My Art Show

I am finally getting some pictures posted of my art show.  The opening was on May 11, 2012, at a local gallery run by the Tippecanoe Arts Feceration.  It was a busy night as it was a downtown gallery walk, so over 350 people attended the opening.  My show consisted of quilts that I have made using shibori techniques for dyeing all of the fabrics used, and paintings that I have done that are abstract, using oil and wax techniques.

Here are some pics of the gallery and me feeling very nervous right before the opening started.

Quilt of shibori dyed fabric titled "Late Afternoon"

Paintings and a quilt at the upper left.

The show also included a few pillows and hand dyed scarves

This painting was a favorite of viewers called "Hot Flash"  it sold fairly early in the evening.

Painting entitled "Passage"

Pieced quilt of hand dyed fabrics "Early Spring"  and 3 oil and wax paintings.

Another quilts of shibori dyed fabrics

This painting was also a favorite of viewers called "Summer Day"

The show ended on June 15, but it was a success.  I sold 6 paintings and 2 of my hand dyed scarves!  I was very happy with the response, especially since my oil and wax paintings were all new work.  And if you see any paintings or quilts you are interested in purchasing please email me.  Many are still available. 


Thanks to my daughter Kelly for all of the great pictures.  She worked very hard the day before and the night of the opening helping me with hanging things, and food, and pictures...  I really appreciate it Kelly!

Contemporary baby quilt

June 11, 2012

Here are pics of the baby quilt my friend Rissa made while we were at the lake back in April (wow time has flown by since then).  It is for a young couple she knows that loves contemporary design.  They had requested salmon and grays.  We had some difficulty finding those colors in contemporary, but also good for a baby quilt, type prints.  All in all I think these prints all look great.

It turns out the Michael Miller orange and gray dot (just below the center of the quilt in the pic below)  which was from my stash was a perfect complement to her prints so we swithched out one of the prints she had bought for my dot.  I think it is so cute in the quilt and adds some deeper colors to the overall mix.  Rissa used the black and gray dot stripe as the focal point down the middle of the quilt and on the back.

I love how the quilt turned out.  She decided to machine quilt it with meandering parallel lines.  I think it adds a great soft touch to all of the straight lines of the piecing.  Rissa sent the quilt to her friend Amy and her husband as they live in Texsas.  It just so happened I was with Rissa the day Amy got the quilt, and then called Rissa screaming with excitement over how perfect the quilt was.  She was so excited, and Rissa of course was thrilled. 

Hexagon quilt is basted!

My friend Rissa and I spent a few days at our lake house and each of us worked on quilt projects.  The weather was quite cold when we were there, which was frustrating since we have had such a gorgeous warm spring.  Here's a pic of the redbud overlooking the lake.  The lake (which is a flood control lake) is at winter pool, which means it is 22 feet below normal (summer) pool.

 I worked on getting borders on the hexagon quilt and making the backing and getting it basted.  It was quite a project as the quilt with the borders is now 82" x 93" .  I ended up using the white on white dots from the Bliss line of fabrics by Bonnie and Camille.  I am a lover of dots and have collected all of the dots from this line (I love all colorways of it).  But I especially loved the white on white dots, I had been stashing the white on white for a year or so, buying them every time I saw them.  So I had 3 seperate pieces of what I thought would be big enough, but because I had cut small pieces out of them I had just barely enough to do the backing with 2 full widths of the fabric Whew!  I really love it on the back. 

 

This is an Iphone pic so the white looks a bit pink! 

Rissa helped me lay it all out and I spray basted the layers together.  Even with the two of us working it was a big job.  But it is all together and ready to be quilted.  I am planning to machine quilt it with a free motion flower design.  Hopefully it will highlight the hexagon "flowers". 

We had a nice relaxing few days away and got a lot accomplished.  Rissa made a super cute contemporary quilt.  I will share that on another post.  Here is a pic of a beautiful wildflower from the woods at the lake.   I do love this time of the year with all of the beautiful flowers and trees. 

Two Years of Hexagons!

The hexagon quilt top is done!  I have been working on this hexi quilt for 2 years.  The quilt began as a much smaller project and it grew and grew.  It is now big enough for a full size bed and I really love it.  I was interested in starting a hexagon quilt after seeing some on other blogs.  The inspiration was to use some of the cute modern fabrics in this traditional flower setting of hexagons.  I began with 2 charm packs of the Verna fabrics by Kate Spain but evolved with many, many of my own scraps, and many collected from friends.  I used an off white cotton sateen to set the flower blocks.  I think it gives a nice contrast with all the fun prints in pink, aqua, yellow and a soft green.  

Now all I need is to do is get it basted (my least favorite part of the process) and figure out how I am going to quilt it.  I have a few ideas, but really not sure on the quilt design.  


Thanks for stopping by,  this is my first blogpost.  I hope to highlight some of my recent and future projects.  I am always busy with quilts, knitting, I do oil paintings and sometimes home dec sewing.  So there should be some fun posts.