Jambo!

Just returned from Tanzania. It was so beautiful. I will only be able to express how moved I was in a new series of quilts that are inspired by the local wildlife and a fabulous piece of kuba cloth I purchased while there.

In the meantime, I will not be teaching this Winter and plan to focus on my art.

I have a few quilting commissions (yea!!!) and am hoping to make more t-shirt quilts for folks. Remember, high school graduation will be here sooner than you think. Time to put those shirts to good use. A quilt your student can take with them to college in the Fall.

Here's a recently completed piece for a college grad.

Contact me for details and pricing!!

Welcome Bert!

Not a lot of blogging going on here.

In November I took the plunge and purchased a Gammill Long Arm machine. It's still hand driven, so it's taking some getting used to. I explain it to non-quilters in this way. When I free-motion quilt on my home machine, it's like moving the paper and holding the pencil still to draw. With the long arm, the quilt/paper remains still while the machine moves over it.

Keep me in mind when it comes time to have those old t-shirts made into quilts!

I am working on t-shirt quilt designs and memory quilts from baby clothes. The items we can't part with but are just taking up space in the drawer. Seriously, you are never going to fit into that Central High T-shirt again, really.

Studio Redo

Once again, my Pfaff and I have been at odds with each other.

I took the break from sewing and quilting to work on fixing up my studio. With the help of my DH, Ed we hung a peg board on the wall behind my sewing table. I now have all of my tools in one spot and can locate them quickly instead of rummaging around in the closet or under piles of fabric. All of my threads are up and no longer rolling across the floor.




My absolute favorite storage solution is my collection of 2 gallon Rubbermaids. A size I can only find at WalMart (go figure). They fit perfectly on my shelving unit and are the right size for projects in progress. I've designated some for fabric collections (ie Asian fabrics, batiks, etc), some for projects and some for yarn and other fibery-thingies.

My design wall (also with the help of DH in Lowes) is a 4x8 insulation board covered with felt and velcroed to the wall.

I have a light box table and (again with the help of my DH) I have fitted a board over the glass so the table can double as a rotary cutting station or ironing area.










Now, the machine has been fixed (we hope) and it's back to work/play.

More Quilts

Here's a collection of quilts I have worked on over the past couple of years. All (but one, and I'm getting to that) are original designs. Most are experiments.

Dreams Come True is a queensize quilt for my daughter (the fairy on the right)

Micronesian Memories is a t-shirt quilt that also incorporates many themed fabrics (on the back is a painting of Two Lovers Leap, a Guam Landmark).

Leaving Winter Behind is my first homage to Gustav Klimt and was done for a quilt challenge. The rules included the use of circles in nature and three specific fabrics (which I sprayed with gold fabric paint and embellished with beads).

Hwy 249 Chaos! uses a cyanotype print as it's focal point. The car appears to be breaking through the borders. I wanted to add some mud spatters to make it more dynamic. In Fact, I painted the spare tire from the car and rolled it across the front and back. Then I quilted around the tread marks.

Wheels of Wonder was inspired by the book 'Quilter's Playtime' and was made to use up some fabrics I'd been holding onto for about 5 years. This was my first attempt at making templates. I've never been good at following directions. This piece made it into the AJCs story on the Bulloch Hall Quilt Show in March 2008.

The House is raw edge applique of a small stone house at Macchu Piccu

My Card

Mwanamwali

40"x40" Hand-painted, free-motion quilted and emblished with beads, coins and found objects. This piece was completed in 2005 and has been exhibited in IQA's Chicago and Houston Shows, AQS Paducah Show and the Bulloch Hall Quilt Show. It was also featured in an article in the Altanta Journal Constitution and Bonnie McCaffrey's IQA Houston Blog.

It's Spring!

36" x 40". Hand-painted and free-motion quilted. This quilt is a personal favorite of mine. Unfortunately, I trimmed it down to improve the layout and it became 4" shy of being eligible for either of the International Shows I had hoped to submit it to. Alas, measure twice, cut once and read the entry form 3 times!