Fire on the Mountain

Fire on the Mountain

When I composed this, I was thinking of the world on many levels. First is the circle that represents the universe, from the cool tones of the earth to the warm tones of the sky and heavens. I've screened trees in the center. The lightening bolts represent the possibility of fire lighting up the mountain. We've seen a bit too much of this these days. I think the final result is a beautiful, simple composition. It's about 15 inches square and available at my Etsy Shop.

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Good Day, Sunshine

This piece is one of my current favorites. The background is canvas, softly painted with an acrylic . The next layer is cloth that I dyed. The flowers are  constructed with various screen or computer printed graphics. The elements are all raw edge stitched. The quilting is done with a variegated thread. It measures 18 inches square.

Good Day Sunshine

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SAQA Auction Coming Soon

The 2017 SAQA Benefit Auction will take place from September 15 through October 8. This is your chance to own beautiful and unique art quilts made by SAQA members around the world – 368 pieces are available for bidding! For details, visit saqa.com/auction.

She Stood with Her Friends in Defense of the Forest

Another fiber work in the She series. The background at the top is shibori dyed. The lower cloth is hand dyed using multi colors. The trees are more of the elbow trees images that I am found of and like to give them stories. Learn more about them here.

She Stood with Her Friends in Defense of the Forest

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Peace and Tranquility

This year my small quilt group MIX chose the theme Reflection and Renewal, which is based on the renewal taking place at the Portland, Oregon Japanese garden. Our work was to include two pieces. One is a 24 inch square and the other a 10 inch by 24 inch piece which could be oriented in anyway the artist chose.

I chose the interpret the gardens of raked stone, which are referred to as karesansui gardens which literally translates to dry landscape.  The beauty lies in the blank space. My view is top down and the circles represent the tops of trees and bushes which surround these places and spaces. The circles are hand embroidered with many threads representing the branches. These pieces were a joy to work on.

                                                           Peace                                 &  Tranquility

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Reflection and Renewal

MIX is introducing its new body of  work. Our theme is Reflection and Renewal and is informed by the renewal taking place at the Japanese Garden in Portland, Oregon. Each artists interpreted this theme with two pieces, the first measuring 24 inches square and the second measuring 10x24 inches.

If you are in Portland, OR consider attending the luncheon and lecture. It will be held at the First United Methodist Church on Jefferson on April 28, 2017.

Making Baby Quilts

Lot's of new babies have been coming our way. Babies means baby quilts. My new favorite pattern is a triangle medley. Here are pictures of the three I have done so far.

Charles' Quilt  A Star is Born

 Baby Bea's Quilt

Ruan's Road to Africa

These quilt are very fun to do. They are scrappy which means there are a lot of fabrics in each. There are some tricks I have discovered and will share with you here in case you want to make one of your own.

1. Select about 20 fabrics that go together. Half are dark and half are light. I vary the scale of the prints and generally work with about three different colors, choosing variations of these   colors. Directional fabrics are not recommended. You can use them but will get half the usable parts.
2. Cut one 4.5 inch wide strip from each.
3. Sew these together at both the top and bottom, along the length of the strip.
4. Using a 60 degree triangle template (Marti Michell has one with a squared tip that makes piecing so easy), I first cut one and then flip the template to cut another. There is very little waste using the template like this. One width produces about 12 triangle.
5. Clip the stitches on the shorter end and open up the triangle which is now a diamond with half dark and half light. 
6. Press to the darker side.
7. Sew four diamonds together to form a larger diamond. You can see this in the above quilts.
8. Start by only sewing one 4-patch diamond set together of each strip set.
9. Put them on the design wall to see which will dominate the quilt. In the above, the dark brown catches my eye. I place these so they move the eye across the quilt. If there are any with a special fabric, then I place these as well so they move the eye across the quilt. Then I sew oher 4-patch diamonds as needed to move the color across. This top only requires 18 4-patch diamonds. The rest are part patches on the sides and top and bottom. I sew these as needed and desired for placement.
10. The larger diamonds are sewn in diagonal rows to complete the top.
11. The finished quilt measures about 38 x 48 inches. I like this size because the backing can be one width of standard fabric. I always try to find something really fun the goes with the top. After all, they are far the newbies.

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You Can't Step Into the Same River Twice: Majestic

This is new work,  a larger and modified version of the study I did for the SAQA trunk show late last year. I love the graphic look to it. Seems strong but calm.  And, it has my signature circles that are hand embroidered which you can see in the detail sketch. Majestic measures 23 x 38 inches.

This is a detail version so that you can see the stitching. Click on it to make it larger.

If you've been reading this, thank you. Leave a comment and let me know what you think.

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