Being Published

Life has been quite busy for a while -- sorry for the lack of posts.  I'm hoping things will slow down a bit after Easter.  I doubt it, but I can hope!

A lot of years ago, the first article about quilts with me in it was in the West Allis Star newspaper.  At the time, I certainly would never have classified myself as a quilter, but our ladies group at church decided to make a few charity quilts.  The newspaper somehow found out about it and decided to come take photos.  I was in my late teens or maybe 20 at the time and I appeared in the photos with my sewing machine working on piecing the quilt top.  I tried to find the article, but I've misplaced it.  We had fun and there were two lovely ladies who knew how to quilt and instructed the rest of us. I'd love to show you the article and I will if it turns up.

The next time was in this publication.

 

A group of us decided to do an Amish Challenge and the American Quilter's Society decided it worthy of publication in their magazine, The American Quilter.

 

 

I am the one on the left in the first row.  My quilt is on the right on the same page.  You might recognize a couple of people in the photo.  Bonnie Browning is in the upper left and several years later was hired as the Executive Show Director by the American Quilter's Society.  Also in the photo is Lorinda Lie who wrote Heartfelt Quilts.

 

Several of my quilts have been published in various magazines and books over the years.  It's a lot of fun to have someone call you to ask if it is okay to publish a photo of your quilt!

 

Lorinda isn't the only one who became an author out of our little group.  Bonnie has a number of books published and I also am the author of Pine Tree Quilts.

 

 

It was my intent to do another book shortly after this one, but we moved a couple of times across country and, though many of the quilts were made for the book, I just didn't get it written.

 

As a result of being an AQS author, I was asked to make a quilt to be published in honor of those who died on 9/11/2001.  The book was called United We Quilt.

 

 

I've shown you the quilt that I made to commemorate that day.

 

 

These quilts traveled for 3 years across the country as they were exhibited in galleries in remembrance of that fateful day.



 

Lately, though, I've had several articles published in the Quilting Quarterly which is the National Quilting Association magazine for it's members.

 

 

The first article was the pattern for my quilt Blue Skies and Sunshine, which appeared in the magazine on the left above.  The next 2 articles are a series I'm currently writing called "Does It Work".  In these articles I test various products to see if they live up to their promise.  The middle and right magazines above show the first two of those articles.  Number 3 is coming out any day and the editor has number 4.  I am also working on another quilt that will be published later in the year with it's pattern.  I showed you the beginnings of it, but now it's under wraps until the article comes out this Fall.

 

Deadlines keep us on our toes when we write!  I have 2 articles due the same week, so I will have to carve the time out to get both done, hopefully before the deadline gets too close!

 

Hope you've enjoyed reading about my adventures in publishing. It is something I love to do and making the quilts or projects to go along with the articles is a lot of fun, too.

 

 

Until next time!

xoxoXOXOxoxo

 

Lois





 

A Paper Quilt for a Birthday Surprise

Last week I was privileged to travel to San Diego to attend the Children's Pastors Conference with our Children's Pastor and our Director of Elementary Ministries.  My "title"  Director of Nursery Ministries.  My joy is being able to plan lessons and staff volunteers for the children birth through 3.  It's fun, the volunteers are great and the kids are precious!

When we returned from San Diego, I brought back good memories, a lot of fresh new ideas, a bag full of books and information, a ton of notes and a cold.  The last I would have rather left in California!

On Friday when I returned to work, my office had been made over.  Friday happened to be my birthday, so while I was gone, our Administrative Assistant, Director of Early Childhood and Director of Kingdom Kids redecorated my desk.

I looked like this when I walked in.

 

Pardon the flash in the center of the paper quilt. We keep our offices cozy by using lamps instead of the fluorescent overhead lights that are so "officey". And, we have no windows!

 

 

Someone blew up a lot of balloons,\ -- they were all over the place!

 

 

The best and permanent part was the paper quilt they constructed for over my desk.  When I moved into the office, my position was an interim position so I had not really decorated the area for what was to be a few months.  I just left the art work that was already there.  It has turned into more than that, so my wonderful co-workers created and framed a paper quilt since they know quilting is what I do when I'm not working with them and the kids.

 

I am blessed to work with a great team who pull together to make the Children's experience at Chandler Christian Church the best possible.  And the bonus is, they are great friends as well!

 

Hope you have had a marvelous Monday.

 

xoxoXOXOxoxo

 

Lois

 

 

 

Autumn Table

A nasty cold caught me!  Usually I don't get sick -- I am not a patient patient!  I want to feel good NOW!  Thank goodness for DayQuil and NyQuil!  I will be fine tomorrow.  Today, I just could not push through.  I got up at 4AM as usual, got the breakfast things out and promptly went back to bed.  The next time I woke up it was 7:30!  I NEVER sleep until 7:30!  Even on weekends!  Tomorrow will be different -- I believe in mind over matter and tomorrow I will be fine.

In the meantime, I thought you might like to see the way the dining table is dressed for Autumn this year.  I made a burlap table runner that I found instructions for on Confessions of a Plate Addict blog.  It is a little longer than I would like it to be, but it will stay this long since burlap would not be easy to "unsew"!

This table and two others will be FULL to overflowing next Thursday for Thanksgiving!

This three tiered stand will be in the kitchen with desserts on it.  There will be a pumpkin pie, a pecan pie and I'm not quite sure what the other one will be, maybe apple as it usually is.  This is such a versatile piece!

I did not notice that the candle had leaned to the right when it was moved into place -- too late now!  The little quilt underneath these things is called Anarchy in the Forest.  It is from my anarchy workshop and is one of the first I made without using a ruler -- that's why it is an anarchy quilt -- no rulers allowed!

The French pumpkin seed packet is a graphic found on Confessions of a Plate Addict as well.  She found it on a French web site and shared it on her blog..

The little pumpkin in the tea cup is from WalMart as is the metallic one in front of the fruit.  The others I bought there, I painted white and they are in the kitchen with the one remaining white ceramic one I have.  A couple of the ceramic ones were broken in the last move cross country.

This little basket is on a small antique trunk that was a gift from our older daughter several years ago.  The basket was a natural color, but I decided I wanted it to look old so I painted it a mocha color and then used a white wash over it.  Most of the dried flowers were in another arrangement, but a few new ones were added.  I like the look of the basket, but may add a French graphic to the front with Modge Podge.  What do you think?  The basket has been moved since the photo was taken and is now on the Longaberger Pie Carrier next to the china cabinet, but it may go back on the trunk.  Things tend to move around as the mood strikes me.

What are your Thanksgiving plans?  A big dinner?  Lots of family?  Football on TV?  Making your shopping list for Black Friday?  Hmm I don't do Black Friday shopping -- too many people! 

We will have a houseful of people Thanksgiving Day.  I LOVE it -- can't wait.  Next week, I WILL be cooking and baking a lot!

Hope you are having a wonderful day, dear friends!  I feel better already just spending some time with you!

Until next time,

Lois

Elephant Walk

Elephants have always fascinated me.  I have no idea why. 

The first elephant I remember seeing was a brass elephant figurine that my parents had.  Where it came from is any one's guess.  I don't remember seeing it when we cleaned things out of the house after Dad died.  Of course, it could have been in one of the many boxes that were eventually auctioned or it may have disappeared years before that.

A few years ago I started making what I call "anarchy quilts" because no rulers are allowed except for the final squaring up.  They are fun to make and quite freeing.  One of the first ones I made is this one.

Gary really liked it and so it became his anniversary gift that year.  It has hung in his office at home every since.  Note the unevenness of the 9 patches along the bottom.  I did discover that I could cut quite strait with the scissors so things aren't as "wonky" as I thought they might be.

Points may be cut off, but they look okay in this type of quilts because it is obviously intentional rather than a lack of skill and accuracy.

Here is a closeup of one of the elephants on the quilt.  Note the elephant and leaf buttons used as embellishments..



The grass is simply raffia stitched by hand onto the quilt .  The quilt is not intended to be washed so that was not a concern in adding the "grass".

You would be amazed at the kinds of buttons and beads you can find in elephant and jungle leaf shapes!  It was such fun finding these pieces to add to the quilt.

With the elephant quilt in place, I found this print to add to the room's decor.

If you look closely you can see my reflection in the glass as I took the photo.  Hope this is the only way I ever get "charged" by an elephant!

My nephew, David, gave us this elephant after a trip to Africa.  It almost blends in with the granite counter top, but there was better light in the kitchen than in the office where the elephant "lives" on the ledge of a small, high window.

He doesn't "live" there alone.

This elephant lives there, too.  He is on top of the world.  Pardon my fingers holding this one against a plain wall.  This one blended in way too much with the counter top.

This must be why they say elephants never forget.  It has it's own perpetual calendar and a pen to make all those lists of things he can't really remember.  Someone gave this elephant and the one previous to Gary, but I don't recall the occasion.

I have another batik fabric with a large elephant as well as some other small batik animal squares that I've gathered.  I think there is another elephant quilt in the future.

Hope you enjoyed walking with the elephants in a safe environment.  Other than the zoo, this is the closest I've ever come to elephants.  They are just fascinating animals.

Do you have a favorite animal?  Is it an exotic animal? 

I tried to talk Gary into buying llamas and a farm to raise them on once, but he vetoed that idea along with the bed and breakfast I wanted to buy in Missouri.  Guess those both sounded like more fun to me than to him.  Wonder if he'd go for raising lavender.  Hmm, probably not.

Next week I'll be in Columbus, Ohio for a few days.  I heard there is a zoo there, but I probably won't get to it since I'll be in meetings most of the time.  I'll try to write from there.

Until next time,

Lois

September Morn

Autumn is my favorite time of year.  Even here in Arizona even though we don't get the dramatic change in the desert that other parts of the country or even the higher elevations in Arizona get.  The weather begins to change -- a bit.  Okay, so it was still 109 degrees today, but the nights do cool off at least into the 80's.  That may not sound like a change to you, but it is a 30 degree change!  Also, 80 when it's dry feels much cooler than 80 degrees with 90 percent humidity.  You may have to trust me on this one.

Here is my tribute not only to September, but to my all time favorite singer, Neil Diamond, who has a song by the same name.

This is another of the stretched over an artist's canvass pieces I did while living in Montgomery.  The background is the "wrong" side of a piece of fabric that is actually a light olive green on the other side.  (Hey, I paid for both sides, didn't I?)  The back side, however, is this lovely subtle beige print.  The brown on top of that is a place mat.  On top of that are several things.  On the left is a piece of Osnaburg that I put leaves on and then used paint on a toothbrush to "sprinkle" paint in a light coat revealing the leaf shapes once the actual leaves were removed.

On the right there are stencilled leaves with the papers from used tea bags and a leaf skeleton on top of that.  There are beads in leaf shapes as well as cylinder shapes.  In the center the title "September Morn" was printed in brown onto Osnaburg.  The fabric was ironed to freezer paper before going through the ink jet printer.  Usually I use a lighter fabric, but the Osnaburg seemed right for this

Also on the right is a poem about a September Morn.  These are not lyrics from Neil Diamond's September Morn as I didn't want to get into copyright issues.  Everything was stitched through the canvas.  This was a really fun piece to design and do as a tribute to Autumn.

Oh, the Neil Diamond thing?  He's been a favorite since we went to see him in concert when we lived in the Milwaukee, Wisconsin area.  We went with our friends Ron and Deanna Reed.  This means it was early 70's as they only lived in the area a short time.  It was an amazing concert!  I absolutely loved it.  I still listen to Neil Diamond CD's having replaced the tapes I used to listen to.  He is on my I-Pod and my computer.  I can listen to him almost anywhere, any time.

Sorry if you don't like his music.  I won't force you to listen to it.  I know music can be added to blogs, but I won't do that.  Well, maybe I will sometime, but not today.

Hope you are having a fantastic September Morn!  (or evening, depending on when you read this!)

Until next time,

Lois



What a Week or Two!

The past couple of weeks have been hectic to say the least!

I needed 5 arms like this starfish!

Our bookkeeper had an emergency appendectomy. 

We had a LOT of RUSH jobs.

One of our pressmen had a heart attack.

The air conditioning on our car stopped working last Monday -- It was 110!

I did my work, bindery work, some of the bookkeeping, helped Gary on one of the press jobs.  No, I did not run the press, I put deli lids containers that we put holes in back in the plastic sheaths they come in and tied them.  We had 120 cases of these to do with 250 lids in each case.  Actually we are doing 800 cases, but we only had 120 last week to do.

That was in addition to working in the bindery.  We also had to hire some extra help!

Hopefully this week will be better.  Having a lot of work is good, but all the rush jobs at the same time is BAD!

Now, back to the starfish.  This was a study in symmetry.  A starfish has radial symmetry.  This one is fabric, of course.  It has hundreds of French knots.  The lacy background was made by stitching through Solvy -- a product that disappears when soaked in water leaving the stitching.

I'm pretty sure that I added some sliced shells to the top after this photo was taken.  I do that.  I think something is finished and then decide it's not.  It's the way I am.  I think I'm always striving for perfection or something like that.

Since this is the last official Holiday Weekend of the summer many people have headed for the coast.  We didn't.  We are looking forward to having a very quiet day tomorrow before heading back to work on Tuesday.

Oh, the air conditioner got fixed, the bookkeeper came back after a couple weeks off and Tuesday the pressman will come in for a little while anyway.  We did hire someone to help out next week, too.  We don't want to push our pressman too hard!  One heart attack is enough for a while -- he is only in his 40's!

I was going to show you another piece, but I think I'll save it for tomorrow.

Have a wonderful Labor Day!

Lois

Still Life

Since it is still technically Summer even with the kiddos all back in school -- at least here in AZ -- I thought you might like to see this still life quilt done a while back.  Far enough back that I had not started using paint to enhance shading in my quilts, so I'm thinking it needs to be "fixed".

This was from a class I was lucky enough to be invited to attend.  Another chapter of the AZ Quilter's Guild was hosting the teacher and it was supposed to be for that group, but they had an opening or two and I got to take it.

We were to bring a photo either our own or of a completed art piece.  Not wanting to challenge the copyright laws, I chose a photo in the encyclopedia (remember those?) from an artist who lived long enough ago that the copyright law did not apply to her work.

The only shading is either creative use of the fabric or from the satin stitching around the edge.  We projected the image onto a wall where our batting was taped and "rough cut" the pieces.  I learned I did not like this method.  Later pieces where I projected an image onto the wall, there was poster board or freezer paper to use as templates.  That method, for me anyway, worked better.  It gave me more accuracy than the method used in this piece.

Bridal tulle and beads are used to give a more opaque look to the bowl.

You can see the selective use of fabrics particularly on the cherries.

Finding enough variation for the green grapes wasn't easy -- one place the paint accents would have helped.

I did like the fabric making the peach look very ripe as well as the marble for the table top.  Again, I see places that I may go back and add some paint for shading.



The strawberries needed more variation in the reds and there is definitely a need for more shading on the bowl. 

My apologies for the fuzzy image -- must have been a little close for the camera setting.  You can see the addition of the beads for the strawberry seeds, though.

So that is the still life.  Parts of it I like, and parts need to be improved.

What I learned --

• I was not fond of the technique we used in class -- you can modify techniques to suit the way you like to work
• Fabric can be used to create at least part of the shading
• What you bring to class may not be what you need at all
• Paint and beads and specialty fabrics can do a lot to create the effect you want
• You can always go back and add paint and embellishments, even to a finished piece

As long as you learn something -- even one thing -- in a class you have gained knowledge that can be used in later pieces to make them better.

What have you learned in one class that made your later pieces better?

Have you noticed that sometimes what you intend to learn in a class is not what you do learn?

Sometimes you learn just watching what the other students are doing with their pieces.

Until next time,
Lois

Going In Circles

Have you ever felt you were going in circles?  I do a lot.  It seems that I get up, go to work, come home, make dinner, and go to bed only to get up and start it all over again!  Sometimes it's my mind that goes in circles -- thinking about one thing and then another and back to the first again.  Please tell me that you feel the same way -- I'd hate to think I'm the only one with issues like this!

This study in yellow that I did with an online group a while back must have been done in one of those periods as was the quilt in the previous post.  It seems I was obsessing about circles at that time or at least making quilts using circles..

Our first assignment was to create a design and do it in black and white.  This was done with various paper. I had to get creative to find the values I wanted.  Some were cut from magazines and some were even the inside of envelopes copied in black and white on the copier.

The second assignment was to start with yellow and add black and/or white to it.  Though the example was done using papers, I first mixed yellow acrylic paint with black in varying degrees and white in varying degrees to see what tints and shades were made when mixing the paint. Then the challenge was to find papers of the same color and value that were created with the paint.  This was the result of that assignment.

Our next challenge assignment was to use the colors next to yellow on the color wheel going either direction.  I chose to go toward red so that various values of orange were part of the mixture.  I believe I ended up painting some of these spaces as I could not find paper the right shade of orange or red/orange.

We were next to do the same design using yellow and it's complement -- purple, again using various values in the piece.  I bought a lot of scrap booking paper for this one.  The magazines just didn't seem to use much purple so cutting the shapes from magazines wasn't going to work in this assignment.

The final assignment was to create a small quilt using yellow and our the design we had worked with in the paper mock ups.  Since I LOVE blue and yellow together, this quilt is the result of the yellow challenge.  Apparently many people are afraid to use yellow.  I've used it a lot because well, I already told you I LOVE yellow.  It's been one of my favorite colors for as long as I can remember.  I called this little quilt Mellow Yellow because I think it is a pretty "laid back" quilt even with as much yellow as is in it. You may notice that the binding changed color with the piece on the edge so that it almost disappears. That was a chalenge, too!

What do you think?  Was the study in yellow worth the effort?  Other than the fact I wish I'd had many more papers to choose from, it was really a fun thing to do.  It did take quite a while to complete, but I was happy with the little quilt that resulted.

What is your favorite color?  Have you ever done a study of it to see what happens when you add black or white to it?  You might be surprised.  It is also fun to go what I call through the color wheel mixing two complements.  I've done that with fabric and die and the colors you get can be a surprise.  Try it, you might like it.

Hope you are having a Mellow Yellow day!

Until next time,
Lois

Square Pegs

"Be kind for every one you meet is fighting a hard battle." ....Plato

A few years ago, I created this little quilt with the catalyst "no squares allowed."  This was while I was meeting monthly with art quilters and this was the group catalyst for the month.  Since I'm a pretty conservative person, it occurred to me that there were times in my life where I felt like the "square" that was not allowed.  I'm sure you relate, especially if you think back to Jr. High and High School days.  Depending on the mood for the day, you could be in or out of the "cool" crowd.

As you can see, there is a square almost dead center.  That square is quilted in graduated squares.  The title of the quilt is "Square Pegs Into Round Holes Won't Go".  You might note, too, that the quilt is a 15" x 15" square.  It contains mostly circles and even the quilting is small circles.  However, the backing fabric is....... YEP, it's a small plaid with lots of squares. The background fabric is some that I painted.  All in all, I think it is a fun quilt that makes a subtle point.  Some people get the joke in the quilt and others don't.  It's okay, just look for the "square" in your vicinity and be kind to them.

Some days we are the squares and some days we are the cool circles.  Every day we have to remember that someone else is feeling like the square that doesn't fit that day and make them feel  like a welcome part of the group..

I'm glad you stopped by today.  Do you feel like the square that doesn't fit today or the cool circle?  Either way, you are OK in my book.

Until next time,
Lois

Fractured Flowers

Fractured Flowers

On another blog, Quilting on the Edge, Chris was working on a piece that she was mounting on canvas.  After a nice conversation with her via e-mail, I thought you might like to see the rose that I made several years ago.  This was made as part of a group project while we lived in Alabama.  Studio 222 which meets in Auburn, AL was a big part of my life there.  Someone suggested that we make large flowers, but divide them onto 4 canvases.  We could do almost anything we wanted as long as we kept to that format.  Some of the artists in the group painted their canvases and some stretched fabric over them.  They were all very different, varied in technique and made for a wonderful group art show.  We were fortunate enough to have them hung in a number of galleries around the state and the response was great.  In the shows, the 4 parts of each artists flower were mixed up so that it made for a wonderful, colorful exhibit that we called Garden Party.

As part of the project, the 4 parts of each flower were captured in photos and applied to magnets so that those viewing the show could mix the parts of the flowers to make different configurations on a metal board.  The children especially enjoyed making their own arrangement of the parts.  Some people wanted to see what each flower looked like when the 4 parts were together, as well.  It was a fun project and a colorful exhibit.

My flower hangs like this in the foyer of our home right now.

The fabric I used for the flower was hand painted which was a lot of fun!  Then the petals were appliquéd to the background with batting only where the petals are.  The petals were quilted on the machine for dimension.  The center of the flower has beads and French knots to give it the texture found in the center of a rose.  I laid a rose from my garden on my scanner rather than taking a photo of the rose and printed it on a transparency so I could make it whatever size I wanted and divide the flower wherever I wanted for the 4 quadrants.

Here are a few photos of the group as we were working on how to exhibit the pieces.  We toyed with hanging them close together, far apart and with hanging all 4 parts of each flower together.

You can see why I loved being a part of that group.  Now I only receive the e-mails about what they are doing as it was difficult to be a member and live across the country from the rest.  I really miss our last Friday of the month meetings!  I miss the spontaneity of the group and the encouragement to push the limits of creativity to the fullest.

Are you a part of a group that encourages you to grow in your quilt making?  I hope so.  I sure miss being a part of a group that meets on a regular basis.  However, I have found encouragement from being able to read other quilt and quilt art blogs and being a part of the quilt world through the wonderful Internet as well as enjoying being with my quilting sisters in person.  Find a group whether or not you can meet in person to encourage you and for you to encourage.  It’s a lot of fun!  If we are not having fun, why bother, right?

Until next time -- keep stretching!

Lois

Mr. Goodwrench meets Rubber Band Man

Cars and trucks are wonderful inventions.  I'm thrilled to be able to get in a car and travel to distant and not so distant places.  I am NOT so thrilled when the vehicle I'm in decides to quit working.  I am especially not so thrilled when it decides to stop working in rush hour traffic.  This past week I had the "honor" of riding with a tow truck driver 3 (three) times. 

Not so much fun.

They were very nice men, but still, not so much fun.

First the starter decided to, well, not start the car.

On a Friday night.

At the grocery store/pizza place.

The battery was determined to be fine by the first person sent out by AAA and suggested it might be the starter.  He called for a tow for us.  The tow truck driver confirmed that the battery was fine and said it was probably the starter as he could hear it trying to start the car. We had it towed 15 miles to our house.

We had to be someplace on Saturday. It's a good thing we have a truck, too!

Sunday, as you know, car repair places are usually not open.

Monday, we called to make an appointment for the car, and, oh, yes, a tow truck to take the car to be repaired.

Tuesday, I rode once again in the tow truck to the car dealership to get the work done.

"Looks, like the engine froze up. That's not a good thing." the first man told me.

"Hmmm, have you looked at the starter?" I replied, hopefully in a sweet voice.

"We go to lunch from 11:30 to 12:30", he says at 11:15.  "Can you hang out a while?"

Since I came with the two truck driver, what else was I going to do?

Enter, the second man.  "It looks like you've got a bad starter."  (I only thought, Ya think?) "We can get one locally, or you can wait 2 hours for a Delco to be delivered."  I opted for the local one, they put it in and I was on my way home.  Yay!

Thursday on the way home from work at the SAME INTERSECTION as the grocery store/pizza place the battery light came on, the power steering quit and it over heated.  We were in the far left lane, of course, and had to get to a safe place to get off the road during rush hour.  Fortunately, Gary is a very good driver and we did so without incident.

AAA sent a tow truck. We rode in the tow truck to a different car dealership.  Our usual car dealership. The one near our daughter, Beth's house.  She's a sweet daughter and let us use her car to get home.

Friday, I took her car back to her early enough for her to do the first school run.  She dropped me off at the car dealership before making the second school run.

Do you think it's a bad thing when the service representative calls you by your first name even when you arrive without an appointment?

A pulley that holds a belt had broken.  The belt was ruined, too.  And, oh yes, as long as we are in there, the alternator was about to go.  We decided to save a trip in a tow truck and have that fixed, too. The last time he had told me something was about to go, it did -- on the way home from getting the car fixed.  I listen when he talks now!

This all reminded me of this little quilt I made.  I named it Mr. Goodwrench meets Rubber Band Man.

The man made from rubber bands and the pliers, wrench and washer were scanned into the computer covered by bright yellow fabric.  There is an inner border of metal zipper teeth and the "binding" is also zipper teeth.  It was made for a challenge in Studio 222, the art group I was a part of in Auburn, AL. (They are a great group!)  The challenge was "heavy metal".

This little quilt was featured in Bonnie Browning's book Borders And Finishing Touches II.

Though I like the real Mr. Goodwrench at the car dealership.  I hope it's a long time before I see him or the inside of a tow truck again!

That's my story and I'm stickin' to it.

Have you thought about setting up challenges for yourself and making a small quilt just for the fun of it?  Studio 222 does it all the time and it challenges one to think creatively.  Share any challenging ideas you might have for fun quilts with me.  I'd love to hear from you!

Until next time,
Lois

Capella del Christo

For some reason January reminds of of undone things, or at least it does me.  I think of projects left undone from the year before and I do guilt really well, so I feel guilty about not finishing them.

I've also been thinking about  church architecture for some reason.  I think it may have to do with the recent shootings in Tucson and all of the funerals in various churches in the Tucson area for those who did not survive an innocent trip to the Safeway store to meet Congresswoman Gabrielle Gifford.

Several years ago, Gary and I were privileged to go to an event in Puerto Rico.  Two of the days there, we spent in San Juan.  On one of those days we had selected a guided tour as our activity.  After the official time was up, the guide told us that he would continue the tour for anyone who wished to see more of Old San Juan.  We jumped at the chance to see more with a guide telling us the history as we went.  This was too good to pass up.  Walking around looking is fun, but having an expert tell you what you are seeing is even better when it comes to historical places.

One of the places I was quite taken with was a small chapel - Capella del Christo.  I did not own a digital camera at the time, so this is not the best picture and has been scanned in to the computer.  It does, however, capture the rustic character of the chapel.

                                                   Capella del Christo, San Juan, Puerto Rico


My intent was always to make a wall hanging from the picture, but years past before I finally got around to doing something with it.  I had been in an art quilt group while living in Montgomery, AL, and shortly after moving back to AZ, the group there was having a special exhibit in a gallery.  We were all to make a piece that was to be centered on an artists canvas, with the canvas left white.  I decided to do a thread }sketch" of Capella del Christo using brown thread to look sort of like a sepia tone.  I then embellished the piece with beads and stitched brown bugle beads all around the exterior edges to separate the muslin the "sketch" was on from the stark white canvas.  This is the result.

                                                               Capella del Christo 1


Capella del Christo II never got done which is what I've been thinking about lately.  The second piece was to be either an applique piece or a fused "applique".  I had even collected fabrics for this project, just never completed it.

Do you have any projects left undone that have been bothering you?  Let's make 2011 the year we do some of those things we never quite got around to.  Life is too short to have regrets over things we intended to do, but didn't.

Until next time, keep stitching!
Lois