Back in the studio!

I'm back from my summer of driving shuttle buses in Glacier National Park and ready to work in the studio. And what better way to begin than by doing a commissioned quilt for my friend Sherry. 

A couple of hours in the fabric store resulted in these beautiful batiks.

 The fabric has been cut and is ready to sew. 

Strip sets have been made and are ready to cut for nine-patches.

The nine patches are done and the blocks are ready to sew together.

The first four rows are sewn together for the upper left corner of the quilt. (Notice the rows are sewn together on the diagonal so the blocks are all on point.)
Stay tuned for more progress pictures in the coming days. 

The pattern Sherry chose is from the book Tradition with a Twist by Blanche Young and her daughter Dalene Young Stone. I told myself that I was never going to make the same quilt twice. However this will be my third Blooming Nine-Patch quilt. I love this pattern for the effects one can achieve with color. I did change the pattern by adding an extra row of nine-patch blocks therefore using nine fabrics instead of eight as called for in the pattern.

Inspiration

I haven't posted anything in awhile. I have been busy quilting quilts for other people. I do want to share some inspiration with you though.

There is an art quilt here somewhere just waiting to get made.

The roses were at my friend Cynthia's house. There are truly stunning. Right light, right moment, I really enjoyed photographing them.

Quilt Progress

I just got back from The UPS Store. My entries for the 2013 AQS show are on their way to Paducah! I believe awards are going to be announced Tuesday, April 23. It would be nice to win a little prize but I consider it an honor just to have 2 quilts accepted in this years' AQS show.

Currently on my design wall is Dave and Christy's wedding quilt. (I think they've been married for five or six years already!) 

It has over 5300 pieces and is taking some time to sew together. The pattern is from Judy Martin's "Log Cabin Quilt Book", an excellent resource for Log Cabin Quilts.

Here are samples of the two main blocks. The four blocks on the top are complete. The six on the bottom were unfinished when this picture was taken.

Below you can see the pattern coming together. I have three rows completed with the fourth in progress. There is a pieced border to add yet as well.

This project has not been without challenges. I have to trim one set of the blocks for some reason and I sewed the sashing pieces together on a different machine than the blocks so the seam allowances were off just a bit. I have to go back and tweak 84 sashing pieces to fit the blocks. I'm not a perfect quilter after all. Even without having to correct mistakes, I've got a few quilt friends who let me know how imperfect I am!

Bold Vision

There is a nice article in our local paper about me this morning. Here is the link.

Daily Interlake


I thought I'd include in this post a photo of one of my hand-dyed fabrics. This is from a couple years ago. Seeing this really makes me want to dye some more fabric...Maybe during Spring Break!

Hand-dyed fabric

Paducah, Kentucky!

Way back in January, I prepared a couple of entry forms for the American Quilter's Society annual quilt show in Paducah, Kentucky. I have never entered this show before so I thought I'd give it chance. According to the entry rules, notifications were going to be sent out the first week of March.

Yesterday in the mail, I received two large manila envelopes (which were actually white, not manila)  from the American Quilter's Society. I was quite pleased with the size of the envelopes as rejection letters usually come in your standard business size. These being large white manila envelopes got me to thinking that I wasn't going to be despised and rejected (subtle Handel reference) by a jury of my peers.

But you never know until you read the fine print!

 As you can see by the fine print, (Thank the good Lord above)  I have two quilts accepted to the American Quilter's Society annual quilt show in Paducah, Kentucky.

So first things first, I had to make myself a celebratory Martini. You'll noticed that one of the accepted quilts serves as a nice background!

Unfortunately, as of this writing , I have no plans to go to Paducah to enjoy the show myself so I will just have to interrogate the quilts upon their return.

Now for the accepted entries:

Composition in Black and White 

And

Twist and Turns

I hope some of you will have the chance to see the quilt show in Paducah.

I love kickin' it with you!

At the beginning of February I was in Glacier Quilts getting some supplies when I happened upon these guys.

By Alexander Henry Fabrics

Consequently I brought these boys home and put them in this mess and forgot about them until last weekend.








I bought enough to make three pillowcases for some very lucky friends! Sweet Dreams.

Chocolate Love

Because quilting is such and aerobic activity, I have recently made the decision to go on a long term low-carb diet AGAIN! As a Type II diabetic, I have also decided to give up wheat altogether (life change) and I love bread slathered with a shitload of butter (so it's a difficult life change). 

My favorite coffee shop masquerades as a bakery or is it the other way around? Do you know how hard it is to walk in to Ceres Bakery  and just get a decaf? It is torture. Especially when the Sweet Potato Sticky Buns are sitting there in all their lovely nutty gooeyness and the Lemon Ricotta Crostata's are just waiting to be ordered because besides being delicious, it's just fun to say Lemon Ricotta Crostata! I won't even mention the Mixed- Berry Cheese Danish or the Better than a Blueberry Muffin or the Chocolate Croissants or the French Bread or the Current- Rosemary Levain...Sigh!

However, there is one thing I absolutely, positively won't give up, and that is CHOCOLATE! Susan and I were in the organic section of the grocery store looking over the chocolate selection when a lovely couple told us about the Almond and Sea Salt chocolate bar from Chocolove. We picked one up, opened it in the car on the way home from the store and have been in love with them ever since. AMAZING! If you haven't had one, stop what you are doing and go by one right now. Hurry. What are you waiting for? Go. You won't be sorry. One bar has three servings, or one really big serving depending on your mood or time of the month. They've been on sale lately so I've been stock piling them. Today I counted 11. 

I have made a resolution to have chocolate every day. Thank you Chocolove. I love you. (One serving only has 9 grams of carbohydrate)

What does this have to do with quilting? Absolutely nothing. I just wanted to tell you all about Chocolove Chocolate Bars and Ceres Bakery.

Wait a second!

Ceres Bakery displays work from local artists every month. I've had the privilege of displaying my art quilts there. Thanks Hannah.

There is the quilting connection!