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.

Here’s the finished top – this was a lot of fun! I started with a yard of the background and pretty much used it all. I love it when old fabric finds  a home because I have more than I will ever use.

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?

It’s been quiet around here lately because I have been so busy! I finished Bignonia

and the wind turbine piece and have started another.

I got word from IQF in Houston that my entry, “Prairie Fire”, for the World of Beauty contest was accepted so I will have three pieces on display there this year. In addition perhaps a piece in the silent auction, if I can find the time to make something.

Word just in that “Longhorn Splashdown” was juried into LaConner Quilt Museum’s fall show in Washington.

Currently showing are “What’s Up At The 4-H Fair” and “Haybales Study at “Culture and Agriculture” an all-media art exhibit in MN, “MonGrand Pere”, “Spring Encounter” and “In The Bleak Midwinter”at The Aullwood Audubon Center in Dayton. OH, “Harrier Hunting” at “Celebrate Spring” at IQF- Long Beach, CA. and of course “Chicory” and “Coneflowers” at the Topeka Art Guild Gallery right here in KS. These can all be seen, including detail shots, by clicking on GALLERY in the side bar. It’s almost a full time job just keeping up with what’s where and what’s next!

I finished the quilting last week on the Seasonal piece; it took so long because it’s big  (32 X 78″ finished, so I was working at about 35 X 83″) and I put in a lot of quilting. but also because I used so many different threads, so I was constantly changing 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? Decided on binding a little larger than usual at 3/8″. That was sewed on yesterday and since when I do the binding I always incorporate the sleeve and documentation into the binding seam, I had to come up with a name for the tag. Settled on “December Dawn”, it’s short and to the point. Now all I have left to do is the hand sewing on the back of the binding, sides and bottom edges of the sleeve and two edges of the documentation tag, and it will be DONE!!.

Friday I finished the quilting ( I thought!) and blocked the quilt, prepared the back, binding and sleeve so it would be ready to finish Saturday. Ooops! I forgot to quilt the orange areas. legs, feet, beak plus a little bit of the sky. Finished that and by evening I was hand sewing the binding to the back, Sunday morning I took the pictures for entry, even though the binding is only partly sewn, it looks finished from the front. It finished at 51 x 42″. Looking back, I see that I started the quilting on Jan 19, so it took 10 days  to get it done.

Sunday afternoon I met friends for brunch and a matinee performance at Topeka Civic Theater where we saw “The Last Days Of Ballyhoo”. It was good but made me miss entry day for the Topeka Art Guild’s next show. I had planned to get in on Saturday for an early entry but was just too busy. So this will be the first time in all the years I’ve been a member that I will have nothing there for the next two months!

Sunday evening after dinner, I did the online entry for Celebrate Spring, so now it is out of my hands. I had been trying to think up a good name for it, but faced with no more time and an empty line, I typed in “Harrier Hunting”. It will do. It was entry # 48 with a couple of days to go.

Yesterday I tried to update my blog, but WordPress would not let me in!

Last week was pretty busy and I only found time to work sporadically. Time is running out though and I was determined to finish the Harrier on Saturday which I did!

I was not happy with the way the tail sort of disappeared and it is hard to tell the tail from the wing (which I hope will be remedied with the quilting) The leading edge of the tail feathers are seen at an angle and so they do not stand out as much. I laid in some snippets of white which some Harriers actually have and I thought that it would be worth working another day to unsew and add in an edge of white to the tail feathers.

I think it was worth it!  Love that sky which is a hand dyed fabric that I  got at the Kaw Valley Quilt Guild fall sale.

Today I will start the quilting.

The handwork is finished on the elk and now he has a permanent twinkle in his eye and for good measure one on his nose!

Close-ups to show the edge finish, facings do give a nice clean finish!

Yesterday I spent some time making half square triangle units for a monthly exchange for a group that I belong to. This month’s color is purple and since I still had fabrics off the shelves and the meeting is tomorrow night it seemed like a good idea! I was on a roll so did the next two months as well! It feels good to have those done and the fused top also, which I finished this morning.

I added some darker blue to the sky behind the white mountains, so they would show up better, but I don’t like it. We were supposed to put tulle over the finished top to hold everything together but I don’t like how that dulls it down. Here you can see the difference, with and without.

I removed the darker sky strips and replaced them with tulle and I like that better. It does the job of defining the mountains but is more ethereal. Some of the pieces are already coming loose so I went ahead and covered the whole surface with tulle.

Without the uncovered surface to compare to, I think it looks OK. Now that that is done I can finish putting fabric away and start thinking about the next project.  This one is to a point where I can put it away for now; it still needs to be layered with a backing and quilted.  I don’t think fused applique will ever replace my pieced work, but it was something different and I think I may fiinish it for an upcoming exhibit at the Topeka Art Guild about Travel, Near and Far.

I made the three changes, can you find them? I forgot to take a photo of the finished top so here is one after the layering and pinning was done.

I have never used wool batting before but I have read that it is wonderful at not holding creases and that it has nice loft to show off the quilting, so I bought some Matilda’s Own. When I opened it it was terribly creased and since it didn’t seem to relax out I decided to wet it and spin it out in the washer. It recommended drying flat so I laid it out and darn! all of the creases were still there!! I put it in the dryer on low and let it tumble dry. Creases were still there.

I went ahead and layered and pin basted and the creases are not noticeable
now; I think it will be fine but not sure if it will be better than cotton in the long run.

I got a start on the quilting, just the outline of the whole elk, but then life got in the way and I had to set it aside. Hopefully today will be more productive.

Just finished the butterfly!

Butterfly 18 X 23″

I had a huge scale flower fabric that I had thought would make a nice background but it seemed too busy. Nothing that I tried really worked and there wasn’t time to shop, but these from my stash set it off nicely…. One of the background fabrics worked well for the binding. I only use beads if the piece calls for it and this one did – only two for the antennae; they are matte black square beads. Perfect!