MQU Seasons Challenge May-June is out

If you aren't familiar with this magazine for those who "quilt" their tops on short/mid/ or longarm.... this is a great magazine to peruse. This month , my piece "Artic Winter" ( an Artic Fox in snow) is showcased on the opening index page (3) as well as the Seasons Challenge article beginning page 26. Check out www.MQUmag.com for general magazine info including subscription details... They are having a sale on sunscription presently.

Artic Fox.... Nature's camoflage miracle... brown in summer, white in winter.

(c) copywrite closeup

Lenny Then and Now

I seldom post things this way... but heck... why not?!... Before I go through the steps of a specific art quilting project... I'm going to post a students painted piece, then the bordered and quilted result. First... here's Laurie Sageser's baby boy Lenny. Laurie painted Lenny (her pet) in my Painted Quilt Art Class in February in Havre, Montana. Laurie is an internationally known breeder of 'friends of Lenny'. I'm sure you figured out she loves this guy.

I'm sure glad Laurie says she trusts me, because I took some liberties adding subtle foliage interest in the background and bordering the overall image with a darker border. I seldom add borders at all since I don't always think they are additive, but in this case, it helped support the strong image of the wood on which Lenny rested.

It was great fun coming up with ways to quilt an interpretation of Lennys body surface texture.

I'll post some photos and steps along the way over the next couple days.

I LOVE IT when things get finished. I could have guessed that this would be the first finished work by a student from Asilomar earlier this month. Jeannie Moore is a teacher as well and works in several surface design techniques. Ink is now in her tool belt too. Here's her finished piece ( somewhere around 40" by 40" ) replicating a great old car wash sign from the Palm Springs area.

Click here to check out Jeannie's blog

Great Week with Wrightwoods Pine Needles Guild

A lecture on Tuesday evening and a planned workshop for last Saturday when the town was suddenly covered with this white stuff. So this Saturday it was instead and all went really well. Great students. Great fun.

If you ever get to Wrightwood Ca ( in the mountains just outside Los Angeles... check out Mexico Lindo Restaurant . It offers a 5 cent margarita with a meal. No kidding.

Sheet Protector Monoprint...

Now this looks like real fun. I must give this a try.
This is a finished small quilt where maker Terry Whyte of Canada placed textile paints on 1 side of an opened up sheet protector.. then foldered closed the sheet protector and reopened it having roughly the same paint pattern on both sides. She placed a piece of fabric atop the symmetrical painted surface to create a monoprint. Once the print was dry, only then did she decide to turn it into a butterfly, cutting away/discarding the unneeded monoprinted fabric. SO clever!

Th butterfly wings then were added atop other fabrics to complete the overall top before quilting added the finishing touches. FUN FUN FUN!!!!

Mostly Uncle Sam kept me away.

Complicated taxes this year kept me busy til the last minute... now to get caught up on other stuff. ONE last kudo for Asilomar student Pam Moyer. Pam came having never painted, never quilted anything and was determined to paint and quilt her piece while in class. She came with ready to go drawing and photo from a mexican open market she'd visited north of Mexico City.

Pam had been taken with the determination and strength of the central female figure... a woman lifting, carrying a bulging crate of heavy tomatoes... never complaining... just working hard. Pam considered this hard work was surely only part of a very difficult day where this woman would later go to her home and cook and care for the rest of her family. Sleep might be short but welcome at a hard day's end.

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WOW..just WOW!!!

Mary Kay Price is 'on her game!' working on this piece.

Her painting of grandaughter at the pumpkin patch is spot on. I and everyone else who visited the classroom at Asilomar were indeed impressed. Try to ignore the slight wrinkle causing non existent distortion. It's really perfect!

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Almost done!!!!

Yeah Alice and Dorie

Alice Chitwood is a long time quilter. and longarmer. Alice both painted and quilted her piece this week, and so smartly managed to stack a few mid day Zs to relax. She's a sweetheart.

Dorie Miller of Southern California experienced ( quite successfully ) her first ever painting project.. and to top that... without ever having quilted anything before... got her mojo going in quilting patterns fitting for her piece. But for a late in the week machine malfunction, she would be done.

Fun Students from Canada

I can't tell you how fun these two were... First Terry Whyte, already an accomplished quilter and fabric dyer, confirmed this was her most fun workshop experience ever. If she is like me, often my last experience becomes my favorite. Terry painted 2 pieces at Asilomar. I captured this first one of grandson coaxing dog Bailey to possibly jump in that murky water beyond. Bailey doesn't seem certain about this.

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Whatever the REAL story, it is a heartwarming family memory.

Kit Ormsby worked from a photo from her daughters wedding party. I want to meet this girl. Donning her steel toed work boots painted white to accompany her mostly white but dirty hem wedding gown, Kit's daughter obviously danced the night away at her outdoor evening wedding party. YOU GO GIRL!!!!

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The original photo doesn't show well here.. but the worn fuzzy toed steel boots offered good evidence of how hard they partied.

Still chuckling.. Thanks Kit!

I hope they both send me pics of the almost finished pieces they worked on after these two.

Turkey meets Jan's Grandson

Jan Kopf of Northern Calif. loved her mischief-gifted horse "Turkey"... and ofcourse loves her grandson. Their meeting here is a special moment to be remembered always in this wall quilt painted this week at Asilomar in my Painted Quilt Art workshop.

According to Jan, amongst "Turkey's gifts" was the ability to unlock all the other horses stalls to take them 'out to play.'

Jan's Southern Cal. sis Jeanne Palmer-Moore (on left) interpreted an old Palm Springs area Car Wash Sign...just for fun.

Somehow I missed the pic of Jeanne's second painting this week.... Quite a prolific and gifted artist! Jeanne films mixed media training for Quilting Arts TV and has a new Quilting Arts mixed media DVD coming out this summer. I'm watching for it. Can't wait!!!
Jeanne had some of her own artwork printed on her iphone4 hard case. Very cool stuff. I will be checking this option out at www.getuncommon.com.

He is risen!

Praise!

They Rock!!!!!

Such a sense of adventure these women brought to Asilomar. It's a joy as a teacher. The last minute addition to class was author, also teacher, designer Analie Belden of Volcano, Ca (dresdenquilt.com). Analie used my drawings, and took this on like a duck to water creating 2 finished paintings in 4 days.

and

This is quite a cool deal here... we had an around the room discussion about favorite things used in the "quilting process." Analie uses this construction workers 'tube' designed for holding nails on job site. A squeeze of the tube opens the 'mouth' of the holder to allow ( in this case) safety pins for quilt pinning. I must go to the hardware store soon!

I can't tell you as a teacher how WONDERFUL it is to have such an incredible class hostess like Nonie De Surra. I'm eternally grateful for all the class help Nonie gave to help her peer students have a great class. Nonie.. you are simply the best!!!!! THANK YOU!!!!

Almost time for breakfast at Crocker Hall. Can't miss our daily force feeding ;-) of spectacular food.

What a great class of people!

Almost over and I must start posting the wonderful work evolving from this group... First my new best art quilt buddies from left to right: Kit Ormsby, Pam Moyer, Dorie Miller, Mary Kay Price, Terry White, Nonie DeSurra, Alice Chitwood, Jeanne Palmer Moore, Analie Belden, Jan Kopf, and yours truly.

Individual teacher bragging of students to follow... :-)

Empty Spools Session 2 ... Everybody is here!!!

On the shore at Asilomar teaching at Empty Spools Seminars and having a ball. Suzanne and Gayle are magnificent hosts at these annual quilting retreats... This pic is from the position on stage were seconds later I began my 'lil slide show. talk , and joke telling, etc. Do you know any of these audience members.

2 days down, 2 and 1/2 wonderful days more fun classes.

Fini!!! It's done and mailable now.

The painter of this piece did a great job painting delicate colors in the petals...Magnolia blossoms are so exquisite. I think friend Karen will like this framed.

TIP: If you are having a quilted piece framed, run a straight 'stay' stitch line on the outer perimeter of your piece... like maybe 1/8 inch in from the ultimate edge. I even go around the perimeter twice as it better stabilizes things for the framer.

Fun and Easy Background

I've used this background on a couple pieces and find it easy and fun. It's scroll, then sort of feather ( half heart) then outline going the reverse direction. This makes a happy sort of floral filler where loops are used as needed to reposition for the next floral-like composition.

I'll demo here using darker thread so you can see on my practice quilt sandwich.
First a simple inside/outside scroll returning to the outside edge of the starting area.

Then something half heart like shape headed back toward the scroll entrance.

Now a graceful echo back to the opposite side.

It's your choice to start another composition here or echo yet again to move the other side.
Use loop de loops to transition to a new starting area if desired. Just keep going... ;-)

Keep this idea going til you've satisfactorily filled space. NOTE: All these floral compositions won't be exactly the same nor even the same size. Don't sweat it.... It will look great AND GIVE YOURSELF PERMISSION TO GO SLOWER if you feel greater control.

Dang those needle holes

The owner of this piece had a composition smart change of heart on the location of some of the dark red embroidery and 'unstitched' some thread leaving needle holes evident in this macro pic..

You can soften or sometimes completely eliminate these holes by a spray of water and gentle fabric 'massage' in the visible hole area.

These are no longer visible lest you have your face right on the surface as in this macro.

TIP: It seems for me the most effective way to remove stitched thread and minimize needle hole evidence, is to from the back side, run my seam ripper through every 2 to 3 stitches, then use tweezers to pick up top thread from the front/right side of the quilt top.

Leaf Quilting

This to be quilted piece arrived at my door with dark red free motion embroidered veins ( I love the color). Now I think some quilting to secure the leaf areas is needed.

This process adds softness to the look too.

Looking good to me!