Website update!

Well, wouldn't you know it....my new website is momentarily down again....but I have someone who knows what they're doing onto it so hopefully it will be up and running again soon. Thank you for the emails...

Welcome to my blog!

Well, I've finally done it! Welcome to my blog! I'm also happy to announce that my website is finally up and running so visit me at estheraliu.com and let me know what you think!

I decided to create a webpage about a year ago and have been working s-l-o-w-l-y at it ever since.. I've also opted for a blog so that I could have a forum to answer any questions about my current devotion: stenciling! I've found that people have been asking the same questions (with iron in one hand...and paint brush in the other....) just when they need the answer! Unfortunately, I've been tardy with my emailing lately so I hope that by blogging I will be able to share what I know in a more accessable way...

This week I have been busy working on four different projects. I always like to have several ideas on the go so that when I reach a waiting point in one area, I can move on without wasting precious time. I've been working mainly on line drawings: mostly flowers and birds. I feel very strongly about creating my own original line drawings and using these as orignial stencils in my work - at the moment my projects are quilt projects and I've been experimenting with some murals and table runners as well.

I have a quilter's stash of fabric that has reached ridiculous proportions and which is taking over my sewing studio....and free space throughout the house. I have been banned from buying any more fabric until I make a dent in the current load. To do this (and at the same time work through some folios of sketches I've been meaning to use for years), I have set myself the challenge of creating...or at least starting... several projects per week. I select some fabric from my range that I think works well together....and then I look through my sketches to find something that I can use and turn into a stencil... and then I combine them...in the hope of actually 'doing' rather than planning! My biggest problem is that I always encounter the urge to create new stencils from scratch...and flick through the lastest catalogue of fabrics...and then I'm back to where I started! I am working through it though, and will post my progress here... Hopefully in the next 12 months I will have a house full of quilts and useful items and much more shelf space.....

In the last few months I've been painting more than sewing for the first time in years...my domestic sewing machine has hit a bump in the road where it needs constant fine tuning and I've lost patience with it! Although I should be in the market for a new one, it seems that many currently on the market are a bit too 'plastic fantastic' for my liking and workload...I really put my machines through their paces with constant domestic machine quilting, general sewing, experimentation (not to mention two daughters who can always be found stitching the previously 'unstitchable'!). Just when I find one I think will do the job, I trial a friend's version and find that it's not so great once it's home. I dont like lightweight or noisy machines that beep when you stitch them past their limit...and I cant last long without a machine....so I'm open to any suggestions....

Well, it's back to work for me! I am sketching a line drawing of a women which I'm planning on incorporating as a stencil block in my next wall hanging (I know, I know, but I didnt have any existing sketches anything like this one so I -had- to draw something new.) The good news is that this wall hanging will use up my hand dyed blue stash and a lovely print which wasnt enough for a quilt...but too much for a bag...and the scraps from this print would have been too much of a shame - it really needs an uninterrupted line, so I'm still on track...I will let you know how I am coming along in a few days....

Esther