Misc

Sometimes I enjoy doing just a small quilt project for "between" moments and painting lets me do that without a big investment of time.

Recently I painted 2 small quilts and I'll share them here with you. 

The first is called Winter Lake--it's done from a picture taken at Glacier Nat Park.  I loved the colors of the water and trees. 

The second is a remake of a small quilt called "Bailey".  This cute little dog quilt keeps making its way to other people's houses and I decided to make a replacement.

Below you can see the start of the painting process.

As usual it took longer than I thought, but it's finally finished.

Here is the design stage of the star. I kept re-drawing it to get the angles the way I wanted them.The center section of the star is the same glitzy stuff as the area between the sections.

I will admit that all of the "wonderful" ideas that I have don't turn out quite the way I would have imagined them.  This one is of that variety.  I do like the finished look, but the dreams were better....:)

detail:

Christmas is coming--wait, it's almost here. I'm trying to finish a "tree".

Here are some of the steps along the way...

The background sky area is woven on a 1" grid, diagonally.

I built the backgrounds in separate sections which will be attached at the end of the process.

This is all 5 sections quilted, but not yet attached.

Here is the edge treatment between the sections...more to come

I have one more thing to make before I can attach all of the sections.

Hopefully in 1 to 2 days it'll be done--then I can deck the halls.

Cat Tails is the result of an idea that has been rolling around in my head for a couple of years. I had previously done a quilt of this baby tiger and that scene had no tail...I decided to feature the tail in this one.

The background sky is an experiment with a couple of gradation fabrics I found at PIQF.

The ground is my Mosaic method.

We found a tiny frog on the cat tails in a trip to the marsh so he became a hidden feature in this quilt too.

Tails, tails.

Mosaic Landscape Quilts book

It's like putting together a puzzle.

An easy square by square method to create beautiful picture quilts

You'll be amazed watching your picture become a work of art.

Once you learn the techniques--you'l be able to use your own favorite photos to create a stunning quilt.

It's been a few years since my first Mosaic book.  It has become very hard to find and I have no more stock.

SO--I decided to write another book teaching my mosaic method.  I made 5 new little quilts to use as projects for the book and dealt with some variations that might be helpful in creating your own piece.

Hope you will try this.  I hope you'll try this; it's a fun way to create a picture quilt!

My quilt "Sunlight in the Forest" made the trip to the La Conner Quilt & Textile Museum in Washington state.  It was given the honor of 2nd place in the pictorial division of the show.  I was interested in the type of award that they gave.  This lovely little glass ornament showing a silhouette of the old victorian when the museum is housed. http://www.laconnerquilts.org/2015-quilt--fiber-art-festival.html 

As you know, I usually don't make "bed quilts".  Once in a while I do go back to my roots and give it a try.  This one has been in the works (more off than on) for 2 or 3 years.  Now it's finally at the quilting stage.  It's way BIG.  So I thought I'd give you a look at the set up I use for a big quilt.

My sewing desk opens up to about a 40" x 60" area.  I started there, but soon found that the quilt would fall off the back edge and pull against me.  So I put a small folding table at the back that almost fills to the edge of the room.  This holds the weight of the quilt back there.  I then pull out the left hand drawer on my desk and put a hard plastic cover over that, so that the weight to the left is supported somewhat.

Then I just wad the quilt up to stuff through the space in the machine and wrestle with the quilt to get it to the area I am working on at the time.

Obviously this isn't ideal.  However, it does get the job done and makes it possible to use my little machine to do a big job.I'll be really glad to get this done - I really need a new spread for my bed. :)

Quilt Odyssey at Hershey PA was held recently and I'm happy to report that Sunlight in the Forest won a 3rd place award.

It's always so exciting to have people appreciate my work.  The quilt is soon to be exhibited at LaConner Museum in Washington state.

Here's the quilt and the ribbon.

My Fiber Art Friends group won 3rd place at Grand Rapids Ultimate Guild Challenge.  what fun!

After much use even loved pieces need to be replaced.  I decided that it was time to toss the old pillows on my couch and make new ones.  I decided on a satin that matches my curtains.  It also matches the sky in many of the quilts that will hang in the living room.  Satin may not be the best choice but I love the lush look.  Here's a few steps along the way.

First the actual quilting process.

Next, I did wavy lines for the back and overlapped the opening for ease of inserting the pillow.

Then we have the completed piece...I like it...I hope it holds up well.