Would you like to have a class with Ellen?

Ellen would be delighted to have a class with you or your group! You can check out her classes at www.ellenanneeddy.com. She also offers independent studio time in her studio in Indiana. Talk to Ellen about classes at 219-921-0885, or contact her scheduler Sarah at 616-485-5646 to set a date

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Ellen Anne Eddy
Author of Thread Magic: The Enchanted World of Ellen Anne Eddy Fiber artist, author and teacher
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Saturday, December 17, 2011

No More Color Police:Creating Flower Colors

10:08 AM | Posted by Ellen Anne Eddy | | Edit Post



 "Roses are red. violets are blue. Angels in heaven know I love you." Down in the valley

 What color is a flower, actually?










In spite of everything your kindergarten teacher told you, it's not a simple answer. If she made you color all your roses red, give me her name and I'll go have a little chat with her. Or better still, you might want to tell her that she can't live in your head anymore without paying rent.


That's not a white tulip. Nor is it really red or yellow. It's a wonderful swirl of a number of great colors. Leaving any of that out is a loss. But how do you do it in fiber?
We have two great tools. Well, we probably have hundreds but these help with this.Hand dyed fabric has all those great streaks. It's a great way to start a flower.


Machine embroidery also speeds us on our way.The wonderful thing about stitching flowers is that thread really is minutia. We can slip in that dash of green, that edge of orange or purple that flowers either do have or should.
When Mark Lipinski asked me how important color was on his show this week and why I put so much emphasis on it, I almost fell of my chair. Color IS the media. We see everything through the color and the texture. You can here that conversation on Mark's Creative Mojo  show, December 14th.


Thread Magic Garden has a full chapter on creating colors for flowers. It's a magical thing. And you can do it too.



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Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Blog at C&T Publishing

12:10 PM | Posted by Ellen Anne Eddy | | Edit Post
I'm the Guest Blogger today at the 
C&T Blog.
I've posted a blog called My Studio Garden.


See it at http://www.ctpubblog.com/

Thanks, C&T!
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Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Announcing My Computer Radio Show Premier at Creative Mojo!

12:17 PM | Posted by Ellen Anne Eddy | | Edit Post
I'm  going to be on Mark Lipinski's Creative Mojo Radio Show on 
Wednesday, December 14th, at 3:00PM -5:PM EST
 (2-4 CST, 12-2 MST, 11-1 PST),
 Live for two hours with Listener Call ins.


Mark is one of my favorite creative quilting lunatics. He brings immense talent and a wacky sense of fun to us all.
On of his gifts to the quilt community is this fabulous show.I'm so honored he's asked me to join him!


Go to www.toginet.com on your computer and click on the live button on the right hand side of your screen. Or you can listen to it later at http://www.marklipinski.com/


Come and join us. Call in! I'll answer 


anything (well almost.)







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Monday, December 12, 2011

Lauren Strach: A Botanical Lunatic with a Plan

12:28 PM | Posted by Ellen Anne Eddy | | Edit Post
Lauren doesn't look like a lunatic. She looks like a pink cheeked soccer mom. Look out! Stand back! 


She's an emerging art quilter who attacks new approaches and techniques with gleeful ferocity. And masters them with passion. Every time she visits me, I find myself flying to my machine, inspired by her intensity.


Lauren says,

"My inspiration, like so many other quilters, comes from nature. 




As a life-long biologist and Master Gardener, I thought I saw nature, but it wasn’t until I embraced my artful journey that I began to really see.  My inspiration is found in the whorls of snail shells, the miniature worlds of mosses and lichens, the rugged nooks and crannies of the bark of the fallen tree, and the intricate shading and nuances in the early spring wildflowers. And, the more I see, the more I see.

The act of translating that vision in line, pattern and color into textile recreations introduces the next level of AHA!  It is an ever fascinating challenge to take the experience of seeing with eyes wide open, to shape it into form. From the fantastical realism of exaggerated insects, to the abstracted likeness of the quintessential flower bud, I seek to uncover the universal codes, to bring them to life with fabric and thread.  Tactile, textile translations of the mysteries of nature, celebrating the wonders of life, that is where I find my inspiration.



Lauren's work has been showed at both Paducah and Houston. She was a finalist in the $100,000 Quilt Challenge. Where will she show next? It could be anywhere. If she doesn't send it in, it's likely 
to fly in on it's own.



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Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Maharishi of the Vacuum Cleaner

7:37 AM | Posted by Ellen Anne Eddy | | Edit Post
I would like to say that my cats taught me to be  terrified of vacuum cleaners. I'd like to say it but it's simply not true.


 No one actually cleaned much of anything in my childhood home. We lived in a pleasantly shabby small house carefully insulated by mountains of books. So once every five years or so, someone would put some effort into finding the floor and once found, vacuuming it. Of course that took in my case, huge quantities of ice cream. In my mother's case, similar quantities of gin. Either way we never faced it chemically unimpaired. It may explain why she thought it was funny to chase me around the room with it. It may also explain my complete dread of them.


But at a certain point you decide that your childhood is past. The floor is in shambles and it would be nice to see what color the rug is. So I went on the search for the vacuum I wouldn't hate. 


This was not easy. We went through a Royal, several Hoovers, a Eureka canister that lasted a week.We have a dog cookie under every rug and mattress and wisps of thread escaped from the studio. Some of them whole and some in crumbs. Admittedly, this is a hard life for any vacuum cleaner.


I was bemoaning the Eureka when Pat Winter told me she'd gotten a Bissell that pretty much ate babies for lunch for $44 at Walmart. Desperate with the image of my new godbaby wading through the crumbs, fur and crunchies, I bought one.


OMG did this thing whirl fur and fluff around. So it was with tears in my eyes I watched it die today.It was almost a whole month old. Could I find the receipt? Of course not. So I went online, and found the manual. While I was looking for the belt, one of the hoses fell off spewing crumblies everywhere. When I looked in the hose there was a small plastic bottle.


What could it be? I poked at it with broom handles, my croquet mallet handle, the fire poker, the skewers we use for roasting marshmallows. It finally gave it up for  particularly long mop handle.



What else could it have been? It was a bottle of sewers aid!


So I am now, by right of my passage Maharishi of the Vacuum Cleaner.Chief bottle washer too. And I know where I put the Sewer's Aid. Life is good. Now where did I put the floor?
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Sunday, December 4, 2011

In Search of African Violet Colors: Anatomy of a Color Study

1:00 PM | Posted by Ellen Anne Eddy | | Edit Post







I love that purple and gold combination. It makes me think of African Violets, my favorite inside flower.
I know I'm out of season, but all this rain makes me think of this song, and that makes me think of violets. They come in endless colors, all of them gorgeous. So let's go to our color wheel and figure out why.


We have some great complementary action here! The purple and the yellow are zinging off each other, with some analogous purples on the side.  Of course it's irresistible.
Here's how that translates into a quilt. The metallic threads soften the yellow a bit, but they still play against each other. And the sweep of darker and lighter purples to either side makes it a richer combination.
Wrapping it up:
African violets are a great complementary purple/yellow color scheme, enhanced with some analogous purples on the side. If they make your heart happy, see what happens when you put oranges with blues. The color wheel shows us the relationships of these colors. Similar relationships will have similar effects. It's a great way to stretch your palette.


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Friday, December 2, 2011

Getting Together

2:46 PM | Posted by Ellen Anne Eddy | | Edit Post



Normally December would  be a time of getting things into place. Getting them together. Tax receipts. Almost finished quilts. Articles that have to go out. The teaching is done for the year, and all those tasks impossible in the travel have to be done.
This December, add to that I'm getting ready for Thread Magic Garden, my new book from C&T publishing to arrive in January. There's a flurry of newsletters, articles and new work that has to be in place.
In the middle of that muddle, I'm trying very hard to realize that the best task is simplification. So with that in mind, I'm putting all my blogs into one place. 

I know that some people just want information, some people want stories, some people want a place to check for schedules, and some people just want eye candy. You'll still find it all here at the Art Outside the Box at ellenanneeddy.blogspot.com blog. I've put in a cloud label so you can find what you need easier. And I'm very curious as to what you think. I'm hoping you'll let me know.


All the blogs have been fed into this one. I'll still show you wonderful Lunatic Fringe people, color studies, funny stories, fabulous techniques and amazing embroidery. But, we're getting together. Right now.

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Essential Embroidery Stitches: Free Hand and Machine Embroidery Designs and Techniques.

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