Fun Adventures, Funny Friends

We all know them and have them in our life - our "funny friends" They keep us laughing. In our PTA group, it's Linda Cantrell. Mind you, Linda doesn't work hard at it. It just seems to happen. Like take yesterday for instance, our group had a field trip to Weaverville to do lunch, antique and just check out local fun stuff. One of our stops was at this wonderful spa - the Secret Garden. The front yard had some amazing antiques - a childs tricyle, a small chair and bench. Linda decided to try a turn at the tricycle and GOT STUCK!

There was a beautiful pond with the most colorful fish. Lynne is a-gazing at them.

I love the way the trees are reflected in the pool. This will be part of a quilt someday, I'm sure!

And these beautiful winter trees with all the configuration of branches - such interesting images.

Such a fun day.

Lake and Mountain Quilt Guild

I had the great pleasure of teaching this week at the Lake and Mountain Quilt Guild in Seneca, SC. I stayed with my good friend Marilyn Wall who is a member of the guild. Her home is on a lake - this is the view I woke up to. It almost made me want to play hookey and not go to class.
There is an old fence and gate in the front. It has always been in the family but in another location and about to be torn down. Marilyn was lucky to get the whole thing transported to her home. It's amazing to see with all kinds of potential for quilt designs.

One of the quilts at Show and Tell was a tribute to the firefighters of Edison, NJ for their heroic efforts during 911. Children drew their message on paper which was then transferred to fabric. Each block was so precious and meaningful.

This next quilt made me laugh. I'm not sure of the name but I call it the TP Quilt.

This gorgeous quilt was made by Dixie Haywood who does wonderful things with the pineapple pattern.

The workshop on Creative Machine Applique was wonderful fun. The ladies were so enthused and a joy to be with. Here is Barbara and my hostess and friend - Marilyn.

Thank you ladies for a wonderful 2 days!

Birthday Happenings

This past weekend was a birthday celebration for my son, Mike. My daughter came from Atlanta to visit and we went to our favorite place for celebrating - the Grove Park Inn in Asheville, NC. We always walk outside first, taking in the view. It's always breathtaking and springtime is especially colorful.Another gorgeous view of the mountains before having dinner.

The next day we went to Graveyard Fields for a hike - so much inspiration for quilts. I love this tiny waterfall

and the coloring on these rocks! Guaranteed, they will turn up printed on fabric and in a quilt.

I loved this tree, bleached white from the sun and amongst all the brown ones, how unique. This will probably become an image for a silk screen. Nature is wonderful!

I'm off to teach in SC for a couple of days. I will keep you posted.

Marbled Jacket Finished

I'm finishing up my marbled fabric jacket; all that's left are buttons and buttonholes. For me, this is the most "un-fun" part and I always procrastinate. Recently I treated myself to a foot for sewing on buttons. Wow, what a difference. It literally took me 1-2 minutes to sew on 6 buttons.

The first step was to mark the placement of the buttons. I used a white chalk pencil, made a cross and centered the button over it.

Next, I lowered the foot down onto the button. You have to manually adjust the width of the zigzag so the needle hits the holes and not the button.

This amazing little foot has a bar running down the center. The needle moves back and forth over the bar. When done, you gently slide the button towards you. Having the bar there, raises the thread and creates a slack making the button easier to push through the buttonhole. I remember learning to sew buttons on clothing using a pin across the top.

And here's the finished piece - think I'm gonna like wearing this jacket.

PTA Gathering

Yesterday we met at the home of Georgia Bonesteel for our PTA meeting (Piecers, Talkers and Appliquers). We are working on a group project for a house which will display recycled items. Several artforms will be represented. Georgia thought of recycled jeans. Jeans were pieced together, making sure to mix up the colors and also utilize the pockets. A bandana was placed randomly in pockets adding more color to the surface. We added decorative stitching to each block.

One of the worker bees - Barbara -  sewing away.

One of the gals - Cathy had the best socks - just had to include them here!

A close-up of the blocks.  I think it really looks good and I like the touch of red.

Some of the strips which will be sewn together - almost done and looking good!

Marbled Jacket

I have been marbling on fabric for about 15 years. I first learned to marble while attending the Southern Highland Craft Guild Fair in NC. I would stand for hours watching the marbling artists demo this very old and fascinating technique.  It grabbed me and wouldn't let me go. I went home to Georgia and attempted to teach myself. It took some time to master the technique, many flops along the way, but the  process - always magical.
I love to use marbled fabric in both quilts and clothing. When I make clothing, I create a muslin shell first, even for very simple patterns. I realize that designs look good on the cover, but not always on me. Making shells saves time and fabric in the long run. I make a "shell" out of any light to medium weight fabric - old fabric I'm ready to get rid of. I often use more than one fabric in a muslin shell.
I do sleeves, backs to fronts and collars. I omit the facings, hems and buttonholes etc. I'm interested in the fit and how it hangs. I make adjustments on the shell and pattern before cutting into precious fabric. I also make a copy of the pattern cover to pin on the shell - lets me know instantly what pattern it it.

I'm working with a cotton homespun which clings to any top I might wear underneath, so I decided to add a lining. I dyed a very lightweight silk in navy and green.

To marble on homespun, I used navy and green paint along with a "colorless extender" as one of the paints. Using this extender allows the background fabric to show through in places, giving it more dimension.

I cut out appliques using more marbled fabric and green linen to add a little solid color.

We had a rainy day today - a good excuse to spend the day in my studio!

Gulf States Quilting Association

The Gulf States Quilting Association has their annual symposium in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. It's a wonderful event with good vendors, excellent workshops and the most enthusiastic, lovely students on the planet. From an instructors point of view, it runs as smooth as silk and is always a joy to be part of. The second evening is the instructors opportunity to show their work and talk about their upcoming workshops. Ann Johnston showed her beautiful work and the "coming out" of her newest, self-published book - The Quilters Book of Design!
Dorothy Williams created one of my favorite pieces - a jacket made from a vintage tablecloth. I love how she used the patterning in the back pleat.

Wendy Butler Berns showed several of her wonderful quilts but this one really took my fancy! I loved the background - so many different fabrics that seem to melt together to make an interesting and textured backdrop for the tree. This is a close-up of her quilt - a great piece!

One of my workshops was Luscious Landscapes; it incorporates lots of texture techniques to create realistic looking landscapes. Here is one of the gals, busy at work.

And my Dimensional and Off the Edge Applique workshop - way to go Judith, Mary Nell, Joan and CJ.

One night we went to dinner at Mike Andersons, known for its Cajun Food. I ordered "Crawfish - 7 Different Ways" I had never eaten crawfish and it was really quite good, except for the "pulling off the head" part - couldn't, wouldn't do that!

In the evening, time to relax, talk about the day and just have fun - Wendy, Judy, Daphne and Frieda.

It was a wonderful conference - with something for everyone!

Inspiration and Fun Stuff

The Asheville Quilt Guild met this morning, always lots of fun and great ideas. Connie Brown snapped a picture of her cute little 6 pound dog - Roxie whose fur was standing on end due to static. The photo was manipulated it in her photo editing program which resulted in this adorable mini quilt. The tiara, Connie assured us, is not part of Roxies daily wardrobe; it was added to the photo.
Rusting is all the rage and this fabric certainly illustrates the wonderful patterning one can get with this easy technique. This fabric shown by Anita Heady was actually made by her husband. He loves to rust fabric and has found many unusual things for rusting. I really love the grid and wonder what he used. It will be interesting to see how it works into an art quilt.

Our own talented member, Meg Manderson gave the program this morning and talked about her progression into art quilts. Meg has a wonderful technique for framing her work.

On the Road Again

I'm off to Baton Rouge on Wednesday to teach at the Gulf States Quilting Association. I taught at this conference 2 years ago and it was wonderful. The students were great and the conference itself was as smooth as silk. It was such fun and of course I look forward to being there again. It's also nice to be going to warmer weather if only for a short time. In the meantime, check out my 2 furry studio assistants - Scooter and Molly. They always seem to know when I'm heading out. They have to check out my suitcases and make sure all is good. They sure do miss me when I'm gone - Yeah - Right!
Yup "Suitcase is in good working order - alright for you to go".

Making Books with an Artist

Some days are so perfect, it's hard to stop smiling. This was one of those days. I'm a member of LINT (Ladies in New Textiles) - a wonderful and talented group of ladies who meet once a month to share ideas, work on projects, brainstorm, plan shows and just have fun. This month we went to the Grovewood Gallery in back of the Grove Park Hotel in Asheville, NC. Next to the gallery is the entrance to Daniel Essigs studio; Daniel is a book artist who creates art books and book based sculptures. He is also married to one of our members - Vicki (a wonderful weaver and cook extraordinaire!) Upon entering Daniels studio, the first thing we see are some of his amazing works.
A case full of his art books, all sizes and each one so unique with such interesting details, you could pour over them for hours.

This is one of Daniels larger books, displayed on a pedestal.

And one of Daniels sculptures which features a book in the center. How amazing is that! I asked him if he rusted his own nails - no, he buys them like that!

Getting started - the first thing was back to the paper cutter to trim papers. I was fascinated by this cutter, over a hundred years old, never been sharpened and actually used to cut bolts of fabric.

There's a foot mechanism on the floor which releases a piece of wood on top to hold your paper in place - kind of like "rubbing your tummy and patting your head" at the same time.

Daniel helping Suzanne and Sondra - not only is he an amazing artist but an excellent teacher.

It was a perfect day to eat outside, kind of pre-spring weather.  We had lunch amongst the beautiful sculptures.

And cooked by Vicki Essig (to the right of Daniel), did I mention she is a fabulous cook!

And the best part, we all finished our books and learned how to do a neat binding

and the end to a great day - on the way out, we passed the Grovewood Gallery. Even the animal sculptures were friendly

Thank you Daniel and Vicki.