Monday, February 23, 2009

It's in the Bag Finished!


I finished "It's in the Bag" store sample yesterday. It really turned out cute. I quilted it with monofil and used a variety of quilting stitches. If you click on the pictures you can see some of the detail of the quilting. With the pattern fabric it is hard to see all the quilting I did. If you are in the Dallas area, the Dallas Quilt Celebration is March 14-15, 2009 at the Dallas Market Hall and you can see this quilt in person at the Bernina of Dallas booth. Come and enjoy the fun!
Oh, my Old Alton Bridge Quilt will be in the Artisan section of the show!

Close up of one of the Purse blocks

Thursday, February 19, 2009

I have to Show Off



I have to show off, but isn't that what the Blog is for??? The precious picture is of my Granddaughter, Nickola, and her quilt that her mommy (Amanda E.) and I made for her Christmas present. Nickola watched us make her quilt and each day she would walk in and tell us how "Beautiful" it was, and it is! Amanda E. picked out the pattern and the fabric. I'm so proud of her choices and the work she did - it was her first quilt so she learned a lot and had fun too!

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

I Love Going Barefoot

I love new shoes, but I love going barefoot more. Going barefoot can put a halt to my creativity though. Yesterday I walked out into the garage to get my morning Diet Coke from the fridge and stepped on a piece of glass. Five stitches later I am sitting in bed with my foot up, so that means I can’t go upstairs and quilt! Monday I started quilting the purse quilt and was hopeful to finish it yesterday and/or today…guess I’ll finish next week. So today I am watching movies and shows I have recorded and thinking about all the things I want to accomplish in the studio.
Oh, yes, there is a new rule at our house…no going barefoot in the garage or outside. Bummer.
Hope your day is more creative than mine!

Friday, February 13, 2009

It's in the Bag


It's in the Bag is a quilt out of "Those Crazy Kids" by The Buggy Barn. I work part-time for the Bernina Sewing Center in Dallas, Texas and get to sew samples for the store. The Dallas Quilt Celebration is coming up and this is my sample for the store to use in their booth at the show. This sample is smaller than the quilt in the book, but it is precious. Hopefully I will be able to pin and quilt it today, well, at least get started...
The book has the quilt made in solids, but I had to use prints to jazz it up. I love the way it turned out! I'll post the finished quilt when I'm done!

Sunflower Shawl in Process


With shawls in style right now and I love wearing shawls, I decided to hand paint a shawl for myself and test out some of the mixed media I've been experimenting with. My friend, Connie had these awesome 10' sunflowers in her garden last year. When I saw them I knew there was an art quilt in the future. I have another idea in mind for the pictures, but this is the first one I am creating. The background is going to be different colors of blue with words written through it. Watch for the completed project later this spring!
The process I have already used is transferring the picture onto the fabric with an overhead projector. I'm using Jacquard Textile paints. The next process will be to use a resist so the blue for the background doesn't bleed into the sunflowers. I'll be testing on other fabric before I decide which resist I will use. I don't think I want any oops moments on this project! If you have any ideas for the best resist to use on a process like this, let me know.


Thursday, February 12, 2009

Rushing Vineyards


This is an art quilt I did at the International Quilt Show 2008. Esterita Austin's classes "Sheers to You!". I painted most of the image on Misty Fuse, and used hand dyed cotton organdy for the wine bottle and background. I machine embroidered the wine bottle label and used decorative stitching to attached accent the label. I also used free motion thread painting for the flow of the wine into the glass and accented a bit with stamping swirls in the wine. When I quilted it I just did enough to enhance the flow of the fabric.

Bird on a Branch


Bird on a Branch is painted on silk chiffon. This was a great class with Ginny Eckley. After I painted this Art Quilt I thread painted to give more texture and dimension. To frame it I covered an artist canvas with red brushed cotton and centered the quilt on top. To do this type of framing I took an artist canvas and adhered the red brushed cotton over it with E-6000. Then adhered the art quilt with E-6000 to the red brushed cotton. Got the idea from Jane Dunnewold's DVD "Frame It! Easy Solutions for Framing and Finishing Art Work".

Bird Painted on Silk


At the International Quilt Show 2008 in Houston I took a class on painting on silk from Ginny Eckley. This was the practice sample that I did in class before I did the Bird on a Branch. I really enjoyed learning this process and it is a process that I want to continue working with!

Batik Sampler


Last year I participated in an online Block of the Month with Cabbage Rose Quilt Shop in Fort Worth, Texas. Each month I received the fabric and directions for the traditional blocks in the quilt. When the year was over I decided to design my own quilt top and added the Flying Geese blocks in between the traditional blocks. It was a great challenge and was great practice in making sure my points matched. I can't wait to have time to quilt it! I'll post it when it is quilted!
My daughter-in-law says the quilt makes her dizzy, but I think when I quilt it and hang it, she won't get so dizzy!

Old Alton Bridge Quilt


The Old Alton Bridge is a historic bridge in Denton County, Texas. I selected it as my subject for a workshop I attended in March of 2008 with Quilting Adventures in New Braunfels, Texas. Esterita Austin was my instructor, teaching our group how to make our patterns from photographs. In the workshop we learned how to use our fabrics and paint to create depth and dimension. The fabric I used I had hand painted before I attended the workshop. The funny part is that I took loads of fabric to the workshop, not knowing what I was going to do, what I would need, well, you know how it is when you are a fabric junkie…I ended up using three yards of my hand painted fabric. Esterita uses this story and the before and after pictures of the bridge in her lecture series. If you get a chance to attend one of her lectures or attend one of her workshops, do! She is awesome!

Old Alton Bridge Quilt Road Detail



This is a picture of the iron work detail of the Old Alton Bridge Quilt.

Old Alton Bridge Quilt Road Detail


This is road detail of the Old Alton Bridge Quilt.