Long Beach Quilt Festival!

Lionfish




Journal Quilt 2007








Journal Quilt 2005 (it was nice to see it again!)



Here's some shots of my work at festival. It was so amazing to see it all hanging so beautifully!



Last but not least; The Carousel. The quilt measures 5' x 5'. Each animal is 3 feet tall & 12 inches wide.





Group project from left to right: Artists are Cindy Cooksey(Rabbit) ; Julie Schlueter (Zebra); Me (Horse); Vickie Valdez-Green(Lion); Terry Waldron (Giraffe).

Here's the full story:

When our Cutloose group was presented with the idea of doing one or more group quilts for the Long Beach Exhibit; I had kicked around many designs. I knew I wanted to do something that would represent the famous Long Beach Pier and in particular the Cyclone racer! I worked hard on several designs for that and in the end, threw in a last minute ‘dark horse’ with a pop-art rendition of the Charles Looff carousel. At our next meeting; all designs were placed on the table & before it was even made ‘official’ about which quilt we would do or which artists would be participating in which design; 4 had all ready had their favorite ‘animal’ and were bantering around color schemes and embellishments.

I took the design home and created full size renditions of each animal on freezer paper to give to each artist along with the background fabric we had chosen that would unify the quilt. We completed our respective animals using only the top fabric & batting. We had decided not to back the quilt until all the pieces had been assembled. We would meet as a group once a month to see progress; check color schemes and animal orientation. Once the animals were completed; they were all returned to me to assemble & once that was done we finalized a top design and fabric choice for it. This top section was the longest process and the most challenging. Finally; finishing touches were added via the ribbons for each animal; the novelty trim; & shading with tulle. The binding is a continuous double fold bias.

Wardrobe/Embellishments:

Cindy Cooksey’s rabbit sports a lovely red velvet vest adorned with colorful buttons and exceptional cross hatching embroidery. He is outlined with silk that was hand dyed by Cindy to match his gorgeous ‘skin’ fabric. He is both playful & charming.

Julie Schlueter’s Zebra prefers the more ‘au natural’ approach. The head is hand beaded as well as the eye. Julie’s fabric choice for the stripes gives a bold contrast that still plays well with the other animals. Her signature machine quilting incorporates such a fun, graphic element to the overall design.

Stacy Hurt’s horse prefers an almost counter-culture approach. His loose, long mane flies with wild abandon. The feathers appear to be tattooed up his neck; front legs & forehead. His bridle was pieced and fused on and the medallion was an original design created and hand beaded just for him by Stacy.

Vicki Valdez-Green’s lion is a show stopper. He is formal and ferocious without being the least bit frightening. The wonderful coloring for his mane compliments his dusky appearance. His eye and mouth were hand painted by Vickie who then signed her name in the iris of his eye! His beautiful fleur-de-leis tail design gives him such a regal touch.

Terry Waldron’s giraffe sports stuffed, felted horns as well as some innovative hand embroidery details around the face & neck. His mane was machine stitched and the material gives a nice fuzzy appearance. He sports a very dashing sash that is actually 3 sections of novelty trim sewn together. They enhance his lovely spots perfectly!

Origami day at the Koi Garden

The koi themselves were a riot! The were like great big sea cows! There was one tiny dispenser of what could only be referred to as 'koi kibble' or possibly 'koi chow' and let me tell you; those fish never moved from the one bank where all the folks lined up at least 10 people deep to feed them. El & I had gotten there early enough that we didn't have to wait. I walked right down where they were all swarming the banks and petted some, letting them all maul my fingers looking for their kibble. It was hysterical. There was one; count him: one single duck and you had to toss some chow way away so he'd go chase it so you could feed the mouths that were constantly open & groping the bank. When I went over to the little outcropping and stood on the little wooden platform gradually some fish would come over. ANYTIME they see a human standing near the water simply gazing down they will come right to you in anticipation of food. I started dropping one or two little pellets (I mean really, a handful is only .25 cents so what the heck!) in the smallest koi would come up *you can see from the photos the water is so green you can't see through it* and gobble as fast as they could knowing those big giant cows would come soon & chase them all off. (not really chase them but with; let's say, 20 fish roughly 2feet long and really round the tiny ones could only skim over top of the large bodies & slide right off) The duck was relentless! That duck was so ornrey to those fish it's a wonder they let him stay there. He would peck them mercilessly and the big cows would flick their substantial tails at him and he'd simply walk right across the backs of those gathered and peck their giant heads till they went under & he was free to snarf up all the kibble. The fact that fish have a .01 second brain memory makes it even more funny to think of the dialogue in your head. The fish would be the ultimate ADD subjects with the duck's memory only marginally longer. I amused myself for quite sometime at their expense just imagining the koi saying things like "HEEEY!" and the duck: "MINE>>MINE" and the fish... "Dang! I hate that guy! Oh look, kibble!........HEY? what the???" and then the duck... "Stupid fish... MINE!..MINE!"

Looks Great!

Here's the shot of this piece in my friends home. It looks beautiful there! Thanks for sending the picture Karen!

Home to roost

As new works come back from shows & are put back into the 'stable' as it were, it gives me the opportuntiy to share them on my blog.

'Afternoon Sun' will not be travelling further. It is currently being 'auditioned' however, at a friends house to see if she wants to keep it.

I liked making this piece and my favorite part was the narrow 'bookmark' insert actually. It is hand beaded and embellished on fusible tyvek. (can you say bloody fingers?) This piece I think represents my first major move from what I was doing into the more elegant Asian aesthetic. (not that I have arrived there by any means) It's very hard sometimes to keep the dicipline of 'less is more' and just place the single element without trying to 'express' each nuance in the work and over doing it.

The tree is commerical batik fabric fused on; overstitched with rayon; metallic & cotton threads. It was lots of fun adding drama with that bright copper metallic thread into the tree bark. There are fancy yarns couched into the background parts of the tree. The sun rays were created with narrow strips of pale yellow tulle; they are held in place by tiny clear fully cupped sequins.

The coolest picture ever

Here's the orginal that Ellen took of herself with our cat Stella. Don't ask me how she managed to hold that cat still long enough to get this shot. If you look into Stella's iris; you can see the reflection of Ellen's camera. Then she altered it with her voodoo skills & came up with the bottom image. This needs to be a quilt. if only...

Journal book "Shape/Color"

Here is the latest installment to the round robin journal books. This person's theme was 'shapes & colors' . I had these old silk neckties (many more than just these two believe me!) and wanted to do something graphic. I like the shapes & colors. I didn't stay with just one shape or color but I think she'll like them. It was fun doing the handwork. The blue/black & white one was easier that the rust one because I found my fuseable interfacing to stablize the silk! These were fun & easy; not too much beading; or embroidery; just wanted the colors & shapes to do the 'talking'.

Quilted

Glad to have gotten this done & out in time! Hopefully I'll have some images of the baby with his quilt soon! *hint hint-grandpa*

Nash's Quilt

I've laid it on a black towel to show detail. This is prior to quilting; but with sashing & prairie points. You can see the bottom where I will turn it under and finish it. You know; I never even measured the sashing to make sure it would come out even; it just worked. The printed panel is actually lopsided but I did my best to even it up. I didn't lop off one of my points! Should have it done tomorrow night so I can ship it out to Nash who lives in Memphis!

Pillow Case binding?

Ok; I'll admit it... I'm not a good traditional quilter. I would like to be. I know many women who are and I should take better notes. But here's the deal; why piece and get all fancy when you can fuse??? (smirk~chortle)

But every now and again I like to try my hand at the more traditional quilts to hone my skills. I do love all the seams and finished edges. They always look so clean.

The proposal: A dear friend's son & daughter in law just had a new baby boy. His name is Nash (how cool is that!) My friend the grandpa, asked me to make something. He even pays me! Whoot!

The contract: So; I'm making this adorable baby quilt out of an Alexander Henry's "peacable kingdom" panel, a series now discontinued so no room for screw-ups.

The preparation: After thinking about it and planning to put a pieced sashing around the panel to set it off, I figure I'll do a pillow case binding rather than a traditional one so the edges would be softer.

The work: I used my 'triangles on a roll' to create the sashing of gold & red that create 'points' of color. I love using those & simply forgot that you don't need much of the basting spray to hold the paper down on the fabric. Something I should have remembered because later in sewing the right angles together the fabric that had the spray on it would stick like crazy to the bottom of my presser foot giving me fits. It wasn't till I was nearly finished (and had tried many tricks to stop this sticking with no luck) that I tried the 'sewers aid' on the presser foot, and that worked like a dream. But i digress... I sewed the lines perfectly; cut them all apart & spent an evening watching 'Narnia' with Ellen while I peeled off all the paper.

After I sewed enough together for the sashing, I realize I had made way more than I would ever need! *remember; not a traditional quilter; math skills of an over caffinated monkey... not perfect* After pondering on this surplus for a minute or two it dawns on me---I'd always wanted to do prairie points on a quilt. I decide to put them around the top right and lower left corners of the blanket!

Sounds so cute doesn't it??? I put them on pinning carefully. I then stitch the layers together leaving one end open to turn the thing right side out. *fingers crossed* Ta~da! I am astounded that they came out absolutely perfect and adorable! Now I wish I had done them all the way around!!! There's just one teensy, eensie, weensie, problem... I've sewn the batting to the wrong side. I now have to take the entire thing apart & redo it.

I should have known;

it's me

and it's a traditional piece

and I can hear the math gods laughing hysterically

I'll post photos when it's done. oy-vey!

Sunday morning with Ellen

I started the background & put the fibers on; Ellen came in and tossed her primary colored buttons on it along with a dark purple thread strand then I spotted the plastic flamingoes i've had forever; here's the result before sewing:

We've titled it "The Flamingo Walk"

Round Robin Journals

First theme was "Keys to an Artful Life?" My the page on the left has a piece of paper that I used my flat edged calligrahpic nib to enscribe the single word "Leap" as in: taking a leap of faith in your art. Just go for it and trust it will happen the way it should. The page on the right is about "Giving birth to yourself" so I used my silk cocoons & painted them & then added beads & various materials & sequins for glitz.


This theme explored the "Gypsy theory" So I created a page on the right to depict the Gypsy in your soul using a musical motif. The script on the left page was done on vellum with a simple round point calligrahpic pen. I'm not fond of that nib but it worked well here. The flowers were from my garden years ago that I had pressed & long forgot in some waxed paper. The beauty of these little books is rediscovering all the little 'treasures' you've found or kept along the way of your journey. Giving them new meaning and a new life by giving them to someone else.


These theme was about 'play' or finding your inner child. The first phrase that came to my mind was "Say Say oh playmate" . The pictures are of me as a child. I don't have many of those and these are quite fun. The page on the right is me singing the rhyme with my dress spread out calling for my friends to come play with me. I like the image reversal of the dress shape to the butterfly shape. The button flowers were fun to do. The page at left is about riding fast to catch your dreams. The dream catcher was a found item that needed a little tlc of glue but worked beautifully with the colors. The little 'medicine bag' I made out of the end of a silk tie from Italy. I left the tag that say's 'hand made' and added the saying I made up and wrote on the vellum sheet. The washer on the bottom of the bag say's 'dream'.


****************************************************************************
I'll post more shots as the months go on. There are eight of us participating. I have had the pleasure of seeing my own journal as each of my friends create something in it using my theme and it's simply gorgeous! What a treasure itself will be that I shall keep always and forever!

Taking Flight!

My quilt entitled "Flights of Fancy" will be travelling with the Noble Elements collection. Here are the dates & places! Gentlepersons, start your engines!

February 15 – 17
PCM Expo – The Original Creative Festival
San Mateo County Event Center, San Mateo, CA
www.pcmexpo.com

February 28 – March 2
The Quilt Fest of New Jersey
Garden State Exhibit Center, Somerset, NJ
www.quiltfest.com

March 26 – 30
Dawson, AL

April 17 – 19
PCM Expo – The Original Creative Festival
Tucson Convention Center, Tucson, AZ
www.pcmexpo.com

May 1 – 4
Denver National Quilt Festival
451 E. 58th Ave, Denver, CO
www.quiltfest.com

May 29 – 31
PCM Expo – The Original Creative Festival
Mid-America Center, Council Bluffs, IA
www.pcmexpo.com

June 26 – 28
PCM Expo – The Original Creative Festival
Sharonville Convention Center, Cincinnati, OH
www.pcmexpo.com

July 10 – 12
PCM Expo – The Original Creative Festival
Saratoga City Center, Saratoga Springs, NY
www.pcmexpo.com

August 14 – 16
PCM Expo – The Original Creative Festival
Grand Sierra Resort, Reno, NV
www.pcmexpo.com

September 12 – 14
PCM Expo – The Original Creative Expo
San Mateo County Event Center, San Mateo, CA
www.pcmexpo.com

October 16 - 19
Pacific International Quilt Festival
Santa Clara Convention Center, Santa Clara, CA
www.quiltfest.com

November 15 – January 1, 2009
Soft Expressions
1230 North Jefferson St., Suite M, Anaheim, CA
www.softexpressions.com

The Guardian

This piece is finally finished and can be seen at the Glendale quilt show this Friday thru Sunday. Dimensions are 43"H x 27 1/2" W.

Journal Inside & back cover

El took this outside today; it's all overcast & rainy. The raven looked right at home.



Inside cover & title page. Poem "Second Coming" by Yeats. I like how the vellum covers the falcon and you only get the 'watermark' look behind it. I'm not happy with my calligraphy but it's my own fault for not practicing the way I should. I did have to do it 4 times as I'd get nearly finished & then mess it up: that doesn't count as practice though :) For real calligraphy see this site http://www.quillskill.com/ His work is amazing and makes mine look like a kindergarteners, LOL!



The inside back cover. No, this isn't a raven feather; but it's still cool!

TA~DA!

She's all done! Measurements are 8"H x 6"W.

Woot! That was so much fun to bead.

Maybe it's safe to start a new Dragon!

Road to California!

Woot! Our exhibit for "Our Noble Elements" will be on display January 17- 20th at Road to California. The second largest quilt show outside of Houston. I am honored that my piece "Flights of Fancy" will be shown.

Here it is!

Specs:

Measurements:
311/2 high x 37 W
Title: Flights of Fancy
Completed 12/2007

Materials used:

Duck cloth; commercial batik prints.

About the quilt:

When I considered this challenge, my first thought ran to birds. My favorite among them being the Raptors. I have been studying North American Raptors at length & wanted to illustrate the singular beauty and perfection that is the bird's wing. I incorporated my love for drafting; pen & ink illustration and calligraphy in this DaVinci style rendition.

Material is duck cloth partially bleached to give parchment effect. The image of the wing, graph and words were all drawn by hand with a pencil first; then inked in with permanent marker. The individual feathers were hand painted using a combination of Liquitex paint & calligraphers ink. The Irish Insular plaits were bias cut and fused on by hand.

Me & Ellen at Cirque Du Soliel! Woot!

Merry Christmas!

The "Corteo" show was simply amazing! Of course no cameras were allowed so we got pic of us before; in the car & after when we got home. It was so much fun!!! I'm holding a backpack/purse I got there. My christmas present! woot! El got a tshirt jacket; so adorable. The food was wonderful! It was totally all I expected and more!

*Fiber Freak Artist Alert~if you don't want to read lengthy descriptions of the costumes ... too bad! LOL*

We entered in the "Tapis Rouge VIP tent" and found the coolest atmosphere possible to whet your appetite before you go to see the show in the big tent. Inside there were big screens that had shows past flickering on them. The music was wonderful. Also, (my favorite part) in acrylic boxes around the tent; there were all these different masks!! Most with feathers and beads & OHMYGOD you can imagine me being in heaven looking at all the detail... If I was rich I would have my own collection of masks & I would start every single one of those! They were absolutely gorgeous! Of course they were all for sale; the one I simply adored was a rather small comparitively; vibrant blue crushed velvet with all these wires (coated in metallic blue & gold) going out from the entire top where they spiraled all over. The face part of the mask was beaded & lovely ; it was only $325.00) :) but just looking at it made me happy!

There was food at several stations and people were walking around serving lamb chops; fried shrimp & the like. It was all 'finger food' and an open bar! I managed to drink two glasses of cab before the show and it's a good thing they were serving food! We were certainly the belle's of the ball I can tell you that! People in our tent stopped me and would comment on my jacket and ask me questions about it. When we (our VIP group) walked into the big tent to be seated (all the other folks had all ready been seated) I could see people watching us & looking at Ellen and her stinkin' cute turquoise striped tights and boots. One lady just stared and literally pointed at me, I could tell she was saying something to her friend about the jacket. Later she did come up and give me a compliment. El was sooooooo cute it wasn't funny! (We lived my motto: Better to be looked at; than looked over!)

We wound our way to the big tent to see the show after an hour of noshing. This Cirque show was Italian Renaissance and the costumes were simply stunning! The show centers on a clown who envisions his own death and the 'funeral cortege' that follows. The costumes were sumptuous works of art with Angels flying all over in their lovely wings! (These were not the stupid, giant Victoria's Secret wings but finely shaped, elegant long slender feathers with just the slightest hint of gold trim~ each pair Angel's were all different!) There were three giant chandeliers that the performers did aerial manuvers on. The beads on the chandeliers just added to magnificence as they spiraled in circles so fast & the way they changed shape while moving. It was breathtaking! There was one sequence near the end where there was the long narrow trampoline going from one side of the stage to the other. The 'angels' would start at one end in their lovely off white long dress like costumes and do back flips (or front flips) all the way to the other end. They did them slowly so you could see the fabric just move in big arcs catching the light! There was one performer who did backflips from one end to the other so fast I don't know how they stopped her from flinging out into the parking lot! El & I were just stunned! We kept nudging each other; neither wanting to look away for a second to see what the other was seeing! I am always awed by the physical prowess of the performers and Corteo was no exception!

During intermission we were free to go back to our VIP tent where they were serving dessert! It was mostly all chocolatey things. They had the little pastry bites full of custard with that lovely dark chocolate on top! I don't think El nor I moved from that table during the entire intermssion except to go get a couple diet cokes. We did try nearly all the deserts but the eclairs were our favorite. ( the next day I paid for my indulgence with a class A migraine but it was SO worth it!-- I was able to go later in the day and get medication so that helped) The the finale was spectacular! El and I agreed that while our seats were 'the bomb' it would have been good to actually sit a few more rows back to be able to take in the entire stage without having to look right or left too often. But we sat through the whole thing saying "WOW!" and "OHMYGOSH!" and when I saw this guy hold a ladder (not the home depot kind. just the two verticle sticks w/ some horizontal sticks joining them) walk up and down it and swing around on it and do a handstand from the top of it I was like "JEEZ! I can't even get up on a step ladder without my knees going all wobbly". Oh it was phenomenal! As we were exiting our VIP tent after the show (they held our purchases there till it was over) on the way out we were given our complimentary CD's of music "The Best of... Cirque". We listened all the way home in the car & when we got home too!

We sat on the couch in our jammies & took oodles of pic's of us being silly (neither wanted the night to end or have to take all our pretty make up off) I think we finally got to sleep around 3am. What a fun experience!

It was the best Christmas present ever!!!

Book Signing at Soft Expressions

Cindy Cooksey, Jamie Fingal, Terry Waldron & Me!

Book Signing at Soft Expressions in Anaheim, California on Saturday, December 1st. Exhibition of our embellished quilts in the upstairs gallery in December and January: Mon-Fri from 10am to 4pm . Thank you to everyone who came to see us! That lovely piece behind us is Terry Waldron's "When Trees Dream". It is simply stunning!

JOURNAL QUILTS 2007 IN HOUSTON!

This one (center)was displayed in 2005 in Houston. It was also included the Creative Quilting book. I was asked to return it this year for a special exhibit. I'm so stoked it's right above one of my favorites! The Jennifer Beaven one with the crow.

THANK YOU JAMIE FINGAL FOR TAKING THESE!

We are all in good company!

Journal Quilt 2007 on Display @ International Quilt Festival, Houston, Texas

I'll post the story behind this piece 11/2 when I get to work where I saved it.

Title is "Water Tiger"

17" x 22"

A Page from My Book:
Journal Quilts 2007 Journal Quilt Project

Water Tiger

Creative Quilting techniques used: painted fabric (p. 152); couching fun fur yarns (p. 81); pieced background in color values (p. 79 & 130).

In April, my boyfriend who had so recently come back into my life (we were high school sweethearts in 1980) died suddenly of a heart attack at the tender age of 45. Our short two year romance had begun 4 months after my painful divorce. He called me out of the blue, not even sure he had the right person as he left his message on my answering machine. I called him back and our relationship started by catching up over the past 16 years of our lives since the 10 year reunion. The time we shared was so wonderful & meaningful I’m glad I had it at all. I would have never made it through 2005 or 2006 for that matter without his constant affirmation of me as a person, lover, friend, business professional & in his words 'a terrific mom'. I gained much needed confidence & self esteem. His constant reassurance of my inner strength & light really helped me reveal it and it shows in my personal life, professional life & most especially in my art.

I chose the Great Blue Heron as my subject; my own "Water Tiger". To some Native American tribes Heron medicine teaches us about solitude; and--if we let it--grants us the insight to rise above the water and tall grasses to view our surroundings; to see our future clearly; to quietly move towards our goals with diligence and patience. I no longer have my teacher, lover and friend, but his lessons are clear and I must now give myself my own affirmations and recognize my own capabilities. If I must be solitary; I will handle it with grace & humility.

I continue to experiment with the Asian aesthetic in my art. I machine pieced the background; fused the heron, fish, reeds & water onto it. I stitched everything down with various threads including, but not limited to, metallics, rayons, variegated rayons, silk and decorative yarns. The piece is bound with silk ribbon in place of traditional binding to give it a lighter feel; sort of a 0 horizon line. On the back, the Chinese symbols for Water Tiger were painted by me & the Koi was rubber stamped.