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I recently completed a pre-printed Asian butterfly panel that I’ve had for 8 years. I loved it, hadn’t forgotten it, just wasn’t sure what to do with it. Given my recent conversion to beading my quilts, I realized this was a great opportunity to try beading again. I also wanted to get better at mixing motifs in backgrounds. Which brings me to Reason #1 to work with Pre-Printed Panels (PPP!): it’s a great place to experiment with different techniques. I have been following Kathy Schmidt’s blog, admiring her work and seeing the beautiful effect that beading can have.Also, the judge of…
Continuing on with more wonderful quilts and art from PIQF:“Ice Storm”; Stacy Hurt. I did not see the story of this quilt but it certainly speaks on its own. I learn a lot from quilts like this: I love its beauty, its edited simplicity, the emotion and feeling that it evokes.“Color Study 1”; Donna Deaver. Donna is working in a color series using the umbrella as her subject matter. Here she used a split complimentary color palette. I find this absolutely charming!“Are You Linked To Your Dreams?”; Cynthia Catlin. Cynthia wrote about the power of our dreams and how they are a…
Pacific International Quilt Festival absolutely dazzled me this year. I really had to sort through my images and pare them down to a manageable size. Enjoy!“Grief” by Sandy Curran won the Best Wall Quilt award. Sandy hand dyed and hand painted the fabrics for this piece. She is currently working on a series based on strong emotions. The eyes, oh my do they not capture grief? I stood for a long time in front of this piece-it really draws you in, captures your attention and grabs your heart.“Ruffled Feathers” by Roxanne Nelson was breathtaking to see in person. This quilt has…
I was astounded to learn that “Mom’s Lily Bed” won the Runner-Up ribbon for Best of Show at Pacific International Quilt Festival last weekend! I was over the moon! I still feel kind of shell shocked, in a good way.Can’t even believe this ribbon!I’m pretending to be normal but inside I am jumping up and down, screaming, skipping!There’s my quilt in the “Winner’s Circle”-who’d a thunk it?AND I EVEN WIN A SEWING MACHINE!My Daisy Vest also ribboned and received an Honorable Mention in the Vest, Jacket, Coat category! Is this all for real or am I dreaming? I will be…
I am posting my Free Motion Quilting Challenge early this month as I will be attending both Pacific International Quilt Festival and Houston International Quilt Festival as well as teaching twice locally-tough life! I am afraid to put it off this month. Our tutorial was presented by Teri Lucas-I love her work! I’ve been following her blog for awhile and I love how she is able to morph her motifs into each other for a beautiful, cohesive look. And that was our challenge this month: to combine motifs in pleasing ways. Teri suggested we start out by quilting our name…
In a perfect world I would make pretty labels for my quilts-and that would be the same world where all stitches are even and all projects finished. The reality is, I am usually preparing my labels shortly, very shortly, before my quilt goes to a show. I recently needed 4 labels asap. I could have done what I usually do-hand letter my label onto muslin. But that is so tacky and my handwriting so poor-I had to change my game. Out of this evolved my “git-er-done” method of printing quilt labels. It really is 10-minutes, not counting the time you spend…
I have the happy problem of having 4 items juried into Pacific International Quilt Festival. The “problem” part comes in because that involves some mundane tasks: sleeving, blocking, labeling, shipping and making sure there are no Basset hairs, stray threads or popped seams. So I thought I’d show how I block my quilts. I always, always block anything larger than say 24″ square, because the intense stitching that I do tends to make them a bit wonky. It’s not that hard to block a quilt. I do start out with a “foot wash” in a deep bathtub with cool water and…
September’s Free Motion Quilting Challenge over at SewCalGal’s site was provided by Paula Reid. Paula came to my local guild several years back and made a lasting impression on me. Gotta love the hair for one thing! The girl knows how to quilt and has so many practical ideas on how to make quilting easier-I’ve followed her since. September’s Challenge was to quilt this stencil motif of a Feathered Wreath. I despise marking, have I mentioned that before?! I decided to up the challenge by using metallic thread. I have learned, the hard way of course, that you HAVE to use…
I recently found this silk pillow gem at Home Goods for a steal. I loved the artful print-it looks like it may even be a printed photo of an art piece-I’m not sure. The colors are fabulous and the pillow is very well made. But once I got it home, the colors were way too bold for my Living Room-bummer. I had been playing around with some Radiance and my new Sharpies collection, and that made me wonder-could the Sharpies somehow be involved in resurrecting the pillow? The colors originally looked like this-loved it! By the way, I am not a pro…
I love living in Northern California, but sometimes the weather really tests me. Even though we have already experienced 15 consecutive days of daytime temps over 90 degrees, it’s officially fall. And this week shows five more consecutive days in the 90’s. At least some of my plantings know better, especially my grasses, succulents, cacti and drought tolerants.Of course “Autumn Sedum” knows it’s fall! I have no idea what is the name of this guy, I call him “Elephant Trunk”. Love how he goes to seed.All my grasses are going to seed too. I love my grasses-beautiful in the morning, backlit…