taken at University of Ky. 

taken at University of Ky. 

Taken at University of Kentucky arboretum.  

IN THE NOW############

These are my two babies. Just love them to death and wanted to share with those of you who visit my site.

I Do not have any new quilting pictures yet, so I thought I would share some thoughts about being mindful.
I am taking some Yoga classes, and at the end of each hour the instructor reads some thoughts for us to take with us during the day.

Last week he spoke on being in the now, and one of the things he mentioned is that the past is set in stone. It can not be changed, only learned from. The future is only in our imagination. I had never heard it put that way, and I know as a quilter and a creative person, I spend a good deal of time imagining! Necessary if you are going to create quilts, or paintings, or whatever. However, I find that I have a hard time just being in the NOW. So this is my new resolution!

When you finish an hour of Yoga, and experience the relaxation period, it provides you with a quiet mind. When in that state you think clearer, feel clearer, touch and taste clearer, and at times it makes me feel as if I could do ANYTHING. Wouldn't it be wonderful to be in that state all the time? So, if you have never experienced this, I highly recommend you give it a try.

Have a great day!!!

TURKISH DELIGHT

TURKISH DELIGHT

This is the quilt I have been working on and had some advice from "Give me your 2 cents" I named it Turkish Delight, to make a long story shorter. Several years ago a friend and I took a trip to Istanbul, Turkey and exhibited a quilt in a show there, as well as taught a class. We had a wonderful time and the quilting group was so hospitible that I have stayed in touch with many of them. Turkish delight is a candy. It is made from fruit flavors and come in the most delightful colors then dusted with powered sugar. Well, this quilt is made with hand dyed fabrics that remind me of the colors in Turkish Delights. Also, it is a tribute to those wonderful ladies that acted as hostesses during our trip and a special thank you to Berrin Yazici who we stayed with.

TOO LONG!!!!!!!!!!!

I just wanted to share my good news!!

This quilt was accepted in the Paducah show that will be held in April. It is called " Free at last 2" but in talking about it I always say my Butterfly quilt.

I have been a busy bee these days. I have finished another quilt and started a new one. Will be posting the first one as soon as I get the binding done and some pictures taken.

I also have been taking some computer classes at the local library, and the last one was about Web design, and hopefully that will help me with this site also. It was only a two hour class so plan on taking the second class which will deal with adding pictures and other things.

I also started taking some Yoga classes. I used to practice Yoga often but it has been a number of years since I really paid attention to anything but the relaxation part. I'm going twice a week for an hour each time. If any of you have not tried Yoga I really recommend it. The hour goes in what seems like 15 minutes. For that time I am completely in the moment. I'm not thinking about my next quilt, or that I have to go to the bank, or anything else except for what is going on in my body. I had forgotten the benefits and feel like I have really given myself a gift.

CLOSE UPS!!!

Layla, these are the close-ups I promised. The polka dots are done after assemblying the flowers, and they are done with fabric paint. Then they were glued onto the background and from there stitched down before quilting.

I thought I would have pictures of the NEW quilt, but I still have to sew down the binding and the sleeve. So, I shoud have that done in the next few days.

CLOSE UPS!!!

FREEZING BUT BEAUTIFUL!!!!

We received several inches of snow last night and today. Just thought I'd share this with those of you in warm California or Florida. It really is beautiful and my dogs had such a good time playing in it this morning.
So, I am just staying in today, and hope to get some quilting done this afternoon. I am just at the point that I will remove it from my design wall and start to sew everything down. I think I need a name for my new quilt. Any IDEAS!

Finally+++++++++++

Finally, my top is done. Now it is time to quilt.

What Next?

I finally finished the top I have been working on-- and once in a lifetime I have the whole day to design the quilt I want to start next.

WHERE IS IT? I have so many ideas, even ones that are ready to be enlarged--- What am I doing here? Duh!!! I guess you just can't force creativity. That in -between stage makes me crazy. Will let you know when I finally come up with something.

Free At Last Quilt

I went back and tried to find earlier photo, but somehow part of that blog is missing. So, thought I would put a new picture of the FREE AT LAST quilt.

Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival

I just wanted to share with everybody the fact that my FREE AT LAST quilt got accepted in the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival that is in Hampton, Virginia. This is the first time I have entered anything in this show so it should be interesting! You can view the FREE AT LAST quilt on an earlier blog. One of the very first I think.

Here is this quilt a little farther along. I joined a critique group called give me your two cents, and took some of the advice to heart. So, I decided that the sky was way to dominent. I knew something was bothering me but just could not decide what it was. The sky and the buildings were competing with one another. So, this is with the sky removed. I then painted a sky and the next picture will show the improvements. Darn, I don't know what happens when I download a second picture it copies the first one again. Oh-Well you get the idea. Thanks to the group as you have saved me a whole lot of time because I might have let that quilt hang on my design wall for a long time before I discovered what was bothering me, or worse I could have just given up and put it away for another time.

This is a bit further along. 

This is just partially put together, and will post more pictures as it progresses 

This picture I posted earlier. However, I have a new digital camera and new program, I am going to have to figure out how to get them into Hello program to transfer to 2Cents.  

I just wanted to share this picture. It was taken out my back door. It had gotten very dark, as if to storm when suddenly the sun broke thru in such a blazing way.  

This is the beginnings of the sky. Those little spots are pieces of blue tape, so just disregard

This is the full size drawing of my new quilt 

HELP!

I am still trying to figure out how to get the Artful Quilters logo onto my site. If anyone is good at explaining in really simple language I am willing to give it a try.

Well, now that the Holidays are over, I am anxious to get back to some sort of routine again. So, this morning I started working on a quilt I had started in November, but then got so busy I just had to set it aside. I am pleased so far, and will share the beginnings and will post pictures as it progresses. It is the first time I have done a quilt using only hand dyed fabrics.

I bought a new digital camera so that I can now put pictures on a CD and use that to enter the shows. How much easier it is- First of all it is not that easy to find slide film anymore. Then hanging a quilt properly and setting up some kind of lighting system. I spent a lot of time and money and so I am so pleased to have found an easier way to accomplish the same task. Thank god for Walmart, as I have not gotten into burning my own CD's yet.

Happy Holidays!

I know--- I have not had time to write in my Blog lately. Too few hours and too much to do getting ready for Christmas.

HOWEVER, I just couldn't let the season go by without wishing all my Artful Quilter Friends the Very Best for the Season.

Last but not least, is one of my babies. He doesn't like this cold weather and would only stick his nose out to see what was going on. I also looks like I got my finger in the picture. 

This is the other half of the table. Couldn't get everybody in one picture.  

The next 2 pictures are of a small group of 6 that meet twice a month at Helen Griffith's house, which is the lady in red. However, every year the lady is white (Donna Nesenmier) always has us all over for Christmas lunch and we do our Christmas exchange at that time. Sorry, I am not in any of the pictures. Somebody had to take the pictures! 

This was my week for Quilting Christmas parties. This is a drop in group that meets at Quilters Square twice a month. The lady standing is Cindy Ford, and she hosts the group every year in her home. It is a historical home, (used to be a tavern) and she has the whole house decorated for Christmas. We each bring a dish and we really out did ourselves this year.  

Good way to use up scraps. I just finished making this purse. You are not able to see but it has black braided shoulder straps. 

This is the back of the jacket. Sorry for the picture being sideways. I haven't figured out how to flip it.! 

This is a close-up of the last picture.  

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!