Half Done!

I've been stitching this in the evenings with black perle 8 thread.

At first I only stitched around the appliqué edges and pieced seams.

Then I was inspired by Sujata's recent travels in India, and added more thread.

The lines are about 1/2" apart.  

I'm always astonished by how texture adds so much to a piece.

I'm so glad I spent the extra time.  I love running my fingers over it.

There are 48 blocks total, 24 more to go.  

Probably done by April.

A finish, a start and a ribbon!

I finished this flimsy last night.  It's been in the works for over a year!

"Garnet Hill," 68" x 51"

Actually, it's been on my mind since I saw this folk art rug in the Garnet Hill catalog 5 years ago.

I made this block today.  It's the start of my summer scrap project.

And I won a ribbon for "Spring Equinox" at the local quilt show!  Quilted by Cindy Gilbrough.

Gratefully Done

I've been hand-quilting this for the last two months.  Finished at last!  
It's 40" x 40."   

It started with this block that I designed in an appliqué class with Gwen Marston.
I thought I'd be making the block into a pillow.

I'd also been fooling around with words, using Tonya Ricucci's book, Word Play Quilts.

Then Tonya visited in July, and designed this quilt with my orphan blocks.

Many of you helped with advice on dealing with hand pain.

And that got me through to the finish line!  

I like the way it looks over the fireplace, and it's a good reminder!

Spring Shoots is Done!

I put these blocks together this weekend. It's a collaboration with my sister-in-law, Bonnie. We each made half the applique blocks. The quilt is inspired by one in Applique Outside the Lines by Becky Goldsmith and Linda Jenkins.

Sisters Quilt Block Contest

The Sisters Quilt Show has a block contest every year. They send you some fabrics and you make a block. You can only use the fabrics they supply. Here are the fabrics they sent.


Since I just took the 19th Century applique class with Gwen Marston, I decided to cut out some paper and design an applique.


Here's what I'll be sending off today. I don't expect to win, but I had fun!

Vase of Tulips

I just finished the hand-applique on this, and thought I'd make it into a pillow cover. I designed it last weekend in a class with Gwen Marston.


So I laid it out on the back of the couch to see how it would look. It just so happened that I laid it on top of a quilt that lives there. I really liked the way the points looked around it.


So I made some points and tried them on the design wall. Hmm, lay them out like this?


Or this?


Ah, I like this. What next?


How about a solid border. I tried gold, orange, red, yellow and fuschia, then decided on turquoise. What next?


This quilt represents a recent day at the tulip fields. Part of the day was seeing thousands of cut tulips dumped into the back of a truck. So I wanted to have some loose tulips falling around the border. Will it work on an 8" wide border? Yes, but...


After measuring the grey fabric I have left, I found I only had enough for a 6" border. Will that be too narrow? Shall I piece some other fabric with it? Hmm, I'll have to sleep on that.

Meanwhile, I have a question for you. Is this process improvisation? I know it's the process that many of us use. Design as you go, use what you have, don't use a pattern, follow your heart.

But there's no wonky lines! And my points match! And the quilt will hang straight! Does that mean it's NOT improvisational? There are a lot of wonky cut quilts, with points cut off, that don't hang straight. I've made plenty of them. We call them "improvisational quilts." Yea, they're design as you go and all that. But I wonder if quilts like this one can also be called improvisational. My process is the same, although I'm using a ruler this time, and the look is more traditional. Is "improvisational" a process or a look? Or is it both? What do you think?

I've been following the very thought provoking conversations called "Improv Mondays" over at Sherri Lynn's blog, Daintytime. She calls improvisational quilt-making a process of self-discovery. I love that. Plus her quilts are fabulous. I don't think there are any right or wrong answers, but it's a fun topic to think about!

Spring Shoots

My sister-in-law, Bonnie, and I are collaborating on this quilt. Last night I received her blocks and stuck them up on the wall with mine, completely randomly. We're going to make a few more rows, and there will be more orange stems. But the combination of her blocks and mine was so exciting, I just couldn't wait to show it. We're using the pattern from Applique Outside the Lines by Becky Goldsmith and Linda Jenkins.

Happy Mother's Day weekend! Hope you get lots of time to enjoy your family and sew.

Ode to Matisse

I just finished hand-quilting this piece. It's a rendition of "Ivy in Flower," made by Henri Matisse in 1953. His was 112" square. Mine is 38." It's one of the many wonderful collages he made late in his life. It's my first attempt at hand-applique.



The stitching isn't perfect, but I don't mind. I would never make anything if I was striving for perfection!




This is the first time I've used a facing, instead of binding. It's really just a binding, turned all the way to the back.



After a year of working on the Matisse piece, I've become addicted to hand-work. I get fidgety if I don't have something to stitch in the evenings. Do you? This weekend, I started hand-quilting this. It should take me up through the end of the year at least. Phew!



Meanwhile, look what came in the mail from Tonya over at Lazy Gal! We'd been talking about thrift store finds, and I'd been drooling over her sunny, Florida plaids. These bright, clear colors are almost impossible to find here, in the moist Northwest. So I sent her some of my "b__uglies," in trade for some of her plaids. And she threw in the labels too! I tell you, I got the good end of this deal! If you haven't already, make sure and visit her to see the happy stars she's making with these.