Wonderful Weekends

 I think I'd better take a little time out to post what has been happening in my life. The quilt show went really well. I came home exhausted & happy after spending the weekend talking to people & admiring quilts. I was interviewed & featured on the local channel 2 news. I was told I looked & sounded great, but didn't see it myself. I used 12 racks to display a fair sampling of my quilts, & a few dolls, & encaustics.

Below is the Calendar Girls display, all of our Burning Desires.

I'm thrilled to report that the quilt that I recently quilted won a viewer's choice ribbon.

My fellow Calendar Girl friend Barb Russell, got VC for clothing.

Kay Fierero got VC for her wonderful applique' quilt.

My friend Rachel Korshin got a well deserved VC For her beautiful quilt.

& the Art quilt category was Gale Ramsey. It's funny because the night we set up, I went around snapping pics of my favorites, & every one of these were in that group!

I worked the next 4 days, then took off for Edmonton Thursday Night. I went to Babysit for the weekend, while son Brandon & DDIL Laura went to a college reunion. I had a blast with the girls. This is Zoe.

We attended a neighborhood art fair. I got to play with a hoola hoop, & surprised myself by actually getting it going! Carys snapped the picture!

Carys & Zoe, & little Simon (their neighbor friend) also played with the hoops.

The kids each did a little spin art. I want one!

Carys loved the stilts. Her buddy Jacob is here helping her stay up.

We also played at the park down the street from their house. Zoe is like a monkey on the rock wall. This was about 8 feet in the air! She had no fear & all I could do was stand below ready to catch if she fell!

On Sunday carys had a party to go to. I braided her hair for her.

Monday Brandon & Laura came home. Laura had to go to work, & Carys school. Brandon took Zoe & I to a little diner  for brunch, then out to the airport so I could catch my flight home. I crawled into bed Monday night exhausted & happy. I had to work 2 more days & tomorrow I'm on vacation again!

Anchorage Log Cabin Quilt Show next Saturday & Sunday

The quilt show is next weekend, at the Phillips-Conoco Atrium, on &th & G Street, downtown Anchorage.

I will be there with all of the quilts that I have been able to round up. I am honored to be the featured quilter this year. The doors are open, 10 to 4 both days.

A Gift from Judy & A Travel-Folio Tutorial

My friend Judy Evans, surprised me yesterday with the cute table topper quilt! Thanks Jude! It looks great in my kitchen. The hand-dyed runner under it, was a gift from Anita Heady. I am blessed!

I got ambitious this morning, & started playing with scraps. I took a bunch of seemingly unrelated, & frankly ugly looking bits (when mixed together), & fused them all on to a sheet of Heavy Heat & Bond.  

    

Once they were fused into one piece, & peeled them off from the paper backing & chopped them up with my wavy rotary cutter.

Next I cut 3 pieces of the stiff batting (Like Fast to Fuse, or whatever you use to make fabric bowls), & I laid them about a finger width apart, on the paper that I had peeled off of the Heat & Bonded fabric.

Next I layered on the bits of fabric & fused them to the batting.

After they were all fused on, I trimmed the edges back even with the batting (keeping the paper that I had built it on intact).

I layered some black pieces, some Angelina fibers, a metallic mesh, & a very dark green silk chiffon on top of the trimmed pieces.

Carefully pinning the edges of the top layers to the paper backing, I took the whole thing to the machine & stitched the edges, paper & all.

A little light quilting through it all, & ripping off the edges of the paper, this is what it looked like from the back side.

& front side.

I covered the gaps, between the pieces with a wire ribbon, & stitched the edges with a funky stitch.

I finished the top, & bottom edges with some piping, left over from another project.

Lined, & clear plastic to hold my passport & tickets,

A pretty yarn, & special lamp-work bead for the closure.

 

Ta-dah... I'm ready to travel.. next stop Edmonton! I'm going to get to babysit my grand girls soon, for a too short weekend!

I have to give credit to Sue Bleiweiss, & her Note-folio, for this is certainly where this idea germinated from!