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Really, just because you read it here, don’t necessarily believe it! I recently read an important revelation about marking on quilts, on one of the most respected quilting blogs out there. Well, important if quilting is a big part of your world and something comes along that makes quilting easier. Marking a design on a quilt is always fraught with peril: will the mark still be crisp and visible after I’ve stuffed it through my machine a bunch of times? Will I have to immerse my quilt and then block to get rid of it? Or will it leave some sort…
Studio Art Quilt Associates is celebrating its 25th anniversary-whoop! As part of that celebration, a call for entry went out for a 10″ x 7″ art quilt that showcases the artistic expression of the member. The 2014 Anniversary Trunk Show will premier at our conference in Washington, DC, and then travel all across the United States and around the world. A group of quilts from this exhibition will be chosen to become a permanent part of the collection of the National Quilt Museum in Paducah, Kentucky. Wow, I would LOVE to have something in Paducah’s permanent collection! I think I’m…
I needed to make another trapunto sample for an upcoming guild visit. I forgot how much I love the texture that trapunto brings to a quilt! I decided to add some metallic thread this time. I can’t figure out how to properly photograph the metallic so that it shows up-those lines are Yenmet Silver Metallic. One of the secrets to trapunto is controlling all that extra puff with LOTS of pins! Talk about texture! I took this photo of Ricky Tims’ “Songe d’Automne” while hanging in the 2012 PIQF. His trapunto must have been raised 1/4″ off the surface of…
I spent Christmas in Tucson with my youngest son and husband. As luck would have it, the first day we were there my son had to work. So I did my duty (woe is me!) and toured every local quilt shop-all 4 of them. It was fun to explore and see what was new and different in Tucson. I stumbled upon this book and I am smitten: It might seem a little odd that I purchased a book on beginning quilting since I do know just a little bit about free motion quilting. I like to read how different authors…
I am just too cool to carry my new tablet around in a plain black carrier: Seriously, this is just unacceptable. I purchased this carrier just to protect it and carry it from place to place. It’s just so ugly and pedestrian. But I didn’t want to spend a week creating a whole new carrier from scratch either. So I decided to make a colorful “hauler” for it instead. All I was looking for in a hauler was something that was attractive and would allow me to carry my tablet either in a clutch-like position or messenger-bag-style to keep my…
Finally-my last post of photos from Pacific International Quilt Festival 2013-enjoy! I’m finally catching on-anything by Sandy Curran catches my eye. Here, in “Human Beauty”, she deliberately chose unrealistic colors so that the viewer sees the play of light and shadow on the human body without being distracted by the humanity of the figure. Beautiful. Again, Sandy Curran, this time this gentleman “HOPE” is her subject. Sandy says he believes in something greater than himself and he is faith, hope, belief. This was appliqued and hand painted. Phyllis Cullen says she chooses to do her family album out of fabric…
I know Pacific International Quilt Festival happened in mid-October, but I am just now getting around to posting about it. I do think it was the best year yet. I only had a precious few moments to look at the show but I did get some good photos of some pretty spectacular quilts. This one received the Bernina Award, which is essentially Runner Up for Best of Show. I have not seen work by Sylvia Gearegian before but this piece, Magnolia, took my breath away. I love her quilting, her use of color and texture, her expert technical skills, and…
Sometimes the visitors are as charming as the quilts! Check out this Future Quilter and her Mom at the 2013 River City Quilt Festival. She was proudly holding her own Personal Quilt the entire time and was delighted to be surrounded by quilts-who wouldn’t be? The River City show is one of my favorites and it’s the last show of the year in my area. I try to get there early to get the best picks from their boutique and I got a nice haul of hand dyed Radiance from the vendors. The show was a great mix of traditional…
Okay-so this was supposed to be done in time to carry to Houston, but we’re just not talking about that. In the usual way, I did take a fairly simple project and make it unnecessarily complicated. Would you expect anything less? My local quilt shop, Meissner’s Folsom, had a sample of this bag in the store and I was intrigued. The Bailey Island Tote has structure built into the bag that is not from stabilizer. I liked that’s it was soft to the touch yet still stood up on its own. The Bailey Island Hobo pattern is made by Aunties…