Cindy's Color Chat: Green Cascades

"Cascades" quilted wall hanging Cindy Grisdela

Green is a color that I tend to use as a supporting player rather than the star of the show--although there are so many "moods" of green that I end up using it a lot--from olive green to forest green to emerald green to lime green to kiwi. Even the names sound like fun!

Above is "Cascades," another contemporary take on a traditional quilting pattern. I started with the multicolor background fabric and pulled the colors for the cascades out of it--gold, green, blue, orange and red-orange. The narrow inner border complements the background in darker tones. Using various shades of red-orange as the complement to the olive green border gives the design more interest.

What's your favorite color green? Check out these TAFA shops on Etsy.

Garden GreenYo-Yo Textile, Rayela

Needlefelt Pocket Purse, CloverleafFibreArt

Hand Embroidered Green Cuff, MadrigalEmbroidery

TAFA Team Treasuries of the Week, November 11

This week we have three beautiful TAFA member treasuries, created by HEraMade, Marina of Silkmari and Sally Manke:

Posted by Coco, TAFA Team's Treasury Manager. Visit ThreadsOfOld, her Etsy shop with beautiful antique Indian textiles.

Cindy's Color Chat: Yellow and Orange Butterflies

Cindy Grisdela, quilted wall hanging, Butterfly Kisses

Last week I said my favorite color for years was blue. At the same time, my stance was "I don't do yellow." I didn't do orange either, except for Halloween. But gradually my tastes began to change. I had a quilting friend at the time who had a great sense of color. She made wonderful quilts using bright fabrics bursting with energy. She never met a yellow she didn't like! I learned from her example and began to be more adventurous with colors.


Above is Butterfly Kisses, which uses a traditional quilting pattern and reinterprets it in a contemporary way. The key to making it interesting is the use of lots of different yellows and oranges--ranging from lemon yellow to yellow gold to orange to peach to almost pink. The black and white "butterflies" give this piece punch.


You can learn a lot about color from studying other people's work. Etsy does a great job of putting together images when you first visit the site grouped around a color or theme. Try looking at work using colors you don't normally feel comfortable with and find something you can like about that color choice or the way it's incorporated into the work. It can give you a new perspective. Of course you still might not feel comfortable putting yellow in the living room, but you never know!


 Yellow and orange are strong colors that often play a supporting role in a color scheme. Check out these great images from TAFA members on Etsy:

Quilted Art Card, DEsignedByDianeEvans

Autumn Quilted Wall Hanging, sillyboodilly

Wool Bracelet, LenteJulcsi

Fiber Necklace, colettecolor

Cindy's Color Chat: Blue and A Coral Reef

Coral Reef, quilted wall hanging, Cindy Grisdela

What's your favorite color? Has it always been the same color, or have your tastes evolved over time? My favorite color for years was blue and my quilted wall hanging "Coral Reef" above is a good example. It's a contemporary interpretation of a traditional quilt pattern known as "Trip Around the World," using blue as the primary focus, with accents of lime green and red purple. The accents are important to give the piece more life. If I had used just shades of blue, it would have had a completely different feel.

Artists and designers generally think of colors such as purple, blue and green as "cool" colors" and red, orange and yellow as "warm" colors. The colors in "Coral Reef" are all on the "cool" side, so it's a piece that you might be comfortable hanging in a quieter setting, like a bedroom or study, perhaps.

There are hundreds of blue items in the TAFA Team on Etsy--take a look at some lovely pieces below: 

Turtle Quilted Wall Hanging, Castilleja Cotton

Hand coiled rope basket, Sally Manke

Crochet Brooch, Nothingbutstring 

Posted by Cindy
Website: www.cindygrisdela.com
Etsy Shop: cindygrisdela

TAFA Team Treasuries of the Week, October 28

Felted Wrist Cuff by Natalie Magnin of Zamirte Textiles on Etsy. You can visit her shop here.

Here is a beautiful treasury created by Natalie consisting of creations by TAFA members on Etsy.

Coco's Vintage Textiles from India

Posted by Coco, TAFA Team's Treasury Manager.  Visit ThreadsOfOld, her Etsy shop with beautiful Indian textiles.

Lift up the world...

Lift up the world a little every day . . .

by putting a tiny bit of something new in it.

And why not?

It's an act that encompasses:

passion

creativity

growth &

generosity

in a neat daily package. 

Perfect.

Susan M. Hinckley

Small Works in Wool

TAFA Team Treasuries of the Week, October 21

Here are a couple of beautiful treasuries made by TAFA members for this week.

Made by Ekohaus who crafts stylish, natural and eco-friendly felted shoes and accessories for both men and women. You can check out her Etsy shop here.

Treasury made by WrapturebyInese: Inese knits beautiful wraps, cowls, shawls, convertible hats and mittens. You can visit her shop here.

Treasuries posted by Coco Kulkarni of CocoBags: fabric handbags out of spun cottons, wools and other natural materials.

TAFA Team Treasuries of the Week: October 15

Cindy has done it again! She has put together another beautiful treasury with gorgeous TAFA creations. You can visit her shop here on Etsy.  Featured treasury of the week:

Other TAFA Team treasuries, both beautiful:

Coco's Vintage Textiles from India

Posted by Coco, TAFA Team's Treasury Manager.  Visit ThreadsOfOld, her Etsy shop with beautiful Indian textiles.

A nice video on Etsy by PBS

Brenda Abdullah recycles sweaters into new garments.

PBS came out with a nice video on Etsy, shown below.  They have several artists talk about the work that they do, giving special importance to recycling or upcycling the old into something new.  They also make a good point in stating that Etsy allows artists access to a broad market, that art does not need to exclude that which is functional or available to the masses.  

Many of our TAFA Team members also have the environment as their agenda.  Garbage becomes the raw materials we forage for in our work.  And, those selling vintage items also extend the life of something old, giving it a renewed purpose in a fresh home.  "One person's trash, another one's riches."  

You will find examples of both upcycled and vintage items in all of our shop categories.  Explore the tabs at the top of this blog to visit our Etsy shops.

Stamp it! Cool textile stamps and dye supplies from our TAFA Team.

Vintage Textile Stamps from Afghanistan

Without a doubt, our TAFA Team members are incredibly talented!  With stitches, dye, and all kinds of tools, they transform threads, fabric and other materials into gorgeous clothing, art pieces, and functional things for your home.  Surface design, those changes wrought on a piece of fabric, has become a broad discipline that supports the exploration of what can be done: take it to the limit!  Twist it, dye it, stamp it, stitch it!

Stamping fabric is an ancient practice all over the world.  From the simple carved potato to intricate wood carvings and metal tools, we find examples of textile stamps in almost every culture.

Handcarved textile stamps from the Oshiwa Designs, Namibia

Before the actual stamping, dyes can be applied to the fabric or to yarns to create unique colors or designs.  Jane Porter sells natural dyes in her Etsy shop:

Natural Indigo Dye Kit available on tangledlair

There are many tutorials online and videos on youtube of how you can use the stamps and dyes to create infinite effects.  Acrylic paints can be rolled on with a brayer or a stamp can be dipped into liquid dye.  It all depends on what YOU can imagine and how you like to work.

A couple of examples of what our TAFA Team members do:

Stenciled Katazome Designs by Kit Eastman

Kit uses a traditional Japanese stenciling technique for her designs.  She describes it: "Katazome is a traditional Japanese textile design process in which a stencil is cut from a special water impervious mulberry paper. Rice paste resist is then "printed" through the stencil and left to dry. The open areas of the cloth are painted with brushes using natural pigments in a soymilk binder. The cloth is air-cured, which binds the color to the cloth permanently. Finally the paste is washed off to reveal the completed design."

SimonEtCie has some cool Japanese stamps that would work well with Katazome!

Vintage Japanese Wax Seal Stamps

Susan Schinnick, of Iowa (big supplier of corn here in the US) both dyes her fabric and makes her own stamps to alter fabric for her home accents and garments:

Corn stamp, original designs by Susan Schinnick

As you can see, the possibilities are endless!  Other team members also sell patterns, felt supplies, fabric, kits they make and vintage tools.  Look through our Supplies and Patterns page and you are sure to find some very cool treasures to add to your studio!