Halloween is coming!

Hoorah! It is finally October, my favorite month. I'm already decorated for my favorite holiday, Halloween. (I have more boxes of Halloween decorations than Christmas decorations... probably because my birthday falls on Halloween, so guess what people get me for my birthday?) The photo above shows one of the displays in my kitchen.


Today I had fun stitching up a trick-or-treat bag using RJR's “Hallowe’en Night” panel and an extra fabric for the lining. The panel has six panels you can use to make three bags. Or you can make 6 bags, if you use another Halloween print on the back. I just love the retro look of these designs!

Round Red Barn

Here’s my third new pattern that will debut at Fall Quilt Market in Houston. It is called “Round Red Barn.” This is the first in a series of small art quilt patterns I am designing based on some of my photos. This piece depicts a fabulous barn at the Shelburne Museum in Vermont that my family visited last August. The Shelburne Museum has several quilt collections, including an amazing exhibit of very old American quilts.

The pattern contains a full-sized template with stitching guidelines. I’ve taught several classes for guilds using this photo, and it is a hit with people interested in art quilting but not sure where to start. Several have learned the technique from me, and gone on to turn their own photos into works of art in fabric and thread.

The retail price for this pattern is $10; it will be on my website soon.

Melinida’s in Studios!

My friend Melinda Schwakhofer is in the 2008 issue of Studios, a special issue of Cloth Paper Scissors! The issue is stuffed full of inspirational artists’ studios, and there are tons of great organizational and storage ideas to steal. It is fun to see how the artists’ personalities shine through in the work environments they create.

I met Melinda last summer, when she was in the States visiting family. (She's back in Great Britain now.) To see more of Melinda’s work, go to her website, www.melindaschwakhofer.com.

To order a copy, go to the Quilting Arts website.

Congratulations, Melinda!

Banana Layer Cake

“Banana Layer Cake” is another pattern I'm printing this week to go to Fall Quilt Market in Houston.

It is 51" square, and I made it with one Moda Layer Cake of Urban Couture (by BasicGrey) and 1-1/2 yards of yellow fabric, plus 3 yards of green for the back and bindings. The Urban Couture fabric line comes out in November.

It goes together super fast, and is very easy to piece. This pattern will also be up on my website in a few days.

Three Cheers!

Here’s a sneak peek at my 25th quilt pattern*, “Three Cheers (for the red, white and blue).” I just finished the pattern today. I started this quilt in early 2008, when Minick and Simpson's red, white and blue “Prairie Paisley” line came out. I had it all pieced and partly quilted in the spring. And then, something happened… I got really busy, and distracted by other things … and the kids got out for summer vacation. (Darn them!) This quilt got pushed aside, and I just got back to it this fall, when the kids went back to school.

Plus, it is really big. King sized, 105" square. The biggest quilt I've ever quilted (I have a regular home sewing machine, not a long arm.)

I'll be printing the patterns in the next few days, and will have them up on my website soon. There are two other patterns in the works that also must be ready to send off to Moda/United Notions (one of my distributors) next week for Fall Market.

Three cheers, indeed!

* If you don't count all my block-of-the-month patterns separately.

Lost in translation

A friend and fellow fiber artist, Sarah Ann Smith, recently alerted me that she had found this mention and link to both my website and hers on a blog by an Italian woman named Gaya, "Le Borse di Gaya."

"E infine via a rifarsi gli occhi con alcuni quilt spettacolosi: Blue moon river, Sarah Ann Smith e Magic happens. No, vietato deprimersi!!! Guardare, ammirare ed ispirarsi ma mai deprimersi pensando di non essere all’altezza."

First I tried using the Sherlock Translation program I have on my Mac, and got this amusing translation:

And finally via rifaring the eyes with some quilt spettacolosi: Blue moon river, Sarah Ann Smith and Magic happens. Not, prohibited to depress itself!!! To watch, to admire and to inspire themselves but never to depress itself thinking not to be next to the height.

Okay, what the heck does that mean? So I tried a less direct route. My friend Dawna has a co-worker with a Ph.D. in Italian, and she translated it like this:

“Refresh your eyes with some spectacular quilts: Blue Moon River, Sarah Ann Smith and Magic Happens. It’s forbidden to be depressed!!! Look, admire and inspire yourself but don’t get down that you’re not this good.”

Grazie mille, Gaya! (Many thanks, Gaya!)

Wow, it is really amazing how the internet is connecting us all over the planet, isn't it?

Bohemian Bouquet Block #9

My mystery block-of-the-month pattern, "Bohemian Bouquet," is coming together! Here's how it looks with September's Block #9:



Here's a closeup of Block #9, which features a coneflower:



There are two identical (but flipped) blocks for October and November, and then we are done! I can't wait to stitch this all up and start quilting it.

To order these patterns, go to my website here.

Amazing Art Quilts!

I just returned from a wonderful weekend full of quilts, classes, and catching up with fiber arts friends.

The quaint town of Staunton, Virgina (above) is at the center of the month-long celebration of quilts called "Quilts: Past, Present & Future." Studio Art Quilt Associates' (SAQA) yearly conference for the VA/NC/SC region was held Sept. 5-6 in conjunction with this event.

Before I get into the details, I want to publicly thank our regional SAQA reps, Martha Bruin Degan and Jill Jensen, who must have done an incredible amount of work on this event and the conference. They should be VERY proud of what they accomplished. (THANK YOU, Martha and Jill!!!)

I traveled with friend and fellow fiber artist Nancy G. Cook about 4-1/2 hours north from Charlotte to attend the festivities. Nancy had a piece in the main SAQA exhibit, and we were eager to see it and to celebrate. Nancy is a long-time SAQA member and has been a wonderful mentor and fiber arts friend to me in the past few years.

On Friday morning, we went to Rachel's Quilt Patch, a lovely quilt shop in the old train station in Staunton, and met with quilt appraisers to have some of our work appraised. I've never had my work appraised, and was interested to observe the process and learn why I should. Neva Hart, an appraiser from Hardy, Va., took notes on my work while this cutie watched:



I'll receive the appraisal later via mail. She gave me good information about why it was wise to get appraisals and to have my work insured in case of loss or damage, and allowed me to ask lots of questions about the process and what she looks for when appraising an art quilt.

Next, I packed up my piece, "Harbinger's Hope," and shipped it off to Houston, where it will be in the International Quilt Festival at the end of October. Then Nancy and I set out to see just a few of the exhibitions of art quilts and traditional quilts in Staunton, Waynesboro, Harrisonburg, Dayton and Weyers Cave. We really didn't have time to see very much, but we did make sure to catch Jill Jensen's solo exhibition at the Augusta Medical Center in Fishersville.

Here is her "Canticle of Creation: Mother Earth":

and a detail shot:


This is Jill's work "Rainbow Forest":


That evening, we attended the opening of "SAQA: Amazing Art Quilts" at the Staunton Augusta Art Center. The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts helped fund the exhibit, which included 30 pieces by members of three SAQA regions (VA/NC/SC, TN,/KY, and MD/PA/WVA/DC). Amazing Art Quilts was aptly named; the quilts really were amazing.

Here is Mary Beth Bellah with her work "Holding Both Ends from the Middle":


As usual, Mary Beth's work is easy to spot because of her cool 3-D hands, and gorgeous color and surface embellishment.

Joni Feddersen got a chance to talk with the exhibition's judge, Ulysses Desportes, about her piece:


See that little blue dot under Joni's "Lava Flow"? It's there because Desportes had purchased Joni's work after completing the judging! She was thrilled.


This is Primitive Door Series #33, Fran's Barn" by Vita Marie Lovett of Maryville, Tenn.:

Lovett's diminuitive pieces are rich in machine thread painting that almost covers the surface, making them amazingly tactile when viewed up close, yet very photographic when viewed from a distance. (You can see the other piece of Lovett's work, "Hidden Hinge," in the exhibition in the previous shot of Joni and the judge.)

Martha Bruin Degan had this work, "IED," in the exhibit:


I've only seen a few pieces of Martha's work in person, but find it fascinating to contemplate because of all the hand surface work and embroidery, and because of the interesting, sometimes disturbing, images contained in it, which raise interesting political and social questions.

Here is Susan Webb Lee's "Log Cabin Remodel," a traditional log cabin block turned on its head:



And the always joyful and upbeat Dottie Moore, celebrating in front of her "All Shapes, Sizes, and Colors," with 36 lovely miniature tree portraits:


Here's Nancy G. Cook with “Mimosa Dancing,” which I love for its sense of mystery and elegant portrayal of the mimosa tree’s spectacular leaves and seed pods:


Mary Stoudt's "Vorgetauscht" won a Judge's Choice Award and $200. I was fascinated with this piece, which had multiple layers of fabric, some added on top, some cut away. I like to play a little game when I go to quilt shows, museums or exhibitions … If I can't afford to buy any of the artwork, I ask myself, "If I could grab one piece and run out the door, and get away with it, which one would it be?" It was hard to decide this time, but this is the piece I'd choose:

(And no, I wouldn't really steal a piece of art... it is purely a hypothetical question!)

"Teach Us To Pray" by Russ Little had small pieces of fabric stitched down to the quilted surface that fluttered because the air conditioning vent was positioned right below it, making it fun to watch during the awarding of prizes:


Catherine Kleeman's glowing "Summer Solstice" won a Judge's Choice Award and $200:


"Variations On A Fabric" by Judith Lundberg won Best in Show and a $750 prize:


Here are two detail shots of "Variations" showing the beautiful stitching:




On Saturday, I took a fun shibori dyeing class from Julia Pfaff, a fiber artist who teaches at Virginia Commonwealth University. Here she is (on the far left), accompanied by two students, instructing us:



The white tubes have fabric wrapped around them, tied in place and then scrunched down.


Bev agitates the dye bath:


Here are some of the pole-wrapped pieces after their first dye bath, with one single-color piece that had been clamped next to it:


Francine stays tidy in her rubber gloves, even when drinking her iced coffee:


After class we put our fabric into our hotel room bathroom sink for one last soak and then went off to dinner. Afterward, we ironed them dry. Nancy made this luscious blue/red piece:


And here are some of mine. This one – my favorite – was done by stitching straight and curvy lines with heavy thread across a fat quarter of white cotton, then pulling the thread tight and knotting it before dunking it in the black dye bath. Took a long time but well worth it. I want to do lots of this next time I dye.


And here are a few more I completed in class using folding and clamping methods:






I had done some shibori before, but Julia taught me a lot of new techniques, more about the history of shibori, and a lot about dyeing in general. The class had a blast.

What an amazing weekend! If you can get to the Staunton area this month to see some of the exhibits, go!

Gifts is here!

Quilting Arts Gifts 2008 is out! Here is a sneak peek at the “Classic Evening Bags” I designed for this special issue. The article contains complete instructions for making them. There's still time to order your copy from Quilting Arts! Or you can wait and buy it on the newsstand in mid-September, but who wants to wait? It has tons of great projects to make and give (or keep!) this holiday season.

Here's the fun and funky yellow one I made with BasicGrey's new fabric line by Moda called “Urban Couture,” which comes out this fall:



And this wintery blue clutch using Lonni Rossi’s new “Paintbox Brights” collection for Andover:



And this purple one, probably my favorite (and my mom has her eye on it, too!):



In this shot, you can see the detailed stencil work I did with a marvelous feather stencil by Stewart-Gill, and Stewart-Gill's Alchemy fabric paint, and Lumiere fabric paint... and then hours of beading:

I’m teaching on Joggles.com!

I’ve been really excited about this for a while, but didn't want to say anything until all the details were firmed up ... I'm going to be teaching online this fall through Joggles.com!

Here are some photos of the projects I'll be teaching in "Tyvek: Explorations for the Creative Stitcher." First, a small quilted piece with Tyvek leaves:

A bracelet made from beaded Tyvek pieces (flat view):

The same bracelet (shown connected):

A practice sample showing the same technique used on the maple leaf quilt above:

And a few pins made with Tyvek embellished with thread, perle cotton embroidery and beads:


"Tyvek: Explorations for the Creative Stitcher" will start on Wednesday, November 5, 2008, and will include four lessons for $40. Here's the class description:

Curious about how to use Tyvek® in art quilts and crafts? In this class we will cover safety instructions for working with Tyvek; painting Tyvek; melting it with an iron and/or heat gun; ways to manipulate Tyvek before heating to change the effects; making beads, and embossing Tyvek with rubber stamps.

The focus is on exploring the many ways this versatile material can be manipulated to create beautiful textural embellishments. You will be encouraged to experiment and share your work with fellow students in the class.

You will need to be a confident free-motion quilter to complete the maple leaf quilt; the other projects involve only simple embroidery and beading.

After you learn the techniques in the first two lessons, Susan will provide detailed instructions for making a small art quilt with Tyvek maple leaves; a bracelet; pins; beads; and small Tyvek embellishments for art quilts, artists’ trading cards and postcards.

If you don't know about Joggles, and you are an art quilter, fiber artist, or do mixed media art, you need to know about it! Joggles carries an amazing number of fabrics, beads, charms, tools, books, magazines, clay, doll supplies, fibers, and other cool stuff than your credit line can handle.

Joggles also has some wonderful online classes, including one I took over the summer on working in a studio journal. Taking this class has really changed the way I work and the way I create. It was a great way to experience learning from an accomplished, internationally known instructor. I think online learning is going to transform our lives in coming years, and since I teach locally and love it, my first thought after taking an online course was "I want to teach this way, too!"

Of course, nothing can take the place of learning face-to-face from a good instructor. But for people who live in rurual areas, or for people who want to study a subject that is not available in their area, online learning is ideal.

If you've never taken an online class, here's how it works (on Joggles, at least): You pay for the class by purchasing it on the Joggles website. A week to 10 days before the class, Joggles sends you a supply list and more information to get prepared.

On the first day of class, you receive an e-mail with the class web page URL, your User ID, and a password. You also receive a link to a PDF you download and read and/or print out. These documents are like the instructor's lecture, only with photos and specific how-tos, including exercises and instructions. You can work on the lessons at your convenience. You don't have to do anything on any particular day.

If you have problems, questions, or want to talk with other students in your class, you can log on to the class forums, which are like chat rooms or online groups. You can do this as much or as little as you want. The Studio Journals class I took had a huge number of people commenting and posting photos, and it was so much fun to see everyone's work, hear their ideas, and share constructive criticism.

To take part in an online class, you do need to have basic computer and internet skills. You have to know how to download and save documents to your computer's hard drive. For more details on all this, make sure you read the "How Online Classes Work" on the Joggles website.

You can check out the fall classes, including mine, on Joggles' class schedule here. Come join my class in November!

Barack on arts education

Nancy Cook, a friend and fellow fiber artist (who, by the way, gave a fabulous presentation to my local guild, Lake Norman Quilters, last night), sent me a link to an interesting YouTube video of Barack Obama answering a question about reforming the education system at a town hall meeting in Wallingford, PA, in April. He made an especially insightful comment at the end:

"Part of what arts education does is it teaches people to see each other through each others' eyes. It teaches us to respect and understand people who are not like us. And that makes us better citizens and it makes our democracy work better.… And that's one of the main reasons we need to promote the arts."
– Barack Obama

Obama was talking about how the "No Child Left Behind" program had resulted in fewer art and music programs in many school districts, and the negative effects that has had on young people.

You can see the video clip on YouTube by clicking here.

Barnful of Quilts 2008

I'm pleased to announce that I will be participating in the sixth annual Barnful of Quilts on Saturday, October 11. This event, started by quilter Valerie Fox as a way to raise money for the Waxhaw Presbyterian Church, is a wonderful celebration of quilting, with a special emphasis on fiber arts and art quilts. There are lots of great quilts to look at and buy, and great shopping for fabrics, quilt patterns and original art. It is held in a spectacular barn on the Fox Family Farm in beautiful Waxhaw, North Carolina, south of Charlotte.

My friend and art quilter extraordinaire, Ellen Guerrant, is the featured contemporary artist this year!

To see photos from previous shows and get more details about the show (including directions), go to the Fox Family Farms website here and click on the photo albums. You can also check out some of my photos from last year's Barnful of Quilts in my October 2007 blogpost here.

Mark your calendar, and come see me in my stall!

Journal Quilt Project II

I found out this week that my piece "Running Deep" was accepted into the Journal Quilt Project II. It will be displayed in Houston at the International Quilt Festival. There were 155 entries from the online QuiltArt group, and 48 were accepted. QuiltArt has been on fire since the acceptances were announced with people who were excited and others who were disappointed.

Virginia Spiegel was one of the exhibition's jurors. If you have ever entered a juried or judged quilt competition, her latest blog post should be required reading. You can check it out here, on her blog.

Virginia does a wonderful job of explaining her job as a juror for this exhibition. Her respect for each entry and each artist is evident, and the tips she provides are very valuable. I know that I will be keeping her comments in mind each time I prepare an exhibition entry in the future.