Announcing “Pink Petal Party”

We have a name! A few weeks ago, I asked readers of my blog to help me pick a name for my pink and green quilt, which I am going to be marketing as a block-of-the-month pattern. I got so many wonderful names, and it was hard to pick. After narrowing the list down to the 20 or so I liked best, I googled the remainder to find the most original one (I didn’t want to name it something that was already widely used).

Meg, a reader and “stitch chick” from California, suggested “Petal Party.” I‘m going to add “Pink” to that. When you're doing alliteration, you might as well go all the way, right? Check out the beautiful work Meg is doing on her blog, Craft Adventures of Stitch Chick.

As soon as I finish my current block-of-the-month patterns, “Bohemian Bouquet,” I'll start working on and releasing the patterns for “Pink Petal Party.” The block above is ”Poppies.”

Thanks, Meg!

The Four Pieces Project

This is the latest project I've been working on for the Pandoras, a group of four art quilters dedicated to thinking (and working) "outside of the box." For this project, we all chose a 4x6" photo, blew it up by 400% to approximately 16x24", and then cut it into four pieces about the same size (in my case, 6x16"). Each person in the group got a different piece.

I took a photo of ferns a few years ago while visiting my best friend in New Hampshire, and thought using it would be a great exercise in value and texture. (You can see my slice of the photo below, above my quilted piece.) It is made with fused fabric, painted with Jacquard textile medium to pull out the highlights and shadows, then stitched. I used a pillowcase turn, because a binding would be distracting once I get the other pieces back and put the whole thing together. I'm probably going to stitch them together on the back, and then either mount them on canvas, or just hang them up using a rod.

The Pandoras decided that we would stick with the basic colors (in this case, green) but we were free to use what ever techniques and materials we wanted. Creativity is encouraged, but we have to stick with the outlines of the basic image fairly closely, because all the pieces have to go back together, like a puzzle, at the end. All of my pieces are due back at our May 12 meeting, and I can't wait to see them! For the next three months, we will work on the other members' photos.



Here's a detail shot: