The top is finally finished. After putting it up on the design wall and living with it for a bit, I saw things I wanted to tweak. That second swirl especially needed to flow better, so I divided the upper reddish piece and made it join into the yellow/red heading off toward the edge. This piece has had a lot of changes from the original sketch as I work improvisationaly , making changes as needed, even if, as in this case I have to spend a day un-sewing what I have previously done!

The upper right corner was getting pretty dark and I really wanted to get some of that lighter sky fabric in there to add a little sparkle to the piece, but also to set the time. Originally I had planned a night scene, but you would not see this much detail at night.

I’m anxious to get started on the quilting because I know that will only make it better!

Linking to “Off  The Wall Friday”

Merry belated Christmas and a Happy New Year! Where has this year gone?! My good intentions to do a better job of posting here certainly didn’t materialize. Better luck next year? I don’t make resolutions, just strive to do as much as I can!

I was looking through some old UFO’s in search of a certain one that I didn’t find –  but I did find a couple of Christmas ones that are over twenty years old! I decided it’s high time I did something about that and finished the smaller of the two,

and actually used it this year..

I got up really early yesterday morning to see the total eclipse of the moon. The sky was clear and the view was great! Then about half way through some clouds moved in and it was touch and go; but even then it was beautiful with the clouds all backlit. You can see the interesting reddish glow that was the shadow of the Earth.

Most of my pictures were pretty bad because it’s hard to hold the camera still enough but I’m sure you saw better ones on the news or online. At least I was there!

Here’s my latest masterpiece!

“Splash” 40 x 40″. The timing was right and the quality good enough, I thought, to enter it into Quilt National this year. They require that the work be kept undercover so I usually don’t have anything available to enter. They did not accept it so I am free to show it now. I used a combination of hand dyed and commercially printed fabrics in this entirely pieced, larger than life toddler.  I especially like the way the batik contains reflection colors and some white that looks like foamy waves. Most of the fabrics in the hair are printed “grass” fabrics. Heavily machine quilted with various threads to compliment the fabrics.

The quilting and blocking was finished on Sunday and yesterday I did the binding and the photography. I love how this piece came out! It finished at 33 x 41″, a nice size.

I had considered doing a facing on this one instead of a binding, but liked the way this, the darkest batik looked, so I went with that instead.  Cut on the bias there is a nice subtle stripey effect. I think it frames it nicely.

As usual, it is very heavily free motion machine quilted with a variety of different threads to compliment the different fabrics. I met the deadline and it will go to it’s first show next week at the Topeka Art Guild Gallery. Be sure and stop in if you are in the area!

It was a pretty gray day with heavy snow falling in the afternoon so I’m not real happy with the pictures and will probably re – shoot, but this will do for now.

The snow did not last and it is supposed to be in the 70’s by the weekend. I will be so glad when we are past the freezing nights so I can get the outdoor plants back outdoors and start working in the garden!

The top is finished. I had a few small changes and a little tweaking to do but I think it turned out pretty good!

I found a nice large piece of material for the backing that was extra large, so it didn’t need a seam and was a more traditional print so I was glad to find a use for it and get it off the shelf! I layered it with 100% cotton batting and got started with the free motion machine quilting yesterday, maybe 1/6 done so far.

Linking to Off The Wall Friday

Here’s the first finished top from Asilomar – Robin’s Yellowstone piece! It was her first attempt at this technique and I think she did a great job!  Love the reflections.

Way to go, Robin!! She says she enjoyed it, learned a lot and would do it again..

“Eagles Soar” , 22 x 32″ is finished! Normally I work on a piece start to finish before starting another, but for some reason this one got set aside, probably because it’s deadline was not until late September! I finished the quilting on Thursday, blocked it and then did the binding on Friday. This will be one of my entries for “Inspirations” this year.

I’ve said it before, quilting skies is hard for me. I think it is because I have a tendency to quilt heavily which seems counter intuitive, skies being so airy and light, it’s hard to keep that look with heavy quilting.

For his piece, I decided to give a nod to traditional quilting patterns by using a lot of feather designs to compliment the unusual sky treatment. I used two different varigated threads in the sky, a darker one in shades of blue and a lighter one that had a lot of yellow with some pink and blue. I am happy with how it turned out!

For some time I have wanted to participate in NinaMarie’s “Off The Wall Friday” and today is the day for me to give it a try. Clicking on the above link should take to a page where you can see LOTS of wonderful works! Enjoy!!

“Konza Prairie Spring” is finished! It measures 53.5 wide x 23.75 high. The photo that inspired this piece was taken by Charles Benton in the Konza Prairie.

Located in the Flinthills of Northeastern Kansas, the Konza Prairie Biological Station is an 8,600 acre preserve owned by the Nature Conservancy and Kansas State University and is managed as a field research station by the K-State Division of Biology. Their threefold mission includes long-term ecological research, education and prairie conservation. The grasslands of North America are among the most endangered ecosystems on this continent. Less than 4% of the native tall grass prairie remains unplowed or undeveloped.

“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.

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.