Art on the Lawn, Sat. Aug. 11 in Yellow Springs

Me at Art on the Lawn last year.

Art on the Lawn is this Saturday, Aug 11 from 10 am-5 pm at Mills Lawn, 200 S. Walnut St. in Yellow Springs, Ohio. I'll be there under the shade of the trees with my art. There will be around 100 artists, plus some food vendors and live musicians. The show is sponsored by Village Artisans, where I am a member.

Black & White African Safari Baby Quilt

"Black & White African Safari" baby quilt, 34" x 34", handmade by Pam Geisel

In October, Village Artisans is having a community lobby show with the theme B&W+1 (black and white plus one color). In August, the Quiltsy Team (a group of on-line quilters on Etsy) is having a challenge called "Black & White & Spread All Over" in which we were to make something that was, you guessed it, black and white plus one color! Two birds! One stone!

I have several black & white fabrics in my stash so I chose one that had black and white drawings of African safari animals including giraffes, zebras, elephants, and cheetahs. I decided that my plus one color would be red.

I pieced them with alternating black or red squares, with the red squares in the center. I also added a thin red inner border around the squares.

I added a black outer border then quilted "x"s through the squares using red thread. The backing and binding are a black & white zebra print.

You can see the other Quiltsy Team pieces on their Pinterest page. The exhibit at Village Artisans (in Yellow Springs) will be Oct. 4-Nov. 13 with an artist reception on Oct. 19 from 6-9 pm.

More about Black & White African Safari Quilt

Using Hand Dyed Fabrics featured in Art Quilting Studio Magazine

Two of my art quilts, "Daybreak is Your Midnight" and "Early Morning Nine Patch" are featured in Art Quilting Studio's Magazine's Summer 2018 issue.

The article that I wrote gives a brief description on how I made both of these pieces which use hand dyed fabrics and also has lists some places where you can buy hand dyed fabrics on-line.

Art Quilting Studio, which used to be published only two times a year, is now published quarterly! It is packed full of new quilting techniques and innovative design ideas.

It is one of many publications put out by Stampington & Company. I've heard it's available at some Joann stores. You can find a store near you where it's sold or order it directly from the Stampington website.

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Another way I like to use hand dyed fabrics is when I make bookmarks which can be found on my Etsy page.

Sheep Dreams Baby Quilt for Quiltsy Team Baby Quilt Challenge

"Sheep Dreams" baby quilt, 32" x 32", handmade by Pam Geisel

The Quiltsy Team, the Etsy Quilting group, decided to have a baby quilt challenge with all of us using the same fabric. 23 quilters signed up to participate.

The fabric selected was "Lewe's Balloons" from the Lewe the Ewe collection by World of Susie Bee. Suzy also paints murals at the Sick Kids Hospital in Toronto, Canada.

You can vote for your favorite on the Quiltsy blog through May 31. To do this, scroll down to where the quilts are numbered. If you click on one you will go to Etsy page where you can see more photos of the quilt. To vote go back to the blog and click on the little heart in the upper right hand corner of the photo. I'm #16. After May 31 you can check out the Quiltsy Pinterest Page for the entries.

More about Sheep Dreams

Quilting for a Cause

8" x 8" quilt square made for the Rocky Mountain Threads of Life Donor Family Quilt Project to honor Tess LeAnn Smith who loved the beach and also Christmas.

There are a lot of worthy causes that quilters support including:

- the AIDS Memorial quilt honoring those who have died from AIDS
- Project Linus which provides quilts to kids in need
- Quilts of Valor for veterans and service members
- Kennel Quilts made for animals affected by natural disasters
- Threads of Resistance for political protest quilts
- the 70237 Project honoring the 70,273 disabled people killed by Nazis before the Holocaust began

One cause that I didn't know about until recently was the Rocky Mountain Threads of Life Donor Family Quilt Project to commemorate individuals who have given the gift of life through the donation of organs and/or tissue.

I had the honor of creating the quilt square above to commemorate Tess Smith who was skiing with her friends in Colorado on a ski trip when she broke her leg. Unfortunately, a small fatty embolism found it's way to her brain and she died suddenly. Her mother says that the decisions made that weekend were difficult, but the one to donate her organs was not.

Tess LeAnn Smith was granted her angel wings on March 5, 2017. Her final days were spent surrounded by family and friends that Tess had touched in major ways throughout her short, yet very memorable life. She was born on June 27, 2001 in Wichita, Kansas. Tess's life would seem too short to many, but those who were touched by her understood that the quality of existence far exceeds the quantity of time in which one lives. She led a life as beautiful and blessed as she was. She preferred to spend her time with friends and family, dancing, traveling, listening to music and taking selfies. She loved to explore and see new parts of the world, although some of her favorite places to visit were Starbucks and Victoria's Secret. She was truly a walking testament of someone who valued others before herself, as she loved to make new friends and cherished relationships with many.

I never met Tess but her mother tells me that
 - Her favorite color was pink
 - Her favorite movie was Endless Love
 - She was in love, his name was Andre’
 - Favorite place to shop was Pink/Victoria’s Secret
 - She loved Starbucks Frappucinos
 - Her favorite song was The Little Things by Big Gigantic
 - She loved to read and write poetry
 - Favorite flower was a pink rose
 - She loved Yankee Candles, always had one burning in her bedroom
 - Favorite TV show was Law & Order
 - Favorite Food was plain spaghetti – no sauce, no meatballs
 - Favorite Holiday was Christmas
 - Language arts was her favorite subject
 - Math was her least favorite subject
 - Had her favorite blanket she took on every vacation and even overnight sleepovers
 - She had a room full of clothes, but her favorites came from her big brothers closet
 - Loved to play Pitch – and was good at it
 - Didn’t like to play board games, but would play if her brother promised to take her to QuikTrip
 - She took kickboxing classes, and was a natural
 - Favorite place to be was the beach
 - Best friend was Madelyn
 - Favorite pet was her dog Roscoe
 - Loved a cup of hot Green Tea before bedtime
 - Favorite book was “Me Before You”
 - Favorite restaurant was Olive Garden
 - Planned on attending University of Texas
 - Nickname = Tessie. When she was little we called her Tessy Messy
 - Summer was her favorite Season
 - Collected Angels
 - Caramel Flan was her favorite dessert
 - The Place she dreamed most about visiting was Paris

Louie for Use It Up Blog Hop

"Louie 2," 23" x 14", made by Pam Geisel, Apr. 2018

Welcome to the final day of the Island Batik Ambassador Alumni's "Use It Up" Blog Hop! The Alumni are former ambassadors who still love to use Island Batik fabrics and we decided to have our own little blog hop to use up our Island Batik fabrics. (Not going to happen any time soon for me as I still have a lot.)

For this blog hop I decided to revisit one of my previous quilts and remake it using Island Batik fabrics, so let me introduce you to Louie. Louie is a barn owl and one of the resident raptors at the Glen Helen Raptor Center in Yellow Springs, Ohio.

I used the eight fabrics in the back for the background, blending from light to dark and added some brown couched yarn to every other square before piecing. The three cream colored fabrics in the front were used to make Louie. I couched the same brown yarn along the tree branch and some white handspun yarn around Louie's head and where the binding meets the quilt.

As always, you can click on any of the photos to see them larger and if you missed any of the other "Use It Up" posts you can find the links to them here.

Blog Hop: Island Batik Ambassador Alumni's "Use It Up"

The Island Batik Ambassador Alumni (quilters who used to be ambassadors but aren't currently but still love Island Batik fabrics) are hosting a blog hop. Each day this week, we’ll feature one or two quilters and their projects using Island Batik fabrics. Be sure to follow along every day as we have lots of great quilted projects to share with you.

Here’s the schedule with links to the blogs:

M 4/16 - Lemon Tree Snippets

Tu 4/17 - Seams To Be Sew & Mary Macks Blog

W 4/18 - One Quilting Circle & Seams Like a Dream

Th 4/19 - Tammarinis & Kathy’s Kwilts and More

F 4/20 - Inspired Layers & Kissed Quilts

Sa 4/21 - Purrfect Spots & Patchwork Breeze

Su 4/22 - Me!