Faces

This is one of the faces that I made for the "Full of Smiles" quilt. A new line of fabric came out in skin tones so I just had to make a quilt using the different fabrics. My dear friend, Jayne volunteered to do all the hair and I think she did a super job.

Rogue Art Quilters Beach challenge

Chuck Schulman took this beautiful photograph while on vacation in Italy. We chose to use it as our inspiration and we picked two fabrics that everyone had the choice of using. We also required some glitzy thread and a curve in the quilt somewhere. Here are the results:

Suzanne McBride calls hers "Life is a Beach" and she created that umbrella by covering one she found. It is a very 3 dimensional quilt.

Patty Duggan loves the human form and the string bikini is the challenge fabric. She calls it "Beach Plans".

This is my quilt. I used both challenge fabrics for the sand and I played with soy silk fiber to create the water and the waves. The umbrellas are also very dimensional.

Ellen Cholewa created "Sun Brellas" by playing with photo shop on her computer. I love the graphic design.

Elaine Turcke use rocks that we made in a Linda Schmidt workshop. They are created using puff paint and fabric paint. Very effective.

Cathy Lang painted her umbrellas and added beads for fringe.

She also played with soy silk fiber.

Carol Stocking calls her quilt "Beach House" and she used both the right and wrong sides of the challenge fabric in the foreground. She also used soy silk, fabric paint and cotton balls to get that wonderful water.

All of the quilts are on display at Quiltz in Ashland.

Ole and Blue

I spent 5 days in Sisters at a quilt retreat this week. Two days were spent in a wonderful class with Gabrielle Swain where I learned all about design and hand applique. It will be a long time before you see the quilt from that class but I am inspired.
The second class was with Jane Davila for only one day but we played with fabric, paper and lots of found objects. I created these two pieces in her class with a little follow up at home. The first one is called blue because I focused on finding pieces in that color family including rocks, paper and yarn. I loved sewing on the letters to finish it off.

The second piece was inspired by the wooden birds that I picked up at a garage sale on my way to Sisters. They look like they are from South America so I wanted a fiesta sort of feel. I couldn't find the letters to spell out "fiesta" so I settled for "Ole". I used fabrics that my friend Joanna had given to me for the class and had great fun digging through her box of treasures. I couldn't have done it without her.

Locker Hooking

I started learning a new technique and got carried away. I had seen a piece at a show that was made out of one-inch strips of batik and locker hooked. I borrowed a book and taught myself how to do it and this tote bag is the result. I like locker hooking - it can be taken anywhere and you can see your progress pretty quickly....and it is a good way to use up some of the many batiks that I have been stashing away for so long.

Still working on a couple of black and white quilts in the studio as well as a cute kid quilt that I hope to unveil soon. Tomorrow I am going to Sisters for 4 days of classes. Can't wait.

Four & Twenty

The quilt store just got this line of fabric called "Blackbird" by Timeless Treasures and I couldn't resist making a quick quilt and a pattern. I have the patterns at http://www.easy2sew.com/ under lap quilts. Can you see the Blackbirds in the corners...and all those pies in the center? There are cherries in the fabric too.

The other quilt is called Flower Power. I made it about a month ago and I don't think that I posted it. I also finished my next challenge quilt which will premiere on July 15 at Quiltz. I will post that one when I post all of the Rogue Art Quilters pieces.

In the meantime, I am working on a quilt that is totally black, white and grey. Quite the challenge since I love working with color.

It was 100 yesterday so I have a good excuse to stay inside and sew!

Fiber Optics

Fiber Optics was created with needlepoint canvas. This time I painted fusible interfacing with blue fabric paint. When it dried, I fused the interfacing to the canvas and I remembered to do my needlework before sewing it to fabric! The orange pieces are a thick material that my friend Maxine prints. They are left over from a tallis that we collaberated on. I wrapped some metal washers with purple yarn to get the circles. The brown woven looking stuff is yarn that I knit a few rows with and then cast off.

I wove ribbon through

the brown yarn at the

bottom to get some

sparkle. I love working

with all the wonderful

fibers that are available

now and Quiltz has a great

variety to choose from.

Tapestry in Green

I am on a new kick! I have discovered needlepoint canvas as a form of embellishment. I painted Steam-a-Seam with lumiere paints and then I ironed it to the canvas. I quilted the purple fabric and sewed the canvas on top. Then I did my stitching by hand. This may have been a mistake as it would have been much easier to stitch through the canvas and then attach it to the quilt!
I added beads and the thing in the upper left hand corner is Tyvek which I painted and melted with a heat gun. I also added glitter glue for some sparkle. The scroll in the lower right corner is soy silk fiber that I rolled and attached with yarn and beads.

I did some machine stitching on the canvas before attaching it - the top row of green. I braided some fibers and couched them to create the second row and I beaded the third row. Lots of fun and the possibilities are endless. I have two more in the works.