Two things

I have two things to share with you today. The first is this funny pincushion I made from a felted ball and a teacup. I think the teacup was a give-away from Baileys Irish Cream liqueur, and I found it in an antique store. I love how the ball makes her look like she has a giant brain, and how it reminds me of the disembodied doll head with erector set legs in the movie Toy Story. That thing really freaked me out, and I think it is fascinating how something so creepy looking turned out to be so gentle and shy. Kind of like Edward Scissorhands. A good lesson that you can’t judge a book by its cover. 

Anyway, I digress…

The second thing I wanted to tell you about is my discovery that Goo Gone is fabulous for removing sticky fusible adhesive (like Steam-a-Seam or Heat-n-Bond or Wonder Under) from your scissors. I’ve been working on a bunch of projects that use fusible adhesive, and it had really built up on my scissors. A little Goo Gone on a paper towel took it off very quickly.

If you don’t know about Goo Gone, you should. It’s the only thing I’ve found that takes off sticky price tags, and other yucky stuff. Here’s how the company that makes it describes it:

“Goo Gone® is a quick and fast working solution to remove adhesive, chewing gum, grease, tar, stickers, tree sap, labels, tape residue, oil, blood, lipstick, mascara, shoe polish, crayon, wax and even bumper stickers! It leaves no residue behind and contains no harsh odors. Safe to use on carpets, upholstery, clothing, wood, vinyl, plastic, glass, stone, laminate, ceramic, painted surfaces and even cement.”

If you are wondering what the green tape is doing on my scissors, it is there to remind me that these are my scissors for cutting paper, not fabric. My kids know what it means, too!

Candy Corn selected for 2011 QA Calendar

My “Candy Corn” art quilt has been selected for the 2011 Quilting Arts Calendar! Hmmm... I wonder what month they will use it?

It is painted on white fabric (Pimatex by Robert Kaufman, my favorite fabric for painting because it is very fine and tightly woven). The photo below shows the heavy thread sketching I did on this piece before I quilted around the individual candy corn candies. 

This is the third year that my work has been selected for the calendar, and I am no less thrilled this time than the other two years. Yippee!!! Just wait until you see some of the other pieces Quilting Arts has selected. (If you are a member of the Quilting Arts community, you can see some of them in the photo gallery section.) They are really spectacular, and I am honored to be in their company.

Quilting “Nothing”

Look at what a beautiful job Judy Whitehead of Goneaway Quilting did quilting my Nothing Could Be Finer wall hanging! I really love it. 

This is the first time I had someone else quilt one of my quilts (you can read more about this in my previous post), but was I anxious? Not one iota. Judy is a friend and a fantastic longarm quilter. You can read more about how Judy worked on my quilt on her blog.

I particularly like the echo quilting around the morning glories, which really makes them sing! (And if they were singing, it would be “where the morning glories twine around each door, whispering pretty stories I long to hear once more... Oh, nothing could be finer than to be in Carolina in the morning!”

The larger size of Nothing Could Be Finer (82 x 84") is the donation quilt for the 2010 North Carolina Quilt Symposium, to be held in Charlotte at Johnson & Wales University June 3-6. For more details, check out the 2010 Symposium Blog. There’s still time to make plans and join us!

This big quilt, beautifully quilted by Kay Giese, will be raffled off in early June, at the end of Symposium. The pattern, which will include directions for both sizes, will be available there, and all proceeds will go to the Charolotte Guild to cover Symposium expenses. 

A reader writes!

I’ve just wrapped up my fourth article in the series I’m writing for Quilting Arts magazine. It will appear in the August/September issue. One of the reasons I love writing for Quilting Arts is that I get to teach the things I love doing, and share my techniques with others. It’s even more fun when the readers write back!

I was pleased to get this photo and e-mail from a woman in Ontario, Canada, yesterday:

Hi Susan,
I enjoyed your articles in Quilting Arts on thread sketching. I had done some before, both with stabilizer and with batting, but was never really satisfied with either. Your method, with a double layer of firm stabilizer, was much easier. I used a variety of rayon threads to get the colours I wanted. I plan on donating Let’s Colour to the mini raffle at my guild's quilt show in 2011. The label includes a credit to you and QA.

I'm going to use this method for a piece I’ve been wanting to make from a photo I took of sumac. And maybe one of my favourite tree, or flowers in the garden, or my cats ....

Looking forward to the next installment in QA.

Cathy Willoughby
Brampton ON

I love Cathy’s version, and I’m so glad my technique helped her achieve what she wanted. It’s funny… when I took one of those tests in junior high where they identify careers or fields in which you’d excel, teaching was one of them. I brushed it off, because I didn’t think I’d like it, be good at it, or have enough patience for it. And I’m still pretty sure I wouldn’t be much good at teaching groups of children. 

But I don’t think I realized then that there are many ways to teach. 
 

May: Brought to you by the color GREEN

If May has an official color, it simply has to be green. Green in all its glorious permutations:

Moss

 Hydrangea

Foxglove

Fern

Hosta

Boxwood

Climbing Hydrangea

Prickly pear (and yes, that is a rusty spatula)

Rose

(Okay, this is not green. But it was so lovely, I had to include it.)

I took all these photos in my garden yesterday, after the rain had gone, and everything was lush and fresh with new growth. 

Green symbolizes life, tranquility, health, nature, fertility, growth, renewal, good luck, restfulness. Or jealousy and inexperience.

Words and phrases associated with green: Greenback, Green light, greener pastures, green room, green around the gills, green thumb, greenhorn, green with envy.

National color of Ireland; associated with Islam. 

Words that describe tints and shades of green: Emerald, sea green, seafoam, olive, olive drab, pea green, grass green, apple, mint, forest, lawn green, lime, spring green, leaf green, aquamarine, beryl, chartreuse, fir, kelly green, pine, moss, jade, sage, sap, viridian. 

Reported to be the favorite color of most geniuses.

A coleus… NOT!

Today, I got an e-mail from Pokey Bolton, editor of Quilting Arts magazine, telling me that she had received an e-mail from a woman in Alabama who pointed out that my piece featured on Quilting Arts TV, which I had based on a photo I took at a botanical garden and identified as a coleus was not, indeed, a coleus.

Apparently it is Persian Shield, or Strobilanthes dyerianus. “This unusual plant displays bright highlights on shimmering silvery-purple to metallic mid-blue leaves,” according to the Alabama Grown website. You can see a photo of the plant here. It does look exactly like the plant I photographed, and as the woman from Plantersville, Alabama, pointed out, it is not a coleus!

So now, here’s my quandary: I’ve already named the piece “Coleus.” It is headed to the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham England as part of a SAQA exhibition this summer. Should I rename it? Is this feasible at this point? Or should I just claim artistic license and vow to be more careful in my species identification in the future?

I’m pretty certain that the coleus in my Red Coleus piece (below) actually is a coleus. Whew!

A special gift

Look at what my mom made me! Isn’t this the sweetest little scissors case? And isn’t she the sweetest mom for stitching it up for me? 

Actually, she made me a similar case years ago, and when Sophie was a puppy, she found it and chewed it to bits one night. It was one of the few things she destroyed when she was in her chewing stage, but she managed to find one of my most precious possessions to grind to bits. I was heartbroken, and had a hard time telling my mother. She kindly offered to replace it, and has been working on this case on and off for the past two years. It is the tiniest needlepoint you can do, I think, and it is stitched in silk, so it is lovely and soft.  

Together, we made the twisted cording for the scissors, when we were together in Paducah last weekend.

I know it is a week until Mother’s Day, but I want to tell my mom thanks, and that I feel so lucky that she is my mine. Love you, Mom!

AQS Show in Paducah, Kentucky

I just got home from the American Quilter’s Society’s Quilt Show & Contest in Paducah, Kentucky. Whew! What a whirlwind. My mom and I managed to see a lot in the two days were were there, had a blast, and then slipped by several tornadoes in our path on the way home last night. (More about that later.)

Paducah is a such a great town. It feels like all the townspeople are out and about helping, working, and welcoming the quilters. One told us that the show brings $8-10 million to the local economy each year. It is very charming, with boutiques, gift shops, antique stores, restaurants and galleries everywhere near the convention center where the show is held. You can tell that the economic conditions have hit the town hard, but they are fighting back.

The red brick building above is Caryl Bryer Fallert’s studio. I was told by several people who live in town that the town has some generous programs to help artists who set up their studios in the historic homes in downtown, many of which still await renovation. It is already a thriving artists’ community, and I think it will continue to grow.

Kirchhoff’s Bakery was doing a brisk lunch business and selling lots of goodies, including cookies frosted like quilts, to all quilters attending the show. That’s my mom and me posing with their vintage delivery truck, after enjoying mocha chocolate chip cookies and sour cream scones. Mmmmm...

Weather was perfect on Friday, but by Friday night and Saturday morning, fierce storms had arrived. This is the same front that spawned deadly tornadoes in Mississippi. The clouds were dense and moving fast. You can see them in the photo above, which shows the tent set up to hold many of the vendors this year, since the large hotel adjacent to the convention center has been shut down for renovations.

Mom and I hit the domed tent (referred to as “the marshmallow” by many of the attendees) first thing Saturday morning, fearing that the weather would get worse and it would go airborne. We were inside when the first rash of thunder and lightning hit, so loud at times that you could barely hear anyone talk. We were assured that the tent was guaranteed to stay put in 90 mph winds. Inside, it was very spacious and cool.

My quilt was in the main building. Even though I did not win a ribbon, I was so proud just to have gotten into the show after seeing all the exquisite entries, especially the traditional and appliqué quilts.

The National Quilt Museum is fabulous, and not to be missed. We were particularly moved by Hollis Chatelain’s Imagine Hope exhibition, which “strives to touch its viewers, inspiring them to get involved and make a change in the world.” It includes 12 monochromatic pieces of fiber art by Hollis, and thought-provoking photos by Michael Freeman, Edward Linsmier and Koos van der Lende. The goal is to create a public dialogue about important world issues, including the preservation of cultures, environments and natural resources.

I know Pat LaPierre through Studio Art Quilt Associates (SAQA), and was pleased to finally meet her in person, demonstrating how to use a product she developed, the Supreme Free-Motion Slider, in combination with Sharon Schamber’s red Quilt Halo:

The top surface of made of Teflon. The bottom surface sticks to the bed of your machine. The result is that your quilt glides smoothly as you free-motion stitch. There’s no friction to make you tense, so you can thread sketch and quilt much more easily, and with better results.

I was excited to learn about a product new to me, Salem cutting mats. I needed a new cutting mat, and was initially attracted to their display because the mats were red and white, which would match my studio better than the green cutting mat I have now.

When I asked them to tell me about their products, they told me that Salem mats do not warp in extreme temperatures, and that they are soft enough to pin into. They also flatten right out after they are rolled up for travel or storage. And they are made in the United States. I was sold! I purchased the 24 x 36" size that was already sold out, so they are shipping it to me.

It was nice to see Betty Blais again. I took a class from her a few years ago, and learned a lot about different surface design materials. Betty is the owner of Embellishment Village, an online store that carries a wide range of products, including Angelina, foils and foiling glues, glitters, stencils (really cools ones like the ones behind her in the photo above) beads, yarns, charms and more. I stocked up on Angelina and stencils in her booth!

I found Pat Sloan (left) and Heidi Kaisland, the national sales manager for American Professional Quilting Systems (APQS) (right) in the APQS booth, and drooled over their wonderful longarm machines. It is such fun to meet up with people I’ve gotten to know through their blogs, websites and Facebook pages. 

By Saturday afternoon, Mom and I were completely exhausted, and had decided to call it a day. We headed for home.

About an hour outside Nashville, the skies starting looking pretty ominous, with a heavy ceiling of unusual looking dark gray clouds moving at an alarming rate. We stopped for dinner and considered stopping overnight at a hotel before proceeding home, but in the end, decided that was not such a great choice, either. The storms were still coming through. 

We kept going, drove through some greenish skies, then heavy wind and pounding rain in the dark, for about two hours, and came out on the other side, where the winds were high but things were generally better. We got to my parents’ house near Knoxville by about midnight, white knuckled and very stressed, but safe.

Inspired! Creativity Cards

Stuck in a rut? Discouraged? Need something to spur some new ideas? Try C&T Publishing’s new deck of 36 cards with motivating thoughts and beautiful quilt images called Inspired! Creativity Cards. One side of the cards contain little pearls of wisdom from some of C&T’s authors, including me!

The other side has detail shots of gorgeous quilts, both traditional and contemporary. Retail price: $9.95.

Quilt & Fiber Art Emporium 2010 coming up!

Marianne Fons (left) from Love of Quilting magazine and TV show is the keynote speaker at the Quilt & Fiber Art Emporium 2010, to be held in Hickory, NC, April 30 through May 2. Bernina of America is a show sponsor.

The event includes classes, lectures, demonstrations, a vendor mall and a large display area of quilts and crafts. 

Want to go?

Hickory Metro Convention Center

Hickory, NC

Friday, April 30: 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Saturday, May 1: 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Sunday, May 2: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
PRICE: One day admission: $7.50
INFO: http://www.quiltandfiberart.com/

My friend, Rene Crowder (left), who owns Rene’s Quilt Shop in Mooresville, is teaching her famous “Mile a Minute” Quilt on Sunday from 10 to 1:30. 

Another friend, Judy Whitehead of Goneaway Quilting, will be a vendor. Judy is a long-arm quilter who also creates fabulous hand-dyed fabrics, and will be carrying some of my patterns. You can see more about Judy in this previous post.

On the A-Team

 A few weeks ago, AURIfil Thread asked me to be part of their A-Team. Woo-hoo! I have been a big fan of AURIfil for years, so I am thrilled to be included in the list of artists, designers and educators that AURIfil selected to be part of this team. I’m going to be sharing with them projects that I do with their threads, and adding my name to the list of some very talented quilters who endorse the AURIfil brand.

They recently sent me this 48-spool thread kit! Here is the front:

and the back:

I selected mostly 50-weight Cotton Mako (orange spool), because it is perfect for thread sketching. I’ve been using it in the projects I’m doing for my series in Quilting Arts magazine on thread sketching, including this one:

 Vanity (detail)

Cotton Mako 50 is the lightest weight Egyptian cotton thread that AURIfil makes, and because it is so fine, it doesn’t cause my work to draw up the way heavier thread would. And there’s no heavy thread buildup, just a nice sheen. It works magnificently in the bobbin, whether I’m using a heavier thread on the top, or the same weight. And unlike some other threads, it almost never breaks, and it leaves practically no lint in my machine.

They even let me pick the colors! What a treat; it’s like having a humungous new box of crayons. Here is just one panel of their current thread card. If you’ve never seen a thread card before, it is what quilt shop owners get if they carry a particular brand of thread so they can pick the colors they want to purchase. Cotton Mako 50 comes in 260 solid and varigated colors, and I want them all!

I’ve said it before: when you make traditional quilts, it’s all about the fabric, really. At least I didn’t pay much attention to the thread when I was making traditional quilts. But now, my thread stash is as important as my fabric stash. 

Here’s a look at the outside of the AURIfil 48-spool thread kit. I think their packaging is very stylish. Maybe it’s that great Italian fashion sense.

Their display racks for shops are spectacular too. Here’s a shot I took at the spring 2009 Quilt Market, the trade association shows for everyone who buys and sells products for quilting. Don’t they look like works of art themselves?

(That’s my quilt Lepidoptera on the wall behind the stand.)

wool Lana thread

And look at their cones of thread!

And last, but certainly not least, AURIfil has top-notch, and exceedingly kind and friendly, people to work with. Here are (from left) Davide Moro, Alex Veronelli, and Elena Gregotti:

AURIfil’s blog (AURIfil Buzz) – http://auribuzz.wordpress.com/

AURIfil’s website – http://www.aurifil.com