MQS Audacious Auction 2011

These are a few pictures from the 2011 MQS Audacious Auction which raised a whopping $11,000 that is for grants that go to machine quilters education.

Working on a Challenge for Guild

Here are pictures of a challenge I'm working on for guild. It's a paint chip challenge using your initials to chose the colors by the colors name. I've quilted my piece and attached diamond crystals. Now I need to sew down the binding and start on the embellishments. I'm planning on attaching little glass mirrors, and some turquoise beads.

My flowers and garden look lovely right now and today is the day to pick green beans for the first time this year. I love the colors that appear in nature this time of the year.

In my previous post I wrote about the reorganizing of my work room. Attached are a few pictures of my work area. It's not great for a work room and not finished for a basement, but it's all mine. I need a clean area to work in and it felt good to suck up the hidden dust bunnies that seem to grow in the places that my vacuum couldn't get to. With moving everything, I can now work on my longarm without having to move it to get behind it. With my limited space before a wall was removed this past winter, I had to move the longarm on it's casters to even turn the machine on and access my fabric stash or use the cutting table. Now I get to patiently wait until my husband decides to finish the sheetrock on the walls, paint, and put down new flooring. I'm not going to hold my breath on that one. He always has another project to do that seems more important.

Here is a picture of half of my thread stash. I like being able to see what I have. All are in little bags to protect from dust.
There is also a picture of Honey, my quilting buddy, or so she thinks. She can be a real task master and demanding if it's time for me to pet her or she thinks it's treat time. She's a 13 yr old siamese and my youngest cat of 3. I have a house of senior citizens for pets.

The plastic shelving that I use has been the best choice for my stash so far. Each shelf can handle 500 lbs and the unit is very stable and won't discolor the fabrics as metal shelving will. Metal shelving is also not as strong.

This is what I have to work with until a dream studio happens and for now it works well for me.

Yesterday I messed around with a wholecloth quilt that I had painted on in the past, tried shiva sticks on after quilting to test the effect, and tea dyed. I've gotta say this is the first quilt I trashed. Literally, I threw it away in the trash! It was a mess, ugly, nasty, and not worth anymore of my time. It wasn't even worthy of a cutter. I couldn't stand to look at it anymore or even allow it in the piles with worthier pieces. After it hit the trash, I felt so much lighter. Have any of you felt the need to do this?

Beginnings of an Art Blog

A friend asked me a few weeks ago... why is it so many people don't view quilting as a legitimate art. Noses go into the air and statements are said.

1. It's just a quilt.

2.It's folkart.

3.My granny made quilts, but not like that.

4.That's not fine art.

And on an on..........

Well, in the opinion of those of us that make these awesome works of art, yes quilting can be fine art. Quilts can comfort, but they can also be stimulating. Quilts can open your eyes to the beauty of color, movement, and texture just as a fine painting or collage. Quilting is expensive as a hobby, art, and career. We take our art serious and strive to do our best work that would make our mothers proud.

I have several friends that have been blogging and I've really enjoyed what they've shared. Now it's time for me to get off my lazy bottom and take the time to share also. I'm a great procrastinator and hope that blogging will help me to stay more on task to finish those UFO's screaming to be finished.

From time to time I'll post boring things.

Today I had a friend, Sonya Anderson, over and she was able to quilt on my Gammill quilting machine to finish a gift. While she played, I was able to finish some rust dye fabric that had been aging. They are rinsed and hanging. Here is also a picture of what I've made from a piece of this beautiful rust dyed fabric.