Daffodils

I have a friend (hi Christina!) who is crazy about daffodils. Well the former owners of our new house must have been fond of them also. We've had a continuous show of daffodils for at least a month with new varieties popping up all the time. Here are a few pictures of the later blooming varieties that I took for Christina.

Hope that brought a little sunshine into your day!

Lisa

Holes Again

I felt like the first Holes quiltlet was too literal so I decided to make another. For the fabric I chose a piece I had dyed, overdyed and discharged a tiny bit too much. (All right, it had a few actual holes in it already...)

I quilted it using a multicolored thread in a radial design, changing quilting patterns every so often. To mark where the changes should take place I used a sliver of soap, a trick I learned from Melody Johnson.

Once the quilting was complete I cut a hole in the center area. Then using my son as my assistant we carefully singed the edges of the hole.

I like this one much better and it feels more like an art quilt to me. I plan to put 2 or 3 curtain rings on the back and hang it in the house. On to weaving next!

Lisa

Holes

Our challenge due this week was to create a piece with a hole all the way through it. Being of a literal bent of mind I started thinking about all the different types of holes there are: mouse holes, holes in your socks or the knees of your pants, black holes, etc. I decided upon a keyhole as it seemed appropriate for the scale of the little quiltets.

For those of you who are playing along at home, our next challenge is to create a piece involving weaving. The whole piece does not need to be woven, but there should be at least one woven element. We're going to be staying with small piece (roughly 12" x 12" or less) and this one is due in 2 weeks since there is no class next week. Good luck!

Lisa

Frog/Toad #3

I decided my first two quiltlets were a bit tame so this is my last frog/toad/whatever and he's WiLd! I hand stitched his outline in red chainstitch and filled in the interior portions using yellow, turquoise and orange rice stitches, each going in a different direction. The quilting is quick and simple and was designed to further enhance his "wow" factor.

After making these 3 quiltlets, all from the same original sketch, I find that I like the first one best. I think that I am not a person who necessarily improves with further thought and development. I think things out fairly thoroughly before I begin. I wonder if this is why I don't really work in series.

Lisa

Student Work

My fabulous husband found the camera manuals! Yay! But in my attempts to get the other chip to download I seem to have done something so my computer no longer will recognize the chips. Boo!

Fortunately Linda Barnhart sent my these pictures of her recently completed jacket. She took my Echoes of the East/Trickles class and chose to make Echoes of the East. Isn't her take absolutely marvelous! Kudos to you, Linda!

I just love it when I get to see finished projects. That's one of the more annoying things about teaching, I often don't get to see them when they're done. Thanks for the pictures!

Lisa

My camera is not cooperating! When you buy a new camera put the instruction book in a place you can find easily. I have not been able to find mine since our move. And now I've done something and it won't recognize the memory chip, has a weird crosshairs screen and generally won't take pictures. I'm afraid I'm only making it worse trying different settings. Too sad.

But I am sewing up a storm! I have my Art Quilt Group assignments all done and ready for next Wednesday, my Zentangles jacket is coming along quite well and the St. Timothy jacket is drafted and ready to start as soon as I can find the perfect background fabric.

Today I'm going to the gym for the first time since our move. I hope that helps with the headaches and I also hope I'm not too sore to sew afterwards!

Lisa

Sigh

I'm sorry not to have posted more lately, but headaches have been attacking me on an all-too-regular basis. Lest you be concerned, I have still been quilting (a very relaxing entertainment), but I cannot show you anything because what I've been working on are gifts and projects for the art quilt group and I wouldn't want to spoil the surprise. I will show pictures as soon as I can without letting the cat out of the bag.

Lisa

Open House

The open house/house warming was a big success. Thank you to all who came. We appreciate all the gifts and I wish I could have had more time to talk to each of you, but it was crazy busy!

I really meant to take some pictures, but after awhile I just stopped trying to go downstairs because everyone wanted to see my studio! I hope you liked it as much as I do.

Now I can get down to some serious sewing and quilting :-)

Lisa

Toad #2?

Well as you can see, the toad morphed into a frog. I played around with circles, cutting them from leftover fused fabrics. From the darker colors I cut larger circles, cutting smaller circles as the green got lighter. And I couldn't resist added a few flying bug charms.

While I like the way he turned out (frogs are always "he", right?), it isn't exactly as I envisioned it. That's the nice thing about these experiments. The scale is small so nothing feels like a huge waste of time and effort.

One more frog variation to go...
Lisa

Redwork Revisited

I may be trying to become at art quilter, but that doesn't mean I don't enjoy handwork or some of the more traditional techniques.

A few years ago I taught how to make this piece including how to do the redwork. Okay, it's purple, but it's the same thing...

Naturally when I started the project I had no idea what I was doing so I ended up with a few extras. They sat around and sat around.

While watching the Olympics I needed something to do so I found these and added some Stewart Gill Pearlise paints. I chose those because they leave the fabric soft and supple and they come in pretty pastels.

I still have no idea what I'm going to do with them, but they're more interesting now and don't look quite so much like leftovers from the previous project. And the colors are great for my bedroom!

Lisa

Tote

Remember that failed jacket back? Here it is in a new incarnation as a tote bag.

Yes, I'm finishing things!

Lisa