Cutting Up

In preparation for the Smith & Owen Quilt Retreat next month (my second), I've been doing a lot of cutting (well, some shopping was actually involved prior to the cutting) in order to make the pattern provided as part of the retreat. The pattern is African Fire Flower (see) but I'm going to Australianize it.

I get to make use of some Australian fabrics given to me just before coming to Michigan by my Australian quilting buddies in the NSW Guild as well as some aboriginal fabrics I got at Smith & Owen. And anything sky blue, gum green or ochre or iron-oxide red that I could find in the stash. I've got quite a stack of 3x9" pieces now.

By the by, Jill Ker Conway (who wrote The Road to Coorain) spoke on campus last month. Helped me get into the spirit of the project.

This year my big "lesson learned from last year" is to bring a decent sewing chair with me. All the ladies who were veterans of the retreat knew to do that.

Krakatoa in situ

"Krakatoa" is now, I just learned, rather prominently displayed in the Women's Center at GVSU as part of their annual art show. I was near the center yesterday for an event and see that it is clearly visible from outside their glass-walled office. There's something weird and thrilling about seeing one's work displayed somewhere other than one's house.

"Krakatoa" is a storm-at-sea pictorial quilt made up of 800 pieces.

Can't seem to find the picture I have of it.

This purse is a somewhat ironic wink at the impending soccer mom season. Probably better than having my leather bag out in the elements--and if it gets cold, I guess I could shove my hands in--it is quilted after all...

The projects one gets up to when cleaning the studio.

Major studio improvements

Recently I have been losing myself in some of those magazines about other people's studios. I'm in no danger of adding onto the house or laying down new flooring, but I have just purchased a small bookcase to better house my magazines and a large commercial grade shelving unit (60" wide, 77" tall, 24 inch wide shelves) to hold my stash. I was really tired of getting under tables to haul out fabric bins and taking far too long to sort out left-overs after projects were done.

The magaine bookcase is assembled and populated, and Costco says my commercial grade shelves are in transit.

Something about all this possessed me to even put a quilt top in the frame.

Finally!

How long have I been promising a photo of the blue & white quilt? It's so huge it will take 2 shots! This one is off to a professional quilter today because I just can't imagine handling one this size myself. In fact, it's larger than my arms could reach on the biggest bulletin board I could find, so the "southern end" with the penguins is out of shot. This was a drafting and math extravaganza. It'll be great to see it on my son's bed in a couple months.

Made a purse, too

Recently I also made this quilted purse. The fabric is the "In The Begining" panel from the Folklorica line. The pattern name is not with me as I write, but some will recognize it by the distinctive use of curtain grommets (which, by the way, are not hard to put in).

Laddie's Garden

Nothing like some time at home to get the hand quilting done. This one is 50" square. Inspired by a class in 2008 by Gwen Marston. All the flowers are my own design from hand-cut paper templates. Needle-turn applique and hand quilted.

It's called Laddie's Garden as a nod to our dog who saw me through the process.