Playing With Paint

I had a scrap of PFD fabric and thought I would try a little Tye-painting. I pulled up and gathered sections of fabric then wrapped string around each one to secure it. When tied these looked like fingers sticking up. I then painted different colors around each section and also painted the ends with a different color. I used Setacolor paints diluted with about 50% water. I had to really push the paint into the folds and you can see that there still is quilt a bit of white. I let it dry for a couple of days and then carefully cut away the strings and ironed the fabric. I have an idea in mind to use this little piece and I am happy with the results. Give this a try it was really fun.

If Only This Art Could Talk - My Flea Market Find

This weekend I was at a flea market in Murphy NC and came across this work of art. I loved it so much that I had to ask the price and when the stand owner said $15 I immediately offered $10 and he accepted. I guess that it would qualify as fiber since it is leather stretched around a wooden frame and very neatly stapled on the back. More leather comprises the rest of the work and it measures 16x12. On the back upper left is printed in pencil 'I Want to Fly by Grazyna Pielat Oct. 89 Leather'. I've done a little research and could not find out anything about the artist. I did find that the name is Polish and in the fall of 1989 the poles defeated communism and took back their country. Could this be an artist expressing his feelings about this through his art? The name of the piece 'I want to Fly' could be interpreted as such. One of those things that I will never know. How did this work end up in the flea market in the small town of Murphy NC and what has happened to Grazyna? If only this piece could tell us its history. My great grandparents came from poland to northern IN in the 1880's so I feel this work has somehow found me. Makes me wonder what people will think of my work in 20 years. Another more practical question is how do I clean this? You can see from the close-up that the folds are embedded with dust. Any suggestions would really be appreciated.

Judges Choice in New Hampshire!

I had 2 quilts in the quilt show in New Hampshire last weekend and just checked the website and saw that my small quilt (17x17) won a judges choice award! This little piece has really surprised me since it has also won a 3ard place in MN earlier this year. I guess this shows that a quilt does not have to be big to be recognized.

Experiment With Texture and Thread

When I got back from Houston I was all excited to start something new. I also found waiting for me on my porch 20 spools of Superior Thread ($150 worth I had won for a 3rd place finish in a quilt show). I had the beginnings of this piece on my design wall and just started adding stuff. I used 14 different things including yarns, Angelina fibers, tulle, cheesecloth, melted and painted tyvek, painted mistyfuse just to name a few to create the textured surface. I then free motion quilted it with at least 10 different threads. I really tried to pay attention to how the different threads stitched and required tension adjustment and even different needles. I feel like I really learned a lot from this and improving my free motion quilting is an area I need to focus on to move to the next level in quilting. I love the results. This piece is 20h and 17w. Click on the image to see a closeup.

Back From Houston

I finally have a chance to post about my Houston trip. What an incredible show! The quality of the work was so amazing and inspiring. This is me in front of my quilt 'Birthday Wishes' that was in the portrait category in the judged competition. This my second year to enter and second time in the judged competition. The quilt is a portrait of my granddaughter based on a picture taken on her 4th birthday. I put her in a Disney type setting since she loved our visit there last year. I feel very lucky just to have been in this show with all of these talented artist.

What I Will Be Wearing In Houston

This is the jacket that I just finished this morning. So like me to be soooooo last minute! I haven't made a piece of clothing for myself for probably 25 years so I don't know what possessed me to do this. Could be that I will be going to Houston with 2 friends who have really beautiful jackets of their own that they have made. Everything I used was stuff I had. I started with a black sweatshirt and a gorgeous piece of Ricki Timms fabric that I have looked at for a while but couldn't decide what to do with it (part of the problem being that I just didn't what to cut it up!). I winged it from there since I had no pattern and only some instructions I found on the Internet. Didn't turn out too bad for a first try but not show quality. If you are in Houston and see me walking around just give me a shout to say hello.

My Journal Quilt in Houston

Now that the Houston show is underway I can show a full picture of my journal quilt 'Flight Over Greenland'. This quilt is based on a picture that I took when I was returning from a business trip to Denmark. I was sitting in business class and

everyone was watching movies so all the window shades

were closed. The pilot announced that we were flying over

Greenland and that in was a really beautiful sight. I opened my window shade and was stunned by the simple beauty of this scene. The sky was an incredible blue and the snow covered mountains surrounded by icy water glistened in the bright sun. I always have my camera and immediately started taking pictures. This was not a popular thing since I was letting in light and I did get some dirty looks from the people around me. I knew that this had to be my journal quilt so I could share this incredible sight and hopefully help people appreciate our beautiful earth.

This piece is painted whole cloth with Angelina fibers added to give sparkle to the water. The 'window' is painted shirt interfacing. If you are going to the show also look for my quilt 'It's All Relatives' that appears in the Quilting Arts 2009 Calendar and will be displayed in the Quilting Arts booth and my quilt 'Birthday Wishes' that is in the judged competition.

Rusted Fabric Experiment

I love this piece of fabric! I have wanted to try rust dying for a while and the other day I was rummaging through my husbands shop and found a few chains and bolts that were good candidates for the experiment. I took a piece of PFD fabric wet it and wrung it out. Then I soaked it in vinegar and wrung it again. I then wrapped the rusty objects in the fabric and put the whole thing in a plastic garbage bag, squished the air out and tightly closed it. I let this set for about 2 1/2 days. I then rinsed it in salt water (I read somewhere that that stops the rusting process) and let the fabric dry. Finally I ran it through the washer, dried it and ironed it. I really thought that the color would fade when I washed this and was amazed how it did not. I will definitely do this again.

Georgia Quilts - It's Actually a Winner!

Last weekend was the first Georgia Quilts Quilt Show. My quilt 'Peak Performance' took 3ard place in the large wall category. This quilt was started over a year ago when I hand painted the background and then added the foliage and foreground with various fabrics. For some reason I really didn't like the results and let this be a UFO for around 10 months. I finally added borders and extended the scene into the border.

I attempted to finish this several times with no luck. Just when I was ready to cut the piece up I found out about this show and was determined to finish. I free motion quilted the leaves on the border and then was disappointed that they did not show so I painted them with soft pastels and highlights of gold fabric paint. This still is not one of my favorite pieces but I guess that it was worth finishing.

What I did this weekend.......

As I mentioned earlier I have been in a rut as to what to work on next so I decided that I would do a small piece from start to finish over the weekend. First, I looked through some photos that I took last year in Louisiana and did a sketch. Then I painted sky, water and trees on a couple of scrapes of PFD fabric. I then added the grass fabric in the foreground. It's from my stash but I did cut it up to get the look I wanted. After quilting I thought it still needed something so I painted in the bird and added trees to the grassie area. The grass and trees are heavily thread painted to give the piece more interest. Finished size is 12 x16 and I think I will mount this to matt board and frame it. It felt good to get something done!

Loot From Fabrics.com Warehouse Sale

Late Friday night I got an email telling me about this sale. I was really torn about going since the last thing I need is more fabric! After going back and forth with myself I decided to set my alarm and go on Sat. morning. I mean I only live 15 min. away and that is with a drive-thru stop at Micky D's to get some really needed coffee...... I have never bought fabric from this website since for me part of the fun of fabric buying is the actual touch and feel of the stuff. I really did restrain myself and this is what I got.....9 lbs for $36 with the pieces ranging is size from 1/2 to 3 yards. So much for not needing any more fabric........

Quilts off to New Hampshire

Two of my quilts have been juried into the 'A Quilters Gathering' quilt show that will be held in Bedford, New Hampshire on Nov 6-9. The one pictured here is called Daydreaming and is about 17" x 17". The other is Flight Into Fantasy and is featured on the right. Daydreaming won a 3ard place in MN and Flight Into Fantasy won 1st places in Indiana and Georgia and a 3ard place in Utah. Wish me luck!!