ATC's and rusty stuff, MCQ quilt for show

I finished my first ATC (Artist Trading Card). It was really fun to make. I thought I took some photos as I was making it to show the process but I guess that was only in my mind. Next time, I will. Picture a simple flat piece of copper, 2.5" x 3.5". That is where it all began. It was shaped, painted, backed and stitched. Above is the card I sent and below is the card I received. I love the one I received it is called Behind the Garden Fence.

Here are a few photos of my rust dyed fabric from the hot humid days we had last week. I love this one. I know I could never make one exactly like this and that is one of the things I appreciate the most about rust dyed fabric.
This next one was hand dyed before I added the rust.
And a simple washer can add a cool touch of dimension to your fabric.

I don't think I ever posted a photo of my quilt for the Minnesota Contemporary Quilters challenge. This years theme was Twin Cities on the bias. We were supposed to show something about the Twin Cities (Minneapolis, St Paul) that shows our bias for one or the other. I created a map of the two cities and printed on fabric some photos of a few of the more notable buildings in the area. The only building with color is the photo of the Textile Center. That is my bias in the Twin Cities area.
Have a Creative Day
Janet

Minnesota Quilt Show

This week St Cloud, Minnesota is hosting the Minnesota Quilt Show, "Quilting in the Quarry"
I have only entered the show twice before this year, one quilt each of the past two years(pictured above). For some reason I went a little overboard this time. I have four quilts in the show.

The first is with Minnesota Contemporary Quilters. The theme this year was Melange a Trois. I just posted about this quilt recently, it is my Cathedral Quilt.


The next two are with SAQA Minnesota. One is the quilt I made for the rust dye competition, since mine wasn't selected for that exhibit I tried the SAQA exhibit instead. I used a fabric I had shibori dyed, the red circle with the blue and yellow on the outside. I than used an old fashioned popcorn popper, the kind you would use over an open flame. I rusted the center of the dyed fabric. I painted the petals with shiva paintsticks. And, there you have a Moulin Rouge Sunflower. This is one of my favorites.

The second is Grape Harvest and is a combination of photo transfer on fabric and metal, and using metal for the first time on a quilt. I used recycled diet coke cans and Arizona Iced Tea cans. I prefer the diet coke cans as the metal is thinner and easier to manipulate. This was a fun quilt to make.

The final quilt is in the non-judged portion of the Minnesota Quilters Exhibits. This is the first quilt I have completed on my longarm that has given me hope that I might actually be able to call myself a longarm quilter one day. I have new wheels for the back of my machine that have made a huge difference in the amount of control I have. I'm still not very good at sewing straight lines, maybe my next purchase to add to my machine will be the electric channel locks. The thing I like about the Innova is you don't have to be able to afford everything at once. It is easy to add on to the machine. The photo isn't the best since I am not used to taking pictures to show off the quilting. Maybe by the time I figure out how to take good photos, I will be at the point where I will not mind showing the details of my quilting.

Hope you get a chance to go to the show. The quilts are always inspiring.
Have a creative day
Janet

Technology

Good Morning,

     I am challenged when it comes to technology.  I'm feeling pretty good that I figured out how to make a blog and add some of the extras to my blog.  I've been trying to add a slideshow of postcards this morning and it's pretty clear that I need some help.  I think the problem may be that I'm creating the slideshow in my iphoto program and trying to import from there.  I might need to set up a flicker account or something else that blogger recognizes more easily.  I'll keep working on that when I have a chance.  I've also realized I am not the best photographer, as many of the photos appear to be blurry.  I have trouble with small close up shots.  So, I will try to get my husband or daughter to take better photos as well.  There wouldn't be much point in putting up a blurry slideshow would there.  Oh well,  I can quilt!

     Yesterday my daughter was home for the day.  We all went out for breakfast, went to a movie, ordered in for dinner and generally just laughed and had fun.  Days like that are very special, wish there were more of them, but I feel fortunate that we can get together at all.

     Today I get to help take down the Minnesota Contemporary Quilters Architexture exhibit.  It has been traveling around the state since last June.  I'm not sure where it is going next but my Red Door quilt is not ready to come home yet.  It will be nice to see all of the quilts again. There are some amazing quilters in this group.

    I realized I forgot to post a photo of the prize I won on Chris' Quilting Universe.  I told her when I finish using it I will give it away to someone else.  It will be the gift that keeps on giving.  I'll add the photo when I get back this afternoon.  My photo card is refusing to speak to my computer right now and I don't have time to negotiate their differences.

Have a good day! Janet

Friendship!

Hello, 



     I have met some amazing women this past year through my journey to become a fiber artist.  I think that is the best gift I could have given to myself at this time in my life.  I am at the age where I am almost an empty nester.  I have two children who both mean the world to me.  One is off in the working world and the other is a junior in high school.  Before I had children I was a teacher of preschool children with special needs.  A couple of moves to two other states, two children, and a car accident later, I needed a new focus in my life.  I wore many hats as a volunteer over the years and still do volunteer work at my church, in my community and other places that appeal to me such as the Textile Center in St Paul.  But, now I am building a community of support for myself that revolves around fiber arts.  

     The best gift I gave myself was joining the Minnesota Contemporary Quilters.  This is a great group of women with a wonderful focus on enjoying the journey, learning new skills, and challenging each other to continue to grow through life.  As an offshoot of this group I am also a part of a small group.  I've mentioned them before, we call ourselves the Rosie Quilters.  We are varied in our focus and abilities and each bring unique strengths to the group.  I wanted to show you a couple of recent gifts they have given to me. The elephant batik was given to me by Kathy on the day she got us all together for our soy wax batik project.  I haven't decided what to do with it yet but I really love it.  The "J" fabric square was made after we learned soy wax batik by Stephanie.  Isn't it fun.  She bought a set of cookie cutters on ebay and made us each a square with the first initial of our names.  The Hawaiian print is also from Stephanie, a gift from her trip to Hawaii.  (Don't forget to check out Stephanie's blog in my blog list to the left, Journey of a Fiber Artist Stephanie Forsyth, -She is number one if you google fiber artist and also has a small appearance on The Quilt Show) I am inviting them all to my home soon and have some ideas for something to give each of them but don't want to give it away before they see.

     

     I have also made some good friends this past year through online classes.  Even though I haven't met these people in person we have common goals and interests that keep us friends across the U.S., and on to other countries around the world.  I've received many postcards from my online friends.  Not your everyday postcards either, they are each a work of art that I will treasure for many years to come.  I'm hoping to create a video stream of all my postcards to put on my site, sometime this weekend, so check back to see if it is here.  They are worth the visit.        

     Some of the sites I have taken classes are:  Quilt University, Quilters Keep Learning, Adventure Quilter, Sharon Schamber's website and The Thread Studio.  I would recommend any and all of these sites.  I want to mention a special note about The Thread Studio which is located in Australia.  I am taking my embellishing class through this site right now.  Many of my classmates are from Australia and I just want to let them know we are all wishing you strength as you fight the fires and try to piece your lives back together.  Sending positive thoughts your way.  If you know of something more we can do please contact me to let me know.

Check back to see my postcards.  I will try to have one of cards received and one of cards given.  It will be worth the visit. Janet

Basic quilting skills

Hello,


Monday night was the meeting for Minnesota Contemporary Quilters.  I love those meetings they always make me laugh.  I haven't made it for several months due to weather, health and no meeting in December so it was fun to reconnect.  Our speaker this month was a traditional quilter who was speaking about some basic skills such as binding quilts.  Some of us need to work on these skills just a little.  I know that I am hit or miss with my bindings.  I have trouble with the corners and the edges seem to want to curl.  Not pretty!  That is why I signed up a month ago for a class at a local shop, Bear Patch Quilting, called Binding Perfection.  I am mostly a self taught quilter and my self education is spotty at best.  I knew binding was a skill I wanted to improve.  So it was a little bit of serendipity that this was the topic at our meeting.  My class is this afternoon and I need to take something to bind.  I am trying to finish up examples from classes I have taken (at least the samples I like).  So, I am taking a sample from my Flower Power class taught by Susan Brittingham at Quilt University.  The one I am taking to my binding class is one of our beginning examples for the Flower Power class.  I also need to finish the final project for that class but I'll save that for another day.

I took some show and tell to the meeting the other night.  Everyone seemed to like my blue jean quilt.  I made two of these during a class in the learningfa yahoo group.  I cut out all the blue jean circles while I was watching the election debates last fall.  I'm calling this my green quilt!  I used an entire box of old blue jeans cutting 300 circles for the two quilts, and four yards of flannel that I have had laying around since my children were very young.  It felt good to use up so much of my fabric stash.  I had been saving the jeans to make a quilt 'some day.'  It was fun to make it along with other people all encouraging each other along the way.  The red and yellow quilt is my son's, there is a photo of each side for that quilt.  The green and purple quilt is my daughter's.

 

                                   

I also wanted to post a photo of the header I had on the top of my webpage.  I changed it today because it was hard to read the title with that particular quilt in the background.  This quilt was also made for a class at Quilt University.  It is my own design from the class Points and Curves taught by Myrna Giesbrecht when she was at Quilt U.  She is no longer teaching there you can find a link to her webpage on the sidebar (Creative Conversation).  This quilt is called Pursuit of Happiness.  It was part of an exhibit at the Textile Center in St Paul last fall.  The exhibit was called Freedom:  The Fiber of our Nation and was displayed during the Republican National Convention last fall.  Have a great day everyone! Janet