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.