Quilt Market

Well, Quilt Market is this weekend in Minneapolis and I won't be there. Clothworks will be very busy trying to sell my new fabric line, Urban Landscapes. I have sent my quilt, Urban Circles, for display, but am feeling a bit sad that I won't get to see it there. Not to worry, I will be busy learning new batik techniques with Jane Dunnewold, and I couldn't be happier!

Meanwhile, I have been dreaming up ideas of what to do with my fabric. These are some sample projects made with practice runs of the fabric before the real stuff is printed. Apparently, the colors are off just a bit but can be corrected with Photoshop, but my skills are not advanced to that point yet. These projects will be available to shops that order Urban Landscapes. Cool!

The first is a ruffle skirt and pocket T-shirt. The skirt has 3 tiers and an elastic waist, super comfy and easy to adjust for growing kids! The T-shirt is from Target. I shortened the hem and then fussy cut the pocket and stitched it on. Then I appliqued the hearts and hand stitched the stems.

The next project are two pillows for my couch. I love the way they look. Pretty, simple, and graphic. And the backs have a slightly wavy edge around the big buttons. So if you want a change, you can just flip the pillows over, effectively making them two-sided.


Here's a close up of the hand stitching on the red one.

Here's the quilting of the blue one. After stitching the pillow, this side is now hidden inside the pillow case, but I just love looking at the quilting lines, so I had to share!

This is my tote bag made from some of the Urban Landscapes fabric. You may have seen this tote bag in Quilting Arts Gifts magazine last fall?
Now here it is with my new fabrics, and a slight improvement. My original bag had a simple open pocket. I have altered this to have a zippered pocket so that my credit card won't fall out again!

Here are some closeups for you. I love this project because you can use it to practice your machine quilting skills on a small sample. This is the side of the tote bag. I typically use one quilting motif on one side of the bag, and then a different motif on the other.

How to make a zippered pocket? I didn't know either until I tried, but this is what I came up with. First, cut the pocket and turn under a seam allowance along the place where you will sew in the zipper. Then stitch the zipper in place, like in the photo. And trim off the long end of the zipper, flush with the pocket

Then turn under the edges of the pocket, pin to the lining of the tote bag, and stitch in place. It is easier if you open the zipper half way to do the ends. And, though simple, it's very functional, and looks pretty good too. And, though probably not everyone's taste, I love the contrasting colors!!

Green

Green 

 I made this fabric for a specific quilt I have in mind. Okay, the quilt hasn't gotten very far yet...what with painting the house, and repainting my daughter's room (and scraping the popcorn off her ceiling, bleh!). But, in my spare moments, I decided to try this quick experiment. I pleated the fabric with the iron, in a skewed pattern, and then rolled it up, secured with a tie, and then dyed it. It's lovely and well, very green!

Rainbow Pixel Project

Rainbow Pixel Project 

by Kathy York, Connie Hudson, Sherri McCauley, Leslie Jenison, Frances Holiday Alford, and Barb Forrister 

This is a sneak peak at our group quilt for this year. It has truly been so much fun! The guidelines were simple, 2 inch blocks, in rainbow colors. Any color could be used in each block as long as the entire block "reads" as a color. When we finished, we had over 600 blocks to put together!! Each one is it's own unique little art quilt. It is awesome! At this stage, it is just barely constructed. It still needs some work to finish it up. I'll post the entire picture when it's finished. Wait til you see the back!! Ask us what techniques we used? You are likely to hear everything. And we had blocks left over, so there will be two auction quilts for this year, one for IQA, and one for the Austin Quilt Guild! Hurray!

1,2,3,4

1,2,3,4 

7" x 7" 

 About this time last year, I was making plans to attend the opening of the Quilt National '09 exhibit. It was my first time to both attend a Quilt National exhibit at the Dairy Barn, and my first time to have a quilt in the collection. Absolutely thrilling adventure! This year, I am busy making plans for my entry to Quilt National '11. I still have enough time because the entries are not due until September. However, it has been a strange year for making art quilts. It seems like I have had less time for art this year. I am not sure if that is true or not, or if it just feels true. I have been spending a lot of time providing support for my new fabric line, Urban Landscapes. And my children have needed a larger chunk of my time. And so, I have tried to give them more, but it is still difficult to balance everyone's needs. Really?? Yes. Meanwhile, I have had some of these left over fabrics from my Quilt National '09 entry, Little Fish in a Big City. It was fun to sit down and play with them. And it was quick, so very satisfying to finish a small project. I still want to wrap the canvas in some fabric though, so I will have to repost when I finish that part. I am also working on two group quilts, but will post when they are finished. If you get a chance, you can see my quilt, Little Fish in a Big City this summer in Paducah, KY. It will be at the National Quilt Museum June 17, 2010 to August 10, 2010 along with many other wonderful quilts from Quilt National '09. Oh, this little quilt is called, 1, 2, 3, 4. I was thinking about families, and numbers, and how the number of members change as different groups are together and then apart.

Urban Circles

Urban Circles 

49" x 49"

 It is done, but is this really quilted? Technically, quilting is any stitching that hold the layers together (the top, the batting, and the back). I didn't use a normal quilting stitch for this quilt though, I used satin stitch, see close up photo below. I like the way the white lines form a grid and go with the white satin stitch around the circles. It just looks more complete or whole to me. I asked my friend, Connie, if anyone would think I was trying to hide poor piecing skills with the satin stitch. She thought I was nuts. "No one in their right minds would ever satin stitch an entire quilt to hide their piecing skills" she exclaimed. Okay....so I set about with satin stitching all the seams. It looks pretty and crisp, and I admit, I do LOVE it! Wondering how much thread I used?? Almost three 500 m spools of white on the top thread....and that's only counting the quilting lines, not the appliqued circles. It took a total of 6 hours to quilt this way, but I had to borrow Connie's Bernina. My wonderful and faithful Pfaff is just too slow.

Cheery O's

Cheery O's 

12" x 12" 

 This is my little piece that was in the Feb/Mar issue of Quilting Arts. I have since added borders. A group of friends had a small quilt exhibit at the Dallas Quilt Show a few weeks ago. My piece was one of the ones included, and I was so happy that it has now sold! I wanted to try satin stitch free motion quilting, so I just started quilting in circles. Then I just kept changing threads and making more and more circles. With increasing time behind the wheel, I slowly got better, which was fulfilling and fun. Slowly, the beautiful colors started to sing. Then I added the hand embroidery and french knots and it turned completely fun! The borders were quilted separately, trimmed to size and then added last. So on this tiny little quilt, I used satin stitch to create the central design, structurally add the borders, and finish the edge of the quilt! Ta da!

Fifty and Female and Fearless

Fifty and Female and Fearless 

36" x 48" 

 I am thrilled to announce that my quilt has been juried into the invitational Beneath the Surface exhibit curated by Jamie Fingal and Leslie Jenison and Dinner at Eight Artists. This is my second year to participate. Last year the exhibit was Edges and opened at the International Quilt Festival in Long Beach and then traveled to Houston. I believe this year's venues are the same. We are extremely fortunate to have two sponsors, Moore's Sewing Centers and Brother International. The quilt is 100% batik. I batiked the yellow central figure first on a yellow whole cloth. Then I etched the design lines and dyed it. Next I made a big stash of blue fabrics by batiking thin lines on commercial blue and turquoise fabrics, bleach discharge, and overdyeing. Each sample was then trimmed and fused into place, in a reverse applique style covering everything except the yellow figure. Lots of machine quilting, everything but the letters are heavily quilted every 1/4 inch. The title comes from the book Silent Passages, which has come in very handy as I enter a new decade and face new challenges. What inner resources will I need to make the passage?

Urban Circles

Urban Circles 

50" x 50" 

No, not like crop circles, more like CD circles. I was inspired by CD envelopes that have the shiny clear plastic that you can see through. I made these circles of my fabric, Urban Landscapes, by drawing the circles the same size as the hole in the CD envelope package. I fused them on, satin stitched the edges (all 100 of them!) in white thread, and then pieced the blocks together. LOVE IT! I especially like how the design entices your eye to move around and explore the entire quilt. Now that the top is done, all I have left is to quilt it! The photography. I am not happy with how the full size photo looks. On my monitor, it has a quality that looks plastic and harsh. The designs are bright and crisp, but in real life they have a softness to them, much more similar to the detail picture. Maybe I will reshoot and see how it goes?

Safe Home

Safe Home 

12" x 12" 

 I am donating this little quilt for SAQA's annual auction fundraiser, Studio Art Quilt Associates. Hoping that it finds a good home! It is a follow up from my piece Falling Through the Cracks, and in fact cut from the same cloth. The little special 'bead' has fallen into a safe nest at home. I had so much fun working on this little piece. Making art again is such a joy, I was practically in a frenzy!

Teaching Again

Teaching Again
I taught my first two classes this last weekend for my guild, the Austin Area Quilt Guild. Most common comment from my students...."This is the first class you have ever taught??" (with astonishment). No, this is not the first class I've taught, just the first quilting class. I used to be a science teacher for high school kids. I loved that job. Honestly, I LOVE my parenting job the most, and it's the hardest. And the new career of quilting and art is uniquely satisfying and rewarding and well suited to my strengths.

I have found that if I teach on the weekends, the child care is doable. For the first class, Satin Stitch, we learned about machine settings for getting a nice looking satin stitch in straight lines. We moved up to curves, and traveling, and satin stitch as a quilting line, and lots of other cool stuff. We mostly made small samples, which could be made into Affordable Art, or postcards, or coasters, or uniquely joined to make small art quilts.

And you should have seen their faces when I took my 8" x 8"class samples and cut them up into 4" squares! You can arrange and rearrange, and then satin stitch them together to make a completed quilt. Sadly, I lost one of my little squares for this little quilt that I planned to donate to the Austin Area Quilt Guild auction. Hopefully I will find it soon and get this little quilt all stitched up!



The class was so fun, lots of very friendly and willing participants. I so admire their willingness to try new things, like free motion satin stitching! And I appreciate their patience with me, especially when I gave them tiny circles to satin stitch (very difficult)! They did a terrific job. Perhaps you recognize Michelle, holding her little circle? She was a first place winner in the embellished category in Houston last fall. Also included, Janis, holding up her wonderful satin stitched composition! Just lovely!










































































The second class was Finishing Techniques. Using some altered trading cards and postcards that I had, along with small works owned or made by my students, we learned how to: apply fabric to canvasses, paint canvasses, apply traditional bindings, fuse bindings, hand stitched edges, and more! It was fun! A very creative group made the day pass so quickly!

First up, a postcard made by Heidi Miracle McMahill (from Virgina Speigels fundraiser for American Cancer Society) that I mounted to a stretched canvas. The canvas was wrapped with a hand batiked, dyed, and quilted piece. It looks as if it was made to go together, but it was quite serendipitous!

Next, two samples for my class, one a monoprint with hand quilting demonstrating the escape hatch from Laura Wasilowski, and small piece showing a satin stitched edge.
Next up, a couple of samples from students, and last a group photo of their work! Amazing!







These are class samples, incredible aren't they?