Doorway to China Workshop

We had a workshop at my studio where I showed several quilters how to put this together.  We all had a great time and lots of laughs, food and fun.  And we all finished at least one top!  They ended up all being different sizes, themes, and not one used the original pattern in its entirety!

Here are a couple of the tops.  Jacques' on the top pic, mine just above :)

Perfection

People throw away what they could have by insisting on perfection, which they cannot have, and looking for it where they will never find it. – Edith Schaeffer


I believe that perfection lies in one place only.  In God.


That being said, we all seem to strive for it.  It is a wonderful goal that we will never reach until we go home to be with God.


So relax, enjoy the journey.  Create what you love, not what others expect.  If they ask you why you created that, smile, and say, because I must.  It has to come out and be created so that I can move on and create more.  When they look at you in puzzlement, smile, give them a hug.  

I think it is an incredible gift not to be to fully understood.


Hugs :)

Subversive Stitchers: Women Armed with Needles: My View: Quilted Symphony by Gloria Loughman

Subversive Stitchers: Women Armed with Needles: My View: Quilted Symphony by Gloria Loughman

Where Women Create

Where Women Create

Where Women Create

Quilt Guilds Join in

Weekly Contest

These have been fun!  Come Join!

Another PHD under my belt.

This is my finished top.  The coloring in my pic is really bad, bad, bad!  The border is really a lavender, white and purple.  With orange koi swimming all over it.  The center has bright orange batik and dark purple batik.  This is a mystery quilt our little quilt guild up here did in 1996 I believe.  That is when I cut it all out.  Today is the day I finished the top.   It will go in my stack of tops to be quilted when I can find a spare moment or day.  :)  I guess my sweetheart is right.  I need a new phone.  One that takes better pictures for sure!

Fabric Pizza

I was commissioned to make a fabric pizza with very specific types of toppings. This was a fun challenge trying to find just the right fabrics. Being in a remote area, I order most of my fabric online. Sometimes the fabric coloring is different, and sometimes the items just don't read the same in person. But this time I was pretty lucky. Here is the crust.




Then you add the sauce, a nice tomatoey batik. :)


Then the cheese. Another batik....




Then you add the mushrooms... mmmm, mmm!



Then the peppers, I guess they should have been green bell peppers, but I chose red, I don't care for bell peppers. :)




Then the onions. And Pepperoni too. And you have a fabric pizza!

Bargello update

This is a close up of the pelican. I actually saw a brown pelican while in Safety Harbor Florida in 1984 and was lucky enough to find a shed feather on the shore. I still have that feather, some things are just to precious to turn loose. Maybe I will add it to this quilt tribute. *light~bulb moment*





This is my quilt top all ready to quilt. The three silhouettes of seagulls are ready to be stitched/quilted down. As is the brown pelican silhouette and posts. Then after the quilting is done, I may embellish. Just can't leave well enough alone. :)

C&T Publishing

New Give away from C&T Publishing

Easy Bargello

I have always been intrigued by the bargello quilts. I have never taken a class, but may someday. Until then, I have found an easy bargello pattern. I know, it is very simple, but still entertaining :).
This started as a trial, and I found that I like it. So I am going to add some sillouettes to it. A few seagulls, and one pelican on a post in the lower left hand corner. I am thinking of naming it in tribute to the oil spill in the gulf, as the sillouette of the pelican came from an article on the gulf spill. Not sure of the name yet, but it will come.
I have already cut out a much larger one. It is all under the sea type fabrics, and at night. :) Going to have fun cutting this one out, as I ran over a pin with my rotary cutter, and we all know what that does to our blade. :( Sigh, I hate it when I do dumb things like that. Now I need to buy a new blade, and that means a trip down the mountain. (130 miles round trip)
Or, I guess I could do what I usually do, just go over and over the cut several times! :)

Cats n' Bats

As promised, here is the top with some bats added. I will continue the bats around the border and then maybe one across the moon. Then I am still thinking of adding a small pumpkin on the top step, much like the one at the bottom left corner with the cat looking at it.

Got to get it done before Halloween! But then I need to finish two baby quilts too. One for my bestfriends granddaughter, and one for my great niece. And all the Christmas quilts too. What am I doing writing a blog? Must get sewing! :)

To all my Creative Friends

This is a relax, and enjoy, must see. Very inspiring!

http://www.theheartoftheartist.com/2010/the-art-of-creativeity-and-elizabeth-gilbert/

Enjoy! I did.

Stairway to Cat Heaven

My newest project. I call it "Cats and Bats". I took the basic pattern from McCalls online. Deleted some of their pattern, added some ideas of my own. And added the bats because I loved the idea from a quilt I saw in a catalog, but couldn't afford their block of the month just to get the bat pattern. So I drew up my own and added it to this quilt. I am not done, thought I might add another pumpkin, and a bat by the moon... We shall see. :)

The Spoon Theory written by Christine Miserandino

The Spoon Theory written by Christine Miserandino

C & T Publishings Great Summer Giveaway!

Hilarious Video: You Can Quilt That Out

Hilarious Video: You Can Quilt That Out

Subversive Stitchers: Women Armed with Needles: Wendy Mamattah sees beauty even in oil spills!

Subversive Stitchers: Women Armed with Needles: Wendy Mamattah sees beauty even in oil spills!

Quilt Hawaii 2010 ~ day 3

3rd day of QY 2010. Went in to see all the wonderful quilts up and took a class from my friend Sonja Hageman. Her class is painting on fabric. This years choice, Heleconia. I painted 3 paintings I am sharing a couple, and some fabric for a background. The class is always fun, and I always learn something, but didn't get to paint enough as we were on the balcony in Waikaloa where the wind always blows, and that day was no exception. By afternoon I was done. It was all to exhausting tying to fight and create at the same time.

Quilt Hawaii 2010

My first days class at Quilt Hawaii is from Meg Maeda. Meg is from Japan and quilts extraordinary Hawaiian style quilts. But for this class she was teaching us to make her Manta Ray quilt. Since we snorkeled with the Mantas last Nov, I decided to take this class in hopes of learning a new technique. This is a small piece, 12x12, and it is all done by hand. As Meg says, "Machine? I no own a machine, no. By hand." Big smile. Meg is so beautiful and so nice, and so very talented. But she doesn't speak a lot of english. But the class understood what she was teaching. Some day I hope to take her Hawaiian quilt class. She has won best of show at QH the last 2 years. This year Megs student and Megs quilt design won best of show.
My quilt is not complete, but will be one I finish! :)

Quilt Hawaii Class ~ Sonja Hagemans Class

I am taking another class from my friend Sonja Hageman. She is an artist and a great teacher. We had so much fun in her class two years ago, that I just had to take it again. Besides, I cant wait to see her and talk story! These are three of the paintings I did. I sewed them together to make a wall hanging and quilted it, I am binding it now, then maybe some embellishments. :) Aloha Nui Loa!

Quilt Hawaii here I come!

My other entrant is "Mikas' Hibiscus". This quilt came about because while in Kailua a few years ago, I pounded a huge yellow hibiscus into fabric before my Sweetheart could get a picture of it. (that will teach him to go golfing):)
So I started this with Melinda Bulas' technique, added my own design and flare to it, and I hope this makes up for smashing your flower Michael...

I am using the flower that I pounded for the label. This is a pic of it before I wrote on the label.

Quilt Hawaii here I come!

"Rise and Shine" Is one of my entrants for Quilt Hawaii this year.
I started this quilt for a banner at a Christian retreat. The retreat didn't happen, so I made a bed quilt for the other part of the banner and a wall hanging out of the rooster. This pic is before the quilting.

Welcome to DCR Creations: Handbag/Hobo Bag Giveaway!

Welcome to DCR Creations: Handbag/Hobo Bag Giveaway!

Doorway to China Pattern

Okay, I had to do another one. I told you they were addicting. Now where did I put my pistacio's? :)

Alzheimers Art Quilt Initiative

Sew Much to Think About

What if we are allotted only sew much?

Only sew much-

Fabric? What if what you have is all you will ever get? I know that I would be fine. I have enough fabric to last me the rest of my life, and maybe my heirs lives too. I have enough PHD's to keep me busy every day for the rest of my life. How will I Know when I have reached my limit? Or what if I have reached my limit? I have more ideas and dreams to fill the rest of my days, but each day more come. And with those ideas, come projects, dreams, and goals. Are our thoughts limited? Do we only get so many in our lifetimes?

Stuff? We all have stuff. What if what you have, is all you will ever get? I have way to much stuff, and have been deleting stuff for the last two years. But again, I could delete stuff every year, and not run out. But if we are only allotted so much stuff for our entire lives, how do we know when we have reached our limit ? And is this feeling/thought what creates hoarders?

Time? Ah, time. The one thing we all have the same amount of every day. And our time is pre-ordained. We are only allotted sew much time. The Bible says our days are numbered. None of us know how much time we really have left. We live each day as though we have a million more, but should live each day as if it were our last one here on earth. If today was your last day, are you content with how you spent your time?

Today may be all you have because we only have sew much.
So today I think I will sew!

Laura Peterson Quilt

Friends, this is the most amazing quilt and quilter. If you have a few minutes to spare, (I spent an hour there), go to this website and read all about this quilt and Lauras quilters journey. Just amazing!


www.laurapetersonquilts.com
www.laurapetersonquilts.com
I have received so many inquiries about how I made this quilt, I decided to put all the information here in one place. If Imissed anything or you have additional questions, please e-mail me at winterwd@aol.com. Thanks for visiting.