Monday, January 31, 2011

Sneak Peek

If you have been following along, you will have seen that I am part of a design team for the illustrious Amanda, over at the Quilted Fish.

All my other peeps on the team are flashing sneak peeks of their upcoming tutorials using Amanda's gorgeous line 'Sweet Divinity'.  

I finished up my project today and thought I would join in the fun and show you a little piece of mine to wet your appetite.   And let me just say..... I am going to use mine all year long!  

Saturday, January 29, 2011

Detailed Shots

Okay, so I am a little superstitious and have decided to make you wait one month before showing my full jacket.   By then I will have heard if it got into the Juried Show.  

So to keep you interested, I am showing you some detailed photos of quilts I took today. 
 I just love this quilt.   It is the first quilt I have done with no stippling on it.   The title is 'Let The Vines Shine Through'.   I received this vintage polyester fabric that was absolutely delicious and I just had to make  a quilt from it.  You can see it as the outer border below.

 I used my own hand dyed fabric, stamping, shiva paintstiks and my original 3D method as techniques for producing this art quilt.

This shot is of the jacket.   Each strip has a different free motion pattern to it, as well I alternated the thread colour on each strip.   It is entirely quilted with Wonderfil thread.


And of course, my dear Whimsical Wonder.  It resides in my bedroom and I just adore this quilt. 

Friday, January 28, 2011

Not a Picture in Sight

Not even a tiny flick of one on this post.   Just dropping in to say this is the weekend that I have to photograph my art quilts and get them onto CD's to send in to try and qualify into the National Juried Show here in London Ontario, Canada. 

I have borrowed a friend's fancy shmancy camera and will be busy dealing with lighting, shadows, details and proofing for the whole weekend.  

This is the part of the juried process I like the least.... ok, the rejection letter part isn't too fun either!   But I am an old pro at that now. 

I will post pics of my jacket after this weekend. 

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

It's Here

Does this not look totally yummy?   My fabric finally arrived from Amanda at The Quilted Fish.
I had been waiting anxiously as the other gals from the Design Team all had received their shipment and were chatting about it on their blogs.  

I have a few ideas about this lovely line of Amanda's.   I plan on creating a couple of original patterns and see what I can come up with.  We will be doing guest posts on The Quilted Fish blog showing our tutorials of what we have created.  



I will let you know the date of the first tute so you can swing by and take a look!

And this morning I finished my jacket!   I love it.   Will get pics soon, just have to find a model.




Friday, January 21, 2011

I Won!

Look at the email I received today:

Congratulations Jackie! You're one of the two winners for the free 6 month membership to TheQuiltShow.com
I signed right up and can't wait to try it out. 



This is a little art quilt I made using straws melted between two sheets of waxed paper until they all stuck together, then attached to fabric and quilted.  
 

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

From Kitchen Sink to Art Quilt

Yes, it is the steel scrubber you use to really get at those pots and pans.   It has the most unique texture and feel to it.   They are just all little spirals intertwined together.  Quite unique when you look up close.
I used some organza and starch to make a flower and did a little thread sketching on it and attached some steel to the centre.  I then added some tendrils coming out of it and some little bits around the perimeter.   I may hang it above my kitchen sink!

As for my jacket.... you know when you should never tackle something when you are overtired, and you tell yourself that, but then do it anyway?  Ya, that was me one night this week and cut the pattern piece out backwards.   This meant I had to sew a whole batch of new strips together, then quilt them, then cut it the proper way.  After that fiasco, things went fairly smoothly... and now all I have left is to make some funky buttons out of polymer clay.   And find a model to take photos of it, as this juried show entry does not allow photos of yourself. 

I will try and post a few pics of it in the next day or two. 

Friday, January 14, 2011

Wearable Art

I have been quilting like a mad demon all week.   I am trying to get a piece of wearable art ready to see if it will get juried into the National Show here in Canada.  I have till February 1st to get it ready.   I finally got all the pieces quilted.  I had made the lining up earlier in the week.  So now just have to cut the pieces out and sew the jacket together.   I have never made a jacket with a lining before.  I know, not the best time to start.   But I do have lots of notes on my instructions reminding me of things to do.  

Hopefully next week will be able to post pictures of a beautiful and finished garment!

Monday, January 10, 2011

The Secret Is Out!

You may have noticed a fancy new badge at the top of my blog designating me as a Creative Consultant.   Yep, that's right, I was chosen to work with 8 super talented beautiful ladies on a team spearheaded by Amanda Herring of the Quilted Fish.

Amanda is the designer of Sweet Divinity fabric line for Riley Blake.  She is a super awesome person.  I have been testing patterns for her for 2 years now and love her drive and enthusiasm.

This team is going to be doing some amazing projects and we are each going to post the tutorials on our blogs.   So do me a favour and jump on over here to meet the team and join their blogs so you don't miss any fantastic upcoming tutes!

Super Exciting News

I have some really exciting news to share with you all.  I have been sitting on it for a while and believe in the next day or two I will be able to share!  

Stand by=)

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Sketchbook Challenge

One of these days, I better post some resolutions, but for now I am going to share some stuff.   I joined the sketchbook challenge.   It was mostly to make myself draw/doodle, put pencil to paper.   I do sketch when I am starting a new art quilt.  But I have been reading that I should be sketching more.   Plus there is monthly prizes. 
The theme for January was 'Highly Prized'.   So... family is my most prized possession.   My 5 year old drew a picture of our family and I used that and surrounded it with hearts.  

And since I haven't posted in a week, here is what else I have been fooling around with - felted balls.   I think they will be so fun to put into my art quilts.  

These little guys are so cute and highly addictive to make.   I used felt roving and yarn balls to make these.  Apparently you can make them with old felted sweaters, but I haven't found a tutorial on that yet.  

Finally, I am madly, and I repeat madly working to hit a February 1st deadline.   I am trying to finish a wearable art garment for entry into the National Juried Show.