Capital of Texas QuiltFest 2012

Happening this weekend is the AAQG Capital of Texas QuiltFest 2012, Please click on the link for information about the show.
Although I didn't enter any quilts this year, I have to say that I'm well represented because I quilted
the beautiful raffle quilts made by members of the guild. This quilt is a treasure, all hand appliqued and made with batik fabrics. It took me many, many hours to quilt it and I was very happy with the results.
For more about the quilt click on this link.

So head on to the quilt show and please  buy many raffle tickets. The proceeds help the organization fund their programs for the upcoming year.
The show takes place at the Palmer Center, this is the second year at this venue and it is a beautiful space to showcase incredible quilts, and parking is next door.
Have fun!


1st Place - Open Division Group Quilt Category - 2012 Dallas Quilt Celebration!





  

Quilted Bird and Teaching in Mexico

I knew I had been away from blogging too long when I had to look for the password to access my account! I just couldn't remember it! Needless to say it has been one crazy summer, and that is without even leaving home because except for a quick trip to Galveston, TX in late May I didn't go anywhere this summer.
 I have been busy quilting other people's quilts, going to pool parties and entertaining friends! Lots of visitors this summer, one of the perks of being so close to Mexico!

 But life is about to get serious now that child has gone back to university and I'm wrapping up quilting jobs before my trip. I have a few weeks left before I leave for my teaching and judging engagement in Puebla, Mexico.
Mexico is having its Cuarta (IV) Expo de Quilt and Patchwork and I'm honored to be the guest teacher as well as judging the quilt exhibit. I will be spending a few days surrounded by Mexican quilters and eating delicious food and visiting a city I have never been to. So I have reasons for being EXCITED!
But, I still have a million things to do before heading south of the border. I'm trying to keep to the schedule and not to procrastinate as I usually do.

Since by now you are probably yawning, I'm posting a few pictures of the last quilt I quilted. I hope Lori doesn't mind me posting the quilt but I would like to show you the process I used to quilt this beautiful quilt made with Japanese designed fabrics. Originally, it was going to be entered in the Austin Area Quilt Guild Quilt Fest but its owner changed her mind. It will be entered in other shows though.


This is the image that Lori's daughter selected to be quilted on the quilt (8"  x 11" approx)

  



I traced the bird onto matte acetate using a .01 Micron Pigma pen, once done I  took it to a copy center to be enlarged.

  


The copy center made to copies of about  4 ft x 4 ft each to be able to fit the bird in and reduce the cost. I taped the 2 sheets of paper before cutting the bird.  I outlined  the bird's body, legs,  feathers and small details onto the quilt to get it ready  to quilt.  

 


This is the quilted bird. On each square adjacent to the bird, I quilted Japanese crests and, on the green borders, I quilted free motion designs

  

Finished quilt!



Flowers- Uncharted territory

Last week I went to the Chisholm Trail Quilt Guild meeting. This organization meets the first Tuesday of the month and I don't make every meeting, many times it depends on my workload. Since on this particular day I had some free time I decided to make an appearance. This is the first guild I joined as soon as I moved to Austin, I know a lot of people there so I enjoy visiting and I was curious about the speaker at this meeting, Lenore Crawford.  She spoke about her journey as a quilter, a few slides, thankfully, since slide presentations sometimes put me to sleep, and then she showed her work. Don't ask me why but before her presentation was over I had signed up for her workshop the following day.

At the beginning of the year I made the decision not to take workshops during 2012, well, that didn't last long. I signed up for Lenore's workshop.  I came home, started gathering my supplies and Wednesday morning I left my home promptly at 8:30 am. to go to the workshop.
I think this is one of the few times in my life as a quilter that I have done someone else's pattern. For this class I could have brought my own photo to make my pattern but since I didn't have much time to prepare I decided to purchase Lenore's pattern.  Doing realistic flowers is not my thing,  kind of uncharted territory, but I like cone flowers and that's way I decided on the pattern.

The process to make this flower is kind of slow but I actually welcomed it, kind of meditative. By the time the workshop was over I had just done the tip of the flower. I came home and I figured the quilt waiting to be quilted could just, well, wait! and I continued working on my flower as much as life allowed me.

Uncharted territory no more!

             
                          

                          

                          

                          

                          


                           



                          

There is method in her madness

It is kind of funny that in 24 hours I heard the expression "there is method in her madness" twice while watching movies. This expression resonated with me because of the quilting I do and because of the quilts
I have been quilting. I just finished quilting 2 big studio quilts. Again, they can't be shown before the exhibit. All I can tell you is that they are wonderful and I had so much fun quilting them. I would love to post BIG pictures but I have to wait until my client gives me the green light.

The quilts I'm taking about seem to be quilted randomly but there is nothing random about it. It actually required some planning beforehand, because once those babies are mounted on the quilting machine trying to figure out where to quilt them is very difficult. It would be like riding a bicycle blindfolded. Doable but hazardous.
I believe that piecing them also required some planning even though at first glance they seem to be pieced without any rule or method.

On a different note, I'm working on 2 of my own quilts, no plans for them yet since I'm trying just
to go with the flow and not let shows deadlines pressure me. I'm hoping to be able to post photos next week.

In the meantime, have a wonderful Memorial Day!



Memorial Rotunda- Washington, DC.                Photo by Martha Tsihlas



Quilts of course!

Quilts, quilts and more quilts. The quilt below belongs to Maggie, a member of the Chisholm Trail Quilt Guild. I quilted this for her and I had a lot of fun doing the grid. Time consuming but worth every stitch. This quilt will be in the 2012 Austin Area Quilt Show. Once the show is over I will post a whole picture with Maggie's permission.

On a different subject, life has been kind of  hectic. The kitchen remodel took longer than we expected  Again, time consuming  but worth it. I don't mind when things take longer than expected as long as the results are great.

Have a wonderful weekend and a safe 5 de Mayo!!

                                    

Surface design exhibit, San Antonio, TX.

This past week I attended an exhibit at the Radius Center in San Antonio. The work is from graduating students who attended Jane Dunnewold’s 2010 Art Cloth Mastery Program. Before heading to see the
exhibit we had a wonderful light dinner at the Ocho Restaurant at Hotel Havana by the riverwalk.



"Smile" Laurie Brainerd





"Horizon Beneath the Sea" Karen Turckes




"Killing the Blues" Judy Carpenter




"4 Seasons" Leslie Rego



Jean Dahlgren



Diane Sandlin



"City Square" Ann Graham



Hotel Havana (side view)

Happy Leap Year and Janis quilt!!

Here I'm, still living in this planet, quilting beautiful quilts for other people and at the same time getting things together to remodel my kitchen. I didn't realize that the kitchen thing was going to absorb so much time and energy. I do realize that I have been enjoying the process!
On the subject of quilting, below is the last quilt I quilted, as you can see a beautiful piece of art. This quilt belongs to Janis Keane, a member of my quilting guild. She will show this quilt in several quilt shows. Truly a show stopper. Good luck Janis!!

UPDATE: Janis quilt won 1st. place in the small quilt (didn't feel small when I was quilting it) category at the Crossroads to Texas Quilt Guild show in Killeen, Tx. March 30, 2012
She also received a 3rd. place at the Georgetown Quilt and Stitchery Show, March 23, 2012.
Well done Janis!!

(Click on the image to enlarge)

It is always difficult to blog after being away for a while. Kind of like when one has not called a friend
for sometime and the longer one waits the more awkward it seems, but at some point it has to get done.
Part of my hesitation is that although I'm working on plenty of projects I think that what people really
want to see is photos and not so much reading. I did finish three art quilts but I can't post photos because they are going to be in an upcoming exhibit on Feb. 4th.

I have been machine quilting client's quilts, but again, I don't post photos until the quilts are finished and I have their permission to publish. Most times those quilts final destination is quilt and fiber art shows. So for now, this is all I have to contribute and hopefully this year I will blog more often than not.

Happy New Year 2012!   Life is GOOD

So Long 2011! A GREAT YEAR

A few days left

 

Christmas, the season of "busyness", like a friend of mine likes to call it, has come and gone.
Shopping for gifts done, holiday parties celebrated, and the house decorated as only an 18 year old would like, demanding that every decoration and ornament accumulated in the last 25 years be taken out of boxes and put out for display. She says you can't go wrong when it comes to Christmas, the more the better. Church was attended, for sure the best part in this whole production, forced  to remain static and focused for more more than a few minutes. A welcomed breather from all the "busyness" we inflict on ourselves.

Christmas has come and gone, a few days left until the end of the year, a few days left to contemplate the possibilities of  the new year, 2012, 

A few days left.

AAQG- Capitol Texas Quilt Fest 2012- Unveiling of the raffle quilt

Last night, not yet rested from Houston, I attended the unveiling of the raffle quilt for the Capitol Texas Quilt fest 2012. This quilt was made by a large group of master quilters, all members of the Austin Area Quilt Guild, who did an amazing job appliqueing the quilt which happens to measure 93" x 93"
and MY JOB was to quilt it!! I spent many hours at my longarm quilting machine quilting this quilt and I'm very happy with the end result. Last night at the guild meeting, after the unveiling, people remarked on how
well the quilting went with the quilt.

I quilted the CTQG raffle quilt (click on the link to see it) at the beginning of the year, so this is my second raffle quilt this year.
This quilt will be entered in the Dallas Quilt show in March 2012 and tour Texas quilting guilds and quilting stores for the next 10 months.

News:   1st Place - Open Division Group Quilt Category - 2012 Dallas Quilt Celebration!



On the border I used a template to quilt the hearts and lightly marked the horizontal lines so I could quilt them using a straight ruler. After having done the heart and the lines I free motion quilted to fill up the open areas




I used navy blue thread, Superior brand, So Fine line, to free motion quilt around the appliqued flowers






Members of the Austin Area Quilt Guild during the unveiling of the quilt

 

Here I'm, in front of the beautiful quilt (no need to see me BIG!)



Houston-International Quilt Festival 2011

I'm having a difficult time starting this post. I just came back from International Quilt Festival happy and exhausted. Happy because for a few days I totally immersed myself in the "quilt culture" and saw some amazing works of art created by quilters and fiber artists. Happy because I was invited to attend the  reception to honor the quilters who are in  the book Lone Stars III, A legacy of Texas Quilts, 1986-2011 written by Karey Bresenhan and Nancy O'Bryant Puentes, happy because  "Big on Texas" and "Texas DNA" are included in the book and happy because "Big on Texas" hung in the special exhibit "Texas Quilts Today" at the show, and "Texas DNA" is at the Texas Quilt Museum in La Grange, TX. Happy for seeing old friends, making new ones and enjoying a great show.

At the exhibit in front of my quilt. I was on cloud nine!

Cucumber martini



Karey Bresenhan, founder and president of Quilts, Inc. and co-author of Lone Stars III, A legacy of Texas Quilts, 1986-2011



Mary Ann Vaca-Lambert,  me and Barb Forrister,  from Austin , all with art quilts in the book

Signing my page in someones book.  First time autographing !!



Sculpture in front of the convention center in downtown Houston



At the Quilts, Inc. waiting to get my button from the special exhibit

With Mary Ann Littlejohn (SAQA Coordinator ) at the book reception. Mary Ann also has a quilt in the book.



Street view from inside the convention center



Village made by group of fiber artists led by Kathy York

I was able to visit with Maria Jose, a long time friend that comes to Festival every year. She lives in Spain

 My biggest fan (husband)  in front of my quilt



GOT WORK?



View of the "Texas Quilts Today" special exhibit  from the escalator



With my new friend Lucy who visited the show from Mexico

I told you all the reasons for being happy and the ones for being exhausted are: too much sensory stimulation, too much coffee, too much talking, too much walking, too little sleep and too little food. But at the end, all worth it, wanting to do it all over again.