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.

Labor Day Project

It's Labor Day Weekend and I have a project to do. Jill. the VP of our local quilt guild, has issued a Kit Challenge due at the Christmas meeting in December. We are to bring in a quilt pattern (can be a purse or tote or whatever, as long as it is quilted) kit that we have purchased somewhere along the way and haven't touched, bring it in, have it recorded and if we complete it by the Christmas holiday meeting, we win a chance to be entered into a drawing for several prizes.

I brought in the Melinda Bula Geranium kit. I purchased it at Road to California in 2010 when my friend Barbara and I took the Rose class from Melinda. Yes, I intended to rush home and do it immediately, after all that's why I bought the kit isn't? But it didn't happen. But AHA, I pulled out of my quilting closet, took it into the Challenge meeting and decided to doit over the long weekend.

Here are some photos of the progress I have made so far...

You've seen the progression from yesterday through today. Tomorrow I will put the finishing touches on with fusible and then all that remains will be the quilting. I'm liking it a lot so far. What do you think of it?