Going on Vacation

Just a quick note, to say we're off to Seattle,Whidbey Island, & Port Townsend -Discovery Bay, Washington until May 13th. I plan to relax, visit my DD, & family, play, hand quilt, bike & Kyak, & spend time with friends Ilene & Stu who are coming from Oregon to see us. So I'll be back then........byyeeee...........

SIGN YOUR WORK!

Yes I'm shouting so you will all hear me. I want every one of you to listen now. SIGN YOUR WORK! The following little quilts are a joint effort. The appliquer is unknown. The blocks were found in our Guild's stash. No body knows how they got there. Member Jane Ferguson took the blocks, & added "frames" & bound them, even put sleeves on the back, but says she's "not a quilter", & only did some stitch-in-the-ditch quilting to hold them together. They are going into out auction in September, so I offered to do some quilting on them to make them a little more finished. Click on the photos to see the quilting. Of course now I have to stitch the sleeves back in place, but I'm happy with what the quilting did for them.

This Tulips Basket is my favorite of the bunch.

Last week I bought 4 pieces on Ebay. I bid on a few more, but didn't win everything I bid on. It was a fund raiser for Greenpeace, & all the items were Fiber Art. One of the things I didn't win was Sue Bleiweiss' padfolio, so I went to her webpage & ordered one I liked even better. It came in the mail yesterday, & I love it even more in person, but Sue, you didn't sign it! This is a work of ART. If we in the Fiber Art world want to be respected & thought of a REAL Artists, then we should be signing our work!

& Mags dear, you're guilty too! You could at least sign your name with a pigma or gel pen inside the purse, if you don't want to sign it outside. You should've heard the razzing I got at Quilt Guild on Thursday for "Buying" a purse. I have my own patterns, & teach purse classes & they all know it. I told them this is a work of Art, & I wanted it to hang on my wall. Inspiration from an Artist I admire. I really do love it.

Now, Dianne, I can't find a signature on yours either, but I might be able to forgive that, given the nature of this piece. Next time, I would say maybe stitch your initials in somewhere, or make a little tag to fit along the back of the wire.

This is so much prettier in person. She used a layer of shimmery fabric that glows red to bluish.

Suzan Widecrantz didn't sign her whole name on her postquards either, but she signed Suz, & sent a calling card with them.

The next piece is one of my own ATCs. It's going as a surprise to someone out there. A little spot of sunshine to someone who was rained on.

This I made for Barbara in Germany. We're doing a trade.

& the last is an ATC that I made to ship with Mermaid's Dream, to Debby Leonard in MN, who purchased my quilt from seeing it on my Web Page. Thanks again Debby!

Rejected

This snowy owl lives at the Alaska zoo. It was found injured & would've died in the wild, so is living out it's days in our zoo.
When I thought about the Quilting Arts 2008 Calendar challenge, 'A Novel Idea', to base a small quilt upon a favorite book, Harry Potter's owl Hedwig came to mind for me. I love JK Rowlings books. I've read & reread them e ery time another book or movie comes out. I've lost count how many times I've read them all. I'm rereading again in preperation for the finale book #7, & the next movie. Both coming in July, along with my next grandchild. July will be a very exciting month for me this year!

Anyhow, I made "An Homage to Hedwig", because I love Harry Potter. & I think that those books have gotten my kids reading than anything else in recent years. & an owl represents wisdom, (something else that can come with knowledge learned from reading),

so I placed Hedwig among Harry's school books. The books were fussy cut from an old blouse of Aunty Ethel's, as well as the red fabric of Harry's blanket from an old wool jacket.
The gold is all wool rovings needle felted on, including the 'binding' on the edges. Hedwig herself is also needled felting then appliqued on to the surface. Some pearl cotton hand stitched on for her feathers.felted piece, & a bit of hand-dyed rick-rack for the irises, glued in place. Austrian crystals sparkle in the dark sky behind her head.

The eyes are old black glass buttons under the feltd owl body. Even though Hedwig didn't make the cut for the QA challenge. She'll hang in my studio as I quilt & create , & listen to the Harry Potter movies on DVD while I sew. I decided when I was making her, it was more for me than them anyway, & you can't win 'em all :~)...!

My Lucky Day

Even though the path from my back door to our cars is a mucky run of muddy slippery clay & dirty water, I felt happy today, because I didn't have to go to work. I took an extra call night last night in exchange for today off. I had to work until almost midnight, but didn't get called back in, so I felt LUCKY!

So today Warren took me to the Glacier Brewhouse for our favorite Shrimp & smoked salmon Ceasar Salad. We figured we should go there, because we probably won't go again until September. During tourist season we avoid downtown restaurants. The wait can be an hour or 2, in summer time. I promised my quilt guild that I'd make a gift for Kathy Delaney. She'll be teaching here in Anchorage this month. I made one of my neck purses for her. I used velvet for the outside, & wool inside.

I wasn't happy with my postquard for Jeri, especially in the photo on my previous post, so I painted a little more gold on the surface to enhance the quilting designs. I also added some crystals, but they don't show very well in the photo.

Quard cards

When I ran out of steam on Sunday, after spring cleaning & rearranging all Friday & Saturday, I took a little break & played for a little while in the studio. Above is a postcard for Jeri.

These next 2 are a postcard for my boss who had surgery on Saturday, & below, one of the volunteers that works in our family waiting room had surgery for cancer. The yellow flowers on both of these was an experiment with a fiber that looked like a non-woven stabilizer, that was wrapped around a bouquet of flowers that my boss got last week. She was about to throw it in the trash when I saw it, & asked if I could take it.
On both of these I cut strips of the fabric, then cut them into wonky rough squares, stacked them 5 deep & stitched the centers down. Above they were about 1 1/2 inches square, & below a hair shy of about 1/2 inch. After stitching I cut a few clips for "petals", then hit them with my heat gun until they shriveled into a semblence of a flower. The bottom 'quilt' is 4 inches square. I layered a few strips of left over fabric on a card, then stitched the little quilt on it. I was quite pleased with how these turned out. they really were fun.

Bitten by the Springtime Bug!

I had my 1st Interenet sale this week. A gal saw my link on ebay when I was bidding on items for the Greenpeace sale, followed the link to my webpage, & is buying 'Mermaid's Dream". I'm happy!

In the mail came this lovely surprise from Jeri! Dahlia #5. THanks Jeri! It's so pretty, the beads are in a pool of glittery glue, & it SPARKLES! I love sparkles!

I got bitten by the spring cleaning bug on Friday, & worked all day cleaning & rearranging. I put away all my snowflake dishes & decorations, & got the roosters & butterflies out for the new season. We still have better than a foot of snow in the yard, & the path to the car has turned to muck , & it spit a little snow yesterday, but the seagulls are back, & spring is under way.
I moved my chicken coop from the kitchen, & put it in the living room, behind the love seat, & put the DVDs in it. I'd had them on the ladder, but will be moving the ladder when our new entertainment center gets here. We ordered it a while ago. It's going to be unfinished because we couldn't find what we wanted all done.

Our new desk for our bedroom got delivered yesterday,

as well as the recliner for the bedroom. I'll be spending a lot of time there after I get my shoulder fixed.

I went to the Quilt Tree yesterday, & got fabric for the new grandbaby quilt. Batiks for the front, & those yummy Minki velvety fabrics for the back.

This was an impulse buy. I couldn't resist. I've hooked it on to my nail clippers in hope of keeping track of them easier.

Don't you think it looks like Broc? He got a hair or something in his eye yesterday & has been winking all day. It seems to be better today.

I best get down to the studio. So much to do, & so little time. I have to go back to work tomorrow, & will be on call all night, but get Tuesday off in exchange, so maybe I'll get to play then. :~D

What a Week!

It's been a long hard work week here. My poor hubby just worked 8 nights in a row, 12 hour shifts. I too was on call this last weekend & worked an 18 hour shift Saturday until after midnight Sat. night, then got called in at 730 on Sunday morning. I ended up getting called in 3 times on Sunday, the last time they called was midnight sunday night. I went in & worked until 330 a.m., but didn't get back to sleep until after 6 in the morning. I woke up at 10a.m. with the worst headache I've ever experienced. I wanted to throw up every time I moved my head.

I worked overtime Tues. & Wed. then yesterday I got out a little bit early! What a treat!

Of course with all that overtime I deserved a shopping spree, so I went on ebay, & won 4 items from the Greenpeace auction that's closing today. I got a little purse & a wall hanging by fellow bloggers Dianne & Margaret.

I wanted to show you a card I made for my pal Kathy, whose birthday is Earthday. She already got it in the mail, so I can show it now. I started with hand painted fusible web, fused on to Timtex, layered on Angelina fibers, & a piece of unber colored handpainted lace, then topped it with a green & yellow handpainted silk chiffon. On top of that I used a few little scraps of a piece of fabric Kathy herself had tried to throw away! It was the little cross hatched strips. It was from the Ann Johnston class we did together last year. I topped the whole thing with a bit of fancy lace flowers, that I colored with fabric pens, & embellished with some beads, & a couple of yellow vintage sequins & some vintage yellow beads (also from Kathy),

Unfortunately photos don't do it justice. The angelina fibers inside catch the light & add an unbelievibly beautiful shimmer, & subtle color changes with looking at it from differnet angles.

Happy Easter Weekend

Friday I was able to stay home, & one of the things I did was finish this old UFO. It'll be a lampshade for a small lamp. I'll take it to Coupeville to be displayed for another sample.

This beautiful postquard came in the mail Saturday from Terri Stegmiller. I LOVE her! Isn't she pretty?

I had to work all day Saturday. From 0730 - 0015. Yes, nearly an 18 hour shift, then I had to go back in thismorning at 730, & again at 330 pm. I'll be heading to bed soon. I'm tired.

This last couple pictures is what the Easter Bunny left on my back step. A bundle of fun! I love the bright fabrics! Thanks Easter Bunny!

To Margaret, my Alaskan friend wintering in Utah, now is the perfect time to be somewhere other than here! The cars are all the same shade of dirty gray. The roads are damp & dirty. It's been spitting rain, & occaisionally snow, & my driveway is so bad, with the rotten snow, I'm afraid I'm going to get stuck. We need a few more Willawas, to help dry things up. If you're coming home soon, bring your breakup boots with you!

Class rescheduled

I went to our quilt guild meeting today, & we were supposed to bring in crazy quilts, for show & tell. It was a really good show & tell, & I wanted to post this picture of Betty Bivens. She had this coat/robe that made by her aunt & she inherited it, along with the small piece she showed. I thought she was so cute I just had to share it with you!

I called Coupville Arts back again today, & after discussing it, decided to reschedule my class there for next May, 2008. The class I had wanted to take (Rayna Gillman's) had been rescheduled too for the same reason (low enrollment), so they decided now I should send some samples (something I suggested 10 months ago). So I packed up a mess of stuff & shiped it off this evening. I'll still be spending a few days on Whidbey Island at the end of this month, but now it'll actually be a vacation. I can't wait! So Allie & Rian, & anyone else that thought about it, put it on your calendar now! May 2-5, 2008!

Thread play Samples

Today I'm taking a trip down Memory Lane, to show what can be done with thread. I'll be teaching this class at Coupeville Arts Center on Whidbey Island the 28th & 29th of April. Please consider joining me if you can. I'll be there no matter how few students show up! Above is a small quilt I made using threadplay, based on a photo I took of my son Corey, 25 years ago.

This is an example of how a fabric that may not be the right color can be used to make something entirely different. A tropical bird became a Magpie with just the use of thread.

This dragonfly is a detail of a larger wall quilt, using bits of scraps of threads & fabrics.

My latest flower pin for fancying up whatever you like.

This is an example of how preprinted fabric can be enhanced .

Above is the lampshade I made for my living room.

This little quilt was done on an example of punded flowers gone wrong. My friend Irene Stewart was going to throw this away, when I asked her to give it to me, to see what I could do to make it sing.

It won a Blue Ribbon & the highest judges choice cash award at the Alaska State fair.

The red teapot in the middle of this clock is made entirely of thread.

This dragonfly has tread over wire wings & leaves.

Trees & moon above are all thread, & appliqued on to the surface of the quilt.

The little red & white was a preprinted fabric that I used a heavy cotton thread on the printed design, to look just like hand redwork embroidery.

The orange pin above was thread play on the machine, with some hand weaving & bead embellishment.

Flowers are fun to do in thread, & can be worn on a lapel or hat, or used to embellish everything from quilts to clothing to cards, & home dec items.

You can make scarves & shawls, lace & even your own original cloth using this method. It's addictive & FUN! Come play with me! Please !