2012 International Quilt Festival in Cincinnati, Ohio

2012 International Quilt Festival in Cincinnati, Ohio

Coming soon!  Next week, April 13-15.  I wish I could be there, but sadly I cannot.  However, a number of my quilts will be there. Oops!  I spoke too soon.  I just got notice that due to space constraints, only half of the quilts for The Space Between exhibit will be shown, and mine was NOT one selected.  Disappointing, but the quilts that are going are a visual treat!  Hope you enjoy.

Look for:

The Space Between, Blue Towers

Tactile Architecture:  Artists Village and Central Park
Texas Quilts Today:  Selections from the Book, Lone Stars III

I have two quilts in the book, Lone Stars III, but I am not sure if either will be at the quilt show.  I hope so!
The two in the book are Little Cities, and A Few of My Favorite Things.

Blue Towers

Artist's Village

Central Park

Central Park - detail shot

A Few of My Favorite Things

Little Cities

What I've been UP to, Cat Shelves

What I've been UP to, Cat Shelves

I have been watching My Cat From Hell on television.  I wish I could say that it was just a curiosity, but the truth is that my four boy cats might qualify for this show!  They are aggressive with each other, and my guests.  I usually lock them up in the bathroom when I have company.  But, after watching the show, I have hopes.  Each segment gives me new ideas, and I implement them ALL! 
This week, instead of quilting, I have been adding cat shelves to my walls.  It is intended to give the cats a high perch so that they feel safe, and a place to just hang out!  I started with a beam from the top of a book shelf to a stack of milk cartons.  It was a good idea, but too wobbly.  This brought the investment up a notch.  The beam was easy enough to cover in carpet with staples, but actually bolting these things down when the cats just around is a different story.  Here is a photo of the beginning of the project, and a plan for more shelves (for easy entry and exit).  I used painters tape to mark the placement of the shelves, which I moved around a lot until I liked the arrangement.  I must say that it is harder than I expected to plan something for the cats abilities and their bodies.  I also used a stud finder so that the shelves would be anchored in studs, and that put some artistic limits on the project. 

When I decided to add the white shadow boxes from the container store, I knew I was on to something.  I just love the white squares against my aqua walls.  I plan to put some art inside these, but for now, I like the simplicity of the white squares.  FYI:  This also added significantly to the cost of the project.  Rats!

Last you can see the flying cat boys exploring their new territory.  The last one is happy cat.  It just makes me wonder, seeing him licking his lips, if he is planning to make a meal out of me, from high atop his perch?

Square in a Square

Square in a Square
12" x 12"

This is my little donation quilt for SAQA.  Still deciding if I want to go around the edge a few more times with floss.  It is another in a series of small art quilts made from my batiks.  In this one I also dyed the batting.  It shows through the circles in the center and around the edges of the blocks.  I love the color and the texture!  The 100% cotton batting really dyes bright!  Such fun!  One thing that I really liked about working on this small piece (aside from the relatively quick completion!), was that the dyed batting was so easy to stitch through, soft as butter!

In selecting a name for this little quilt, it references a traditional pattern, called square in a square, but that pattern has each successive layer of a square turned on point (a 45 degree angle).  I made one of these during my early quilt making days for my son.  I need to get a photo of it before it is completely worn out!

Group projects

Group projects
I never thought I would make a worm.  But, here it is.

I am working on another group project and my panel is loaded with birds and fish and little houses and a big tree.  Photos will come later.  It's funny because I never would have thought to make something like this without the invitation to participate.  One of the many values of working on group projects!  Thanks Frances!

ps.  Love the bird, wish I had made it!  I just cut it out of some fabric that I already had, very cute!

Brown Chair and New Pillows

Brown Chair and New Pillows

It was a brown chair with beautiful wood and a gorgeous tapestry fabric for the chair and the pillows.  Though I loved the chair, even with the cat damage on the back, it doesn't go with my turquoise floors and Ikea spiral rug.  I would really like to reupholster it, but I was cleaning out my closet and found this kid size play parachute.  LOVE the colors, so I tossed it over the chair.  And then I made these two little quilted samples (here and here) into pillows.  Love, love, love it!  And, it goes perfectly with our casual and often messy lifestyle!

Fun buttons for the backs!

Blue Circles

Blue Circles
I was just playing with different tools to easily stamp out big circles in batik.  This is one piece that I did as an experiment, and I was looking for something to practice quilting to get back into the swing of things.  I had already done this one.  And since I showed the beginning of this project on this post, I thought I would update it's progress. The first was completed so quickly that I thought it would be fun to do another one (and it was!).  So many of my projects are rather big and intricate.  Sometimes, it is nice to do something quick and simple.
Here is the initial layout of fabrics:  I like the way it looks so natural with several of my Urban Landscapes fabrics!

 And then I layered it, and machine quilted.  Then added some hand stitching.

Not today, and probably not tomorrow, but some day I will either put a binding on it, or make it into a nice big pillow.  I just can't decide!  I do love the texture of the hand quilting with embroidery floss though!

Gift

Gift
98" x 98"

The only thing missing is the bow!  ...well, that and the quilting.  I fully expected to have this quilt done by this time.  However, my other art quilts have been stealing my time.  And, I am not ready to quilt this one just yet, I thought I would show you some variations on a theme, done on my computer....just because it is fun!

I quickly threw this project together in a few days with batik and dyeing.  However, it is a simple pattern that could be easily pieced.  Beauty in a simple form!  I took some big pieces (about fat quarter sized), folded in half twice, dipped the edges in wax.  Then the standard, bleach discharge, and overdye.  Boil out the wax, trim each block (now about 19.5" square), and stitch together.

 And, as much as I like bright colors, I couldn't help but think that this would look good in some other color palettes.  And so, I took a photo and uploaded into Photoshop.  Then with the magic wand tool, I went around the quilt selected different colors, and replacing with other colors. Here are two, a lovely pastel collection, and one in black and white and grey.

The possibilities are endless!  And the idea of designing quilts on the computer is not a new one.  I will say that nothing compares to standing in front of the real quilt.  Computer screens do not take scale into account.  A tiny photo that looks pretty on the computer screen does not evoke the same feeling as the full scale project.  It is fun though!

A Year Ago Today

A Year Ago Today
 I am celebrating the recovery of my accident today.   Last year on this day, I was in surgery to repair the tendon that ripped on my thumb from my bicycle fall. Now, a year later, I am recovered probably as much as I will be.  A little stiff, a little slow, and I drop a lot, but it doesn't keep me from working!  Still loving my colors, batik, and quilting!


Yellow Windows
21" x 21"
From here to there.  Picking out fabrics.  The top one is an extra that I batiked without a plan for it. The bottom is a commercial print from Malka Dubrowsky.  Looks good, yes?

 

 Ever wonder what happened to the holes I cut out from this quilt?  See High Rise.

I saved them, in a box, collecting dust and cat hair, the saving was intentional, the dust and cat hair was not.  lol!!  Then I pulled them out, dusted them off and fused them onto this piece, to give it a little color.  Then arranged and auditioned the borders, two of mine balanced with two of Malkas.

 Sequence, sequence, sequence....first quilt; then satin stitch.

Next, I added some hand stitching.  I love this part.  I had originally planned to stitch all the squares the same, but then changed my mind.  I like this more random confluence better.

 Here's a close up of some of the hand stitching. 

 Last, a photo of the texture.  It is just so luscious!

And, not a finished project yet.  Can't decide to make this into wall art, or a giant pillow??

Quilting Arts Magazine and our Artist Village

Quilting Arts Magazine and our Artist Village

Our Artist Village is published in this month's Quilting Arts Magazine!  I am so excited!  The article looks fantastic with closeups of some of the houses.  It is accompanied by an article I wrote about how I constructed my house.  It is a fabulous issue and has a special about another exhibit that I participated in (though my quilt was not selected for this issue).  The quilts chosen were awesome!  And the one by Susan Brubaker Knapp is gracing the cover.  A special honor for her, especially when you read the story about her quilt.  Judy Perez also wrote an interesting article about DeColourant.  And the Twelve by Twelves also make an appearance!  It is a fantastic issue!  An honor to be a part of it!

New Pillows and How Scary is This??

New Pillows and How Scary is This??

Okay, the first two photos, NOT scary.  I had a few experiments with some batik, and thought it would be lovely to see some of Malka Dubrawsky's new fabric line, A Stitch in Color, and see if they look good together.  We use a similar style and color palette, so I was hoping.....YES!! It looks fabulous together!  I look forward to these two projects....and wishing I had access to more of her line to play with.  The store I went to, only had a few of hers...but it looks good, yes? (Mine is on the right side, Malka's is on the left).

Update:  I just ordered MORE of Malka's fabric at Marmalade Fabrics, as there was a link on Malka's blog.  Yeah!  I can't wait until they arrive!
 This is the scary part.  I love, love, love the quilt top.  But it is really, really, really big.  And, my machine has not been feeling well lately.  It's been sewing with big birds' nests on the back.  And if you don't know what that is, you are lucky.  And if you do know what that is, I am sorry that you know!  lol!  Suffice to say, it's not pretty.  And everything I did to "fix" the problem, did absolutely nothing. For two days!! Frustrating!!  Meanwhile, I want to start sewing this big, mammoth, gigantic quilt but now I am scared.  And it is physically difficult to move around in interesting patterns under the machine...and, I don't want to mess it up!!  Twenty seconds of courage and the first stitch later...it is going okay.