Those charity quilts are coming along. This week I quilted and bound the big one and yesterday got the binding strips sewn onto the last small one.The hand work won’t take long. I am SO ready to start the next Inspirations piece!

I have also been knitting and completed 2 more sweaters from that fun one piece pattern; one for a new baby girl and one for her big brother.

They are knitted exactly alike, just with larger needles and yarn for the bigger one! Quick and fun!

Yesterday I entered two more shows and discovered that it was too late to enter one that I had planned on. It is surprising how long it takes to do show entries. They are all different so it never becomes routine.

A new book is out, “Cutting Edge Art Quilts” by Mary Kerr. I have quilts in it and my copy finally arrived. It is a beautiful book and I have enjoyed looking at all of the amazing work!!

“Just Dandy” is in the Topeka Designer’s Show House and I have reports that is looks wonderful there. I hope to get by and see it soon.

I was really glad to be asked to participate because it is good for people to see how nice quilted art looks in a home setting.

In between all that I am still battling the weeds, a never ending war that I seem to be loosing. Now that the weather has turned hot, with no rain all week I am having to water the new things.

My issue of the new Machine Quilting Unlimited magazine arrived yesterday- the May/June 2013 issue with my article and my “Prairie Fire” quilt on the cover.

It is gorgeous, I am so happy with it! There is a six page spread inside with lots of pictures and text detailing my process.

Look for it wherever quilting magazines are sold and watch for my workshop at Empty Spools, Asilomar!

“Snow Buddies” formerly known as “the dogs quilt” is finally finished! It measures 48 x 48″.

Quilting it took a long time due to the size of it and the density of the stitching. These are my dogs, a Komondor, 145 lbs and a Shepard mix, 165 lbs!

I took the photo several years ago and have wanted for some time to make it into an art quilt.   Komondors are a fairly rare breed and it is not easy to find them in art so I was especially interested in doing this for a special exhibit that will take place at International Quilt Festival in Houston in the fall.

For those of you who are not quilters, my work is entirely pieced by machine from bits of commercially printed or hand dyed fabrics and then machine quilted.I love the search for just the right fabric to portray my vision.

Koms are always white and are usually shown with long cords to the ground so they resemble a big rag mop. I don’t show this one so I keep his cords cut back so as to lessen the amount of stuff he can collect outside.  Still he can bring in a lot of trash as he loves to roll in leaves and dirt.  They both have huge feet and I dread mud season!

The Kaw Valley Quilt Guild met yesterday and I learned that my quilt “The Merchant’s House” won First Place in the Viewer’s Choice voting in the show last weekend.

The Machine Quilting Unlimited April 2013 E-News is showing the cover of the May/June issue which features my “Prairie Fire” quilt and my article. This issue will be available  in late April.

I have resisted getting involved with social media, because I feel like I am stressed to keep up with everything as it is! But Studio Art Quilts Assoc. has a Pinterest page for the SAQA Benefit Auction and they have posted my donation, “Northern Cardinal” along with others there. And IQA has posted “Who, Me?” on their Facebook page about “Celebrate Spring”. When I looked last week there were over 600 hits! People love puppies!! Celebrate Spring debuts in Cincinnati April 11-13.

Last night was First Friday at the Topeka Art Guild Gallery and the presentation for awards for the judged show that is up right now, “My Earth, My Art”. This is predominately paintings, a few photography works and my quilt art. One of my entries, “Bignonia” won the second place cash award!

It’s a great show, if you are in the area be sure and check it out before the end of May. My “Colorado Kids” is also there on display.

Also in the area this weekend is the Kaw Valley Quilt Guild Quilt show at the Toyota dealership on Hwy 59 (Iowa St) in Lawrence, KS. It’s always a great show and three of my pieces will be there, “Merchants House”, “Mon Grand Pere” and “What’s Up at the 4-H Fair?”.

I will be there late Sunday to see the show and pick up my things.

Empty Spools at Asilomar has posted the teachers for the 2014 workshops, including ME in the first session; not sure when it is open for enrollment, as the current 2013 offerings are going on now.

I finally finished the quilting on the dogs quilt – oh, dear – I really do need a name for it! I still need to block, trim and bind it though. I am looking forward to starting the next one!!

The snow is nearly gone and the mud is here! Should be in the 60′s this weekend, but maybe with rain, which is not a bad thing.

Yesterday I quilted most all day, I NEED to get this dog quilt finished; I don’t remember ever spending this much time on one quilt. Not so much the hours, but the calendar time. I guess I just need closer deadlines to keep my nose to the grindstone. I tend to get distracted. It’s coming along, though and a few more dedicated days will do wonders. I am planning a couple more projects which I hope will be smaller!

A little over a week ago it was 87 degrees here and I spent the better part of two days working outside, trimming, weeding and transplanting! Now we are covered in snow again, I have never seen snow as deep as this on the branches, at least 7 inches!

It only lasted an hour or so until the wind and the birds knocked it off but it was pretty neat while it lasted.

The whirligig thing looked pretty, too, until the wind came up and the drifting started.

It was the kind of day you want to stay inside and hunker down with some fun project. I finished my 12 inch square for the SAQA auction which I was hoping to get finished in time to send it to them before the April 1 Early Bird Deadline.

In the past my entry has always been in the A group. but I am slow this year and it will be in the B group, I think. “Northern Cardinal” is from a photo I took after the last snowfall, and it came out even better than I expected! I want to keep it!!

The background fabric is a batik with a subtle tree branch print that I purchased especially for this piece. I highlighted some of the print with the quilting lines.

When I posted those last pictures, I noticed right away a change that needed to be made at the upper right.

It was a quick fix and I got the layering done and the quilting started. I’ve had a few days to work on it and it’s coming right along. Those are white tipped pins in the eyes to help me decide where the sparkles go.  The eyes don’t come alive til they get some sparkle.

Yesterday I taught a hand quilting class so did not work on it at all and today I finished up the tax prep so will not work on it today either, as it is getting late and I am tired of sitting!

We’ve been getting rain and the snow is all gone. For the first time in 8 or 9 months there is water in the farm ponds. Just a big puddle but what an improvement. Imagine the mud that two big dogs can track in with these big hairy feet. The Kom is 145 lbs and the Shepard mix is 165 lbs! They are loving this weather!

Ooops, it’s been awhile, and I was doing so good!

Last Friday was First Friday and I attended the reception for “Inspirations”, that collaborative exhibit of art inspired by photography. This year we had the main show of new work at the Classic Bean in Topeka and my entry “Prairie Power” won first place in the “People’s Choice” voting. It’s always gratifying when a quilted piece is recognized as art amongst paintings.

We also had an exhibit of some of previous years’ entries at another venue, Nexlynx in Topeka and “Majesty” received a Second Place there.

The Boxer is finished and I am happy with how it turned out. I always prewash all of my fabrics because I still do find some that will run, and when I wet this piece to block it one of the hand dyes did run in spite of that. It was a green so any bleeding it may have done on the front is not noticeable, but can be seen very slightly on the back. Luckily it was not a problem, but it does reiterate the need to prewash.

This shot has too much pink showing, because the morning sunrise was hitting it. Adding green helps but makes the background greenish.  It is nice and sharp though and shows the quilting nicely.

We have been enjoying the most beautiful weather! I know, that is not normal and probably not a good thing. I quilted for awhile,

but it was just too nice to stay inside so I spent the afternoon weeding in the perennial beds after my walk. These are the same beds I renovated after returning from Maine in August but in spite of that and heavy mulch there are so many weeds! At least they come up pretty easily. Surprisingly, the earth is moister than I expected as we are way behind on moisture here. The prediction is for some snow soon so I will have plenty of time to sew. I watered the Hellebores and a few shrubs and roses and called it quits at 4 o’clock.

As usual, I am putting a lot of quilting on the seasonal piece. I think it is looking good and I guess I need to think up a name for it and stop calling it “the seasonal piece!�

I finished the quilting last week; it took so long because it’s big (32 x 78� finished so I’m working at about 35 x 83�) and I was putting in a lot of stitches, but also because I used so many different threads, so was constantly changing colors and burying ends.

I blocked and trimmed it for the binding over the weekend. Trimming was tricky, as it is so long, and the size requirements are precise! Measure twice and cut once didn’t even feel safe. I measured at least four times. I was up in the air about the finishing – facing or binding? I decided on binding a little larger than usual at 3/8â€�. That was sewed on yesterday and since when I do the binding I always incorporate the sleeve and the documentation tag into the binding seam, I had to commit to a name for the tag. I settled on “December Dawnâ€�. It is short and to the point.

Now all I have left to do is to finish the hand sewing on the back of the binding, the sides and bottom edges of the sleeve and two edges of the documentation tag, sign it, and it will be DONE!

Here you can see the machine stitched signature and a corner folded back to show part of the documentation tag.

Finished March 14, 2012.

Well, have you enjoyed the journey?  Do you want to see what’s next?