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.