Challenge

Hey Folks,

Do you remember this quilt?

I made it out of hand-dyed fabric for the Christ Church Episcopal fund raiser last month. Well...

Before I made the above quilt, I cut all the fabric into two inch strips,which, by the way, can be very limiting.  I decided I had to challenge myself to use the rest of the fabric in a creative way.

I am preparing for a show at Ceres Bakery in December. Lately, I've been working very large and in black and white. I've gone back to color, working small and liberating myself and am pleased with what is happening. I'm working around the idea of "Musings". Each little quilt top is made in one sitting and has yet to be quilted. Here is the start of my latest creative endeavor. Enjoy.

Musing: thoughtfully abstracted

I have my work cut out for me before December but hope to have a nice little show put together by then. If your in the area, please stop by Ceres Bakery and enjoy a coffee and their delicious pastries.

The Quilt

A few days ago,

I started quilting on my friend Cynthia's quilt,

when a little friend decided to pay me a visit. I was wondering what he was up too...

when he let me know!

I took a break from quilting today to be creative a different way.

I really enjoy making and sending hand-made postcards from all the left over scraps being a textile artist produces. Here are a few samples of some postcards Sophie and I made.

And last, here is a pin which was recently found.

Enough said!

Summer Break is Over!

What a busy summer, working at McGough & Co  in Whitefish, Montana; re-landscaping the yard and spending time in the studio. Of course time in the studio is at a premium as there are other responsibitlies that seem to take priority.

One project I was able to complete is a large lap quilt for a silent auction fund raiser for Christ Church Episcopal here in Kalispell.

The quilt I made measures 48" x 80" so it's long and narrow. It is based on the pattern "Strip It Three Ways" by Nancy Rink Designs.  This is the "Weave" pattern from the packet. The original quilt pattern finishes at 42" x 58" so I added a few more pieces to make it a little larger. I used my hand-dyed fabrics for the top and backing.

My friend and fellow quilter, Carl Rohr, also donated a quilt for the silent auction. He used the Twister Tool to make this fun, colorful quilt.

Twister Quilt by Carl Rohr

Carl is an awesome quilter and teacher and has quite a following here in Northwest Montana. He is creative and quite prolific and my guess is that he has made well over 400 quilts. (Carl, feel free to correct me.)

I must also add

HAPPY BIRTHDAY WYATT

Our oldest treasure turns 16 today. We planned to have a surprise breakfast for him but he found out. The only candles I had in the house were two stars and a zero. We just told him it was binary for "16". 

We do birthday pie instead of birthday cake and as you can see, the huckleberries decided they were going to run all over. Fortunately I made precautions.

Wyatt, you are a joy and we love you. Happy Birthday Son.

Below is some of the awesome, fantastic, wonderful, amazing friends helping Wyatt celebrate.

Back L to R: Alex Weed, Kelsey Weed, Parker Kouns, Clayton Clostio
Front L to R: Mikey Christensen and Wyatt Dykhuizen
Not Pictured: Sydney Boveng 

Crazy Kids!

So Excited

Dahlia Quilt is going to Houston!

I am honored to announce that my Dahlia quilt was one of 355, out of 602 entries, to be accepted in the 

International Quilt Festival Show

in Houston, Texas.

Thank you all.

Sisters, Oregon

Just returned from my first visit to Sisters, Oregon where I attended the wonderful Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show with my fake wife Emily and her daughter Molly. (Emily is a friend and fellow quilter and our daughters attended preschool together several years ago before Emily and her family moved to Reardan, WA.)

L to R; Me, Sophie, Molly and Emily Coleman

We had a fun time traveling together. Next time we'll have to take the rest of our families along.

We met other friends of ours, Roger and Tammy Kramer, in Bend, OR where we stayed in a lovely home through a 

home exchange. It was a fantastic experience.

Tammy and Roger Kramer

The Stiichin' Post, host of the SOQS

Famous Side View of The Stitchin' Post

There were so many beautiful quilts. I couldn't stop thinking about the quilt pictured below. It has to be my favorite.

I believe the quilt was made by Maren Johnaton of Santa Barbara, CA.

Detail #1

Detail #2

 The piecing and the colors are just exquisite.

While staying in Bend, we all enjoyed the Bend Summer Festival.

Pad Thai with Chicken and a delicious Deschutes Beer.

A flight of refreshing Deschutes Beer. YUM!

Summer Festival Beer Stand.

Molly and Sophie 
There is so much to so and see in Bend and Sisters Oregon the second week in July. Think about checking it out yourself sometime.  Thanks for stopping by and until next time, Peace.

Silk Scarves

My friend Kelly wanted to dye some silk scarves so I got the dyes out yesterday. I found a few in my own stash that needed some color. Here is the result.

Sophie dyed the second and fifth scarf from the left.

Detail of first scarf on the left

Detail of the scarf fifth from the left. Dyed by Sophie.

Really large scarves/shawls. I used a shibori technique for the scarf on the right.

It appears we used a lot of orange this time around. I also dyed some cotton but I wasn't happy with the result. My dye powders are old and tired so for Father's Day I order new dyes. There will be lots of dyeing in the studio this summer.

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!

Summertime Yard Work

I keep getting friendly reminders from Facebook that I have not posted in a while and that my "followers" are getting anxious to hear from me. I don't know how much truth there is to that statement but I'm posting today to let you know what I've been up too!

YARD WORK!!!

We have neglected our yard for the last five or so years with the exception of mowing. Even then, we don't water our lawn so mowing comes to an end mid July or so when the grass burns up. Makes life so much simpler. Everyone else's lawn is nice and green and our lawn is brown. Oh well.

When you build your home on the side of a hill, there is no flat area to enjoy so we had our friend John do some excavating for us, which, incidentally, leads to a lot of work.

In preparation for excavating, I had to take up some retaining wall block that I had used below the hill. That led me to rework the area around our fountain.

In the above photo you'll notice a bare area in the upper left. There were three quaking aspen trees living quite happily until they got diseased. They were beyond the point of saving so we had to take them out. That opened up room for the path down to the fire pit area.

New Pathway

Flat ground for enjoying mountain views and fall campfires.

The CAD truck is coming tomorrow with a load of topsoil to finish off the lawn.

John needed some fill for the fire pit area so he took it from this hillside. I then had to build a couple of retaining walls. I guess you could say I've been piecing with bricks and rocks.

The area between the retaining walls will be a new perennial garden.

Front view of new retaining wall.

Front view of new rock retaining wall.

There is still lots to do. 

On the west side of the house, we had the hill pushed out to open it up and allow us access to the back of the house. We can now get a vehicle into our yard if we need too.

Soil in Montana sucks. It is so full of rocks. Rock that have to be picked up and moved someplace else which makes me sore and tired. UGH! I think my next quilt is going to have a rock theme. We are going to have some 3/4 crush (or gravel for you novices) put down but the bigger rocks need to get picked up or they will just rise to the top. 

For those of you visiting this summer, guess what you will be doing?

I hope you enjoyed this post. Have a wonderful summer and come join us around the campfire.

Not much going on!

Y'all are probably sick of looking at this quilt, so I will relieve you by saying it is finished. I completed the quilt in April and am pleased to say I put my IQA entry packet in the mail earlier this month.

Finished Dahlia Quilt

Below is a detail view of the finished quilt. You can see a small portion of the 3322 Swarovski Crystals I applied to the background individually, by hand, thank you very much. I will find out on or around July 16 if my quilt is chosen as a finalist.

Detail

Now that "Dahlia Quilt" is finished, I am back to working on UFO's. I started an applique quilt a couple of years ago called "Country Sunshine" and I'm bound and determined to get it completed.  Here are a couple of block photos. I used my own hand-dyed fabric on a black background.

I've neglected the yard for the last five years it seems. Now it is time to give it some attention. Quilting may have to take a back seat for awhile.

Re-landscaping

I realized this morning that I'm too old to dig up concrete blocks from one side of the yard and haul them to the other side. Now I have to put them all back in place in their new spot. So glad there is Motrin!

I hope you are having a wonderful, creative day!

1610

Work continues on the Dahlia quilt. I have completed the quilting and trimmed the quilt and am now in the process of adhering approximately 3200 red Swarovski crystals on the background.

I started with 1940 crystals and have 300 left and I'm only half way!

I wasn't sure what design to quilt on the red background so I settled on a 1" grid. Adding Swarovski crystals at every intersection keeps the look and feel of the quilt contemporary.

A few of the 1610 crystals I've applied to the background so far.

I can't wait to get this quilt completed. I'm waiting for another 10 gross of crystals to arrive in the mail. It gets somewhat tedious applying these little gems but it is something I must do. 

The pictures really don't do the quilt justice but I'm really pleased with the result.

Peace to you.

Brian