Terri Stegmiller Art Quilts

Hearts & Flowers

2012-01-28T07:00:00.000-06:00

I've been playing around lately with some mixed-media collage. This is actually the second art quilt I've made using these types of materials and techniques. I was digging through my paper stash, my hand painted fabrics stash and my oddball fabrics stash to find items to incorporate in this quilt.

When I refer to oddball fabrics, what I mean is fabrics that are not typical to quilting.

Fabrics like sheers (especially those that have embroidered designs on them), laces, chiffons, tulles, nettings, etc.

These sheer fabrics work great when placed over the top of collage items.

It helps to keep them in place and secure until the entire surface has been stitched.

I'm having fun with these mixed-media collage quilts and hope to have more to share with you soon. Hope you have a great weekend! Today I am teaching at my local quilt shop. We are making Valentine Heart Quilts. There is a tutorial for this project in the Tutorials link at the top of my blog.

Excitement Among the Twelves

2012-01-27T09:57:00.002-06:00

I received my copy of the latest issue of Quilting Arts the other day (Feb/Mar 2012 Issue 55). This particular issue is special to me and the 11 other members of the Twelve by Twelve group.

The reason we are so excited about this issue is because we have a six-page spread inside. The article is set up in a Question/Answer format and each member of our group has answered a question about the Twelve by Twelve group.

I hope you enjoy reading about us in Quilting Arts!

The Occasional Art Journaler

2012-01-26T13:05:00.000-06:00

I really love art journals. Yes, I'm more of an art journal freak than keeping a journal for working out projects and such. Although I do have journals where I just sketch. Those journals are for when I need ideas in creating art quilts and the like. But back to art journals...

I keep one going on my desk pretty much all the time. I don't usually sit and work on these for long periods of time. I usually just add little things here and there when the mood strikes. I also don't always know what I want to do each step of the way so walking by it gives me time to glance and ponder. Then, when I suddenly get the light bulb moment, I can visit my journal and add the next tidbit.

Today I added some paper flower cut-outs from some scrapbook paper. I had originally added some doodles above the heart and ended up not liking what I did....so out came the paint and the gel medium and scrapbook papers. It's so nice to be able to change your mind when you want to. We don't always get to do that.

I'm loving these little negative cut-outs that remain from cutting my flower shapes. I will definitely be using these somewhere else in my art journal pages.

My First Video

2012-01-24T08:28:00.000-06:00

In my previous blog post, I shared some mini colored pencil illustrations I had made. Above are more that I'm working on. I am having fun with these small, fun pieces. The bottom four are waiting to be colored.

And I'm very excited to share with you my first ever video tutorial. I recently purchased a pocket-sized video camera and I'm having fun playing with it. It was challenging to learn the video editing software, and I still have a ways to go with that. Hopefully I'll become a pro very quickly. While the video below isn't going to win any movie awards, I do hope you enjoy it.

Painting with Colored Pencils from Terri Stegmiller on Vimeo.

EDIT: Some of you are asking about where to purchase. I purchased my bottle from Zest-It Art Products, UK-based retailer. To my knowledge it is not yet available in the US and I don't know if it will be. If you are considering purchasing it, I would suggest a Google search to see if you can locate it in your area.

Lots of Mini's

2012-01-20T11:39:00.004-06:00

I've been working on some mini art lately. I like making mini things as it gives me a chance to use up small pieces of left over materials.

The first photo is all the mini quilts I made. I figured with Valentine's Day coming up soon, that I'd make a bunch of heart quilts.

And the other mini art I've been making is these colored pencil illustrations. I made them on small, cast-off pieces of watercolor paper. These are the perfect "sit in front of the TV with hubby" project. I mounted the watercolor paper to mat board.

I've added all these small mini works to my etsy shop.

A New Painting

2012-01-17T12:31:00.000-06:00

I have a spot in the entryway of my house where I've had one of those large grapevine wreaths hanging now for oh, maybe 15 years or so. I'm tired of it, it's dusty/dirty and I need a change. So I decided to create a painting.

This is the largest painting I've ever done and I enjoyed working on a larger scale. The canvas measures 28" x 22".

I made a video slideshow of the photos I took during the progression of the painting. I hope you enjoy!

Cat with Vase Painting Progression from Terri Stegmiller on Vimeo.

New Tutorial Available

2012-01-16T10:10:00.000-06:00

With Valentine's Day fast approaching, I thought I'd make this tutorial available in case anyone is looking for ideas on making their own Valentine's gifts.

You will find this tutorial in the Tutorials link at the top of my blog or click here. The name of this tutorial is Valentine Heart Quilt. I hope you enjoy it and if you make a heart following these directions, I hope you will share a photo with me.

Happy Monday!

I Made a Valentine

2012-01-14T10:24:00.000-06:00

Last evening I spent some time with friends, new and old, and we sewed and laughed. I taught them my techniques for painting with Neocolor II crayons. I forgot to take my camera with me. :(

Here is what I made during the demonstration. A valentine.

I found the quilted neutral background with pink border in my stash. It was a leftover from another project.

I drew a basic heart shape onto some paper. I like to use Carol Doak's Foundation Paper for this process as it tears away fairly easily. Although you could use plain copy paper.

I pinned the heart drawing to the quilted background and stitched over the shape with black thread. Next I removed the paper. After the paper was removed I did some more thread sketching and added lots of details. I colored the shape with the crayons and then using a paint brush I wet the area with some textile medium. The small quilt measures 7" x 6.5".

Foto/Fiber 2012

2012-01-13T07:41:00.000-06:00

You may have seen the news around the web about Foto/Fiber 2012. But if you haven't you can read all about it below. I am participating in this wonderful fundraiser and I am today's featured artist here (click the link to see peeks of the fiber bonuses I am including in my fiber bonus packages). As the day draws near to this event, I will share more photos of what you will find in the fiber bonuses I will be putting together.

Foto/Fiber 2012
90 Photos AND 90 Fiber BONUSES Gold Donor Day - February 15, 2012
Make a minimum donation of $100, choose a photo by
Virginia A. Spiegel, Karen Stiehl Osborn, or Cynthia Wenslow
and choose a Fiber BONUS by a specific artist
from the following list of fiber artists.

Regular Foto/Fiber - February 16, 2012
Make a minimum donation of $50 and choose a photo by
Virginia A. Spiegel, Karen Stiehl Osborn, or Cynthia Wenslow.
Your Fiber BONUS will be chosen at random for youfrom the following list of generous fiber artists.
Artists donating Fiber BONUS include: Natalya Aikens, Frances Holliday Alford, Pamela Allen, Liz Berg, Sue Bleiweiss, Nancy G. Cook, Jane Davila, Vivika DeNegre, Diane Rusin Doran, Jane Dunnewold, Jamie Fingal, Leonie Hartley Hoover, Leslie Tucker Jenison, Lyric Kinard, Susan Brubaker Knapp, Lynn Krawzcyk, Jane LaFazio, Susan Lenz, Jeanelle McCall, Linda Teddlie Minton, Karen Musgrave, Gail Myrhorodsky, Karen Stiehl Osborn, BJ Parady, Cate Coulacos Prato, Yvonne Porcella, Wen Redmond, Sue Reno, Lesley Riley, Cynthia St. Charles, Susan Schrott, Suzanne Silk, Lura Schwarz Smith (with Kerby C. Smith), Sarah Ann Smith, and Terri Stegmiller
Drawings for Fiber Art throughout the event.All patrons of Foto/Fiber 2012 will also have multiple chances throughout Foto/Fiber to win fiber art donated by:Leonie Hartley HooverLyric Kinard
Lynn Krawczyk
Yvonne Porcella
Susan Schrott
Mary Ann Van Soest

More information on how Foto/Fiber 2012 works:
http://www.virginiaspiegel.com/FotoFiberHowItWorks.html
Our goal – Raise $7,000 for the American Cancer Society

Fiberart For A Cause has already donated over $215,000 to the American Cancer Society through the generosity of fiber artists and their patrons.
Contact Virginia(at)VirginiaSpiegel.com for more information.

Sneak Peek

2012-01-11T11:41:00.001-06:00

I posted a few sneak peeks of my work in progress for the next Twelve by Twelve challenge. Our challenge this round is Metamorphosis. See my post on the Twelve by Twelve blog here.

Birds of a Feather

2012-01-07T08:06:00.002-06:00

I recently created 12 mini quilts. These all measure 6" square. I worked on these over a period of time this past fall. I hadn't shared them with you before this (well maybe a sneak peek) because they were gifts.

Machine pieced, free-motion quilted, thread sketched, painted

I sent these to all the members of the Twelve by Twelve group. I feel so blessed to be part of this group and I was thrilled to have met so many in person when I went to Houston in November. I enjoyed making this quilt series and while working on them I would think about how connected the Twelves have become over the years we've worked together.

I hope my little Birds of a Feather series brings you a smile.

The Girls Are Back

2012-01-05T11:56:00.000-06:00

I finished putting the binding on this quilt over a week ago, right before I got sick. I never got around to taking a photo of it until now. I have it blocking on my design wall and still need to add a label and hanging sleeve.

The Store Ran Out of Hair Dye
48.25" x 41.5"
Hand-dyed & commercial fabric, paint; machine pieced, free-motion quilted

Just a reminder, I used a quilt-as-you-go (QAYG) method of creating the above quilt. The method is one I learned from The Quilting Edge blog. You will find the QAYG tutorial here. For my quilt I used the QAYG #4 Joining with Wide Strips and QAYG #6 Adding Borders. These tutorials are wonderful. I really enjoyed this method of quilting, although I wouldn't use it all the time, just in certain projects.

And up next is a two-and-a-half page spread from one of my watercolor journals. I started this a couple days ago. After I am done with the base layers on these pages, my plan is to add doodles on top. We'll see!

NEW

2012-01-03T22:00:00.000-06:00

I totally missed New Years. I was sick. Six days and six nights of pure, unadulterated YUCK. But, I'm over it. OH. VER. IT. Actually it's been a long time, several years probably, since I've really been sick like that. So now I'm good for several more....hopefully.

So.....HAPPY NEW YEAR, everyone!

I'm ready to start my new year now. Raring to go. Anticipating a whole, new, what's-it-gonna-bring-me year. I've been doing a lot of thinking lately...had lots of time on the couch to do that...and I'm not going to tell you I've selected a word for the year, or made any resolutions, or that I will participate in a weekly/daily/monthly challenge. I know better! I've done all that stuff too many times to know that at some point I'll wimp out and stop.

Instead I think I will just DO. Do stuff, without declaration. Do art without purpose. No guilt, no commitments (well maybe a couple), and just create, create, CREATE! YES! I want to create more Art Quilts! I've got so many ideas. Ideas in my head. Ideas in my sketchbooks. I just don't know which one to choose first.

I hope your New Year is looking bright and sassy. Let's have fun!

Blog Redecoration

2011-12-22T10:38:00.002-06:00

Did you all notice the redecorating I did on the blog??? I felt it was time for a new look, so I went ahead and made some changes.

It seems like I've not had any time lately to post here what I've been doing lately. It must be that time of year. Anyway, here are a few things that I've done. First up is my latest progress on The Girls. I've now got all the borders on and did you notice??? They're green! I found a second green fabric that was sort of similar and at first I thought it wouldn't work, but now that it's on there I'm finding that it works better than I imagined. The right and bottom borders are one green fabric and the remaining two borders are another green fabric. Both of these fabrics were actually dyed in the same dye bath, a parfait style dyeing session. So they have a lot of the same dye colors in them, but just in differing mixes of colors

I have the top and bottom borders quilted. I just need to quilt the two side borders and add a binding and then this one is finished. I'm thinking I will go with a black with white dot binding fabric.

Next up are a couple of composition notebook covers I made. These were made from the same fabric that I had painted/stamped/stenciled/screened. Whew! That's a lot of techniques all rolled into one.

I crocheted that little doily for this cover.

This notebook cover was given as a prize to the 3CS color palette challenge winner.

Here's a close-up of the doily.

And the final two photos are some doodles I've been doing in my sketchbook.

Have a great Thursday!

Border Auditions

2011-12-15T18:34:00.000-06:00

I've been in the process this week of trying to figure out what direction to go with this quilt. First I tried this fat blue/thin black border idea.

Next I tried a warmer toned fat border.

Then I auditioned the addition of a border that is the same style as the inner sashing strips.

Then paired that with a fat blue border.

And finally, I auditioned a light green fat border.

The last option was my favorite and I proceeded to add the sashing strips to the quilt and then came to a screeching halt. I don't think I have enough of the light green fabric to do all four borders. I will check again and see if I can make it work or I might have to move on to plan B. I'm not sure yet what plan B is, but hopefully I won't need it.

Wall Cats

2011-12-13T10:54:00.001-06:00

I finally got my Kitty Litter grouping up on the wall. These are hanging in my bedroom.

And they look great with my new quilt that I finished this year.

Making Progress

2011-12-09T10:25:00.001-06:00

Slowly but surely I'm getting some work done on the girls. I've now got all the vertical sashing strips attached and quilted and the upper horizontal sashing strip as well. Next I need to add and quilt the bottom horizontal sashing strip. I plan to do that today. I also hope to decide what I want to do for outer borders. Not only is this a "quilt as you go" project, but it's also a "decide as you go".

And I'm finished with my holiday greeting cards....YAY! They are now ready for stamps and a trip to the post office. I even ended up with a few extra cards. Hmmm, what to do, what to do.

Now I need to start thinking about some holiday baking. The boy loves his traditional favorites, so I'll need to see what I have on hand and make a list. What is your favorite holiday treat?

I'm a Hoarder

2011-12-08T06:30:00.000-06:00

A neutral fabric hoarder, that is! Okay, maybe I don't have quite as many as some other quilters out there, but lately I just can't seem to stop looking and buying. Is there a cure? Do I want to be cured? NO!

I shared some photos recently of neutral fabrics I've purchased lately and I've now added to that. This photo shows all of the neutrals I've purchased within the past 30 to 40 days, so there are some you've seen. I've been acquiring more fabrics with text on them, thanks to some concerned readers who knew of some that they figured I'd like. The stack of whites on the left are not plain white, but white on white prints, which work wonderfully for the way that I like to use these neutral fabrics.

And here's a photo of all my neutrals in my cupboard. See, that's not an obnoxious amount, right???

Christmas Card Progress

2011-12-07T11:46:00.001-06:00

I'm making progress on my hand made Christmas greetings. I've finished with the creation of the card front.

I found some red scrap booking papers in my paper stash and used my deckle-edge ruler to trim the paper to the size I wanted. Then I used my handy dandy taper thingie to adhere everything together.

Now I'm trying to compose a greeting for the inside of the card. I haven't yet landed on one I'm satisfied with, but I think I'm getting close. Hopefully I'll have that decided by this evening so I can sit and write the greeting text into the cards.

As I'm typing this, my house is beginning to smell wonderful. I'm baking an apple pie for hubby. He tells me he can't get enough of it lately and if he could, he'd change his middle name to Pie.

Quilting As I Go

2011-12-06T06:59:00.000-06:00

I'm back to working on these girls again. I've decided to combine them all in one wall hanging.

I'm trying out a new technique, a quilt-as-you-go method. I learned this technique from another blogger, MariQuilts over at The Quilting Edge. MariQuilts generously provides a fabulous tutorial on her blog for this technique, so if you are so inclined to give it a try, I recommend her tutorial.

You can see in the photo above that I have two vertical sashing strips to add yet and then I will move on to the horizontal sashing strips. And then the borders.

It's That Time of Year

2011-12-05T10:53:00.001-06:00

It's time to make the holiday greeting cards. This year I decided to make a somewhat traditional holiday greeting card. Last evening I sat in front of the TV and drew these trees onto 90 lb. watercolor paper. Next I added some light washes of green with watercolor paint. Now they are ready for the next step.

Here is something I started working on over the weekend. Mending. Mmm hmm. You know, the only people on this planet I will consider mending for is my family. The boy had three pairs of jeans with lots of holes. Evidently his "holes in the jeans are cool" days are over.

before

after

Hope you had a wonderful weekend. Are you making holiday greetings this year?

Spirit Muses

2011-12-03T06:48:00.000-06:00

I've drawn a couple more of these fun, wacky characters recently and now I have three of them.

I've sort of started thinking of them as spirit muses and while I'm not sure if there will be more of these coming out of me, I might think about creating them into art quilts. We'll see, not sure on that yet.

Early Christmas for Me

2011-12-02T10:28:00.001-06:00

Every year, about a month or two before Christmas, hubby always asks me the same question..."What do you want for Christmas?" Over the years we have come to realize that we really don't need anything since we usually just buy what we need when we need it. And we've also learned that it's better to get each other something we know the other wants, and have totally stopped buying gifts that are surprises, only to end up not being something not wanted.

So our ritual is to tell each other what we would like and we usually then go ahead and get it. We don't wait for the official date to exchange our gifts. This year, I knew a few months in advance what I wanted. I usually don't desire jewelry, especially since I'm at home on a full-time basis and I don't wear jewelry at home. But this year I wanted jewelry. My friend, Martha, has a silver ring that I had been admiring for quite a while. I asked her about it and she told me she had a jewelry artist friend who made it. She gave me the information on her friend and I contacted her about making me a similar ring.

Jamie Santellano was a pleasure to work with and quickly made me a ring in the size I needed. I love it and find I want to wear it all the time, even at home.

I had it made to wear on my right hand, middle finger, but have you ever tried to take a photo with your left hand? Just. Can't. Be. Done! But of course, now I remembered that I purchased a wireless remote for my camera...duh!

I also had this ridiculously cute kitty pendant "favorited" on Etsy. And one day, hubby saw it on my computer screen and declared I must have that. So needless to say, I didn't argue.

This cute silver pendant was purchased from Etsy seller Mark Poulin. And Mark's photos of these bright silver objects are totally better than what I did. He's got more cute jewelry too and I may just have to innocently leave images of those on my computer screen in the future.

Hope you had a great week!

Fabric with Text: Acquired

2011-11-27T07:10:00.000-06:00

I mentioned recently, that when I was at the Quilt Festival in Houston, I was shopping for neutral fabrics with words/text on them. I came away with practically nothing. So recently I was browsing the offerings on Etsy.com and came across a seller who had several pieces for sale in her shop. Yay! I love one-stop shopping! I bought these six fabrics (yes, the one at the bottom-left doesn't have words printed on it, but it sort of reminds me of crossword puzzles).

I like having a large assortment of neutral fabrics with interesting prints. I use them in my backgrounds for quilts like the following. The printed design of the fabric looks quite interesting, and sometimes different, when painted over with a transparent paint.

Hope you are having a wonderful weekend!

A Sketch and A Thought

2011-11-26T09:27:00.001-06:00

Last evening I was sitting in front of the TV not really focused on much of anything. One of my sketchbooks was laying on the table next to me, so I picked it up, turned to a new page and this is what came out of me. I sometimes wonder what brings drawings/sketches out of us and why they look the way they do on that given day. Was this strange character speaking to me somehow, was my subconscious self telling me to get her out? Have I seen her somewhere and now the far recesses of my memory is remembering her? Do you think these kinds of thoughts when you create?

Happy Thanksgiving

2011-11-24T13:24:00.001-06:00

I want to wish all of you a Happy Thanksgiving. And thank you so much for your visits here to my blog.

I want to shout out a reminder that tomorrow, Black Friday, my Etsy shop sale starts. Today I added some new items that I've had here but have never offered for sale before. Remember to use coupon code BLACK20.

May your travels be safe and your friends and family be healthy.

Art Quilting Studio

2011-11-23T06:31:00.001-06:00

I have an article in the upcoming issue of Art Quilting Studio.

Photo by Margaret Applin Happ

I hadn't even received my copy of this issue yet, when my friend Margaret wrote me about it. She had pre-ordered the issue and has already received it. I do hope my copy arrives today. Margaret so kindly sent me a photo so I could share it with you here. This publication is put out by Stampington & Co. I'll probably be watching for the mail to come all day today.

Black Friday Sale

2011-11-21T11:04:00.001-06:00

Hi all! Just wanted to let you know that I'm going to have a Black Friday sale in my Etsy Shop. The sale will run three days and starts on Friday, November 25 and ends at midnight on Sunday, November 27. All items in my shop are on sale at a 20% discount. You will need to use a coupon code when checking out in order to see the discount applied to your purchase. Simply type in BLACK20 when you see the area to apply a coupon code.

Now, back to the studio....

Funky Feathered Friends

2011-11-17T09:07:00.001-06:00

I finished the tote bag that I shared a photo of the other day, while it was still a work in progress. The bag was a request from my friend Martha. She likes red colors and she wanted a bird. I'm pleased to report that she loves her new bag.

I think I might call these fun and whimsical little birds Funky Feathered Friends. Not totally sure on that just yet...still thinking.

Here is a peek at another Funky Feathered Friend that I'm working on.

Hope you are having a wonderful and funky day!

Pattern Kits and 3 Creative Studios News

2011-11-16T15:12:00.001-06:00

Today Vicki and I announced that we will be shutting down 3 Creative Studios at the end of the year. You can read all about it <click here>. I've had so much fun working with Vicki and getting to know her more. She is a very fun and creative person.

Vicki creates the most beautiful hand dyed fabrics and my favorites are her gradients. I used them in my Growin' Flowers quilt series, pictured below.

Vicki is having a wonderful sale that includes the Growin' Flowers pattern and the gradient fabric for the background. Read all about the sale <click here>.

Margaret's Mini Canvas Sets

2011-11-15T14:53:00.001-06:00

My friend, Margaret Applin-Happ, is having a great giveaway over on her blog.

Margaret recently added some new Thermofax screen mini sets to her already fabulous array of screen designs that she sells. One of these mini sets is what Margaret used to create the images shown on the left.

Oh yeah, back to the giveaway...you will find Margaret's generous giveaway offering <click here>.

Good luck! You have until the end of the day on November 29 to enter. Oh, and if you aren't lucky enough to win one of these mini sets, you can also purchase them from her Etsy shop <click here>.

Tote Making and Cooking

2011-11-14T14:55:00.001-06:00

I have been making tote bags the last few days. I needed a blue tote for a thank-you gift for someone and blue is their favorite color. So I made this one in all blues.

And a friend of mine asked for a tote bag with a bird on it, so that is the one I am making now.

I had sketched some funky, whimsical birds in my sketchbook a couple months or so ago and thought it would be fun to put one on this tote bag. I hope she likes it.

When I was in Houston, we ate at an Italian restaurant one evening, called Mia Bella. It was very delicious and some of us actually ended up eating there two nights in a row. On one of the nights I ate there, I tried something new to me, eggplant parmesan. I LOVED IT! Since returning home, I searched the Internet for some recipes and found one that seemed simple enough. Here is my resulting meal.

I made some angel hair pasta for a side dish and I really liked how it turned out. I will definitely be keeping this recipe. I found the recipe by visiting Foodgawker.com (a site I love, but don't go there if you're hungry). From that site I did a search on eggplant parmesan and after browsing some of the recipes, I decided to try this one <click here>. Yum!

Magic Pens are a Disappointment

2011-11-13T08:42:00.001-06:00

After posting about the wonderful iron-away pens I purchased in Houston, see yesterday's post, I received several comments from readers about how these pens are not all they are supposed to be (thank you to the readers who shared information). Evidently the markings reappear if the fabric becomes cold. So I performed a test with the six colors I got in the packages I purchased. Here they are, just after scribbling on the fabric.

I took my hot iron and ironed away the pen markings through the middle of the scribbled lines.

And after the fabric had cooled, I put it in the freezer for about 10 minutes. Here is what it looked like.

It's a little difficult to tell from this photo but some colors reappeared more so than others, but basically they all reappeared to a degree.

I'm pretty disappointed that this is how they work. I sort of feel ripped off and it makes me wonder if the vendors at the Houston show know this about these pens and purposely neglect to tell you or if they are in the dark, like I was. I don't want to tell anyone that they shouldn't buy these as I feel everyone should make their own decision about what or what not to purchase and perhaps the pens will work perfectly for some other type of application. I'm glad I found out how they work before I had used them in a large project and only to find later that the project is ruined because the pen markings reappear.

It's really too bad that they don't work like I was hoping. How perfect and magical would that have been?

In other news...

See this?

This is a beautiful (and heavy) glass plate that I received from fellow Twelve by Twelve member Karen Rips and her husband Ted. Ted is a glass artist and Karen had him create a plate for each member of the Twelve by Twelve group. He made a plate that matched one of the quilts we made for our challenges. You can see the comparison of my plate to the actual quilt here <click>. And if you scroll through the posts before and after mine on the Twelve by Twelve blog, you will see some of the other plates that Ted created.

Speaking of the Twelve by Twelve group, we have made our final decisions on what our next challenge round will be. Check out this blog post by Gerrie <click here>.

Have a lovely Sunday!

The Last of the Houston Purchases

2011-11-12T07:57:00.001-06:00

These photos are the remaining items I purchased while at the quilt show in Houston. First up are some gel pens. These aren't like typical gel pens, however. These pens are thermal sensitive and if you use them to draw on fabric, you can remove the marks with heat, also known as your iron. I bought two packs, each one had different colors and I was hoping that the pack with the pink and orange pens would work on dark fabrics. I tested them on black fabric and they really didn't work well. I do, however, have a white pen that does work on black or dark fabric and it is marketed by Clover. The pens are by Pilot and are called Frixion Erasable Gel Pen. There are times when I like to make guideline markings on my fabric and these will be handy for that purpose. I prefer to iron away my guidelines rather than using a pen that you need to wet or dampen the fabric in order to remove the markings.

My next purchase is a set of rolling rulers. I will use these when creating borders on drawings when I create quilt designs and any other times when I want a straight line. I also think they may be fun when doodling or playing in my sketchbook. You can make circles and ovals with these as well. Abby is always curious as to what I'm doing in my studio. She is the one cat that usually ends up in my photos because of her curiosity.

Another purchase I made are these Smooch Spritz bottles. They have a shimmery substance in them and when you spritz them on fabric they leave a subtle shimmer and a subtle color. I chose to get the clear shimmer, an olive green shimmer, an orange shimmer and a red violet shimmer.

I also had to get some templates. I love layering designs on my fabrics when I am painting and these will add some great interest. There were so many template designs to choose from and I would have loved to have more, but I called upon my willpower to help me through.

I've tried transfer papers in the past and my friend, Margaret Applin, recently told me she uses this one...TAP. So I noticed a booth that was selling it and decided I'd give it a try and see how I like it.

And that concludes the purchasing spree in Houston. I'll leave you with some parting shots of Abby.

Have a wonderful weekend!!! Meow!

Twelve by Twelve Book Giveaway

2011-11-11T13:54:00.001-06:00

How would you like a chance to win this book? Well you can have that chance. Just hop on over to Lark Crafts blog and enter to win. They are giving away three quilting books. Can't beat a deal like that! Hurry go over there now!

<CLICK HERE>

Fabric Purchases in Houston

2011-11-10T09:19:00.001-06:00

It's difficult to go to Houston and NOT buy anything. I do have to say though, that this year (my third) was the year that I purchased less in quantity and dollar amount.

One of the items I had on my "look for" list was neutral fabrics to add to my neutral stash. I love a great neutral and for me they need to have some design on them. This design can be subtle or not-so-subtle. I particularly was keeping my eye out for neutrals with writing or text (legible or not) on them. Sadly there was not much in that category. Here is what I did get for neutrals. Most of these are fat quarters, and a couple or more are half yards.

My major splurge was a purchase from Wendy Richardson. I think I've bought some fabric from her every year I've been to Houston. These are both one-yard pieces. She purchases commercial fabrics and over dyes them. What you see here is just a small portion and the two fabrics have a lovely range of dyed color running throughout.

Another fabric designer that I've heard a lot about lately, and many friends were stopping by her booth, is Marcia Derse. She creates lovely fabrics and here are the three I decided to purchase.

I also purchased a cone of Superior thread in a variegated neutral. I use this color a lot on my neutral backgrounds. They have another neutral that I also use that is a bit more gray in tone and after I got home, I saw (from looking at what I have left) that I should have purchased one of those too. Oh well....there's always mail order.

In my next post I'll share more of my purchases. Hope you are having a wonderful day!

Post Houston Exhaustion

2011-11-08T15:08:00.000-06:00

Wow, I've been home for a couple of days now from my trip to the big quilt show in Houston. I'm still trying to get back to normal. But then it doesn't help when hubby has me outside helping get firewood cut and ready for the winter. I can't decide which is more tiring, firewood or Houston.

I've come to realize something about myself. I'm not a photography buff. In other words, I don't enjoy having my camera handy and ready for taking photos all the time. I do it when I share art stuff here on the blog, but that's about the only time I find that I can tolerate it. So needless to say I don't have a ton of photos to share here from my Houston trip. I do have these from our exhibit and our Thursday night dinner at a fabulous Mexican restaurant called Ninfa's.

The Twelve by Twelve exhibit in Houston was spectacular. Of course I may be a little biased. As you can see in the top two photos, the quilt mosaics were spaced very generously and the space we were in was rectangular in shape and the theme series of quilts all lined the draperies on the inside of the space and the color play quilt series were all hanging around the outside on the draperies. The lighting could have been better.

There was signage next to each quilt mosaic, giving information such as the name of the quilt, it's maker and an artist statement. The signs also acknowledged the sponsor of our exhibit. Del Thomas of the Thomas Contemporary Quilt Collection very generously sponsored us and made it possible for the quilts to be shown in Houston and other future shows. See the Twelve by Twelve blog for future exhibit information.

There are lots of other photos that many of the other Twelves took and if you visit their blogs (see side bar links on Twelve by Twelve blog) and the Twelve by Twelve blog, you should be able to see some more, and probably better photos of the Twelve's Houston experience.

I'll share some of the purchases I made in Houston in my next post.

Getting Ready for Houston

2011-11-01T19:42:00.001-05:00

I haven't done much of anything in the studio the last few days and I won't get to now for the next few. I fly out on Thursday to Houston for the International Quilt Festival and I can bet that there will be so much inspiration there that I'll be very anxious to get home and get working on some quilting again. I have been doing some doodling, though, in the evenings, and the next two photos are proof of that.

This first photo is of some quick, loose doodles. I deliberately held the pen much higher on the pen barrel than I normally would, which in turn lets your movements be much more loose and free....not precise and tight. I did find, though, that my hand would inch downward on the pen barrel at times without my noticing it.....old habits are hard to break.

The next doodle is one I decided to add some abstract background coloring to. Again, it was a fast and quick drawing.

I won't be blogging for a few days now, until after I get home from Houston. I've decided to leave my computer at home. I don't want to hassle with lugging it around. And besides I'm going to be busy enough that I won't miss it, right? Yes, I'm trying to convince myself that I will survive for four days without my computer. It will be a trial, and I may start having withdrawals, but I KNOW I CAN DO IT! Please wish me luck.

If you are going to Houston, the Twelves invite you to stop by the Twelve by Twelve exhibit. The schedule below shows when each of us will be at the exhibit.

Thursday, November 3
10 am to noon: Brenda and Diane
Noon to 2 pm: Kristin and Brenda
2 pm to 4 pm: Deborah and Diane
4 pm to 6 pm: Gerrie and Karen
6 pm to 6:30 pm: Karen and Terri
6:30 pm to 7 pm: EVERYONE!

Friday, November 4
10 am to noon: Karen and Terry
Noon to 2 pm: Nikki and Terri
2 pm to 4 pm: Gerrie and Kristin
4 pm to 6 pm: Deborah and Brenda
6 pm to 6:30 pm: Nikki and Kristin
6:30 pm to 7 pm: EVERYONE!

Saturday, November 5
10 am to noon: Deborah and Nikki
Noon to 2 pm: Kristin and Brenda
2 pm to 4 pm: Gerrie and Terry
4 pm to 6 pm: Karen and Diane
6 pm to 6:30 pm: Kristin and Terri
6:30 pm to 7 pm: EVERYONE!

Sunday, November 6
10 am to noon: Brenda and Diane
Noon to 2 pm: Deborah and Brenda
2 pm to 4 pm: Gerrie and Brenda

Bye for now and I'll be back before we know it.

Screen Printing

2011-10-29T10:40:00.000-05:00

I've been wanting to do some screen printing lately but haven't really had the time to do it. But I decided I would make the time no matter what especially since I had recently acquired two new Thermofax screens from my friend Margaret Applin. I now own three screens that Margaret designed and hope to add more to my arsenal over time. I love her designs. You can see them in her Etsy shop <click here>.

I had these two pieces of cotton canvas cloth already painted with background color so I added screened designs to them. In all, I screened five different designs onto these pieces of cloth. Three designs by Margaret and two by me. I also added some stenciled spots using some punchinella (sequin waste). I may turn this fabric into composition book covers, but I'm not totally sure about that yet.

Here's a recent doodle I made in my watercolor paper pad. I purchased some pads of watercolor paper last year and have found they don't work very well with watercolors or acrylic painting. The paper warps and buckles and won't lie flat for me after I paint on it, no matter what I try. So I've designated the paper for use with doodling only. I need to make sure I use another watercolor paper or other kind of paper when I want paper for painting on.

I've done some more work to the thread sketched girls I shared with you in my previous post. I'm pretty sure I have a plan on what will happen with that project, but really don't have much to share here with it for now. I don't think I'll be able to work on it too much in the next week or two since I leave for Houston on Thursday. Have a wonderful weekend. I'm baking bread today.

On The Design Wall

2011-10-24T14:26:00.001-05:00

Here is what I currently have on my design wall. I've been working on these over the course of a week or two and I'm almost done with them. I feel like I want to do something more with these but right now I'm not sure on which direction I want to go. So they will just sit there and look at me and hopefully soon they will tell me what more they want.

They are thread sketched faces on a neutral pieced background that was free motion quilted. I then added color with Neocolor II crayons. They currently measure around 8 x 10" but they will probably be trimmed down a bit for finishing.

Hope your Monday is most stupendous!

Breakfast Love

2011-10-21T16:59:00.000-05:00

Most mornings I eat a hard boiled egg as part of my breakfast. This morning my egg surprised me when I sliced it.

This egg was one of those that cracked open while boiling and it formed an odd shape. Needless to say it gave me a whimsical boost to my day.

Here is a doodle that I've been working on in the evenings. I'm thinking about cutting it into ATC-sized pieces when I'm done with the page. We'll see.

Please check out my guest post over on the Lark Crafts blog <click here>. And be sure to watch the Lark blog in the next few days as more of the Twelves will be featured there.

Wishing you a wonderful weekend!

Kitty Litter

2011-10-20T12:56:00.000-05:00

Around mid September I shared a couple of paintings I was working on. Well I have now finished those two along with three others in the same grouping.

Each of these is painted on a 9"x9" piece of watercolor paper and then they are adhered to a 10"x10" gallery wrapped canvas. I got a little bit of glare on a couple of them when taking photos, I hate when that happens.

I haven't mentioned here on my blog, but two weeks from today I will be flying to Houston to attend the International Quilt Festival. I'm looking forward to it. This will be my third time, I attended in 2007 and 2008. The Twelve by Twelve group is excited about having all of our ~~244~~ 288 quilts on special exhibit at the festival. We will be signing and selling our book. If you have a copy of it and would like us to sign it, bring it with you (if you are going to festival). Nine members (eight besides me) from our group will be attending festival and I very much look forward to meeting all of them. To date I've only met one other Twelve and that is Deborah. I'm also anxious to connect with other friends (new and old alike). Are you going to festival?

Before and After

2011-10-17T18:13:00.000-05:00

I rarely use the strap that came with my camera. The reason for this is because I mainly use my camera for taking photos of my artwork right here at home, so no need to leash the camera to my body. But recently I took the camera on an adventure and so I used the strap. I found that after wearing it for a while it started to become quite uncomfortable around the back of my neck. I'm not sure if it's the material of the strap that I was uncomfortable with or the weight of the camera pulling on it or both. Whichever it was, I decided to change the strap to something homemade. I am hoping it will be more comfortable and it's definitely much more attractive.

Before

After

I searched online for a camera strap tutorial and found many that were just a strap cover. I didn't want to do a cover, I wanted to totally replace the strap that was there. I found just the tutorial <click here>.

Here's my latest sketchbook doodle that I finished recently. I always seem to make these a little too large for the page. I should try and make the next one smaller.

Invitation to Listen In

2011-10-16T10:46:00.000-05:00

Fellow Twelve by Twelve member, Gerrie Congdon, is a guest on the American Patchwork & Radio show hosted by Pat Sloan at 4pm (ET) on Monday, October 17. Click the following logo to access the show's web page.

Gerrie says --I am so excited to represent the Twelves on the American Patchwork & Quilting Radio Show with Pat Sloan. I will try not to embarrass the other eleven.

I know I will be tuned in to make sure she does not embarrass us. Tee hee!!! Have a great day!

Good News

2011-10-14T08:05:00.000-05:00

Walking Along a Sandy Beach
Commercial cottons, free-motion quilting, water-
soluble crayons, water-soluble pencils,
textile medium, acrylic paint
9.5" x 9.5"

Back in January....gosh that seems like forever ago...I made this quilt and shared it in this blog post. It was made for This is a Quilt!, SAQA's 2011-2012 Traveling Trunk Show.

Yesterday I received some wonderful news. This news was quite a surprise to me as I had totally forgotten about this aspect of this particular quilt exhibit, or maybe I didn't even really know about it. Out of all 268 quilts that were submitted for this Traveling Trunk Show, 50 were selected to be included in a permanent collection at the Michigan State University Museum. AND MY QUILT WAS ONE OF THE 50! WOO HOO! Here are the details that I received in an email message from SAQA.

As part of the planning for This is a Quilt! SAQA arranged for 50 pieces to become part of the permanent collection at the Michigan State University Museum. We engaged gallerist Michael Solomon to select those pieces. The pieces will go to the Michigan State University Museum at the close of the trunk show travels.

Michael Solomon wrote:
When Kris Sazaki first asked me to be the juror for a collection to go to the Michigan State University Museum, I willingly accepted, thinking it would be a piece of cake. After all, I had owned a fine art gallery in Sacramento for over 10 years, and I had certainly chosen art and artists for many gallery exhibits. I faced a slightly greater challenge with group shows as opposed to solo exhibits, but I felt I had a pretty good grasp of the contemporary painting and sculpture we exhibited. I have also juried shows outside of my gallery, as well as my own photography exhibits.

For the SAQA show, I came to realize that my mandate would limit and challenge me when I faced the prospect of selecting just 50 pieces out of 268 submissions. I have spent many hours in art museums around the world, I am an avid collector, and I have formulated some ideas as to what constitutes "great art." While the quality of art may be subjective, great art is simply that which compels one to look at it, again and again and again. This is the truth, if not a truism. And that's the reason museums full of art that visitors repeatedly visit, contain great art. I can't stop looking at and admiring the art on my walls and pedestals; if I do, I end up replacing it with something better, and then repeat the process.

In jurying this show, I looked for aesthetic design, shapes, color, composition, texture, and subject matter. I am somewhat partial to figurative subject matter, so that may have affected my judgment in some respects. All of the work I viewed exhibited high artistic quality, and I found myself initially choosing way more than my allotment of 50. I then faced the agonizing task of deselecting many pieces I appreciated. In any event, I hope you enjoy my selections.

Artists whose trunk show pieces were chosen to become part of the Michigan State University Museum's permanent collection:
1. Affolter, Regula
2. Branjord, Sandra
3. Bruvry, Patricia
4. Carrigan, Sherry
5. Chen, Yeu-Chiu
6. Chuang, Huei-Lan
7. Clover, Jette
8. David-Cohen, Yael
9. Drucker, Tamar
10. Ecob, Aileyn
11. Filatoff, Julie
12. Fingal, Jamie
13. Fitzsimmons, Micaela
14. Fricke, Rebecca
15. Henry, Susan Elaine
16. Horne, Connie
17. Huang, Ming-Mei
18. Jensen, Jill
19. Jurgenson, Jean Renli
20. Lachman, Mary F.
21. Law, Catharina Breedyk
22. Limmer, Andrea
23. Lin, Hsin-Chen
24. Lin, Mei-Mu
25. McClean, Sarah Louise
26. McLaughlin, Linda
27. Milholen, Vivian
28. Miller, Linda
29. Ortelle, Cathy
30. Owoc, Pat
31. Pal, Mary
32. Phillips, Margaret A.
33. Pixeladies
34. Puetz, Casey
35. Read, Priscilla
36. Robertson, Ruan
37. Robertus, Linda
38. Rushbrooke, Rose
39. Simpson, Gayle
40. Smith, Catherine Whall
41. Smith, Lura Schwarz
42. Stegmiller, Terri
43. Stoltz, Heather G.
44. Tateo, Tiziana
45. Themel, Kate
46. Thomas, Rosalind
47. Tunnell, Karen Reese
48. Wambaugh, Debbie
49. Wanner , Dwayne
50. Watler, Barbara

I am very excited that my quilt was chosen for this permanent collection and very honored to be among all the wonderful artists listed here. Have a fabulous Friday!

My Crazy Obsession

2011-10-13T13:45:00.000-05:00

I think Project Runway must be rubbing off on me. I've been watching it for the last few seasons and while the show is not totally focused on sharing fashion design tips and techniques, I still find it intriguing that these designers can whip out a garment in basically 24 hours or less without a pattern. So lately I've become interested in sewing clothing and also about how well it fits. I never had an interest in sewing clothes my whole entire life....until now, that is. Now I'm wishing that I would have learned when I was younger, I'd maybe feel more knowledgeable and/or confident in sewing clothing.I've been soaking up information from all over the Internet, pretty much like a sponge. And yes, I'm spending way too much time on the computer. More than I'd like to be. But that is what happens, I guess, when you become obsessed with a new interest. I have bought a few patterns to try (Etsy is a great resource for buying pre-owned patterns that have never been used), and I've shared a couple of tunic tops that I've sewn here within the past couple of months. About a month or more ago I bought this book:

The book is all about creating your own basic clothing patterns. Patterns that are customized with your own body measurements. I followed the guidelines on measuring my body and created a basic shirt pattern following the instructions in the book. I really liked this dress design (shown below), but I'm not really a dress person. So I decided to make a short version, like a tunic top.

Here are my results:

I didn't pose very well in the photo above, so let's try that again with a little more style:

In my research around the web on sewing and fitting clothing, I have learned so much about what to look for when determining what areas need adjustments. In the photo below, I need to work on fixing the shoulder area. I'm getting a lot of excess near the sleeve seam on the back and the top shoulder seam doesn't look like it's in the correct position. I did make a test garment out of muslin and lo and behold I didn't see this problem area when I tried the muslin on. See! I'm learning to see!

At some point I'd like to try making some pants similar to these in the book:

Oh if only I could look like that in them.....sigh!

I'll continue to share my exploration and experimentation on making clothes. I don't seem to get tons of time to do it, so I won't be posting about this subject too often.

Oh and I got a new toy in order to take pictures of myself. I bought a wireless remote for my camera. Cool!

Hope you are having a thrilling Thursday!

Beware of Tiger

2011-10-11T12:11:00.001-05:00

Here is the completed painting I shared sneak peeks of yesterday. Doesn't he look ferocious? Okay, maybe not.

He is painted with Caran d'Ache Neocolor II crayons and the black lines are ink. There's little bits of acrylic paint here and there as well. It is painted on 140 watercolor paper and mounted on a gallery wrapped canvas. The measurement is 10" x 10". I painted the stretched canvas black and added accents with a white pen. All I have left to do is add the sealer/varnish.

We are having a lovely fall day here today and I think I will go out and do some fall clean up. Have a terrific Tuesday!

Peeking into My Monday

2011-10-10T15:51:00.000-05:00

Have a marvelous Monday! What did you do today?

Tote/Pouch Set and The Sketchbook Challenge

2011-10-08T07:38:00.000-05:00

Here are photos of the latest tote/handbag and coordinating zippered pouch that I have completed. I worked on these this week and they are currently on their way to the lovely person who ordered them.

Have you heard about the Sketchbook Challenge? If not, I encourage you to check it out <click here>. There is a lot of inspiration, information and ideas to be found there and today I am featured as a guest. I share a few of my sketchbook pages with readers and answer some questions on sketchbooking.

Have a lovely weekend!

Bluebird Pouch and a Giveaway Opportunity

2011-10-03T13:12:00.000-05:00

I've been working on several things lately, most of which I'm not done with and there's not much to show in photos yet. I did finish this cute, little zippered pouch last week and finally got around to getting a good photo. This pouch is part of a commission project that goes along with the bluebird tote I shared recently.

Hopefully I will have more to share with you later this week.

But here's something I want to share with you...

Go over right now to Margaret Applin-Happ's blog and enter her wonderful giveaway <CLICK HERE>. Margaret is giving away a free Thermofax screen with one of her fun designs, AND she will also design a custom screen with your own personal design on it. Can't beat a deal like that I say!!! Quick, go there now and enter. Deadline to enter is October 15.

Love Notes

2011-09-28T13:32:00.000-05:00

I've completed the composition notebook cover. I named it Love Notes. I wrote those words on the front cover too.

Materials used: Cotton duck or canvas cloth, acrylic paint (including Jacquard, Pebeo SetaColor, and Liquitex brands), Pentel Gel Roller for Fabric, Shiva PaintStik, Margaret Applin Designs Thermofax screen (Doodled Squares-1), Mistyfuse, heavy interfacing, commercial cotton fabric, thread, handcarved stamp, and stencils

Would you like to win this comp book cover? All you have to do is participate in the 3 Creative Studios Color Palette Challenge and you will have a chance to win in a random drawing. << Read more about how to participate here. >>

What's In The Works

2011-09-27T15:01:00.002-05:00

I'm working on a couple of projects simultaneously the past couple of days. This first photo is a piece of cotton duck/canvas that I painted with several layers of design and color. This is going to become a composition notebook cover. The painted fabric was inspired by an artist that I enjoy following. Her name is Roben-Marie Smith and her blog is named Every Life Has a Story. Oh and the colors in this piece are inspired by this month's color palette over at 3 Creative Studios.

Next is a new tote/handbag that I'm working on. This is the first bag I've made using a technique that I've pretty much only used on art quilts so far. So this is sort of the prototype I guess. I have always created these focal designs on a neutral colored background. I'm thinking I may have to try it on a colored background. New ideas popping into my head all the time! Does that happen to you too? I probably better go write this one down or else I could forget about it. Does that happen to you too?

I hope your Tuesday is terrific!

SAQA Auction Week 3

2011-09-25T18:29:00.000-05:00

The final week of the SAQA auction starts tomorrow (Monday, Sept. 26). Every year Studio Art Quilt Associates (SAQA) holds an auction to raise funds to continue it's quest to promote art quilting. The quilts that are available in the auction are all made and donated by SAQA members. You can read all about how the auction works here.

Here are a few of the quilts you'll find in this week's round up:

Reflections of Summer by Susan Rienzo

Kia Kaha (Be Strong) by Brenda Gael Smith

Crow by Terry Grant

Border Crossing by Helen Conway

Purple with Lotus by Deborah Boschert

Apricot in Color by Michelle Jackson

All of this week's auction quilts can be found on pages 3A and 3B of the SAQA auction pages.

Imagine if There Was No Orange

2011-09-23T20:08:00.000-05:00

Oh I can't imagine that at all. And I'm glad I don't have to, because the beautiful color of orange does exist and it is a mighty wonderful color to enjoy.

The orange kitty above is painted on cotton duck/canvas cloth and is on it's way to a new home. The new owner of this cute little cat is going to make a pillow with this piece and I can't wait to see how it turns out.

Mini Kitty

2011-09-21T14:14:00.000-05:00

Purple Mini Kitty
10" H x 10.5" W

I finished this little quilt yesterday. I can't decide if this is a little boy or girl. Either way, it's pure cuteness...in my cat lover's eye, that is. Now available in my etsy shop.

Hope you are having a wonderful week. We are having typical autumn weather...cooler and breezy. The leaves are started to turn yellow. Oh I'm not ready for that.

SAQA Auction Week 2

2011-09-18T17:22:00.000-05:00

Every year Studio Art Quilt Associates (SAQA) holds an auction to raise funds to continue it's quest to promote art quilting. The quilts that are available in the auction are all made and donated by SAQA members. You can read all about how the auction works here.

The second week of the auction starts tomorrow (Monday, Sept. 19) This includes all the quilts shown on pages 2A and 2B. Here is the quilt I made and donated, which is on page 2A.

A Little Birdy Told Me

Here are a few of the other quilts in this week's line up.

Klee's Castles by Gerrie Congdon

Maple Jewels by Nancy G. Cook

Cote d'Azure by Jan Soules

It's a Purple Weekend

2011-09-17T18:55:00.000-05:00

I must really be in a purple kitty mood this weekend as you can see in these photos. First are a couple of zippered pouches I made with hand painted kitties on them. I had actually started these some time ago and then they got lost in the shuffle and totally forgotten. Until I came across them when looking for something else. So I got them finished up.

I also started these paintings some time ago but had only gotten as far as the penciled outlines on the colored backgrounds. These are painted on watercolor paper and I haven't finished with them yet. I'm sort of liking how the flowers are not colored in and am unsure what I will end up doing with those. I need to soften the background on the top one yet.

And then I just had to do a thread sketched kitty too. This one still needs some color added and I hope to do that in the near future. Hopefully this one won't get lost in the shuffle.

And speaking of thread sketching, please check out this month's guest artist over at 3 Creative Studios. Thread sketching is the featured technique and the artist who is showing us all about it is Monika Kinner-Whalen.

Blue and Magenta

2011-09-16T14:41:00.000-05:00

Or is it blue and purple? I can't tell. And I'm sure it looks different on the computer screen than in real life. And I 'm sure it looks different on a cloudy day than a sunny day. And I'm sure it looks different next to a gray kitty than a peachy/orange kitty. Anyway...this one is done and in the shop.

I hope everyone has a beautiful autumn weekend.

Violet/Orange Bag

2011-09-14T06:23:00.000-05:00

And I finished another one. I shared a photo of this one in process in yesterday's blog post. I ended up totally changing all the purple fabrics that I show in that photo. They just weren't working for me. This one is now available in my shop.

One Done One Undone

2011-09-13T08:38:00.000-05:00

I finished the purple and green handbag/tote. While I love this color combo, I still prefer the colors more in the previous bag I made (orange/fuchsia/purple).

The bag above is spoken for. I am so thrilled and grateful that so many of you are interested in my bags. Thank you for all the wonderful comments you've left about them. I am going to do some other designs besides cats on the bags, but will always continue with the cats. I am working out a bird design (right now it's mostly processing in my head) because a friend of mine would like a bag with a bird. So one of these days....

In the meantime, here is the next bag in progress.

Purple/Green Bag

2011-09-12T06:08:00.001-05:00

I've been working on a new hand bag/tote the last few days. I haven't been able to create these in anything but a cat theme just yet. I think I feel that I'm not done with this kitty series yet. Hmm, wonder if I'll ever be done with kitty themed items. I doubt it.

SAQA Auction Time

2011-09-11T06:37:00.000-05:00

Every year Studio Art Quilt Associates (SAQA) holds an auction to raise funds to continue it's quest to promote art quilting. The quilts that are available in the auction are all made and donated by SAQA members. You can read all about how the auction works here.

The auction is split into three sections and the first section of quilts go up for auction starting tomorrow, Sept. 12.

A few of my favorites in this section include:

Woman of the Year by Bodil Gardner

Composition XIII by Deidre Adams

GottaHavaCuppa by Kate Themel

There are many more I could have included here but then that might mean almost all of them. Anyway, there is a diversity of quilts and styles, which means there should be something there for all to enjoy.

P.S. I have a quilt in section 2 of the auction, which starts on Sept. 19. It appears on page 2A.

A Wish For You

2011-09-09T15:41:00.002-05:00

Wishing you a wonderful weekend!

Violet Fuchsia & Orange

2011-09-07T12:55:00.000-05:00

I just love this color combination!!!

Just finished this bag and just listed it in my etsy shop. I think this one is my favorite of all of them.....so far anyway.

Finally Started

2011-09-06T18:40:00.002-05:00

I really really wanted to get started on making this kitty bag late last week....but, well, that didn't happen. But I did get started today and I'm currently adding free-motion quilting to the bag's exterior.

I've been thinking recently that maybe I should create some painted focal designs for these bags that aren't kitties. Perhaps some puppies or flowers or, or, or.....any ideas from you would be welcome. What do you think of this idea? Good? Bad? Ugly????

Last week one day I had the opportunity to stop at one of the local thrift stores in my area. This is a store that I don't get to often and while browsing through the small crafty section they have I spied a bundle of white fabric. Of course it wasn't labeled as to what it was but I had a really good guess. It was white denim and I was about 95% sure of this as I have a bundle that I purchased for dyeing from Dharma Trading at home. The thrift store bundle was marked as five yards and the price was $3.99. Woo wee! I bought it and brought it home. Washed it up and asked a couple of friends what their opinion was and they thought the same as I did on what it was.

I was doing a bit of fabric dyeing the past couple of days and I tossed a small piece of the thrift store fabric into the dye pot and it dyed up beautifully. I've been wanting to try making some jackets and this fabric will be good to use for what I'm hoping to try. Who knows, maybe I'll even try making a pair of pants. Oy! Did I just say that?

Orange

2011-09-01T07:05:00.000-05:00

Bouquet 12" x 12"

Today is the reveal of twelve orange quilts over on the Twelve by Twelve blog. Orange is one of my favorite colors and I look forward to seeing what the other Twelve by Twelve members did with it. You are invited to hop over there to check it out. You can read more about the quilt I made there as well.

Did you know that this quilt completes our color play round? We've each made 12 quilts to a color(s) specified by each group member. And....did you know that all these color play quilts and the first round of quilts we did, the theme series, are all going to be displayed at the International Quilt Festival in Houston, in early November? If you are planning on going, I hope you will stop by and check them all out (that's 288 12" x 12" quilts in all).

Done and Gone

2011-08-30T10:29:00.000-05:00

I've finished up the kitty bag that I was working on over the weekend and it's now off to a new home. Another kitty is currently waiting on my work table waiting to be put together, but first I have a few other things to attend to. Maybe I can get to that one by the end of the week.

I tried a new-to-me food yesterday and found it very yummy. I tried spaghetti squash. I have now tried three types of squash within the past year and I think this spaghetti squash and the acorn squash are my favorites so far. The other one I tried was butternut. I made the spaghetti squash in the microwave (the directions were on a sticker that was right on the squash). Easy peasy! I garnished it with some tomato sauce (I had a jar of pizza sauce in the fridge) and a sprinkling of cheese. Yum! I felt like I was eating spaghetti, which I love. Do you eat spaghetti squash? What's your favorite way to eat it?

Winner of Masters Art Quilts Vol. 2

2011-08-29T06:58:00.000-05:00

One week ago I shared a wonderful new book with you and gave you a chance to enter a drawing to win a signed copy. Here is the book:

And here is the winning number:

The numbers correspond to the order in which the comments were received. And the winning number is 7! That number corresponds to the comment left by Deb Levy.

Yay Deb! You won the book. Congratulations!

Thanks to all of you for stopping by and entering. If you would still like a chance to win this book there are several more give aways going on. Stop by this post at Lark Crafts to see the other bloggers who are participating in this wonderful blog hop event.

Kitty Bag in the Making

2011-08-27T12:24:00.000-05:00

This is the next bag I'm working on. I've got the fabrics up on my design wall in the places I think they will be for the final layout. Next is cutting and sewing.

Do you watch Project Runway? I have to say that I'm not enjoying this season yet. There's way too much drama and bickering for me. I would enjoy it so much more if they'd concentrate on sharing their design development and their trials and errors with creating their designs. I haven't seen the shows starting way back in the beginning at Season 1. I think I started around Season 5, but not sure. I don't know if all the seasons have been more or so like this one or not (I've enjoyed the other seasons that I watched) but so far I'm not rating it very high on the satisfaction scale. I suppose some viewers enjoy all the drama, I guess I'm not one of them. I can take a little drama, but give me some sewing and design stuff too. What's your take?

REMINDER: In case you missed my post from last Monday....I'm having a give away (random drawing) for an autographed copy of Masters Art Quilts Vol. 2. Check out the post here. You have until midnight, tomorrow night to enter.

Thursday Offerings

2011-08-25T17:41:00.000-05:00

Composition notebook cover

My third attempt at garment sewing. I shared the first one with you a while ago, and I won't even show you the second. I didn't like it and I don't think it was my fault....it was the pattern...yeah, that's what it was! I like this one though. It does have a couple of areas here and there that I need to improve on but overall I think it's good and my skills are improving. Oh, and this one was a stretchy fabric, a heavy jersey or something like that. Heavier than a typical t-shirt fabric. Nice and soft.

The latest offering from my sketchbook. I worked on this one over the course of several days. I would get to a point and then not know what I wanted to add next, so I took some time to think about it. Time to flip the page and start a new one.

Hope you are having a wonderful week. Gosh I can hardly believe the weekend is almost here already.

Check out This Book

2011-08-22T06:21:00.002-05:00

Masters Art Quilts Vol. 2 - Major Works by Leading Artists
Curated by Martha Sielman
Published by Lark Crafts

When I received my copy of this book, I couldn't wait to rip open the package and start flipping through the pages and sniffing that brand new book smell (yes, I love that brand new book smell, you can call me weird).

But most of all I was very anxious to start browsing through the line up of art quilt artists and view the works of art each had created. Forty artists are featured with a wide scope of work, each coming into the art quilt arena from varying backgrounds and diverse experiences.

So many of the quilts pictured are so unique and intriguing and I often find myself wondering how the artist came up with the concept or was it even planned. I'd love to be able to reach into the pages and touch the quilts and experience them further. But knowing I can't, I am happy that a book of this magnitude is available, otherwise I would not have been able to see such beautiful works of art.

If you love art quilts, or even just art for that matter, you won't be disappointed in what this book offers. So much fabulous inspiration, color, texture, and wonder.

I have the first book in this series and I have had it on my coffee table since I had finished reading it. I like to pick it up and shuffle through it now and then because even though I read through it completely, I still find new and interesting things that didn't catch my attention before. I'm sure I'll feel the same way with volume 2. I hate to put volume 1 on a bookshelf though. Hmmmm, maybe I need to get another coffee table or can one coffee table handle two such fabulous books?

Have I got a deal for you! You can win a copy of this book by simply leaving me a comment here. The copy you win will even by signed by Martha Sielman.

You must leave your comment here by midnight (Eastern time) on August 28. I'll announce a winner (random number drawing) here on the blog on the 29th. Please be sure I have your contact information if you are an anonymous commenter.

Oh and it gets better! You can have many chances to win a copy of this book as there are many bloggers like me who are participating in this fun give away. You can see all of the participating blogs by visiting this post at Lark Crafts. Good luck and have fun!

Sketch-Doodling

2011-08-19T07:26:00.000-05:00

Recently, fellow blogger friend, Leslie of MarveLes Art Studios, introduced me to a new artist by the name of Joanne Fink. Immediately I fell in love with Joanne's work. And it renewed my love for sketching/doodling/drawing/Zentangling (there should be one word that encompasses all of those, don't you think?) How about Zendooetching?

So I hadn't been doing any Zendooetching for much much too long and I really don't know why this happens. I really am bad that way, in going through streaks of doing something a lot to it basically being non-existent. Does that happen to you too?

But after seeing Joann's fun drawings and Leslie's response to this style, I got the fever. So every night after hopping into bed and before turning out the light, I worked on a page in my sketchbook. Here is what I have as a result.

These were fun and I know (because I'm being realistic here) that I will do them for a while and then who knows what.

Oh by the way, check out these fun videos by Joanne here.

More Kitties and a Wrestling Match

2011-08-17T06:45:00.000-05:00

Bag 1

Bag 2

I finished making a couple more totes yesterday. Both of these are basically the same except for a difference in fabric placement in a couple of spots, and also the kitty cat is different.

I'm having so much fun with these and I've got two more planned out. Not sure when I'll get to those, hopefully by the end of the week.

Bag 2, above, is already spoken for and I will plan to get the other one into my Etsy shop soon.

I started putting on the binding on my king size quilt yesterday, and will hopefully finish with the machine stitching on that today and start on the hand stitching as well. I usually don't create such huge quilts and I'm finding that working with this king size monster is such a work out. Trying to wresting it around while stitching the binding is proving to be my deciding factor that I probably won't make another this size for a very, very long time. I think if my sewing space was set up differently, in a way that is king-size friendly, then I'd feel differently about creating large quilts.

In other news...this month (Aug 16-Sept 15) over at 3 Creative Studios, we have a wonderful guest artist, Margaret Applin-Happ. I love Margaret's work and she also sells wonderful Thermofax screen designs in her Etsy shop. Margaret is sharing her techniques on creating digital imagery over at 3CS and will offer new information throughout the month on the 3CS blog. Please be sure to check that out.

Tail of Two Kitties

2011-08-10T13:29:00.000-05:00

I was in a painting mood today and spent a couple of hours on these two. They are approximately 8"x8" and painted on 140 lb. watercolor paper with acrylics. The backgrounds were done on them previously.

What are you doing today?

An Orange Kind of Day

2011-08-08T09:45:00.000-05:00

I'm happy to say that I've made a start on my Twelve by Twelve orange color play quilt. Yay! I started with the above neutral fabrics. As I type this the quilt is almost done.

Happy Monday!

More Completed Projects

2011-08-05T13:18:00.000-05:00

Wow, I can check some more stuff of my "to finish" list. Yay!

These two handbags/totes were made at the request of a client who purchased a previous kitty bag from me. Actually she requested one blue kitty handbag but I decided to go ahead and make two bags and give her the choice. Well lo and behold she purchased them both. I'm thrilled that both bags will have immediate new homes.

So, what's up next on my "to finish" list? I've got all the supplies ready to start quilting on my wonky star quilt. Just need to get it sandwiched together and go. Oh and I need to get my next Twelve by Twelve quilt completed soon. The color theme is orange and while orange is one of my favorite colors, I just can't seem to figure out what I want to do with it.

Getting Ready for Winter

2011-08-04T12:26:00.000-05:00

What??? Who wants to think about winter now? Not me, that's for sure. But I know it will come soon, sooner than I want it to and I am getting back to my wool sock knitting. I sort of took a break from knitting for a couple of months.

Here is the pair I had been in the middle of working on and now they are completed. The colors in this yarn are rich and gorgeous and look much better in real life. They are lovely mossy greens with touches of golds and purples.

And here is the next pair that I've started.

I think I have about six pair ready to start wearing right now, and I have about 6 or 7 more skeins of yarn to knit yet. I have no idea how many pairs of socks I'll end up making as I love to sit and knit when sitting in front of the TV. Which I haven't done at all this summer...sitting in front of the TV that is. But now, every Thursday evening, Project Runway is on again so I will now have some knitting to work on while watching all the drama.

Finally Photos and a Give Away

2011-08-02T17:48:00.000-05:00

I finally got a great day for taking photos outside. I kept hurrying throughout the photo session because we've had so many birds flying around lately, especially the Purple Martins, I was fearful of a flying bird dropping landing somewhere I didn't want it to. Luckily we (me and the quilts) survived.

First up is Sea Glass. It measures 53" x 47".

And next is the table runner I worked on last week. This could actually be a table runner or a tall, skinny wall hanging. It measures 18" x 41.5".

Both of these will be appearing soon in my Etsy shop....either tonight or tomorrow morning.

Are you wondering what the give away is? Well hop on over to the 3 Creative Studios blog and check out this post. You could have a chance to win a 6-month membership to The Quilt Show. Hurry, the deadline to enter is August 8.

No Dust Here

2011-07-31T15:26:00.000-05:00

I've been keeping super busy here and I've got the photos to prove it. It's been a whirlwind in my studio the last few days and that means no dust has had a chance to settle.

I've been painting kitties with blue backgrounds on some cotton duck. These are destined for handbags.

And I finished the quilting and binding on the Sea Glass quilt. Here it is stretched and pinned to my design wall. I tossed it in the washer and dryer to bring up the quilted texture and now it is blocking into shape. I am hoping to get a nice day soon so I can take it outdoors for a photo session.

I made this composition notebook cover this week. It is made with this month's 3 Creative Studios color palette, Carnival Games.

And here is a photo of the inside.

Do you remember the flower screen prints I shared recently? Well I made them into a table runner and here I am already quilting on it.

Other things I did that are not pictured include mending some pockets on my hubby's jeans. Who wants to see that? We installed a new dishwasher as the old one was on it's last legs. There was lots of naughty words flinging around in the kitchen during that job....and not by me! I was just the assistant.

I hope you are having an enjoyable weekend!

Making a Permanent Screen

2011-07-26T08:44:00.000-05:00

I haven't screen printed anything for a long while and have a few screens just laying around doing nothing. I recently had Jane Dunnewold's book out for some fabric dyeing information and found the section in it about making permanent screen print designs. So I dug out one of my unused screens and followed Jane's directions.

I drew my flower design onto a piece of paper and then traced it onto my screen with a permanent marker. Using regular, cheap craft paint, I painted around the design lines and let it dry. My first print is the one shown in the lower part of the photo. My painted screen needed some fine tuning and after doing that I got a better result. I like this technique. I think I may take some Dye-Na-Flow after those flowers and give them some color.

I've started quilting on the Sea Glass quilt. I'm doing an all over design in the inner area of the quilt and haven't decided yet on how I will quilt the borders.

Add This One to the Pile

2011-07-24T05:49:00.000-05:00

I woke up in the wee morning hours this morning and was wide awake. So I decided to get up and finish putting the borders on this quilt. I have sort of named this Sea Glass but I'm not sure if I'm totally committed to that title or not just yet.

I'm happy to say that I now have batting and can get busy with quilting on my "to quilt" pile now, which now includes the above quilt. I was asked to help yesterday at my local quilt shop as they were short handed and that gave me the perfect opportunity to get the batting that I needed. I was a very good girl too and didn't bring anything else home but the batting. That isn't always so easy for me to do when spending that long in a quilt shop.

After I get this one quilted I will try and get some better photos of it. It's not always so easy to capture the right colors and lighting when taking a photo when it's dark outside and all I have to rely on are my studio lights.

Hope you are having a wonderful weekend.

Sewing with Quilting Fabric

2011-07-22T10:55:00.000-05:00

I finished sewing the tunic I started the other day.

This is the pattern I used.

The shirt fits me fine but......it doesn't have much shape in the upper body/bust area and looks a little boxy and unshaped. I compared this pattern to another pattern I have purchased but not made and noticed on the unused pattern it has a dart in the bust area and a slight curve shape in the side seam. So I may like that pattern more. I think if I was to add shape to the current tunic it would be difficult to get on and off without ripping the seams, because I used quilting fabrics it doesn't have much give or stretch when pulling the garment over the head to put it on or take it off. I could also try a stretchier fabric too. I think quilting cottons are not the best fabric choice for these shirts. I'll probably just wear this one around the house.

I still haven't gotten to the quilt shop to replenish my batting supply, so I haven't started on my "to quilt" pile yet. But I have been working on a new quilt. Here is my design wall as it looks at the moment.

Can You Say HOT!

2011-07-19T12:37:00.000-05:00

The weather in my neck of the woods is seriously hot and humid. I've been trying to stay indoors as much as possible. Over the last few days I've been working on projects. Up first is the wonky star quilt. I've finished piecing it. Now it sits on my "to quilt" pile. I can't quilt it as I've run out of batting. I'm not going out, anywhere, until the weather cools a bit.

I did, however, have enough batting to get quilting on my dotty spotty quilt.

I've finished the quilting on this one and attached the binding already. It's now in the blocking process and then a hanging sleeve.

And today, I'm trying may hand at sewing a garment. Eeeeeekkkkk! I pulled some fabrics from my stash that have been there for eons and that I won't likely use in a quilt anymore. So this is my prototype:

It will be a tunic top......hopefully, when done and I'm basically trying it out to see if I can make it to my correct size and that I like the fit. At this point I haven't attached sleeves yet. I'm hoping to do some more tunics in the near future...I bought some patterns. I'm into the tunic style top at the moment. Who knows...maybe I'll enjoy sewing garments so much that I will want to be on Project Runway. NOT!!!

Not Going According to the Non-Plan

2011-07-15T12:26:00.000-05:00

Here is my progress on the wonky stars quilt. I am in the process of adding the borders and the top and bottom log-cabin style borders are stitched on already. While I didn't have a set-in-stone plan for this quilt (I'm using up scraps from another quilt project), I am running into some troubles with my sort-of-planned borders.

I'm guessing my calculations were very off (pretty obvious) as my next round of borders are much too long and not lining up correctly. Now I need to figure out what I will do. I'm leaning toward adding another solid white border strip to the two sides and then adjusting the length of the two log-cabin style borders so they fit. But I'm still thinking...

Another view...

I added little butterflies or bow ties in the corners of every other block. I used an assortment of white-on-white fabrics for the white background areas. It feels good to be using up stash.

Twelve by Twelve - Gray Reveal

2011-07-12T10:54:00.000-05:00

Today the Twelve by Twelve group is revealing quilts that feature a gray color palette. Here is the quilt I made for this challenge.

You can read more detail about my quilt over on the Twelve by Twelve blog and also see the quilts that other group members have made.

The Ups and Downs of This Wonky Life

2011-07-10T11:21:00.000-05:00

The past couple of weeks have been both good and bad. We've had the joy of spending time with visiting family members and celebrating my son's 22nd birthday, and then we had the sorrow of saying goodbye to my father-in-law. Also just this morning, my brother wrote that he said goodbye to his best friend last night, his German Shepard of about 12 years. His dog was an old man in human terms and he had a few health issues as well. Family members, whether pet or human, are so very precious and we are blessed to have them in our lives when we do.

During these busy times, I've been escaping to my studio and working on my wonky stars. I need this sort of mundane project right now to keep me busy without too much thinking. Here is how the space around my sewing machine has been looking lately. I'm still using up all the scraps from my king-sized bed quilt....which, by the way, is being delivered to my quilter today.

Here is what my design wall is looking like now. I don't have any specific plans on how big this will be in the end....I've just been making blocks and throwing them up there on the wall. The blocks are not stitched together yet, just in case I come up with other layout ideas I want to play around with.

Hope you are having a great weekend. Be sure to give your loved ones an extra hug or two soon.

Gray Play

2011-07-05T18:56:00.000-05:00

The next reveal for the Twelve by Twelve group color play challenge is just next week, the 12th to be exact. I'm in the process of putting the finishing stitches into my piece. Here is a photo of some of the fabric I used in my 12" square gray quilt.

I purchased the hand dyed gray fabrics from my friend Vicki Welsh. She dyes beautiful fabrics and I knew I didn't have time or the desire to try and dye some grays myself so I looked through her etsy shop and it was like magic....she had some gray fat quarters that were perfect for me.

And another friend of mine, Margaret Applin, sent me a fun Thermofax screen to play with and I used it to create the surface design on the gray fabric. Margaret has just opened up an Etsy shop to sell her Thermofax screen designs and my goodness....I think I want them all....I love her designs.

Are you wondering about that green strip of fabric??? Well I took a cutting off of the lower gray fabric after I had screened on some gray paint and I soaked the piece in bleach. This is the results after the bleach removed some color.

Here is a new product I recently purchased and have just started using. These are called Wonder Clips and they are made by Clover. I was never a big fan of those clips that looks like hair barrettes that quilters use for holding the binding while hand stitching it.

These are much easier for me to manipulate and they even have measurement markings on them. I'm hoping they will prove to be handy for many sewing/stitching tasks.

Feeling Wonky

2011-07-01T11:28:00.000-05:00

The other day I was Feeling Groovy, but today I'm Feeling Wonky!

Here is the completed dot quilt top. I love this quilt. However, my blocks would not line up correctly at the seams (pout). I thought I could trim them a bit but they seemed like they were twisted and I feared cutting too much fabric away in order to square them so they would meet at the seams. Did any of that make sense?

So I decided to just sew them all together in a wonky way and unless you are within two feet of this quilt you don't even see it. No quilt inspectors will be allowed to see this quilt! Now I am awaiting my quilt backing fabric to arrive to start quilting this dotty top.

I ended up with lots of odd and wonky scraps from my king sized bed quilt project.

So, in keeping with the wonky feeling, I created this wonky star block.

I am thinking I can get a lot of wonky star blocks from the remaining scraps, so I guess that will be another ongoing project. I never run out of projects....and I bet you don't either.

It appears like I've abandoned art quilting at this point doesn't it? Well I've got lots of ideas brewing in my head and right now I'm planning to get more of my UFOs completed over the summer months. Then this fall I will get back to more artsy stuff. At least that's the plan.

Feeling Groovy

2011-06-29T21:49:00.000-05:00

Well I've been working like a mad woman on my UFOs. And I'm actually getting some of them completed. Oh how good that feels.

In the last two blog posts I shared a couple of quilts I'm working on. One of those will be a king size quilt for my bed and I finished the piecing of that quilt top this morning. JOY!!! Now I need to purchase some backing fabric and piece that together and then I can hand it off to my long arm quilter. More JOY!

And the dotty quilt is completely pieced together. I need to get a picture of that one yet. Next step for that quilt is to sandwich it and start quilting.

And here are a couple of other projects I've finished. First up is a quilt I had partially finished from a class I taught at my LQS. In the class we used Jacquard Dye-Na-Flow and painted two pieces of fabric. One was to create a gradation, which you can see in the outer borders in the quilt below. And the other painting technique we did was to put rubber bands all over the fabric to create some color patterning (which is my center panels in the quilt below). And finally in the class we created free form quilts that are fused and free motion quilted.

And here is the next project I started and completed today. A composition notebook cover. The Technique of the Month over at 3 Creative Studios right now is free-motion couching taught to us by Leslie Vaskey McNeil. So I thought, since I have this free motion couching foot for my sewing machine, I would give this a try. I had played with this technique briefly when I purchased the presser foot but hadn't gone back to it.

Pieces and Parts

2011-06-22T13:03:00.001-05:00

Here is some of what I've been working on the past few days.

I'm going to make this quilt.

No, I didn't make the quilt above...my friend Martha did and I just love it! She is teaching the class at my LQS (Sewing Machines Plus) and I wanted to make the quilt, so I took the class. We met for the first class last Saturday and I got many of the curved arcs paper pieced and then I've worked more on the remaining elements this week.

I'm now ready for the next class, this coming Saturday. We will start piecing the curved blocks together. I have a spot all picked out in my foyer where I want to hang this quilt. I hope it fits.

I bought a fabric kit to make this quilt. I've never bought a kit before this and the only reason I did this time is because all the fabrics in this quilt are dots/circles/rounds/etc. I know that I didn't want to start purchasing a bunch of fabrics for my stash just to make this quilt....so I decided to buy a kit. I think my quilt will have a darker border than the one shown above, but I'm totally fine with that. If you are wondering, the quilt pattern for this quilt is called Completely Dotty by Piece O'Cake Designs.

A Bit of This and That

2011-06-17T10:20:00.000-05:00

There hasn't been very much exciting things happening in the studio over the past week. I have decided to try and get a quilt top finished and I'm finding it quite challenging since it's more traditional than I usually work and I tend to get bored quickly with it. But I'm sticking to my guns and I'm determined to finish the piecing over the next few days or weeks. I started this quilt about a year ago. I'm tired of it taking up space in my studio and I worry that I might use the fabric designated for it in another project. Oh, and it sure would be nice to see it on my bed!

So over the last few days, when I can sneak into my sewing room, I've been piecing lots of these:

And then I'm making lots of these:

The pattern I'm making is named Tarantella and it's by www.pieintheskyquilts.com. I'm really bad about following directions, though, and for the wider strip that is in the pattern, I used 2.5" strips from a jelly roll instead of the 2 3/4" strip called for in the pattern. I can be a rebel sometimes!!!! :)

Also over the past few days we have been dealing with a sick kitty:

My Zoey got sick last weekend and we needed to take her to a weekend emergency vet. After some x-rays, it turns out she has a condition that happens in some animals, in which some of her vertebrae are fusing together. We now understand why, over the past year, we have noticed her moving differently and not jumping as easily (we thought it was because she carries a bit of excess weight). Anyway, she evidently must have moved wrong or something and aggravated/injured the area and was in a lot of pain. She's now mending and healing and getting better and we've had to be creative and do things around the house so that she isn't trying to do things that she shouldn't.

In other news...
Over at 3 Creative Studios, we have a new guest artist. Leslie Vaskey McNeil is sharing her technique of free-motion couching. Watch for information from Leslie through the month (June 16 - July 15)

I have provided a new tutorial over at 3CS this month as well. I share with you how I create my thread sketches.

And be sure to visit Vicki's etsy shop for a special sale she is having on her hand dyed fabrics. It's Vicki's anniversary sale and it lasts through June 20. Hurry!!! Read more here.

Many Cases

2011-06-09T07:30:00.000-05:00

I haven't been in the studio too much lately. This is mostly because it is that time of year when it's (supposed to be) nicer outside and I spend more time on the riding lawn mower, gardening, and just enjoying the great outdoors in general.

I have gotten to sew some over the last two or three weeks. I was mainly working on the above. They are pillowcases. 30 pillowcases to be exact! They are folded up, in case it's a little hard to tell exactly what they are. I had pulled the fabrics from my stash a couple of months ago to make these and then the fabric piles just sat there as I seemed to deem other projects more important.

So I decided to tackle the pillowcase project and get them done and outta there. These are for donation to local community programs. It not only feels good to donate these, but it feels good to get those fabric piles out of my way and also to get rid of some of the fabrics from my stash that I just didn't seem to use. Makes me wonder why I bought them in the first place.

A Slow Process

2011-06-03T07:32:00.000-05:00

This is a painting that I've been working on over the course of maybe about two weeks. It's a mixed-media project which includes papers, paint, pencils, and crayons on a 10" square gallery wrapped canvas.

I still have a few finishing touches to add to it. It appears somewhat glossy in the photo. I haven't applied a varnish to it yet, so I'm thinking it must be from the spray fixative I applied to it.

This kitty cat has not whispered anything to me yet as far as what he/she wants for a name.

Earlier this week I was wearing my wool socks, but that's all changed now to wearing no socks at all. Oh my, drastic changes...can they be good?

Kitty Cat Pouch

2011-06-02T07:15:00.000-05:00

I found some more hand painted fabric scraps that had been around for a couple of years or so, and thought about how I could create them into something. There was just enough there to make a zipper pouch. I looked through my stash of zippers and found one in the right colors and size.

I added the hand painted cat after I had the outer fabric quilted, but before constructing the pouch.

I'm not happy with how the bottom of the pouch turned out. I had a heavy fabric stitched there (more scraps) and it doesn't want to play nice. It wants to buckle in the middle where the seam is and not sit flat. Oh well...lesson learned.

Spice

2011-06-01T06:55:00.000-05:00

Spice of Life Girls - 12" x 12"

Today is the reveal of the color play quilts with a spice theme, over on the Twelve by Twelve blog.

Check them out as they make their appearances and see how each of twelve quilt artists interpreted this theme.

You can read more about my quilt over at the Twelve by Twelve blog.

Keeping My Toes Warm

2011-05-31T09:32:00.000-05:00

Lately we've had a handful of days where the weather was spring like. All the rest of the days have been very cool, windy, and/or drizzly. Oh spring! Where are you???

It's a good thing I'm still knitting wool socks. Here is my recent completed pair. I shared a photo of this pair in the works a while ago here on the blog. I think this one is my favorite to date.

And here is the next pair that I'm working on. Another lovely yarn in mossy greens with a touch of bluish purple here and there.

I was reminded about sharing my socks here with you when I saw Deb share a pair here that she recently finished. Love the colorful, stripey yarn she used in hers.

Blog Anniversary Appreciation

2011-05-30T07:15:00.000-05:00

Thank you everyone for helping me celebrate five years of blogging this month. I enjoyed your visits and comments. I'm so happy that you took the time to stop by.

You may remember that I said I would give away a copy of the Twelve by Twelve book to a commenter on my Blog Anniversary post earlier in the month. Well this morning I used the random number generator to choose a winner.

Here is the number that came up:

Number 30 corresponds to the comment left by QUILT RAT.

Congratulations Quilt Rat!

Color Palette for May

2011-05-26T10:15:00.000-05:00

The 3 Creative Studios May Color Palette is a gorgeous one and it is called Summer Sunset. If you would like more information on how to participate in the 3CS Color Palette Challenge, click here.

I've been making a composition notebook cover each month with the current color palette. Here is the one I made with the Summer Sunset colors. As I look at the colors in the photos here, they don't look the same as in the color palette photo above. I think my lighting when taking the photographs must have caused this because when I pulled the fabrics from my stash, they seemed to match.

Front - Closed

Full outside cover

Each month Vicki creates a hand dyed fabric palette to match the current color palette. You can see the beautiful fabrics Vicki created for the Summer Sunset palette here. I just love the gradient she did with these colors.

Vicki is also running a special in her Etsy shop for pattern kits. The special includes my pattern for Growin' Flowers.

Vicki's special will last through May 31, so hurry on over to her shop to check it out.

Blue Lagoon Handbag

2011-05-25T12:19:00.000-05:00

Well here's the final result of what I started creating the other day. I shared the sneak peek with you in Monday's post. It became a handbag. It's a larger sized bag so it could also be considered a small tote.

I guess I was influenced by my recent new Laurel Burch handbag that I got last month. Funny thing also is that the limey green cotton duck fabric that the cat is painted on is scraps left over from another project that have been around for a couple years or so. I love it when I can use up scraps.

I've added this item to my etsy shop.

I Picked a Flower for You!

2011-05-24T06:06:00.001-05:00

Yay! I've finished this quilt. I'm thinking about doing this design again in a fused collage technique. We'll see. This one measures approximately 25" x 25".