What Shoes I Wear

Janyce, a fellow Estian (someone who sells on Etsy) who's shop name was "Sojourn Quilts" but is now "Madder Root" posted an interview about me on her blog, titled "What Shoes I Wear" (from the poem "Sorrow" by Edna St. Vincent Millay). The photo of the bowling shoes that I own. You can read the interview here.

Some FAQ about my bowling shoes:

No, I didn't steal them, I bought them new, on-line from the company who makes them.
Yes, I wear them outside.
No, I don't wear them to bowl in (since I've worn them outside).
Yes, I wear a size 7.
No, I'm not a good bowler.

Me and the Really Big "E"

The Etsy admin contacted Quiltsy, the quilting team I belong to, to have us make some large banners that spelled out "Etsy" for them to use as room dividers in their new offices. Several team members pieced the cream-colored panels and my job was to piece the cream panels together, applique the large orange "E" and then piece the orange borders on.

The piecing went quickly but appliqueing the "E" took longer than I thought it would. I cut out the "E" with a 1/4" seam allowance, put fusible webbing on the back of and folded the edges under, like you do when you blind-stitch by hand. Then I put another strip of 1/4" fusible tape on the part that was folded over and used the iron to press the "E" to the backing fabric.

Instead of stitching it by hand, I used the sewing machine and used a zigzag stitch wider than what I use when doing raw-edge applique.

It's over 9 feet tall, and I don't have any place in the house to take a photo of something that tall, so some if it is on the floor. I'm 5'3", so you can tell how big that "E" really is.

UPDATE: This post shows the banner hanging with the others.

4-Patch Cards

No, it's not a 4-patch quilt, it's 30 4-patch cards, made to be used as invitations for a company's staff retreat. The theme of the retreat is quilts, with an emphasis that "like quilt squares, we are all unique, but together we achieve a beautiful quilt."

Each card has an actual quilt square made from different fabrics, and each square can be removed from the invitation to be used is the recipient's own quilt project, if they choose.

Quilted Postcards for a Frosty Challenge

The Miami Valley Art Quilt Network has a bi-monthly themed challenge. The August challenge word was "Frosty." And while I admit the Snowman is a little cliche, I still think he's cute. And the Cupcake is because when the word was first announced, I heard "Frosting." OK, maybe I should get my hearing checked, but I think the cupcake is cute, also.

I've been a member of the group for over a year, and this is the first challenge I've participated in. Both are 4" x 6" fabric postcards with blue variegated thread satin stitched around the edges.

The October challenge is "Triangles" and the January one is "Chocolate". I think I'll need to do some research on that one first...

Visit to Quilt National

Yesterday Macy, Lori and I went to the Dairy Barn in Athens, Ohio to see the Quilt National 2009 exhibit. The Dairy Barn was originally a functioning dairy barn and was scheduled to be razed in the 1970s. With 9 days to spare, the barn was placed on the National Register of Historic Places and has become a respected arts center and gallery space.

Lori is also an art quilter and Macy does embroidery and sewing and has a nice art collection of her own. It was a real treat to view the show with other fiber artist so we could discuss what techniques were used and how the quilts were constructed. And while there were a few that weren't to my taste, most of the quilts were innovative and inspiring.

As a visitors, we each got to vote on our favorite quilt for the "People's Choice" award. It was very hard to pick just one, but the one I picked was "City" by Paula Kovarik. The colors are much more vibrant in real life and the quilting is very whimsical with fish and people and city motifs. This quilt won the McCarthy Memorial Award and was the cover for the 2009 Quilt National book.

Two of my other top choices were "Miscellany" by Erin Wilson and "Little Fish in a Big City" by Kathy York. The colors in Miscellany are more vibrant in real life and the tiny piecing is exquisite. "Little Fish" needs to be viewed from the side and not above as shown in the photo as the buildings, the red and orange squares shown, are actually 3-D and rise up from the quilt and the yellow pieces that divide the quilt into 4 quadrants are acutally 3-D fish acting as taxis with little people on top. 

If you get a chance to visit, I highly recommend it. Several of the quilts looked very different when viewed from far away, and it's hard to get that same effect with photos. The exhibit goes through Sept. 7 and then will travel to St. Charles, MO; then parts of the exhibit will go to Columbus, OH; Lancaster, PA; and Paducah, KY.

Painting on Fabric workshop with Annette Kennedy

I have painted fabric before, and while I really enjoy that process, you don't have a lot of control over what it looks like. You can choose what colors to use but sometimes they mix in surprising ways. You can decide to salt the fabric and sometimes it's really noticeable and other times it's more subtle.

Being the control-freak that I am, I wanted to paint on fabric in a more deliberate way, so I was excited when I found out that Annette Kennedy was coming to the area to speak to the Miami Valley Quilter's Guild and also be giving a workshop on painting on fabric, and she didn't disappoint.

There were about 20 people in the workshop (I say people because one was a man). Above is the Calla Lily project that everyone made in the workshop (and the design is copyrighted by Annette Kennedy). I don't have a before photo of the project before we started painting, but you can see one on her website. Each of the yellow flowers is one piece of fabric, so all the shading you see is from the Setacolor textile paints, as is the shading on the left side of each stem and the veins in the leaf.

I've got several other projects that need my attention right now, so this goes on the TBFL pile (to be finished later). But I'll post photos when I do finish it. And I'll post projects of my own that I've painted on, as I definitely plan on doing more of this.