Machine Quilting Fun

Here are a couple of things that I have machine quilted on my longarm machine recently. This first picture is of a border that I did on a customer's quilt. She had a very simple southwest star design in the center, and then this fabulous feather border print. She wanted the feathers to be outlined so that they really popped out. Took forever, but worth the effort I think!




This next piece is something that I did for myself. Remember those 1 yard hand dyed gradations from a couple of months ago? Well, I wanted to actually USE one, so I made a quilted tote bag. This is the front and the inside lining is the white part, which is actually not seen in the finished bag, but shows off the quilting design a little bit better. Did I remember to take a picture of the finished tote? Of course not--and now it is hanging at the Bernina store since they are selling my hand dyeds. So....I'll have to wait until I get it back or make another one. But I was pleased with the finished tote, and it was very gratifying to have made the whole thing from start to finish.

Paper Fabric Bookmarks

I have been working on making several sheets of paper fabric to turn into bookmarks for a swap that I am participating in on the Mixed Media Art Friends group. This is my first swap in months--since I have been otherwise distracted recently--so it felt good to get my hands dirty again! Kelli Perkins has been doing a workshop through the group based on her wonderful Stitch Alchemy book, and is also hosting the swap.

Art Quilt Workshop

These are the first two quilt samples that I made for a class that I will be teaching beginning in February at Ann Silva's Bernina Sewing Center in Albuquerque. We are working our way through the Art Quilt Workbook by Jane Davila and Elin Waterston. Each month, we will be focusing on a different aspect of creating an original art quilt. My quilts are all going to be 9 x 12 inches with the theme of "flowers and leaves". The theme is up to each individual student, but by selecting a theme, it makes for a cohesive body of work, and a way to focus in on an idea. The sign ups have been good so far, and I am really looking forward to teaching this class, and seeing what my students come up with!

State Fair Quilt Challenge

Catching up on posts:

This is a 20 x 20 inch quilt that I made for the New Mexico Quilter's Association fabric challenge at the State Fair this past September. We were given 3 fabrics--the focal asian flower piece, the batik purple stripe, and the peachy and gold print. We had to use a "recognizable" piece of the focal print, plus one or more of the coordinates. The quilts had to measure 20 x 20 inches.

I always like those simple geometric squares, so went with that idea as the basis of my design, and then complimented the angular squares with the organic focal floral.

Life Changes

Nope, haven't fallen off the face of the earth--just got pregnant! I am now 23 weeks along, and dispite being in the "honeymoon" second trimester, am still feeling extremely tired with ongoing nausea. So, needless to say, that is where my attentions have been these past few months, instead of making art.

Here is a picture of the little guy--yes, it is a boy! My 7 year old daughter is excited about the baby (though she was hoping for a girl), but my 4 year old son is not so excited--a little worried about the baby coming in and taking over his toys. But he seems to be slowly warming up to the idea as we are assuring him that he will get to keep his own room and his own stuff! He is starting to put aside some of his old toys for the baby--how sweet.

I have also been really busy the past couple of months with my longarm quilting business, because people have a lot of projects that they want completed for Christmas gifts or to enjoy themselves before the holidays. For the past couple of months, I have been barely keeping up with family, work, household duties and emergencies (like my washing machine overflowing and flooding our garage and my workspace), and trying to get enough rest, so my late-night art time has gone bye-bye.

I have really missed it though, and now that the busy season is over (even though I am still behind schedule), I need to add some of that art making time back into my schedule. This has been a light week, with company here and enjoying the holiday with the kids, I haven't been working in the garage in the evenings like usual. Instead, for the past couple of nights, after the kids have gone to bed, I have been able to bring out my hand dyed fabrics and begin two art quilts that I am hoping to enter into a quilt show next month. I feel out of practice and out of the groove, but it felt so good to cut, sew and press that fabric!

Hopefully, more art to come soon!

More Bleach Discharge

These are some pieces that I made about a month ago, but have been so behind in blogging....
These were done a little differently than my process before. I used circles and leaves as "masks" and sprayed bleach on the fabric to get a resist effect.


These were folded and then the edges were dipped in bleach. Lots of different shapes you can get with folding.


This one was a shibori wrap that discharged a little too quickly! It is mostly brown, rather than its original black. Subtle, but a neat pattern.


Now I've just got to DO SOMETHING with it!

Thimbleweeds Quilt Retreat

The last weekend in September, I was lucky to be able to go to the Thimbleweeds quilt guild annual retreat in Jemez Springs, NM. I went last year as a teacher, but wanted to go back this year to play!

The class I took was Pet Portraits with a great art quilt teacher from Santa Fe, Holly. I was a little too intimidated to do a fabric portrait of my dogs Anya and Coco the first time out, so instead got a couple of books from the library on fish. These are my results from the weekend.


This one is almost finished--just need to add some beaded eyes and maybe some bubbles.




The goldfish top is done, but not quilted. The fun part with this one was adding the non-cotton fabrics for the seaweed.


Just a fun fish "portrait" with a gilted frame--an African fabric that I had just enough of. I hand dyed the background, and the black and copper fins are black fabric that I bleach discharged to reveal the coppery areas.