Playtime in the Afternoon

I was absolutely delighted that I was able to finish my preparations for the next quilt show this morning.  TWO DAYS EARLY!!!  Three quilt shows in three weeks has not left much time for recreational sewing and crafts.  That changed today.

What's this?

I brought the big bag of tissue paper out of the closet.  Using a technique shown here earlier (and originally shown to me by Robin Kohler - Nestlings by Robin), I used diluted white glue to "decoupage" torn strips of tissue paper to a pink hand dyed fat quarter.

This will take a while to dry, but by tomorrow, I hope that I will be able to get to work on what will become more fabric key rings.  It was flattering that people bought my key rings and bobbin earrings at the quilt shows.  Now I have an excuse to make more!  I've glued buttons onto bobbins and when the glue is dry it won't take long to put four more pair together.

Goodbye to an old friend.  These scissors have only been used for paper for years.  The other day, they fell off a table at the quilt show and the handle shattered.  Thinking back, I believe that these are the scissors my mom bought for me when I was taking HOME ECONOMICS in the 8th grade.  That would make them around 45 years old.  Oh dear.  You do the math..

A Wonderful Quilt Weekend

We just returned from the Durham-Orange Quilters' Guild quilt show "A Thread Runs Through It".  Held every two years, this is our fourth time as vendors.  It was fun to see old friends among both guild members and the other vendors.  We had a GRAND time and the quilts we saw were just exceptional!  The quilt show is held at the American Tobacco Campus, a restored industrial space.  It is ideally suited for a quilt show.  The room containing the quilts is large and well lighted and vendors are situated on an L-shaped mezzanine area  above the show.  We had a bird's eye view.

Once down on the floor, I took a lot of pictures.  There were some large quilts with the most amazing piecing. 

Here's another.

And another.

Some things appealed to me for special reasons.  

BUTTONS!

SELVAGES!

This is the coolest patriotic quilt I've ever seen.  

"Bennie and the Jets"

Up close, there was some amazing machine quilting to see.

A local art quilt group exhibited their quilts depicting "from the mountains to the sea".

At the end of the show, I had a happy surprise.  I had bought 5 chances on fabric baskets and

 I WON ONE!!!

There is one more chance for quilters in this area to enjoy a quilt show.  Next weekend, we go to New Bern.  Their members tell me that there are over 250 quilts registered and there will be 17 vendors.  Don't miss it!

Bee By the River

October 26 & 27

Twin Rivers Quilt Show

Riverfront Convention Center

203 S. Front Street

New Bern, NC

9 am-5 pm both days

Demo at the Quilt Show

Believe it or not, we are almost ready to hit the road again.  This coming weekend we will be at the quilt show presented by the Durham-Orange Quilters' Guild in Durham, NC.  Vendors were asked if they were willing to give a demonstration and I accepted.  I'll be showing how to make my pattern "Crooked on Purpose".

The quilt on the pattern cover is a miniature, made of 3" blocks.  I've also made a lap quilt, with 6" blocks.

Not too long ago, I made another batch of 3" blocks.  

I wanted to do a different setting this time, so decided to make a runner.

Today, I finally got around to adding borders.

Then I chose some more fabric for my demonstration.  This time I'll make 5" blocks.

I made a few sample blocks and found a nice solid red for setting triangles.

I'm just about ready to go!

Durham-Orange Quilters' Guild, Inc.

"A Thread Runs Through It"

2012 Quilt Show

Oct. 19-21

American Tobacco Campus

334 Blackwell Street

Durham, Nc

Fri. & Sat. 10-6, Sun. 10-5 

On the Road Again

Another quilt show!  This one was in Wilson, NC, presented by the Peace by Piecing Quilters Guild.  I've known these ladies for over 20 years, so it was a wonderful weekend visiting with good friends.  The location was the nice, bright assembly room in the local agriculture center.  

One special feature was the display of miniature quilts.  They were incredible.

Just for fun, I took pictures before, during and after my booth was set up.  First, it was just a pile of boxes on the floor. 

Quilts were added as table coverings and I began to build shelves with the wire grid system that we use.

Here I am, ready for my first customer!

Fabric Graffiti

On Saturday, the Artrageous Quilters met here at the store.  The weather cooperated, so we ended up out on the porch, painting two lengths of muslin with acrylic paints.

There were a lot of people playing ring-around-the-rosy with foam brushes and plastic plates of paint!  For a while, it looked like we might end up with a muddy mess.  But, after the first layer was dry, we went back and added a lot of detailing with smaller brushes and stamp pads.  The results were GREAT!!

We are going to have a CHALLENGE with our graffiti fabric.  The original two yards would only yield 8 fat quarters, so we may have to pass out fat eighths.  The was some talk of getting some of the fabric reproduced at "Spoonflower" here in Mebane, NC.  Either way, it will be a while before you see this fabric again.  We already have another challenge in progress 

Bobbin Earrings

One of my girlfriends saw the earrings I made last month using my cats' rabies tags and sent me a picture of some bobbin earrings, along with the question "your next project?"  It sounded like a challenge to me.

I just happened to have some unopened packages of Featherweight bobbins at the store (and I don't own a Featherweight).  I had a lovely time rummaging through my buttons, looking for shank buttons that fit the holes.  Then, just a dab of craft glue and away we go!

Restless

In the aftermath of the quilt show, I found myself wanting to PLAY!  The acrylic paints are still calling to me. That inspiration came in the form of a Quilting Arts Workshop DVD, introducing me to Alisha Burke and her improvisational methods (check her blog - GREAT!)

 These methods involve a lot of layering ... adding paint in many ways from brushing, to spraying, stenciling  and splattering.  FUN FUN FUN!  Often the first layer is just a little bit plain.

 

The layers that follow add interest.  I used a rubber stamp to add the diamonds.  After a drying period, the thin wash of yellow was added to take care of the plain white spaces.  I will add more, but I'm not sure what.

On this sample, I ironed on freezer paper flower stencils and sprayed blue paint. 

One REALLY fun thing to do is squirt different colors onto the fabric, wad it up into a ball and squish in your hands until the paint has saturated the fabric.  It creates a sort of tie dyed/batik effect.  That's how this piece started, then I added freezer paper strips (one of my favorite tools, can you tell?) and painted lines. 

 Here is the result, paper removed.  It will also have something more added later.

Trying to think of even more ways to apply paint and get different effects, I wrapped string around my rubber brayer. 

 That resulted in a great effect with wiggly lines.  I did this on two of my pieces.

Here is a sample that I really didn't like much after I added black lines with Magic Marker.  Then I went back with an individual diamond stamp and black paint, now I like it.

After I ran out of room to lay drying pieces of fabric, I switched gears and decided to make a spiral!  If interested, look WAY, WAY back on this blog to April of last year.  I had discovered a Canadian quilter named Kristin Miller and her spirals.  I made two at the time, now it was time to try it again.  I grabbed some fabrics from the miscellaneous pile and started in.  It will go until I run out of the chosen fabric.  Stay tuned!