The Winner of Iron Quilter...cool quilt show sideshow

A quick post! I have had a motivating 3 days. Quilt show in Elma Friday & lunch at Sandy's. So wonderful to see she is doing well and laughing again.
Quilt show on Saturday.
Sewed ALL DAY LONG today. I will post my projects later in the week. I could do this creating thing every day!

Yesterday Martha, Sharon and I went to a fantastic quilt show in Dryden NY. TCQG's show was inspiring. Lot's of great quilts (I will post them soon), lot's of vendors and of course Project Iron Quilter. A great time was had by all!
This sideshow was as exciting as an episode of Project Runway (my favorite show!). Watching all the participants work, their progress and the end results made this show a standout. I love the idea of producing something with limited materials and design constraints. It is something I would love to try with my arty friends! The IRON QUILTER is Susan Clark from Brantford Ontario, Canada. The challenge was to include curves and straight lines and she truly did just that! It succeeds. It's almost graffiti-like. Congratulations!

Ruth Ohol from Lockport. She worked quietly and diligently to finish up this stunning quilt.

Louise Tiemann's whimsical wallhanging.

Mary Diamonds almost finished...really wonderful quilt. I love the concept and fabric in this one. She promised to finish it for the winning bidder! 3 hours flies when people are watching you work, think, sew, cut, think and finish.

Another finished piece. Cute! By Maureen Jakubson.

Pat Pauly's finished, sleeved and time to spare quilt! Her own hand manipulated fabrics make this a show-stopper. "Slash 'n Burn the Iron Quilter" could be a good working title!

Sally Dutko's finished piece. I like the collage-ness.

Priscilla Kibbee's finished wallhanging. I might call this one "X Marks the Iron Quilter"!


Great quilts by all ladies...auctioned for charity.

I met up with a friend from Ithaca at the show. Lisa and her adorable son Jeremy with the lady-killer blue eyes! I met Lisa at the COf retreat in April but "met" her on HGTV message boards a few years ago. Hope to meet up with her next weekend when I go to Ithaca College for Michael's football game.

I learned:

1. Sandy can actually feel the bit of skull in her abdomen. Will put back in a few weeks. Well she won't put it back...she will have surgery so have it re-installed!
2. I won a CQ "squishie" as they call it, on CQI Yahoo group. They have a monthly challenge. September was FLOWERS. I posted a twisty flower made with silk ribbon with french knots and black seed beads in its center. I can't wait to see what I am gifted!
3. You can fit an old sewing machine with the barbed needles to felt. I want to do this.
4. The deer are grazing under the apple tree by the log shed. Sweet damagers.
5. There is a site (free) that will let you track where people are from that look at your blog and also let you know the route they took to get to your site. Interesting.

Good day!

T.G.I.F. Today! Quilt shows to See!

Finally a day off tomorrow! I NEED it...bad. What a week. Melissa hit a deer with my Trailblazer Monday morning....that was bad. She was OK...vehicle NOT.

I have a $1000.00 deductible. That is sooo bad.

Sandy went home today!

I am indulging in 2 quilt shows this weekend. Tomorrow I am going to see my friend Penny's guild's show. Saturday a few of us are traveling to Ithaca to a show there that has an "Iron Quilter" competition! Pat Pauly and Priscilla Kibbee (both recent speakers for my guild) are 2 of the 8 competitors. They have been "pumping up" for the event! I admit that this competition is my prime reason for wanting to drive 2 3/4 hours to see how it all pans out! I am highly intrigued.

I still haven't found handcuffs. I may have to abandon my very cool idea for my Bra for a Cause. I have another week though. Anyone have a spare set?

Dare I list a few things I hope to complete this weekend? Yes, I love lists.

1. Self Portrait ATC's. I have my face printed on fabric. Need to make the base.
2. Stitch on Colleen's CQ block for CQI .
3. Stitch on my CQ for ME....need to add the challenge fabric before I work the embellishments. I am really pleased with those Kaffe Fassett fabrics. Feels like "me".
4. Appliqueing the raffle quilt block.
5. The Bra...I do have another idea but the original is so much better. I may have to resort to "Me Jane".
6. Dye wool. I already dyed EBONY. I need DIJON and KIWI now. My initials are KDE. My guild's annual challenge is "Initially Yours". Use colors starting with your initials. Visually my trio is dynamic. Now to come up with a piece that makes it work!

That sounds like alot doesn't it? Well dream big.!

Have a good weekend. Make something....a quilt, an inchie, an ATC....some fabric...dinner... cookies....or just make a mess! I am really good at that!

Art Quilt~Collage & Kaffe Fassett Crazy Quilt Block

This is the quilt Pat Pauly designed~it is the GVQC raffle quilt. It is stunning! If you are interested in purchasing tickets I am sure she can help you out. Just click here.

This is my favorite Pat Pauly quilt. All of these quilts are her gorgeous creations. Her style "feels" like me. I hope my guild can schedule a workshop with her next year.

You can see some of her shibori dyed fabrics in some of the pieces.

Another weekend over??? I LIVE for them. I had Darcy & Ian overnight Friday til 5PM last night. They are growing...10 & 11..soon to be 12! The only issue I had to tend to was Ian not staying with me in Salvation Army. I told him twice...then I had to tether him to me with my key lanyard! When we got home I gave him a treat! (when my greyhound, Dean is good I give him a treat too!)

Melanie has also gotten re-inspired to work on a One Block Wonder quilt after seeing Martha's last Saturday. The idea that one busy fabric can become a work of art really intrigues me. We are going to have a little mini sewing retreat at her house sometime soon! She Quilts with Wine!!

It was so nice to talk with Jody today! I met her in person at the HGTV retreat in April. Her computer skills are a gift when one is stumbling! Thanks....it worked!

My Art Quilt Group has been working (loosely) through the Art Quilt Workshop book. I made a couple little works previously and spent a few hours yesterday coming up with my COLLAGE quilt. Collage is what I love...looks like my brains works! The bright green is handmade paper from the Dollar Store, tea stained Warm & Natural batting, commercial fabrics and the numbers off the selvage edges of fabrics. I still have to quilt it up...machine? hand? Don't know yet, but I love it!

I am participating in a CQ for ME challenge. My friend Nicki is encouraging a group of us to make a crazy quilt block for ourselves. What a concept! I pieced mine confetti-ish style today with luscious Kaffe Fassett fabrics. Thanks to my pal Christie I have a little stash of precious scraps....she saved them from sure dumpster death! What a travesty that would have been....so now I am putting them to good use. Thanks Christie!

I have learned:

1. Bruce Springsteen is 60!
2. How to copy & paste images to Word, putting multiple pics on 1 page to print on fabric. I know...seems so basic! Not!
3. Did the Bills lose again?
4. I need handcuffs. I have searched every store in my little city and no toy handcuffs to be found. It is usual Dollar Store fodder but alas...NOT today. I have a clever idea for a bra for the Pink Hatters charity event to benefit women in our community that don't have medical insurance to have mammograms. ANYway, I may have to just improvise the cuffs. I must work on this ASAP. It is due next week.
5. Down 7.6 lbs!
6. Mark Lipinski quit Quilter's Home magazine. I have only read a few of them but I do like his sense of humor.

Have a great week. Do something new or tackle something old. Learn new things!

Other People's Good Work!

And the best work by Sharon! I wonder how many people know someone that would actually make a Whoopie Cushion Cover for thier friends?! When my Art Quilt Group last met, recently retired editor of town newspaper, had a wonderfully entertaining present for each of us. 5 very grown women laughing-to-tears at local community college in plain view of younger generation at each flatulent release! Priceless.

Dahlia Pink. So pretty. The frosty nights are wreaking havoc on them though. I actually turned the thermostat up yesterday morning. Too cold to get into the shower!

Oh yeah! That is Bruce's butt and I will be seeing it in person, again, November 22nd in Buffalo! I LOVE him! Have seen him before so I know what I am in for, but this should be really special since it is the last concert on his current tour. Thanks to Jim (and Todd I believe was his assistant) for manning 3 computers when tickets went on sale!

MaryLee, a newer member of my quilt guild, showed us this treasured portrait quilt. She reproduced it from a picture of her and her brothers and gifted it to her mom. I would love to try this technique on some of the old pictures of my mom & dad. I just love this piece. Notice the bow-tie!

I have recently realized what a "1 Block Wonder" quilt is. I think I thought it was more traditional so I didn't look at any links on them until I saw some at my retreat in April. I LOVE them! They are all so different and so exciting. The fact that you choose 1 fabric and cut it into various little blocks, then lay them all out until you have the perfect presentation is endlessly intriguing. I want to make one of these.

Martha made this top, I believe, with some online friends as a kind of cyber space sewing session. She may call it "Millefiori" after the art form. I wish I had taken a picture of the original fabric.

Martha's finished Black Eyed Susan! She even has the binding on hers! I loved hers from the beginning.

Connie's Black Eyed Susan thread painting from Caren Betlinski's class. Connie had a little mishap in the class...she went to fuse her composition down in class and she grabbed fuse backed release paper instead of her already released paper....thus she ironed the fusible all over her piece. Lesson: check the release paper, both sides, before using it! Connie went home and started all over and produced this really wonderful art quilt. Nice job!

This is a community service quilt Kathy Sherman, a member of my guild, made from some really cool fabric that I may not have looked twice at. I love this quilt! I want those fabrics! I love my cats.

I was so busy all weekend that I didn't get much done on any pending projects. I thought about them alot. No progress to report though. Hope to have something to show for my thoughts soon!

I have learned:

1. Blood on my Bernina....YEP! I was moving right along, zig-zagging the edges of the inchies and punched right into my finger with the needle....ouch needless to say.

2. Down 5.6 lbs at this weeks WW meeting!

3. Sandy is out of induced coma. Making progress daily.

4. Rob Lowe turned down Greys Anatomy. I'm glad.

5. A remote control, catnip loaded mouse. Chester & Clifford love it.

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Great weekend, but any time not working is alway GREAT!

Quilt guild meeting was awesome yesterday. As soon as I get approval from Pat Pauly to post her lecture pics I will do that. We actually crossed over to the 21st Century and Pat presented our 1st Powerpoint presentation! It was so inspiring. I can't wait to share it all with you.

Pat shibori dyes gorgeous fabric. I bought 2 beautiful pieces!

BUT she uses commercial fabrics too. I am so inspired by that since not all of us dye fabric or have access or funds to use hand dyes exclusively. Makes you want to get into your stash and start getting down to serious sewing.

Another bit Pat touches on is......USE your fabrics...why save them for that "perfect" project? I know I have things that seem too special to USE but I will be taking her advice.

Pebble Quilting..Inchies..CQ..Heart block

Finished quilting the Black Eyed Susan thread painted piece. My favored pebble quilting took a couple hours today...and a back ache! (kitchen table...sewing machine...ergonomics failure!) Free motion quilting those random circle's is so satisfying for me. What isn't very satisfying is that mono filament thread. It's the good stuff but it still breaks. All I have to do on this now is the binding. I will have something for Show n' Tell at next Saturday's guild meeting!

Charlyn is hosting a Plus Size Inchie swap. I used the yarn fabric I made using the water soluble Solvy (layered that cool colorful yarn in a cross hatch pattern, sewed a grid to keep yarns together, then disolve the 2 layers of Solvy in warm water.)...fused to Timtex and zig zagged edges. 1 set will be 9 inchies. These little bits of creativity are so fun! I hope to get to another set done using clear vinyl....putting something between it and the background fabric. Maybe those teeny tiny silver glass balls? or glitter? or a preserved leaf? or ??? Another project for another day.

Pretty bright? I just love these colors! Chartreuse is yummy! The fabrics are old linen napkins I picked up at Sally Ann's and dyed with DynaFlow dyes. I look forward to seeing what 4 ladies do with this block in my 1st RR in CQI. I think the challenge will be using the right colors on it. Primary's and pastel's obviously won't work! I am confident it will be gorgeous when I get it back March.

I whipped up this little 8.5" heart block today too. I couldn't resist adding the crown I had made for something else that didn't work out. I just love it!

Carol, Sandy in Carol's neighbor's backyard sitting by their koi pond.

Sandy is still in an induced coma after last Sunday's surgery on a brain bleed.

Good news and bad news daily.

I learned:

1. I can applique!
2. I discovered NCIS . I like the dynamics of the character's. I like Mark Harmon with grey hair.
3. Super Scrabble! I want this. I used to play Scrabble with my mother when I was a kid...we never kept score. WHAT was up with that? I love winning at Scrabble.
4. BRUCE! (Springsteen...but really, it goes without saying!) November 22nd...last concert of this tour..I will be there! Thanks Jim & Pammers for taking care of the purchasing logistics for me!
5. Lost 3 lbs my 1st week in Weight Watchers. Having done this before, I know the first 10 lbs are not that hard. Keep me on track.
6. Pandora.com is a very cool site Melanie told me about. Check it out...you make your own radio stations to listen to on your computer. I will be using this for sure.
7. Whoopie cushions are awesome! My friend Sharon made Whoopie covers, complete with flatulent cushion and gifted us with them at our monthly Art Quilt group meeting. I laughed like a child! Flatulence gets me every time.

A Little of This & That

Isn't this a really art-worthy portrait of my niece Darcy? I cropped the image, then played with the resolution and coloring and ended up with something I want to print on fabric and use in something soon. It's almost old world looking. She is a beautiful girl!

Zinnia...love to play with images of flowers in the photo editing on my computer. It's just basic stuff but you can alter the intensity of the image and color to improve mundane pictures to interesting. I would love to know more about any free editing software available online. I really want to be able to layer pics to come up with something useful in art quilting.

Cool close-up of a sunflower at my sister's house today.

My friend Carolyn is a talented painter who graciously posts little painted "silkies" on her blog for all to see and use for personal purposes (not resale). Just print them out on fabric and use on a CQ block or frame them up! Thanks Carolyn! I wanted a quick release of creativity so I decided to pick some leaves and make a few prints! It's so easy, so fun. Choosing leaves with good vein-age is key. I used cheap acrylic paint, undiluted and a sponge brush...laid it down on solid surface on fabric, covered with a paper towel and used a bottle to roll over the leaf to make sure the entire surface touches the fabric. Cool. I could use these in a fabric collage, ATC..maybe a little thread painting!

I haven't stitched much this week but certainly have many things to get going on:

1. CQ for ME...I received the 2 fabrics & motifs from Nicki that will be incorporated into a CQ block that I will work on for ME! I am going to make a bag for my Weight Watchers weekly info pamphlets. It will be useful and pretty.
   
2. I have to piece a CQ block for a RR as a new member of Crazy Quilting International.


3. After a quick applique lesson from Tracy I am ready to work on 2 blocks for our guild's raffle quilt. Tracy & I are in charge of the quilt show raffle quilt for show next October.


4. Plus sized inchies are on the agenda for a swap Charlyn is running. I have started seed stitching on some dyed felted wool to work with. Also a bunch of "self portrait" ATC's are part of this swap.


5. I will be ready to add my stitches to the next MERMAID block I get. Mine is looking so good!
   Here are 2 images of recent work by Kathy and Thearica.

My friend Sandy is in the hospital. Yesterday she had surgery to take care bleeding on her brain. I saw her this morning and she is heavily sedated but cognisant of her surroundings. She is in ICU on a ventilator so she can't talk but the first thing she "asked" me was about her daughter Lauren by using her hands to make an L. Her prognosis is good.

I have learned:

1. I will lose 20-25 lbs and WW will be the route. It works.
2. Read The Shack. Interesting.
3. Fiber Arts Mixed Media is an online group for creative endeavors.
4. There is a new Gatorade that my son's football team is supplying to the players. It has 79 grams of carbohydrates!

Thread Painting Progress

I am getting closer to thinking this is "painted". The flowers are defined. I had to add another layer of heavy stabilizer to avoid more puckering. Now I tear the tear-away stabilizer off the back and sandwich with a thin batting and have at the background. Caren stippled hers...nicely I might add. I am not very confident in my stippling abilities. You must think about 15 stitches ahead so you don't get tangled up. Maybe if I practice the movement on paper I will see how not to get stuck? Once the background quilting is done the images you've thread painted pop out. I am very excited about this piece and this process!

I really love the magenta on the darker leaf shapes.

Here us a close-up of my progress on the Black Eyed Susan. I added a rusty color thread after the yellow thread to define the shape more and liked it. It still needed something....if you look carefully you will see an orange-y colored thread on edges and some in the petals. Notice the center is done in zig-zag free motion which adds a different texture. A bit of green is in there too.

Oh so chilly outside! I like it though. It was a great day to meander around the Elmwood Art Festival with Sandy, Carol, Terry and Lauren. I actually bought a nice leather bag, just big enough for whatever you may need on an outing. Handcrafted by a man that doesn't waste time on the Internet.....no email or business cards or contact info...just makes wonderful leather bags of all kinds to sell! I am intrigued by the concept.

Lunch at Brodo's. Delicious!

I learned:

1. Melissa makes excellent chicken salad!


2. Inexpensive air dry clay is cool. These are the miscellaneous bits I made a while ago. I used some small bird stamps on some. I love the idea of the healed heart. I plan to paint them and grunge them up and use them creatively!
3. I admire jewelry. I don't wear it though. When I retire, I will wear jewelry. (my take on "When I am old, I will wear purple..."!)