Spoonflower Fat Quarters on Sale

I just got an email from Spoonflower that they are having a sale on fat quarters. Hooray!! The only downside is that I just ordered two yesterday. Oh well, can't pass up a sale. I'm ordering more today. Good until November 9th. I'm so there. Print-on-demand is one of my favorite things. I'm off to order. I have a piece due by the end of the month and I think I know what I will do...more to be revealed.

No photo just yet. But you can place your own order at www.spoonflower.com. My favorite print-on-demand source.

"Splash" is Done Except for the Quilting

Splash is finished except for the quilting. I added lots of decorative stitches around the border in a variety of colors since what had been done within the interior of the blocks was not as visible as I had hoped. It will soon be finished.

It started out as four blocks which were then quartered and rearranged before being sewn back together, then decorative stitching was added. Next the pieces were put back together into four wonky blocks. Colorful decorative stitching was added. 

Just a fun project to show off stitching, which I enjoy dong. Stitching is mesmerizing...stitch, stitch, stitch and that is the gateway to a trance-like state where all things become possible. Stitching is nirvana to me. I would do it all of the time if I could.

Grand Rivers Challenge with Stitching

Here is a section of the Grand Rivers Challenge for April with the embroidery stitching (in yellow). I love this piece, perhaps because I love embroidered circles. It isn't due until April, but then again it isn't quilted yet.

Grand Rivers

This is the beginning of my piece for the Grand Rivers April 2017 Challenge. It will  be 24"x24" and will feature black, white, and one other color (yellow). It is not yet fused or quilted but it is basically begun. I have until April to complete the piece.

The quilt festival runs concurrent with the American Quilters Society Show in Paducah in April. I have advised the sponsors of the Grand Rivers Challenge that I will donate this piece to their scholarship program through their Chamber of Commerce at the conclusion of the show. 

Oscar is Finished

Oscar is now finished. It took ordering more Kaffe Fassett fabrics from both Hancock's of Paducah and Missouri Star Company, but the appropriate finishing fabrics were located and he is now complete.  I used a simple gridwork for the quilting design and a facing instead of a binding.

Remember When

Here is Remember When, based on Gloria Loughiman's book "Symphony Quilts".  It took a long time to get to the quilting stage but its very worth it. This, too, has been quilted by the very talented Sharon Brooks of Glendale, AZ. It is one of my favorite pieces with the muted colors and crochet pieces from the past.

Diva Wallet Class

This is a "Diva Wallet" I made in a class at Cholla Chapter of the Arizona Quilters Guild in Mesa, AZ. This purple, turquoise and green batik fabric wallet holds credit cards, bills and change. It is a gift for my daughter and only took two hours to create. The snap closure holds everything together.

Spiral

This is the beginning of a Susan Carlson-inspired spiral from her book, Serendipity Quilts: Cutting Loose Fabric Collage. I took her class at Quiting in the Desert in Phoenix in January, 2016. This is how the spiral begins. Two colors of scrap fabrics (opposite on the color wheel preferably), glued down on to muslin. I experimented with Roxanne's Glue Baste-It and found it very useful. Next you add more fabric strips.   

Spiral Beginning

This unique blend of purple and orange goes great

together, don't you think? This spiral of colors is 

really a very satisfying effect. The tulle, which is

added later, makes it appear multi-

dimensional.

Finished base

Stitching down the tulle

I used my walking foot when stitching down the

tulle. It helps to glide over the surface in a circular motion.

Trimming away tulle.

Oscar

When you look at this colorful piece of work, doesn't it inspire you to make a quilt? I love the bold, bright colors. I can imagine this turtle taking off, swimming through the water.

I named him Oscar because I worked on him during the Academy Awards show. It is a Susan Carlson project and I loved being in her class at Quilting in the Desert. I've made many of her patterns and this is my latest one in progress. You can see that he is only laying on top of the hand dyed fabric.

Image printed on muslin

Included are some of the images of the progression of the piece so you can see how it went together... As you can see, he isn't finished, but I am mid-move to Ohio and he is in one of the many boxes. He will reappear in a later post in all of his glory.

Turtle Paw

Alternate background

Marianne's Dragon Quilt

This is the dragon quilt I made for my nail technician, Marianne, who loves dragons. She recently left Beauty Brands to become an insurance agent. We wish her well. She and I shared many stories of our aging parents. Love you, girl.

I used the same fabrics from Jason's "Frenemies" quilt to make this smaller version for Marianne, used a nine-patch center and surrounded it with piano keys of varied lights and darks. It's 30" x 30".

Natalie's Lime/Black Day of the Dead

Day of the Dead
for Natalie, my colorist

This piece is for Natalie, my colorist, who shares my love of the Day of the Dead theme. Natalie is responsible for the purple hair which I adore so much. 

The piece is about 20" square. 

Self-Portrait Class with Terry Waldron

My dear friend Barbara and I decided on a whim to take a self-portrait class during AQG Quiltweek in Phoenix at the end of January. I have mine started, but alas not yet finished, however I'm including a work-in-progress by my friend Barbara. It's a wonderful beginning and I'm so proud of her efforts. Now I need to get back to mine.

Barbara Jansen Landscape Art

Barbara Jansen landscape art

Took a class with an award-winning local art quilter Barbara Jansen. We've been friends for years and I took a class from her many years ago also. A group of us "buds" wanted to spend a Saturday afternoon together over at Scottsdale Quilts so we worked on these small pieces. I framed mine on an 11" x 14" artist canvas so that it would be off-set from the wall when hung. I was very pleased with the end result.

Petunia has also been quilted!!

Petunia has also been quilted by the masterful Sharon Brooks. Petunia is such a fun novelty fish. She is 29" x 22". I have included some close-up shots so that you can see how she has been quilted. This piece was embellished with Shiva Paintsticks and fern and bubble stencils over a soft pastel batik. You are familiar with my love of intense, vivid color so you must realize this was a stretch for me. I do think she turned out well, however. The plants at the bottom are fashioned from Kaffe Fassett fabrics and add an element of whimsy to the overall look. Isn't she a fashionable fish?

Goldie Has Been Quilted!!

Goldie was lovingly quilted by Sharon Brooks. She measures 38" x 25.5".

Chocolate Truffles in Progress

This is a photo of Chocolate Truffles in progress. I have the machine appliqué all done and it is ready for the quilting now. What do you think of color combinations?

If you look back at the June 16 post, you can see the Chocolate Truffles mug rug in progress for the holiday exchange. It was a practice piece for this larger one. I was auditioning the shapes and colors to see how I liked them. I did decide to use a variety of thread colors, brown, pinks and blues to enhance the stitching.  The quilting will add a lot to the overall design. I'll be sure to post it once that is done.

Marianne's Dragon

As you can see, I have started another dragon quilt, smaller than my son's (and easier than his nearly queen-size one) but it uses the leftover fabrics and is being done for my manicurist, Marianne. Here is a photos of hers in progress. Next, it needs to be quilted. I selected the dueling dragons as the center motif of the piece and put a piano keys border on it. The nine-patches are constructed from the same fabrics as the border. and were cut with the Accuquilt GO Baby. The back will feature the dragon fabric as well. I will name this one Dueling Dragons.

Frenemies

Just a brief snapshot of Jason's dragon quilt which I call Frenemies. It was presented to him on Thanksgiving and hopefully will be hung in his home office. The dragons are drawn with Sharpie pen by my friend Lee Elking to mimic the dragons in the fabrics. It was quilted with brown Masterpiece thread by Sharon Brooks and was several years in the making. Jason loved dragons and was an avid Dungeons and Dragons player in his youth. The choice of dragons as the subject of his quilt are representative of that time in his personal history.

Jon's T-shirt Quilt

This is the T-shirt quilt I made for my brother Jon. It has many of the t-shirts he got from shooting competitions, turkey shoots, bow hunting and things like that. I've never done a t-shirt quilt before and it was quite a joy to do it for him. I chose a wolf-patterned flannel for the backing fabric because he wanted to be kept warm with it in the cold Indiana winters. I also used RealTree fabric for the sashing. The camouflage sashing really seemed to complement the t-shirts. I presented it to him on Thanksgiving day in Indiana.

Wolf Quilt

My latest interest is in walking foot quilting and in this image, I took a simple panel of a wolf head and did "matchstick quilting" on it using my walking foot. There is a Craftsy online class about using your walking foot. It was great fun and here it is for you to consider.