Painted Changes

Hi,
I thought I would post the changes to my Hummer quilt after I got all the good advice from the quitart group. I ended up using copper iridescent paint and some gold iridescent on some of the feathers as they traveled up the right side of the quilt. The threadpainting just did not do it justice. I originally had this beautiful hand dyed piece that I could not bear to cut up so the bird emerged from the center. The quilt prior to painting with the copper and gold is shown under a previous post "Murphy Bed" and it is hanging behind the bed. What do you think of the changes? Does anybody have any suggestions for more improvement or change.
Other than that, this fall has been busy working, playing with the puppy, playing with the grandsons and attending their various sporting events, and some studio time, trying to figure out what to make next and looking at all the looming deadlines for entry and thinking that I might not get there this year.
I am also gearing up for my trip to Houston the end of the month where we are taking some classes and just having a general good time. If I am lucky enough maybe my Journal Quilt will actually be displayed there. That would be fun.

New York, New York

Well, what a summer....have had no time to post for a while, and no time to quilt either. After I got back from Sacred Threads I prepared for our trip to New England for my dh family reunion. We took two weeks and covered lots of fun places thanks to all the good advice from quiltart group! We spent time in the Amish country of Pennsylvania, all of the Finger Lakes region of Upstate New York, then spent our time going down the coast from Portsmouth, NH all the way down to Grenwich, CT where the reunion was held. Lots of pretty country, lots of humidity that we Oregonians are not used to. We even spent a couple of days in NYC, quite the culture shock from rural Southern Oregon....lots of fun.

Then, on a sadder note, my father passed away (I got the notice while sitting in Central Park), so we came back home and I got on a plane to help my mother in Southern California. A very nice celebration of his life, and another family reunion of sorts was there. Lots of reflection, time sitting on the beach in San Clemente, and comfort for all.

Now, after about 6 weeks of go, go, go, I am home and getting settled again. Hopefully to post a little more often here. Here are a couple of photos of the trip to New England. The first is my dh and sons at Grand Central Terminal, and the other is Pennsylvania. Maybe someday some of the photos will turn into art quilts.

Luigi

We have a new little puppy. He is a Papillon and is named Luigi. Love at first sight. Here is a photo of him and my niece at her high school graduation. He is 13 weeks old and a doll. I am so excited, we registered today for classes in Houston. Hope we get at least some of them. It will be so exciting to be there for the first time. I am trying to figure out how to get links to this blog so the world can see it.
I also got great news the other day. My quilt shown below "Once in a Blue Moon" sold. A woman came in to the shop where it was hanging, and just had to have it. She was going to a wedding of her nephew that night, his name was "Blue" and he was getting married on a blue moon. I just had to sell it to her. Seem things just happen for reasons.
I have been busy trying to figure out inspirations for some challenges coming up in the near future, but am not getting inspired yet. One is for the SOST quiltart challenge, and two are with my art quilt local group of wonderful women. It is so hot today that it is hard to think, much less create.
So, instead I burned some CD's to enter in art quilt shows. Guess you can't get in if you don't enter, so here I go. I am going to post the photos next, after this posts.....am still learning

Sacred Threads 2007

QSDS

I have just finished my adventure to Quilt Surface Design Symposium. My major reason for going was to go to the Artist Reception for Sacred Threads where I had a piece. That was great fun, met many fellow artist who had pieces in the show and are also members of the QuiltArt group. I went also to visit Quilt National. Wonderful, wonderful, maybe one of these days I will actually try and enter something. I also took a great class with Melody Johnson. Fast fun fusion, no pressure, just fun. After I get my camera downloaded I will try and post a few photos for everyone to see.

Murphy Bed

Hello,

I thought I would post some photos of this great murphy bed made for my studio by a friend. Since my studio consumed two bedrooms of my home, I wanted somewhere for guests to sleep and this was my solution. It folds up completely into the wall, taking up about a foot of space. The front panel folds down on piano hinges and becomes my cutting table at a height of 36 inches and it is 36 inches wide by 60 inches long. Works perfectly for both my cutting mat as well as an ironing surface. The third photo is of the bed down and ready for sleeping. Notice the art quilt that is hiding inside and comes to light when the bed is down. No more day beds to be piled high, just a cutting table that gets piled high.

Back again

Hi, well, I created this blog and have not even posted to it in 3 months. Lots going on, feeling inadequate about my art, rejects from quilt shows, acceptances to juried shows, work, grandkids, spring, reading quiltart online, meeting with my quilt art group and meeting challenges. Well, you all know. I recently had three, yes three art quilts accepted to Images 2007 at Art Quilts Lowell. I am happy dancing!!!! Maybe I will keep trying. Here are a couple of photos of my newest work, both of which were challenges with my art quilt group. The first was to be made with only one color (I got blue) and beads. This is called "Once in a Blue Moon", which by the way we just had one on May 31st. The second had two chosen fabrics that had to be used and it had to have a musical theme because it will hang in a great coffee shop in Ashland, Oregon called The Key of C. Lots of fun. Hopefully, I will keep up on this blog on a more regular basis. Next week I am going to QSDS (quilt surface design symposium) and taking a class with Melody Johnson as well as going to the "Sacred Threads" exhibit in which my quilt "Color in Chaos" is hanging. It looks much more impressive in person than in photo in my opinion.

A little about Afghanistan

Thought I would tell a little about this amazing trip that I made to Afghanistan last year. I went to Bamiyan, Afghanistan for two months to teach a class of wonderful students in a community midwifery program. It was an incredible journey. Bamiyan, Afghanistan is the area where the Taliban blew up the 150 foot tall buddha statues that stood at the entrance to the town. It is also a land of beautiful people, they are mostly very Asian looking, and 2/3 of the people were killed by the Taliban and they were forced to hide in the caves surrounding the Buddhas to survive the very cold winters. It is known as the Jewel of Afghanistan and Bamiyan means Roof of the World. The people always had time for chai and chat. The majestic himilayas surround this town that sits at 8500 ft. I was very safe there, never hearing any gunshot or bombs, and I had my own driver and interpreter. It was a time never to forget. I could talk forever about it.

photos

Here are a few of my quilts that I have created from my Afghanistan visit. Any and all comments are welcome. The first one is a dye painted whole cloth quilt entitled "Waiting". The second one is "Color in Chaos" showing the beautiful madonnas and their children in photo transfer. The third is "Roof of the World" Showing the Buddhas of Bamiyan, and the last one is based on the book "The kite Runner", showing that again, the children of Afghanistan are free to fly kites, at least today....

finally

Well, I have finally taken the plunge and created a blog. We shall see how easy it is to download and work with. This photo is of me (on the right) standing in front of the buddha ruin in Bamiyan, Afghanistan.