Patterns exhibit at Houston Quilt Festival

"The Innkeeper Wore Black" is at the International Quilt Festival in Houston now, in the Dinner at Eight special exhibit called Patterns.

Patterns Quilt revealed

I don't believe I have posted my Patterns quilt on my blog yet! Here it is. 

It's called "The Inn Keeper Wore Black." It's a fanciful riff on a real visit to a colorful B&B, with bold patterns everywhere, except for the talkative innkeeper, who wore black. 

This quilt will be seen at the Quilt Festival in Houston in 2016, as part of the Patterns exhibit curated by Dinner at Eight Fiver Artists. And perhaps the exhibit will go to other places like Chicago in 2017. 

Quilt challenge quilt revealed

Apologies, dear readers. I have taken too long to post. But here I am, popping my head up to share my art once again. 

Here is the quilt I made for my guild's challenge, which was All Creatures Great and Small. Surprise! I made another tortoise quilt. I call this one "Gramps in the Garden." Because of the tight deadline and other things I had to do, I incorporated some motifs I already had done or at least partly done: flying geese

strips, die-cut flowers, hexie flowers. I imagined my tortoise waking up from hibernation to stroll around the garden, on a beautiful Spring day.

 As you can see, I put clothing labels around the outer border of the tortoise shell. I made the shell segments by the English paper piecing method, but instead of sewing them to each other  I appliquéd them onto a herringbone wool fabric. I like how it turned out. 

There was an exhibit of the challenge at my guild's May meeting. I was on the committee, helping to stuff challenge packets, hang quilts, etc. My quilt didn't win any awards, but the judge had some nice things to say about my quilt, and what the heck, I am happy to have it.

Now I am putting the finishing touches on still another quilt. I can't talk about it yet, but I've been having fun with the process. What is more fun than playing with beautiful fabrics? 

QuiltFest Oasis!

If you're going to Quiltfest Oasis in Palm Springs later this week, look for my quilt in the Oasis exhibit. 

I call it "Oasis in the Time of Drought."

THIS WEEK!

QUILTFEST OASIS

PALM SPRINGS

October 8 - 10, 2015 

Palm Springs Convention Center | Palm Springs, CA 

My Oasis Quilt

I don't think I have mentioned yet that one of my quilts got accepted into the Oasis exhibit, which will debut at the new Mancuso quilt festival in PalmSprings, which is also called Oasis. My quilt is called "Oasis in the Time of Drought."

The dates of Quiltfest Oasis are October 8-10, at the Palm Springs Convention Center. 

 

Affinity Special Exhibit

I am happy to say that my quilt, "Spring Comes Late," got accepted into the Affinity  special exhibit curated by Dinner at Eight Artists. Yippee! So it will be shown at International Quilt Festival in Houston in October. Quilt and detail photos below. 

Quilt Alliance Recognition

I am happy to announce that my entry won Judges Choice and Honorable Mention awards in the Quilt Alliance "Animals We Love" contest. Here is my quilt, "Grandpa T and his Salad." I won ten spools of Aurifil Thread. Yay!

 Marianne Fons, one of the judges, had very nice things to say about my quilt. I am so grateful.

Grandpa T is in the "Animals We Love" contest

Voting has begun for the "Animals We Love" contest by the Quilt Alliance. I entered a quilt this year for the first time, and here it is. 

Testing Marie Kondo's magical 'life-chan

If you are a member, I hope you will go to the voting page to see all the wonderful animal quilts. If you aren't a member, now is a good time to become one, because only members can vote in this contest. And if you vote for "Grandpa T and his Salad," so much the better!

My quilt is on tv!

I was watching the latest Quilting Arts show over breakfast this morning. Jamie and Leslie were guests and were discussing how to enter shows, and there was a slide show of many of the quilts in the 2014 Reflections exhibit, curated by Dinner at Eight. So anyway, it was a thrill to see my "Saffron in the Park" on TV! Nice way to start the day. 

I know, the colors look weird. 

Sizzix Blog Hop: Flower Frenzy

I am so happy to be part of the Sizzix blog hop. It was really fun playing with the Sizzix flower dies. 

These are all the flowers and leaves that I cut. It may not look like much, but it was! I cut mostly cottons, plus some corduroy, silks, linen, etc. So easy and fun! All fabrics had Misty Fuse on the back.  The dies I used were Flower #6, Flowers Leaves & Stem #5, and Flower, but there are other similar dies available. Then I made a simple quilted background with my favorite gray fabrics. 

Then I arranged the flowers the way I liked them. My granddaughter Samantha watched me do this, and I let her play with button embellishments, just for fun. 

She had so much fun that I invited her to take some of my leftover flowers and arrange them on a smaller background, that I made just for her. 

After she arranged her flowers, she picked out some buttons that I could add after I quilted the flowers. She had the best time!

Meanwhile, I fused down the flowers on my quilt. 

Then I did some machine quilting on the flowers, as well as lots of hand embroidery.

 I also quilted and embroidered the flowers and added buttons on Samantha's quilt. Here it is, all finished.

Here I'm auditioning buttons on my quilt. 

And here is my final quilt! I really enjoyed making both these projects. 

Saffron is back

I am happy to have my quilt, "Saffron in the Park," back from its travels. It is hanging amongst my holiday decor.

This is the quilt that was part of the Dinner at 8 Reflections exhibit at Houston Quilt Festival. It also appeared in the October- November issue of Quilting Arts Magazine. It was inspired by photos that a friend took of Christo's Gates in Central Park.

Saffron in Quilting Arts!

I am happy to say that as of today I have obtained a copy of the October- November issue of Quilting Arts Magazine. "Saffron in the Park" is on page 45. I am excited!

It is part of an article about the Reflections exhibit which will debut in Houston soon. Jamie Fingal and Leslie Tucker Jenison curated this Dinner at 8 exhibit. Seven of the forty plus artists were in the article.

Works underway, done, and on the road

A new dress for Sammy is underway. It's another Oliver and S pattern. This one is the Play Date Dress.

Just finished this sweater for my granddaughter. I hope she likes it! She just started pre-K today, going on a real school bus. Pattern from Berroco Comfort/Book for Girls.

And lastly, "Rose For Your Nose" is going to Houston Quilt Festival! So that means I will have three quilts there. It would be nice to go, but we have other travel plans at the same time.

Quilting Arts

I found out a few days ago that the quilt I made for the Reflections exhibit in Houston will be included in an article in the Fall Quilting Arts Magazine! The name of the quilt is "Saffron in the Park, " and it was inspired by photos my friend Becky Milano took of Christo's Gates in Central Park. This is a detail.

What's for Dinner?

I am happy to say that I will have a quilt in the "What's for Dinner" exhibit at Quilt Festival in Houston. This is the second quilt of mine that will be there. This one is called "Terinaki Beef-on-a-Stick." That's how my son pronounced teriyaki.

Quilt! Knit! Stitch!

Hanging out at Quilt! Knit! Stitch! In Portland,  Oregon, with my quilt in the Coming Up Roses exhibit. This quilt is called"  Rose for your Nose?", and it's an oldie from 1998. I made it for the Rhapsody of Roses competition, and it has been to Houston, Quilt Expo in Innsbruck, and La Musee des Tissus in Lyon. Yes, it's my husband.

Interview on Dinner at Eight Blog

I have been remiss in not mentioning that I was interviewed for the Dinner at Eight blog, and the interview was posted on the 15th. You can still read it and all the other artists interviews. Go to http://dinnerateightartists.blogspot.com/
Scroll down to find my post. Here is a detail of my quilt for the Reflections exhibit. It is called "Saffon in the Park."

We're going to Quilt, Knit, Stitch in Portland!

I just found out this quilt is going to Portland, as part of the Coming Up Roses exhibit. I'm excited! "A Rose for your Nose? " is an oldie but a goodie from 1998, when it was a finalist in the Rhapsody of Roses IQA/QNM contest. It has already traveled to quilt festivals in Houston, Innsbruck, Paris and Lyon, as I recall. The quilt features my husband Dave and his budding hobby of gardening.

It's a thrill when my old quilts are revisited in new exhibits.

Umbrella Prints competition

This is my entry for the Umbrella Prints Trimmings Competition for 2014. The Hexie mini quilt is mounted on an upcycled blue jean fabric underquilt. There is machine quilting and sashiko embroidery. The 1\2" hexagons were English paper pieced.
The detail shows the hexies  and the envelope that the fabric came in. It was too interesting looking not to include!
I neglected to take a photo of the trimmings packet before I cut into the fabrics, so I took a photo of leftover scraps with the wrapper.
I am cutting this close and hope my quilt made it in time. Thanks!

Quilt Accepted into Reflections

I was thrilled to learn that this quilt has been accepted by Dinner @ Eight Artists into the Reflections exhibit! It will go to quilt festivals in Houston and Chicago. It was inspired by the temporary art installation of the Gates in Central Park in 2005, created by the fabulous artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude.

Here is a detail. I call it "Saffron in the Park." My friend Becky Milano went to see the Gates and took photos. She allowed me to use her photos as inspiration. Also, around that time another friend, Rose Hughes, gave me a swatch of Gates fabric, which I included in the quilt.