"Fireflies"

"Fireflies"  Framed art quilt; 16" x 20"

Finished Oct. 1, 2012

Recently was displayed at the Old Aurora Colony Museum 40th Annual Quilt Show, "Seeing Red"

Oct. 12-21, 2012  10:00 am to 4:00 pm Daily

www.AuroraColony.org

The raffle quilt is worth viewing.  Red and white blocks (made from 2001 quilt block contest winners) and completely hand quilted by a group of quilters who work at the museum on an antique quilt frame.

I will be at the show the last day, Oct. 21, to see who wins the drawing.  

Hope to see you there! 
Great show!  Highlight was a redwork quilt made by Janus Childs.  It celebrated historical scenes of the Aurora Colony.  It won People's Choice and Best Theme.  

Fireflies is now showing at Short Term Gallery, Baker City, OR

Fabrics and lay out of "Fireflies".  Red Mystery Bag Challenge Group.  This time I got to choose the fabrics.  The challenge was to use the assigned star pattern.  The pieced star blocks the pattern called for were too big, so I scaled them to half size and then cut them into round shapes using a pot lid...the square shapes of the original block were not working into the composition.

  I machine appliqued the fussy cuts and round blocks  and wish I had used the more traditional hand applique method with the backing cut away.  This caused me to work with thick layers of fabric, but the advantage was that I did not have to needle-turn the edges.  I left all edges raw.  It was embellished and hand quilted with embroidery floss.

Projects finished by others in the group included several bags, wall hangings, table runners, and large quilts.  Several people altered the pattern to suit the projects they made.

Currently on displayed at Short Term Gallery, Baker City, Oregon

Other Oct. Activities:

Purchased a Ford Fiesta and yes, it does get up to 40 mpg on the interstates.  We took it to the Oregon Coast with our grandson Derek in Oct. 2012.

The weather was gorgeous on the Oregon Coast in Oct.  We visited the Cape Mears Light House near Tillamook, Oregon

Walt and Derek at Roseanne's Cafe, Oceanside, OR

Yum!  Go there!

April Song

"April Song",  finished June 2012.  11" by 14".   Ready to hang or display on a stand.  This little quilt was sold soon after it was finished and is now on display in a private collection.

This was started in April 2012 as a result of a class I took; "Mystery Bag".  I got a bag full of about 15 different prints and the assignment was to make anything using as many of the prints as possible.  They were fabrics I would never have picked.  The prints reminded me of spring so I chose a design, sketched it, found the "pop" fabric (orange) and started putting it together.  I was pleased with the result and happy with how the class pushed me outside my box.

Shipment to Baker City Art gallery

April Art Gallery Displays

   The Temporary Art Gallery in Baker City, Oregon will be opening for the season soon.  I am mailing a vintage 1920's quilt to them to display and sell.  I think the pattern is called "Caged Star".  There are no prints, just solid cotton fabric in dark royal blue, light peach, and a mint green.  the back of the quilt is unusual as it features a print fabric in a border.   I purchased this quilt at Portland Expo, Parlmer Wirfs Antiques Show in Feb. 2012.  It came from the Joseph, Oregon area and was originally purchased in an estate sale there.  The vendor had only had it for several months so it was the first time she offered it for sale.  It is in excellent condition and must have been kept in a linen closet all these years as it does not even look like it has been washed.  It is hand and machine pieced and hand quilted by a very fine hand.  Whoever made this quilt was an expert quilter.  The scalloped and pointed binding is beautifully done.

Oct 12-21, 2012

On display at Old Aurora Colony Museum 40th Annual Quilt Show

"Seeing Red"

www.AuroraColony.org

Also going to the art gallery in Baker City is "Road Trip".  It can be displayed hanging on the wall or standing along a shelf on on a small display stand.

Road Trip sold while on display at The Baker City Art Gallery and is now in a private collection, hanging on the wall of a refurbished Air Stream.  



Sold Two Quilt Tops

 Today I mailed two quilt tops to MO.  They were made by Mary, my good friend from Oregon, who loves to machine piece tops but hates to quilt them.  So I sell them on eBay for her.  I have a kept a few that I have quilted.  She is an awsome piecer.  I envy her crisp corners and sense of style.  Her tops are always perfectly flat with no puckers. She tells me she has one whole room filled with fabric she has purchased over the years and she will be making tops to sell for a long time just to use up her stash.

Visit my eBay store, Powder River Threadworks.  You might be lucky and get a chance to bid on one of her tops.  I get one listed about every two months.

Hunter's Star

Hunter's Star block

Flower Power

Flower Power Block.

"Milky Way"

Mary mailed a new top to me last week.  It is huge--king size.  It has a wild-goose chase border running along the two sides.  One of her best... in blues and creams.  It is on it's way to Baker City, Oregon to be custom quilted.  Should be finished and ready to sell by July 4, 2012.  I plan to show it at Short Term Gallery in Baker City when it is finished and if I still have it in October 2012 I will display it in the Aroura Quilt Show.

Finished Sept. 1, 2012

This quilt was finished Sept. 1, 2012.  It was beautifully machine quilted by Tracy Lovisone of Baker City, OR.  It is currently on display at The Short Term Gallery in Baker City, OR.  It will be displayed in future quilt shows of 2013.

March 10, 2012
"Cream?"
Notan

Deadline coming up on taking a notan (study in dark and light) and sewing it into a quilt.  Must be ready March 18, so all time goes into this.  I had no idea what a notan was so I Goggled it and was delighted with the images I found of notans.  Wikipedia clarified the word for me as only Wikipedia can and that was all very interesting.  My version on a notan is a creamy, white-on-white print appliqued to a coffee ground.

(Scroll down to watch the progress and the finished quilt is the last picture.)

March 10th

This is the layout I finally chose.  Nothing is stitched.  The word says "Cream?"  Theme is coffee time.  Today I have it pieced and have started layering and quilting.   More pictures to come.

By the way, I don't like coffee.  Strange, don't you think, for someone raised in a society with a Starbucks on every corner, but no stickum for coffee or cigarettes.  My parents loved coffee, my Mom especially.  And I tried, don't ya know!  First in high school, later in college, and finally in a last ditch effort, as a young adult.  But fortunately a few bad habits did stick.  Namely chocolate, sex, and Maker's Mark on the rocks.  

 

Here's what I accomplished today as I enjoyed a cold glass of iced tea with lemon.  Took time out for some belly-warming won-ton soup on a lunch date with my favorite, Walt.

March 11th

Everything is stitched, sandwiched, and basted.  I am ready to start adding layers.  I even got some quilting done.  It was a good day to sew and a good day for coffee (probably) and won-ton soup.  Very stormy, wet, cold, and windy here on the Sound.  If this weather sticks, I have a good chance of finishing this project on time.

March 27, 2011.... Almost done...

 I did not finish it on March 18, but it was well along and could be shared at the Ruby Street Art Quilter's Group.  There were several that were finished and were very nice.  Many of the quiltiers at the meeting did not do the assignment, but had other cool projects to show.  The meeting is always a great modivator for me to stick to my goals of finishing things and to generate new ideas to follow up on.


Finished August 2012

I made some changes in order to finish this quilt.  I felt it needed more interest .  The changes allowed me to finally complete the project and frame it.  Currently it is on display at the Short-Term gallery in Baker City, Oregon.  I almost gave up on it, but was happy I stayed on it as it has received great feedback since it has been displayed.  It appeals particularly to coffee lovers.  You never know when a project you don't particularly like may be another person's cup of tea (or coffee--as the case may be).

Sept. 2012

This piece was shown at Rogue Gallery and Art Center, Medford, OR

Art Presence Art Center Gallery, Jacksonville, OR

Aurora Colony Quilt Show, Aurora, OR

It is currently in a priviate collection.

"Road Trip"

Just finished one of the projects I started in Jan.  This one is called "Road Trip" and measures 8" by 10".  All hand stitched.  I am into chopping up conversation prints (also called fussy cuts) and adding pieces from other things in my quilting.  I will ride this out until I have had enough, but so far it is just a lot of fun
.
This was an assignment for my art quilt group to create a landscape.  It is tiny, 8" by 10".  The only machine stitching on this is in the binding.  Every thing is appliqued and hand quilted with embroidery thread.

This little quilt was on display at Short Term Gallery in Baker City, Oregon  and sold to an  artist who design pottery sculptures  of vintage RV's.  She and her husband travel to shows in a refurbished Air Stream and they purchased the tiny quilt to hang on the wall of their RV.  Last I heard,  it was headed for a show in Denver in August 2012.

( Some of the projects listed below are still unfinished as of Sept 27, 2012, but I will finish them--hopefully before the end of 2012) 

 I have two more projects started in Jan. to finish and two assignments for the March meeting of my arts quilt group.  One is to create a study in lights and darks,
 (Note:  I did finish that one and named it "Cream?")
  and the other is to do a still life.  I got them both started.  The still life is using a fussy cut of a combine.

And then I found an old photo, ca 1900, of a dude operating an old farm machine.   I think it is a used for haying.  I made a line drawing  which I will embroider using dark thread on a light ground for my dark and light study.  I'll combine both assignments into one piece. 

  I am ready to start

And it will end up looking sort of like this...hopefully better.  My sketches are entertaining to say the least, but it gives me an idea for placement and I can note what fabrics and embellishments to use.  This needs to be a reality by mid March...Yikes!

But I am getting ahead of my self... I need to finish the girls first...

and the couple...

"Come Away..."

Finished Aug. 2012 and on display at The Short Term Gallery in Baker City, OR

This quilt features a 1909 post card that was in my grand parents stuff, and a leaf-print from my friend Nancy.  The rest are fussy cuts stitched to dyed wool.  No batting as the wool was thick.  It is hand quilted using embroidery floss and mounted on art board with a blanket stitch.

But right now, I'm headed downstairs to watch The Voice.





"Alert" Work in Progress, Acrylic on Hollow Door by Walt Wirfs

"Alert"  Work in Progress

It started on a summer visit to the water front of Newport, Oregon in 1972.  Walt took a photo of an old fishing boat, "The Alert".  He said, "I would love to paint this some day."  In the fall of 2011, he asked me to see if I could find the negative.  Digging up a 40-year-old negative is no easy task, but I found it and scanned it.  Next, Walt made a pencil scketch of it to work out values.

He decided to paint it using acrylics and prepared a hollow door for the canvas by cutting it and smearing the surface with Gesso.  Next he drew a line drawing on the door.

The next photos show the paint as he lays down undercoats...

This is what the "Alert" looks like today, Feb.21, 2012.  More to come...

Feb. 24

Feb. 27

Feb. 28

March 1

March 11...Revisions have started. Gesso goes on to prepare surface for repainting.  The sky has already gone through a revision, but it will get more.

Finished June 2012 and hanging at the Ryan Gallery in Lincoln City, OR.

This was a very difficult painting for Walt as he was learning to paint in acrylics after a lifetime of painting in oils.  Why the change?  Because I developed severe asthma triggered from the oil-paint fumes.  He has painted two other pics in acrylics since this one was finished and  have heard him muttering,

 "Man, I hate this.  I really like painting in oil." 

 Thank you, Walt, for making the change!



Leaf Prints on Muslin

Leaf prints, acrylic on muslin

Here are some of the leaf prints my friend, Nancy, makes.  I have known her for many years and she has made these for almost as long as I've known her.  She gathers leaves in the early fall and makes a batch in several colorways.  Over the years she has perfected the paint she uses, how to apply the paint, and the method of pressing them on the surface.  At first she printed them on cards and now she prints them on muslin and makes lovely quilted table runners.  

I just had an update from Nancy...it is now fall of 2012 and she is ready to do another batch of leaf prints, but is having trouble finding the paint colors she likes to use.  Isn't that the way...find a product you like and guess what...they change it or stop making it!

The golden paint color did not scan well, but you get the idea.  The top is a maple leaf, bottom right a white oak, and bottom left red oak.  I purchased a batch from her and cut them into individual pieces.  These are being embellished with felt tip markers and dark brown embroidery floss.  The red oak is ready for me to use as an applique, the large maple is halfway done, and the white oak leaf has had nothing done to it.  These will be used in two different quilts.

I used the largest leaf print in a quilt I named "Road Trip" and one of the smaller prints in a quilt I named "Come Away..."  Both finished quilts are shown in my entry "Road Trip" dated Sunday Feb. 26, 2012.

Char