Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Having a Little Fun

I decided to just have fun today in my studio.   Sometimes I find that really hard to do.  I usually feel that I need to be creating a big quilt or designing my next one to enter into a show.   I don't very often just take some fabric and 'play'.   Today I decided to do just that.  

I figured it was my present to me.   Yesterday was my birthday and I got spoiled with flowers, homemade buttertarts, funny jokes, fabric, jewellery, books and homemade cards from my kids.   All was much appreciated and loved.   But I had a deadline to meet so never got to have some fun time quilting.


First I had an idea about a block and played with that for a bit.   I even figured out a way to make a pattern out of it.  Of course it had to do with circles=)  Once I get the pattern done I will share that.


Then I decided to pursue my map work a bit more.  I used some hand dyed fabrics, a print of a map, and alot of slashing with my ruler....

I decided it was too boring and wanted to make it more busy and road-like.

And that was my day having fun.

I am back next with a few giveaways from a very generous sponsor.   



Monday, March 25, 2013

A New Week, A New Skirt


I have an obsession... okay, let's be honest I have a few - buttons, ric rac, 3D quilts ....   And we won't even go near the ones with food=)

Remember I said I was making a couple of skirts for some upcoming travelling I have to do this spring/fall?   I couldn't help myself, I had to make another one.    Seriously, I really don't know why more people aren't using their funky cottons and making wearable art.

You know how modern quilting is the 'in' quilting right now?  Well, I am trying to keep up and thought if I am going to make modern quilts, why not wear the 'modern quilt'?  I had some fun modern fabric and used it to turn into a skirt.   What do you think?
I know, it needs to be ironed... and I couldn't model it because my legs are as white as the fabric, and that is just not a pretty sight=)

Here are the two I made last week.


And tell me how fun of a gift this was to open?  Only if you love embellishing.   And I got two containers of vintage buttons... some are over 80 years old!

I am playing with some new blocks and will show them to you tomorrow.  Stay tuned=)




Thursday, March 21, 2013

Catching Up, A Winner, and a Funny Story



First up the winner of the ebook is Rolanda:

Blogger Rolanda said...
I really admire anyone that can thread paint. The time I tried it, it was horrible. I had to toss it and didn't start over. Maybe I need better instructions?


I have been whining  tolerating a cold all week that has basically left my brain in a fog.  Not a good thing when trying to meet deadlines!
Thankfully I think I am on the downhill run now.

Take a look at this luscious fabric by Riley Blake Fabrics!  It is called 'Serenata'.   LOVE this company to bits.  Seriously they are the best!   This is not quite the whole collection.   There are a few fat quarters missing from it, for a secret mission.  


 Now what fun things can I create with the rest of it?   I am thinking something a little 3D with a shot of modern?  

In the meantime, I got this fantastic iron on book from my dear friend RT.   I just had to try it out.  I have a plain grey pair of capris.  I was contemplating putting jumbo ric rac on the bottom, but wondered if that was bordering on 'crafty crazy' and not just crafty?   Instead I tried one of the iron on patterns on the cuff of the capris.


What do you think?  Cute?   Crazy?   Quilters will run in the other direction?

I have a bucket list.  Most of it is quilt related.   Okay, all of it is.   I have been getting it done, slowly but surely.   Last year I stroked a big one off-going to a Quilt Market.   That still seems surreal to me.   Another one, as you probably know is getting a quilt accepted into the IQA Houston show.   About as many times as I have entered Houston, I have sent submissions into Quilting Arts magazine.   I won't tell you how many submissions I have sent, because you might tell me to give up.   Anyway, this is the second time this has happened to me.  I send in a submission, tell them why I like their magazine, and bam..... the next magazine has my quote in it.   See the middle column below, that says 'I am a 3D art quilter'....yep, that's me.   


I refuse to tell myself that this is as close to getting published in this magazine as I am going to get.  I wonder if after so many submission, you get a pity acceptance?   Probably not, but one can hope=)


Monday, March 18, 2013

A Modern Tutorial


It is finally here. My tutorial on my modern quilt is up over at Riley Blake Fabrics.   I called it 'Eye of the Modern'.
I was going to quilt it in straight lines as that is what so many real modern quilts have on them, but I just really loved the swirls.  



As you can see, it was a bit of a windy day when I decided to photograph it outside.

Go and check the tutorial out, it is very easy and fun to make!


Sunday, March 17, 2013

Bestie QAL

I have had a crazy month.   I was going to end the post with that, but thought I better explain... especially to my besties who roped invited me to join in their Bestie QAL.  

I have had a number of wonderful opportunities come my way in the last 8 weeks, and with this blessing of good fortune is alot of time crunching quilting.   And I can't even share it with you for a while, so please hang in there and when I can, I will shout it out!

This past week, I got a lovely email from Bestie Candice  asking how my 'Swoon' blocks were coming along.  Now knowing this lovely lady, I know that email really meant, 'Why haven't you worked harder on those blocks?  You do nothing all day but drink coffee and eat chocolate!'  

Now my dear readers, you know I jest, but let's be honest, there is A LOT of drinking coffee and chocolate eating going on in my studio on a daily basis.

I should mention that the other Bestie in this scenario is Jana, and she is not getting any lectures from anyone named Candice, because she purposely planned to be due right in the middle of the QAL.. how convenient is that I wonder?

This weekend, I packed my 'Swoon' supplies and lugged them up to our weekend get away and went to town and got 3 more done!  




What do you think?  Am I off the hook for a week or two now so I can meet some deadlines?


Thursday, March 14, 2013

Good News and A Tutorial


You know when you have those days where everything is aligned and works out perfect?  I am having one of those months=)
Earlier I posted that my quilt 'A Ripple In Time' got accepted into Paducah.   Tonight I got this email:

Congratulations! Your quilt A Ripple In Time has been selected for inclusion in the special exhibit O, Canada 2013. We received many exceptional entries for the exhibit, which will premiere at International Quilt Festival in Chicago.  Ultimately 22 quilts were chosen.

So I am representing Canada with my quilt among 22 other quilts.  They also can travel to the other IQA shows/markets and it will be returned at the end of November.   Now, I have not got confirmation that one of the shows is Houston... but if it is, trust me when I say that I will have attained a very, very, very big dream.    As every year for the past several years I have gotten a rejection from the coveted Houston show.

And remember this little cutie?


It is a tutorial for Pellon Inc.   It is now posted on their website.
Don't forget to enter the giveaway found here.



Blog Book Tour and a Giveaway

I am very excited to be hosting my first ever blog book tour.   When Margaret Bucklew contacted me asking to participate, I willingly agreed.   It sounded like fun.  Ms. Bucklew is going to be  a guest blogger today on my blog, so please give her a warm welcome.


Have you tried threadpainting?

It’s really lots of fun and a little bit of “which way do I go”. Threadpainting is also referred to as free motion quilting because you are the one directing the motion of the fabric. By dropping the feed dogs the machine no longer pulls the fabric toward the needle, you do!

The first time I tried it, I must admit, I was intimidated. I had completed a portrait quilt and knew it needed highlights in the eyes and some threadpainting in the hair area, but I was really put off by the thought of “messing it up”. All that work into the quilt top and the idea of going wild with thread and not being able to “unsew” it had me a bit concerned.


Once I realized the size of the quilt was rather small and I had enough fabric to make another one if I had to, it was a go. Experimenting on something else just didn’t work, so it was on to the real quilt. Because I use a method I call “appliquilt” to quilt and appliqué at the same time, it really was at the end of the process with quite a bit of work involved that threadpainting was necessary.

Over the years and with lots of experimenting my preferred method is to really “stomp” on that foot pedal! The faster you go the easier it is to control! Can you believe it? It’s true. If you go too slow you tend to move the fabric too fast and end up with not the best result. So, hold on to the quilt with both hands and move it quickly and keep the speed up.

You can threadpaint with a straight stitch or even a zig zag stitch. If you look closely at the photos you can see that on the kitten I’ve just followed the direction of the hair growth and used a wide zig zag stitch and directed the quilt top where it needed hair. Turn the top in any direction to get the desired look and texture you need.

The kitten pattern is a bonus in our print and eBook, so if you are interested in giving portrait/pictorial quilts a try, a pattern and more tips are awaiting.

For a few more tips, please visit the next blog in the book blog tour.

We cover this and more in our “Step by Step Portrait Art Quilts: Learn to Create Realistic Portrait and Pictorial Quilts”. The book is both in print or eBook. This is a short link to take you to Amazon for more information about the book. This is the short link to the ebook on Kobo.





Thanks so much Margaret for dropping by...and friends, her book is good!  I picked up a ton of good tips and tricks to accomplish portrait quilts.  And because Margaret is a total sweetie, she is offering her e-book as a giveaway on my blog!   Just leave a comment telling me something fun about quilting.

Here are the other blog hosts that you can tour and check out more fun tips and information:










Monday, March 11, 2013

A Promise To My Kids

I have been promising my kids that I would put one of their quilts on my blog.  They each made one for their leprechauns during this leprechaun season as they try and catch one.   My youngest has caught one twice but the leprechaun has escaped by morning!

Here is my 9 year old son's quilt for his leprechaun.


This is the quilt my 7 year old made for his leprechaun.
If you feel so inclined, please leave a comment for them.   



Sunday, March 10, 2013

Love Embellishments

I am up to my ears in work, but I can't show any of it to you just yet!   It is so frustrating, as I want to show you right now.  
Instead I took off for the weekend and sewed up 2 skirts.   They even had zippers... and I am so not a zipper fan, but I wanted something that looked a bit more dressy than an elastic waist band.  

My reasoning is that I am travelling a fair bit this spring and fall and would like to have some splashy new outfits.    There is nothing splashier than quilt fabric.   I had a couple pieces that I adored too much to to cut up for a quilt.

PWJD064 · Primrose · Magenta

The other piece I don't have a name for as it was a Christmas gift, but it was so loud and fun that I knew I wanted to wear it, not have it hanging on a wall.

Now I know that I have to match a top up with each of them.  I had an idea  to help with that.   As you know I have a small obsession with 3D embellishing, so I made an embellishment that I can pin on my top to really tie into my skirt.  See, quilt embellishments can really be used anywhere!

Here is where you come in.  I have the embellishment made, (and you have to rave that you love this fabric and NOT that it is too loud for a skirt=).  I want to put a vintage piece of jewelry in the middle, which one do you like the best?
#1 Purple

 #2 Gold and Pearl

 #3 Blue

Let me know what centre I should pick for my little flower.

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

I Love a Fat Envelope

If you follow my blog at all, you know I love the thrill of entering juried shows. The excitement is present when I fill out the entry form, but when I get the rejection letter, not so thrilling .  And I have gotten way, way too many to count.

But every once in a while I get what quilters that enter juried shows, call the fat envelope.   Essentially it means that the envelope is stuffed with your acceptance letter and all the necessary paperwork you need to fill out, in order to get your quilt to the juried show.

 The skinny envelope, contains just that one dreaded piece of paper telling you that you suck.   Kidding... it is usually a very nice letter and sometimes they even tell you how many entered and how many were accepted, which I find helpful, albeit depressing=)

But I digress... today I got a fat envelope from Paducah!   My quilt Ripple In Time got accepted.   I am so excited.


I love this quilt for so many reasons.  The first is that I dragged it everywhere with me one summer as I hung out with my young children. Outside it went when they played in the dirt, inside on the rainy days. 

This was the summer we decided to hatch a chick from an egg and got a cute little guy my youngest named 'Chick Peep'.   
I should mention that we didn't give the chick back to the farm once he was born.. we kept him for quite some time. He became a real pet as you can see him hanging out on my leg with my dog looking on.   

So when I think of my quilt 'A Ripple In Time', the name came from how fast yet so memorable that summer went by, just a ripple in time.

I am linking up over at Nina-Marie's and CQA/ACC blog.


Sunday, March 3, 2013

Trend Tex Challenge

Here in Canada, we have a nation wide quilting organization called the Canadian Quilters' Association.      (CQA/ACC) I am actively involved in it and love how it connects quilters right across the country.

Each year they hold a conference somewhere in the country. As well as having fabulous instructors, a giant merchant mall, and the National Juried Show, they hold a silent auction.   This auction is the biggest fundraiser for CQA/ACC. It is sponsored by Trend-Tex Fabrics who donate all the fabric.

Here is how it works.   I buy 5 fat quarters of fabric.   Every person gets the same fat quarter bundle and a theme is given.  This year it is 'Sunshine and Vines.'   You have to make a small wall quilt up and send it back for judging.  At the conference all the quilts are displayed and you can bid on them.  

Here is the fabric that I had to use.  There are only 4, I used all of the yellow as my background.

I have done this for several years now, but never had a quilt there being bid on while I am at the conference.  I will be so nervous that no one bids on mine!  I am already plotting how to use a fake name to ensure that it looks like someone liked it=)

This is the finished product.   I really liked the modern quilts that came out of Quilt Con last week.  Even though these are not 'modern' fabrics, I did my own interpretation of modern.  Pictured are two paths leading towards sunshine.   One is out of the fabrics and one is threadpainted.

This is the yellow that I used all of.   I decided to do straight line quilting as I would be quilting on top of that to mimic rocks.

Here you can see the free motion stones I created intersecting the vibrant fabric ones.