Playing with Paper Towels

It all started in a class with Elizabeth Busch at Quilting By the Lake. We were painting on fabric and paper. We were cleaning up with paper towels. I kept looking at them in my trash
basket and thinking, hmmm.

Elizabeth told us about doing quick sketches with fabric on index cards. They were fast and fun, little bursts of creativity, potential ideas for larger pieces. But what do you do with all those little "gems"? In an ah-ha! moment, I started sewing the "gems" made with fabric scraps to greeting card stock. When I started saving the paper towels that I cleaned up the paint and dye with, I started using the paper towels for backgrounds on the greeting cards.

Now I buy white paper towels for the "quilt" design in the towel. No towels with tea pots on them for me! Sometimes I skip painting the fabric and monoprint the paper towels. They soak up the paints beautifully, dry really fast, and iron well. A few tears here and there give them character. They can be backed with fusible interfacing to give them more body if needed or fused to other surfaces with fusible webbing. The paper towels are a little more fragile, but anything you can do with fabric, you can do with paper towels, too.

This paper towel thing is just too much fun. There are more things to create with paper towels...jewelry, books, collages, quilts... See you later! I have to go play now.

Inspirations and musings

Lake George from summit of Sleeping Beauty

Those of us who live in the Adirondacks are blessed to be able to find inspiration in our own backyard. It is difficult to live here and not be influenced by the beauty that surrounds us. Elements of our environment find their way into our work whether it is the blue of the sky, the texture of pine needles, or the squeek of snow beneath our feet at -35 degrees.

Emotions and nature emerge in colors and shapes on my design wall. Whatever I have been thinking about is there in front of me even if I have not been consciously aware of trying to portray something specific. About half way through a piece, I can say, "Oh, yes! I've been thinking about that!"

And, no, I didn't take the photo. Hubby gets the credit. I'm a serious klutz in sneakers on flat ground in the summer, so winter hiking in snow shoes? I've been told I could trip over a seagull feather on the beach, so I'll wait until the ice and snow melt away from the trails in the woods.

The turkeys are moving around and we saw a flock of geese winging their way north this afternoon. We here in the "North Country" are looking forward to green grass and daffodils providing us with more inspiration

"Vineyard" Hits the Road

"Vineyard" is included in the SAQA 20th Anniversary Trunk show at The Big Sky Retreat and Show in Billings, Montana March 11 to 14. Some of these small works, 8" square in 12" mats, will be included in the collection to be archived by the International Quilt Study Center in Lincoln, Nebraska.


"Vineyard" is painted and printed with Acrylics and Setacolor on upholstery fabric and tissue paper adhered to fabric with gel medium.


It would be really cool if "Vineyard" went to live at the Quilt Study Center, but if not, it will find a good home somewhere...maybe in Kansas with Dorothy and Toto!