This is a jacket I just finished. I used hand dyed fabrics and sliver thread as well as tiny rick-rack 

We have one of the most beautiful Libraries. This is the center of the floor. Look closely as there is a gold pendalum that is suspended from the ceiling. Looking up, you can see the time with horses running around the clock in one second incriments. 

This is a picture of my Free at Last Quilt hanging in the Library show. I know, you have seen it before! 

QUANDRY!!

Every time I see someone demo a new technique I always have to try it in a small version. So, I saw Esterita Austin demonstrating her techniques on Simply Quilts, and she even offered a pattern on the HGTV site. Well, what fun. Her techniques simply enhance the way I do my quilts. So, I will encorporate some of the things she does and that will simplify my technique.

Ever since I finished my last big quilt I have been playing and searching. Flooded with ideas, but ones that I haven't been able to single out and persue. So, I decided to take my own advice, and scheduled a planning session for our Art Quilt group that meets once a month. We brought lots of magazines and used a paper frame to go thru the magazines and make lots of tracings to record all the ideas that we came up with.
It was so much fun as many of the ladies had never heard of using this technique, and just didn't know how to get those abstract ideas out of their head and on to paper. Next month I will take my overhead projector so that if needed we can enlarge whatever idea we settle on. At least it is a start and we will all end up with a very small quilt to show, in three months. There really isn't anything new in the quilting world. It just depends on how you interpret an idea!

COLD! COLD! COLD!

It was 13 degrees night before last, and only in the 30ies during the day. So, I have just sequestered myself and got quite a bit of work done. One exception!!! my early morning trip to JoAnne to buy some batiks at 50% off. Well, that was a mistake. After waiting in the cutting line for about 15 to 20 minutes I decided the extra 20% was not worth an hour or so wait and left, and went back in the afternoon and got what I wanted without the long wait. I just used my 10% card from the American Quilt Society, and still felt like I got a real bargan.

Today, I am going to make a trip to Hancocks as they have all quilting fabric on sale also for 50% off. Am I a FABRICHOLIC or what? Like I really need fabric. I just need more room to put it!!!!!!!!! Fabric is the only thing I would brave the cold for, except maybe food if I was really starving.

I am going to make a Resolution for the upcoming year. That is to really work on the quality of my quilting. My guess is it just takes more practice. I do pretty well, but when I get a big quilt under the machine no matter how careful I am, the weight will shift from time to time and the quilting stitch gets off until I can stop and readjust. I also am going to make a RESOLUTION to be more patient. If I am working on a big piece, I get in a hurry to finish and think I am not as precise as I was when the excitement of starting a piece drives you. Anybody have the same problems?

I Hope to have some new pictures to post soon. I need to figure out another way to print my pictures other than going to Walmart. It is not a place to be from now until Xmas.

Our current president Catherine Monzango holding her newly pieced baby quilt. 

Community

Interesting Week

This week was interesting for me as I attended the Kentucky Heritage Quilt Society board meeting on Friday in Louisville. For those of you who are not familiar with Kentucky, it is a little more than an hours drive from Lexington. It was held at a darling quilt shop by the name of Just Friends. Wonderful selection of fabrics and bright and open!

I am just the Postmaster General for the group so I don't usually attend the meetings. However, we are in the midst of planning for Get-Away next June and also for Design Seminar for October of next year. So, I got to be in on the process of selecting Feature Teachers for 07. This year for Get-away is Pepper Cory, and best of all for Design Seminar it is going to be Phil Beaver. I took a class from him a couple of years ago in French Lick, Indiana, and had a wonderful time as well as learned a lot. Actually, I am going to be in charge of Design Seminar so it is going to be great fun to be able to take the class. Even though I have had the class I know I will learn other new things from him because he is a wonderful artist.

So, then yesterday our local guild held our community quilts get-together at the Corner Quilt shop in Lexington. This when we make baby quilts that get donated to various organizations. I was amazed when I walked in because there were about 20 ladies. It looked like a sweat shop with everybody sewing away. Of course the fact that there was chocolates on just about everybodys table dispelled that idea!! It was great fun with everybody exchanging ideas about how to best use the donated fabrics we had to work with. I took a picture of our President, Catherine Monzingo with one of the tops she had just finished piecing. Some ladies worked from 10:oo am untill 4:00 pm. I however just spent about three hours and had to go. It was really fun and I actually learned a new technique. I learned to add boarders after the quilt has been quilted. These ladies have become masters of making due.

I am working on a fused quilt at the moment and find this process fasinating. It does have some drawbacks however, if you want to do anything very big. That is unless you have a huge table where you can lay it out flat. However, if you are like me I usually work on a design wall and you can't fuse with it up on the wall. So, I have had to experiment with some different ways to accomplish what I had in mind when I started this quilt. I'll keep you posted on the progress!

Here is another of Cindy Vough's quilts. It is called Butterfly Garden. 

I don't know who made this quilt, but it is beautiful. I also just discovered you can enlarge the image on my blog, so that makes the details more visable. 

This is a quilt made by a fellow guild friend by the name of Cathy Johnson. She made it specifically for this show. I know she does a lot of painting on her fabric befor she constructs her quilts.  

This is my Sisters quilt. As you can see it is such a big space that it is hard to see any detail on any of the quilts. 

This small quilt is an image of a cabbage. I don't know the details of how it was made, but I do know she had dyes a lot of fabric and think she used those in this quilt.  

This small quilt was done with fabric paint and then set in the sun with butterfly images laid on top. The quilt was then quilted with trapunto and also embellished with threads and other fabrics as well as crystals. 

Storm!

We had a storm go thru about 4:00am which woke me up, so finally I got up and went to the computer. That was one thing I could do without disturbing everybody.

I stayed in all day yesterday and really concentrated on a quilt I started over the week-end. It is ready to assemble so perhaps that is why I was not able to go back to sleep this morning.

I took pictures of the quit show at the Library, but most of them were too far away to see any detail. However, there were a few in small cases that came out o.k. and I will try and post them this morning.

I was thinking yesterday about how little it takes to get an idea for a quilt. I heard a terrible chattering and looked in my front yard to see hundreds of black birds. Almost on que the group would start to take off making a swirling pattern much like a bargello, then they would land and chatter for a while and then all rise up a few feet and then come down and land again. Not that the feeling I got from the experience will ever turn into a quilt, but the tiny seed was planted and stored away for future use. This is when a sketchbook really is important, as that moment is fleeting and easily put aside. You don't have to be able to draw, just sketch enough to be able to trigger the memory again.

The first small quilt shown is one I made, the second was made by a friend by the name of Cindy Vough.

#4 of series 

#3 of series 

#2 of small series 

#1 of a series of small quilts I have been working on. They are the size of a piece of typing paper. 

This is a class sample that I will be teaching next June at State Get-away in Georgetown Kentucky.  

Back from the Sewing Machine doctor!!!

Well, I got my machine back and just when it was promised. So, I was able to get my class sample quilted and photographed in time for the deadline.

The little quilts are an ongoing project, as well as the playing cards. I will photograph some of those as soon as I finish several of them. I usually use hand dyed fabrics, but occasionally use commercial if I want to make a bold statement.

I just got my Free At Last quilt back from Houston last night, and I am going to take it to the Local Library to add to the show we have hanging there. I will try and take pictures when I go.

Tonight is our local Guild meeting and we will be having our yearly fund raiser. We all donate items and food and auction it off. It is great fun, as well as it helps to bring in a good teacher at least once a year. Guess I better get cracking and decide what I am going to take!

FEELING BAD!!!

I had to take my sewing machine to the doctor yesterday. Feel so lost without it, but it really was giving me a lot of headaches. Just kept pulling the bobbin thread to the top when I would try and do free motion. I tried everything but to no avail, so as bad as I hated to give it up for a few days, I just had to do it. It also was having a problem with the foot not staying up. I think I may have just worn it out. Anybody have any comments about the new Janome 6500 I think that is the number. Anyway, the new one that has a longer bed. I looked at it at the Nashville show, but mine was still working o.k. so did not think seriously about buying a new one.

In the meantime I have started a new quilt-- no piecing so I don't need my machine for a short period of time, and then I spent the afternoon hanging a show at the main library for the local Bluegrass guild. It really looks nice and I meant to take some pictures, but it took us so long to get them hung that I forgot. I will go back in the next few days and get some pictures to share.

Sorry, but I don't know how to turn this the right way. Anyway, a friend showed me how to make this purse from one 18" square. In the end you have a center pocket and two matching pockets on each side under the flaps.  

This small purse was made to go with a jacket I made last year.  

Quilt Exhibition>>>>>>>>>>

I finally went to Walmart to get some prints made of my digital camera and will post some of them this morning.

On Wednesday, my friend Cindy and I went to Frankfort to view the Many Cultures quilt exhibition. It was a cold drizzily day, but we had a good time anyway. The show is held every year at the Kentucky State University. Probably not more than 35-40 quilts featuring quilts from the Chicago Needles and threads guild, and the Renegade Quilters of Main. There were also some local people in the show. The main attractions for me were the Diane Hire quilts. She uses such lovely colors and her style is so haphazard one can not pass by one of her quilts without stopping to examine it more closely. In any event we had a nice outing and of course stopped at Jo Anns on the way home to see if they had anything we haven't seen before. It is a bigger store than the one we frequent in Lexington.

Our local guild is going to present a show at the local library next month featuring a Garden Theme, and I am in charge of hanging it next Tuesday. I will be showing my "Sisters" quilt that can be seen on an earlier blog. Also several other small quilts.

Ok, I am going to try and transfer some of the pictures onto this blog. I can never remember exactally how I do it, so when it works I am always surprised.

Explanation*************

In June of 04 at a Quilting conference I fell down a flight of stairs and broke my right pelvis and three bones in my left foot. As a consequence I was off my feet completely for 6 weeks, and then there was a lot of physical therapy, and it was some time before I was able to start doing any new quilting projects. It took me at least a year to get back to some kind of normal state, and this quilt signifies my freedom to be able to do the things I could do before I fell. I am so lucky!!!
because I didn't have to have any surgeries, and a fall like that could have been soooooo much worse. The other thing that was so wonderful is that you find out how wonderful your friends really are and for all that outpouring of kind acts I will be eternally grateful.

On a happier note, this quilt means a lot to me and I am happy to have the chance to share it with those of you who see it in Houston and on my blog.

This is the "Free at Last " Quilt that will be shown at the International Quilt Festival next week.  

Back to Normal++++++++++

What ever that is? This week has been taxing as my husband went to visit his family and I had to take over the responsibilities in the business for him.

However, he is back home now and I can take the time to think about my quilting again.

I am working on a sample for a class I will teach in June of next year, and once that is completed I will start on the new quilt that is next in my mind. In fact I already have the pieces drawn, so it won't be any effort to get started once I find a block of time to contemplate the composition.

Yesterday on Melody Johnsons blog she talked about acceptence of Art Quilts. That really got me to thinking, because although I think of myself as a maker of Art Quilts, but in reality I think I fall somewhere in between. There is this competition between the traditional quilts which prizes perfection in piecing and quilting. These attributes are the standards by which quilts are judged in shows. However, here we are in a whole new realm which have no defined standards, and we are competing with the first set of standards. Very confusing!!! When I was making my Free at Last quilt I was hoping to enter it in a show, and really hesitated when I made the decision to add polka dots with fabric paint. These hand stamped polka dots could not possibly be perfect everytime. So my thought is that it would be interesting to have some feed-back from you (out there) as to whether you think it added to the design of the quilt or if you were judging would they have had a negative impact in counting points towards placing in the show. It did get accepted in the Houston show but did not win a prize. I would appreciate your comments.

So, what is an Art Quilt? I think it is a design that is different than what other quilters are doing, and it should be something that stretches the imagination. How you get to that point has to be different for each quilter. The hardest part is trusting in your instincts.

So if you look back in my blog you will see the picture of my Free at Last quilt and I will look forward to your comments.

Weekend Trip!!!!

Well, the weekend was eventful, to say the least!!!

We got in a traffic jam on the way to Louisville, Ky. and were 20 minutes late for the Libby Lehman class. I knew they were going to be working on Bernina sewing machines, and felt alright because one of my friends would be sitting next to me and she sews on a Bernina. However, I didn't realize how slow it was going to make me, because I didn't know where ANYTHING was at. I even had to figure out how to turn the darn thing on and off!!!! Anyway, it went well even though I was not able to complete any of the samples, I learned a lot. Also, it was great to meet Libby. I also was curious to ask if she had judged the Houston show. She said yes, and I told her I had a quilt in the show and thanked her for that.

From there we drove about 20min to Bardstown, and just a few miles from there we went to the Catherine Spalding conference and retreat center. There were 14 of us, some of which were art quilters and some were not. We spent Friday night, Sat and part of Sunday working on our own projects. The center is run by Catholic nuns, and I must say it is so clean and the food was very good. The only thing is that they were very strict about the time for meals. 8:00 am for breakfast, 12:15 for lunch and 5:00 for dinner. If you arrive at 8:30 am you are out of luck. Everything is gone. Of course they always have coffee and cookies, so you would not starve!!!
We really did have a good time and I got a lot done. The grounds are beautiful even this time of year, and we walked all around and saw the museum and the church and the graveyard. I forgot to take my camera, but a friend promised to e-mail me her pictures, so perhaps I will be able to post some pictures later.

So, now I have to get serious and finish my sample for Get-away this next June (06). Too much going on and it is hard sometimes to find the time to Create~!!!!!!!

I must say I am really pleased to now be one the web ring. I don't know what I did right, but I finally got on, and I would like to thank those of you who sent me e-mails that were very supportive.

Getting Ready

I am really looking forward to this weekend. I am going with 2 friends to Louisville to take a class from Libby Lehman. For those of you who might not be familiar with her work, she teaches threadplay. Another words she makes the design on her quilts with thread rather than bits of fabric.

Anyway, we are going to take a day class on Friday, and then going on to a retreat week-end. There will be a lot of other Art Quilters from the state organization, and it should be a fun and relaxing week-end. So, I have been going thru my sewing room and trying to decide what to take. Some of us are going to be working on trading cards, and since I have no idea what I am going to do, feel like I need to take the kitchen sink. I just hope with three of us in one car we can get it all in. Amazing how much stuff it takes to quilt!!!!!!!!!

I also have been working on presenting a workshop to our local guild this month. Each lady is going to bring in a jacket or shirt she already ownes and I will help each lady make something different . Should be fun for me as I have a background in garments and enjoy sharing my ideas. Hope to get some good pictures to share. Then I also have had to get my information in to teach a class again at Get-Away which is the state organization. That doesn' happen untill next June, but there is keen competition these days so don't want to be overlooked. Pepper Cory is going to be our main teacher for 2006.

IDEAS??????????

When I first started this Blog, I thought it would be so easy to come up with ideas to share with those of you who chose to visit me. However, it seems like I am posting less and less simply because when I stare at this emply screen sometimes I catch a void. I promised myself to keep this in the quilting realm, so that makes it more difficult.

So today I guess I will share my mini gathering with you. We have 6 in the group. In the beginning everyone was busy quilting on a lot of individual projects. However, after a period of years we all know each other pretty well, and our lives have changed also. One got a divorce and so now has to work full time. Another was seriously ill, but has worked so hard to get back to the point she could manage on her own. Anyway, what I am trying to say is that this group doesn't quilt so often anymore, but thru our quilting we have all gotten close enough that we can spend 2 nights a month, and even if we don't have something to do, the evening will still pass like a flash. For those of us who are seriously involved in quilting it is a great place to test the waters, and get feedback that you know is truthful! Good friends are hard to come by, it doesn't matter how they come, just that they are there.

I haven' figured out yet how to put my e-mail on this site, so if you want to reach me to ask a question or make a comment here it is. I am usually on Surfbest, but I have been having a problem with it so I set up a yahoo account. It is shedrumcs120@ Yahoo .com.
Come visit me!!!shedrum.blogspot.com

Third Ugliest Car on the market. 

Fabric Painting class--------- 

Fabric Painting class---------- 

Third Ugliest Car on the market!!!!!

Honest to God, this is what it is called. It is a Toyota Scion. Gets really good gas milage and drives so smoothly. Actually, my husband was the one that wanted it, and he drives it every day, so I haven't had much time to drive it yet.

My Butterfly quilt is finished. As usual I am a little lost when I finish a big quilt, although I have several other small quilts and etc I am working on or thinking about. Our State guild is having a card swap, and want to play with some ideas for that.

But FIRST I must clean my sewing room. Otherwise I will never be able to find what I need to start something new. I noticed in viewing other peoples sewing blogs that ever so often they also need to clean house. So guess it is that time!!!

Free at Last, sneak preview of quilt that will be in the Houston show 

sneak peek!

I am working frantically! Why I don't know, but just have a bit to do on the binding and sew on the label and my Butterfly quilt will be all done. I haven't decided where to enter it, so don't know why it is so important to get it finished.

I just feel that after a number of years I have finally found a style that really suits me. Sort of exciting actually. I see so many other artists that fit into a style of their own, and I am always so eager to try something new it has been a struggle.

Back from Teaching

It has been awhile since I posted anything mainly because I was learning how to post pictures, and some other things I want to try adding to this blog.

However, I spent yesterday in Frankfort, Kentucky teaching Fabric Painting. I so enjoy teaching, and those ladies were wonderful. When I arrived they had everything set up with plastic covering everything, so all I had to do was set up my things and get on with it.
They also prepared a wonderful lunch, so we could not have had more fun the whole day. I took some pictures with my digital camera, however, I always like to have some pictures made at Walmart, and then download them from my camera to the computer, and in doing this delete the pictures. Well, those machines at Walmart are always broken as people try and cram their memory cards into the the slots, and so both machines were broken when I went in. So, I can't post any pictures at the moment. Will, do it as soon as I find another place to get my pictures done.

I am working on squaring up my butterfly quilt this morning, and chosing a binding. I have worked so long on this quilt I can hardly believe it is almost finished. It is strange, but before I even started making the top I chose the backing fabric and made a label. I just knew exactally what this quilt was going to look like.

TRY AGAIN!!1

This quilt was made with the images of myself and my two sisters. It was accepted in the Nashville show 2005.

Sisters shown in Nashville, Tenn.

SISTERS QUILT SHOWN IN NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE 

QUILTING, QUILTING AND MORE QUILTING

Finally finished the top of my Butterfly quilt, and now comes the quilting. It is a big quilt, and the design of the quilt really dictates how is is quilted. Now the big job arrives. I can not quilt on my machine for more that 45 min without having to give it a break. I had lunch yesterday with a friend that does beautiful machine quilting and I was complaining about the fact that no matter how hard I consentrate, there are still moments that the stitches get smaller or larger because there is pull on the quilt from somewhere. Just do not know how to stop that completely. I guess my attention span is shorter than hers.

I am working on several projects at a time. What is new? I almost always do that. I really like to do clothes but then also like to have a big quilt going.

I have a quilt in the Houston show this year. I am really excited about that, and have been giving some thought to attending the show. However, getting a hotel room at this late date is nearly impossible. Especially with all the people they have brought to the city from the Hurricaine. So, guess I will have to pass this year. It's a shame because I have been trying to get a quilt in for several years now.

The weather in Lexington, Ky. is just beautiful for the moment. I have been taking advantage of it by fabric painting in my backyard. Trying some new techniques. Interesting!!! Must make hay while I can .

I did it!! only it is sideways!!!

I finally figured how to post a picture, now I just have to figure how to turn the darn thing right side up. Sorry, but it really is a cute picture and I thought everybody might enjoy. I'll try again tomorrow.

This is Bagel the beagle. Above is the quilt I made picturing both our dogs. Sally is the one sitting up.  

Sorry

Some how I pushed a wrong key and my previous post published before I was finished. Tried to go back and edit, but they was more than I could figure out, so will just publish another blog to finish up.

Anyway, I was just telling you that the gel pens I bought were not anygood for fabric. Of course I can use them on paper so they are not a complete waste.
I am closing by wishing all of you a wonderful long week-end.

Art Quilt Group meeting

Every first Thursday of the month the Art Quilt group meets in the same place that the Guild meets. Last night there were only 6 of us. I think it was because it fell on the first day of Sept., and that caught some people unaware. Anyway, everybody brought whatever projects they were working on and others just brought ideas that they were thinking of. These ladies have come a long way, as they come from very conventional backgrounds. Next month when we meet we are going to plan projects that we want to work towards for the next 6 months. When I was in Nashville I bought the new book Paintstiks on Fabric by Shelly Stokes. I had actually purchased the paintsticks in Paducah in
April, and had actually demonstrated the various used of them at Get-away in June. At that time I had only used them on dark fabrics, and the book gives you a lot of other options.

The other thing I purchased in Nashville were some glitter pens that the sellers said were made to be used on fabric. They came from the Texas Quiltery, and when I tested them they are not permenent in any way. When you heat set them the glitter flakes completely off.

In the mean time I am very preoccupied with what is going on in New Orleans and the other areas that have been hit by the hurricaine. I don't think anyone can not be affected! I am just wondering what would have happened if this had been another terrorist attact. Would the response from the Federal Government for help still be as slow!!!