PADUCAH QUILT SHOW

Drove down on Thursday with two quilting friend. My friend Cindy has a house on the lake where we spent the night. It was so quiet and serene with lots of birds that I have never seen before. Then the next morning bright and early we headed into Paducah to see the show.

I have attended Paducah now for at least 5-6 years and I am always excited to see the winners. This year somehow the show was not very exciting. The lady that won best of show last year also won this year. There were several pieces that caught my attention but in general I didn't see anything with new techniques, or new quilting patterns. Cassandra Williams had two pieces in the show that I really liked but other than that nothing really stands out in my memory. As the trip goes the three of us really had a good time, and of course we spent time in the Hancock fabric store and Hobby Lobby, but didn't really buy very much.

I recently took a class with Hollis Chatlain, and learned to paint with dyes. So, I was anxious to buy some more dyes and also the thickening agent she uses. SORRY, she wouldn't allow us to take any pictures!

I want to thank you for all the latest comments, especially concerning the new Jumbo quilt. It was so much fun to do!

Now here is another using the same technique but it came out so different. This was done from a picture of my male Beagle by the name of Bagel. Hope you enjoy seeing it.

Takes Blogger forever to download anything but finally was able to show my new quilt.

I was given a small ceramic elephant as a child, and have had it with me all these years. When I came up with this new technique, I was so excited and so decided to make this quilt in honor of my little elephant that has followed me around the world several times.

New Quilts

New Quilts

I posted a sneak preview earlier, now here is the whole quilt. I took quite some time to do but I am pleased with it.

Finally!!!!!!!!!!!

I can hardly believe after a couple of weeks of trying to publish a picture, it finally happened! Perhaps I just wasn't patient enough, or perhaps the new Google account has some glitches!

Anyway, here is a peek of my new quilt. It is a landscape within a landscape and if it gets into Paducah I will publish the whole quilt.

In the meantime, I have started a new quilt. After completing such a large quilt I was just Quilted Out for a while. So, I just worked on paper projects and contemplated what direction I want to go next. It all depends on how the next quilt turns out. I always have a distinct idea but very often it changes along the way. So, now with all the cold weathe upon us, it is a good time stay in and be creative!

BLOGGER TROUBLES?

Anybody else having problems with Blogger? I signed onto the new Google site and everytime I try to get to my blog it just says try again in 30 seconds!

No Pictures@@@@@@@@@@

Woe is me!! Now that my computer is finally fixed I am having problems figuring out how to down my pictures again. Just wanted to post a sneak preview of my new quilt, but guess I will have to wait until I can find the file where the pictures are downloaded.

In the mean time I have not done any quilting since before Christmas. Strange thing for me as I almost have another quilt in the works or at least in the head before I finish one. This time I started making Christmas cards and just like quilts one thing led to another and I am still working in paper. Actually there isn't too much difference. I make fabric and I also make paper. Not from scratch but I take white card stock and spray it with paint, and from there either stencil or stamp them to make them unique. I will take some pictures and try and post them tomorrow.

OK here is what I have really been up to for the last few weeks. Has anyone heard of Zumba classes. It is a type of Latin American aerobics. Well, I have been doing Yoga now for about a year and thought I was in pretty good shape, but let me tell you Zumba is quite a workout. The best part is that it is so much fun, and you really get to turn loose and shake the hips and boobs. So, ask around and see if you can find a class in your neighborhood.

IT'S OVER!!!!!!!!!!!

You shop, you plan, you cook! You think you have all the time in the world, then suddenly it is upon you, panic! Not me. I just enjoyed myself and if it didn't all get done, no one noticed.

However, today, I had the day to do what ever I wanted to and I was so discombumbulated I just did Yoga, and slept. Nothing wrong with that! I am planning my next quilt. That is my excuse! It won't be long before I am back into my old routine, and wonder where the time went.

I finished my Silk Painting class, and have registered for an art class next semester. I finished my latest quilt, and actually sent off the cd for Paducah this morning. We will see! Don't want to post it yet, but I might give you a bit of teaser later!

This is done on silk using gutta and also a thickener as well and chemical water on the lower section. It doesn't look straight because the air conditioner was blowing it around.  

This is a Shobori piece done by folding and clamping. 

This is a close up of the Discharge piece. Some color added back in and also varigated threads used to quilt it. 

You can see the discharge piece with the large leaf. Then below is a silk piece with butterflies. 

OPEN STUDIO

Tonight we had open studio, which means that all the students in the art department put their projects for the semester on display, for anyone that wanted to come and see them. I took a few pictures, and it was rather exciting to have such a crowd viewing the show.

I'm still trying to get Piccasa set up again so I can post pictures. So, here goes!

FINALLY BACK!

Well, for the moment my computer is working perfectly. Had to reinstall windows! I spent hours on the phone with Microsoft, dispite that fact that they were very nice, they just could not seem to solve the problem. So, I am a little limited as we had to reinstall almost all my programs. So, hopefully in a few days I will be back to normal.

I really felt out of touch, not being able to surf the artful quilters. Also, I was anxious to see the quilts that won in Houston. They were wonderful, but it seemed more traditional than last year.

I have been working every extra second on my entry for Paducah. I am done quilting but must square it up and find suitable binding. It is a big one! 88" by 81 " for the moment. I don't know how much I will chop off when I square it up.

It is good to be back, and I am now going to try and access my pictures and post at least a few.

Still on the Fritz!!!!!!!!!!!

Just when I thought my computer was fixed and was going to be better than before, something went wrong, and I am not able to access the internet at all. So, I am at the Library just to sort out my e-mails, and just let everybody know I am trying to get things back up and running again.

I am working really hard on a quilt I hope to enter in the Paducah show, but it has to be done and photographed by the first part of January, so I am really going to have to be diligent about working on it every day. Also, had to finish up projects with the class I am taking, so that took time away from my project. I have some really wonderful pictures to post, but that will have to wait until later. Sorry! I am feeling really frustrated.

I Will Be Back Soon

My computer is on the fritz but I will be back online soon.

This is my most favorite because he discharged and then went back in and added color. 

I think this is an earlier piece that was also in Quilt National. 

Another of Bob's pieces. I think this was one that was in Quilt National. 

This piece is done in silk. It is a little hard to see but the quilting was done in an up and down motion leaving open areas. This created some very interest horizontal even puckering. I have to spend some time trying this technique 

Another picture of the same quilt. 

This is a close up of the last quilt and you can also see some of his quilting. 

This is one of my personal favorites. This was done by distressing styrofoam and then laying black fabric over it and dispensing various forms of bleach.  

The gentleman on the left is Bob Adams. He is our guest artist. What fun we have had doing discharge. In case you do not know what discharge, we are working on black fabric and removing some of the color by using bleach in many different forms. You will see some of Bob's quilts in the next few pictures. 

As I mentioned I am taking a Silk Painting class this semester, and this is our teacher Arturo Sandoval and one of his students. Behind them is my partner for the class. Not a very good picture of him but he is from Korea and is quite the artist! 

Silk Painting Class

I am taking a Silk painting class at the University of Kentucky. Interesting experience being in a class with so many young students. We are now paired up so we can share some of the equipment, and I am with a young man that is Korean and doesn't speak all that much english. I think he understands but is shy about expressing himself. Should be a lot of fun to get to get to know him.

Next week we have a visiting artist by the name of Bob Adams. He is an art quilter and has had pieces in Quilt National for the last 3 shows. He is going to be teaching Shabori and Discharge, all of which I have played with a little. He also is going to Critique the students in our class. Of course I chose to, and think it will be a wonderful opportunity.

We drew 12 sketches, and from those we had to choose three for projects to be completed this semester. You can see the ones I chose and I will post pictures as they are completed. One of them will have 72 different colors it it. That I can't wait to see!

This is the 3rd drawing I chose. Since I have never worked on silk before, my thought was that I should keep the drawings very simple.  

This is the second one I selected. It will be 30x 30 when finished. 

This is one of 12 sketches we had to make for the Silk Painting class I am taking.  

This is a group of singers that were there for the reception. I think they called themselves the Sweet Adalaids.  

This was my challange quilt. Each participant chose a song and made an interpetation and also had to use a challange fabric. You really can't find my fabric because I dyed it.  

This is a quilt that was done by a friend, Pat Jennings, and it showed in Houston a couple of years ago. I love this quilt! 

This is another of my quilts that was in the show.  

The following pictures were taken at the Art Quilt show reception in Berea, Ky. The center quilt is mine. A good time was had by everyone and we had quite a crowd. 

This was a second similar piece. I simply made some improvements on the inside. 

This was also hand dyed at an angle and them stenciled with butterflies and bees.