Sunflowers for Susan

I love December, not only is it Christmas, but its also my birthday on Dec. 7th (and I'll be 60 this year!!!) but best of all, its my month for the Printed Bee! Golly, it's just so exciting!
My theme was sunflowers, with their rich colours and cheerful disposition, they seemed like a great choice to challenge all the Bee artists! 
So, here's the picture of all the fabrics made for me.....

I'll add the missing ones as they arrive. 
As usual I'll be sending out a selection of 6" squares from all the artists to one lucky winner. All you need to do, is to add a comment below or at my blog and tell us how you would use the squares in a new project for 2015! I'd love to hear from you, and I'll draw a name on Dec. 15th......
BTW, did you see the great article about the Printed Bee and our inspirations in the latest issue of Quilting Arts Magazine?

Don't forget to stop by and see how everyone created their fabrics this month:

Deborah Boschert

Carol R. Eaton

Jackie Lams

Gerrie Congdon

Lynda Heines

Julie Booth

Lynn Krawczyk

Leslie Jenison

Judy Gula

Jane Davila

Quilting Arts Magazine

The Printed Fabric Bee is in Quilting Arts Magazine!

Lynn Krawczyk, wrote a fabulous article about something every artist has struggled with: Finding Your Artistic Voice.  Do you feel that you have found your artist voice?  What helped you to find it?  Or do you feel like you are still working on it?  We would love to hear all about it in the comments section!

We have an October science theme winner!

Thank you so much to everyone who entered our giveaway this month!  We are honored to have you all come along with us on this surface design journey!  

And our Winner this month is:

Chiska

Thanks to all who follow along and commented. Check back soon to see the next awesome theme and for another chance to win!

October was all about Science!

I have been fascinated with the design of anything at a microscopic level for awhile now. Different objects, plants, chemicals, you name it, all have unique and beautiful designs when you look at them through a microscope. Check out my Pinterest board to see what I mean. So I figured that would be a fun challenge for the gang in the Printed Fabric Bee to translate that into a surface design idea. My only conditions were no pastels and 12x12.  And wow, I  have been getting very cool fabric in the mail every few days and it has been awesome. 

So wouldn't you love a chance to own your own 6x6 pieces of these scientific beauties? Leave a comment here before November 17th for your chance to win. Good Luck! ~Jackie

Have a look at how all these pieces were created by visiting everyone's blogs:

Deborah Boschert

Carol R. Eaton

Susan Purney Mark

Gerrie Congdon

Lynda Heines

Julie Booth

Lynn Krawczyk

Leslie Jenison

Judy Gula

Jane Davila

Urban Winner!

Thank you so much to everyone who entered our giveaway this month!  We are honored to have you all come along with us on this surface design journey!  

And our Winner this month is:

JenetaOctober 6, 2014 at 5:53 AM

They are amazing! Each one is a mini work of art.

Congratulations!!!  I've sent you an email Jeneta.  Please email me your address and Leslie will mail your fabrics to you once she is back in town.  

Urban Surfaces Giveaway

September's queen, Leslie Jenison, chose the theme Urban Surfaces.

Leslie loves the layered textures of old walls, peeling paint, graffiti, etc., on building walls. There is something about that sort of layering that holds such a fascination for her and this month's hand made fabrics do not  disappoint!

If you love urban surfaces and would like to win the 6"x6" collection of hand painted fabrics please leave a comment below before October 15th!  Then hop on over to everyone's blog to see how each piece was made:

Deborah Boschert

Carol R. Eaton

Susan Purney Mark

Gerrie Congdon

Lynda Heines

Julie Booth

Jackie Lams

Lynn Krawczyk

Lisa Chin

Inspirational Words Set Winner

Congratulations to Bethany Garner of Canada who is the lucky winner of this Inspirational Words set of fabric from The Printed Fabric Bee. Bethany said she has following our group since we started almost a year ago. I can hardly believe it's been a year! Time sure does fly.

Here are all but three of the pieces Bethany will be receiving soon. She'll also receive a little surprise from me. 

Thank you all for entering. Don't forget that you have a chance to win next month's set so stay tuned.

Printed Fabric Bee Giveaway - Inspirational Words

It's time for the Printed Fabric Bee Giveaway!

I was so excited to be the Queen Bee this month. For my challenge I’ve asked for my piece to be 8 x 18 and it’s all about INSPIRATIONAL WORDS. For those of you who don’t know me, I have always been a writer, and it was through writing my newspaper column about local artists that I came to fabric surface design. I envision this collection as flags in my studio offering me inspiration and smiles every day. My favorite colors right now remind me of the Southwest and include (but not limited to) orange, light green, blue, and dark plum.

As with every month, each artist also makes a 6 x 6 piece for the giveaway. Here is the collection.

If you'd love to win this collection, just leave a comment on this blog post. The deadline is Wednesday, September 10 at 8 am CST.  Good Luck!

Finally...My "Industrial" Fabric

Julie B. Booth's "Industrial" fabric for Susan's collection.

I finally finished my contribution to The Printed Fabric Bee's Industrial Collection. It was due to Queen Bee, Susan Purney Mark, three weeks ago. But, as sometimes happens, life and vacation intervened.

Detail

From the beginning, this was a bit of a challenge for me. First, it was the color scheme...neutrals. I have to admit, I'm sort of a color junky. I often admire artists that have the ability to work with neutrals. So very subtle...where one tends to pay more attention to marks and texture. Often subdued color artworks can appear to be more sophisticated. Then there was the theme...industrial. I admit that I don't get that inspired by all things industrial. Fortunately, Susan had a very loose interpretation of the theme. She was more interested in old industrial...rust, peeling paint, etc....

(If you'd like to know more about the many steps and techniques used to create this fabric visit Julie B. Booth's blog post here.)

The Winner for July

Drum Roll, please! I'm pleased to announce the winner for the Industrial theme is Gabriele DiTota! She said "Venice" in her comments and my husband chose that as the winner......
It just so happens that we'll be there next October! Hey, Gabriele, do you live in Venice? I could deliver the squares in person!
Be sure to email or Facebook message me with your address!
Thanks everyone, I hope you have a great summer, it sounds like you all have wonderful plans for your creative energies....

Here's a peek at some of the fabrics I've received so far:



Enjoy, Susan!

The Winner for July!

Drum Roll, please! I'm pleased to announce the winner for the Industrial theme is Gabriele DiTota! She said "Venice" in her comments and my husband chose that as the winner......
It just so happens that we'll be there next October! Hey, Gabriele, do you live in Venice? I could deliver the squares in person!
Be sure to email or Facebook message me with your address!
Thanks everyone, I hope you have a great summer, it sounds like you all have wonderful plans for your creative energies....


Enjoy, Susan!

Printed Fabric Bee for June!

Hey, everyone! What a perfect way to start summer, with a giveaway! If you've been following my blog or the Printed Fabric Bee, then you know that part of the celebration of creative talent is giving a 6" square away to one lucky person who leaves a comment on my blog http://susanpm.blogspot.ca/  or my Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/susan.purneymark
I chose the theme of Industrial, so it was about old buildings, rust, decay and more...I made a Pinterest Board for inspiration. You can see the images here:  http://www.pinterest.com/SusanPurneyMark/the-printed-fabric-bee-industrial/
I'll be announcing the winner on July 10th! Leave a comment telling us what kinds of creative ideas you'll be working on this summer!

Typography Winner!

We have our first international winner!!!  Erica from Sydney, Australia!

Congratulations!

Erica Spinks said...

I love all of these! Would love a chance to win them, please! :-)

June 2, 2014 at 3:44 PM

Typography - A Whimsical Approach!

Carol R. Eaton here... it is always such a treat to see how each artist in the hive approaches the Queen's request! When it was my turn to be Queen I was blown away by their vision and Lisa's custom fabric pack is equally as cool!

When it came to the idea of text I couldn't get away from the daily bombardment of messages (both text and voice) I receive through work and play. I'm not complaining ~ communication equals life ~ but it can feel over whelming at times. So... I took a whimsical approach to text by creating a piece that incorporates the idea of birds chirping away in pleasant but constant tweets! My design incorporates multiple techniques such as sun printing, thermofax screens and more.

Please comment on Lisa's post below for a chance to win and then hop over to my blog to see how I created my piece!

Typography Giveaway!

Lisa Chin here, and it is finally my month to be Queen Bee here at
The Printed Fabric Bee.  

Woohoo!

I chose Typography as my theme.  I didn't need to be able to read any of the type, I was more interested in text as art and I tell you, these ladies really delivered:

I love them all!!!

And now YOU have a chance to win the set of these one-of-a-kind fabrics.

Just leave a comment here or over on my blog for your chance to win.  The giveaway will stay open until Friday, June 13th - it could just be YOUR LUCKY DAY!

After you leave a comment, go over to the hive member's blogs to see how they made their fabrics:

Lynn Krawczyk

Gerrie Congdon

Jackie Lams

Susan Purney Mark

Lesley Riley

Julie Booth

Lynda Heines

Leslie Jenison

Carol Eaton

It's all about text

Lynda here. This month's challenge was creating a 12 x 12 piece with text for Queen Lisa Chin. I love text so this was a really fun project for me. And I'm even done before the deadline! Here is my piece.

This was super easy and fast. It's all about using stencils (I used Runes stencil from Artistcellar), Jacquard Color Magnet, and fiber reactive dyes.

For a short tutorial, check out my blog at Bloombakecreate.com.

Art Nouveau = Dragonfly's!

This is Carol here and I wanted to share my approach and techniques for creating Jackie's Art Nouveau fabric! For me the theme conjured up images of dragonfly's, poppies and cool loopy swirls! I also equated the era with jewel tone and gilded  colors. It was fun to research and think about as I put my thoughts onto fabric.

I ended up focusing on dragonfly's... ok - they are one of my favorite subjects! I began with ice dyed fabric and moved onto the the flour resist technique. I also included stamping, stenciling and over dyeing. For a detailed tutorial please stop by my blog at Carol R. Eaton Designs.

For a change to win your own Art Nouveau custom fabric collection please stop by Jackie's blog and leave a comment. Hurry on over - Jackie will announce a winner on May 17th!

April’s Custom Fabric Give-Away – Art Nouveau

April’s Queen: Jackie of Studio Lams

April was my lucky month to be the Queen Bee and Art Nouveau was my theme. I have always had a thing for vintage designs of all sorts and Art Nouveau has been a favorite inspiration for me. I have loved getting incredible hand-made fabric every few days from this marvelous group of artists.

Wouldn't you like to win your own pack of these fabrics? Well here’s your chance to win your own 6" x 6" squares of all these lovely beauties. Just leave a comment here or on my blog to enter and I will pick a winner May 17^th. 

The Collection was Mailed to the Winner!

It was a pleasure to wrap up this lovely Woodlands Collection and ship it off the the winner in Canada! I love the the fact that The Printed Fabric Bee has an international audience. 

I hope you had a chance to hop over to the artists blogs as they shared
their tips and techniques when creating this collection! 

Stay tuned for Jackie Lams collection based on Art Nouveau! 

We Have a Winner!

Thank you to everyone who left a comment to win the beautiful Woodlands fabric collection! Using www.random.org - number 92 was generated. Please hop over to Carol R. Eaton's blog to find out who #92 was! 

Don't despair if you weren't the winner. Each month we will have more custom fabric to give away! 

I encourage you to follow this blog! The artists will share techniques used to create the fabrics sharing tips you can incorporate into your own work. 

This month the bee is happily buzzing about creating fabrics for artist Jackie Lam who asked for Art Nouveau. The fabrics should be truly amazing... stay tuned! 

Be sure to "like" us on Facebook!

Last Day to Comment on the Woodlands Custom Fabric Pack!

Today is the final day for you to leave a comment! 

Winning is easy - just post a comment below or hop over to 

Carol R. Eaton's blog for a chance to win your own custom fabric pack! 

Carol will announce the winner on her blog tomorrow, April 12th.

So what are you waiting for? Start commenting! 

trees and birds as inspiration :)

Don't forget to comment on this post or over on Carol's blog to get in on the drawing for this theme's fabric pack. The winner will be announced on April 12th!

* * * * * * * * * * * 

Hi all! Lynn here.

I just thought I'd stop by to let you know that I have a post up on my blog talking about the inspiration behind the fabric I printed for Carol's Woodland theme. Please swing by if you'd like to find out a bit more! :)

Custom Fabric Give-Away ~ The Colors and Textures of Woodlands!

March Queen: Carol of Carol R. Eaton Designs

I am so thrilled to be this month's "Queen" for The Printed Fabric Bee. The  talent within this group of artists is mind blowing and to have a custom fabric collection of their interpretations for my theme keeps a Cheshire Cat sized grin on my face!  

As an artist I draw daily inspiration from the woodlands surrounding my Connecticut studio. I asked the other artists to create a design based on the colors and textures they see in their local woodlands. The artists live scattered across the country so the interpretations are diverse and unique! 

To share the joy The Printed Fabric Bee provides an opportunity for one lucky person to win a custom fabric pack of 6" X 6" squares just like the current Queen's! All you need to do to enter is leave a comment below or hop over to my blog and enter there. 

The collection is waiting to find a good home! 

The winner will be randomly chosen on April 12th and the name will be published here as well as on my blog at Carol R. Eaton Designs... so mark your calendars and be sure to check back to see if it's YOU!

Welcome!

Welcome to The Printed Fabric Bee Blog!

As you may know, the idea behind The Printed Fabric Bee is to have the members of the hive, all professional textile artists, create a piece of fabric for the Queen Bee, the leader for the month, based on her choices.  In addition to the piece members create for the Queen, members create a smaller piece which is then given away to one lucky commenter on our Facebook page.  We have decided that sharing surface design techniques and giving things away once a month, is NOT ENOUGH!  We have so much we want to share with you and sooooooo we are VERY HAPPY to announce our BLOG (insert trumpeting sounds here).  Our blog will allow us to share more surface design tips and techniques, AND HAVE MORE GIVEAWAYS during the month! We will also be hosting our monthly fabric giveaway from our blog and so we invite you to enter your email address over there on the right hand side so that you will receive each new post in your inbox. We don't want you to miss out on anything! We would also love to have you follow us on Facebook and Pinterest. Just click on the links to the right.

If you are interested in finding out more about each Printed Fabric Bee textile artist, please visit the "Meet The Members" page.  Stop over here to see all our past fabric collections, and here to learn what surface design really is.

We look forward to seeing you each month and we would love to hear from you when you visit.  Leave us a comment saying "Hello" or a suggestion of what you would like us to share with you!