Busy Week -

I didn't make much progress with my Art Quilting projects this week but nevertheless it was a good week. 

• I did make progress on a quilt that I'm making for my youngest granddaughter. Kind of a cute story - we were talking on the phone a few weeks ago and I was trying to explain the project that I was working on for a class.  It is a seascape and has all kinds of embellishments including cellophane. (It was an online class with Linda Schmidt - "creating the elements". Great class!)  Granddaughter first asked me who the quilt is for - then commented that it wouldn't be a very "softy" quilt. She proceeded to give me a detailed explanation as to how I could get all the special ocean effects that I wanted just by using fabric and thread. Thus ending up with a quilt that would still be "softy."  So I'm making her a special "softy sea" quilt as a special surprise.
• My "day job" is real estate and it's getting more important than ever to get a special designation to list and sell so-called "distressed" properties - such as foreclosures and short sales.  So I've been busy taking a class that will culminate with the CDPE designation: Certified Distressed Property Expert. It's actually quite interesting and I will be finishing up this weekend.
• I am participating in an online group that was formed to bring Haiku and Fiber Art together.  The group was established this past week by A. Carole Grant, a Canadian Mixed Media/Fiber Artist that I "met" on the Quilt Art list.  I am very excited to be a part of this and am looking forward to some "stretching" and growth as an artist.
• We had our Book Club meeting this week and a good discussion on "The House at Riverton".  This was a very good read!  Kind of Upstairs Downstairs meets The Thirteenth Tale - with a little Remains of the Day thrown in for good measure!

It's supposed to rain here all day tomorrow and I plan to sew, sew, sew!!!

Spring Has Sprung

Spring Has Sprung?

I know – Thanksgiving is in 2 weeks – so why I am titling this entry Spring Has Sprung?  

A little while back I made a little quilt with that title.  Do you remember the little ditty….

Spring has sprung,

The grass has riz.

I wonder where the birdies is…?

So, naturally I had to make a “The Grass Has Riz” piece.  I just finished the beading  last week and got it done!

Spring Has Sprung

The center background is randomly pieced and the design elements are fused.  The technique is very improvisational and FUN! I was first introduced to it a couple of years ago at a class taught by Deana Hartman.  (http://chameleonquilts.com)   One of the best classes I've taken.

I hurried through all the basic construction so that I
could get to the BEADING!
The writing on the quilt is done with a free motion
zigzag stitch.

All Things Fiber

In homage to the title of this blog I'm posting a picture of one of my favorite things -
Aren't these luscious???  A couple of years ago I bought this hank of fibers at a quilt show.  I've used a few of them along the way but mostly I use them as decoration and inspiration..... YUM!

Along the way all knitters collect oddballs.  Now that I'm involved in making Art Quilts I have another way to use them.  THAT was very exciting to realize.

Do you love coffee?  I do - especially that first sip in the morning.  So what did I do?  I made a little art quilt in honour of that    AHHHHsome moment:  the first sip.

I pieced the background to loosely approximate my kitchen - yellow tile counters  - got the grid effect with a paintstick rubbed over a plastic utensil that I found in the kitchen drawer.

When I posted here several months ago I mentioned that I was working on a piece that needed some hand embroidery to be added.  This was a fun project - something different and incorporating several different techniques.

Here is a photo of  my Fish Out Of Water

I collaged several fabrics onto a mottled yellow background.  I made a stencil from a fish drawing and when I cut it out I was careful to keep the remaining stencil material intact so that I could use it too.
Then I painted the fish image onto the quilt using the stencil and acrylic paint.  When it was dry I thought that more contrast was needed around the fish so I used the "fish" part of the stencil and painted around the outline.

I outlined the collage pieces with perle cotton and added embroidery to the fish.  Then I added some beads and a button eye to accent the fish.

      

Finally I stitched and beaded a spray of coral.

                                                                                                  
I used a pillowcase type of backing and accented the edges with a perle cotton running stitch.

I've been doing this blogging thing all wrong - waiting until I have enough time to catch up.  Yikes - at the rate it's going that'll be a long wait.
So - here we go - SHORT POSTS!!

I'm itching to get into the other room and sew but first............here are the 2 photos that were accepted into the Eye of the Quilter exhibit in Houston.

Title:	Putting It All Into Perspective
Statement:	Travelling east in late Summer 2009, I found myself not only enthralled by the scenery but somehow comforted. No matter what else fate may have in store, there will be sights to delight and inspire.

Title:	Still Glenwood, Still October
Statement:	I love Autumn and its glorious color but there is also a tinge of sadness at the edge of all the beauty.

And here are the Haiku that will be in the Eye of the Quilter exhibit:

My 92 year old mother-in-law who has severe dementia was recently moved into a board and care from her beloved home of 40 years. 

 

 

 

Betty’s Empty House

 

Her house sits empty

A fog of forgetfulness

Pushes out despair 

I wrote this Haiku while I was recovering from foot surgery a couple of months ago.  I had very strict instructions to keep the surgical area dry in order to avoid a horrible  infection.  Taped on plastic bags were useless so that meant SPONGE BATHS! 

 

 

Post Op Lament

 

 

 

 

Sloppy sponge baths suck

I long for streams of water

Splashing on my head

My good intentions (last post in April 2009) went awry last year as life (and death) intervened. Upon reflection I realize that it wasn't just the time spent travelling - it was more the accompanying state of mind that dampened any energy or enthusiasm I had to create art or talk about it here.
Not that things have returned to "normal" - or appear to any time soon. but I'm not waiting for that to happen. Too many ideas and too much to do! Fun stuff.

At the moment I'm in Minnesota helping out while my daughter in law recovers from knee surgery. When I was packing I wanted to make sure that I packed some work to do in my down time. And, as you all know, you feel like doing different kinds of quilting, art or needlework according to the mood you're in.
Here's what I packed (for a 2 wks plus 1 day stay)
knitting - a scarf in progress (easy for the plane)
fingerless gloves (in progress on the needles)
yarn to start a sweater for my oldest granddaughter
assorted fabric to cut out for a lap quilt
an art quilt in progress and needing the hand embroidery to be done
a little kit containing beading tools and beads (to make earrings for youngest granddaughter who just got her ears pierced)

My husband just shook his head when he saw it all go into the suitcase but I know you all understand. Today I actually cut out the fabric for the lap quilt. The scarf grew a little while flying out here; granddaughter's sweater is on the needles; younger granddaughter has 2 new pairs of earrings. The art quilt has a little of the stitching done - the fingerless gloves haven't budged.

Well, it's almost time to take my granddaughter to circus school. The knitting goes with me.

Thanks for letting me ramble on here. Next post will include pics of some new work.

Art Trumps Work

This Morning, Art Trumps Work!


It's been way too long since I posted anything here. For that matter it's been way too long since I completed a project! I've been very busy with "real life" work since the first of the year which I suppose is a good thing, lol.



A couple of months ago our little quilt art group decided to try our hand at a still life. Here's what I came up with. I started with an arrangement of veggies from the refrigerator and took several pictures. This really helped me decide on which composition I liked the best.









I then printed the photo, enlarged it to the size I wanted and made some templates.

Then came the fun part of selecting my fabrics. For the very first time I decided to use some of my hand dyed fabric for the veggies. Believe me this was a huge step - those hand dyes
have been in the look, don't touch category for a long time. I selected a simple background, something with a grainy look for the cutting board and added some fusible web to the fabrics.

Then it was a matter of cutting, previewing, positioning and finally bonding. A simple quilting treatment added some definition and interest.



Here's the (almost) finished journal quilt. (the edges need to be bound or ?)

Remember to "Eat Your Veggies"

I love doing these journal quilts - what a wonderful way to try new techniques. For "I've Got Lips" above I first did a pieced background and quilted it. Then I drew and cut out appliques of various "lips" - with a variety of pink and red fabrics. (I had to add paint to get the right color a couple of times) I looked for as many "lip" quotes as I could find and printed them out in various fonts using ExtravOrganza in my inkjet printer. I then cut out the sayings, frayed the edges and painted each one using a fabric marker. I adhered them to the quilt with a clear fabric glue.

We started our new art quilt group this morning and wow is this going to be wonderful. There were 5 of us at this morning's meeting (2 more couldn't make it) and our purpose was to communicate what we want to achieve with this group. We all agreed that we want to stretch ourselves creatively - to learn and try different things as well as refine the skills already learned. We started a list of topics that we want to be sure to cover.
This is going to be so much fun.
I have several pieces in mind to make - first I really must finish the quilting on my Spring Whispers throw (I'll post a pic of the top) and get busy with my Hollow Cube Wall Quilt quilting.

A few months ago I made a little art quilt for my yoga teacher. It was very hard to part with it and I want to do another one along the same lines - just tweak it a bit.

I am so loving doing these journal quilts every month. Thank you Eileen (from Quilter's Studio) for the demos and the inspiration!! I'm doing things that I never dreamed I'd do (painting) and have new confidence doing things that I've done before and needed motivation to pull out of my bag of tricks again.

This one is called Energy=Color=Energy and I had fun working improvisationally (is that a word) to create a feeling of energy and movement.

We did one using Angelina fibers - can you find the angelina? This is a little reminder of global warming called "Icecap Melting"

So here we are halfway through January and I feel halfway recovered from the holidays. Actually I'm pretty much caught up except I started to really clean my home office (translation = throw out junk) and it looks messier than ever. I picked up a couple of wheeled carts from Staples and they are proving to be very useful for storing all my specialty papers, labels etc.

OK, so here's how I did on the holiday sewing/knitting prep. Most of the sewing got done; very little of the knitting. The cute hat for my great niece was finished but I did something weird and it's not getting on anybody's head - very tight carryover of color change yarn I think.

This is the tote bag that I made for Grandma Betty's caregiver.

I'll post photos of some of the other completed projects.

So here I am sitting with my laptop instead of with my knitting or at my sewing machine. There is so much to be done over the next month. Maybe if I make a list it will somehow make it more manageable. Or, heaven forbid, it might be too scary.
Let's see: sewing projects: 4 way placemats for DS and his family and for DM; doll dresses (already cut out); finish wall hanging for DDIL; make tote bag for DMIL's caregiver.
Knitting: hoodie for DGD1; sweater for DGD2; doll dress; cute toddler hat for DGNiece.

But what I REALLY want to work on is my journal quilt for this month's demo class. It needs to be completed by a week from Saturday. This month we're incorporating foiling into our journal quilt. Last month it was Shiva paintstiks. I can't wait to see what she'll demo next time.

And I want to finish my wall quilt - a hollow cube arrangement in batiks.
And to get a couple of pair of socks knit up.

Well, time to do some knitting.