New projects

Well, after doing all the regular house stuff yesterday, I managed to start something fun that I didn't have to make. It's a house that Jane Davila showed how to make in Quilting Arts magazine. I wanted to try one and it was so cool. I was using copper metallic thread and ran out yesterday. I was pretty bummed about not beign able to finish it, but then thought - "This is practice. I can use other thread." So today I finished it and I plan to make more.
The roof came out a little wonky because I didn't make it exactly the size Jane gave instructions for. But now I know what to do. Also - she didn't suggest zigzagging off the edges - but I did that and I like it better.


I've finished all but one of the birthday cards I need for the remainder of 2008, but can't post most of them here because who knows who might be lurking? But I can post this one that I made for Steve for our anniversary because he's already seen it. It doesn't show up well in this picture, but it has some foil on it. Those blobs on the sides. This is the Chinese character for Love - or as close as I could replicate it.

Our anniversary is Wednesday - the 24th. We'll be married 14 years. Seems so much shorter. We're going out to eat at La Carretta - Mexican restaurant.

Friday we're going to the opening reception of the PAQA-South Member's Show at the Page Walker Arts & History Museum in Cary. We're staying at Granny & Abbie's til Sunday morning so we can visit and not just run in and out. Hopefully we'll get to see Sarah, too. Keri took her to a neighborhood carnival yesterday and she got to ride a pony. I didn't get to join them, but Keri sent me some photos. Looks like she was having a blast!

Hopefully there will be more photos of our Cutie Patootie next week. Can't wait!

The Cube Gallery

I decided, since I don't hang my quilts at my house (no available wall space) that I would bring them to work and hang them in the cube farm, thus "The Cube Gallery". Also, I am preparing to send 3 of them off to shows, so this has given me an opportunity to see them all hanging around the office.

Here we have the outside of my cubicle, just to the left of the entrance. My "Self Portrait", the "Threadpainted Butterfly", and the "Lichen Tree". Our Deputy Director wants my "Self Portrait" because she says it feels like her. I suggested she give me some adjectives, likes, attitudes, other things and let me make one of/for her. She wants a larger one, anyway. She still likes mine so I will likely make one similar, but larger.


Here is the long wall outside my cube. From left to right we have "The Stories of Women Are Told In Their Hands" (which now 3 people have wanted to buy, but it hasn't even been entered in a show yet!), "Angel of Grief: A New Dawn for the People of New Orleans", my fake mola "Two Ducks, Two Lizards, and the Sun" (or something like that), "Steve's Trout", "Psychedelic Steve", and "Welcome Sarah". Interspersed are some postcards.


This shows the second section of cubes and it holds "Eye of the Gull", "Parrot Head", and "Paradise", which is the other piece the Deputy Director wants. yay! I will take it home and put a sleeve on it so she can hang it when she takes it home.


This is a not-well-known Matisse called "Coffee" that I recreated in fabric in Marilyn Belford's "Artist's Revisited" class several years ago. This is hanging outside Sinthia's cube. Sinthia is one of the people who wants my "Stories of Women" piece, so I suggested to her that she get someone to take photos of the hands/arms of who she wants in it and we will make one of her family. She loves that idea. She also wants me to make a piece for a friend's wedding present. Wow. 2 commissions and 2 sales! And another person was asking about the cards. I think the cards are great and a fabulous value - a little piece of art for next to no investment.


I thought this piece that I made in Lyric's demonstration at the retreat in Charlottesville would brighten up the fax area and give people something to look at while they are waiting to send or receive a fax.



And last, but not least, my fun convergence piece really brightens up my cube. I really like this here.
So, tonight I am taking them all home to put sleeves on those without (we all know how tedious it is to sew the sleeves and put labels on, so we don't do it until we have to). Then they'll be ready for whomever decides they can't live without them.
Terri, the Director, also said she wants two pieces in the hallway by her door - a rotating gallery. We can put slats in the back with that 3M tape that doesn't destroy the walls/paint and if it's on the slat, it won't hurt the quilt, either. What a great opportunity for exposure. I'm feeling very appreciated right now.


This is one of the birthday cards I made last week. I can't say who it's for because she might read this. But the Director also really liked it and said she might have to have it. I can always make one more! 8>)
I'm hoping to have time to make a lot of Christmas cards and that they will sell here. Also, some not-Christmas cards that people might want to give as gifts - those little pieces of art! Gosh - I'd better get to work. I'm taking tomorrow off to get the PAQA-S quilts prepared and shipped and then the JAQ ready to send to Houston. After all they've been through with Hurrican Ike, and to have to worry about getting the International Quilt Festival up and going. Which reminds me, I still haven't got my NC Beaches piece back from last year's JAQ exhibit. I'm sure I will get it soon.
So - here's to another weekend of productivity! and to hoping hubby goes fishing Saturday!

PAQA-South & just fun

Had a good and productive period last weekend. I spent 5 1/2 hours cleaning out my studio on Saturday. Whew. I nearly filled the giant trash can that the city provides. But I can now walk in there and look around and breathe - and actually envision or think about beginning something. I managed to make LaTonda's baby card and got 2 Xmas & 2 birthday cards fused.
On Sunday I cleaned out the old raggedy tomato & pepper plants. I also harvested my tarragon and dried that in the food dehydrator. This coming weekend I'll tackle what's left of the basil.


I was pleased to learn last week that two of my pieces, "Welcome Sarah" (only part of which is shown here) and "Psychedelic Steve" , were accepted into this year's PAQA-South's members show. I did the receiving of entries & cataloging and there will be some really spectacular work in this exhibit. The opening reception is Friday night, September 26 and it will run until Wednesday, October 29th. Steve and I are going up for the opening reception and Keri and Abbie will also most likely attend. It will be great to see some of the PAQA-South members again. As well as Abbie, Keri, Sarah & Granny & the new puppy. Now to get them packed up and ready to ship, along with the NC Forests Under Fire II for the IQF in Houston. I haven't received my JAQ piece from last year, although others have posted that they have. I guess it'll be here soon.

The woman who quilted my beautiful bed quilt brought in this twelve-step plan that her husband began and she edited. He calls our classes "Quilters Anonymous", which isn't all that original, but they actually came up with the steps. It's pretty cute and funny.

Quilters Anonymous - For Help With Fabriholism
12 Steps -
Jennifer Fouke

1. We: admitted we were powerless over fabric - that our lives had become unmanageable.
2. came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could get us to finish our UFO's.
3. made a decision to turn our will, our lives, and our entire paycheck over to the local quilt shop.
4. made a searching and fearless fabric inventory and shopped for more.
5. admitted to ourselves, and to anyone who would listen, the exact nature of our quilting.
6. were entirely ready to buy a bigger house just to have our own quilting room.
7. humbly ask that no one talks about our cut-off star points.
8. made a list of all persons we could give our quilts to, and became willing to give them away...if we ever get around to finishing them.
9. made direct threats, whenever possible, to any husband who touches our quilting shears.
10. continued to take fabric inventory and when we needed more, promptly admitted it.
11. sought through prayer and meditation to improve our understanding of working on 20 projects at once.
12. having had a spiritual quilting awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to other fabriholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

I think it's perfect!

Tomorrow we are having a baby shower for a coworker who is having a girl. I will post photos after I give her the baby quilt. I also got her a crib blanket and beautiful little outfit with cap, top & pants. The top is long-sleeved, but she's not due til October and it could be a lot cooler then. Will post photos later.

Quilts, Family, & fun!

What a busy weekend, and what fun! First - I am totally thrilled that the queen-sized bed quilt top I put together last summer ('07) is finally on our bed! Jennifer - who is taking my Artquilt 101 classes - has a longarm and is an excellent stitchmaven and agreed to quilt it for me. It's absolutely gorgeous and Steve is thrilled. Of course, something had to be wrong and that was that he'd preferred it to be about 6" wider, but he's still very happy with it. So - my first bed-sized quilt top - Turning Twenty! Don't you know I'd choose the very easiest pattern? But the fabrics are sumptuous and the quilting is exquisite. Thanks Jen!


Now "we've" decided to make each of the kids one for Christmas next year ('09). Just have to find out the colors they want. Peter and Jill saw it and Peter said, "I want one!" So that's good.

I had fun one afternoon last week playing with Ricky Timms' Convergence technique. He showed how to do the simple version on one of the recent shows on The Quilt Show and I had a couple of hours to play. He showed using 2 fabrics, but his were hand-dyed with lots of variation in color. I used 3 hand-dyes (dyed by Lyric Kinard) and blended them a little differently than he suggested, but it was fun. It's so unlike anything I do that no one knew what to think of it. Couldn't figure out what it was supposed to be. Well, it's not supposed to be anything - it's just supposed to "be".


I finally got to see my Cutie Patootie Saturday and Sunday. We filled her little pool and put out the Dora sprinkler and she had a blast. She loves to sing and makes up songs about anything. So here she is singing at the Metropolitan Pool Opera:





What a ham. She's only 3, so maybe she will choose a profession in the entertainment field and make her mom rich!

We had our Labor Day cookout yesterday, Sunday, so everyone could go home after lunch and still have a good bit of the weekend left (including us). Granny and Abbie came from Raleigh Sunday morning and brought Katie, the Cockapoo puppy. She's about 14 weeks old and weighs about as much as a minute. Just a little tiny bit of fluff. Sarah totally fell in love with her, as did Keri and I.

We had a black Cockapoo for 13 years and she was such a sweetheart. I'm envious, but we don't have a fenced-in yard and live on a very busy street, with an even busier one one house up the street. Our Sugar got run over chasing a car on Christmas Eve in 1993. I can't do that again. One day maybe Steve and I will have our farm and a fenced in yard for a dog.
But she certainly is a heart-stealer.


And now the end of the holiday weekend draws to an end. Steve said we needed to treat ourselves tonight, so I went out and bought a lobster. Holy Cow! This baby weighs just a hair under 4 lbs! She's a monster, but she's going to be delicious!

So - when's dinner? 8>)

Journal Art Quilt Project

I was so excited last week to learn that my quilt "North Carolina Forests - Under Fire II" was juried into the Journal Art Quilts Project "Elements: Earth, Wind, Water, Fire" that will open at the International Quilt Festival in House at the end of October. It will also be in the IQG in Chicago in the Spring and I guess the IQF at Long Beach in the summer. Wonder if they will go to Lowell, too, or if they are too close together. The 2007 exhibit was split - half went to Long Beach and half to Lowell. A friend in Lowell said she went to see the exhibit and was drawn to a piece with beaches when she looked up and saw my name. That was pretty cool.

I have to say that the whining and complaining on the QA Digest has been very disgruntling. People whose quilts were not accepted throwing little mini-tantrums because they didn't know "why" their quilt wasn't chosen. This was the first year that Karey Bresenhan, found of the JQ Project, decided to have it juried so she wouldn't be overrun with a thousand little quilts. People were not happy about that, but entered anyway. Obviously - everyone couldn't be chosen. I don't know why mine was, but I am thrilled. Some of the names of well-known people (not the whiners) whose quilts weren't chosen really surprised me and made even prouder that mine was accepted. I wish I could post a photo of the quilt, but not until the show opens.

So Saturday I spend half the day driving around Winston-Salem looking for paper foil. I went to Michaels, AC Moore, JoAnn's Fabric, and some other little place. Not one of them sold foil. I was so psyched about doing a picture of the Northern Lights using some cool foil. Nada. I went home and tried to paint them - but just didn't do it justice. I should have ordered it last week when I saw it online. I have ordered it now, so one of these days I will get back to it and try to capture that glowing, undulating mass of brilliant greens and irridescent purples.

I've also decided that I'm going to get started on my Christmas cards to get them out of the way. (Also because I'm teaching a class making them in October.) Then I will make my Christmas gifts and then I will have Christmas time to play. I want to really focus on the butterfly project. I have pretty much figured out what I want to do, but can't make myself go to it. I really want to clean up and reorganize my studio before I begin so I can think clearly. I need a place to store my quilts (the ones I can't hang around the house because there's nowhere to hang them). I think I will use a skirt hanger that I believe someone on the QA digest mentioned. It hangs straight down but has several bars with clips for hanging them flat. I also need to find a better place for my boombox and cd's. I'm thinking I'll clear off the top of the dresser and put them up there, out of the way. Right now they are on one of the twin beds beside the pile of quilts. Things have a way of encroaching on the quilts - especially as my music library increases. Well - that will be a couple of months away. Man, I just know that as soon as Labor Day comes and goes, Christmas will feel like it's a month away and will creep up on us too quickly.

No photos this time. I'm sure I'll have some next week as the whole family is coming for Labor Day, which means I get to see my Cutie Patootie again!

I started teaching a new class on threadpainting last night at Lynne's shop. I was actually better prepared for this one, having fused shapes onto background fabrics for them to practice beginning stitches on. They did well - they are all very good quilters, so that's no surprise. One of the students is particularly good and very fast. She will need to learn to slow down a bit, but I think next week when we move into making "real" stitches, she'll have to. I think it's a fun class and I think they'll be surprised at how well they will do and how much they will like it.

I finally got to Rocky Mount to see my quilt hanging in the Rocky Mount Arts Center (Imperial Centre). Steve drove and I was so happy that Keri and Abbie wanted to go with us. The building is an old tobacco warehouse that has been updated, but lots of things have been kept, like the old pipes and steam boiler, that give it so much charm. It's a very cool building

This is the sign you see when entering the gallery.

The gallery at the Arts Center is spacious and it was very well done. I was thrilled to see my quilt as one of the first pieces, hanging beside a painting the same size. They just looked so right - hanging there together. Judy Glover, from PAQA-South, also has a piece hanging in the show. Christine Zoller, whose work is fantastic, had a small, private wing to herself. Beautiful work.

This is so cool - mostly because I rarely get to see my work actually hanging in the show. It's a thrill to be juried into one, but then you just roll it up and ship it out and it's gone for a month or even a year, then it comes back. You have no interaction with it during that period. You don't know if it likes where it is hanging, whether the pieces on either side of it are playing nice with it, whether it is tucked away in some hidey hole where no one really notices it, or whether it is in a terribly lit place that makes it feel a bit woozy. You just don't know because you can't see it. It's always such a boon when someone from the Quiltart Digest attends a show and takes a photo for you, like my friend Karen did at the Schweinfurth last year. Speaking of the Schweinfurth, it's just about that time again...


So anyway, I think NC Forests Under Fire likes being next to this lovely painting. Maybe it thinks it's a firetruck. Color is right...

So here is a closeup. This was the second Forest Fire quilt I did. The first was totally practice and terrible, but I learned so much from that. Then I made this one and I learned even more. This was not right, as I saw it in my head. It was okay, but it wasn't just right. I have made the third and I think this one is just right. Unfortunately, I can't post it now because I'm waiting to hear if it is juried into the Journal Art Quilts project for the International Quilt Festival in Houston. I'll get that much anticipated email next week - Friday, I believe. Anxious.

There is a company called Artomat that bought up a bunch of old cigarette machines. They have placed them in very cool places, such as the Rocky Mount Arts Center, and they sell little boxes of art. Actually, you have to buy a token ($5.00) to purchase your little piece of art. Most of it is in a small box the size of a cigarette pack. Some of them have a little description above their slot that gives you a hint of what might be inside. Some of them are just a five dollar crap shoot. I bought a couple of tokens and gave Keri one. She got a cool block of wood (cigarette pack size) that had been painted and had a very simple, but cool, design drawn on it. I got this. I don't know who made it, but it was exactly right. Okay, I could have purchased a plate with the same design from the dollar store, but it wouldn't have come from an old cigarette machine with little boxes of hand-made art. And it wouldn't have been so serendipitously perfect.

We saw this lovely bit of roadside patchwork on the way back to Raleigh from Rocky Mount. I thought it had wonderful potential for an art quilt.

Back at Granny's and we had a lovely afternoon on the patio sipping wine and watching the hummingbirds fight over the feeder. Keri and Abbie and I played Scrabble and by then the wine was so relaxing that my brain went numb. I certainly didn't win. I didn't even come in second. But I really didn't care.

Steve's Mom and Abbie went up to Bridgehampton for Memorial Day and brought back several old quilts. Granny (Steve's mom) is 91 years old. Her grandmother made this quilt. It has some damage and shouldn't be used, but Abbie just wanted to show it to us. I would have told her sooner had I known we would be using it for our blanket. Needless to say, there weren't a lot of queen-sized beds back in the day this was made. We were both "short-sheeted". It's a lovely old piece and should be restored.

I didn't get to see my cutiepatootie Sarah over the weekend. She was with her dad. I really miss that little munchkin.

So - this weekend I have a ton of things to do. Seems August 22nd is the magic day this month. Receive the email from JAQ, get my Abstracts Dancing quilt ready to ship off on Monday to the Threadlines exhibit at the University of Missouri, get some good photos of one of my quilts to submit to the Schweinfurth (only one is the right size), and try to finish my piece for the PAQA-South Member's Show - Reflections. Not sure it's going to work, but I still have the vision, so I'm going to keep trying. Busy busy busy!

It's been a couple of weeks since I last blogged because I didn't want to post anything without the photos. Now I have them and can add a bit more interest. There is still not a lot happening this summer. Kind of boring, actually.

First I want to post my piece for Breaking Traditions' "With One Voice" exhibit that will be held in Novi, Michigan, in November. The $10 registration fee will be donated to the American Cancer Society for Virginia Spiegel. The exhibit will travel to several cities - I believe there are 3 in Michigan at this time - before returning home to me. It is in the car and ready to be taken to the post office today.

Here is a photo of my art quilt:

"With One Voice" was created to celebrate those people or agencies or organizations who do good for the community, the county, the country, whether it is thanking your neighbor for shoveling your driveway or an organization you'd like to thank for doing something wonderful.

NC Kids Adoption and Foster Care Network is the organization I want to thank, even though it's also my employer. We are the Resource Exchange for the NC DSS where all social workers register their foster children who are legally free for adoption. Our Family Service Reps answer questions to families about the North Carolina children and the NC process of becoming foster or adoptive families. I personally write the profiles of the children and scan their photos. This is all put into our Photo Adoption Listing Service (PALS), on http://www.adoptnckids.org/, http://www.adoptuskids.org/, and http://www.adoption.com/. When a familiy interested in adopting sees a child they feel a connection with, they call us (1-877-625-4371) and our FSR's work with them. We successfully assisted in 30 adoptions in the last year and are thrilled to have made a difference. So here's to NC Kids!

I found a photograph on Flickr that I flipped over and wanted to try to adapt to fabric. I contacted the photographer through her blog and she emailed me with permission to use the photo. So now I had to figure out how to create ocean foam on a wet sandy beach. I posted to the Quilt Digest and received numerous suggestions from using Angelina fibers to melting celophane, to using cheesecloth, Solvey water soluble stabilizer, and threadpainting. I gathered the information all together and visualized how it might work out.

I had 5 yards of Vilene, which is a heavier water soluble stabilizer than Solvey (used a lot by needle felters), and used it doubled, as suggested by Heidi Lund. Heidi's suggestions most closely correlated with what was in the back of my mind. She said to use the water soluble stuff doubled, and to use different threads and metallic thread. She said that if I didn't rinse ALL of the stabilizer out, it might be easier to shape and retain the shape. Well - she was right. Here is the first part of that process:

I hooped this in an 8" wooden hoop to prevent too much draw up. I used a gold/brown towel on the background so it would show up better, but the lacey foam is pretty delicate. I used a white shiney polyester thread first, then highlighted it with Sulky's Sliver Metallic. Here is a closeup - if it helps:

This is just a practice piece and the first step, so the final one won't be so round. I will add color and some other things for a surprise. Hint: those holes were intentional and will be filled! We'll see how it goes after this weekend.

Speaking of this weekend, I hope to drive to the Rocky Mount Arts Center to view the exhibit and see my "North Carolina Forests Under Fire" quilt. The VCR in our bedroom died over the past weekend and we've trying to decide what to do. New TV- wait - he's been pacing about it all week. So - maybe I'll get to see the show this week and maybe not. And maybe I can post a photo next week of the show.