A Good Weeks Work

This has been a week for wrapping up projects and some quality time in the studio. One of my assignments was to make some fabric postcards for the Wish Upon a Card Project, a fund raising event for Wendy's Wish and sponsored by the popular Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show in Sisters, Oregon.

This was my first experience with Timtex and it was a blast. No raw edges to worry about or layers to cut away and the threads were a cinch to bury in the spongy material. It was so much fun that I am planning some larger panels for framable wall pieces. To learn more about the sale and silent auction of the fabric postcards visit http://www.SistersOutdoorQuiltShow.org

The next project was to bind the two LeMoyne star quilts which I had sent out to be quilted. They both returned home from different quilters on the same day. Some days are just packed with nice surprises! And I loved the way they each turned out.

I had the Turquoise Star quilted by Jean Leeson of Park Ridge, Illinois in a neutral "flame" pattern to blend it all together. The back of the quilt is done with a mixture of Hothouse fabrics and fabrics from the archives. It is essentially a simple log cabin block arranged in a light and dark checkerboard pattern.

The Cosmic Star, which is the most dramatic of the two, needed more detail in the quilting to define areas instead of blending them. Jean Shute of Blackbird Quilting in Otis Orchard, Washington did a beautiful job, as always!

I really like the back, too. Clean and simple and not a flower in sight.

Then I needed to finish quilting the Folk Art Silhouette quilt because it is going to hang on our living room wall and because I plan to publish it as a commercial pattern and need a finished piece to photograph.

It is the sister quilt to Spring Divas and is made by combining four Simple Silhouettes into one quilt.

All together it was a very satisfying week. Next week I am going to the North Carolina Quilt Symposium in Wilmington. Hope to see some of you there! http://www.ncqsi.com

May Dance

Each year we learn more about our eccentric little plot of land. It is easy to see it's "bones" in the bare winter, but now the earth is truly quivering with life and we are snapping on our seat belts because there is no turning back once the growing season begins! Native mayapple, trillium, bluebells, shooting stars, bloodroot, Solomon's seal, bleeding hearts and columbines are a few of the regulars that are dancing in clusters all around us. The air is fresh and clear with an occasional whiff of lilac... thanks to Greg who regularly renews the fragrant purple bouquets throughout the house.

So, of course, the girls have to get into the spirit of the season with outfits perfectly suited for a Maypole Dance. Both skirts are made from an original pattern with elastic waistband, three gathered tiers with pleated details and a finish of ruffles at the hem. Although both skirts are identical in construction, the choice of fabrics contribute to a unique statement... but they are both undeniably "over-the-top" with optimism! 

I've become very fond of combining contrasting prints to create "misfits" with unexpected energy. So, of course, the happy prints paired with the striped socks and boots just make me SMILE!

Reversible Wrap Arounds

This weeks news is all about "tightening our belts" because of rising prices and a fluctuating economy. Although in our household of freelance artists, frugality is old news to us. But as long as belts are being tightened they may as well be good to look at!

So this week we are featuring some thrifty fun belts which will make you feel extravagant and look fabulous. This design is not only economical because it is reversible, but because you can finally use some of those fancy fabrics in your stash. 

In truth, I designed these belts to save space. As a traveling teacher, I prefer to fill my suitcases with quilts instead of clothes, so I try to keep my wardrobe simple and compact. These wrap around belts pack easily and two belts give me a weeks wear by mixing and matching them with solid colored skirts and shirts.

Here Fair Claire is  wearing the belt wrapped and tied in the front, but they can also be worn cumber bun style and tied in the back.

This belt was made from two colorways of the Freckled Lily fabric from a few seasons back. The body of the belt is 3" wide and the ends made to meet or gently overlap. The ties are approximately one and a half the length of the belt body.

Here is the reversed belt. I like the look of the two different fabrics working together. The contrasting patterns and colors make it more interesting.

Here is another nice combination of complementary fabrics. This tiny creature really needs a belt to hold up that skirt.

 Yes, that feels better. Those were the days! One of the many nice things about having a daughter is living vicariously in those young bodies.

Here is another reversible belt in a simple slimmer style. These would look great with jeans, Capri's or a wonderful June Cleaver shirt dress.

So "tightening your belt" can be an act of creativity , if you let it be!

Pajama Party

This week the girls are having a party to celebrate SPRING... a pajama party! So, of course, they have to break out the happy colors for their festive "sleep" wear.

Willow's jammies will be perfect for a midnight giggle fest since they almost glow in the dark! I doubt if they'll get much sleep, an any case.

The contrasting details make these simple PJ's special. I think the perfectly cut pocket and the pant cuffs are the icing on the cake. These would be just as exciting in the black and white or green and yellow Starry Night combination.

Fair Clair indulges Burnt Toast in her favorite pastime wearing sleepers made from the Willow Leaf fabric and jazzed up with some red hot Dots.

I really LOVE this color combination! In fact, I long to have a small overstuffed reading chair covered with these fabrics. But then we'd lose Fair Claire altogether... yikes, it's a little hard to find either of them on the duvet. Sassaman camouflage!

Thanks to Susan for bringing these designs to fruition- hope your eyeballs are OK.

Spring Sprouts

This week was a typical midwestern spring... 65 degrees and sunny one day and cold with driving rain the next. The weekend was wonderfully warm and bright and the whole world was optimistic again. Happy crocus and enthusiastic daylily sprouts poked through the thick cover of oak leaves.

Our property is divided between areas of native prairie and sections of cultivated garden. Every spring Greg burns the prairie, a ritual of renewal. But the timing must be right. If you wait a day or two too long, you risk singeing the new growth and this weekend seemed to be the perfect time. It is a dramatic and exhausting event because you must guide and contain the fire. And the results are always a bit shocking. The once wildly textured landscape is suddenly black and bare- as if a meteor has crashed on your lawn and disintegrated everything in sight!

But when you look closely at the sooty remains, tiny buds and shoots are peeking through. You can't beat spring in the lands of four seasons. It's always worth the wait!

Daylilies are always one of the first plants to break the surface each spring and I am always amazed by their hardy life force and lovely growth pattern of alternating leaves. Infact, I admire their energy and design so much that I once made a giant quilt based on those tiny tufts of life, Tree of Life: Spring.

As Greg was out of doors this weekend I was in the studio, as usual. I'd been wanting to try a LeMoyne Star quilt with the Hothouse fabrics, thinking that the symmetry of several designs would work nicely. But I have never made a star quilt before, so I thought of my friend, Jan Krentz, who is the Queen of Diamonds and discovered she has designed a wonderful "fast 2 cut" large diamond ruler, the Fussy Cutter Ruler, 45 degree Diamond Guide.

Jan's ruler is perfect for working with large patterned symmetrical fabrics like mine. When the fabric is wild it needs to be used in big pieces with simple piecing because the fabric is the star of the show. Along with the Diamond Ruler all I needed was a 9" square and a 9" half square triangle. Here you can see the beginning of the first star, next to last weeks project on the work wall. I started by fussy cutting the Ruffle fabric and exciting relationships started happening right away. I was hooked! So I just kept fussy cutting and building on with other symmetrical fabrics from the same colorway.

I have to admit that this piece is hard to absorb up close. But when you stand back the kaleidoscopic effect is awesome. I was having so much fun that I took it's picture to record the placement of the pieces and started another one immediately.

By this time I knew how to position it on my wall so it was straight. This one is quieter and kind of sunny because of the turquoise and yellow tufts of grass throughout. I am planning to miter the corners

For the first top I used 3 yards of Tree of Life, 3 1/2 yards of Lily Pad, 2 yards of Ruffles and 2/3 yard of blue for the border. For the second I used 3 yards of Cabochon, 3 1/2 yards of Lily Pad and 5 yards of Grass.

I can't wait to start another quilt top, but in the mean time I have other things to look forward to, as well!

Beth and Jane's Big Adventure

I have a good excuse for missing last weeks posting... I was a guest on The Quilt Show with Alex Anderson and Ricky Tims!! I shared the honor with Beth Wheeler, author of "Altered Photo Artistry" and creator of "Threadography". Beth and I met up at the airport and shared a scenic car ride to charming LaVeta, Colorado, where the show is taped.

When we finally arrived, we were greeted by a happy crew; it felt like a family reunion instead of a work sight. And it was a kind of reunion, as this was every one's first day back on the set to tape the final episode of one series and begin shooting the next.

They tape two shows a day and Beth was the first one up. She looked relaxed and very professional during the whole process and her work looked wonderful hanging on the set. It was reassuring to see the whole procedure before my turn in the afternoon.

All went well, thanks to Alex and Ricky's friendly professionalism and a receptive studio audience! They allowed this quiet quilter to step out and show her stuff. Our programs are to be aired at the end of June and the beginning of July, respectively, so stay tuned and subscribe to The Quilt Show to see all your favorite fabric friends.

Back home, I have finally gotten the chance to play with some fabric. I have designed a new set of "Simple Silhouette" patterns based on Mexican folk art and they look perfect in the Mexican colorway of the Hothouse fabric. One of the four designs is the skull motif from the Pushing Up Daisies quilt, since I have had many requests for a pattern. The instructions are in production now and I will let you know when they come off the press.

A Fresh Start

Spring has sprung and it's snowing again! But I still love it. I mailed my new fabric designs to FreeSpirit this week, so a new chapter begins. My walls look very bare and my Bernina is aching to be used. But first I have to clean up this studio! It's strange to finally have a real workroom and realize that I could use even more space.

The magazines are a particular problem; they are stacked on every available surface. I subscribe to a few periodicals that are so beautiful and full of inspiration that they must be saved FOREVER. So, of course this is our design dilemma for the week.

We found some sturdy magazine file boxes at Ikea, where else? Even though they are quite functional, they are plain and mundane to look at. I want them to be jazzy if they are going on my shelves and holding all those wonderful volumes.

So with the help of that great product, Tacky Glue and a stack of Sassaman fabric, we transformed those average boxes into "things of beauty". My friend, Susan, found these fun buttons which are actually sewn through the box and secured with a small clear button on the opposite side. Then we found some colorful dingle tags for labels.

They look great on the bookshelves and just in time for the 4H Club visit!

AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT:

I have been contacted by my friends and fellow "Women of the Cloth", Mary Stori and Jamie Kalvastran to participate in a "blog tag". The idea is to share our own favorite bloggers and blog sites, thus spreading the inspiration around. 

Each of us is, also, supposed to share 7 things about ourselves that you may not know. Now here is payback time! This is a question I always ask my students and now I have to scrape up some answers, too. So here goes...

1. I love old radio shows and movies. I have listened to "Those Were the Days" almost every Saturday for the last 25 years. This is a local (and now on Internet) radio program which features vintage radio shows. I also subscribe to RUSC.com, a wonderful site where you can download or listen-on-demand to thousands of old radio shows like Phil Harris, Jack Benny, Fibber Magee & Molly, etc. Of course, Turner Classic Movies is my favorite TV station.

2. I am, also, a classic mystery lover. Favorites include Dorothy Sayers, Ruth Rendell, P. D. James, Patricia Highsmith, Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, James M. Cain and Dick Francis. Love to listen to books on tape in the studio.

3. I collect books on design and decorative arts. Amazon.com is a blessing and a curse. Used bookstores are the best. Who knows what treasures linger on those shelves?

4. I don't knit... yet.

5. My husband is the real creative force in our house. He is interested in everything and has an intuitive sense of design and fun. I am just very tunnel visioned and a type A personality.

6. I love to work on weekends, when I should be doing chores.

7. I have many talented friends. Check out their websites and blogs under Fabric Friends, below.

 

Think SPRING!