Virginia A. Spiegel

Fiberart For A Cause, an international effort by fiber artists and patrons, was recently recognized as the #2 fundraiser in the nation for the American Cancer Society’s Relay For Life in 2007.

Fiber artist, Virginia A. Spiegel, notes, “When I founded Fiberart For A Cause (FFAC) in 2005, my goal was to raise $90. We have now donated over $135,000. A great deal of our success is due to the personal involvement our honorary chair, Karey Bresenhan, Director of International Quilt Festival – Houston, Chicago, Long Beach.”

Fiberart For A Cause continues to raise money through annual fiber events such as the Invitation Reverse Auction of Fabulous Fiberart and Collage Mania as well as the online book, “Art, Nature, Creativity, Life.”

Spiegel fundraises for the American Cancer Society in honor of her father, a colon cancer survivor.

Visit http://www.virginiaspiegel.com/NewFiles/ACSFundraiser.html
for more information.

Tree of Life #11 by Susan Schrott

This work joined my collection this week. I love its vitality and the story behind it. In brief, Susan Schrott is offering 12 Tree of Life art quilts to help her daughter, Rose, fundraise for the American Cancer Society’s Relay For Life. Rose, just 15, has already raised over $21,000. To see all the Tree of Life quilts, click here.

Here is Rose’s incredible story in the words of the her Mom, Susan Schrott:

Four years ago, when my daughter Rose was turning 13, her very dear friend was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.  My daughter was deeply saddened and angry and she felt powerless and unable to help her friend.

This year, in an effort to get Rose off to a great start, I have created a series of TREE OF LIFE QUILTS that I am selling for $200 each, including shipping. Each art quilt is one of a kind and is based on my unique Tree of Life pattern. The quilts measure approximately 16” x 16”.  50% of all sales will go to Rose’s team.

Shiva Artist’s Oil Color Paintstiks aren’t something I use everyday, but sometimes they are just the ticket. I used them in the Boundary Waters series for writing and, at the risk of spoiling my holiday card surprise, here’s a few recent experiments:

I’m starting with fabric that has already been painted, screenprinted, stamped, etc. These are fabrics that I either haven’t gone far enough with yet or just went a little overboard. I only use fabric I “make” myself in my art and generally paint and do surface design without a specific purpose in mind, so “weird” fabrics don’t bother me.

Here are the stamps I used for these rubbings with Shiva Paintstiks. These are made with a Speedball lino cutter and Blicks EZ Cut. A few are mounted on wood. These are several years old and still going strong. You can see I have used them a lot in my fabric painting.

The technique couldn’t be easier. Slide stamp under fabric, rub with Shiva Paintstik.

Here I added just a hint of lettering to the piece above with my un-fancy plate made from wooden letters glued to wood.

Here’s the painted and screenprinted brown fabric with gold Shiva. I only need small pieces for this project, so I’m not looking for whole-cloth beauty here. Just a lot of interest in a small space.

Here is that crazy purple fabric and the first layer. I use only iridescent Shivas for a project like this and try not to use too much of any one image. Layer, layer, layer - color and image.

Here are two more layers coming along. Notice the commercial square stamp. I find a checkerboard to be useful and not a stamp I feel compelled to make. The finished fabric opened this post and here it is again:

Golden

This is a closeup of a very large mushroom. There is such a variety of color and texture in such a small space. I chose this photo specifically because of the similar photo on today’s The Garbage Day Project.

So go on over to the The Garbage Day Project and check it out. There’s also a link to a site that can help you reduce the catalogs your mailperson has to tote around this time of year. The weeblies I was having last week with WordPress have been solved.

Winter Wheel

December. It’s almost here. I have taken a vow to avoid, as much as possible, the commercial side of December this year. My neighbor trimmed her red-twig dogwoods and those colored switches are going to be part of my “au natural” decorating scheme. It may look like I’m not in my neighborhood’s blindingly bright holiday spirit, but I have pinecones and grapevine from my yard and I’m sure my porch (with a disco ball???) will look interesting, at the very least.

Of course, if there’s a good buy on something I need, I’m not going to pass that by. I just bought a new tent last week online and now I am set for my next Boundary Waters adventure. I think the mark of a good holiday season is to not be stressed by all the “Must Do” items and to choose where your time and money goes.

I hope you are out there looking for a way to do December differently and will consider all the ways Fiberart For A Cause (FFAC) can help you indulge yourself AND do a good deed at the same time.

FFAC’s very generous Promotion Partner for December is Iris Karp of Attached, Inc. Iris is donating 20% of every Mistyfuse purchase from Mistyfuse.com in December to the ACS through FFAC. So stock up in December and help raise funds for cancer research and education at the same time.

Art, Nature, Creativity, Life, my ongoing online book, has received rave reviews and is available only by direct donation to the American Cancer Society through FFAC.

Take time for yourself, make a cup of tea, and be inspired by thoughtful essays, gorgeous photos, and haikus. Art, Nature, Creativity, Life is also a great gift for all the creative and caring people in your life.

Sue Bleiweiss of the online zine, Fibre&Stitch, is sponsoring special bonus drawings throughout December for all subscribers to Art, Nature, Creativity, Life. Iris and Sue are teaming up for a December Grand Prize random drawing that will make someone very happy.

There’s lots of other bonus drawings for subscribers to Art, Nature, Creativity,Life, including a limited number of these art angels by Peg Keeney.

It’s not often you can make a donation to the ACS, receive a subscription to an ongoing, inspiring book in return AND be automatically entered in great bonus drawings. But thanks to generous Friends of FFAC, it’s happening!

If you are shopping for gifts that are unique and meaningful, The Fiberart For A Cause Shop focuses on artwork with the themes of hope, serenity and beauty.

All profits ($5 per item) are donated to the American Cancer Society through FFAC. As well as three of my Boundary Waters images, the Shop features Karen Stiehl Osborn’s

Every Moment

And Jeanelle McCall’s

Charming Gardeners

Why not indulge yourself and do a good deed at the same time? Join in the fun and fundraising that is Fiberart For A Cause. We have donated over $135,000 to the American Cancer Society and were the #2 Nationwide Fundraiser for the ACS’s Relay For Life this year. I thank you for your support; enjoy your December by doing it differently this year.