Solid Quilting

We went to the gardening show in downtown Hendersonville this past Saturday and, in addition to beautiful plants, I purchased this wooden quilt block.  I don't call it a barn quilt block for two reasons.  #1 is that it's not going on a barn and #2 is that I'm displaying it indoors on my screen porch and #3 (oops--3 reasons!) is that it is smaller than a traditional barn block.  It is only 24" x 24" and is done in natural woods rather than colored paint.  I really love it.  It emphasizes the natural woods and bark from this region and I think that it will last longer on a screen porch than if I hung it outside on the house.  My best purchase ever at the garden show.  Yay!

Starting A New Project

I make a fair number of wallhangings that are centered around flowers or other things in nature and people always wonder how I take a small photo and turn it into a large wallhanging.  Well, my little piece of magic software is Excel.  And this is, more or less, how I do it:

This is a picture of a mushroom cluster that I took in 2008, thinking that someday I would make it into a quilt.

I then inserted the picture into my Excel program, changed some settings, dragged the image across the screen to the size I wanted and printed it out as separate sheets. (and, no, this is NOT the mushroom--just an example.  After it is printed out, I trim the appropriate edges and glue the entire piece together--ending up with quite a much larger image.  You can make it as large as you want really.  I guess it would depend on the resolution of the original photo.

This is my glued-together mushroom.  If you look closely, you can see some of the edges of paper.  You can also see where I drew in dark lines to use for my appliqué pattern.  

The next step is to trace the entire pattern/picture (meaning, in this case, the mushrooms) onto thin tracing paper.  I number each object within the drawing, label that side as TOP, turn it over and then trace the separate objects onto Wonder-Under.  Tedious?  You Betcha  . . .but ultimately worth the effort.

After I fuse the Wonder-Under patterns onto fabric, I cut them out.  Then I turn the tracing paper pattern to the TOP side, place it under a teflon ironing sheet and fuse together sections of the quilt appliqué, using the pattern underneath as a guide.

You know, I'm getting kind to tired just thinking about doing all of this.  But, for some reason, I REALLY enjoy doing it.  And here are the results so far.  Of course, it's far from finished--but it's also far from just beginning.  There are still things to add and other things to figure out--but a challenge can be a good thing, right?  This piece will be about 34" x 38" when I finish--unless I add some sort of border treatment--which is a fair amount larger than a 4" x 6" photo!

A Nice Thing

The Western North Carolina Quilt Guild had its Quilt Show last weekend and it was a very nice show.  Lots of really nice quilts and equally nice quilters.  It was my first time to participate as a member and to see how all of the pieces fit together.  And fit, they did.  Our Show co-chairwomen were experienced and the venue, Bon Clarken, was great.  And there is no BUT.

BUT, something very nice happened to me AFTER the show.  This is one of the quilts that I entered into the show.  (It actually won a Merit award for "Best Message." ) This quilt means a lot to me because our world and our responsibility to preserve it mean a lot to me--and I hope to you.  A lovely man saw this quilt and wanted to own it because he, too, is very concerned that our time is running out.  He really GOT what I was trying to say.  He came to my home with some friends and visited, sharing his perceptions and commitment to doing what he can for our future.  And he left with this quilt.   And I was happy.  What better home could it find?

My Trip Top Cabarrus Quilters Guild

This week I had the pleasure of traveling to the Cabarrus Quilters Guild in Concord, NC to present a trunk show and to teach a class on fusible appliqué .  And what a great time I had.  The members of this Guild are so welcoming.  They meet in the parish hall of a local church, using the "seated around a table" format with encourages conversation, I think.  By the time the meeting began, all the tables were full and the members were in full visiting and sharing mode.  It was wonderful.   Another thing that was wonderful--from my perspective--was that they asked me lots of questions about my quilts and genuinely wanted to know what methods I used, how I choose my threads and fabrics and other insightful questions.  I always love it when that happens.  And, by the way, they had dessert!

The next day, at another church with a great classroom space, I taught the class on fusible appliqué.

 You can see here some of the students hard at work--and work, they really did!  The two ladies in this first photo are Ono and Charlotte who are the Program Chairs and they were great.  So kind and thoughtful, making sure that I had everything that I could possibly need.  Thank you, Ono and Charlotte!
So, I arrived home, tired but with. great memories--and look what I saw upon my arrival . . .The first peony bloom of the season.  How beautiful.