I Made a "Pam" Zippy Bag

Happy election day!  I voted, got my flu shot, and made a "Pam" zippy bag.  I also got the tarp out to cover up the picnic table, when little bits of hail or something started falling and big gusts of wind jumped up, as if trying to prevent me from succeeding in my mission.  I managed to resituate the tarp and placed a large rock on top to hold the tarp somewhat in place.  It is now covered for the winter, as the finches continue to visit my thistle feeder and drink at the water pump.  Fall is definitely in full swing!

Meanwhile, after I finished my last project, where I had specific fabrics to use, I had a little bit left over of the wild dots fabric, so I made a zippy pouch for the quilter who shared that fabric with me. 

I hope she did like that wild dot fabric she shared, as she will now have a sweet quilted zipper bag with her name on it.

 

Kawandi #12 is Complete!

My Kuna quilt group did a "Tear and Share" activity last January.  Each of us ended up with five different fabrics to use together in a project that is due at our November meeting.  I felt the five fabrics I ended up with did not really go together.  Two went together and the other three went together, but they did not all go together.  The one that really did not go with the others, I used for the quilt back, so no one is going to see it anyway.  That, by the way, is the fabric I took to the "Tear and Share".  Since I have taught the Kawandi method of quilting to three different groups of quilters, I decided I should make another Kawandi. 

It is a good thing I decided on Kawandi, because the magic of Kawandi is whatever fabrics you put together just seem to work!  I did not think it possible, but it holds with the thoughts of Margaret Fabrizio, who I believe is the west coast guru on Kawandi.

These are the five fabrics I used to make the project.  The pale blue, fans, fabric I used on the back, as it was the largest piece (1/2 yd).

I auditioned some other fabrics to see what would bring these four fabrics together.  I did not use the blue charm square on the left, but I did use some of the periwinkle on the right.  It turns out the blue periwinkle is polyester, but it worked just fine.  Looking at my creation, a couple days later, I decided this is a "now" piece of art quilting.  The past is melded with today to make the now.  Some of the fabrics in this piece are old and some are new, which makes the now.  Contemporary is now.

Four Art Quilts Completed This Month!

After completing "Spooky Houses" Kawandi style art quilt, I realized I had a chance to enter an art quilt into the Idaho-Montana Regional SAQA Trunk Show.  The trunk show title is "Stories".  I did a couple sketches in July for this, but things got so busy I entirely forgot about it.  Then there was another call, extending the deadline to October 15, so I thought about it on October 5, Saturday night, and decided to do a simpler sketch.  On Sunday, I got busy creating.  I finished it up on Monday night and had it in the mail on Tuesday.  It is a part of my childhood story of growing up on the Boise National Forest.  The piece is titled:  The North Cabin.  It is the required 7" X 9", for the Trunk Show.  I am pleased to participate.

I still had all my Halloween fabrics out, so I decided to do another Kawandi.  I wanted it to be light-hearted and different.  I used my ghetto reverse-applique technique on some of the words, some raw-edge applique, some over-dying, as well as Kawandi techniques.  I just had to have some cake in there!  I completed it on October 15.

Of course, I attended the Fall Frolic up at Cascade, last week.  I did a demo on Kawandi style, then on our last full day, I started another Kawandi.  I had brought my scrap bin to share in case anyone was inspired to try it.  Three people did!  We were all working on them simultaneously, which was a lot of fun.  I worked in some red scraps, I was given about five years ago, and it took me longer than I expected, but it was worth it.  It is titled:  Fashion Statement.  It is also my tenth Kawandi this year.

Fashion is ever evolving, just like quilting!

To be an artist, one must work in more than one medium.

Oh, these last few months have been extremely busy for me.  My art quilt group had a big display at the BBQ Show on the last weekend of September.  I was so inspired by all the amazing creativity displayed at the show, it inspired me to come right home and make another Kawandi quilt in three days.  Oh, then I received an e-mail on Oct 4 about an extended call for art quilts in the Idaho/Montana Regional Art Quilters (SAQA).  So, I made an entirely new art quilt in three days, that I just got mailed out to Montana on Tuesday.  You can see that quilt here.  It is titled: The North Cabin.

Meanwhile, I finally had time (one afternoon last Sunday) to go out and obtain a new printer for my computer.  I got an EPSON ET-3850, and my wonderful husband got it all connected up for me.  I Love My New Printer.  Then of course, I was also contacted to pick-up a truckload of quilt fabric from another amazing quilter who has gone on before; Vesta Bergen.  Her sons had it all in boxes and they put it directly into my pick-up.  I need my pick-up next week to load up and head up to a quilting retreat in Cascade, so I rallied my Piecemakers of Idaho to do a fabric sale this Saturday at my house.  It is happening!   I need to clean my house! and sweep out the garage and muster some tables, etc!

That is what a madhouse it has been for me lately.  Back to the new printer . . . the old did not work so well, so it had a stack of crap on top of it.  I went through said stack of crap and got it all handled, including an 18-month-old clay project for another group of ladies that I belong to.  Done!

Here is my completed clay project, using every bead that I made and decoupaged.  I spray sealed it yesterday and strung it all together last night.  I hung it next to my latest Kawandi, which has a Halloween theme.  It is okay to call it a Kawandi (instead of Kawandi quilt), because Kawandi means quilt.  I love my Spooky Houses Kawandi and my clay Hope art piece.

A Truly Unruly Award!

I am so glad all the Fair stuff, and the many other things in my life that occurred in August are over.  I worked way too hard and long at the Fair and a strange thing happened to my ankles.  Truly feet and concrete do not mix!  So, being ill this past week has allowed me some creative down-time (after three days of being a vegetable).  I made a special "Unruly Award" ribbon for the Unruly Quilt Artists to award to some lucky individual at the Boise Basin Quilt Show coming up on Sept 27-28.

I actually drew a plan in June, but I through that out the window and started fresh!  How refreshing!  I went looking through my grandmother's sewing cabinet, which has resided with me for thirty years, and found some amazing 'vintage' things that might go into an amazing award ribbon.

The fabric measure tape was the item I was hoping to find.  So glad I found one!  Then there were some large metal bobbins, some amazing plastic shower curtain hooks, a pack of three sizes of metal thimbles, made in Germany and only 33 cents at Skaggs!  Looking at said goodies, one asks if one should open that thimble package or put it on Ebay.  I have been on a bent to use what I have, so those thimbles will finally feel the air of 2024 upon them.  Yes, I am going to cut up that fabric measure tape.  If I just hold on to these things in the museum of my grandmother's sewing cabinet, who knows what will become of them after I am dust.  Let us use what we have on hand, instead of running down to the store to buy some cheap, (but oodles more expensive than 33 cents!) made in China, thimble.  

looks like an electrical project gone wrong

I have long held the idea that using what you already have makes you more creative.  I keep proving it to myself.  I dug out my old box of ribbon and found some amazing stuff to bling up an award.  To add strength to the award, I used actual batting and a wee strip of stiff interfacing in between the back and the front pieces.  The front piece has a contrasting fabric below, so I can cut a bit out of the top layer of fabric to reveal that which is beneath.  I am just copying a technique that Kirsten used on all those name tags she made.  Oh, yes!  I used some of the hand-dyed fabric, I made in May, for the front and back pieces of the award.

Here is a truly unruly award!  I used the thimble, measure tape, and bobbin, plus a strip of creamy yellow rickrack to pull it all together.  The little bit of measure tape, up top, is a loop to hang it with.  I really outdid myself; it must have been all that cranberry juice!

Busy, Busy!

Greetings!  I have been busy helping the American Girl Dolls and friends realize their wildest dreams.  They wanted to have a quilt show, so they are having one!  I made a floor that sits on top of a standard six-foot folding table. It is 7 ft long and 4 ft wide.  I made the pipe and drape for the quilt show.  I purchased all my materials from three different Ace Hardware Stores, Lowes, and Canvas Etc.  

I ordered 23 yards of banjo cloth to make the drape part of the pipe and drape, and to make the skirt that went around the 22-foot circumference of the "floor" of the quilt show.  

Last February, I met with the Superintendent of the Home Arts Department of the Western Idaho Fair.  I told her about the "doll quilt show" and she granted us (the dolls and I) a showcase, in the Home Arts section at the Fair.  So, "we" got busy and built a quilt show!  Above is a photo of the banjo cloth I carefully measured and cut.  I am so glad I was careful, as I used all but six inches of that 23 yards.  

I had never made pleats before, so I practiced on the "admissions table".  It was very slow going, so I worked out a way to make pleats with the fork method.  I needed a half-inch fork, however, so my husband used his Dremel tool to cut two tines off of a fork to make it a half-inch wide.  It worked like a dream!

By making the pleats 1/2 inch with a quarter inch between each pleat, I only needed 44 ft of fabric to go around my 22-foot circumference board.  Once I got it on my machine and stitched all the pleats I had pinned, I was able to just make pleats as I went, with my fork, and kept sewing and sewing and sewing.  This was truly the most daunting part of the entire not-quite-sane project. 

The banjo cloth really made this showcase come alive and look neat, clean, and professional.   This shot was taken while the set-up was still in my quilt studio.  It has since gone off to The Fair.  It looks marvelous there, and I have had so much positive feedback and excitement, even, from Fairgoers both young and old, women and men.  I am truly satisfied with my efforts to help those quilting maniac dolls finally have a quilt show.

There are 19 doll quilts displayed.  All of them are of different designs, except the two red, white, and blue ones on the end.   Both quilts are of the same design and same color pallet (red, white, and blue).  By arranging the colors differently, or in different quantities, perhaps combined with fabrics of different color saturations, the results are totally different looking quilts.  To view more photos and information about the Good Friends Quilt Show, visit czdollquilts.blogspot.com by clicking HERE.  Those dolls are blogging all about it.

Shark Week! Shark Fabric!

My friend A wanted to go to the grand opening of the re-opened quilt shop in Caldwell, Stitch n Giggles.  So, we went.  They had some great buys, and I found a piece of amazing shark fabric for $3.00!  It is about a yard and a half.  And just one day prior to "Shark Week"!  It was meant to be.

I feel a Hachi quilt coming on!  This is fabulous fabric and I feel I am on target for Shark Week this year.  How did that happen?