"Mix It Up with Melange" and "Mixed Media Monday" Challenges

As a busy mother of three I find it necessary to be fastidious with time management...therefore I have created one piece of art to answer the calls of two challenges this week. Hey, a girl's gotta do, what a girl's gotta do :)

This mixed media collage is my response to the ON THE BEACH prompt from Mixed Media Monday and the FUN prompt from Mix It Up with Melange.

"the girls always had fun on the beach"...works for me :)

I encourage you to visit the challenge blogs and take part in the fun or at the very least look at all the wonderful art submitted by participants.

This collage is available in my Etsy shop.

© Nancy Lefko

Collage Mania 2009

There are 39 pages of wonderful small art pieces that opened for viewing today. Go here for a visual feast. My contribution is a small version of the Smoky Mountain series and can be found on page 2. It was created with the same "ortwork" collage process described in my previous post.

You have the opportunity to own one of those 384 original art pieces by bidding at the online auction that begins May 5th. All proceeds from sales go to the American Cancer Society.

a little thrift goes a long way..

So two days ago i found out that this little overly rich city i live in actually has a thrift store... shocked beyond belief i ventured there to see if it was true..It was and it had some real beauties hidden within those walls..

I didn't quite rummage around as much as i wanted to but i was able to leave with 2 great buys.. one's a vintage Stuart Weitzman bag, that is so unbelievably cute, and the other is and 80's style leather belt. So today i put them together to form this!

Illustration Friday ~ Theater

I knew that with the prompt THEATER, my collage for Illustration Friday this week would feature a Broadway beauty. Here she is in all her glory...100% diva.

This collage is available in my Etsy shop. ** SOLD **

© Nancy Lefko

Mountain Quilt Finished

I thought you may like to see the stages to complete this "ortwork" collage piece that features the Smoky Mountains. The background pieces from my scrap bag were laid out to establish the basic placement of the mountains, groves of trees, and sky during the Friday afternoon demonstration at the gallery in Gatlinburg. I had in mind to portray the new growth that I had observed on the drive to the mountains. This step is akin to doing an "under painting".
Friday evening at home I added details with more bits of fabric scraps. There was a lot of cutting with scissors and the rotary blade. Angora yarn and wool roving was used to soften and blend areas.
A pale, muted red-violet tulle was laid over the surface to trap all those bits and pieces in place. Lots of pins held this sandwich of backing, batting, scraps, wool, and tulle together. I used a variety of threads, many of them variegated, to quilt patterns that suited each area of the scene. I like to use the zig-zag stitch setting for free-motion quilting of the trees.
It was then pinned to the design wall. Oil stick pastels were used to highlight and define shapes and edges. This is a slow process. After adding a touch of color or shading I need to leave the room or do something else before I can assess it with a "fresh eye" to see if the addition is convincing. A black permanent ink brush tipped marker was used to add more tree trunks and branches to the grove of trees in the foreground. To set the pastels the piece was sprayed with Krylon's clear acrylic. I use the one that has a UV ray protection to help guard against fading over time.
I squared it up trimming away the unfinished edges. You may recognize the fabric frame from the large mountain piece recently completed. I had intentionally made more than was needed for that piece, just in case I goofed cutting a mitered corner. Sure enough, I did ... and still had enough leftover to frame this one.

"Spring from Morton's Overlook" (2009)
20"x 18"

To see the other four "ortwork" collage pieces featuring this same view click on the Smoky Mountain Quilts lable.

Journal Fun

It really has felt like Spring the last couple of days. The sun has been shining, the daffodils are up, the trees are budding and even the bugs are back. It feels wonderful.

Another wonderful feeling is found in journaling. I love mixing it up in my journal with watercolor pencils, acrylics, collage elements and Pitt pens.

It will be quite awhile before my flower gardens come into bloom, and I don't even have a vegetable garden, but I'm content knowing that the gardens are waking up from their winter nap.



© Nancy Lefko

Quick Opinion post!!

Left: Alexander Wang-- Right: Forever 21


Do we like these or not?? To buy or not to buy?? (obviously at the meantime referring to the F21 version)

Inspire Me Thursday ~ Push

When I read the prompt for Inspire Me Thursday, my maternal instincts went into overdrive...the first vision I had was pushing a baby carriage. I suppose that may be due to the fact that I am dealing with separation anxiety this week. My two high school boys are away in Florida with their HS band. So, it looks like I'm missing them, huh?

In any case, here is my interpretation of PUSH for Inspire Me Thursday. This collage is available in my Etsy shop.

© Nancy Lefko

Spring Gallery Gathering in Gatlinburg

Yesterday afternoon at Gatlinburg's "Spring Gallery Gathering" in the Cliff Dweller's Gallery I was one of seven artists demonstrating art. There was weaving, basket making, dulcimer making, pot throwing, marbleizing paper, and mixed media collage going on in the upstairs studios and on the front porch. I was set up in the gallery. My project was creating the base layer for my fifth mountain piece of the same view of the Smoky Mountains from Morton's Overlook.
Visitors were amazed that the one hanging on the wall for the afternoon began this way.
I got to the point of adding the finer details at the end of four hours.
"Silk Roses" along with several of my other quilts are among lots of art hanging on the walls. There are also four birds among the baskets and pottery on the shelves.

It's a Kiwi thing..

New Zealand fashion designers at Stolen Girlfriend's Club have really impressed me with their crazy pieces. i fell in love with so many, but a couple caught my eye and have been stuck with me for a while now.. the owl dress form their Summer 08 " We are all animals" collection.

And the Her majesty dress from their Winter 09 "Pretty Vacant" collection.


Also, Rumi of FashionToast recently did a post wearing another of my favorite pieces from the latest SGC collection, The white pinned dress! I'm thinking DIY would be fun.


Can't wait to head back to NZ this summer to get my hands on some of their beauties <3

Smoky Mountain Quilts

This small quilt of the Smoky Mountains is my contribution to Collage Mania 2009 auction. It will be one of 383 quilts donated to this years Fiber Arts For A Cause to raise money for the American Cancer Society. Pre-auction viewing of all the quilts begins April 29th.
It is donated in memory of a friend who loved these mountains.

Tomorrow this quilt along with the large one I made of this same view, "Our Biosphere Reserve", will be displayed at the Cliff Dweller's Gallery in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. I will be there throughout the afternoon demonstrating the collage technique I developed using scraps of fabric.

"Mix It Up with Melange" Challenge ~ Ticket

The Melange Team on Etsy is pleased to announce the premier prompt in their new weekly challenge, "Mix It Up with Melange." Given the word, TICKET, I thought of that great tune "Ticket to Ride," and out came this collage.

I encourage you to visit the Melange blog, join in the fun and come back every Wednesday for a new prompt. The first participant to post a link to their submission (and of course, link back to the Melange blog :) will have their art featured in the blog post. Sounds like a good deal to me! Go check it out.

This collage is available in my Etsy shop.

© Nancy Lefko

Published in Cloth, Paper, Scissors

It is a joy to announce that I have again been published in Cloth, Paper, Scissors magazine. I share this joy with my faithful blog readers, because your continual support and encouragement is what gives me the confidence to submit my work for publication. I get my share of "no thanks" letters too, but it truly is a thrill when the publisher says, "YES."

The May/June copy of CPS is not yet in stores, but when it is I'd love for you to check out my piece in the Reader Gallery and also look for the wonderful article by my friend Pam Carriker. Also, in the Homework section of the magazine, Jodi Ohl has a couple of great tips for you. Pam, Jodi and I belong to the Melange Team at Etsy, a wonderfully supportive group of mixed media artists. Also gracing the pages of CPS is a new friend, Sue Pelletier.

I am thrilled to share space with these talented ladies in Cloth, Paper, Scissors next month.



© Nancy Lefko

Watercolor Pencils

I just love watercolor pencils. Why did it take me so long to discover these gems? I love their ease of use; especially since I have always wanted to learn watercolor, but never had the patience or opportunity. Now I feel as if I can get the watercolor effect with the ease of a pencil...this is great! My next purchase will surely be a paintbrush with a water reservoir so that I can take along my watercolor journal and pencils when I travel.

Thanks to Pam for inspiring this "Trio of Pears." I agree with her...pears are great fun to draw. And now they can even be done in watercolor...yippee!

© Nancy Lefko

My New Moleskine

I received a brand new Watercolor Moleskine in the mail the other day. I could hardly wait to open it and have fun experimenting. But with lots to do, it wasn't until today that I had a chance to play.

After an acrylic wash I stamped an image and followed that with cone flowers using my new watercolor pencils....what fun!! (I had a feeling I would like the watercolor pencils and I was right.) I added a bit of Prismacolor pencil and finished it off with some sketchy Pitt pen and added in the journaling. I'm hooked.

I have to thank my dear friend Pam Carriker for opening up to me the world of art journaling. I never thought much about journaling before I took Pam's class, but I truly enjoy this art form. It is such a pleasure to create art simply for the fun of it without wondering if it will "sell." It's great fun to create art that is all mine. I have three journals going now and I do believe I'll be happily journaling for years to come.

© Nancy Lefko

Back in the 1920's

Had a theme party this weekend to celebrate a dear friend's birthday.. after freaking out about what to wear i somehow managed to teleport myself into the 1920's using items which were all present in my wardrobe.

A night full of dancing, cigars and rounds of poker marked the day i pranced around with feathers in my hair.

That Last Seam in the Binding

I have tried a number of different techniques to sew that last seam in the binding. You all know the one .. the seam that cannot be sewn until after you've stitched most of the binding onto the outside edge of the quilt to get to the point when you can determine how much is excess. Getting this last seam in easily and neatly was a struggle for me until...
I found a tutorial for "Joining the Binding" by following a link to Sew Happy Quilting from someone coming from there to my blog. I cannot tell you how happy I am to have discovered an easy and sure-fire way to figure out the needed length and best way to seam it together. I've bookmarked that post, but have had difficulty following the steps to manipulate the fabric because the binding is white fabric that makes it difficult to determine the laps and folds in those photos. My initial purpose for snapping these was for my personal reference. But I'm so thrilled with this technique I've just got to "spread the word".

My bindings are cut longer that I know they need to be. I start stitching the binding to the quilt about 10-12 inches in from its end. I stop stitching the binding to the quilt about 12-18" from the start. Somewhere near the center of that gap where the binding is not attached to the quilt, fold the binding strip on the right side straight up towards the middle of the quilt.
Lay the left end of the binding strip across the right one and fold it toward the center of the quilt parallel to the right one.
Trim away the excess length of both ends.
After cutting it will look like this.
To make a diagonal seam that matches all the others in the binding, open both ends of the binding, pin those cut ends perpendicular to each other, draw a diagonal line across the corner.
Stitch the seam on the drawn line. Then trim away the excess fabric.
Finger press or iron the the seam, refold the binding, then pin and stitch that perfect length with a perfect seam to the edge of the quilt.
Yeah! It's done! It was easy! It's neat! There's noway anyone could ever tell where you began or ended sewing the binding to your quilt.

These instructions with the photos can be downloaded from Scribd as a PDF file to your computer for you to print. (Just click on the red type to do so.) My printed copy is pinned on a cork board next to my sewing machine.

PS: Here's an excerpt from an email I received from the author of the "Sew Happy Quilting" blog:

Nellie, I'm so glad you found it useful. I've never seen the method used either. It was just something I figured out on my own when I first started quilting and knew there had to be a way to join and make them look good. I didn't have the Internet then to help out or I guess I'd just do it like everyone else but after trying desperately I finally figured a way. I still to this day do all my binding this way and it works out great.

What a clever woman to figure out this marvelous method. No wonder I could find no reference to this way of connecting the ends of the binding on the web. I'm so pleased to have stumbled across that particular post on her blog. It pays to "surf".

Machine Quilting

The Smoky Mountain Guild Quilt Show is fast approaching. One of my three entries has a quite a bit of work before it's finished.
I had pieced it almost a year ago intending to get the machine quilting done last summer at the cottage. Now I'm in crunch mode to get it done. A few weeks ago it got layered with the batting and backing fabric. I also machine quilted the straight lines at that time.
To experiment with quilting patterns, I placed Press'nSeal plastic wrap over one of the large blocks and drew these patterns with a fat tipped Sharpie pen.
I'm now quilting the spiderweb patterns in all the squares that have spiders. Rather than my original intent of quilting each large block, I'm quilting all the small squares scattered through the twelve blocks that will have the same pattern. Each one gets easier as I develop a rhythm for stitching that pattern. Also, this sequence gives me the option to change thread color for the other patterns.

I'd like to share my trick for getting a grip on the fabric while machine quilting. I use 3M sand paper foam rubber pads that I found at a JoAnn Fabric/Craft store in the woodworking department. It takes only a slight downward pressure for them to do their job of keeping the fabric taut and sliding it around on the machine bed. It's easy to reposition them AND my fingers are free for all the other things that have to be done while sewing.
Well, back to the machine.

Playing With Alicia

My friend, Alicia, just left after a ten-day visit. I've posted about her visits and our projects in previous years. Having a major project to work on is a tradition for us. It usually involves making presents for our mutual friends. Last year it was the birds. This year it involves this bag of voluptuousness.
Our shopping was done on Alicia's first day. Here she is cutting and stitching.
The weather was unseasonably cool for most of her visit. There were only two days we were able to sit outside to stitch. Between our time out there and in my studio we took a few day trips that included my husband. One was up to the Smoky Mountains.
We had a picnic next to a mountain stream ... just below the Chimney Tops.
At this altitude the trees were still bare, but the wild flowers were blooming.
Near the top was quite a bit of snow ...
... and ice cycles on the shady side of rock cliffs.
As for our project, we each completed seven of these.
The feathered one is created by Alicia. I made this glamorous one.
I cannot reveal the others until they are gifted next Christmas because many of the recipients read this blog. We are calling these "pin-up potpourri pouches" since we think few of our friends would carry these suggestive beauties as evening bags. Besides, even though some of them are "D" cups, they're hardly large enough for all the stuff that we older women find necessary to carry on an evening out.