Paintbox Spilled
On the design wall (no the other things that are in the process are not finished) right now is a group of blocks that remind of a spilled paintbox or the ones I had as a child where the colors all started running together in …
Blog
Old is New Again
Who would guess that what was popular in needlework 90 years ago would be interesting today. Perhaps the slow stitch movement will revive the hand needlework of our ancestors as we slow our movements to contemplate the work of our (and their) hands. I wanted …
Pieces of the Past
Pieces of the Past
Piece of the past dyed,
Radiating swirls and stars,
Doilies of old, new.
A cyanotype challenge. I used doilies to sun print on the chemically treated fabric and then used some of my damaged hand dyed doilies for accent. A simple design to honor a woman’s pasttime.
A visit to Hickory Stick Quilt Shop
I love visiting the Hickory Stick Quilt Shop in Hannibal where we live. The employees and owner are so friendly, know their merchandise and encourage creative thinking in quiltmaking as well as applaud the traditional. Today I spent a couple of hours there with the …
Mums the Word
A couple of years ago one of the vendors at Hannibal’s Folk LIfe Festival had a marvelous display of mums in every color combination one could imagine. I took several photos thinking I would one day replicate them in some way, shape or form. Today …
Sunprints
Sunprints
Nine eager quilters converged at my house Saturday to try two methods of sun printing on fabric for the third “Artistic Exploration” session. While the weather was not the most cooperative—too much humidity and not enough sun – we experimented with cyanotype and dye painted sun prints. Several learnings were taken home as well as the fabric prints: you can’t 100% accurately predict what the uv rays will do with any given object and its shadows; high humidity slows the process so much that you can’t get clear prints with the dye prints; cyanotypes were the easiest; experimenting is fun. Bottom line for me was the energy and ideas exuding from each participant that is providing motivation for the creation of artful quilts. Enjoy the photos generously shared by the participants.
Yoga in the Morning
NOthing like doing yoga in the morning on a deck at Kinderhook Retreat overlooking the lush farmland of Illinois. Relaxing and energizing, ready for a day of sewing with friends. People said shen I came down stairs I appeared to be a woman on …
Programs and Workshops
Three years have passed since retirement. I have been enjoying doing what I want pretty much when I want but I am missing one aspect of my professional career. Having been an educator for over 35 years I am itching to get back into the …
RAGBRAI 2015
Saturday I had the pleasure of taking daughter and friend to the starting point of RAGBRAI 2015, Sioux City, Iowa. The Register’s Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa draws thousands of bike riders from across the nation. I saw license plates from California to Florida and states between. Once their support truck was located, tent unpacked and set up we visited a quilt shop, Heart and Hand Dry Goods before I left them and headed back to Des Moines with their car. I had no agenda for the quilt shop–no need for fabric or patterns but, of course, found fabric not to be lived without. Some batik fat quarters that will be part of a pattern in the development stages, a pattern that would be a great one for showcasing a complete fabric line and a book that looked intriguing with it’s star making technique were put in my bag before heading home. Though I was tired when getting from Des Moines to Hannibal on Sunday I put one fat quarter batik on the design board for mulling a potential project while I continued work on the “Anatomy of a Leaf” project!
Anatomy of a Leaf
Anatomy of a Leaf A group of quilters in the Hannibal, Missouri area are exploring artistic techniques using the leaf as subject matter for learning to create different textures in their creative quilting. The first session was thread painting. The second session was using Tyvek …