New Project: Altered Couture

I went to the Green Bay St. Vinny's Store to find jackets to alter and embellish. I found this srtetch denim jacket for $3 and will slice and dice and add to it to take it from boring to fun and colorful!!! I plan to finish it and wear it for my lecture at the WI Quilt Expo on Sept. 8, 2011.

I chose these two fabrics to add some color, pattern and ruffles. I will add plenty of embellishments and variegated threads. I have already cut the sleeves off and am excited to do some "altered couture" like the magazine and Project Runway!! What would Tim Gunn say???

Wisconsin Quilt Expo 2011

I am posting about the Wisconsin Quilt Expo in Madison WI on Sept. 8-10, 2011 because it is a fantastic regional quilt show and I am presenting a lecture on Thursday Sept. 8th. I will be lecturing on "Create Better Quilts Using the Elements and Principles of Design" My lecture is at 1pm. I am excited to share my love of  art and design and a bit nervous too! I have made a decision to pursue the workshop/lecture process and have a nervous excitement about this!!

I have a quilt in the show and I chose "Bubbly Blonde" because I am rebellious toward the typically traditional judges at this show and thought this would be a good choice!! I few of my Appleton WI art quilters are not entering in the Madison show anymore because they feel the judges award ribbons to the traditional quilts and ignore the art quilts. I like the huge traffic flow and the fact that my quilt is viewed by 1000s is awesome regardless of a ribbon. I find quilters may not want to create their own art quilt but they enjoy looking at them in a quilt show. I chose this quilt because it is so oversized and bold with the crazy blue eye shadow, frosty lips and circles. Perhaps it will get at least a chuckle out to the judges!!

The website for the expo is www.wiquiltexpo.com. Go to classes to register for my lecture or any other one. Hope you can attend!!

Quick and Easy

This was a quick and easy Mary Engelbreit panel I picked up in the Sturgeon Bay, WI quilt store last November when I was on my quilt retreat. I purchased it for my sister Wendy whose birthday is today. We both love Mary Engelbreit, she is also a gardener and has a three seasons room with these colors. I machine quilted the borders by using two decorative stiches from my sewing machine using flower motifs. I added baby blue rick rack on the small blue border and a few yellowish rhinestones on the background. I didn't want to get carried away. Sometimes it's good to free the mind and do some easy projects to feel accomplished yet not overwork the brain!! It is cutesy but I like cutesy/whimsical sometimes. The second photo is details of the quilting and embellishments. Wendy is not a follower of my blog so it's safe to post this and have the gift a surprise.

I have been busy with entering upcoming quilt shows such as Road 2 California and the Bonifas Art Center in Ecanaba, MI and prepping for teaching in Sept. and Oct. Lots of paperwork, computer time and CD prepping. It's a necessary part of the process but not my favorite. I will post later about the teaching gigs!!

Heaven or Hell Exhibit

I belong to an artists group in Green Bay WI called New Art Council and they posted a Call to Entry for an exhibit called Heaven or Hell. Green Bay Community Church is hosting a non-juried art exhibit with a heaven or hell theme. Since I practice Universal Law/The Secret I thought I would stick with the positve and explore the Heaven theme. So what is Heave to me-a perennial garden that had no zones or seasons except summer??!!  I used my Angelina pattern and  made it in my coloring but my hair isn't that big, my glasses are off and my lips aren't pouty like that!! Then I fussy cut flowers from my large scale floral stash in a rainbow gradation of colors. I added a applique of Opie,my orange tabby who is in cat heaven, on the lower right. I embellished with my collection of flower buttons, felt flowers, beads, rhinestones, glitter, nail  polish and fabric paint. I added some funky flower trim to the bottom because I liked how it looked. The exhibit runs Aug. 28-Oct. 15, 2011 at Green Bay Community Church, 600 Cardinal Lane, Green Bay WI.

I Went to the Dark Side-Traditional Quilting!!

While working on tuesdays at Pine Street Quilts I kept sharing at the large floral print and loved it. I realized I could not use it in my portrait quilts except in a border and that seemed boring. So I used one of my favorite tradional patterns from www.BlankQuilting.com and is a free download. I have always switched up the design a bit but love the symetrical balanced look of the quilt. I skipped the extra borders and used more of the large floral. I found a fun stripe, which I love to have in my quilts, and the rest of the fabrics are from my stash. I like to buy the dollar store hawaian leis and take them apart and sew them on to quilts-I have some of those in this quilt. I found a large colorful lei at Hobby Lobby and that's where the large hot pink flowers come from. I have three colors/sizes of rhinestones, some flower themed beads, and some purple felt buttons as embellishments. I added a little purple glitter nail polish on the pink flowers for fun. I call the quilt "Fiori de Magenta" which means magenta flowers in Italian. I am fascinated by Italy and things Italian so that how it got the name. The quilt is 48" x 48".The second photo is a detail view of the flowers, glitter and felt buttons. I think I will enter this quilt in the Road to California show in a category I usually I don't enter. Then it's up to the jury people to decide if it's worthy. Back to art quilts!!!

Bubbly Blonde Heads to Madtown!!

Bubbly Blonde has been juried into the Wisconsin Quilt Expo in Madison WI which is Sept. 8-10, 2011. I made this quilt because I love the 1960s fashions-Twiggy, pop art, Gucci prints, crazy eyelashes and frosty lipstick. I didn't plan a secondary them of circles but it just happened. I used an awesome Kaffe Fassett circular print and started cutting it up and appliquing it around the quilt. About the time I was going to quilt this piece I received a judge's comment about me not quilting enough on the face of the woman in that quilt. I purposely leave certain areas to show depth and dimensions but since she was a traditional quilter...I have a rebellious side that said "I'll show you quilting on the face!!" so I went nuts and the close-up view shows the details. I have flowers, rainbows, sunrises etc. Very free spirited!! I embellished with pale yellow nail polish, vinyl for the earring, large sequins from Christmas garland, Shiva Paintstiks and glitter. I have not had this quilt at a show yet besides my local library gallery so I am excited to display it and the Madison show and for the judges to be amused!! Those poor ladies just don't always get my vision and that's part of the mystery of my work. I hope everyone can attend this regional quilt show sponsored by Nancy's Notions is wonderful!!

Hoffman Challenge 2011-Follow Up

This blog post is an update on the 2011 Hoffman Challenge. My piece "Tahitiana" has been selected as part of the traveling tour for 2011-2012. YEAH!!! It is in Group C and when I looked at the current schedule this group will be at the International Quilting Assoc.( IQA) shows in Long Beach CA, Cinncinati OH and a variety of other shows. I like this because many people will view the quilts. In about a month Hoffman will annouce the Challenge fabric for 2012 and I can see if I like the fabric and then I can "challenge" myself to a new quilt. This photo is a close up of Tahitiana's face. I was challenged by the fact that I couldn't glam her up with glitter eyeliner and jewelry etc. because she was fresh faced and on the beach. So I had to let go of the "photo shoot/everything is perfect look!"  I hope the Challenge tours are well received and Hoffman continues to do this. www.hoffmanchallenge.com