For the International Quilt Festival in Houston....I'm on the verge of serge!

Okay, I've finally done it. You know that, in previous posts, I have written in detail about how I machine sew a zig-zag stitch into the cut edges of the fabrics and This-N-Thats and have done this for years now.

This is great preparation for the machine washing and drying process that I require to bring about maximum shrinkage of all of my cloth.

Insuring that my fabrics are truly READY to sew is very important to me and I hope that the effort gives my buyers confidence.

The first time I saw an edge of my handwoven fabric after it had been serged was many, many years ago and it looked just plain HORRIBLE. I have feared sergers ever since....yes, for all those years...because it was a professional who had done that serging, so I lacked the confidence that I could do better.

But all that has changed!!!

In fact, I now own and use a serger and here's some photos to show it!

This whole journey started when I decided to list my handwoven fabrics in a wonderful virtual stockroom for designers called Source4Style. I've mentioned it a few times here and am excited to be on this award-winning site. So, anyway, I needed to produce samples, which you know I have been quite resistant to do because of all that time needed cut and secure the edges of little samples that really end up being rather expensive....using the zig-zag stitch would have simply taken FOR--EV--ER!

But, I really wanted to give this concept a try, because the serging process is so much faster and I do have miles and miles of cut edges to secure on fabrics and This-N-Thats. So I took my hand woven fabrics into a wonderful New Mexico shop and said, "Sew THIS!" .....Well, the brand called "brother" that they showed me sped right through those fabrics like they were butter with a hot knife!

I got a detailed lesson which helped me understand the workings of the machine and I learned about adjusting the tension for each weight of fabric. Yes, the heavier ones like Desert Daze and the very light angelic ones like fabrics from Grace (picture above) all serge just fine! I have no doubt that one of my blankets from Doris would also work equally well! Fabrics from Hazle ....like the light-as-air Tencil and Silk (shown at this link....  http://marketplace.source4style.com/browse-marketplace/handwoven-tencil-silk.html ....) did purrrrfectly, too!

Well, I wanted to share the fact that, even if you have had a bad first experience... try, try again...

And don't take 30 years to try, either.....just saying....

Just goes to show ya'.....old cats CAN learn new tricks!

Better late than never, I'm sending out Miles and Miles of Smiles, Cat B.

International Quilt Festival Is Coming! ...And I'm weaving like crazy!

Wearing sweaters in the mornings now...in the 40's for lows.... but still weaving like crazy for International Quilt Festival. This is the last fabric on my loom named Jimmy, where I weave my Desert Nights Series. This fabric is the very last....wow....I plan to change things up a bit, but it will still be Desert Nights.

I have to admit that I wasn't totally crazy about the medium green and I wanted more colors. I was only able to get 62 yards in this warp because of the finer set and running out of warp threads!

I really, really liked the left selvedge that was inspired by the night sky toward Albuquerque....those night lights always reminds me how little the earth can be.

I want to use jewel colors for the Desert Nights Series 2 and endeavor to keep them more the same in the shade and value.

I'm also going finer with the next warp....all 20/2, both the colors and the black. I've got it all planned.

I've listed this fabric in Source4Style. To see my fabrics there, I don't have a landing page, but here's how you can do it:

Go to this link:  http://www.source4style.com/

Then, click on "Source The Marketplace"

Then, click on "In Stock", then "Type" and choose 'Wovens', then "Handmade...the little hand", then under "Origin" choose 'USA', then, choose 20 per page, then hit 'Search'.  You need to hit 'Search' pretty quickly or the page will flip back to clear!

There you can see all of my fabrics with several others that are handwoven.

To see this fabric, which I titled "Desert Nights in Moonlight", here's the link:
http://marketplace.source4style.com/browse-marketplace/handwoven-desert-nights-in-moonlight.html

This first Desert Night Series has been fun and I've gotten sooooooooooooo much variety out of this warp! I have many This-N-Thats from this warp, too and they are gorgeous! For more information about This-N-Thats, go to my blog list (under HOME) and click on "My Fun This-N-Thats"!

Thanks so much for reading....I'm sending out a lovely flower below...
and Miles and Miles of Smiles, Cat B.

14 steps to make each Fabric Flower Pin ~ a labor of love...

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.