Quilting with Grand Kids

This past weekend I was fortunate to have my grandson Mikia over for the whole weekend. This doesn't happen very often and the last time was mid summer. Mikia is 9 and in 4th grade. He asked to make a small quilt for his little brother who is about 1 yr old. I cut 5 inch blocks for him and pinned while he sewed blocks and borders. After he was finished, and had more than enough

sewing time, I machine quilted the top as he played video games. The prints were fun and funky and the pattern was easy enough to go quickly so he wasn't bored to quickly. I'm proud of him for sticking with this until it was finished.

This was his first quilt. Good job guy!

First Rejection

Wow. I got my first show rejection today, ever....from a quilt show. My first reaction was a deep intake of breath and then I thought, why not me for a show rejection. I'm grossly over due for one let a lone two at one time. I tend to make quilts that need to be entered in a category that is generally plum full of many entries. Too many entries to allow for everyone being able to compete. I've entered shows that allow 50 entries in an art quilt category because they have the space to show them, but what you may not realise is there may have been 200 or 400 people that tried to get in also. That makes for quite a few people for every show that get "the letter".

So the thoughts that go thru my mind are, is it too dark, too dull, too bright, too much contrast, too much junk on it, not enough junk on it, did they see something I missed? And I've gotta say, you can go nuts trying to figure this out. I say DON'T SWEAT IT! It could be anything or nothing. You can't get an answer for this so let it go and enter another show or ten shows. Not every show is the right show for a quilt. Some focus on art, traditional, unusual or ordinary. Some shows focus on the quilting and some more on construction.

Don't make a quilt for a particular show, make it for you. I love my art quilts and I make them for me. I make them very well, and consider them the best I can do each time I make one. I don't cut corners, and I don't use inferior materials. So my quilts are to my taste and not the norm. They also appraise extremely high for their size. So, do I care if I get accepted, of course I do, but I'm not going to lose any sleep over it.

I have a friend that has had enough of those rejections and she has let it get her down too often. She got an acceptance to the same show, Road 2 California. I'm super proud and happy for her, and I look forward to seeing her quilt at the show and taking a picture for her with it hanging. Her quilt art has grown so much this past year and she has made many beautiful pieces that she should be proud of. Wish her lots of luck with me.

Making Chatelaines

Today I decided to play hooky and make some beaded chatelaines. I went to a retreat with a few friends about a week ago and my friend Lee was making some beautiful chatelaines. So today I pulled out my beads and made eight. They are made with beading wire specific for making necklaces and bracelets and is very sturdy. The gold loop was from a sale rack necklace that I deconstructed


for parts. The loop is spacious for hanging sewing tools from such as seam rippers, threaders, scissors, and reading glasses. I wanted one to hang my glasses from while longarming, so that is what inspired me to make these.

I decided to do a giveaway of one of the chatelaines. I'm going to giveaway the purple and white glass beaded one that is shown in the last picture on this blog.


To qualify for the drawing, you need to post a comment to my blog, and leave your email in the comment. The drawing will take place Sunday 11-21-2010 at around 5 pm. I live in WI so it is central time.

All of the chatelaines are made with either glass beads, shell, or stones.




This lovely chatelaine could be your's, so please post to my blog. You may even want to list my blog as a favorite.

Thanks for reading.

Zodiac Artist Trading Cards

I joined a Yahoo chat group a couple of weeks ago that focuses on fiber and quilting art. They trade atc's and postcards and encourage the participants to try different techniques to make them. It's not a super active group, but definitely an inspiring one. They opened up a zodiac atc trade and I jumped in to make 12 to trade. The pictures show the steps I took to make

mine and the final pieces. What you don't see is the lion stamped on the fabric for Leo the sign I chose, because the layering obscured the gold paint stamping. It shows through on parts of each card and looks more like a sun. Almost considering it a failure, I let it set for a couple of days so I could figure out a way to make a sign for Leo that would show. I tried stitching the Leo sign in glittery thread, and it still wasn't visible

enough. So I put an orange crystal in the center of the sign for an eye for the sign. Still not good enough. I then thought of puffy dimensional gold glitter paint. It worked perfectly because it comes with a fine spout, and dries to the look I was after. They are now in envelopes waiting to be mailed on Monday. Five will go out of the country to Singapore, Australia and Germany.

I'm anxious to see the 11 cards I'll be getting in the mail in the next month. I also thought that since I was finished so quickly, I would join the post card exchange that is also active. It's limited to 5 people at a time, so it's not such a daunting challenge.

Hope you enjoy the pictures.

Teaching Machine Quilting on a Monday

Today was a teaching day at Granma's Workshop. I had students for my beginning machine quilting class. Students brought their sewing machines and put the pedal to the metal today. This class is designed for the beginner that wants to start quilting their own projects. We went over the basic techniques that can be worked together to create medleys, borders, blocks, stencils, freezer paper, and different marking tools. It's a fun class, and students are excited to have that fear of trying it on their own taken away. Of course there is the practice...practice...practice afterwards on their own.

Working on Key Fobs

I decided to put together some key fobs using leftover fiber art from past projects.

I put fusable on the back of the fiber art and fused a front with a back which makes the fob stiff enough for using as a fob. After fusing these together with medium heat with my iron using a pressing sheet, I then used a tight zig zag

for an edging treatment. Then using a rivet pliers, I attached the rivet. I'll probably add a few embellishments such as beads, crystals, etc. I think they will make nice gifts for some of my quilty friends.

Class with Karen Stone from TX

Had a great weekend in Duluth MN for the Quilting on the Waterfront event. I took classes with teacher Karen Stone from TX. She is a wonderful teacher that has a distinctive flair with color and design. I found her class to be an eye opener, so I was very pumped when I got home last night. The picture has both pieces that I started in her classes. The one on the left is a free form design that I made up in class, and the one on the right is the start of paper foundation pieces for "An Unusal Lonestar" from her pattern that I've admired for years. There were many friends in class, and we had a blast.

This class was a stretch for me using brighter colors than I normally use. I have them in the stash, but I just admire them and don't cut into them.

Today I'm going to try and do a little decorative stitching in between working on a flannel customer quilt that is on the machine. A girl has to be creative with her time when so many things are calling her.