Marilyn Monroe

My quilting friend, Cher Alexander asked me to do a quilt of Marilyn Monroe for a gift and I was up for the challenge. She wants to frame and mat the finished piece like a photo and put it in a 11 x 14 frame. The quilt is 8 x 10 plus a bit extra to tuck under the mat. Cher wanted Marilyn to have on a red halter dress and after agreeing to the picture I chose I went for it. Since it's small that means it doesn't take much fabric and there is not a lot of space to cover but the eyes, teeth etc. are too small to make out of fabric. I painted the white of the eyes and used a fabric marker for the dark almost black iris. I thread painted the teeth and went over them with white paint to define. I little white paint on the lips and as extra highlight were added also. I added just a smidge of light yellow shimmer nail polish to Marilyn's hair for sparkle and shine. It's a challenge to create a quilt of a famous person since everyone knows what they look like. I had a blash making this piece and kept thinking of Marilyn Monroe and her movies and her breathy airy voice!! I will give it to Cher asap. 

Holiday Pets Photo Contest

I have signed up on Facebook to be a fan of the business called Art Chix Studio. I find their embellishments are fun and intriguing. They posted a "cute holiday pet contest" and I entered Mickey, age 13, who in not dainty, but thought he could fit between the buildings in my Christmas village and Mia, age 12, who used to climb the Christmas tree and act all cocky. At age 5 she started eating raffia, thread in my sewing room, tinsel etc and had emergency surgery in Sept. '03. At Christmas time that year I discovered she was munching on the artificial Christmas tree needles and had another surgery. The vet told me Mia had PICA which is a disorder when people/animals eat non-edible things. So no more Christmas tree-real or fake. Some people say to get rid of the cat but she's such a fun little character I will give up the Christmas tree. I still decorate with table and wall items, lots of lights and lots of quilts. The website for this contest is located at http://www.artchixstudio.com/.

Christmas Postcards

I had a moment when I organized my studio and found this great Christmas themed batik. I decided to make 10 postcards since the Fast2Fuse was already cut out to size. I machine quilted and edged the cards with Sulky Blendables thread in the Christmas colors thread. I then had fun with gliiter nail polish and glitter/glue and flashed them up a bit. The back is a solid white with a hint of glimmer. I find that it's just easier at the Post Office to mail them in a envelope than to have the drama of hand cancelling and freaking the front desk people at the P.O.  Each card is slightly different depending on the fabric cuts-some are more green and some are more red.

Circles

This wall hanging started at quilt retreat. I picked some on my favorite fabrics and I like to work in reds and greens. I picked up the red with lime green dots this fall and just kept adding polka dot fabrics. I have one stripe and a tone on tone green that is a Kaffe fabric. It is not intended to be a Christmas quilt but more of a study of color complements and circular shapes. When the top was pieced I started playing around with two sheer fabrics as overlays. It was fun to use nontraditional quilt fabrics because it added transparency, shimmer and color changes. My quilting friend Mary Ann Provancher lent me her tool called "Cut a Round" which made circle cutting  the sheer fabrics very easy-I may have to buy my own tool. I then pulled out of the embellishment drawer the Angelina fibers to create more yet different circles. I purchased a product called Bo-Nash  Bonding Agent at the International Quilt Festival to bond the angelina to the quilt. I didn't think it really bonded the angelina to the fabric like they claimed. I ended up using fabric glue to re-enforce it. I added felt buttons which balanced the shimmery fabrics with texture and because I can't help myself-red and green rhinestones in 4-5 sizes!! I plan to hang it on the wall at work at Pizazz Salon in Menominee, MI.

Playing Around at Quilt Retreat

I made this small wall hanging with a lime green background and a red dress and chose to make another one while I was at quilt retreat. I intend to donate it to a art quilt auction next spring. It is raw edged fused applique and machine quilted. I have embellished it with traditional colored rhinestones, fabric paints, glitter/glue on eyelids and lips, and OPI gold glitter nail polish in the hair. I'm still contemplating something red in the hair-any thoughts on that one??

Quilt Retreat In Door County WI

I went on my second quilt retreat and have a few pictures to share. Ellen P. from Appleton sat next to me for the second yr and she is a garment seamstress and not really a quilter. She made this "Chanel" jacket in my favorite color. The crazy part is that it is for a 6 yr. old niece. I learned about Chanel couturewear and all the details like a quilted lining, chains on the hemline, 2-3 piece sleeves, trims and buttons. I was so into it I have to make one for myself. So the next time I am at Joann Fabrics I will look at tweeds. trims and patterns. I figure it will be putsy but will last a lifetime.

This is a quilt top that will be hugely king size. It is very graphic and eye catching. There are center squares of various jeweltones scattered about. Barb B. from Appleton is making this for a nephew's wedding next yr. I love the results but would never make this because it's too large.

This quilt top caught my attention because I love batiks, it was very graphic and I colo the gradation of color.

I did alot at the retreat and I will show the images next time I blog.

Playing Around

I was paging through a magazine at work and saw a Ray-Ban ad which had a face that was black with a rainbow colored lines that looked to me like a neon lite. I am attracted to all art forms where a face or portrait is viewed. I saw this ad as the opposite of the art I do where I have a colorful background and black "line drawings" in batik. I thought what would it look like to do the same image my way and then the opposite way as in the magazine add? So I was playing around and the photo above is the end result. I was dying to use some of the wonderful brights from the new fabric line by quilter Jan Mullen from Moda Fabrics. And I used my favorite Hoffman batik that's black with hints of blue. The two images are exactly the same except for the placement of color. The left one ended up looking like Haley Berry and that wasn't planned. I call this piece Positive and Negative" since it reminds me of a photograph. I'm surprisedIi only used two fabrics and two threads since I'm the scrappy type!! It became a study of color, line and shape and how positioning color in certain ways changes the whole look of the project. I chose to not embellish this piece because I didn't think it needed it.

Michigan Quilt Artist Invitational

The photos I have added today are of the Art of Nature traveling art quilt exhibit created by the Michigan Quilt Art Invitational. This is a group of Michigan fiber artists formed by Mary Andrews and Marti Calhoun 15 years ago. There are 60 quilts in the exhibit all sized 20" x 24" either vertically or horizontally. The artists are juried into the group based on their body of artwork. Each year a theme is chosen such as Italy, space travel/astronomy, south of the border and this exhibits theme of nature. The exhibit travels across the state of Michigan and I wanted it in Upper Michigan besides Marquette since I feel we are occationally overlooked as being part of Michigan! This exhibit, of about 30 pieces, is in Menominee, MI, where I live, at Spies Public Library Gallery. The exhibit is on display until December 30, 2010. If you are in the area check it out during normal library hours and there is no fee to view the display. For more information on Michigan Quilt Art Invitationl go to http://www.maryandrewsartquilts.com/.

Venus Rising

This quilt has a long story to tell so gets begin. I was at the Menominee, MI public library to check on the gallery area for another exhibit and I was told there was open gallery space for Jan., Feb. and April of '11. I thought that it would be a shame to leave it empty so I mentioned this to my art friend Glenda Banta and was brainstormed and with two other local artists, Kathleen Eaton and Pat Johnson, we plan to do an art exhibit of women by women for the month of January 2011 at the Spies Public Library in Menominee. (More on that to come). Then me quilter friend, Mary Ann Provancher, lent me this great quilting book from a class she took from Ricky Timms while in Florida. I have done several of his "convergence" quilts but never saw it on point. So the combination of naming our January exhibit "Venue Rising" and the new convergence technique a fresh idea was born. I wanted Venus to rise up out of something besides the traditional water and I thought of her rising out of addition. I thought of alcohol, gambling, smoking and food additions and thought if I could find enough printed images of these subjects, I could fussy cut and fuse them around the base of Venus. I was very fortunate to have another quilter friend, Cher Alexander, who has an arsenal of "theme" fabrics and contributed about 80% to my cause. I nixed the smoking addiction for this quilt because there were no fabrics available which is actually good and I probably wouldn't have had room. As the eye travels upward "out of addiction" there are images of change like better foods, spirituality, happiness etc. I thread painted words of encouragement in the "sky" area like recovery, peace, love, karma, wholeness, grace etc. I should mention the Venus figure is raw edge fused appliqued over the convergence top and the images of good and bad stuff is fused in a collage type quilt. It is supposed to be chaotic and crazy on the bottom and open and serene as Venus "rises" out of her addictions. I had a piece of Luella Doss' Free Spirit line of fabric called "Hot Flash" which I used at the bottom to add the lettering to. It is a very fun and colorful fabric and the circles of the border print could be seen at bubbles from a beer or champagne or hard candy. I didn't embellish this piece because it had enough going on. It was a fun project with a social issue which is not my usual style. I was thinking of donating it to a place were there is a recovery program etc., after the library exhibit, but am not sure where that would be since it covers more than one addiction.

Second Place Ribbon in Marquette

My quilt "Hera and Aphrodite" won 2nd Place in the Marquette MI "Autumn Comforts" Quilt Show held on Oct. 16-17, 2010. I placed the quilt in the Original Design/Art Quilt category which ended up with 17 quilts. This guild has many awesome art quilters and I thought my chances were slim for a ribbon. This quilt technique was a new one with a mosaic style of applique placement. I was exploring the "golden ratio" of facial proportion when I designed this piece. I selected cool tones for the skin and warm tones for the hair. I went out of the box and chose a white background instead of my normal black with brights. All the applique is done with batiks. The background figure is all thread painted with rainbow varigated thread and some white shimmer paint. It was a study of contrasts in female strength vs soft and upon completion of this quilt my boyfriend, Ken, declared it wasn't my normal stuff and he really didn't "get it or liked it". He even asked me to remove it from the wall in our living room because it was staring at him. He now says he likes the quilt because a quilt judge found something artsy in it to give it a quilt ribbon. The Marquette Guild also made very fun and colorful ribbons with streamers of colorful yarn which was creative and decorative !!

Beauty School Flashback

This is my latest finished project. I found a cool picture in a salon magazine of a mohawk hairstyle and thought about a girl I went to beauty school with back in the late 1980s who had a fakey jet black mohawk and that's where I got the title for this quilt. After the face was finished, I think she looks like Christina Aguilara (spelling?). I am intending it for an undisclosed contest and was limited to certain fabrics. I have selected commercial cottons and two fabrics from the Halloween costume section. The black/red background print is a weird knit which I backed with interfacing to stablize it. I used the reverse side which was solid red for the bikini top and the lips. The little jacket is a black with red sparkly tulle used for fairy/princess costumes. I created seam allowances and added a decorative stitch to the jacket front and sleeve edges like a real garment might have. The hair has two textures of yarn which I hand stitched to the quilt. All the applique is raw edge fused. I have embellishments of rhinestones, glitter, 3 colors of nail polish, an earring from Claires Boutique at the mall and the yarns in the hair. This was a fun project from start to finish with no glitches. I contemplated a tattoe on the arm of the woman but left it off because I thought it might be too distracting. Should I add one and if so what should it be-a flower, guitar, bird, skull and cross bones....?

SAQA Auction Piece is Sold!!

I am a member of SAQA (Studio Arts Quilters Association) and they have an art quilt auction which raises money for art quilt exhibitions and outreach programs. They encouraged each member to make and donate a 12 x 12 art quilt of their liking to be auctioned off in September/October of 2010. The auction raised $52,000 and I found out my piece was purched by a woman in California; I am thrilled to have a complete stranger choose my art quilt and it's fun to know my piece is in sunny California!! I will definitely make a piece for the 2011 auction.

Halloween Pin-up Witch

I decided to make a new Halloween wall hanging since this is my favorite holiday. I found the outside skull batik this fall and the majority of the other fabrics I had in my stash. I wanted to make a pin-up girl that was a sexy witch. I love using the combination of orange, lime green and purple for Halloween. I also try to use a stripe and a polka dot in all my quilts. I could not get the correct affect of the striped stockings so I used a Pigma pen and drew them on. I raw edged fused applique the witch, pumpkin and broom and embellished with fabric paint, fabric markers, glitter and glitter glue and a few rhinestones.

Commissioned Artwork

I was approached by an area woman who say my artwork at the Old Church Gallery in Cedar River, MI where I display and sell my art. She e-mailed me and requested two fabric postcards, one was a gift and the other was for herself, in which she could choose the hair colors. I suggested she could choose different eye color as well. So the one is of warm brown hair with hazel eyes (I had to be careful not to have her look like a vampire in the "Twilight" movies!) and the other is a whitish blond with blue eyes. I embellished with fabric paint, nail polish, glitter glue and loose glitter and even a little blush on a Q-tip-it's a hairdresser thing!! It was  fun to change it up a bit and not do the normal purple, orange and yellow.

Artists Studio Tour

I was invited to participate in an Artists Studio Tour which has five artists from the Marinette, WI and Menominee, MI areas. The artists are Glenda Banta, Kathleen and Chuck Eaton, Ken Marsden and myself. Glenda is a mixed media artist, Ken does watercolor, the Eatons paint in oil and acrylic and I do fiber art. The tour is located at N1446 Autum Wood Lane in Marinette.There is an open home tomorrow from 5:30pm-8pm. The tour is on Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 17-18 from 10-3 both days. The photo above is my piece called "Purple Rain" which is on display at the tour and is for sale. An advantage of having a studio tour is that potential buyers do not have to pay the commissions that galleries change the artists to display their work in the galleries. Hope to see you there!!

The Art Garage Project

In Green Bay, WI there is a very cool art gallery/coop and I receive their weekly e-mails. They are having a "Art Meets Heart Mosoaic Project" in which up to 300 artists can receive a 6 x 6 canvas to do what ever they want on the front of the canvas. The mini canvases are then put together in one picture and displayed at the gallery. Each piece will be auctioned off in February 2011. They chose the heart theme to go with heart health month and Valentines Day and I chose a heart theme in the silhouette of the women's hair and her heart-shaped face. I painted the canvas black then glued paper neck and face pieces to the canvas and fused a piece of fabric for the hair and lips. I drew the facial feature details with Sharpie pens, colored pencils and Smooch paint on the eyelids. I can't go without glitter so the hair has two types of glitter nail polish, and the lips have a pink nail polish and the dots above the eyebrows are glitter glue and loose glitter. I finished with white paint on the eyes and highlights to the face. I was nervous to make a mistake-if I am sewing and make a mistake I get out my seam ripper or just cut another piece of fabric. Am I a mixed media artist now??

Michigan Quilt Artist Invitational

I was invited to join the Michigan Quilt Artists Invitational last fall. It is a group of fiber artists from Upper and Lower Michigan curated by Mary Andrew and Marty Calchoun. Each year there is a theme such as Italy, nature, space and sky etc. The 2011 theme is "South of the Border" and the exhibit begins this Friday, Sept. 10, 2010 in Flint MI. I live many miles from lower Michigan and will not be attending the opening reception which is sad to me. My piece is called "Frida" and I love Frida Kahlo's artwork. I chose warm tropical "mexican" colors for the background. It is embellished with fabric paint, a pendant of a cross which appeared vintagey and it was made into Frida's earring. I also have rickrack and black beads sewn around the outside on the border. I rewatched the move about her in which Salma Hayek played her to experience her life and her art. The dove in the upper lefthand corner represents the nickname her husband had for her. I have this piece up for sale as it travels through Michigan in 2010-2011. My daughter, Jordana, loved it so much I made a similar one in her apartment colors.

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!!

Art in the Park Projects

I enlarged my 4 x 6 fabric postcards and changed the hairstyles to an inverted bob and a rocker "Kat Von D." style. I mounted the images on Fast2Fuse and eliminated batting. I decorative stitched with varigated thread to finish the outside edges. I have fabric paint and glitter as accents and they will be mounted in 8 x 10 picture frames for the upcoming local Art in the Park at Henes Park in Menominee, MI. The date is Sunday August 22, 2010 from 11-4. I will have fabric postcards, these pictures here and a few larger pieces. I am testing the art show waters with the help of my art friends Glenda Banta and Pam Sahlbom. They are encouraging me and also providing some of the displays to show off my art. When the four pieces are put together they have a Andy Warhol look to them!!

Kelvin Motsinger Fundraiser Quilt

On May 29, 2010 a 9 year old boy named Kelvin Motsinger from Menominee, MI passed away from drowning at Red Arrow Park Beach in Marinette WI. I did not know Kelvin or his family as I  read about this story in the local newpaper. In early July I had the pleasure of meeting Kelvin's mother, Miranda, when she was a new guest at Pizazz Salon where I work. She spoke of Kelvin and the fundraiser that was to be held on Saturday, July 24, 2010 to defer the funeral costs. I have a soft spot for single mother since I raised Jordana on my own and I immediately said I would made a quilt for the silent auction. I asked Miranda what were Kelvin's favorite things and she said baseball and his dog. I  chose the baseball idea and purchased a few baseball themed fabrics and my quilter friend Cher gave me one from her stash. I machine thread painted "In Memory of Kelvin" in the turquiose rectangles. I found a package of baseball themed buttons which I thought were cute and added to the quilt. I hope the family enjoys it and they all want it so much that it is a success for the fundraiser!!! RIP Kelvin.  

Menominee Art Council at the Bonifas Art Center

I am a member of the Menominee (MI) Area Arts Council. It is a local group of artists and people who love art and want to promote art. We had the opportunity to have gallery space at the Bonifas Art Center in Escanaba MI from June 30-August 3, 2010. The Bonifas is an awesome art center about one hour north of Menominee. I wish Menominee had an art center like this with continuing art classes, exhibits and musical performances. Anyway, there was an artist reception today and here I am with my piece "Woman with Red Lipstick 2". Like my superwoman shirt?? There is a SAQA (Studio Arts Quilts Association) traveling exhibit of national art quilts coming to the Bonifas this August and September. In the upper gallery there will be art quilts of the Upper Peninsula. I will hear this coming week if my three pieces are accepted into the show.

Jordana's FRIDA Quilt

Jordana liked the wall hanging I made for the upcoming Michigan Quilt Art Invitational of Frida Kahlo. She just moved across town in Green Bay and is redecoratingand she asked if I would make her a similar quilt in different colors. I have used mostly batiks and the "Frida" name stayed the same. I stitched on black silk leaves and flowers and have buttons in the center of each flower. There is some fabric paint to give Frida brown eyes and an actual earring pierced through the fabric to resemble Frida's big earrings. I will see Jordana tomorrow and give it to her.

Class I Taught in Escanaba

I taught a facial design workshop in Escanaba MI last Friday. I am a bit late posting this. My computer skills frustrate me and I was mad at myself. I wish I knew more then I could fly through this. Also it's summer and I'm enjoying my flower gardens!! Back to the class, the photo on the left is the work of Amber. she chose a self portrait and being "Amber" she chose amber tones. I wish my name was a color!! The photo on the right is of Glenna who chose a photo of a child. Her photo had the hair blending into the background. There were photos of children, elderly, self portraits and even Albert Einstein.

My bike Has Been Overhauled!!

My bike is a used 20 year old Schwinn that was a sad looking lavender before. It is very nice free bike from a friend of my boyfriend Ken. He decided to take the thing apart and spray paint it pink my favorite color! He is a perfectionist and he thoroughly cleaned every part of the bike-it now has white walls and no rust or crud of the wheels, spokes or anywhere. He was way more meticulous than I would ever have been. He admits to having trouble putting it back together but he did it and made some flashy "PeeWee Herman" handlebar streamers and he bought a pink and purple horn which sounds like a dog squeekie toy!! Ken and I enjoy bike riding alot when the weather cooperates and now I can look fashionable in my "signature colored" pink bike!!!

Hoffman Challenge Quilt

I decided to do the Hoffman Challenge for 2010. The challenge fabric is the turquoise fabric which I saw as kimono fabric. I wanted to have an image of a geisha girl but didn't really know much about the subject. My daughter suggested I rewatch the 2005 movie "Memoirs of a Geisha" and I did some research at the local public library. I used the challenge fabric in the kimono, the tiny inner border and I made some two-sided flowers for the hair accessory. I used a raw edge fused applique technique for most of the images. I thread painted the little yellow daingly flowers and glitter covered an actual hair comb from the drugstore to get the look of the geisha adornments. I was fortunate to receive the black with blue asian village print from one of the ladies in Eagle River when I was there in May teaching. It was a great choice for the background!! I mail the piece and by Sept. I find out if it made the cut. If it does, the quilt will travel to various quilt shows until the fall of 2011.

SAQA Auction Piece and Postcard Entry

This is a fabric postcard I made for a postcard exhibit due in July. I embellished it with a new glitter I purchased at the IQA Chicago Show in April. My thread choice was a variegated yellow, orance, pink and red. I like to back the card with a light colored batik because it is opaque.

This 12' x 12" size quilt is my donation to the SAQA (Studio Art Quilting Association) 2010 Auction. The quilts are made and donated by its members and then auctioned to raise $$ for the organization. I call mine "Do I have pink or yellow undertones?" which is a cosmetology thing!! I used the same variegated thread as the postcard. I embellished it with tiny pink rhinestones along the lashline like eyeliner, a bit of pink glitter on the lips and a felt flower and jewel in the hair. This was a fun little project which I plan to explore when I do the Menominee MI Area Art Council's Art Show this August.

Red, White, Blue and Happy Birthday!!

When I taught a Convergence class earlier this month I needed a class sample. I chose a tie-dye of red, white and blue with embossed stars, a red and white polka dot, a white background with small blue and red stars and a Alexander Henry print with patriotic pin-up girls. I used a mini stripe for the inner border and a cool peace sign print in red, white and blue. I made this for my daughter, Jordana, for her upcoming birthday in June. Jordana was a history major in college and the loves the WW II era. I thought the pinup print looked like from the '40's. She also loves peace signs. I quilted it wth Sulky Blendables in the Americana colors. I embellished it with sparkly foamy stars. The back of the quilt is this crazy "democrat" fabric. I found it fitting for Jordana since she is a liberal democrat. The fabric line also had a republican fabric to keep it "fair and balanced"! (And if she reads this she will know one o her birthday gifts)

Mucho Gratitude!!

I had the pleasure of teaching a design/drafting class to a group of women in Eagle River WI yesterday Monday May 17th. Their quilt guild, Cranberry Country Quilters, were kind enough to invite me to their small but eager group. The guild president, Joan, "J.P.", was very hospitable and lived in this awesome house on Bass Lake. It was fun to step into her studio and see ALL the things she was doing or planned to do. Her husband was a big Tina Turner fan and he liked my "Tina" quilt!! The weather was cooperative and sunny, Christey from Pizazz Salon where I work lent me her GPS (thanks again!!) and it was a blast!!

This is it!!

I showed a photo of this quilt when it was just the top and now it is finished. It is as traditional as it gets for me!! I am no longer committing myself to 12" block exchanges because I want to be creative and make art quilts. In addition to this I have become displeased with the quality of the workmanship in these exchanges. So I am glad this quilt is finished and I will probably enter it in a future quilt show in the traditional lap quilt size category. I have one more block-of-the-month quilt top to complete which I will show you later after I have fun with my next project the "Hoffman Challenge 2010". I can't think of a name for this quilt-any suggestions??

Keep Me in Stitches Quilt Shop

My quilting friend Jacqi Levy just opened a quilt store in Appleton WI called "Keep Me in Stitches". She wanted to fill a void and have a local shop that had contemporary fabrics. I was in Appleton yesterday and checked it out. I love brights and batiks and this shop has both-I saw beautiful fabrics I had only seen online!! It is very clean and pure with the white walls, tables and shelves. The brights look wonderful in this shop and there is nice lighting coming in through the windows. It is easy to find on Richmond St. (highway 47) riht off of Highway 41. She plans to be on Facebook and have e-mail updates as soon as she is more settled.I encourage everyone who quilts and is in Appleton to check it out!!

I Love IKEA!!

While in Chicago for the quilt show our bus driver, Dan, was kind enough to give us a side trip to either Woodfield Mall or IKEA in Schauberg IL for 2 hours. I LOVE IKEA and since it's 4.5 hrs. away from where I live I couldn't wait. They are hooks that were in the pet section and came in a variety of colors. I intend to use them in my garden some how. They are so cute and remind me of a cartoon dog!!

Going Traditional; International Quilt Festival-Chicago

I signed up at Pine Street Quilts in Marinette WI for a 12 month long block-of-the-month called Fair and Square. 12 people sign up and each month each person chooses 4 coordinating fat eighths and the 11 other people make the block for that person.This is my third and last Fair and Square because some people have a different idea of what a 12' block should be sized and the pressing isn't always very good. 6 of the 12 blocks couldn't be used so I decided to make 6 of my own using star blocks from http://www.nancyrinkdesigns.com/. Nancy has a FREE BOM which can be downloaded and I made 6 star blocks using red backgrounds. I added this fun grass green print with yellows and red/orange dragonflys to connect the blocks and add a border. I will quilt the quilt with green thread.

I attended the International Quilt Festival in Chicago last Friday and Saturday. It was so fun to see what quilters are creating nationally, be able to purchase more goodies and visit with new and not so new friends. I was visually overloaded!! And I,like many other quilters from MI, MN, and WI, are sad to see the show move to Cincinnati OH-too far to travel.

Good News!!

My wall hanging "The Blue Wig" has been juried into the Denver National Quilt Festival V" which runs April 29-May 2, 2010. I originally made it for the Michigan Quilt Network's quilt shows color challenge. I won 1st place on it last Sept. so I entered it in another show to see how it will do. My quilt will be there but I will be stay in Menominee. April is a crazy month for regional quilt shows, hairshows/classes and I'm trying to get tickets to a Pat Benatar concert later in the month!!

Project Sock Design Contest

I am a patterned sock junkie and found a sock company called Little MissMatched. They sell 3 sock packs of similar but different designs so they don't match on purpose.. They are having a Season 2 sock design contest from people who wear their socks and/or visit thier website. I took a stab at it and the photo above is my entry. The deadline is April 15th and the company chooses the finalists then the public votes for their favorite on Little MissMatched website. The winner receives money, free socks and the ability to help design their socks. I have no idea how many people enter this contest and what my odds are. This was a fun project and I bought a new large box of colored pencils to color in the socks. I had a flashback of when I was a child when I drew and colored pictures all the time before sewing entered my world. P.S. according to Stacy and Clinton from "What Not to Wear" it is tacky to wear patterned socks if you are older than 5 but I stil do but under jeans and not with dresses, capris or shorts!!