Part Two: THe Gardens

As requested these are a few photos of my garden. The lighting may not be the greatest but the sun is out and it looks like a nice second day of the garden tour. The turn out was great for a Friday evening. This is my garden shed Ken made in 2009 from recycled materials. A pink theme prevails!!

This is behind the garage. A porcelain vine on a handmade twig trellis, bee balm, lilies, coneflowers, false sunflowers, russian sage, zinias and plenty more. There are blue birds nexting in the red birdhouse.This is the east side of my house. The twig chair Ken made from dead cedars, there are old wash tubs, a magnolia and all kinds of perennials and annuals. In the background is a flowering crab tree and a trumpet vine that formed an archway to the backyard.

This is my fairy garden using an old Weber grill, a few small rocks, a fairy and a gnome. Ken hand painted stones and Super Glued them to hardward screws for mushrooms. Crazy guy!!

"Quilt Garage" during Garden and Gallery Tour, July 15-16

The Marinette WI/Menominee, MI area garden and gallery tour is this weekend, July 25-16, and my garden/yard is on the tour. This in itself is very awesome sharing my flowers, garden art and the fun finds I have in my garden from my "picking" and shopping. I decided to turn the garage into a art gallery. Ken rigged some wire to hang the wall hangings and I have some tables etc. to display the smaller items such as fabric postcards, framed art and my two new quilt wall hanging patterns. This photo shows the quilted banner I made in the past which is my vending banner to idetify my quilt display. Did any of you ever watch the TV show "Malcom in the Middle?" The font from the credits of the show is so cool and I used it for my lettering. I have used this font in some of my other quilts because it is so funky. The font name is actually Funky Font 2!! The other photos are pics of the garage ready for the tour. Check it out if you are in my neighborhood. The Marinette Chamber of Commerce has info on their website about the garden and gallery tour..

Hoffman Challenge 2011

This is my entry in the 2011 Hoffman Challenge which I will mail tomorrow. The fabric was a large scale floral with a two tone muted green background. The flowers were purple and rose and there was gold metallic embossing. It was definitely a challenge due to the size of the print. I used some in the background piecing, the flowers in the borders,  I cut the small flowers out of the print and made a crown of flowers and the green background fabrics became leaves to go with the flowers. I used a raw edged fused applique technique and machine quilting. I thought there was enough activity so I did not embellish this quilt very much. I added some gold glitter to draw the eye to the flower crown and I used  fishing line and attached a ready made shell necklace which added a three dimensional affect. I used several fabric markers to define details in the face, clothing and hands. I call it "Tahitiana" after the tahitian women which inspired this quilt. This challenge is different from most challenges in that I send the quilt and if they like it, it is part of the traveling tour. And if they don't like it then they sent it home in Sept. My 2010 entry was accepted and I will get that one back in October of 2011. Wish me luck!!

Michigan Quilt Artist Invitational 2011: "Jello Anyone?"

This is my entry in the Michigan Quilt Artist Invitational 2011 "Art in the Kitchen."  The full schedule is is at www.saqami.blogspot.com. The exhibit begins in Flint MI in Sept. and my city, Menominee MI, will

have this exhibit in April/May of 2012. My inspiration was the 1950s pastel colors, pin-up girls, jello and aprons. I began with googling 1950s kitchen appliances. I was getting the 1940s and the 1950s style and colors mixed up. I realized that pastels with black and white were the colors of the '50s as in the '50s diners so the floor became black and white checkered and appliances were still white in this decade.  Pink is my favorite color and I chose the cupboards to be pink, the walls in turquiose and the counter top black. There is a ton of shiny chrome in the '50s so the edge of the counter and the handles of the cupboards, the stove hardware were all appliqued in a silver lame fabric. The clock was inspired by the game Yoville on Facebook when they had a '50s theme!! The woman is inspired by the pin up girl of the times but with a family friendly wardrobe! Aprons were hot then and I designed the top of the apron to be heart shaped. Rick rack was also popular and I added baby rick rack on the apron. I also noticed sleeves were gathered into the armhole and there was a pointy cuff. Pumps were fashionable in the '50s as well as rhinestone jewelry. Her hair is black to stay within the color scheme I had selected. The jello in the mold idea came about because it was a big dessert item at the time. I created the whipping cream decorations around the jello by "gooping" white paint around the jello and on the woman's finger. I embellished blue glitter in the hair, rhinestones for the necklace and earring, silver paint to accent the clock, salt and pepper shakers, and stove details. The woman's face was too small to applique so I drew it on the fabric with markers and detailed it with paint and cosmetic "blush." This was a total fun quilt to make because it was fun researching the details and then creating it in fabric. The quilts are sized 20" x 24". The title of the quilt is "Jello Anyone?" and is for sale on the exhibit tour. I can't wait to see how the other artist interpreted the kitchen theme.

Lady Liberty

This quilt called "Lady Liberty" is in the same style as my mermaid quilt in which I am able to have lots of background fabrics with a figure over the top. I like the image of the Statue of Liberty and I love red, white and blue fabrics and I didn't really have a 4th Of July quilt for my wall so it HAD to be made!! Most fabrics were from my stash with a few newbies. I was inspired by my local church's weekly bulletin from last 4th of July. But I changed the hat, the face, the clothes and added the stars and tablet. I used 30 different fabrics and places them with the light colors in the middle so when I placed the applique over the pieced background the image would be visible. I used patriotic  colors of Sulky thread to quilt the piece and sewed red, white and blue buttons in 3 sizes around the quilt. I added a bit of blue glitter to the edges of the gown and to the "I" because I didn't think it stood out enough. I may add a few rhinestones for the fun factor!! This quilt is for my wall and I don't think it's "juried" show material just a fun little project!!

Sacred Threads Exhibit

I have posted about "Venus Rising:Out of Addiction" in January for a local gallery exhibit. When I made it for the local show I also was planning to enter it in the Sacred Threads Exhibit in the Washington D.C. area which is June 22-July 4, 2011. My quilt was accepted into the exhibit and I just mailed it to Virginia!! I discovered this exhibit in 2007 and said I would enter in 2009 and then spazzed out and missed the deadline so I was alert for 2011. I knew I wanted to have a quilt representing addiction because addiction has affected several close family and friends. The reason for the exhibit is to have spiritiual ideas in quiltmaking. There are six categories-spirituality, joy, inspiration, peace/brotherhood, grief and healing. I chose to put my quilt in the healing category. I will not be going to the exhibit since I do not live near DC and I have a job etc. but they are creating a CD and many of the quilts will be on their website in the future. It is an interesting concept and I will consider doing this again in 2013. The website is www.sacredthreadsquilts.com for further information.

Are You Also an "American Picker"?

There is a television show on one of the cable channels called "American Picker" where two guys travel across the country and purchase used/vintage/retro items for themselves or they sell it and make $$. In Menominee MI, where I live, they do a Spring Clean-up at the curb in May. It's very tempting to find a few goodies on the side of the road for the garden!! I know of people who take vacation days to hunt for things!! My boyfriend, Ken, who is just as bad as me, brought home this table and I was way excited! I should have taken a before photo of the plain brown table but... I primed it white and then started painting. I am loving oranges in the garden this year and many of my annuals are orange mixed with pinks, yellows and blues. The first photo is the finished table with a few plants on it and the second photo is the fun wood details which makes it so special. I also discovered a new magazine called Flea Market Gardening and realized there are lots of "pickers" out there. Are you??  P.S. It is too nice outside to be in my studio and I will finish my statue of liberty quilt before the 13th of June when my guild meets.