...practice piece

...to finished tote.

-The back side of the bag is the other practice piece.

-It's the perfect size for my sketch pad and pencil case.

-Inside I put a pocket made of screen fabric covered with a length of ribbon. I bought a roll of the screen fabric from the home improvement store awhile ago and have used it for pockets and stabilizer. 

-Convergence is our new Fiberactions challenge word.  A sneak peak is below. 

-And tis the season for interesting nature sightings. First a ground hog, then an eagle and now this....

...pillowcases and postcards

Yesterday my son and I packaged up 51 pillowcases and sent them to our American troops in Afghanistan. We are supporting Operation Pillowcase.

 I forgot to take a photo of all the cases before we put them into the boxes... But they were great looking with a wide variety of colors.  My son made several of the cases himself along with myself and several donations from friends.    If you live in or around the Blackstone Valley and think you would like to participate - you may email me. Otherwise go to the web blog and hook up with a team leader in your area.  This is an ongoing project that my son and I will continue to support by making and sending  cases.

I hope you join in.

Also, I had some fun this week making post cards.  I had several notes to send out and luckily I was able to stock up on a  lot of my supplies through my friend and Guild member Shari. 

Shari hosts a post card supply making swap/sale through our Guld.  She offers prestamped backs, precut postcard stabilizer and a wide variety of novelty fabrics. 

Recently Shari had a booth set up at our local quilt show and guests were able to make postcards and purchase supplies. The proceeds are donated to Women's Heart Health. 

I don't really care for cutting the stabilizer or stamping the backs...so I'm happy to get my supplies though Shari.  Her hard work makes for my easy.

-an example of a prestamped back

-some of the novelty prints, turned into cards and decorated with crystals.

-painted and embellished fabrics.

-painted batting (from 3 Creative Studios).

...and designs cut from the painted Lutradur. 

I used my friend Sue's new ruler to cut the shapes. She has a very cool cutting ruler with  many design options. 

More details to follow.

...these two were my favorites. 

finished pencil wraps

Over the weekend I finished up the quilted pencil wraps.  The two shown below are similar to the one I posted here.

  When opened, the wrap is a fully quilted piece of art.

These are easy and fun to make!

Happy Quilting Day!

That's right!

Today is National Quilting Day and I hope you are celebrating by doing something creative.

I pulled out some projects and hope to get them finished over this weekend.  The first few photos are the pencil cases I started awhile ago and the flower is a practice piece I'm going to make into a hand bag.

...spring has sprung

and so have the peepers in my backyard......

With the changing seasons I like to change the quilts that we hang in and around our house.  This quilt was a guild challenge from a few years ago.  I was required to use the color blue and so I did.  I think I've posted this before, but seeing it celebrates spring and summer - I thought I'd show it again.

I was inspried by the memories of the pond across the street from my great grandmother's house. 

Our challenge this year is 'escape with me' and I haven't decided on a design yet.  We will reveal our quilts at our July meeting. 

 Sometime soon I'll post photos of all of my guild challenges.   

catching up...

Our 2010 quilt show is behind us and I've spent the past few days catching up....

Below is my Machine Quilter's Expo piece which has been waiting for some of my attention. I'm almost finished and when I am, I'll post a photo.  Don't forget to check out Machine Quilter's Expo at their new

Providence, RI location..  It's always an inspiring show.

This past Monday was the Fiberactions theme word reveal. 

Below is one of my entries that I decided not to go with. 

The patchwork background is a communication board.  My background is in Speech Language and Special Needs Education...

I patched squares together and then used letter stamps to stamp out words which would be typical on a communication board.  Below you can see the word happy.  Over the board I stitched a layer of tulle and pink cheesecloth.

Using my hand dyed fabrics I die cut the flower shapes then  layered them with batting to give them dimension.  They were stitched to the background and the dyed lace was used as an accent.

My inspiration was the same... Communication through fiber and stitch, but I think this piece looked backwards while the other looked forwards. so I went with it.... 

______________

I bought a package of Lutrador from Friends Fabric Art; a vendor we had with us at our show. 

 I want to make some cards, so this morning I painted a few sheets of the Lutrador and put them out on the step to dry.

When I went to check them in the sun, I found this babe.  My guess is, she is trying to get a jump start on spring like the rest of us.

Happy Spring Day!

Communication. . .

. . . through fiber and stitch.

Fiberactions is an online fiber artists challenge group. We have embarked on a two year journey to create a fiber art piece measuring 16 x 20"every other month.  Our pieces are revealed on the 15th of every other month, when the new inspiration word is introduced as well.

You may find all of the artist's work by clicking the Fiberactions site here.

Today is reveal day

and

 my communication piece is below.

-communication through fiber and stitch-

After a few other attempts at some abstract work, I decided on this.  I like the simplicity of it and the words are by Langston Hughes -

 "Hold fast to your dreams, for without them life is a broken winged bird that cannot fly."

Using my own hand dyed fabrics, the dimensional applique was made with fabric stitched over wool felt.

I love hummingbirds and am fascinated by how they can be so tiny yet so strong.

I used a poly over a silk batt and quilted a simple design with 100wt thread.

A Is for Apron...

.....25 Fresh & Flirty Designs by Nathalie Mornu

 is the book I used for this Apron.  It was made for our Apron display to support Women's Heart Health. We will have over 50 aprons with dedications at our quilt show this weekend. 

My apron is named "Patchwork Pantry"

Until I get that vintage dressform I've been looking for... my lamp gets to model my creations and you can see the apron is below.

Each of the display aprons required a pocket and a heart.  I embellished my pocket with  pewter cooking charms.  I bought them a long time ago, when I knew I'd be making the apron for the show.

The charms were also used on the fabric heart pin, stiched with silver wire.

Below are some samples of fabric postcards that will be in the Make N Take post card booth.  Ready cut fabrics will be available to make postcards for all occasions.  There will be a mailbox where guests can place fabric postcards they have made to be mailed to our American Troops serving in Afghanistan. Our Guild is sponsoring the materials and Uxbridge Supports our Troops will mail the postcards for us.

painted jacobean...

I used the Stewart Gill paints to paint another Jacobean flower quilt. I've made a few of these small Jacobean quilts, now. I like to design the flowers on paper and then paint them out on black cloth.  In the past I've used a Kona black cotton, cotton Fairy Frost and this is a cotton sateen. 

The cotton has a shine to it. You can see it below.

I outlined the flowers with a 50 wt thread and then quilted it with a 100wt.

I'm going to face it instead of use a traditional binding. I'm blocking it now, it shrunk almost and inch on all sides... so much for such a small piece. 

When it's finished I'm going to put in our Guild's silent auction.

every quilt has a story...

...and this quilt is no exception.

 

Sometimes the stories are happy, sad, celebratory..... but I love knowing the stories.   I always ask about the quilt's story and make a note of it.

This is Michelle's and she will gift it to her sister this weekend. And next weekend at our Thimble Pleasures Quilt Show I'll get to meet the recipient in person.

I can't wait.

Michelle wanted a shamrock or four leaf clover somewhere on the quilt.  So I used a motif  that was sort of like a clover which I sylized slightly by adding hearts. 

In the four corners I made a slight adjustment to the motif and it is a stylized shamrock.

I loved stitching out the woven feather rope.

In order to catch the quiting in the photos I had to adjust the lights.

The front are elegant greens and cream.

The back is a beautiful shade of blue which has significance to the story of the quilt. 

If you attend the show, you will have to read about this quilt's story and ask a white glover to see the magnificent shade of blue on the back.

There will be lots to see and do at our show.... 

-200 quilts including a youth exhibit: traditional, contemporary, art...

 -a silent auction of member made items

-a handcrafted apron exhitibit to benefit women's heart health,

-a boutique where you can find hand crafted items and great bargains on patterns, books etc...

-15 vendors from in and around the Northeast to include sewing notions, fabrics, paints, clothing, jewelry, machines, kits, tools....

-a make and take post card booth (where you can  make a postcard to send to a soldier)

-and food! While we don't allow food in the exhibit area, you will be able to grab lunch or a light snack at the cafe.

Thimble Pleasures  Quilt Show

March 13/14

10:00-4:00

Blackstone Technical School

65 Pleasant St. Upton MA.

I hope to see you there!