NASCAR Baby Quilt

My co-worker, Brenda, at Pizazz Salon in Menominee, MI,where I work, is having a baby BOY in about 4-5 weeks. I was invited to her baby shower which was held yesterday afternoon. Brenda and her family are huge NASCAR fans and I thought I would make a NASCAR themed baby quilt. I googled nascar fabric and dicovered one could choose their favorite driver. I Facebooked Brenda's sister Jennifer and fould out Dale Jr. was the man. I have checkered flag and flamey exaust fabrics, a few NASCAR  style pieces from my quilter friend Cher A., black, red and greeen  fabrics from my stash and the Dale Jr. fabric I found on e-bay. I love the colors and giggled through the whole process since it didn't look like a baby quilt. I hope Brenda and "Larry" like it!!

Fall Quilt Season

No pictures this time. (Sorry!!) I have decided to enter in three regional nonjuried quilt shows. I chose Appleton WIs Darting Needles Quilt Show because I used to live there and my parents still are there and it's nostalgic.This show is Oct. 2-3 and has a fun name "Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Quilting.Then I chose the Autumn Comforts Quilt Show by the Marquette Quilters in Marquette MI. It's a two hr. drive to Lake Superior but their group is very artsy and it's a fun show. Marquette has a wonderful quilt shop, Alley Kats, and a great public library which is at the same time sponsoring a traveling art quilt exhibit. This show is Oct. 16-17. And last is the Treasures of Tomorrow Quilt Show in Marshfield WI Which is Oct. 30-31. I have entered twice and last year my quilt received a 3rd place and some $$ so I thought maybe I had a decent shot at another ribbon. Marshfield is too far away to do a day trip but the other two shows I will attend. I am entering two quilts in the Marshfield and Marquette shows and three items in the Appleton show. Can't wait to see all the quilts and shop at the vendor booths!!

Art in the Park at Henes Park in Menominee MI

It is three days until Art in the Park at Henes Park in my community Menominee, MI.  The art show is on Sunday August 22 from 11-4.I have done one outside art show and thought I'd give it another try especially when some of my artist friends are in it. They have helped me with displays and we have cheered each other on. This small art quilt (24 x 24) was inspired by the original fabric postcard design which I enlarged and made a framed piece with one woman with blonde hair and flesh tone skin. I decided to pick by favorite colors of lime green, hot pink and red with black and white and do a Andy Warhol style piece. The four images are the same-I just changed the colors of the face, hair and lips. I went a little traditional and sashed the small squares with a fun stripe and then a chose a polka dot outer border since I love dots and it picked up the colors in the quilt. I embellished the quilt with glitter, Smooch paint (love this stuff!!) and fabric paint. It will be for sale at the art show and I call it "Four Funky Divas." I like the woman with the white hair  the best because it reminds me of the white queen in "Alice and Wonderland"

It's Been A Good Week!!!

It has been a good week for me and my art quilts!! This photo of me is from the opening reception in Escanaba, MI at the Bonifas Art Center. Today began a SAQA (Studio Art Quilters Associates) traveling show as well as Fabrications II: Art Quilts of the U.P. I have my Tina Turner quilt from the 2009 Quilting Arts Magazine "Rock On! Challenge in this exhibit. I have not displayed her locally yet and I won 3rd place in this exhibit!! Then earlier in the week I found out my "Geisha" art quilt has been accepted into the 2010 Hoffman Challenge. It will travel across the country to various quilt venues into the summer of 2011.   The websites for the Bonifas and the Hoffman Challenge are http://www.bonifasarts.org/ and http://www.hoffmanchallenge.com/.

Channeling the 1960s

Here is my newest "baby." It is larger than most of my art quilts at 39 x 48. I needed a change from the usual- I was having a 1960s/Twiggy moment and I felt like working in pastel yellow/pink/blue tints. I have discovered I like circles and used the circular Kaffe Fassett fabric in the outer border and cut apartto look like free floating buubles. The figure is raw edge fused applique and I actually hand appliqued the curved background to the black background! I didn't want to because I'm not a hand sewer but it seemed the best method. The large earring is appliqued vinyl to give that 1960 feel (another circle). The face is machine quilted to the max as a rebelion of the judge at the Minnesota Quilt Show telling me in my ctitique I didn't have enough quilting of the face of the woman in the quilt. I purposely leave the cheekbone area free of stitching to make it push outward like a real cheekbone. So I was pi#*%d off at the traditional judge for "not getting my vision!" This situation with the judging has moved me in the direction of the art community. I intend to enter in gallery displays and frame more of my pieces. Also I plan to stay away from traditional quilt show entries that do not have a art quilt category. Anyway, back to my new piece which I call "Bubbly Blonde". The face is stitched pink on pink with a sun, some rainbows, a few hearts and loads of swirls. I have embellished the hair with pale yellow gliter, the lips with Shiva Painkstiks and the background has large sequins flowing around it. I will enter in a art quilt show in the future.

New Garden Art

I had this weird size old window screen from my former home in Appleton WI and I painted this woman with the Marilyn Monroe vibe. I had it in my garden in Appleton and moved it to my yard in Menominee MI but the screen started ripping after a few years and I stuffed it in the garden shed. When I went on the garden walk last Tuesday in Door County WI there was a painted window screen on display in one onf the gardens. I remembered the one I had in the shed and asked Ken, the MacGyver of the Midwest, if he could replace the screen. He also tweaked the frame to be more stable and I repainted my "Marilyn" lady. I changed the dress to a halter style but I liked how I had painted it originally and did not change anything else. I also repainted the frame-it needs to weather a bit and I hung it on the outside door to the pond area. It was a beautiful day in the yard and I painted it in the sun and the drying process went quick. My quilting projects aren't quite that speedy so it was a refreshing change!!