Look Who Came Out to Play

Happy Thanksgiving - - and safe travels to everyone...

An old friend came out of hiding to play with me during the Thanksgiving holidays... and probably the Christmas holidays, and every holiday after that.

This piece is made from a vintage pillowcase , opened up and laid flat on a piece of cream dupioni silk.

As I worked on it, I wanted to highlight more gold, so I decided to hand-embroider around all the quilting in the borders - oh my that took a long time, but just yesterday I finished that..

Then I decided to add a "few"  gold beads.... oh I liked that...

 So I added some more.................................

 Still lots more beads to go -  perhaps I will finish this by NEXT Thanksgiving ??? 
hmmmm..

 

 

keep busy...  and have a great holiday,

 

 

Kate

 

 

And a Beauty it is........

WOW, WOW, WOW.....  I just had the opportunity to see a truly masterpiece quilt.

This is "Eternal Beauty"  by Sherry Reynolds.  It won Best of Show at the Pacific International Quilt Festival last week...  it is truly amazing.  These photos from my phone do not do justice.

Search the web and you'll find better photos..... I hope you have the opportunity to see this in person sometime.

It is dedicated to her mom, it took her four years, and she quilted it on a Domestic Sewing Machine.

WAY TO GO, SHERRY.

on that amazing note, I'll just say 'til next time,

Kate

WAY PAST DUE

Hello friends; 

This post is WAY OVERDUE.  I've just not been able to focus on my projects in the past few months...

But - last week I went to a fabulous four-day retreat, and had the opportunity to pull out some ongoing projects and fall back in love with them. 

So -  here's the original piece of linen - it wasn't even ironed for this photo, just spread out on a table.  It is most likely a piece of Madeira embroidered linen, most likely from the 1930s, and was hand - embroidered.  Where did I find it ?   Well,  eBay, of course.

 And here's a little more close up of the details.

 and the cutwork................

The first stage is always drawing a quilting design - but sorry, no photos of that process.  

But, with a few stops and starts in between, I do have a piece that is now in what I call the "finishing phase"................... 

The linen has been mounted on a piece of Dupioni silk, and quilted within an inch of its life.  This photo is not a good one, but I'm not ready yet to hang it and take a proper photo, so this will just have to do for the moment.

And here are some closeups:

There's a good deal more work to do - in my next post, I'll show you the parts that still remain to be stitched...................... 

The finishing phase is my least favorite part of the process...  nothing new, no new decisions - just stitch out the design that I planned so long ago, until it's done.

Onward.  I'd really like to finish this work.  I wonder when that will happen???

Kate

THE VIEW FROM OUTSIDE THE COMFORT ZONE

Well - I decided to venture out of the COMFORT ZONE........ and play in the Cherrywood Fabric Van Gogh Challenge.

Was it fun ?  Well..............
Was it challenging?   yes........
Was it easy and quick?   no.........

So - I thought it was only 20 by 20, it would be easy and fairly quick.

NOT.

Every step seemed to challenge me.

First step:  finding inspiration.  I chose Van Gogh's paintings of almond blossoms.  Simple, easy peasy.

Step Two:  Making a background.  I decided to try a woven background in blues and blacks, trying to get the feel of Van Gogh's heavy brush strokes.  I didn't want it to look like a plaid, so many of the strips needed to change color.... oh i wasn't sure about this - looks so choppy... but I kept going.

This weaving took FOREVER !!!  I was amazed.

I covered it with black tulle, and it calmed down..... NOW it is starting to look like Van Gogh's brush strokes.  See how much better it is?  And, it has a branch and some lovely almond blossoms.  They are made of white felt, since Cherrywood doesn't make white fabric.  The branch is brown Cherrywood with black thread scribbles on it.

And here is the final version, cropped to 20 by 20, with a black "frame".

so, that's my Van Gogh.

throughout this whole process, I must tell you I felt like a fifth grader, with my scissors and my glue.  It was fun.  Maybe I'll try improvisation again..... or maybe not...

don't think Van Gogh has to worry too much about me taking over his place in art history !!

Kate

Here, There, and Everywhere

Oh me, I haven't posted in such a long time !

I just checked and I am both alive and well.

Many frequent flyer miles have been logged in the past two months - some for fun, some for business.

Let's see...........

A business trip to Hawaii...... yes, truly ..... honestly...

A family trip to the East Coast for a funeral.  Difficult time, but an opportunity to see distant family not seen in many years.  Goodness, how did all my cousins turn into carbon copies of their parents ?

A business trip to Washington, DC...  I always love DC - the monuments, the Supreme Court, the taxi drivers !
And - lest I forget - an unbelievable quilting retreat..........  But I shall save more on that for the next post, because it really does deserve some words and some photos all for itself.

BUT - TODAY - NEWS FLASH - I found out my quilt "Annabelle's Wedding Feast" is a finalist in the IQS Houston show - - wow, Houston - I can't believe it.  Pinch me.

Has there been quilting going on?  Oh yes.  Soon I will gather up photos of that, too.

So - here I am -  Alive --  Well - -  Quilting...and with lots of frequent flyer miles and hotel points to use at another date.

Details to follow.

Kate

Hands2Help

Hello everyone , and Happy Mother's Day...

I'm in a 'finishing fit'  today... how fun is that?  

Two quilts , both twin sized, for the Hands2Help Initiative :

 Both classic "scrap" quilts - the first one of leftover strings from lots of other projects - and the second made from crumb blocks, using the tiniest of small bits leftover...  and don't you love how turquoise blends it all together?

These just went through the washer, and will get boxed up in the next few days. 

Hope everyone is having a great weekend, a nice Sunday, and some great sewing .

Kate

It Was a Rescue

WELL -  this post is not about quilts

It's about Kittens !!!

Last Tuesday, 4 kittens showed up outside my office door, happily playing.

(not good)...............

That afternoon,  they climbed up some vines on the side of the building - up to the Second Floor level

(REALLY not good)

They didn't come down.

Wednesday - they are crying - sad little mews... 
Thursday - still crying - oh me what can we do?

Call in the troops !  Ladders, grabbers,  cat food.............they were afraid, and climbed higher...

(no, kitty, not good, not good)

Then - serious help arrived...  a cherry picker !!!

They climbed lower, but not low enough...........

But two fell, and were caught !    oh good, 2 down, 2 up

But, look, we can still see 4 ....

(NOT GOOD - oh my there are SIX of them)

Ladders - kitties, don't run away... bribing with food............. and
2 more caught !!

Day 5 - one more caught - but one very hungry kitty still in the vine !!

Day 6 - a woman showed up and said "I can talk that kitten down"...

For an hour she stood under the cat, met its gaze, and mewed at the cat, the cat mewed back, and moved lower, and then lower, and lower,  and

RESCUED !!!!

This one, the little grey Tabby, is the Leader of the Pack - I just know it was his idea to go up that Wisteria vine - somehow you can just tell !!!

Thank goodness for a wonderful rescue organization who will take these babies and get them adopted.   Hooray for the rescue organization. 

 

Who could resist these eyes?

 

 

 

 

More about quilts later...............

 

Kate

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

New Projects !!

Hello and Welcome to April..............

Spring is a really really busy time in the Professor business,  but time has been found for a bit of quilting here and there. 

My quilt, Annabelle's Wedding Feast, has been busily touring the AQS Spring shows - first to Daytona, then Lancaster.  Later this month it will go to Paducah, and then come home.

So - I have started two new projects...  here are some peeks...  they are not far enough along to show fullsize photos yet...  just closeups...............  lots more work to do...  but oh how fun it is to be working on a new project !

and, something in a different direction:

(the white lines are just marking pencil, don't worry.

Stay tuned, and we'll see how these turn out !


Kate

Why Was February So Short ?

Goodness, what is happening...  February is over ? 

Let's see what I have been doing..................

TWO QUILTS ARE TRAVELING:
               Marie Laveau's Garden Gate was hanging at the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival !
and Annabelle's Wedding Feast was a finalist in the AQS Daytona show !

Way to go, Ladies !

Meanwhile, I've been doing some fun quilting with scraps and strings - power sewing:

 Used some neutral leftover strips to make a neutral kids-size donation quilt -  I like !

Crumbs and more crumbs !  And turquoise - now got to get this quilted.

Fostered a darling little kitten named Garrison - he was a stray, living on the street, so needed lots of socializing... he is now ADOPTED - hooray !  Tomorrow he goes to his forever home.  Good luck, Garrison !

I'm also working on two show quilts - and have a new experiment on my design wall... fun, fun !  Stay tuned for pictures of those sometime soon.

Quilting Away,

Kate



February ???? Really????

OH my goodness................ how can it be February ???

Wow - what a fabulous month it has been... let's see...............

My quilt "Annabelle's Wedding Feast", was exhibited at Road to California !!!!
And I want to take a moment to say HOORAY to the people who run that show...  they are just fabulous...............  the show is just gorgeous, and they are so prompt and good to the quilters who enter quilts - they always keep us informed of when our quilts are shipped, and pack them up beautifully......... I really appreciate it !!! 

Now Annabelle has been shipped off again - she is collecting her own Frequent Flyer Miles........ cause she wants to go to Hawaii next summer.  For now, she is a finalist in the AQS Daytona Show, and then the AQS Lancaster Show.  She is also entered in AQS Paducah, but I haven't gotten word yet whether she will make finalist in that show.......  I won't see her again for a long, long time...

DH and I had quite a lovely trip from San Francisco to Los Angeles to the show.  We stopped at a Western-themed area in Kettleman City, and found this:

 and a vast assignment of tacky signs:

 and an example of really bad spelling !

Do you see the misspelled word?  I think they meant to paint SUPERSTITIOUS !!!

oh well...  can't get it right every time !

I got to go sew something fast - February is a short month  !!!

Kate