2009 Barnful of Quilts

For the past two years, I’ve been taking part in Barnful of Quilts, a wonderful event hosted by Valerie Fox at her family farm in Waxhaw, NC. The show features all sorts of fiber arts (weaving, traditional quilting, art quilting), and vendors (yarn, jewelry, ceramics, fabric etc.) and it is held in Valerie's spectacular barn on what is usually a glorious, crisp fall day. The event benefits Waxhaw Presbyterian Church; this year the featured artist is Fletcher McNeil.

This year, I’m planning to be in Houston for Fall Quilt Market and Quilt Festival, so I can’t particpate. But if you are near Charlotte on Saturday, Oct. 10, don’t miss it!


Also not to be missed is an opportunity to win this quilt (below) donated by the UCo Quilters. If you want to buy tickets and can't make the event, just e-mail Valerie at vfox@windstream.net.

“Under Tennessee Skies”

In July, I presented and taught at The Village Quilters guild in Loudon, Tenn. At the meeting, they showed photos of a gorgeous quilt they made called “Under Tennessee Skies.” It was donated to the Knoxville Convention Center, and installed during a ribbon cutting ceremony on July 22, 2009 at the opening of the first AQS Expo held in Knoxville. The quilt was made by members of the guild, led by Arliss Barber, and quilted by Kathy Drew.

It has lots of scenes of Tennessee historic sites and of state symbols thread-painted on it, including this box turtle, passion flower and iris:

and this inquisitive raccoon:

What a spectacular quilt, and what an amazing gift from The Village Quilters to the city of Knoxville! I am sure that it will also help to educate passers-by that quilts can be art, as well as beautiful bed coverings. If you are in Knoxville, make sure to swing by and see it!

Beautiful work by Pam George

As a teacher, there is nothing more fulfilling than hearing from people who have taken one of your classes and go on to do great things with what they have learned. Pam George took my “Start with a Photo” class when I taught The Village Quilters in Loudon, Tenn., in July. She wrote me last night to tell me she used my method to make a quilt for her daughter’s birthday. Look at what she made!!!

She started with this photo of her daughter’s dog, taken at Look Rock in the Smokey Mountains in Tennessee:



Here you can see the piece before she added the smaller branches, twigs, and all the machine thread work and details on the icy branches:


If you read my blog regularly, you’ll remember Pam as the one who makes amazing needle-felted creatures. Here she is with her little chipmunk:



What a beautiful piece! Pam really took the techniques we talked about in class and made them her own. I can’t wait to see what she does next!

Make your own “House Rules” quilt

Want to make a little quilt like this? I'll show you how! I'm teaching this class on Joggles.com.

The class will begin on Nov.3. It is 5 lessons for $50. If you’ve never taken an online class, click here to get more information about how they work at Joggles.



Here’s more information about my class, which is called “House Rules”:

Make this charming piece of fiber art to remind yourself and your family and guests of the rules of the house. You can customize the piece by adding your own kids (or adults), pets, and rules! The sample shown is 12" square, but you can make it bigger. Patterns are provided for all applique pieces, with multiple choices for girls, boys, dogs, cats, houses, etc, and for the text.

Lesson 1: Create the background and plan your overall design.
Lesson 2: Use watercolor pencils to add details to your house, people and sun.
Lesson 3: Applique your pieces to the background, and add text.
Lesson 4: Embroider the background and add French knots to the sun.
Lesson 5: Finish your project with a binding or facing.

Nancy’s work at Wooden Stone Gallery

My friend Nancy G. Cook is August’s Featured Artist at the Wooden Stone Gallery in Davidson N.C. Wooden Stone is a fabulous gallery that sells functional art. I always try to buy my “special” gifts (graduations, weddings, etc.) there, because it is great to support other artists and the galleries that sell their work.


Here are Nancy’s pieces Mimosa Dancing and Sourwood Festoons displayed (above) with some hand-crafted furniture.



Meet and Greet the Artist
at the Wooden Stone Gallery
Davidson, NC
Friday, Aug. 21 from 6-9 p.m

Promotional postcards

My publisher, C&T Publishing, just sent me the promotional postcards for my new book, Appliqué Petal Party, which comes out in October. Wow, that’s right around the corner! The postcards look really great, and there are a lot of them. It is time to get busy handing them out and promoting this baby.

Felt ball glass holder

Over the weekend, I made this nifty holder for my glasses. I am always misplacing them and I now need them a lot of the time. I wanted a glass holder to wear around my neck. But I wanted something lightweight and fun, not something that would make me look like a matronly librarian.

These handmade wool felt balls from Nepal fit the ticket. (You can get some of your very own online through Handbehg Felts or ArtGirlz.) I did a little embroidery on the big balls with some varigated perle cotton, then strung them and some charms on some hand-dyed cording. My reading glasses slip through the little silver circle (which is actually part of a toggle clasp purchased at a craft store). I used crimp beads to attach the ends of the cording to jump rings, and then to the circle.

I like it so much that I might make a necklace next!

Asheville Quilt Show

I just got back from attending the Asheville Quilt Show at the North Carolina Arboretum, and it was wonderful. One of the best things is that the show is open to any quilter in the U.S., so it attracts a lot of national talent. (But the local quilters are plenty talented, too.) This year, there were 240 entries by 169 quilters from 15 states. Total money awarded was $8,300.

A few miles away, the Rotary Quilt Show, held in conjunction with the Asheville Quilt Show, but in a different location (Biltmore Square Mall), boasted quilts by the Shady Ladies of Waynesville and the Fiber Arts Alliance, as well as more wonderful vendors.

My quilt “Lepidoptera” took a Merit Award for Outstanding Use of Color, and the Pandora’s group quilt “Motherhood” took an Honorable Mention ribbon in the Group category (yea, us!).

Here’s a look at some of my favorites at the show:

Chicory by Ruth Powers of Carbondale KS.

I love Ruth Powers’ work, perhaps because I cannot fathom how she pieces it, or how she manages to make so many different fabrics work together. Here is another:


Lazy Afternoon by Ruth Powers of Carbondale KS.



Lazy Afternoon (detail) by Ruth Powers of Carbondale KS.


Red Art Festival by Deborah A. Morgan of Waynesville NC.
This beauty featured fabric beads tied in each rectangle. Simplicity and repetition, and a very nice color sense.


Rocky Mountain Memories by Wendy Bohen


Baskets in Bloom by Holly Greene and the Foothills Quilters Guild of Shelby NC
This is by the Foothills Quilters Guild. A great bunch of women I met last year when I spoke to them. Beautiful applique, quilting and trapunto!


Abundant Life by Susan Webb Lee of Barardsville NC
I love how Susan Webb Lee broke through the black borders of her quilt with bits of color.


Sun Bonnet Sue Does Hollywood by Linda Cantrell of Fletcher, NC
Crowds were gathered around this quilt by Linda Cantrell, as everyone tried to guess which movies were portrayed. In each scene, Sun Bonnet Sue is standing in for the heroine. What a riot.


Murphy’s Law by Linda Nichols of Waynesville, NC
According to the program, Linda persevered through many obstacles to make this quilt: “First block was lost, border ran when washed, cockscomb block caught on fire. I didn’t know when to quit but friends encouraged me on!”


Glorious Survivor #1 by Maureen Kampen of Asheville NC
This quilt chronicles the journey of a survivor of domestic violence. The portrait pulls you in, and then you start reading the details and understanding the pain. Beautifully done and very thought provoking.


Icing on the Cake by Linda Roy of Knoxville, Tenn.
Linda’s intricate, hand-stitched quilts are a wonder. This one was inspired by antique wool coverlets. I know Linda has won Best of Show in Asheville at least once before.


Swamp Hibiscus by Judith Heyward of Hendersonville, NC
Amazing thread painting, intricate borders and beautiful machine quilting won Judith Heyward the Outstanding Machine Workmanship award.


Amazing Arcola by Elizabeth T. Miller of Charlotte NC
Many of Elizabeth’s recent quilts feature antique quilt blocks she has purchased at antique stores (in this case, the stars around the outside). She made this quilt after a trip to Arcola Illinois. Elizabeth, who is a quilt judge, has a great sense of humor; I love how she uses commercial novelty and conversation prints.


Room to Breathe by Elizabeth T. Miller of Charlotte NC
Here’s another of Elizabeth’s recent quilts, very different in style and tone from Amazing Arcola above! Those are slices of actual stone in the water (under the blue heron). It is dedicated to her friend and fellow artist, Joan Colvin (1933-2007).

Max and the pincushion

Our cat, Max, has this thing for my pincushion. After he’s walked all over whatever I’m working on at the moment, and I pick him up and move him to his comfy spot in my studio (an old bassinet filled with snuggly blankets), he gets very passive-aggressive with me. He’ll jump back up on my cutting table and take out his frustrations on my pincushion. He hasn’t swallowed a pin yet, although he sometimes flings them onto the floor. What a character!

Art in unexpected places

“Macchia” by Dale Chihuly, 1981 - 1984.

While visiting the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga a few days ago, I came across several wonderful windows of glass forms by master glass artist Dale Chihuly and others in the aquarium’s jellyfish exhibition. Of course, while I was examining the jellyfish, I was thinking about how to create them in fiber, rather than in glass! I took some great photos of the jellyfish to use in some of my future work.

How nice that an aquarium would include these artists’ work in their exhibition, exposing all who walked by to a little art, and perhaps making them think about the jellyfish in a different way. It was a wonderful marriage.


“Macchia” by Dale Chihuly, 1981 - 1984.


“Jellies” by Thomas Spake, 2009.


“Screamers” by Stephen Rolfe Powell, 2007 - 2008.

I also found wonderful patterns on turtles, colors on fish, and inspiration from the architecture, plants, butterflies and simply from the flowing water in the tanks. The Tennessee Aquarium is spectacular; don’t miss it if you are passing by.

2009 Quilting Arts Gifts available for pre-order

Several of my friends have projects in the 2009 issue of Quilting Arts Gifts! It is now available for pre-order on the Interweave website here. The price is $14.99. Get yours now, and you’ll have tons of time to whip up hand-made gifts for all your friends, and learn some great new techniques before December.

Kathy Mack’s “Christmas Tree Hot Pads,” which are just too cute, are on the cover! They are foundation pieced with bright, contemporary fabrics. Kathy also designed a holiday door hanger you can use to welcome friends to your home during the holiday season. Check out Kathy’s other designs on her website and blog. Her company, Pink Chalk Studio, has a wonderful selection of whimsical fabrics and patterns.










Take a look at my friend Janet Lasher’s gorgeous silk batik scarf (far left), made from eco-friendly soy wax and textile paints. I took a soy wax batik class from Janet earlier this year, and it is very fun and easy to do. What a special gift this would be.

The 148-page publication features 14 seasonal decor ideas and 20 gift projects, including a “glam-bag” to carry your iPod by Lyric Kinard, 3-D fabric sugared fruit by Jane Dávila (above right), and a nametag purse by Melanie Testa (above center) just to name a few. I can’t wait to get my copy!

NOTE: All photos by Quilting Arts.

Shiva Paintstiks on Tyvek

I’ve just started teaching an online class on Joggles.com. It’s called Tyvek Explorations and it teaches ways to use Tyvek as an art material... to create textured embellishments, to stitch through, and to make beads for jewelry. Today, one of my students asked if I had used Shiva Paintstiks on Tyvek, and I hadn’t. So tonight I got out my materials and gave it a try.

One of the great things about teaching is that you learn so much from your students!

I started with a piece of a Tyvek mailer, and scribbled lightly with green and blue iridescent Paintstiks. I melted by hovering an iron with the Tyvek under parchment, paintstick side down. One one piece (on the right, below), I pressed a bit, and it has a lot of holes and disintegration.



After they cooled, I used silver Paintstik on top of one of the pieces to cover the areas that were still white. (You can see this most clearly on the detail shot.)


Thoughts:
The paint was still smeary when I finished. It really needs to air-dry before or after the ironing to be permanent, I think. These are oil based, unlike the acrylic fabric paints I'd used before.

A more solid appearance could be achieved by smearing the colors onto the Tyvek before heating. But using them this way gives an interesting pebbled or crayon-y appearance to the Tyvek pieces.

Interested in taking my Tyvek class? I’ll probably teach it again in 2010. I’m working on a new class (a fiber art project that does not include Tyvek) that will be offered this fall… stay posted.

Great giveaway at Two Creative Studios

Drawings and logo by Terri Stegmiller

Have you heard about Two Creative Studios? It is a website by Terri Stegmiller and Sue Bleiweiss, two amazing artists who have teamed up to offer online classes in mixed media, surface design and fiber arts; free projects; and a store (books, fabric, patterns, class kits, art prints, and Etsy shops).

Both have work that is often featured in Quilting Arts and Cloth Paper Scissors magazines, and I've admired it for a long time. Terri works in fabric and thread as well as paper and paint. She’s famous for her whimsical, expressive faces (that’s her above at the left). Sue (on the right) does a lot of 3-dimensional work – boxes, vases, journals and sketchbooks. Both do a lot of surface design work. They also have great blogs; you can read Terri's blog here, and Sue's here.

I wanted to let all my readers know that Terri and Sue are having a huge giveaway! All you have to do is to sign up for their fun newsletter by clicking here and your name will be entered in the drawing. Here's what you can win:

Prize #1: A free online class at Two Creative Studios.
Prize #2: A goody package of Terri and Sue's hand dyed fabrics.
Prize #3: A goody package of a book from Sue and a Giclee Art print from Terri.

The winners will be chosen on August 15; Sue and Terri will notify them by email.

Good luck!

Planning for Halloween

After I returned home this afternoon*, my 12-year-old daughter presented me with plans for her Halloween costume. Good thing it is July... this one is going to take some work. It’s a character from Avatar, one of her favorite TV shows. I was really impressed with her sketches. She is very anti-anything-trendy, and hates fashion and most things “in” in pop culture, so we tease her a bit about showing signs of becoming a fashion designer!

* I was at the AQS Knoxville Quilt Expo, and had hoped to share photos with you here, but AQS has a policy that you can’t post photos taken at the show unless you get both their permission and permission from the quiltmaker. I always post the name of the quiltmaker and the quilt anytime I post photos from a quilt show on my blog, but there’s no way I have time to track down all these people. Sorry, dear readers.

2010 Quilting Arts Calendars are here!

I just got my copies of the 2010 Quilting Arts Calendar in the mail today! The photography is excellent, and they are really beautifully done. My work was chosen for the cover and for the month of October:

Autumn’s Bounty (2009) 12 x 12". Hand-dyed and commercial cotton prints; batting, cotton and rayon threads, water-soluble crayons. Thread-painted and machine quilted.


Citrus Slices (2009) 12 x 12". Hand-dyed cotton fabrics, batting, interfacing, cotton and rayon threads, Angelina, water-soluble crayons. Thread-painted and machine quilted.

A great storage solution

The stacks of quilts in my house had started to resemble the Leaning Tower of Pisa. So when I found this old cabinet for sale at a local printing company that is converting to an AlphaGraphics, I knew exactly what I could use it for.

Our house is 1916 (that’s original wainscotting on the wall), and I like furniture with some history to it that suits the age of house. This cabinet, originally used to display merchandise in the store, is 4' long x 2' deep x 3' high, with glass on all sides and bevelled glass on top. It has two sliding doors, so it’s easy to get the quilts in and out. It’s tucked back in a corner of a room, away from the windows, so the fabrics won’t fade. It holds most of my collection of traditional quilts, keeps them from getting dusty, while still allowing me to see and enjoy the quilts.

Dye party 2009!

My friend Grace Howes has hosted a dye party at her house every summer for the past few years. She does a lot of dyeing, and is great at guiding newbies through the process. We work in her garage, which was pretty steamy today (we got a huge thunderstorm overnight and there was a lot of moisture in the air). She has a utility sink and three big tables she sets up where the cars usually are.

When you work with Procion dyes, you have to don a dust mask and safety goggles while you mix up the dye solution. I hate that part. But with a lot of people, you can share the task and it goes much faster.

Here’s Alisan pouring some soda ash solution on a piece of fabric:


These are Grace’s. She added some dye to one end of the fabric and put it in a bucket (on hte left side) and then put some darker dye in the other bucket (on the right) and let it seep up into the other color:


Not sure who was working on this piece, but it sure looks pretty in that blue bucket:


Trish loved those hot, steamy rubber gloves!


I was all about the blue-purple today. Here are my containers steeping in the sun:


This is my piece of cotton/linen drying on Grace’s yard:


I’m very pleased with how it turned out. Here’s a closeup of that same fabric:


Grace is so wonderful to host this party. I had to duck out a bit early to pick up one of my kids at a day camp, and didn’t do much in the way of clean up this time. (I owe you, Grace!) Here she is man-handling a table into storage: