to hang it in our house!  I am glad to be finished with this piece... it sat on my work table for far too long!  Now I can decide what I want to do next: indigo dyeing, more "how-to" videos, deconstructed screen printing, tray dyeing, batik... the list goes on and on!

Update on Taos Art Quilt

I can't believe I haven't posted about this project since last December!  But then it languished in my studio for quite some time, while I worked on several other projects.  However, I am hoping to have this complete in time to submit to this year's Prelude Exhibit at Coconino Center for the Arts... take-in day is August 2nd, and I need to decide if I want to mat and frame this piece, or complete it as an Art Quilt.  Here is a picture of how it looks now:

I really like the idea of leaving it as a flat piece, rather than adding batting and a backing and stitching... that would make it more 3-dimensional, but I am concerned that it would detract from the design.  On the other hand, I am not well-versed in the technique of blocking, and having it matted and framed would add to the cost.  If I sell it at Prelude, they take a 30% commision, so I would have to up the price to make it worthwhile.  Guess I'll have to give myself a deadline for deciding, because take-in will be here before you know it! 

Update on Taos

I can't believe how long it has been since I did any work on my Taos art quilt! Time has a way of flying! But now that all the shows are done for the year, and I have finished the Christmas shopping/mailing, sent out the Christmas cards, and caught up with some household chores, I finally found time to get some more work done on it:

Here is the top next to a copy of the photo I am working from

Here is a close-up of the grassy area I just got some work done on. My biggest challenge has been to find a good selection of thread colors to use on this project! I used hand-dyed fabrics, but I don't (yet!) dye my own thread... that may change soon! In the meantime, I haven't decided if I am going to finish this as a quilted wall hanging, or perhaps mount it in a frame. All the stitching is being done to just the foundation piece. I hope to have the stitching done before the end of the year. I love how it's coming along, and I'm anxious to see the finished piece!

Other than that, I have been building up my wholesale shop and looking for retailers to contact... if you know anyplace in your neck of the woods that might want to buy hand-dyed clothing and accessories, let me know, okay? Meanwhile, you can check out my new shop at www.tiedyejudy.trunkt.com. Let me know what you think of it, okay? Feedback is always welcome! Happy holidays to all!