"Big Wind at Bay View" has been accepted to Road to California!

What?  You have got to be kidding me!  I have the acceptance letter to prove it!

It's true, you CAN see the wind in there!  I think I need a celebratory cocktail.

The "Black Quilt" top is completed!

I have finished the quilt top and backing and took it to be long-armed.  I am thinking my choice of black thread may be an error.  

After I finished piecing it, I found more black background fabrics, naturally.  Furthermore, I thought I used the last of the oranges fabric in this, as I was wishing I had more of it.  Turns out I spied a scrap of the oranges fabric in my scrap bin, after I took the top to be long-armed.  Such is the way of things in a busy quilt studio.   There are polar bears in there, and I took that chunk of fabric and put it in my bag to be donated.  Later, I took all the black fabrics out of my cupboard and sorted and refolded them.  I found more polar bear fabric!  What???  But, I am excited to get it finished!  

I had sorted all the black-backed fabrics into one box.  I have put all these fabrics back into my stash and broke the box down and placed it in the recycling.  One box out of my quilt studio! 

Book Project is Completed!

I used a piece of the hideous pinkish-brown fabric I overdyed last July, in this project.  I am really happy with the results! Below is what each panel looked like before I folded and stitched the final construction.

I used the marks on the fabric to guide my art work.   This is panel 1.

This is panel 2, and my favorite.  I think it is amazing just as it is, without being folded into a book.  However, it is now folded into a book.

This is my finished book.  It is hand dyed, hand-stitched, machine stitched, and appliqued.  Click on a photo to enlarge it and see the details!

What's On the Design Wall in November?

Things are finally settling down for the year, so I am making some regular quilts that have been on my list for a while.  I got the donation quilt top and back finished and delivered to my long-arm quilter.  Now, I am working on "the black quilt".  I had placed over fifty black backgrounded fabrics in a box last December, and now I am working on that quilt.  I am really knocking it out, so I can start on the next one.

I am determined to only use fabrics that I already possess.  I am also tidying up the quilt room, to make room for a few friends coming over for a sew day on Saturday.  This is looking good.  I cannot remember if Lynne, of Patchery Menagerie (blog), used sashing or not.  I will have to go check that out.  I want mine to look different from hers, so I have not looked at the one she posted, last year, since last year. 

Dyed, Stitched, and Quilted Book Project

This weekend I attended the virtual Montana/Idaho SAQA Region Annual Meeting.  It was amazingly engaging!  I learned so much!  On Sunday, we started a project where we performed mark making on fabric and then learned to fold it into a book and stitch it together.  The real trouble is, I now have two new projects on my list that were not there on Friday.  They are both going to take a little while, because I have to think about how I proceed, when it comes to art.  

The one I am working on now, I started with a piece of hand-dyed and somewhat marked fabric I created in July with my "Sewful" stitching group.  At least, when this book is complete, I will have used the fabric in an art project.

This is showing the folding part, but I had not started any real stitching on it yet.  I had only stitched the interfacing onto the wrong side of the fabric, at this point.

At this point, I have determined which panel part of the book will be the cover.  I have stitched most of this owl.  I need to add the beak and talons.

I have two regular quilt projects that I planned to start, this month, and I had better get started!

Some Art Quilt Challenges Completed

It was certainly a busy summer!  Now that all the activity of September is over, I have time to regroup and catch up on some projects.  The real problem is, I have quite a list of projects to work on and I want to just have some fun play time in my studio.  My friend, A, came over and we finally did a landscape with mountains.  We actually did some "Accidental Landscapes."

This piece, I was happy to use a scrap of the upholstery fabric left over from Pete's carpet bag.  Hmmm, I don't think I posted about that project.  Anyway, this landscape measures 6" X 7" and I completed it in one day.  Title:  Ditch Side Beauty

It is highly likely that someone should talk to me about how I name my art.  On the other hand, I should be true to myself.

This piece is 12" X 16" and is hand quilted.  My Unruly Quilt Artist group learned how to do Sashiko, last summer.  (I had taken a class years ago, but I never went anywhere with it.) We were each to make an art quilt with one of the blocks we hand stitched.  I used some of my Japanese fabrics to create my art piece.  Again, I found a scrap (of my Aoi has Two Sisters fabric) to fussy cut and include in my design.  I used some two-holed beads to add interest.  This was a challenge and not my usual design type.  I really like it.  In this last year, I have made quite a few hand-quilted pieces.  I like being able to take the time to make hand sewn/quilted pieces of art.

Title:  My Favorite Dish: Fish

Princess Poppy

I started this art quilt in February.  I took Susan Carlson's Fantastical Fish class on-line.   I completed the fish and background in about a month.  I did a little quilting on it, then I procrastinated with the remainder of the quilting until August.  I quilted it on my domestic machine with my walking foot, so it took me a substantial number of hours to finally complete it.  I completed on September 15, 2025.  It is 36 inches wide and 23 inches tall.  Quilt name:  Princess Poppy