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I’ve been super busy, and for the first time in weeks I had time to quilt. What a joy it was to be able to sit and quilt a bit. I created a little 6″ x 8″ quilt for the Studio Art Quilt Associates Anniversary Spotlight auction that will be held at the upcoming conference next week in Alexandria, Va. I’m just now getting around to posting this. I just love this little motif that grew in my mind from observing the stipa gigantea in my back yard. Since I needed to make this little donation piece quickly, I went…
I recently ran across this succinct and accurate description of “The Creative Process”: 1. This is cool! 2. This is gonna be hard. 3. This sucks. 4. I suck. 5. There is hope. 6. This is cool! I think that is an apt description. I lived every one of those steps last month while completing my March assignment in Elizabeth Barton’s on-line Design Master Class. I’ll take you through this process, warts and all. March’s challenge was interesting: take an existing quilt and alter it using line more than shape. We could even take just a part of the image…
Some of you may have noticed that my post on the East Bay Heritage Quilt Show, Voices in Cloth, has disappeared. There’s a story there. The guild had printed on their program that photos of quilts were not to be shown without specific permission from individual makers. Oops-that did not hit my consciousness and I was very graciously asked to take my post down-which of course I did immediately. Here’s my Note to Self: Make sure you are clear on the show’s policy regarding the publishing of photos! I always include the maker’s name and title of the piece but…
I just sent in my donation for the 2014 Studio Art Quilt Associates Benefit Auction. The Auction is SAQA’s largest fundraiser besides membership dues-this will be my fifth year to donate. You can see all the quilts in this year’s auction here-be sure and check back frequently because it’s still very early. I decided I wanted to play with silk and sheer, similar to what I did in Emerge. I drew up a little sketch before starting to guide me. I used purple hand dyed Radiance fabric (45% silk, 55% cotton), wool batting and 2 layers of polyester organza that…
I had a wonderful weekend filled with two quilt shows and a gathering with old friends. I attended the American Sewing Guild luncheon and got to catch up with sewing friends I hadn’t seen in awhile. I then took a lovely 90 minute drive back in full tilt glorious spring weather to see the Foothill Quilters Guild show. Unfortunately I only had 45 minutes at the show-and that included the quilts, vendors and Country Store! So my photos are particularly scarce this year-sorry! The Special Guest was Velda Newman! I took a class from her about 10 years ago and…
Last Thursday had one of those rare moments that you want to savor-I received two acceptance notices in the same day. I was juried into a regional show of Studio Art Quilt Associates and I was also notified that some of my work will be included in an upcoming book by Sandra Sider titled “1000 Quilt Inspirations”. I don’t know how many of my photos will be included in the book-I submitted the maximum of 10 and will be notified later how many were chosen. I’ve been mum about the quilt that was accepted since I didn’t want to show…
I have a problem-I have Quilt it to Death Disorder-QITDD. I really don’t know how to keep it simple. I knew my Maine Girl quilt needed to have a simple quilted background that did not take away from the main image-one that just let the girl shine. Well, you know where this one is going… I tried sketching it with parallel lines in the background-ironically that seemed to distract from her. I also tried a simple stipple-ugh-so trite. I tried bubbles-that definitely overworked it. I thought it might need a grid, but plain grids are actually very difficult to pull…
Our Feb assignment in Elizabeth Barton‘s on-line Design Master Class course was to capture the sense of movement. It was intriguing to see how different students interpreted this challenge. That is one of the things I like the most about on-line learning-to be able to examine and study the work of others in the class. I depict movement a lot in my work-like my Morning Breeze quilt. So I did not want to do what I know-I wanted to challenge myself. I decided to work from a photo I took of 3 girls riding the mail ferry in the Casco…
I am working on a quilt that I will submit for consideration into a juried exhibit. The exhibit has specific size requirements. I completed my quilt and was preparing to cut it to be 24″ x 20″. You know the adage-measure twice, cut once. When it comes to making a cut on a quilt that must be a specific size, if you cut too small you will be out of the running. Since I made this quilt specifically for this exhibit, I was going to be very careful about my cuts. I lined up two rulers to lay the line…
On to the “Big Quilt Room” of the show: What a charming quilt! Geri Richardson designed and appliqued “9 Lives Plus 3”, featuring 12 months of cats. Quilted by Shireen Hattan. Sandi Fong made and quilted “Hearty Heart of Hearts” to do double duty as a Valentine’s quilt and for her anniversary. The feather quilting was beautiful. This was one of my favorites. Suzie Quinnell made and quilted “Zenspiration”. She combined traditional log cabin blocks, zentangled blocks, silk and some fabulous quilting to make this gorgeous quilt. I love this quilt! Donna Brennan made and pieced “Quilty Qwerty” and I…