Real Feminist Women Rally in Alaska

I try to keep my politics and my quilting separate because it makes me happier but NOTHING is making me happy with the state of our democracy right now. This YouTube video came the closest anything has for days. I could actually feel my spirits lift!

Spontaneous, Layered and Collaged

A triptych of collaged quilts by Julie Haddrick of Australia. Layered images and techniques. Some photo transfers, painted hand-dyed colored base, bleached or painted text: maybe both.

Raw-edged applique that is actually built up here to create the wonderful nest effect.

More meandering raw-edge appliqué, thread "scribbling," scattered beads, other and more seemingly random elements combine to give this quilt the spontaneous feel of a personal journal, a graffiti'd wall, a collection of seemingly casual but skillfully created detail that make a lovely, very contemporary, composition.

Not a Sunflower or a Bird

Lest I give the impression that I only favor birds and sunflowers neither appear here.

Made by Kay Haerland from Australia the textures are outstanding. The piece includes stenciling, painting, rusting and burning. She also did something she calls "interlacing on Solvy." Her materials were lace, fleece, tulle, Tyvek, batiks, Ultrasuede, wool, and more. This quilt won a blue ribbon for "Best Use of Color."

Beyond the texture this quilt is not really dimensional but the thread work is so exquisite here the mouse looks 3-d.

More Favorites

I guess they are all my favorites, or at least interesting to me, or I wouldn't take pictures of them but this quilt is so beautiful it called out to me from across a crowded busy room!

It is called Ravens Return and was created by Terry Kramzar of Pennsylvania. It is, of course, an original design, put together by machine using raw-edge appliqué, fusing and piecing. Some commercial fabrics, some hand-dyed. A particularly wonderful detail is the machine quilting in the centers of the large sunflowers. The artist has chosen to quilt small irregular circles, like seeds, using variegated thread in autumnal colors. The shading on the ravens is pretty outstanding too.

My Favorites

Sharon H. Schlotzhauter from Colorado Springs, Colorado was awarded a Judges Choice Ribbon in the Innovative Category and made one of my favorite quilts of the show.

The center motif is taken from a photo and painted. The borders appear to be pieced. The machine quilting is particularly effective. It creates the effect of another border inside the inner curved one.
I love the bird theme, the spiky border and the hand-dyed looking marbled effect of the fabric.

A Trend? Skinny Quilts

Or maybe more of a mini trend. There was a Skinny Quilts! - The Eclectic Threads Quilters exhibiton but maybe also more narrow pieces than usual. They convinced me they were something beyond table runners.
Here are some of the offical skinny quilts.I particularly loved these three and you can see why you could not begin to think of these as table runners. They wonderfully detailed quilt collages. Left, The End of Our Civilization by Henrietta Curtis. Made from fabric, plastic. paper, felt and stitching.

Middle, The Vessel by Eleanor Levie; fabric, ribbon, tulle and vintage quilt fragments.
Right, String Beans by Eleanor Levie, cotton, lace, various sheer fabrics.

Its Fall! Pennsylvania Quilt Extravaganza 2008

Ok. Summer's officially over now. We went to Europe, we went to the shore, I gardened...but now its time to look at quilt, to sew quilts, to long for new machines (a new Bernina, a long arm quilting machine!) and the kick off is the Pennsylvania Quilt Extravaganza 2008. So here it comes:

Sunflowers, always one of my very favorite subjects. This is a colorful yet soulful. Raw-edged hand-dyed applique on pieced batiks by Elaine Quehl.

Detail.

Summer No Sew

Well, there is nothing going on here, now is there? First there was a really amazing trip to Italy: Naples, Pompeii, Positano, Tuscany, Florence, San Gigmiano and finally Venice. It really was the trip of my lifetime. I enjoyed it much more than I thought I would and I learned so many unexpected things. I am blogging about the trip itself here.

It might have some influence on my future life as a quilter and maker of things. Now I'm looking forward to the Pennsylvania National Quilt Extravaganza, my favorite quilt show.

All the Floors of Europe

I have seen several quilts inspired by European floors and, while the quilts themselves are striking I never really got the fascination. After seeing the cathedral floors in Florence, Venice and Rome I have a new appreciation of the inspiration.
These particular floors are from the cathedral in Florence.



It is so easy to see the quilt in these. I've been looking at my hand-dyed fabric with new eyes.

Where I've Been

Well, not for a month but for about two weeks. It was amazing. More pictures to come (its Venice!).

Life, Post-Vacation

Last week was vacation time. I had a week away from my day job! I kicked it off with the trip to the State Quilt Guild of New Jersey show. The weather here was idyllic and I gardened and spent some time outside and in Center City. My ambition was to sew and finish one of my projects but that didn't happen. My work room was a mess and with more time on my hands than usual I couldn't focus on completing tasks. I got distracted by cleaning up and weeding my workspace. It needed to be done and I have no regrets - although it would have been nice to have finished something!

One fibrous thing I did get to do was splash around with with fabric dye and cotton yardage.

These are mostly African cotton jacquard. This one started out white. I've linked the larger picture because if you look closely you can sort of see some of the woven pattern.

This one started as a goldenrod yellow. I discharged some of the color by pouring bleach on it. The fabric was crumpled. No attempt made to pattern the discharge. Then rose brown dye was squeezed on from a squirt bottle.

This one started as the same goldenrod. I folded it up into a little triangular package and poured crimson on it.
Again the goldenrod. This time I discharged the color with dishwashing liquid on a big foam stamp -- probably meant to stamp on a wall. Then came emerald green dye on the discharged areas, allowed to do as it wanted. I particularly like over-dyeing the colored fabric. It is a rich effect that is hard to mess up!

White cotton broadcloth that I traced little scientific-ish illustrations onto with a sharpie. The sharpie was not fine enough to give a really fine line but I wanted to see what would happen and from that perspective it worked. The images made it through the entire fabric-punishing process. It is a technique that has some potential.

First Place, Bed Quilt, Applique

This is a prize winner and the simple cookie cutter applique in sort of geometric, reproduction fabric (Kaffe Fassette) includes lots of fun shapes designed by the artist.

New York Beauty-like

Karen Stone pattern. Beaded, machine quilted. This one won first place, larger group.

First Place, Innovative

Painted? Printed? I don't think it's pieced? Very compelling to look at and the outline and textural quilting add much.

Quilt Show

It was a beautiful day and I saw some lovely quilts.



This won first place for Wall Quilt, Appliqué. I think the flower petals at least are raw-edge covered with satin stitch. Some of the other parts of the flower have more textural stitches around the edges. The center is outlined with chenille yard with bugle beads in the middle. Very pretty.
The wavy grid in the background may stitched down butted edge to edge? There are other bead embellishments also.

State Quilt Guild of New Jersey Show...

...started today and I'm going tomorrow! Lots of quilts, lots of fabric, lots of fun!

Border Angst

Tonight, after attaching one of the rose print borders to my heart quilt I got feedback that the print was overwhelming the the center. That has been my secret fear all along. So it's back to the fabric store I think.

Heart Quilt

The center portion of the quilt is finished by and large. Tomorrow night the borders go on.

I'm not sure how I feel about the fabric for the wider borders. It is lovely but does it work with the central part of the quilt? Borders seem to be where my angst is...

Baby in a Pea Pod FSL

Baby in a Pea Pod FSL
Originally uploaded by YourWayEmbroidery

OMG so cute!

The World's Most Photogenic Roses

Work has been energy-draining and de-motivating so aside from attending class nothing creative has happened in this house this week.

I took these this weekend of the most beautiful roses I certainly have ever grown. I've been looking forward to the blooming and here it is.