I started quilting in 1984, and also started collecting fabrics! In the beginning I was mostly doing traditionally based things, but with a slant toward something a little different, artsy, maybe. Fabrics were pretty calico-y for the most part, back then. Some of the stuff I bought then is still on the shelf today taking up valuable space. Those fabrics will never fit into the things I am doing now and more desirable fabrics are living on a chair for want of shelf space. The sensible thing to do is to get rid of some of that old stuff so I decided to make some charity quilts for my guild. They are always asking for kid’s quilts. One of the agencies is for the homeless population and every child gets their own quilt.

For some reason, probably because it wasn’t calico, I bought this whole line and have, over the years, only used a little of it. There was enough to end up with this almost twin size quilt that a teenager might like. Four different black and whites will make up the back and this is next in line to be machine quilted.

These are smaller, baby or toddler size. The smaller one on the top features a red truck print along with an abstract which is also on the back. The one below that has a very old teddy bear print with plaid and an an early Virginia Robertson print with plaid and two orange prints on the back. The larger one started with the Noah’s Ark animal print and attempted to use up the leftovers from the preceding ones, with an African print on the back. It is quilted but still needs a binding.

This one started with an old circus print. The back is black and white stripes, I quilted it yesterday, and have yet to bind it.

This endeavor was not fun.  I did use up a lot of fabric, which was good, but not enough to warrant the time I spent away from what I enjoy doing. I don’t think I can stand to do anymore and will probably just donate some fabric so people who enjoy this sort of thing can use them. I do feel good about having some quilts to donate that I hope someone will enjoy, but that is time gone, that I will never get back, and I do have art quilts that I am anxious to work on!!

“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!!

2012 has been a wonderful year for me, and I hope for you as well. Best wishes for a very special 2013 for everyone!

Christmas was a blur from the great Grandson tearing into his gifts

to the delicious dinner topped off by this made from scratch cheesecake made by my Grandson. Everyone agreed he can be the official cheesecake baker as it was every bit a good as it looked!

With Christmas out of the way and all of the evidence cleaned up, I was able to get started on the newest art quilt. It is always so exciting to start something new. Here is the progress after about three days of sewing.

This is going to be pretty good sized, what you see here is about 8 x 12″.  I’ve spent a couple of hours online looking for some more of that McKenna Ryan fabric that makes good fur, but it is too old and unavailable. No problem, I’ll just use something different, and it will be even more interesting! We are expecting more snow today so I will be happy to stay inside and sew.

You can scroll back to see the photo that I am working from, of our dogs in the snow, taken a few years ago .  WordPress has made improvements (?) and I just lost my entire post during the uploading photos stage. I should learn to “save” more often…..

Like everyone else, I have been busy getting ready for Christmas. Shopping, wrapping, decorating. planning as well as trying to do all the usual. With “Who, Me?” finished there has been no sewing, but the next piece is in the planning stages and will soon be ready to go. I have chosen the photo of my dogs in the snow from a few years ago,

plotted the sewing lines and all that is left to do is to project it to the finished size and transfer it to freezer paper. But if I do that I will not be able to resist starting the sewing and right now there is too much on my plate to let myself go there!

Busy, busy with the sewing, this is the best part!

Just to make it more interesting, and also to make it say “Springtime” I added the tulips. The wonderful hand dyes for the tulips and some of the leaves was purchased in Houston this year at Festival from Friestyle Handdyed. Just perfect!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!! Don’t eat too much–again!

Here is the next photo of the boxer in progress:

I thought this color would be easy but it’s not, really.  I even looked for new fabric in that golden reddish color but what I already have seems best.  Still, it is quite recognizable as Bosco.

As promised, here is what I am working on now. The original photo was taken of my grandson’s dog when he was a puppy; this is Bosco. This is planned to be my entry for “Celebrate Spring” next year. With Pokey’s announcement that IQA will be featuring pet quilts in the coming years, I have planned several new works from pictures I have on hand, ones that I have had on the back burner as “someday” works.  This may well be the year of the dog!

Postcards are not my thing, but dog rescue is, so I really wanted to make something for the “Festival Pet Project” to benefit “Friends For Life” in Houston.

These are 4 x 6 ” and fiddley to make. I intended to do two pieced ones, but the Yorkie took about three days, so I opted to add two whole cloth ones instead. The Yorkie, from a photo of Nikki, my daughter’s dog who died recently, took five different fabrics and three colors of quilting threads. I did a satin stitch edge on the wholecloth ones that I wasn’t thrilled with so opted for a real binding on the pieced one. They will all be priced the same at Festival, $20 each, so I hope these help.

This week has been good! I finished two pieces.

“Cloudy With A Chance Of Rain” 31 x 24″

You may remember this one without the borders. I think they give it a little more presence and help the binding to blend in better.

The sky fabric is a hand dye painted piece that really depicts a Kansas summer storm rolling in. The horse is a figment of my imagination but the shed is real! It was a lucky day when I found that batik for the rusty roof!!

This was made for the”It’s All Kansas” exhibit at The Topeka Art Guild Gallery and needs to be delivered today for a show running through Oct and Nov.

The next one is not due for a week or so but now I don’t have to worry about it. It was made for the “Inspirations” exhibit in Topeka, that collaborative exhibit of artwork inspired by local photographers. Here I was inspired by two photos by Tammy Patterson, both with cows and turbines and the hand dyed Shibouri fabric used for the sky. Tammy and I have paired up for this annual exhibit since it began three years ago and have won the People’s Choice” awards both previous years, first with “Colorado Kids” and last year with “Majesty”. She is an amazing photographer! Those can be seen on my website in the Gallery.

“Prairie Power” 27 x 30″
If you followed the making of this one you may remember that I had bound it in black and was not happy with that. You can see that by following the link above. Changing it to blend with the scene is better, I think.