Something About Nothing

Sorry about the quietness here on the blog, it has been a very busy month filled with work, trips, illness and fun too, so I will do my best to catch up on what has been going on since I last posted. I created two small free form pieced wall hangings. This piece was for a show at the Bountiful Davis Art Center, and is created from pieces of my Cyan Dyed fabrics.  She will be returning home next week. This piece still needs to be finished but will be entered into the "Threads of Resistance" show.  Keeping my fingers crossed that it will make it in the show.  It is the first piece I have hand quilted in a very long time.  The cats sure like it! Just before the hubby and I went to take care of our grandson for a weekend I caught a nasty head cold.  I haven't been able to shake the stuffiness in my sinuses and have had quite a few bouts of dizziness leading to a visit to the ER, a follow up with the primary care doctor and now an upcom...

 This weekend was the Home Machine Quilt Show in Sandy, Utah.  Practically my backyard.  I entered a quilt in the show:  SWR - "Sylvia Was Right"  I started the quilt while at the Pie Plates Retreat. The blue was created using Color Magnet with a thermofax screen and turquoise dye.  The purples are the leftovers from an ice dyed pieced that I then over printed with a thermofax screen of onion skin cells and human brain cells for the Science challenge of The Printed Fabric Bee. When I started to piece I planned on using the two pieces of fabric I had dyed along with white for an accent. My friend, Sylvia, decided to give me a challenge by throwing some scraps of peach at me.  I complained like a big baby and told her I didn't want to use.  I used it, and she was right, thus the name SWR. I'm sorry this photo is a bit blurry but it gives you an idea of the wonky, free form piecing I used to create this piece.   I didn't win a rib...

Last week was a beautiful spring break at our house.   The weather was fabulous but . . . Two words: stomach flu.   Do I need to say that we didn't get much crossed off the to-do list??? I was able to get some cleaning and a little sewing done.  Mister supervised the cleaning of the studio of course. My daughter decided the Bird Wings needed a home until we find the perfect backpack. They make an interesting bra don't they! Hahaha I started this project when I was at Pie Plates Retreat. I really like where it is going. I need to dye more of the turquoise leaf fabric because I would like this piece to be much bigger.  I created the fabric using a foam stamp with Color Magnet and diluted turquoise procian dye.  The purple is left over from my Printed Fabric Bee Science piece .  I just love these colors together.  When I started the project, my friend, Sylvia , threw a piece of plain peach fabric at me and challenged m...

I was thrilled when my friend Jamie Fingal ask me to create something using her new fabric line, Autumn is for the Birds, from Hoffman Fabrics. I decided to use my favorite method of creating: free form piecing.  When I create a quilt with this method I rarely plan anything out, other than perhaps a general size and a few elements.  The problem with this method is that I often have to rearrange as I go.  And sometimes I need to unpick - a LOT.  I took a few photos as I went to help me get an idea of where things were going and then based upon those photos I added or changed.  I put the photos together in a short power point so that you could see a little bit of my process.  I apologize for the dark photos as my design wall is in a dark hallway but I think it still gives you a good idea of how things went. The final quilt is approximately 30"x 37". I love the focus fabrics!  There are a lot of textures in all of the fabrics.  Ho...

I had a few deadlines this week which have kept me from posting! First project up was to finish a second quilt for the Springville Museum of Art Quilt Show . I created the pieced top while in Fountain Green a few months ago and was able to quilt the top in a way I REALLY liked.  After blocking the quilt, while trimming the top, the quilt told me I needed to be more drastic in my trimming.   Do your quilts talk to you?   I do hope I'm not the only one! This one said I should get rid of some sections of black.  I chalked out the lines and decided to sleep on the decision. I wasn't sure I wanted to cut out all that pretty quilting! When I came back to the quilt the next day, it yelled "YES! YES! GET RID OF SOME BLACK!"   So I ruthlessly took the rotary cutter and chopped out the black bits I'd chalked in and then finished it with a facing, a sleeve and a label all before midnight the night before the deadline!   Whew! But then I forgot to ...

The fabric I designed on  Spoonflower  arrived! It is so pretty!!! I used a photo of one of my ice dyed fabrics and played. So fun!!! I must play more! This design is now for sale on Spoonflower: I am working on finishing up some UFO's. This piece is finished but I'm only showing you a tiny bit. These two are part of my series "Everyone looks good in Turquoise." I had to lay the pen down to show how small the pieces are on this one.  I really wanted to make this piece bigger but I have run out of fabric.  I've decided I'm going to leave it this size and start the next quilt. I've also been working on pieces I can enter into a few art shows.   Here is a tiny little peek of a piece I entered in a show called Living Colour . I will find out if the piece made it into the show next week! I missed the deadline for another show I wanted to enter. I put off the entry because of one thing and another,  and now th...

I've been working but from the looks of my blog it seems more like I've been hiding!  I'm here, working hard on some new pieces for shows and working on submissions for other shows.  My word for the year is ENTER.  I may have written a little about it in the past.  I want to really concentrate on entering my work into some quilt shows this year.  However after zentangling my planner cover I thought that along with the word Enter I should also adopt the phrase Enjoy Every Moment.  So here I am entering and enjoying the year.  Here is a sneak peek at a piece I've been doing: I'd share another sneak peek but I can't find my camera card!!! I've also opened a shop on Spoonflower.  The fabric isn't for sale quite yet but it will be soon!  The fabrics are based upon my hand dyes and my free form piecing.  I'll let you know when you can buy some.  In the meanwhile go over to Spoonflower and order yourself a free swatch TODAY! ...

The challenge for my local quilt guild this year was to use a half yard of this ugly fabric in a traditional or art quilt.  The majority of the half yard had to be on the FRONT of the quilt. My first question was if I could over dye or paint the fabric and of course the answer was a big fat NO!   Marsha wasn't going to make it THAT easy! It took me a long time but I finally decided to dye some pink and brown fabrics and make a free form quilt out of it.  I am surprised with how happy I am with the results. I was going to call her "Straight up Ugly" in honor of the ugly fabric but decided that she has transformed the ugly fabric and so she is called "Straight up." She has inspired me to want to make more quilts like this with other  what-were-you-thinking-when-you-bought-that  kind of fabrics. Here are the quilts from the rest of the ladies. . . . . .The art quilts:  . . .the turtle on the right won the category. . . Congra...