FOUR HOURS IN HOUSTON

I just returned from a great week in Texas where I visited good friends, reconnected with long lost ones, explored the city of Austin, skirted the storms, and made a quick visit to the International Quilt Festival in Houston. My quilted piece "My Circle of Life" was included in the SAQA exhibit there and I was able to view it, along with the thousands of other amazing creations that filled the George R. Brown Convention Center.
With only four hours, I focused mostly on the exhibits, and just made a quick pass through the marketplace. There I reconnected with an old friend from Gustavus, Annie Unrein, who owns byannie.com. Back in the exhibit hall, I wandered among incredible pieces and snapped photos of my favorites.
So little time...so much to see. It was amazing!

ALL DRESSED UP

What is it about this piece that fits with the theme "All Dressed Up"? Look closely.

It's been ages since I've participated in my Cyber Fibres quilt journal group. This theme has been brewing in my brain for awhile, waiting for the perfect time to execute. The time arrived this week.

I had a much more complicated piece planned, but when I fused the first eight pieces that filled in the mandala form, I knew it was time to UNcomplicate. Less is more right?

I knew "buttonizing" was going to finish it off. I played with black buttons and white, and white won out...they popped more. 

In my world, buttonizing IS a word. It's definitely a verb and it's what I do a lot of. 

Now if you're still wondering about the theme, just look carefully at the black shapes and it will come to you.

WALKING FOOT NOVICE

After all these years, I finally decided to conquer the walking foot. I've had two of them in my closet, encased so well in their small Bernina boxes, just sitting and waiting for me to use them. It's kind of embarrassing actually...but not anymore! 

I've been on a circle kick lately and just finished these two table runners. The top one was seen with my normal foot etc. but the one at the bottom was seen with my walking foot.

I easily found a video on You Tube and in less than three minutes I was off and running. It was a bit jerkier than with my normal foot but I just focused a bit more and soon things smoothed out. I sewed the edges of the table runner without one little crinkle or pleat!

I'm so happy to have a new tool and technique under my belt.

CONCRETE AND GRASSLAND

I just entered this 38" square mandala into SAQA's upcoming exhibition. Here's my kindergarten art skills at their finest!...at least it appears that way, but it really wasn't all that easy. The foundation was a nine patch of blacks/grays, then I basted a grid of white thread for guidelines to align my pieces, which helped immensely. I loved the look of the big stitches running through and decided to leave them in.

BACK AT IT

Finally I have a sewing station up and running. It's been a wild and hot summer, and we survived!

This piece ( 20"x20") is going to a friend who need a pick me up. I used Barbara Ramsey's circle technique and just added more filler pieces. The fall colors sing to me!

CATCHING UP (AND CATCHING MY BREATH!)

I can't believe I haven't posted in over two months. Life has been crazy and leaving me little time for extras like keeping up on my blog. I have been trying to put in time at the remodel project, and then we were off to Canada for three weeks in May. We paid our final farewell to beloved Refuge Cove. It was a bittersweet visit, connecting with friends and also some of my "Cyber Fibre-ists". We had a show at the museum in Campbell River and my visit was timely to pick up my pieces at the close of the show. I was so happy to hear that we were booked again next April in Sidney, BC. I'll be there!
After our trip, I was wild to get back to creating. That's how it is with me...I just have to have that creative outlet! My first endeavor was a total disaster when I ironed on a square of foil that already had fusible on the back - instead of becoming a lovely moon in a star filled sky, it was a massive square of silver that couldn't be erased. Oh well, I say! Next I was off to work on a journal quilt I'd been thinking about quite a bit. My format is mandalas and I put one together to fit the theme "Whispering Shapes". Now I know this was a stretch, but I want to try my hand at a series of mandalas and this theme was the best fit for the finished product.

 My next mandalas will have as their themes "Breakfast", "Found Objects", and "One Hue". Maybe I'll find the time.
Today I registered two pieces for the Oregon SAQA show "Poetry in Cloth". They will be on display at US Bank in Ashland during July and August. I would be happy to be selected for the Oregon exhibition but there are some amazing quilters out there!

And at the top of this post is the piece I will be mailing later this week to SAQA's exhibit "Balancing Act". I love this piece.
Our remodel project is totally consuming but I carve out little snippets of time to sew. I can't say I'm thankful for the super hot weather we're having, but it does keep one inside, and my default location is the studio. Yesterday reportedly got up to 105 (horrible!) but I was able to sneak off to my studio and let all those outside projects GO. Yes!

GROUPS

This is the longest we have resided in ONE PLACE in the last ten years. Our remodeling project (aka "gut job") has kept us here in the Rogue valley of southern Oregon throughout the winter, and we now call this area home. Once finished, we'll start "gypsying" again, but for now we are planted and establishing roots. For me, I am super happy to be able to connect with the fiber art community here, and I haven't wasted any time in doing so. I love my groups.

This little frog has a mouth to catch all your scraps at the sewing machine. 

I joined the local chapter of the American Sewing Guild when we first arrived here in 2010. This is an amazing group of talented and generous women who promote philanthropy and education through sewing. The frog above was presented last week at a monthly meeting, and we had a "Make It and Take It" event last Saturday. I had a great group with me trying their hands at "raw edge applique birds".

"Make It and Take It" is a popular annual ASG event.

A local chapter of SAQA (Studio Art Quilt Association) was started here in Southern Oregon last fall. This keen group of art quilters meets once a month and we work on critiquing, encouraging, and networking. SAQA has opened up a new avenue of exhibition submissions for me. I recently received notice that one of my pieces was accepted into the SAQA show "Balancing Act" (a future blogpost), and I am working on two pieces for an upcoming Oregon show (Poetry and Cloth). And I love meeting other like minded women in this area.

Deb Runnel presented this "found object" piece at our local SAQA meeting.

Early stage of my submission for the "Poetry and Cloth" exhibit.

I've also been teaching at Sew Creative in Ashland (great shop!) and have loved putting together these classes and getting back at teaching. My free motion quilting classes have a different slant by focusing on objects, text, and borders rather than the typical stippling practice. Students seem to love it and are encouraged to keep at it..."practice, practice, practice" I tell them!

We work on these fun and personalized placemats in "FreeMotion 2".

Sew Creative also has a quilt journal group that I was immediately attracted to. Six to eight of us get together once a month to share a small journal quilt with a central theme. Store owner Karen sets the theme and also teaches us something new or presents a new product for us to try. Being a minimalist, there are many products I have never tried so I am thrilled to broaden my my scope and skills.

Journal Quilt for February (Doorway).

And then there's my ever faithful online Cyber Fibres quilt journal group of which I have been a part of since 2008. Currently we have a 60+ piece show going on in Campbell River, BC. This group is like family to me!

Last but certainly not least is the small dye group that meets once a week...Cynthia, Christine, and Lene... they are my avenue to advanced dyeing and I love to see what they are up to. Winter activities tend to focus on paper creations, and when the weather warms up, we head to Cynthia's basement for dyeing fun. I love to hangout with them during paper crafts, but join in for dyeing. Lately they went on a bookmark binge...beautiful!

Beautiful bookmarks with handmade tassels.

And let's not forget the classes that are out there to take advantage of. This weekend I'll be trying "Improvisational Circles" at Sew Creative.
I love my groups! Will I be able to "gypsy" again? (I'll worry about that later!)