UFO's

Shhhh....just between you and me, I'm going to quilt my own ufo tomorrow. I'm caught up on customer Christmas quilts and I'm feeling clean. It's my turn until after Christmas. Wish me luck.

I've Been Super Bad!

I've been super bad by allowing other things keep me from posting on my blog. I apologize for this. Summer gardening, flowers, quilting for customers, and a couple of quilt show trips plus the usual family stuff has sucked up all my time and I procrastinated on my blog duties. So, I'm back and it's time to share quilty stuff again. I'm freshly back from Portland OR and the Machine Quilters Expo and all the fun of seeing friends and being inspired. I took only two lectures this trip and they were from Angela Walters who is a young but experienced quilter in both traditional and modern quilting. She is a teacher, video personality, and quilt book author with a new book coming out this fall. She is also a motivational quilter with a wonderful witty personality. I highly recommend her as a teacher.

Now back to the normal stuff. I've taken the time this morning to gather all the goodies from my stash for my next show quilt. My inspiration is from a table runner I made this summer and I'm pretty excited about it. Think flora's and the forest. I will share pictures as I progress with the project.

Now it's time to get serious and get some quilting done today.

Later friends.

Upper Midwest Quilt Show

All packed and ready to go in the morning to the Upper MidWest Quilt Show to teach 4 classes. Am I going to see you there? I hope so.

Now I'm going to relax and make some cookies before I go.

Hayward Quilt Show Demo

I'm almost finished prepping for the demo I'm giving Friday at 10:15 am and Saturday at 1pm for the Hayward Quilt Show being held at the Flat Creek Ball Room in Hayward WI. My demo is on the different methods of foundation piecing. Hope to see you there.

Party to the Stars Update

Party to the Stars will be traveling to the new AQS show in Grand Rapids MI this month for the show next month. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

Clothesline Dyeing

These are fabrics that I dyed this week at a home of my friend Sonya during a Wild Threads Machine Quilters Group meeting. It was a splended play date.

When I dyed these I was trying to replicate the blended look that Laura Wasilowski from Artfabrik does. So I mixed procion dyes and put them in squirt containers, presoaked the fabric in soda ash, then wrung them out. They were hung on a clothesline outside and I squirted the lightest dye on the bottom third, then about a third higher I squirted the next darker color and let it run, then added the darkest on the top letting it also run. This is best to do on a day with no wind. I then let them drip dry. The next day I rinsed out as much dye as possible then washed then with synthrapol. I then ironed them dry instead of putting them in the dryer. I'm very happy with how they turned out.

Inchies...What the Heck am I Talking About.

Today I made inchies for a group exchange. This is my first attempt at making them and wow they are putsy. Inchies are 1 inch square. So you can see how small the little silk flowers are that I hand sewed on the tiny quilted tops.

I have to apologize for not posting in months. The summer takes over my time so quickly and things that I want to do get cut from my day.

Wow! I am pumped now. I just got a call from the HMQS show office asking me if I could be at the show tomorrow for the awards ceremony because my quilt Party to the Stars will be getting a ribbon. How cool is that? I haven't entered this piece in a show since last year, and I entered HMQS on a whim. I also entered it in the AQS Grand Rapids show just making the deadline. Now I'm stoked for the day.

Went to an auction yesterday down a hard to find dirt road thinking that there might be few people there. There were about 300 people! We found and won treasures. I got these Singer Featherweight attachments and goodies for $20. Mike bought an S-curve roll top desk made by the Northwestern Furniture Co dating to the late 1880's made in Milwaukee WI. It needs a tiny bit of cleaning. He was thrilled finding it since he's wanted one for a long time. There were some amazing things at the auction. It was like being in Hoarders or Pickers.

Busy-Busy-Busy

It's been a busy time here this spring prepping for classes, trying to keep up with customer work, writing a few articles for an emag, etc.

Spring has sprung up quickly on us. A couple of weeks ago we had 16 inches of snow and now the floweres are poking up out of the flower beds and the temps have been in the 70's and 80's. WOW.

I'll be in Medina MN this Monday and Tuesday teaching the Falling Leaves class and giving a trunk show of my quilt art. It's sure to be a fun class.

Class at Country Loft Quilt and Design

Florals & Fibers on the Longarm
By Norma
Riehm
Just in time for spring. Come join Country
Loft Quilt & Design in a fun and creative class learning how to layer and
quilt at the same time with teacher Norma J Riehm, award winning art quilter and
national teacher.

Students will make a fiber layered art
quilt with silk flowers, yarns, Angelina, beads, crystals, and other fun fibers.
They will learn techniques for layering, hand beading, mctavishing, and making a
perfect binding. This all day class will give students time to also do hand work
for embellishing. This 6 hour hands on class will give students new techniques
for using the Gammill Longarm Machine. You will have a finished art quilt when
you leave.

There will be a trunk show of Norma's
layered art quilts to let you see the possibilities of using this technique.
This is a very fun class that inspires fresh ideas using the longarm.

What you need to bring: Reading glasses if
you need them for hand work, a notebook and pencil, and a camera if you wish to
take pictures.

What
you need to bring: Reading glasses if you need them for hand work, a notebook
and pencil, and a camera if you wish to take pictures. There is a kit fee for
this class of $25. The kit will contain everything you need to make the
wallhanging including embellishments and it is due the day of the
class.
Confident
Beginner skill level,
6 hour
class
$100 per Person
plus Kit Fee

Friday, April 20, 2012
10:00-4:00
Bring your own lunch.
Call Country Loft Quilt &
Design for Reservations
651-464-6260!

Where
& When
Country Loft Quilt & Design
15161 Feller Street NE
Forest Lake, Minnesota 55025
April 20th, 2012
10:00AM-4:00PM

Altering Fabric

Today I worked on the 3rd piecce of fabric from the online fabric exchange I'm participating in. I used a leaf stencil and shiva in an pearlized gold, and seta color fabric paint in pearl olive and an orange for the circles. I used the end of a cardboard roll to make the circles.

Next comes a heat press with the iron and a trip to the post office to get it in the mail Monday.

A Little Play Makes A Fun Day

Today was a great day for guilty pleasures. I spent the day watching and listening to a tv series and making fiber layered art.

I love the feel of all the yarns and other fibers I get to play with when creating layers. I'm always amazed at the depth of color and textures created after the background is quilted heavily and the movement from the stitches. It gives me the feeling that my art is taking a new direction with each new piece.

The next step will be putting on bindings and embellishing. I might even be a bad girl and play again tomorrow.

A Pile Of Dog Ears

What do you do when you are bored or have a huge project looking at you but you can't bring yourself to start it? You snip dog ears. Sometimes it's those little nothing projects that save me from running around stark raving crazy.

I'm an experienced procrastinator. Today's project is a monster queen quilting job waiting patiently pinned on the machine. The machine isn't turned on yet cause I know when I turn it on I have to start working.

I had received some paper pieced half square triangles in an exxchange. Today felt like a great time for snipping while watching a favorite show on tv. Yes, I'm a bad girl.

Falling Leaves Workshop

Here is your opportunity to learn
a creative way of quilting on your longarm with teacher Norma J Riehm, award
winning art quilter and national teacher.

This art quilt will help you get
ready for all the beautiful colors we see during the spring thru fall seasons.
Students will make a fiber layered art quilt with silk leaves, yarns, Angelina,
beads, crystals and other fun fibers. They will learn techniques for layering,
hand beading, mctavishing, and making a perfect binding. This all day hands on
class will give students new techniques for using the Gammill Longarm Machine.
You will have a finished art quilt when you leave this class.

There will be a trunk show of
Norma's layered art quilts to let you see the possibilities of using this
technique. This is a very fun class that inspires fresh ideas using the
longarm.

What you need to bring: Reading
glasses if you need them for hand work, a notebook and pencil, and a camera if
you wish to take pictures. There is a kit fee for this class of $25. The kit
will contain everything you need to make the wallhanging, including
embellishments and it is due the day of the class.

Confident Beginner skill level, 6 hour
class
$100 per Person plus Kit
Fee
Saturday, March 3, 2012
10:00-4:00
Bring your own
lunch.
Call Country Loft
Quilt & Design for Reservations 651-464-6260!

Great Day With A Friend

I had a great morning at my friend Sonya's house. She taught me how to make a melon basket. It was very refreshing being able to do something new with a lovely finished project in a day. Sonya is a patient teacher and a very experienced professional basket maker. She does sell some of her baskets on her etsy site.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/sonyaanderson1

The basket I made is resting on a scarf I made for my daughter from Christmas present yarn she gave me. I think this basket will make a great little knitting basket for me.

Quilted Compass

Here is the quilted Mariner's Compass that hung around as a 2+ year old ufo. This is one time that I'm glad a ufo was stumping me. It had a chance to age letting me think about what design approach to take. In this case I kept thinking about fall and fall colors when I looked at it, because of the mustard colors in the star. I was never happy with the piecing on this star and that's why it was not included in the show quilt it was made for "Party to the Stars". Maybe it was destined to greatness being alone.

Mariner's Compass UFO in progress.

I know it's been quite a while since I last posted. Christmas is a super busy time for me personally and professionally. Customers need their pieces and family starts arriving. So here I am starting my January vacation only doing a few customer pieces and working on a traveling exhibit that will be in Rhode Island at the MQX show this spring. No pictures will be posted of the finished items, so you need to go to the show to see them, until after they finish traveling.

In between piecing I put the wayward unfinished Compass on the longarm. You can see some of my ingredients in the first picture. The second picture shows the loose layering. I should be able to quilt it sometime today and post a picture again. It will be embellished also.

I hope you find time this winter to do something for yourself. Take time to enjoy the cooler weather.