“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.

Monday it was just beautiful here, with a record breaking high of 77 degrees then yesterday it was 0. We went on a fabric quest but with no luck. I used this batik in the shadowed areas of the Kom’s coat and when I was working on the background, I decided it would be just perfect there, too.

Unfortunately, I have only a little left and it is old. I have searched in vain online, so now I appeal to you. have you seen it anywhere? There must be a shop somewhere that still has some they would love to get rid of. It is a greyed blue mottled background with lighter frosty looking wheat. Kind of large scale with the wheat portion being 3-4 inches. I’d love to find a half yard or a yard somewhere. Please let me know if you have seen it anywhere.

The newest issue of American Quilter just came with a nice article on Seasonal Palette and one of the quilts they showed was “December Dawn” Both as a nice full view and as an installation shot. Great coverage!!

Good news, two acceptances. “Colorado Kids” will be going to AQS, Lancaster and “Who, Me?” to “Celebrate Spring” at the IQA shows starting with spring. “In The Bleak Midwinter” is currently showing at the Topeka Art Guild Gallery and we had a great crowd last night at First Friday in spite of the cold.

The success of this technique, I think, depends a lot on the fabric choices. You have to be willing to audition and reject those that just don’t quite do the job.

(June 15 – have been having computer problems and apparently this photo is lost. Imagine lots of little pieces, all in a pile with hopes that they might be recut to fit somewhere else)

All of those little bits at the upper left are some of the pieces that weren’t quite right for the spot they were cut for. They may work somewhere else later but they may be too small to re-cut and will end up in the trash. That’s OK.  Better to trash them than to use them if they are not right.

Yesterday I finished the piecing of the dogs and put away all that fabric. The cutting table looks so much better and I have room to play with the big background pieces. I have a wonderful hand dye, bought at Festival in Houston with the background of this piece in mind. It is gray and white and will work great, I think, for the snowy background. But it is only one yard, probably not enough. Challenges like that keep things interesting!

I knew it had been a while since I’ve posted but I didn’t think it had been THAT long! I have been having a very tenuous connection to the internet lately, sometimes going for days without being able to get online. I finally called for a technician to come out and investigate and after he found and fixed a couple of problems, now it works like a charm!

We’ve also had water problems, probably due to the extremely dry soil the pipes had a leak somewhere between the road and the house which involved digging equipment and considerable time, but now, over sixteen hundred dollars later we are leak free. What next??

I have managed, most days to sew at least a few seams and the dog’s portrait is progressing nicely. The process is slow as the Komondor’s corded coat requires many seams and color changes.

 

Between sewing sessions I have made some show entries, written a magazine article, caught up on emails and orders that piled up during the offline time and worked on the account books, so I have not been just laying around!

The weather has been alternately freezing cold and Springlike and in the garden the Snowdrops are blooming and the Lenten Rose is sending up buds. I can’t get used to flowers in January.

The past week has been so cold I just want to stay inside and sew! Progress is slow as the pieces are small and many. I find myself needing to make lots of changes to get necessary contrasts and light effects. But the deadline is not close so I can just take my time and work a section at a time.

While I was shopping at Festival at Houston, I found buttons for this baby sweater that I made for a friend’s new little baby boy. Now that the baby has arrived and the gift is given I can share it with you.

This sweater was unique, in that it is made all in one piece and the only seams are at the top of the sleeves, it was a fun challenge to make it and I think it will be my “go to” baby sweater pattern from now on. I thought I was lucky to find these perfect little buttons, every one different.

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…..