Friendship Block Done

This is not my normal thing.... but an exchange block from my friendship group. I was mumbling/grumbling cutting this big block out. 70 pieces mostly all different sizes. I am not the perfect piecer. As frustrated as I was cutting, it was a joy to sew... mostly because the pattern maker (Arlene Stamper) wrote such great instructions. Each units instructions included pressing and size expectations all along the way. Very helpful for such a large block where getting off at any step could prove disasterous... who wants to rip out 70 pieces????

Life as a Hand Model

Now this is starting to get wierd. Twice in my life a newspaper photographer snapped a shot of me. Twice the photos made their way to the front page of yet different newspapers. Both times.... only my hand made the front page. It's a fun thing to say to organizations... If you want front page coverage, invite my hand to town. Ha!!!!!
Ya gotta laugh!

Down a Country Road

Okay..... someone has to enjoy this place. During my visit for the quilt show, I got to stay at Barberry Ranch in Fort Collins. The beautifully restored and upgraded Ranch House was built in 1912 as a boarding house and relocated twice settling here at Barberry Ranch known for trusted horse boarding and training. My hostess Barbara Cohen is a remarkable woman. How very sweet!


... and the ranch has some rather cool yard art!

Wired For Sound and what a doll

What a great quilt show put on by The Rocky Mountain Quilt Foundation of Fort Collins Colorado. I was demonstrating in a booth and got limited time to actually see the show but I particularly loved this quilt made by Lori Flint of Boulder Colorado. Apparently Lorri's son plays electric guitar. Very cool! Click on photo for detail.


In addition to the quilts and vendors, the show included all Hoffman Challenge winners that will soon begin traveling the U.S. and Canada as part of several simultaneus smaller exhibits. This show is the only location all winners are seen together. I will say I was blown away by the winner of the doll challenge. This gal is quite a Troll.

Quilting My Spanish Dancer

I'm just getting started on the quilting of this piece. I admit to some procrastination as most portraits I've done are small enough that minimal quilting on skin areas works well. This is a fairly large portrait and requires more quilting. I haven't perfected quilting the human image but I have 2 pieces of knowledge so far in my tool belt on the subject:
1) You either quilt very little or alot. Anything in between seems to age the person thru wrinkling! Makes sense. Children especially do not need wrinkles.
2) I do try to follow(quilt) the obvious contours of the body but even more importantly.... if you have the painted shading right in the first place, and you don't quilt lines so close together that you completely cover your painted shading, it will look pretty good as long as you have graceful lines without starts and stops that show. I have more to do on even what you see here, but it's coming along alright!
Unquilted image to start:

Beginning with her face (click on photo for detail view):

Her shoulders ( click on image for detail view):



I am now off to the airport to the Rocky Mountain Creative Quilters Show in Colorado. It will exhibit over 600 quilts including the only time every 2009 Hoffman Challenge finalist piece will show ALL TOGETHER. This should be great fun! I'm taking my camera! :-) Have a great weekend!

Ethereal Waters

This piece was likewise one of the Acrylic experiments I've been writing about. First I used linen instead of plain cotton. I LOVE the result.... built in texture and the start and finished surface is really soft... That relaxed surface quality actually prompted the soft tonal painting. I used Acrylics with water as the medium... then did some stamping of grids using paint (both opaque and metallic) applied to rubber grid material used to hold rugs into place. Everything is an art tool! :-) This quilted like a dream... the machine needle slid through the material like butter.

Yeah Winter's Garden DONE!

For those that don't think I do any traditional quilting... Surprise! I belong to 2 friendship groups, mostly traditional quilters, and I love these women... I've learned so much and have lots of fun with them when we get away and SEW!!!! The large bed quilt called Winter's Garden began last November and is finally bound and done! YEAH!!!!!! Best part.... the quilt background is all squares and half square triangles. Simple, eh? While some would needle turn all that applique, I chose to try out the Misty Fuse to keep the quilt surface plenty soft. That worked okay, but was a bit more work that other fusing materials. My good friend Phyllis Reddish quilted this one for me... I can quilt in traditional fashion, but Phyllis is great and fast and since I have a gillion art quilting projects backed up of my own... I thank her for the help! We live in the mountains with winter snow pack so this one just might grace our bed this winter. This was a kit by the way from "The Quilt House" in Gardnerville Nevada (very nice shop). The pattern: Winter Garden (70" x 85") by Backyard Quilts. I used to dislike kits in general because I enjoy picking out fabrics... but now, I love them for weekend sewing retreats.