2019 Quilts

New flash: I like making quilts! Here are the ones I made in 2019. You can also review the quilts I made in 2018, 2017 and 2016.

Three tiny floral embroideries.


Tree Lines, 30x80 This is quilt is currently part of SAQA's Connecting Our Natural Worlds exhibition. Process and inspiration pictures here.


Pondering, 5x7ish -- My donation to the Spotlight Auction at the SAQA Conference in San Jose.


Two 16x16 workshop samples for me new class Cups, Vases and Bowls. I'll be teaching this workshop at Craft Napa in January and at Quilters Affair in July in Sisters, OR. You can invite me to teach it at your guild too.



Day Break, 40x40


Spring Forth, 12x12 -- My donation for the 2019 SAQA Auction.


Grass Made It Possible, 50x30 -- You can read about the creative process and unexpectedly wonderful connection I discovered while making this quilt in this blog post.


Uprising 50x27 -- This quilt will be part of SAQA's Aloft exhibition through 2022.


Beach Exploration 15x75. I didn't blog about this piece, but you can read a bit more and see more photos in this Facebook post.


Vessels: Heartland 26x16x2 -- Lots of pictures about the process of creating this piece here.


Dusk Breeze 40x40 -- This piece was "finished" much earlier in the year but there were some things that I didn't like about it. Eventually, I went back and re-worked some areas.


Through and Through, 60x40 -- Peeks of this piece have shown up in my social media over the past few months, but I haven't shared the finished piece until now. Look for more details soon.


Right at the end of the year, I got busy preparing for Craft Napa and finished these 7x5 collage for the Vendor Fair night. (Unless you'd like to buy one now, that'd be super. $65 Email me.)They are all mounted on 8x10 mat board ready to frame.

Encouragement


Sprout and Soar


Sheltering


Sprout and Shine


Enduring


Good Times


Dusk and Dawn


Breath


Hillside


Tiny Blossom


Possibility


Warmth




That's 24 quilts not including the tiny embroideries. I consider seven of these major works -- which seems like a lot. I'm eager to make more in 2020.

Art Quilt Collage with Beagle and Lab!

I love dogs! I was delighted to donate some 6x6 small art quilt collages to the Craft Napa fundraiser. I posted them on Facebook and a high school classmate really loved this one.

Since it wasn't available to purchase, she commissioned me to make one like it -- but 12x12" and with her two dogs. How fun is that?

She wanted this same color palette and composition, but in order to make it interesting at the larger size, I'd definitely need to add more fabrics and stitch motifs.

So, I began by pulling these possible fabrics.

Fun, right? I knew I wanted some handwriting surface design (which was also in the original small piece), so I created that piece at the top. Just light blue fabric with the blue Sharpie Stained fabric marker. You can see I was also thinking about how I might use a selvage edge.

It took me a long time to figure out the right fabric and shapes for the dogs. I ended up painting fabric specifically to look like a beagle and a gray lab. Here they are!

Even though I pulled all those fabrics, I settled on these for the final fabric layer.

I was leaving lots of space for stitching by machine and by hand, but adding those fussy cut flowers also filled in the space nicely and framed the dogs.

And here's the finished piece.

I fussy cut and spliced the selvage of Leslie Tucker Jenison's fabric to include the word "love." 

And you can see the embroidered purple sprouts and the more-subtle free motion quilted sprouts. 

Orange Y stitches as in the original.

The dogs got just a bit of contour stitching. You can also see the wavy, hilly, gentle lines stitched in the teal background. (I stitched them and then fused the dogs on top.) 

So, there you have it. Dogs! I am so happy to say my friend was thrilled with the result.

Also... here's my dog, Lincoln. He's smiling!

Super Fun (and cheap!) Art Lessons from Cloth, Paper, Scissors

I was thrilled to create two Art Lessons for Cloth Paper Scissors. These are digital products that include a 19 page pdf document with tons of images and step-by-step instructions for the project AND links to how-to video tutorials. It's an amazing combination of a magazine article, mini-workshop, video lesson, image gallery and inspiration board! They are only $3.99 -- a great deal, I think.

Here's Expressive Surface Design.


These are the three art quilt collages I created for the art lesson.


Want to see close ups?






The art lesson covers creating surface design with handwriting and stamps...

*I love those Sharpie Stained markers!

also tips for creating a pleasing composition...



and even ideas for free motion stitching motifs.


Seriously, it's full of tips, inspiration and instruction that you could use in all kinds of mixed media art. I hope you'll check it out.

And here's Tiny Textured Treasures.


I created decorative plant stakes for this project... but you could use these sweet ornaments in lots of ways.




This lesson includes ideas for selecting a fabric palette...




and suggestions for composition...


plus tutorials for some of my favorite improvisational embroidery stitches!



I'd love to see what you create with inspiration from either of these Art Lessons. Show me your handwriting, stamped patterns, free motion quilting, art quilt collages and tiny embroidery stitches!