A chance to win

Just a head’s up: You could win my new Quilting Arts Workshop DVD, Master Machine Stitching: Thread Sketching Beyond the Basics! 

Kelly Jackson, who has a very fun blog and an online store called I Have a Notion, (and isn’t that such a clever name?) is giving away a copy of my DVD on her blog. Just follow the instructions in her post, and leave a comment to be entered in her drawing. 

Kelly watched my first DVD, too, and then did a little thread sketching on a cool piece of fabric, enhancing the design. What a great idea!

If you are in the mood to do a little holiday gift shopping for yourself, check out all the wonderful fabrics, tools, thread and notions in her online store. 

And don’t miss all of Kelly’s wonderful posts from Quilt Market a bit farther back on her blog. She gets people to do the silliest stuff. Kelly gives away a TON of great stuff, so do yourself a favor and follow her blog so you’ll be in the know! ;-)

Mom’s Mistletoe

 

Look what my mom just whipped up! She made it from my  “Magical Mistletoe” pattern featured in Quilting Arts Gifts 2010.

 Isn’t my mom talented? (And you wondered where I got it from.)

The special issue is packed with great ideas for wonderful, whimsical hand-made gifts for the holidays. It is available through Quilting Arts, and on  newsstands.

Looking for the little felted wool balls to make this project? Ask at your local quilt or craft shop, or shop online at Handbehg Felts. And if you are planning to make some of these as gifts, hurry; Christmas is coming sooner than we’d all like!

You can see my version in a previous blog post here. 

Autumn burning brightly

Autumn burned brightly,
a running flame through the mountains,
a torch flung to the trees.
— Faith Baldwin

I have two large sugar maples in my front yard that are a constant source of inspiration. You may remember that I based a piece on them (Harbinger’s Hope, shown below) after fighting with my power company to keep them from hacking the trees’ branches back to the trunk (to provide clearance for the power lines) a few years ago. 

The trees are estimated to be more than 80 years old, and are in decline, and every fall I wonder if it will be their last. It makes me notice them more, appreciate them more. They are certainly the most spectacular autumn foliage on my street. Yesterday I went out and took these photos. The light was wonderful, and the leaves were luminous, in shades of gold and chartreuse, orange and bronze.

I love the contrast between the dark trunk and branches and the colorful leaves. 

 

One of the tree’s leaves are greeny-gold, and the other (above and below) is going more orange. 

High up on one tree, the branches have been swept nearly bare by the wind, with only a few leaves still hanging on:

I would love to do three more pieces the same size and format as Harbinger’s Hope, each a different season, with a different creature to symbolize each season. Wouldn’t they look wonderful hanging together? I hope I live as long as these maples, and have the time to make half the quilts that are in my head!

November Pandoras meeting

At our Pandoras meeting on Monday, we worked on these cute recipe folders made from altered brown paper grocery bags. This project is based on one by Jane Bradley that my friend Michele had seen at the Believe in Yourself Retreat. You can see Jane’s finished recipe folder on her flicker site. Mine (above) is still in progress.

This is the front of mine (so far). We took the brown paper grocery bags, cut them apart at the seam, and then spritzed them with Glimmer Mist by Tattered Angels to create a bit of texture. You can purchase it online at Fiber Art on a Whim. Then we folded up the bottom to make pockets on one side, folded them accordion style, and stitched the pockets up on a sewing machine. After that, it was time to decorate! I used some of the white paper spritzed with the Glimmer Mist; I always go for bright colors, so I wanted to cover up some of that dull brown paper.

Michele starts gluing embellishments on her folder.

Here you can see some of the chipboard embellishments (spritzed with a purple Glimmer Mist) on top of the brown paper bag, which has the outlines of other embellishments that were placed on top before brown mist was applied.

DeLane peruses some of the ephemera Michele had gathered for us to use.

She used some of it on her folder. 

Grace cuts a shape out of paper out for her folder.

Looks like she is searching for a little time to cook!

As always, we were surprised to see how different our projects turned out, even though we were all working with the same raw materials. We each brought a dish to share for lunch, and recipe cards for our contributions to put inside our folders. 

This was a fun project. I think it would be great to make these folders for your children or grandchildren and put important family recipes inside. You could embellish them with copies of old family photos, and even photocopy old recipe cards in the family members’ own handwriting, if you have them.

It is always such a pleasure to be creative with friends. I am so fortunate to have good friends that enjoy trying new art techniques together!

2010 International Quilt Festival, Part 5

“Cookie? Pleeeze Cookie” by Sarah Ann Smith
http://www.sarahannsmith.com/

Okay, with this post, I think I’ve exhausted all of the photos I had time to take at International Quilt Market (while the exhibitions were set up for International Quilt Festival). I hope you are enjoying them. I have a give-away at the end of this post, and more to come this week.

The piece above is by my friend Sarah Ann Smith, and I just love the pop art colors, and the way she captured her dog’s expression. It’s a good example of how value, rather than color, does the work in capturing realism. Sarah and I met in person at last year’s fall Quilt Market, when her wonderful book Threadwork Unraveled, came out.

“Sheer Whim” by Maria Elkins won third place in the Art-Miniature category

Maria is well known for her portrait quilts (and she has a Quilting Arts Workshop DVD called  “Making Faces” that teaches her process), but I think the technique she used in this piece is a bit of a different direction for her, as it uses sheer fabrics and gorgeous stitching on top. You can read more about this piece on Maria’s website/blog.

“Color Comes to the Back of Beyond” by Janice Munzberg,
Pam Holland, Pauline McPhaulin, and Jeanette Coombes
won second place in the Group category
http://pamhollanddesigns.typepad.com/

I love how the ladies are marching with their cakes (and dogs) into this piece, which shows people hanging a quilt show in what looks like a remote area in Australia.

“Let’s All Spring Forward” by Rosalie Baker
http://www.generations-quilt-patterns.com/lets-all-spring-forward.html

Gotta love those colorful tree frogs!

“Tidepools” by Diane Ricks

“Tidepools” was made by enlarging and printing a photo on fabric, and then adding appliqué (to frame the photo; you can see where the photo ends and the appliqué begins if you look closely) and free motion stitching. 

“Multiple Personalities” by Cynthia Goodwin

Cynthia is wonderfully creative, and stitched portraits of funny faces into this quilt. Here is one:

“Multiple Personalities” by (detail) by Cynthia Goodwin

“The Eye of the Quilter” (below) was another wonderful exhibition, featuring photographs taken by quilters, and haiku written by others. (Sorry, no close ups, as photography was not permitted.) It was neat to read about the photographers’ thoughts while they were taking these photos, and how they influenced their quilt making.

“Eastern Elements” by Linda Steele
http://www.lindasteelequilts.com/

“Eastern Elements” by Linda Steele

Okay, here’s a bit more of the loot I got at Quilt Market (below). I absolutely love Joan Hawley’s Lazy Girl Designs. Her bags are so pretty, and her directions (complete with tons of photos) are amazing, and easy to follow. I also love her Bag-E-Bottoms acrylic bases, which help your bags stay upright, and not tip over. (I recommend them for my own bag designs.)

This is one of her newest patterns, the Margo Handbag:

GIVEAWAY! Leave a comment on this post before noon EST on Tuesday, November 16. Tell me which quilt in this post you liked best and why. I'll pull one name at random and send that person the Margo Handbag pattern.

There’s still a bit more Quilt Market loot to give away in my next few posts, so please come back for a chance to win! 

WE HAVE A WINNER! Rafael’s Mum wins the Lazy Girl pattern. 

2010 International Quilt Festival, Part 4

“Return of the Grackle” by Diane Rusin Doran
won third place in the Digital Imagery category
http://www.dianedoran.com/

“Return of the Grackle” was perhaps my favorite piece at Festival this year. It is very magical looking, and creates such a wonderful, mysterious mood. I love the colors, especially the little bits of pinky-purple in the grackle’s wing. There is a lot of movement in this piece, too, from the branches that arc diagonally across the piece, and from the angle of the bird and the way he is looking up and over to the upper left corner. Up close, there is a lot of texture, too. Here is a detail shot:

“Return of the Grackle” by Diane Rusin Doran

“Drifting Currents” by Leslie Rego
http://www.leslierego.com

“Hanging by a Thread” by Nadine Sanders
and the Hanging By a Thread Quilt Group
won first place in the Group category

“Leafing Large” by Laura Wasilowski
http://www.artfabrik.com/

“Feel the Chill” by Nancy Sterett Martin
http://www.quilt-patches.com

“Adobe Shadow Dance” by Michelle M. Jackson
http://quiltfashions.com/fibar-art-gallery/

“Long Road Home” by Peggy Parrott
http://www.peggyparrott.com

“Wrapped In Gentleness” by Hiromi Yokota won second place
in the Merit Quilting, Hand category

“Wrapped In Gentleness” (detail) by Hiromi Yokota

“Daffodils” by Barbara Holtzman

“Backgammon” by Liza Prior Lucy
and Kaffe Fassett, quilted by Judy Irish
http://www.gloriouscolor.com/
http://www.kaffefassett.com

“Spring Revival” by Deborah Kemball

“Spring Revival” (detail) by Deborah Kemball

“Doors Across Austin” by Kathy York
http://aquamoonartquilts.blogspot.com/

“Visions of Fairy Tales Danced in My Head”
by Margery Hedges http://www.hedgesstuff.com

GIVEAWAY! Leave a comment on this post before noon EST on Monday, November 15. Tell me which of the quilts in this post you liked best, and why. I'll pull one name at random and send that person this HandiQuilter tote bag, and a DVD from their “Quilter's Academy” series called “Longarm Basics: Series One – Crosshatching” (26 minutes).

There’s still a bit more Quilt Market loot to give away in my next few posts, so please come back for a chance to win! 

WE HAVE A WINNER! Laura T. won the tote bag and DVD. 

Don’t Look Now!

Let me introduce you to Kellie Wulfsohn of Don’t Look Now! Her designs stopped me in my tracks at Quilt Market last week. Cheerful and whimsical, Kellie’s designs feature flowers and leaves, trees, butterflies and smiling children swirling across the surface of her quilts, which nearly always have white, cream or light-colored backgrounds. Aren’t they charming?

Her booth was light and airy, with darling fabric garlands draped across the poles.

“Worry Dolls”

Her designs are very contemporary and fresh, with a distinctive look I love. Kellie hails from Melbourne, Australia, and you can see more of her patterns, and purchase them here.

GIVEAWAY! Leave a comment on this post before noon EST on Sunday, November 14. Tell me what you think of Kellie’s designs. I'll pick one name at random to win this bag made with Northcott Fabric’s Stonehenge fabric line, and their cute pink and white breast cancer awareness apron (shown above). Note that these items have nothing whatsoever to do with Don’t Look Now! designs. I just have a bunch of stuff from Quilt Market that I want to give away to my loyal blog readers. 

There’s still a bit more Quilt Market loot to give away in my next few posts, so please come back for a chance to win! 

WE HAVE A WINNER: Christa Irell won the tote bag and apron!