Store Sample Quilts

Monday afternoon on the way to my Dallas Area Fiber Arts meeting I stopped by the Bernina of Dallas store to pick up some supplies. To my pleasant surprise I was able to bring home several of the samples I had made for the store. Most of them have sleeves on the back, but a few do not. So this afternoon I am going to put sleeves on the back of three of the quilts and get them ready to hang in our stairwell gallery. I’m so excited to have these back and to be able to hang them in my house! If you want a close look of these quilts, they are in my gallery.
I still haven’t quilted the Pumpkin BOM I made earlier in the year, but I think I’m going to hang it “As Is” for now, just for the season. I’ll run the edges on the serger so I don’t have any fraying issues. Hmmmm……I may do that with the Batik Sampler BOM I did too. I love these quilts and just hate that I haven’t had time to quilt them.
I am also tacking up fairy costumes for two of my granddaughters to wear on Halloween. All I have left to do is put Velcro on the wings and the back of the costumes. They are so excited to be fairies and then to be able to play dress up in these costumes later. My other two granddaughters are going to be fairies too, and our little grandson is going to be Peter Pan. What a fun night it is going to be!

Busy end of October!

I know, I know, Halloween hasn't even past and I've started on Christmas already, but I have too! I've been working on 6 Christmas Stockings for my 3 new grand babies. I love decorating for Christmas and one item that is all over the house is stockings! The Red, White and Blue stockings run down the banister. They each have white hankies in the denim pockets with our individual names on them. The panel stockings (from Art to Heart a few years ago) are on our "Family Trees" in the foyer. I start decorating for Christmas the day after Thanksgiving. It takes a couple of days, so when we are done I'll show you the whole shebang. Some people in my family think I go overboard with my Christmas decorations, but I don't do near as much as some people I know. Plus I just love to decorate for Christmas and light up the house with joy, friendship and love ~ showing our love for the season and the Christ baby that made it all possible. Isn't that what it's about anyway? So, I'm back in the studio today to finish up the stockings and then continue testing ideas for a quilt I started before I left for Houston. This is not an original design, I took it out of a sketch book that I found when we cleaned out the house of Jeff's aunt earlier this year. So above is the sketch and below is my interpretation of the sketch. Quilt name? "Genesis 1" I have fused hand painted silk (thank you Frieda Anderson!) and the background will have celestial images made with fabric paints and paint sticks.

Home from IQF (Houston)...with a cold

Well, I'm home from a wonderful week in Houston at the International Quilt Festival. I participated in classes all week and brought home great ideas from each class. I am in the midst of working on two quilts and the classes I participated in gave me great ideas for them. I had a great time meeting up with my quilting friends, instructors from past workshops and meeting new quilting friends and instructors. The quilts were awesome!
I bought new dyes and new books for research and entertainment. Oh, what books you ask? Well, "Art + Quilt" by Lyric Kinard. Great book and the class I had with her was great too. We basically went through the book and did the exercises. It really took me back to the basics of what I learned about design in high school. She gave us 10 minutes to do an exercise. The lessons of learning, texture, line, color, shape and value, well gosh, I just create, I forgot to think specifically about those things in my quilts! So, on my drive home Saturday, I was looking at buildings differently, clouds with a new perspective and fields of animals and vegetation with different texture ideas.
The other research/instruction books I bought are "Bold and Beautiful" by Judi Dains and "The Painted Quilt ~ Paint and Print Techniques for Colour on Quilts" by Linda and Laura Kemshall. I can't wait to dive into these books and get started on more dying and embellishing on fabrics. When I was in the Quilting Arts booth looking for these books I had the opportunity to meet Pokey Bolton! She is a wonderful lady! Wish I had had my camera with me so I could post a picture!
Fiction books about quilters are a entertainment passion of mine. I have a list of authors and books I like and want to read. One of the authors I have had on my list for a while is Sandra Dallas. To my surprise she was at IQF signing her books. I was so honored to meet her and talk to her about her books. Her newest book is "Prayers for Sale", so I bought it and will probably start reading it later today.
Well, I think that is it for today. I'm going to go tend to my whining dog and my cold.
Have a great day and because I plan on making my better than it started off!

Sketch Book

Well, I just can't leave well enough alone. I always push myself before I go out of town. The compulsive artistic voice in my head keeps saying, "Just one more project....", "Oh, just finish this project before you go...", "It won't take long, and you can take it with you..." So, what did I do? I got out my hand painted fabric scraps, my fabric markers, paint stiks, Sharpie Markers, alcohol, Misty Fuse, stamps, and various mixed media items...

There are several classes next week where I am to bring my sketchbook. Now I'm a Fiber Artist, how can I go and be with all the creative people with a plain vanilla sketchbook? The front is the only part that is completely done. The back of the front and the two sides of the back are covered with hand painted fabric, but I have left the unadorned so I can embellish them with things I learn next week.

Now I'm off to dust the house...Two Year old Birthday Party for our granddaughter, Betty, tomorrow!

I'm off to Houston to be Active in the Quilting Scene!

Well, the weather in North Texas is getting me ready for Houston and the International Quilt Festival! It is in the 70's with 100% humidity! My class supplies are packed, my schedule is set to meet my network of friends for classes and lunch, my shopping list is growing (don't tell my husband) and I also have my list of vendor booths to go by and say "Hi! What's new?"(not all of us say "Howdy" in Texas)!

Oh, who are my network of Vendor Friends? Well, if you keep up with my blog you have read about Quilting Adventures. I love these ladies, they put on the best workshops! Barbara and Alice will be in booth #916. The QA ladies have a guest book to sign, and I think there is a drawing from the people who sign their guest book!
Then I have to venture off and see my new friend Frieda Anderson in booth #438, I wonder what beautiful hand dyed silk and cottons Frieda will have when I get there?
Now, Quilting Arts Magazine, booth #1244, I have to get my 2010 calendar and I think some of the books on my list will be in their booth and I'm sure there are some other tempting items!!!!

This will be my third year to attend the International Quilt Festival and my second to take classes. Last year I met so many wonderful women through my classes and was so surprised to meet so many that travelled from other countries for the festival and classes! Because of the friendships I make through the classes, and the knowledge passed on by the awesome instructors I look forward to this event every year and this year I decided to volunteer! On Thursday afternoon I will be with my friend, Gail Dentler, (Oprah isn't the only one with a friend named Gail!) at the Studio Artist Quilt Association (SAQA) booth answering questions and signing up new members! What a great way to network and expand our visions!

Well, I guess that is about it. I'm going to take my laptop and try to blog each day to tell you about my classes! So have a great rest of your week and a great week next week everyone, I'm off to stay with my brother and sister-in-law in Houston (Best Bed and Dinner in town! My SIL is the best cook ever!) and IQF!
Jules

Phantom Tree

Phantom Tree is one of the quilts I started at my workshop with Quilting Adventures in Boerne last month. The background fabrics are batiks from my stash. The tree is hand dyed silk that I bought from Frieda Anderson.

I really had to think about how I wanted to quilt it and how I wanted to bring out the three. Really I didn't want to bring the tree out too much, I just wanted it to fall into the background and I didn't want the background to dominate the tree. I was searching for a harmony between the two. I love the contrast of colors of the background and the movement of the batiks, so I decided to use the movement of the colors to drive the quilting. I echo quilted the tree and used my Fabrico fabric pens to give texture to the tree and emphasis the turquoise color in the tree.

Now, I'm sure you are wondering why the quilt looks askew...I planned that. I didn't want it to be an even sided quilt. Since there are bolder limbs on one side of the quilt, that side is a bit larger than the other side. The right side is an inch larger than the left. Just had to do it!

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