Virginia A. Spiegel

Hands by Jeanette Thompson

Jeanette Thompson has donated this heavily-stitched 10×8″ art quilt to Collage Mania.  According to Jeanette, 

Hands was created with a piece of silk organza and free-motion stitched with variegated thread. The designs surrounding the hands express the joy and creativity that hands make possible. The outer edges are zigzag stitched. Most of what I create is through my hands and this piece honors them.

This is Jeanette’s second year of participation in Collage Mania. 

100% of the proceeds from Collage Mania, May 5-7, are donated directly by patrons to the American Cancer Society through Fiberart For A Cause.

Karen Stiehl Osborn, the keeper of the jpegs for this year’s Collage Mania, notes she has already received 60 collage jpegs.  That’s great!  

If you can possibly send your jpegs before the deadline of April 1, Karen and I would both appreciate it. I would hate for Karen to be swamped at the last minute.  I will be featuring many of the early bird collages here.

Mark your calendar for the upcoming Fiberart For A Cause activities:

March 19   Invitational Reverse Auction Preview begins

March 24 – 26   Invitational Reverse Auction

April 1   Collage Mania jpeg submissions deadline.  

April 28   Collage Mania Preview opens 

May 5- 7   Collage Mania

The Daydream
Terri Stegmiller
10×8″ 

Terri Stegmiller is a prolific artist and writer known for her striking female faces on fabric. 

The Daydream was created with collaged fabric and lace pieces, quilted and painted to create a cohesive background.  Free-motion stitching forms the face with acrylics adding shadow and highlights.  Silk fabric was used for the flowers and leaves, which are supported by stitched stems.  The outer edges are zigzag stitched with novelty yarn added for extra texture. 

Terri is the author of Creative Paper Quilts – Applique, Embellishment, Patchwork, Piecework and the co-author, with Sue Bleiweiss, of Creative Ways with Fibre & Stitch.

It’s never too early to send your Collage Mania jpegs to Karen(at)KarenStiehlOsborn.  Your artwork appears on the Collage Mania pages in more or less the order in which it is received.  Karen is already up to page 6.

All the details are in the Call for Artists.

Collage Mania is May 5 -7 with a goal of raising $20,000 for the American Cancer Society through Fiberart For A Cause.

Gravid by Beth Wheeler

Beth Wheeler, author of Altered Photo Artistry, has donated this gorgeous art quilt to Collage Mania 2009.

According to Beth, “Gravid” is the first of a series exploring the relationship between the fiber artist, the basic straight stitch, and how powerful the ideas can be when expressed in the most-simple unit we have.

The piece is 8″ x 10″; constructed of rust-dyed fabrics, touch-print painted symbols, thread, and freshwater pearls.

I asked Beth to describe “touch printing” as I knew you would want to know.  She replied, Touch printing refers to dipping an object, such as a leaf, lid of a water bottle, edge of corrugated cardboard, or some other object in paint and then pressing it on the fabric.  This technique is also known as printing/stamping with found objects.

Beth finished the artwork with a rust-dyed backing and a satin-stitch edging. Just a reminder that mounting to a backing board is NOT required this year.  All artwork merely needs to be finished OR mounted to 8×10.”

It’s REALLY not too early to submit YOUR jpegs for Collage Mania 2009.  

The Call for Artists is here.   

The deadline for receipt of jpegs to Karen Stiehl Osborn is April 1, 2009, but collages are displayed for patrons to peruse in, more or less, the order in which they are received.  I also will be featuring collages here on my blog right up to April 29, the beginning of Preview Week.

Let Karen (Karen(at)KarenStiehlOsborn.com) know you are planning to participating this year and she will add your name to the growing list - 85 artists already have committed to donating their artwork.

Our goal is to raise $20,000 for the American Cancer Society in three days. Last year we raised over $13,000.  Can we do better for this final Collage Mania?

Please let me know if you have any questions and thank you in advance for your support of this Fiberart For A Cause fundraiser for the American Cancer Society.