New quilt

I haven't posted on this blog site for so long. I wasn't getting any traffic and felt like I was talking to myself. My other blog is more active so I have been very neglectful. I have several new quilts, here is one of then, done in colored pencils and watercolor pencils. Its on its way to a show this week and then home and off to another. I will be interested to see what reactions I get. Here is Assemblage

Spring Market and New Patterns

Well we made it to Spring Market, it was so exciting and we were very well received. We met so many wonderful people and quilters. We had lots of orders and I hope that this will open a door for my patterns. I did release two new patterns at market, one was "Jungle Babies" and one was " Just Ducky". I showed my birdhouse pattern but hadn't released it until last week. Here are some pictures of the show and the quilts. I have some new ones in the works and I was asked by C&T Publishing to do a book. I hope I can write a book, how exciting would that be!

I also taught my first birdhouse class at Ginger's Quilt Shop. I had a wonderful time and the women seemed to enjoy themselves. We worked on technique and some art elements that I have incorporated into the quilt. Its a way to get them to jump into the art side of quilting.

Busy busy

I have been so busy, shows and I am trying to get 3 new baby quilt patterns and quilts together before the trade show in May. I have been so neglectful with this blog. I think interaction is the best motivator and my art blog is so busy I tend to pay it more attention. I have been working on some new art quilts and will post soon. My transformations quilt sold over the holidays and now hangs in a private collection in Florida. On to more exciting projects.

Here is one of my fabric post cards, I am no longer doing them as they take up so much time and I am so limited right now. This one is painted and then outlined in stitching to creat the flowers, I added the leaves later with inks.

So Neglectful

I have sadly neglected this art blog, I have had so much fun posting all my sketches and paintings on my other blog, then I just kept posting quilts too. I am really working on some wonderful things here lately. I am off to another quilters retreat and I am a newcomer to a local art quilters group in my area. I hope to get in with more creative quilters. I am always looking to find new techniques and try things. I finished my newest baby quilt and just released it. I used Micheal Miller fabrics that I bought as a bundled special at a show. I just loved the colors and had to have them since they reminded me of my room as a teenager. Here is my latest quilt pattern, available for sale, Baby Bloomers.

The Magazine is here!

The quilt hung at Paducah this last weekend and now is on its way to Denver. I also received the magazine that it was featured in, the AQS American Quilter, towards the back of the magazine. It is shown as one of the online winners. I am so thrilled, can't wait to hear how it does in Denver, will let you know.

Fabric Postcards at the Glendale Show

I have quilts and postcards going to the Glendale show, I am so excited. This is the first year that they have had a catagory for postcards, ATC's, and journal/book covers. I think its great that they are including more catagories since so many people are doing them now. I will be showing several cards but I just love these butterflies I did for an exchange in one of my online postcard groups. The theme was butterfly and you can do whatever you like. The thing that I like about the postcards is it allows me a small area to often try new techniques before I attempt them on a bigger scale or a full size quilt. That is the case here, oh, I have been making these butterflies almost nonstop since I started the cards. Anyway I really was excited when they were finished. Sometimes things just work out and other times.... well....

My Africa Memory Quilt

I realized I never posted pictures of the quilt I did for our friends 20th wedding anniversary. I started it originally by piecing together different african fabrics but I didn't like the way they competed with the photos. So I tore it all apart, reprinted the pictures and selected different fabric. I think it turned out good, and they were so shocked when they opened it before Christmas, Linda cried. I wish all my quilts were so well received! Well here it is:

12 hour Mystery Quilt Class

Saturday, my daughter Kim, and I did a 12 hour mystery quilt class. She wanted to make a quilt for her mother in law for Mothers day in May. I agreed to do the class with her and we would both work on the quilt together so it would get finish. I often wonder what happens to our minds when we sign up for these types of things, but as it turned out the class was great and the time flew by. We finished and even sent it home with the teacher to quilt! It was such a great day, I think this is the first full day I have had with her, just her and I, since before Jennifers crash. We laughed and giggled and did all those girly things that we usually don't get to do. I really treasure those pieces of time, they aren't often, so they are so much more special.

Gabrielle Swan Class

I had the opportunity to take a design class from Gabrielle Swan, I was interested in finding out how she assembled her quilts and how she decided where to cut them up. I was a bit disappointed by the lack of production due to the free form flow of the class. I liked her and thought it would of been better to just sit and talk to her. People ended up with things that I know many will never make so we brought supplies we didn't need and needed ones they didn't have us bring, alot of money for nothing to show.

Happy New Years

I am so excited about the New Year, we have decided to claim the year for ourselves. This is going to be our year. Tonight I will spend some time documenting some goals for all of us, so next year we can see how many we have accomplished. Jennifer has goals for her recovery and both Randy and myself have personal and professional goals along with spiritual and goals for us as a couple. I love to divide them up into groups, like short-term, long term, and into groups such as goals for the house, the business's, retirement, then more along the lines of personal things. Then we stick them away to look next year and see which ones we succeeded in and which ones still need work! Artistically and creatively I have more goals than hours so I will really need to learn how to better use my time and prioritize to get the things done that I want to do this year. Last year I challenged myself to enter quilt shows and I did do that, which was very exciting and I have two quilts showing now. One in going to The Road to California and one will be going to Paducah as fourth place winner of the online competition. It is very exciting to get some recognition for all the hard work. I have some goals for my painting and drawing this year also that I hope to accomplish. I want to become more involved with our local art museum and join the local Plein Aire group. I just got back from Vegas and took a challenge from the Wet Canvas website to work on in the hotel room. I have posted it here, it is a poinsettia and it was a great study in values. I also wanted to share a fun easy block I did at Christmas for our quilt quilds exchange. It is a gingerbread man and if you would like a copy just email me and I will send the pattern to you via email. I used a brown fabric and fused it to the background, then I satin stitched it on, I then used black for the inside of the mouth and did the same only extended the lines of the satin stitch to make the smiling mouth. I used red for the nose and I used white, large rick-rack around the body and big buttons sewn on with white embroidery thread for the eyes. I hope to have a gingerbread quilt for next Christmas available. Have a Happy New Years, I will be sitting in my spa tub, soaking in the New Year. Yippee

A Christmas Card

I received a beautiful Christmas card from a quilting friend Marilyn. She embroidered the card face with this adorable angle and attached it with a decorative stitch to the card. She also decorated the inside. I love it when people actually spend time and create their cards, it means so much to me. I have received many hand painted cards this year too and I will keep them as treasures and gifts from Christmas 2006.

The AQS Online Quilt Competion

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year I can't believe it is gone, a whole year! Where does the time go these days. Its true what they say about the older you get the faster it goes! I turned the big 50 this year! Did anyone notice I didn't post any pictures of parties etc. There were none, no hupla, no celebration, jsut a family dinner, I was trying to sneak into the 50's hoping no one would notice. You know I have heard that the 50's are the new 30's, we will see how hard 60 hits when you have told yourself your 30 for prior10 years .

I just wanted to share that my quilt "Crepe Paper Poppies" won 4th place or honorable mention in the online quilt show. I was so excited I just had to share. I received lots of goodies as part of the winning, and the quilt will go to Paducah to hang in their big quilt show. It is such and honor. Here is the link to see all the winners;

http://www.americanquilter.com/contest/contest_winners.php

I have been working on a memory quilt for our dear friends who went to Africa to celebrate their 2o something anniversary and rededicated their vows on the African plain, their pictures were incredible so I snatched them. Well she let me copy her CD because I told her I wanted to paint all the animals, which I do, but I took some of the pictures and transfered them to fabric for this wall hanging I hope to have done for Christmas. I should be able to post some pictures in a few days.

Have a wonderful Christmas I am looking forward to the New Year and the creative journey I will be starting for this next year.

Update

I have sorely neglected this blog while working on my other one, I should probably only have one but I always seem to complicate my life. I have been writing for the NaNoWriMo challenge and I am doing ok. I have recieved my quilt back from Houston and Hoffman so everything is home for now. I have been having fun doing some quick postcards for exchange groups I belong too. It is alot of fun and we send to each other all over the world. They are fast, fun and allow me to play a bit. I thought I would post my latest card, we were given a person to exchange things with, all different things like material, beads, feathers, ribbon, lace etc. whatever embellishments you wanted. That person takes the stuff I send her and I take the stuff she sends me and we make a postcard out of their stuff and send it back. Rita sent me a bunch of different blue fabrics, beads, ric rack, lace, ribbon and feathers all blue and white. This is what I envisioned for the foo-foo stuff I recieved. I hand painted her face and the cut it in half, I then made my "Indian Princess", by doing only half of her face I made two cards and had room for embellishments.

The Pirate Quilt

Many of you know I have been working on a pirate quilt for my grandsons first birthday. Well that special day was yesterday and although the quilt was not completed it was far enough along I got to present it to him and then quickly took it back to finish. I am posting some early pictures of the quilt, before I had it assembled or even completely layed out. As soon as I am done with it I will post final pictures. Some of the quilt stores that carry my other quilts want to see the pattern when its finished, so I need to get that all put together and packaged also. Let me know what you think. I ended up painting some of the elements and I have changed some of them since this picture. I think he will enjoy it and I think I managed to keep it happy verses dark and too old.

Grandkids Project day

I had the opportunity of having two of my grandkids over on Friday, Mikey 12 and Kylie 9. It was great fun, since every time they come I try to have projects and keep them creative. My goal is that they remember me as the one that introduced them to their creativity and imagination. I had these fabric crayons,which I have never used before, and some canvas bags so I told them to draw anything and we would transfer the designs to the bags. I told them they could use them for books or for Trick or Treating at Halloween. They both decided to make Trick or Treat bags. They both drew two pictures each and we colored them very good to make sure the design transfered well enough. After we did that I just loved their designs so much I scanned them into the computer and printed their pictures on fabric and we sewed a quilt for them to have up during the holiday. I let them sew the sashing on the squares and then I quilted it in "glow in the dark" thread! Now their scary quilt will glow when the lights go off! Its a great idea for anyone looking for a fast project for kids. I now need to clean up the mess that the whirlwind project day left me with!! My sewing room looks like a bomb hit it, and all of my straight pins are pushed all the way to their heads into each pin cushion, why do kids love to do that??? LOL

I'm BACK

We have returned safe and sound from Nashville, TN where we attended the AQS Quilt show which had my quilt in the "On the Wall" display. The show was very nice and I enjoyed every minute we had at the resort. It was unbelievable, beautiful and all enclosed so that the temperature and humidity was perfect. This was the view from our balcony in our room. It over looked this lush area where there were restaurants and a place they did water shows and other events. This other picture is the giant structure that covered this 53 acre resort. It kept us all at a comfy 75. It was great.


The first day we just settled in and tried to plan our week of activities. We thought it would be best if we did the quilt show but also took advantage of our vacation by soaking up the local color and attractions.



My quilt did not win, the judges seemed to prefer traditional quilts although a few great art quilts did place. There were several different challenges, one of which was the Alzheimer's challenge. It was touching, and heartwrenching, I had to stop reading the descriptions after the third quilt. We decided to buy the CD and look at it later. It was a wonderful opportunity for them to raise money for research.

This beautiful blue quilt won best of show and the quilter said it took her 16 months to make it! She plans on putting on her bed. The giant bee was a beautifully done whole cloth painted quilt from France that won in it division.

Houston

I was notified by Houston that my Quilt "Crepe Paper Poppies" was accepted into the show. I am really excited and can't wait to hang in Houston. Since I am going to Nashville I don't think I can swing going to both shows. Whats really nice about this show is that they let you know before the show if your a winner. That way you can try to go to the awards ceremony. Most of the shows I have entered don't let you know and you just have to decide early whether to go or not. Its very disappointing to not be able to go and find out later you won! They notify by the end of September.

Bette's Mom

I was invited by a quilter friend to Bette's mom's house, they needed to get rid of all of the sewing stuff to make room for a caregiver. Her health had gotten to the point where she could no longer care for herself, nor was she able to speak. Bette told us that she hadn't touched her sewing in over 3 years and that they needed to sell it if she was going to stay out of a nursing home. The family had decided it was best and called all the quilters they knew to come in and buy the stuff, the money would help to fund the remodel. Even with hearing all of that I wasn't prepared for Bette's mom to be sitting there watching us. Bette reassured us yet I couldn't help feeling so sad as I watched her watch us disassemble her life, piece by piece. She sat, not saying a word with her mouth but her eyes read volumes. Her hands were no longer able to hold a needle or manipulate fabric the way it used to but her love of it was apparant. Her sewing room was full of organized plastic boxes, each holding treasures for the next quilt. In some of the boxes we found perfectly choosen coordinating fabric with the pattern awaiting their turn at the sewing machine. There were shelves and shelves of magazine holders, full of quilting magazines which help patterns she planned on making. On the sewing table were bits and pieces of things that we all use and love, pins, scissors, tapes, and buttons, thread and bobbins. So much stuff, a life time of accumilation, of dreams, of UFO's. I couldn't help but thinking that there sat all of us, one day we will all arrive at a place we can no longer do the things we love. I think the hardest part of that realization is the fact of all the unfufilled dreams, knowing inside that your life is almost over. I hope Bette's mom knows where she is going, believes in our Savior, for then nothing is lost, but all gain. Elsewise, its a lifetime of bobbles and bits and fabric that little value to others. As I got home I sat and looked at the things I had gotten, I found a beautiful thimble, used many times. I placed it on my finger and wondered how many quilts she had quilted with it, I wish I knew the stories behind the tiny treasures. No one in her family sews or quilts, and they didn't feel it important to keep an momentos. My girlfriend found a drawer full of finished blocks, she took to make a quilt for them, probably to be delivered after she is gone. This is not unlike my family, do we really know the person when we don't really know what the person loved. It has been a hard day of looking in through a window to our future. It reminds me to make each day count, to enjoy every process of each project or adventure and so that when its over I will have no regrets, only accomplishments and peace knowing I spent my time wisely.

Gone Fishin'

Last week we went fishing with the rehab hospital where Jennifer has her outpatient therapy. They have the most wonderful program that uses adaptive equipment to allow handicapped people an opportunity to feel normal and have some fun that the rest of us take for granted. The program has activities all year long and last week we all got to go deep sea fishing. They let us take Mikey (our grandson) along with us so he got to enjoy the day with Nana, Umpy and Aunt Jen Jen. It is such a wonderful opportunity to be able to do that since many of the activities the kids do are very inaccessible to Jennifer. Mikey had never been fishing and was very concerned about having to bait his hook once he saw how big the bait was! He said he would be excited to catch the bait fish (about 8") long. He started out a bit timid about handling the fish but soon became the fishing expert, baiting all our poles. The fishing is so good right now due to our unseasonably warm waters. We barely got our poles into the water and got hits. Mikey loved casting his line and then just reeling it back up to see if the fish had gotten his bait! Gus put a bait fish on Umpy's hat as he took a well deserved nap. He spent much of the day fixing our birds nest mess after our attempts at casting. I never imagined that fishing line could get so tangled up! We all had so much fun and can't wait until the 9th when we get to do it all again.

I was asked a great question

I was asked to share how quilting helped in the healing from difficulties, trauma or special challenges we face. I was surprised when I wrote it all down how strongly I felt about it. Although it wasn't the biggest thing, since I would have to say my faith is the only reason I survived, it really plays a big part in who I am today.

I did respond but would like to not share it yet, I want to hear from others. I think that is is an amazing question, in the sense that it made me more aware of how important my creativity is to my health. To me being me. So I would love to hear your story, I am going to ding some people I hope you foward this on and I will post the responses or links on my blog.

Desiree

Working on another pattern

Well, my newest grandbaby is going to be one in September and my daughter really wants a pirate quilt for him. So I am in the middle of designing and making a pirate quilt! I already have quilt stores asking for it so I need to get a move on. I was hoping for some time to get me sewing machine in for a check up but I can't seem to let it cool off enough to move it. I think that the people who have a back up machine are incredibly lucky to be able to keep right on sewing if they want to. My sewing room could use a good straightening up too, but no time, must forge on. I have been looking at the pirate stuff out right now, which is numerous, and this is one of the posters from the movie. I don't want to scare the poor baby to death before he turns 1 and mom doesn't want anything too babish because she wants him to be able to use it for along time. More to come as I make my way through process ARRRGGG!

The Hoffman Challenge

Every year Hoffman fabrics does a challenge and I love to enter challenges. I don't know why, some sickness that probably stems from some unresolved childhood issue but anyway. I entered last year and my quilt didn't win but traveled for a year. I didn't realize it would be traveling and didn't even have a picture of it before it left. Someone emailed me a picture of it at some show so I do have one now. I will be getting it back soon and decided to do it again. I am a glutton for punishment I guess. I took pictures this time too, I quickly came up with this quilt, didn't spend too much time over analyzing it. It is about 23"x23"and I am happy enough to send it next week to them. The flowers are three deminsional and the pedal pop off the quilt, I hand painted the toucans face an did freemotion embroidery for the feathers in the wing and tail. I sewed beads in the middle of each flower for the stamin. The challenge is due by the 28th of July. I would love to know what you all think of this one! I still haven't named it and I would love some suggestions.

Quilt show update

Well, today I got an email notification that my art Quilt "Transformation" got accepted into the AQS Quilt Expo in Nashville, TN. I am very excited since I had wanted to enter it into their Pacuca show and it didn't qualify because it was 1 1/2 inches too small. But for some reason this show has different size requirements. I tell you, if anyone is entering quilt shows make sure you read and reread all the instructions on entering. I think they are all so confusing since the rules change for each show, even within the same organization. I am excited to have two quilts to be able to have to show this year, my first year of showing. I had another quilt but pulled it after it went to Road and didn't do anything there or at Pacific International. It is a black and white quilt and I think that they just can't compete against all the color. It makes me excited to start something new even though my shoulders still ache from that quilting.

Finally Finished

It has been so long since I wrote on this blog, I seem to update my other one more regularly since I draw faster than I quilt. As you know I have been working on another quilt, well I finally finished it. I am not as happy with it as I was with my last one but thats ok. I had a goal this year and I made it. So I am very pleased with myself. I will share my goal later if the quilt is accepted. I first painted all the fabric and then fussy cut all the flowers. It is about 80"x49" so its bigger than the last art quilt I did which made it harder to quilt. I spend days in my sewing room "manhandling" that quilt to get it quilted with my sewing machine. I can't tell you how much my arms ached from trying to keep it rolled up and manuver it through that little hole! I like smaller quilts! Anyway here it is, comments are always welcome.

The Wendsday Night Quilt Group that sometimes meets on Thursdays Quilting Retreat

I had the opportunity to go on a quilting retreat with a bunch of great women who have been meeting for along time. When I first heard about them from a friend it sounded like a group that met every once in awhile and was not overly organized, and you just did whatever you wanted, so crafters came, scrapbookers, whoever. I had only gone to one daytime get together and then this retreat. I was completely blown away at the amount of women and how organized they were. They had games and events and they had made things for an auction. Some of the women made auction items and we had an silent auction, I think there were 28 items this year, including 2 full sized quilts and some smaller wall hangings, table runners. They pick a theme and then people start working on items for the next auction. The next theme is Jewel tones and I am already thinking about things to make. They all seem to get along wonderfully with all the diversity and there is a wide age range. Bonnie, one of the women in charge, shared some of the rules of their no rules approach to the group. She said that one of the rules was that if two quilters were together they could make a decision and if you were alone you had to look in a mirror and then live with yourself! LOL The rules are so histerical I think they should write them down but then their no rules would be in writing. They all do beautiful work and got so much accomplished in the few days that we spent in Big Bear. It was beautiful and full of fun and I hope to get to know these women better over the next few years.

My newest quilt

I am working on a new art quilt due to the fiasco with the last one left me without one to enter into the Houston show. Not that it will jury in but it was my goal this year to enter either Paducha or Houston, so I am still working on a New Years Resolution! I am painting fabric here and applying texture for my poppies.

Evelyn's Quilt

I met Eveyln online at a quilting group, she bought one of my patterns to one of my baby quilts. She entered it into a regional show and won a first! Congratulations Evelyn! She sent a picture with an email to let me know. I'm so glad she told me so can share in her good fortune. She changed up the center a bit by adding more flowers and putting the leaves over the sashing, beautiful. I love it! I want to see the whole quilt! I hope to see pictures of the other one she made too, obviously her work is very good!

Velda's class sketch

Well I sat and drew during part of the lunch break and decided that I would share the drawing since I don't have much more than samples to post, and will soon. Dianne

Velda Newman

I went to the Glendale Show and took Velda Newman's class. It was really wonderful but the show itself was a bit disappointing. It was very small, the quilt show itself only had a few rows of quilts and the vendors seem to be dropping out of this show or something. We went last year and we werent overly impressed but I think it was bigger than this year. Whats happening out there? Even with all of that I still like the classes they have and Velda was great to meet. We got our books signed and had a fun, creative day. We experimented with different techniques and tried different applications on our fabric. We didn't stay to take other classes and since it was Friday and raining we had a 3 1/2 hour drive home. Wow, its so much fun living in southern California.

On to something new

Well, its time to start something new. I have so many ideas in my head that I am throwing around. I wish I could make quilts faster so I could get some of these ideas from my imagination into fabric. I have a wonderful friend, who went to Africa for their anniversary the end of last year. They redid their vows on the African plain, she held wild flowers and the sun was setting. It was really lovely, and the pictures were fantastic. I am in the process of making her and her hubby a memory quilt. I am not using a pattern, I am just designing it as I go. I edited many of the photos she took and printed them on fabric. I also want to add some other elements such as, embroidered lettering, and leaves, I want to put some open areas for her to journal right on the quilt. Some of the pictures are so wonderful I am going to paint them too. The animals, the way they were able to capture a moment and a feeling was amazing. I will share some of the photos and my progress as I limp through designing the quilt.

IT WON!!!!

I can't believe it, after all the hassle with the shows and my new quilt "Transformation" won best pictorial quilt at Mid Atlantic. How exciting!!http://www.quiltfest.com/activities_detail.asp?id=79

More gourd pictures

Another Survivor has started!!

Yippie, I love Survivor night as you all know, martini's and El Pollo loco. Its great fun and off to another fun filled season. I am making a new gourd to collect our weekly 5$ payments. I am adding elements of each survivor episode to the gourd to personalize it for us. I have also added the islands and where everyones camp is, along with names and ages of the tribal members. We will start voting after the merge and then the winner takes home the pot on the last night!! Fun, Fun, here's a picture of the gourd.

A Final Note

Ok, this is the last I am going to say about the quilt show, I was told that if you are excepted into a IQA show you can not enter any of their other shows with that quilt wether it wins or not. The fact that it is accepted is it, so I will not be in any of their shows I guess with this quilt anyway. I am frustrated and a bit upset over this whole thing, I don't know what else to say except she told me I wasn't the only one this has happened too. So I guess others are confused too!

Thank God tonights "Survivor Night", that will make all things right again. I am making a new gourd for our money we collect and I am adding elements of each show onto the gourd. I will post a picture soon.

Another Glitch

Well, I received another email from the IQA today saying that they needed to correct an email that they had previously sent me encouraging me to enter the fall show since I couldn't send the quilt to this show. The new email said that since I was excepted into one show that I can not enter any more of their shows with that quilt. I sent them back an email that I thought you could enter more of their shows as long as you aren't a prize winner. I am waiting to hear back. Boy, this is a tough call. It will really make me think out who I submit quilts too. I would love to hear from others of you that have shown more, I am new at this and have already had a few hard blows. I want to do it right, and I havent figured out how to play their political game, I guess. Any comments would be much appreciated. I will post when I get the reply email from them.

A Challenge to my fellow fiber artists

I recently joined a webring for illustrators in which I have a blog just for my sketches and thoughts. It is similar to our ring but the people who look at the sketches actually leave comments. I was amazed at how many comments I got and I only have 3 posts in a few days! It made me realize how much I appreciate and love to hear what people are thinking when they see my stuff. It as though friends have stopped by to see what you are up to and comment on your progress. I love it and I have decided I am going to be better about leaving comments. I wanted to challenge my fellow quilters and fiber artists to take the time to stop and visit a bit. So if you catch me leaving comments during one of my visits with you, please feel free to stop by and chat with me for a spell. Feel free to check out my other blog at: http://www.myclothesline.blogspot.com

A new day

Its so beautiful today, its in the 80's and the wind is blowing. I love winters in Southern California, whats to complain about. But sometimes our dry, warm weather causes everyone a lot of grief. I feel so sorry for the firefighters that have been forced to fight a fire started by the forestry dept. How sad that we put them in this kind of harms way due to an oversight and mistake. As the sun sets on the hills the smoke rising from the fire it causes the sun to glow red and the sky to be filled with wildly shaped smokey rings.

My brother was forced to evacuate his home and they weren't allowed to return until the following day, thank God everything and everyone was safe. He stood on his balcony and took several photos of the flames and firefighters fighting it out on the ridge close to his home. This other picture is of the sun in the middle of the afternoon through the clouds of ash that have covered everything.

Oh my gosh!

Ok so I decided that I would send "Transformation" to Mid-Atlantic since I hadn't heard anything from "Celebrate Spring". So of Friday I shipped my quilt and Saturday guess what I received in the mail. A notification from the International Quilt Show that they had selected it to be hung at the Chicago international quilt show and that it was selected as one of only 53 finalist! Oh my gosh! I say it over and over as I walk the house in a daze. How did I get myself into such a mess. I guess I need to really be careful which and when I enter shows, I just never would of thought it would of been excepted to both. I don't know which show is better or anything since I have never gone to either one since they are so far from me. I think someone told me that the IQA was a harder show to win at but I have never won anything anyway. I am so sad, someone then suggested I make another, right, just hand paint some more fabric and sew it up by next week. AAAGGGHHH! I feel so stupid, like such an amateur, this is the part that I guess you learn from experience. I feel so bad, I sent them an email today, appologizing for not being able to send the quilt. I didn't know what else to do. I would be interested in hearing from people who have gone to both the Chicago show and Mid-Atlantic and hearing about the differences and both good and bad of both, what your thoughts are etc, whether you have shown there or not, just the feel of the shows. AAAGGGHHH.

Mid Atlantic

I have been so busy and unable to post lately but today I received my acceptance letter to the Mid-Atlantic show and I am very excited. If I am accepted into the Celebrate spring I am going to have to choose the show to enter, wow, I never thought that would happen. I should be notified by them if accepted, Feb. 1 so we'll see. I would love to go to PA and see the show but I think that it would be a bit tough with Jenn, so I will admire from afar. I went to road and saw my little quilt hanging and was amazed it even got in with the quality of quilts that I saw there. It is interesting though, that some of the quilts I saw at Pacific International I was amazed that they didn't win anything but at Road they won big, and others that won at PIQS didn't even place at road, so that goes to show you don't quit sending your quilts. Who knows what the next set of judges will be looking for.

I am excited to get started on my next quilt. I have decided to make it quite large, so that will be interesting since my studio is not that big and I have a few UFO's stuck to my design wall I will have to remove just to work. That might be a good thing, since I am frustrated with them anyway. Maybe I will just put them away until after and then take them back out and look at them with fresh eyes. That always works with my paintings too.

I was painting a dragon today for a little 6 yr old boys room, didn't want to make it too scarey so I am giving him a bit of a smirk on his face. I will post a picture later.

I was tagged

Deb, from Deborah's Journal tagged me so I am going to try and answer all the questions. Thanks Deborah, this is my first tag.

4 jobs you've had:
1. My first job at 15 was bagging groceries at an Alpha Beta!, wow there not even around anymore.
2. I worked as an office manager in several businesses. Got to hire and fire people. Yuck
3. Worked with several interior designers, theming rooms, painting murals.
4. Worked for the best boss, myself.

4 movies you could watch over and over:
1.You've got mail
2. What lies beneath
3. Wethering Heights
4. Lots of the oldies

4 places you've lived;
1.Upland, CA
2.Clairmont, CA
3.Tustin, CA
4.Riverside, CA wow, I haven't ever gotten out of Calif

4 TV shows you love to watch;
1.Medium
2. Survivor!
3. CSI
4.I Love Lucy

4 Places you've been on vacation;
1. Mexico
2. New York
3. Alaska
4. Vegas

4 websites you visit everyday;
1. my blog
2. this one is really hard since it changes all the time, depending on what sparks my interest this week!

4 of you favorite foods;
1. Mexican
2. ice cream
3. El Pollo Loco chicken
4. sweet potatoes

4 places you'd rather be;
1.on vacation
2. getting a massage and getting pampered at a spa
3. Italy
4. Germany

4 albums you can't live without.... no such animal, do they still call them albums?

4 people you'll pass this on to;
Its a secret, not telling

Some of my fibercards and further ramblings

I have a total of 8 done now, what fun. It is a fast, fun project and you can send them to friends. I also received another one today.

I made it my resolution to not sew today but to get the office cleaned up. It is one of the first rooms you see when you enter the house and its such a mess! It seems like it becomes the dumping ground for all the mail and junk in the house. Just dealing with all the paper work when you have two home businesses plus all of Jennifer's paperwork is quite a challenge. I really have been worried about all the deforestation due to the amount of junk mail I am receiving! I feel guilty knowing that some tree died so that I could receive one more credit card application or pizza coupon. I wish I could just stop the madness, I don't read or even look at one piece of the junk, so the waste is huge. My girlfriend started sending back the credit card applications in the return envelopes, without her information. Just so they could get some of the junk mail back.

Swapping Fiber Post cards

Well I have received 4 fiber postcards from my swapping group ( that sounds bad). They are wonderful, and so fun to receive. Its such a nice surprise to go to the mailbox and have a handmade card, its great fun. I have a few done, I am doing them all different. Some are doing series and some are keeping with a similar theme, but not me, I hate to do alot of repetition. So each one will be unique and signed, like a tiny piece of artwork. I will post some soon. Its really so easy, if you have some time and would love to surprise a quilting friend you might want to think about making a few. I love the stamps and postmarks from being mailed directly. Some people put them in envelopes to mail, but thats no good, the markings are part of the art. We have a group of 25 and a yahoo group home where we can chat and share pictures and ideas. This would be one class I wouldn't mind teaching.

Close up

I just wanted to thank everyone for taking the time to comment on my new quilt. I really appreciate what everyone said. I have had a few people ask me to give more information on some of the techniques and how I put it together. I actually painted all the fabric in the colors I needed. I use salt and water to achieve a watercolor effect on the fabric. I then fussy cut out the leaves and storks heads, and birds heads. On several of the leaves I went ahead and did some textural stitching by taking small seams along what would be the veining on the leaf then I quilted the leaves seperately to give them more a three dimensional look. The birds faces are painted with inks and paints after they were assembled. While I was at the Pacific International show I found a hand dyed fabric that I thought would be perfect for the background so I bought it. I actually had problems with it because it was like silk and when I went to quilt it the fabric started to pull and bunch up. Well if I had had half a brain I would of realized that it was doing it before I got so far. As it turned out, I ended up spending two days ripping out quilt stitches. I then stablized it and the quilting went much better. But honestly, I almost tossed it several times before I finished the rip out process. Here is a close up. I ended up quilting the background in the shapes of more of the leaves. I will let you know if I hear from the shows.

Its DONE!

I can't believe its been so long since I had a chance to write in my blog!! But I have been so busy, I finally finished my newest art quilt. I think it turned out good, my quilting skills still need some major work but I am going to submit to as many shows as I can and see what kind of response I get with it. I worked so hard to get it done in time to submit to Paducah and when it came time to fill out the form I noticed that I was 1" to short and so I didn't meet the length requirment and couldn't submit it. AHHHHH I couldn't believe it, after all of that. Working every minute over the holidays with my family here from out of town. OK, I'm over it, maybe Paducah isn't all that anyway. I would love to hear some comments on it so if you have the time PLEASE email me.