International Quilt Festival In Houston, Texas ~Booth # 1536 !

https://www.etsy.com/listing/99453085/cute-little-raggy-cat-pin-cushion

Popular Desert Night fabric from my loom named Jimmy!

Everyone should have a project that makes them giggle, and my little Raggy Cat Pin Cushions do that for me! At $14, this makes a great gift for someone who sews or a 'cat purrrrrrson'! There's a link if you can't wait until Houston!

I am busy weaving This-N-Thats, like in the photo above, for the International Quilt Festival in Houston taking place November 1-4 with a preview night on October 31!

This will be a first time event for me, though I have been told for YEARS that I should go there and be a vendor.

If you haven't been exploring my blog, one might not know what a This-N-That IS....it's handwoven yardage that's less than a yard.

This-N-That from my loom named Stanley!

I am weaving literally 100 new ones, to bring along and will have some new garments, too, made out of my handwoven fabrics. While in Texas, we will be visiting my dearest friend, Rachel and boy do I need a Rachel-FIX! And hug, too...on both sides!

There seems to be no end to the number of This-N-Thats that I can create. I have produced some from 6 of my 9 floor looms, no 2 alike, each unique and ready to make into something WONDERFUL!

A This-N-That full of color...what would YOU make?

All the photos here are This-N-Thats, machine washed and dried and ready to make into something unique!



I've got yardage, too, from my many looms and there's such variety....all are easy care, ready to sew.

Thanks for looking....I'll be in Booth #1536.....come visit if you can make it to the International Quilt Show 2012 and see these fabrics for REAL!



Miles and Miles of Smiles,
: D
Cat B.

Goodbye, Desert Daze Series 7....I sure am going to miss this warp. I think it was my favorite...the colors were strong and lively, but not too bold. And they so accurately reflected the colors of my natural world.

I have listed this fabric on my newest site, Source4Style. They seem to be a nice group, they care about the environment, they are international, and I have listed 11 yardages up there for designers to browse around in the stock room like kids at a birthday buffet. Here's the site:  http://www.source4style.com/

To see this fabric as it's listed in Source4Style, here's the listing for "Day Play:

http://marketplace.source4style.com/browse-marketplace/handwoven-desert-daze-day-play.html

I've chosen the next warp for Deedle that will be 'canvas' for my Desert Daze 8. I will cost several hundred dollars to dress that loom with the 70 yards that I usually wind on....I'll order soon and then watch for UPS trucks!!!

My energy still eludes me and I fight each day to stay at work, driven, I'm sure, by the wonders of weaving and the I'll-try-one-more-thing effect...

Thanks for reading and I'm sending out Miles and Miles of Smiles,  Cat B.

I am traveling the world while weaving at a loom...

There's a pretty wonderful article about TAFA List ~ Textile And Fiber Art List and a photo of Stanley! The article was written by the creator of TAFA List, and it's so inspiring! You can see the entire article here:
http://www.hercircleezine.com/2012/09/01/tafa-the-textile-and-fiber-art-list-artists-working-together/

In the article, see this fabric, "Classy Brass" in progress on Stanley!

The article is for a magazine called "Her Circle" and it's really quite good. I have it on my favorites now, so I can visit it often at:  http://www.hercircleezine.com/ It is very up-to-date and full of thought provoking commentary and encouraging conversation.

I feel so honored and thrilled to have had a photo from my Studio in this article. And, it is great to read something that so completely explains why I joined TAFA in the first place!

Also, I just wanted to share....can't help myself. I have joined Surface Design Association, inspired by my experiences with the talented fiber artisans in Texas. For many years, I have been in awe of these fearless, adventurous, exciting fiber artisans who just seem to know how to make this media do their bidding. I worked for a long time with my dear friend, and designer, Rachel Edwards, who did magic with my handwoven fabrics and my association with her truly is the beginning of my global journey. I have put up my limit of photographs and here is the link:  http://www.surfacedesign.org/users/cat-brysch  I will also be adding this link to my list under "Find me on the World Wide Web!"

Another adventure is about to unfold for me as I am about to become a supplier on Source4Style which is a online stockroom/trade show that designers can look around inside and find fabrics from around the world to add to their projects. I have added some of my handwoven fabrics to that site...here's a link after clicking on SOURCE THE MARKETPLACE and clicking on IN STOCK, WOVENS, HANDMADE, USA, 20 PER PAGE and then click SEARCH, and you will get this page:
http://marketplace.source4style.com/?type=4&material=&origin=66&new_attributes=70&color=&in_stock=1

Finally, I am hoping that all fiber artists will take a good, long look at TAFA, too... There is not single place on the web that will work harder for its members...go see TAFA here:  http://www.tafalist.com/ 

And here's my profile page on TAFA here:  http://www.tafalist.com/members/cat-brysch-creations-studio As you can see, that one little page can hold SOOOOO much information. It's worth its weight in gold!

Well, that's all for now, but there's an endless amount of Miles and Miles of Smiles, Cat B.

Midnight's Desert in Moonlight"

I said in my description about this yardage that I always thought midnight blue was a color.....now, after living in this truly enchanting high mountain desert, I know ... it's a event.

After a date with my dear husband, late on a Saturday night, after doing the grocery shopping down the mountain, we are heading home and there's quite an assent to get to our Village. There's a 'place' after the climb where the sky seems to open up, there's a sigh, a place that I feel is "up top", where the climb becomes ever so gentle and it seems almost flat. There, with Albuquerque's lights glowing in the sky many, many miles away, I see it there above... and all around me....for the first time in my life......midnight blue...

The sky was aglow with the moonlight, stars so bright, the whole world seemed to be actually ... be glistening, bringing colors to almost every surface around me....the earth, the plants, the mountains, the hard rock faces and the forests....
it was almost touchable...
and was I feeling it on my skin...was I glistening?
I could almost hear it....
or could that have been my heartbeat.

The weave structure is shadow weave.

I didn't write this shadow weave draft but only altered it to make just the right texture for this fabric.

Having turned the photo to show the left selvedge  at the top, this is where the lights of Albuquerque glowed in the northern sky.....   our northern lights.

"Midnight's Desert in Moonlight" is now merely fabric again, to be cut into making something else... It started out as a wonderful child-like experience, then became a storm of creativity, was then a joyous time in weaving it and has traveled such very far distances, all since that magical night. I am so honored that  it was accepted for display in Texas and California during Convergence.

Now it is home and I have its little sample to keep....and remember. Soon this fabric will be in my booth for my next show (I am going to the Houston Quilt Show!)....what will it become next? I plan to leave the hanging rod hand sewn neatly inside the casement just in case someone wants it for display as it is.......   I rather hope so.

I am holding gently on to soooo many thoughts of my travels, of the people I've met, of the experiences that simply cannot ever be replaced and I am sending out many Miles and Miles of Smiles, Cat B.

"Simply de Vines"...now that Convergence is over....

I just have to share! I have worked so hard to get this fabric ready to go, weaving on it starting on January 9th of 2012, get it finished and photographed, putting a backing on it for better showing....but the whole time, I could not share a photo of it because it had not yet appeared in the "Longitude" exhibition at Convergence. But, now that Convergence is over....

HERE IT IS......................

Okay, so this is a close-up....but I LOVE this photo. This is what I was looking at for weeks and weeks while weaving it, so I am rather fond of the view!

Okay, okay, so here's a larger, overall view...remember it's called "Simply de Vines":

What do you think?

There is 4.5 yards of three enormous climbing vines, growing this way and that. And EACH flower took 27 yards of white rayon chenille!

The leaves are all individually cut commercial velvet fabric and hand-sewn on, one at a time....each vine was anchored down, too, but that doesn't show in the photo. The anchoring down process improved the look of the vines and gave them character...I need to get a photo of that once the fabrics arrive back in the studio.

I am so honored to have this fabric chosen for exhibition and the way it looked hanging was a real treat!

I plan to share several photos of the process of preparing this huge work for exhibition, but I have to re-size the photos and get them ready....that will be for another post.

Gosh, I guess I'm still on Cloud 9 about this piece....what shall be made of it...an opera coat? a wall hanging? pillow covers? It's definitely for sale at $1,800 as is, but, if no takers, it'll become something fabulous!

At a later post I will show the other fabric that was in the same exhibition....it was woven in my loom named Jimmy...have I ever told the story of Jimmy? Until then, keep weaving, keep trying, keep dreaming.

I'm sending out Miles and Miles of Smiles, Cat B.

Getting Ready for Convergence 2012!

This is the cloth beam on my loom named Deedle. I weave my Desert Daze fabric on Deedle and this is some of Series #7 of this my most popular fabric.

Deedle is only one of several looms holding Convergence fabrics!  If the cloth beams of most of my looms are any indication, I'm almost ready for Convergence 2012 in Long Beach in California!

I still have miles and miles of zig-zag stitching to do on all of these yardages and This-N-Thats and then OOOH, the joys of laundry days returns!

I hope to get lots of visitors to my booth....HEY, come look me up in Booth #406. I will have some of my new clothing there....this is just the start of offering ready-to-wear clothing for sale, but I will enjoy showing what can be done with my handwoven fabrics!

They are not even up on my Etsy Shop....
Convergence is the first place where they can be seen!

Come visit and, until then, I'm sending out Miles and Miles of Smiles, Cat B.

Bare Feet, Cool Treadles....the joys of summer!

It's always good to stay in the moment, and, by the heat of afternoon, I am usually weaving on Hazle...Weaving on that project is as close as I can come to working in the garden, because I'm putting these lovely pink flowers all across the fabric.

While I'm weaving in this heat, by the time I am ready to move to the next part of the draft, the treadle I am using is warmed up and then, upon changing, there's the pure joy of cool wood  greeting my toes! Yes, stay in the moment and appreciate it ALL!

The photo is of Desert Nights on Jimmy. I decided to try some light colored wefts on Desert Nights just to see if I like it. It's nice, but, as you can see by the photo of the DARK edge of the fabric, the dark shades are pretty much compromised....I am enjoying the contrast and will weave until I run out of these wefts.... or run out of TIME!

That's all for now...must go hang the last load of laundry...there's another joy for you....remember? The sweet, lovely fragrance on clean, air-dried sheets and pillow cases at slumber time.....aaaaaah. Until, I have Miles and Miles of Smiles, Cat B.