Fundraiser Quilts

I made this quilt for the Studio Arts Quilt Artists

(SAQA) Benefit  Auction which begins in Sept. 2011. If you got your piece finished and mailed before March 15th then your piece received more publicity on their website and was part of the display at the IQA Quilt Show in Cinncinati OH. SAQA had the requirement of a square piece 10 x 10-12 x 12-I prefer to NOT make square quilts but rules are rules. I used raw edged fused applique and embellished with fabric paint, fabric markers, glitter/glue, nail polish on the lips and hair and a felt flower in the hair. It is called "The Woman With Copper Hair"

I made this quilt for the "Quilting is Art: 2011 Great TV Auction" for Milwaukee Public TV in Milwaukee WI. The participating quilts will be on display at the Greater Milwaukee Realtors Home and Garden Show March 25-April 3, 2011. I used raw edged fused applique' and embellished with fabric paint, rhinestones, glitter/glue on the eyelids and nail polish in the hair and on the lips. It is called "The Woman in the Blue Halter"

And last, this quilted wall hanging is my donation to the Twin Counties Free Clinic's fundraser on March 3, 2011 called "Taste of the Town." This clinic is in my community Menominee MI and the adjacent community, Marinette WI, and helps low income individuals receive medical care. This is a great organization and I have donated to this fundraiser before because it is supported only by donations. I did a strip pieced background and raw edged fused applique over it. I machine quilted it with a varigated thread in green, yellow and orange. It is called "The Layered Flip."

Art to Heart Exhibit at The Art Garage

I went to Green Bay today to view the Art to Heart Exhibit at The Art Garage in Green Bay WI. It was a fundraiser in which 300 people are given a 6 x 6 artists canvas and could create anything they wanted. There was an artists reception earlier in February in which people purchased the pieces and the $$ went to charity. It was quite large in size, very colorful and impressive! Can you find mine??

Here is a close up of my piece. The woman has a heart shaped face and a heart silhouette to her hair. I embellished with gliiter in the hair and rhinestones on the face as well as painted the canvas black. This is my first mixed media piece since I used paper, colored pencils and paint and worked off a canvas and not quilt batting and a sewing machine.

Homonym Quilt Challenge

I have Quilting Arts Magazine on my Facebook page and they posted a quilt contest using words that were homonyms and homographs. So I learned a new word that day in order to see if I wanted to enter the contest!! Homonyms are words that sound the same but have different meanings such as red/read or pray/prey. I enlisted the help of my friend Glenda Banta who is great with words and challenged her to help me find a good choice. She had the best homonym of hair and hare since I'm a hairdresser and do portrait quilts. Instead of hair I used hares for the hair. So I asked myself what is the difference between a rabbit and a hare? A hare has longer ears and bigger feet (kind of like people!) So when I made the applique' for the hare I made the ears/feet larger. I thought of another homonyn of carrot and carat and I made 5 Scupley molding clay carrots and made them into buttons to attach to the quilt. I finished the necklace with orange rhinestones and some shimmer paint on the carrots. I was feeling like this was very Alice in Wonderland like so the woman's make up was influenced by the Mad Hatter's make up. The woman took on a "mad/crazy" look so it came full circle. I added fabric paint, Sharpie pens, glitter nail polish and a few green rhinestones to the background as embellishments. The piece is called "Mad as a March Hare: I Put My 'Hare' Up to Show Off My 5 'Carrot' Necklace!" I had a ton of fun making this quilt since it was out of the ordinary and a bit crazy!!

Kids and Quilts

Carla Anderson is a 3rd grade teacher and goes to my church. She asked if I would show my quilts to her class at St. Mary School in Peshtigo WI. They had read a book on quilting and she knew I was a quilter. I have spoke to children before and it's a lot of fun. The question they kept asking me was "how long did it take you to make that?" So here is the class, Mrs. Anderson and me holding my "Tina" quilt.

Chanel Jacket Part 2

This is the photo of the completed jacket. I was not able to "quilt" the boucle to the lining because of the pattern instructions so I did a traditional lining with a back pleat and the extra room at the sleeve and bottom hemline. It also has the shoulder seams and the under sleeve seams be tacked together. I will add the chain to the inner hemline arfter the trim is attached.I look at this jacket like a new house ready to decorate!! It's sort of blah and I can't wait to add the froufrou fun stuff!!

Look What Happened When You go To Quilt Retreat!!

This story begins with me at my quilt retreat last November. The seating arraignment put me next to Ellen Polenske. Ellen is more of a seamstress/garmentmaker than quilter and does beautiful work especially childrens clothing. She was working on a pink Chanel jacket for her 6 year old niece. I of course was drawn to the pink and inquired as to what she was making. She explained and showed me the Threads Magazine and her couture sewing manuals about Coco Chanel and couturewear and I was sucked into the Chanel jacket aura!! I had a flashback from when I was a high school senior at Appleton East in Mrs. Goolsbey's sewing class when I made a wool lined plaid jacket with pad stitching and bound buttonholes. I had another flashback of me at UW Stout when I was going to be a fashion designer when I grew up and before I knew about quilting. I took tailoring and draping class and did a lot of gament construction. I was also attacted to the pink color of the tweed of Ellen's jacket. I realized the Chanel jacket was a classic item which I could wear many years if I were to make one and it would be versatile enough to wear with dressy clothes or with jeans. I picked pink fabric since pink is a neutral for me!!!! I went to a few Chanel sewing blogs and learned about appropriate fabrics (boucle) and all the fancy trims that  make the jacket Chanel-like. There is also a row of metal chain across the inside hemline to weigh down the jacket so it hangs nicely. So in the photo there is the start of the jacket front construction, a sample of the lining, the metallic trim which will go around the neck and front edges, the hem and the top of the pockets. Then I will use the darker pink fringy selvage edge and add the trim I bought to conplete the decorative trim. I'm not used to the 5/8" seams and using these fabrics and measuring the grain line but it is making me think outside the quilting box and I am remembering how to construct garments. Keep you posted!!

12 Busy Sock Monkeys

I consider myself an art quilter but this sock monkey block of the month was calling my name at Quilters Haven in Menominee, MI where I live. It began in May 2009 and I began a back log of 6 blocks at the Nov. '09 quilt retreat. In the summer of 2010 I added the black dot sashing and it has sat since then until recently when I figured out what I wanted for an outer border. The "kit" came with a solid light yellow to sash the blocks. I love the yellow Moda dot but it was yellow overkill. I thought blue would calm it plus pick up the blue in the sky of the blocks. It also became a teaching tool for color theory to demo primary colors. I machine quilted myself which was another reason I was procrastinating!! I do not plan to make any big quilts in the immediate future! And my phography is a little dippy since I usually use my clothesline to display the large quilts and the backyard is full of snow at the moment!! Therefore it got photographed on the living room floor. How many months until spring??

The photo above is the close up of the January block.

And this block is the close up of the June block. I am living the January block right now and wish I was at the beach like the June sock monkey. Anyway, I will display this quilt in my local quilt guild's, Northwoods Quilters, spring quilt show April 30-May1, 2011.