It’s Sew Wild!

I’ve had fun reading an advance copy of Alisa Burke’s new book , Sew Wild. It’s beautiful and full of great techniques for fabric and more!

Now, I have to be honest, I don’t sew. I CAN sew, I CHOOSE not to. I learned how to sew the ‘right’ way and well, that pretty much took all the fun out of it for me. I learned quickly that I’d rather paint so I left sewing behind although my machine is still part of my studio. I did do a stint of sewing on paper that was fun, and when I took my machine in for a cleaning I got reprimanded for it-lol!

Where I’m  going with all of this is that I was very pleased to see how many of Alisa’s techniques can be used even for us non-sewers! It’s chock full of cool things that can be used without ever touching a machine! (shhhhh, don’t tell Alisa;-)

I chose to start with a wood carving project. I’ve never carved on wood and it’s a lot different than lino blocks, but fun and the carvings are very unique looking.

I did some simple designs to go along with the face I carved. The carving blocks and even tools can be found at Michael’s. I even used my lino cutters and they worked fine.

Now, to get around sewing something I found a cute little ready to decorate muslin apron at Michael’s as well. There is a whole isle of ready to alter clothing etc.

Here’s the begining of my apron, with some carved blocks, and thermofax screens.

I’m not sure if I’m done yet but loving it so far! Can’t wait to try some other techniques from the book. Be sure to check it out HERE.

Sew Wild! Blog Tour

I’m so thrilled to about the release of Alisa Burke’s new book, Sew Wild! I met Alisa at CHA this past winter when we discovered we had the same wonderful editor for our books and caught up again with her at CREATE Costa Mesa.  She is celebrating with a  blog tour that launches tomorrow on Sew, Mama, Sew, so go over and see a new tutorial by Alisa, and follow along for two weeks to see some great photo posts, reviews, giveaways, sneak peeks and more! I’m going to be rounding up things here on the 23rd with a book review and maybe even try a little sewing project-haven’t had my machine out in quite some time!

BLOG TOUR SCHEDULE

Sept. 14 Sew, Mama, Sew http://sewmamasew.com/

Sept. 15 Balzer Designs http://www.balzerdesigns.typepad.com

Sept. 16 CraftTestDummies.com and The Creative Goddess http://www.vickiodell.com

Sept. 17 FaveCrafts http://www.favecrafts.com/

Sept. 19 Crescendoh – Jenny’s Blog http://blog.crescendoh.com/crescendo/legato

Sept. 21 Scarlet Time http://www.christytomlinson.typepad.com/the_scarlet_lime/

Sept. 22 A Stitch in Dye http://stitchindye.blogspot.com

Sept. 23 Living Art at the Speed of Life http://pamcarriker.com

It’s the Tops!

Imagine my surprise when I clicked on amazon to get a link to my book and saw that it was #1 in two categories!!! I’m so grateful for all of the support and to my wonderful editor and contributors for helping make my book come out so strong in it’s release!

Product Details

  • Paperback: 144 pages
  • Publisher: Interweave Press (February 15, 2011)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1596682612
  • ISBN-13: 978-1596682610
  • Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 8.4 x 0.4 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: Be the first to review this item
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #415 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • Also this past weekend I was able to attend CHA for one day! It was my first time and I was thrilled to meet several artists whose work I greatly admire.
    Alisa Burke, myself, and Traci Bautista!

    And I was able to meet up with some book contributor/friends
    Lisa Bergmann, Suzi Blu, Jenn Mason (CPS editor), myself, and Lisa Kettell!

    I met up with artists at the Mixed Media Meet and Great
    Myself, Traci Bunkers, Jenn Mason, Stefanie Girard, and Lisa Kettell
    Stefanie and I got to check out each others new books!
    Stampington’s Christen Olivarez and Amanda Crabtree were on the floor as well!
    I met Claudine Hellmuth! Her book, Collage Discovery Workshop was the first mixed media book I ever bought!
    The very kind and amazingly talented  Tim Holtz took a moment to look through my book-what a thrill!
    Kathy Cano-Murillo and I show off our books, the Crafty Chica was having a book signing. She’s every bit as sweet and funny as you’d imagine she is
    So, there’s my first experience at CHA. So fun to be able to share it with you all via facebook, from the moment I realized I was in CA and could go, to the scramble to try and get a press pass to get in, totally fun and totally worth it!