Wednesday Work- finished! Mountain Home

Mountain Home, 12" x 12", 2009

Not a work-in-progress today...a finished project! Yippee, cross one UFO off the list! (For my non-quilting family and friends, a UFO is an Un-Finished Object

This little quilt was last on my blog as a Work-in-Progress on March 31, 2008. I started it as a class project during my first online class with Pamela Allen, called Think Like an Artist. The assignment was to create a personal symbol. Here is a collage of some of the symbol quilts from the class.

Of course, we love our home in the North Carolina mountains, and spend as much time there as possible. The hard part about this quilt was making credible-looking deer. With Pamela's method, everything is cut free-hand with scissors. I had a terrible time getting the deer to look like deer, not poodles! So, each one is patched together from several parts. I used hand-dyed fabric for everything except the black.

This quilt is getting ready to travel: I am sending it to Michigan for the 2009 Breaking Traditions Art Quilt exhibit. The exhibit is a fund-raiser, but the quilts will not be auctioned. There are entry fees and donation fees to raise the money. This year the funds will be used for A Place to Bark, which is an organization seeking homes for abandoned or neglected dogs.

All the quilts are 12" x 12". This year the quilts all represent the theme of "Home." My little symbol project was perfect to finish for this project! I will get it back in a little over a year. Here is the 2008 exhibit for Breaking Traditions.

My quilt is the last one on the right in the third row, Second-Hand Rose. It will be coming home around October after visiting lots of great venues!

Speaking of great venues, I am off this morning for a much anticipated trip to Cary to see the PAQA-South art quilt exhibit, and to my alma mater N.C. State University to see a display of graphic antique quilts. Can't wait!

Yellow Brick Road on a Rainy Day

Yesterday, all the news was about the "wintry mix" of weather we were supposed to receive today, starting early in the morning. The schools all scheduled a "Two-Hour Delay" to allow for the roads to be cleared and the rush hour traffic to subside. Well, all we have gotten is a cold, dreary, rainy day. Not to complain since our lakes are still so dry from the months of drought.

I worked on Yellow Brick Road blocks in deer, leaf, and and other grassy and woodland fabrics fabrics for the young man I wrote about yesterday. We have fondly called him "Jimmy-James" since he was a baby. I also want to make a quilt for the one nephew who has never gotten a quilt from me. He is the oldest, and came along before I started making quilts. I have made three for his children, however! I also want to make one for my sister and her husband. And I have never finished the one for my daughter-in-law's sister, using Lilly Pulitzer fabric. All it needs is borders and to be quilted. Maybe if we have a few more rainy days!

Blogger is not performing well this afternoon, and won't allow me to upload any pictures right now. Tonight is quilt guild, and tomorrow morning we are leaving for our first trip to the mountains in several months. BRRR- I have packed my long-johns and my "Hot-Fingers Mittens." Maybe I will be able to bring one of my small sewing machines finish piecing the quilt top up there. (Pictures posted Jan. 21)

Seeing Stars

Yesterday was the day to quilt the donation projects for Camp Lejeune soldiers. I actually missed the explanation of the project when they handed out the quilt tops back in September. Well, if you know Theresa DeWalt, aka "Quilt Room Granny," it would not matter what they were for. She is such an energetic, cheerful, loving person, that I would have taken the tops to do for whatever reason. So, I unwrapped my packages yesterday, and found one pieced in all different fabrics with MANY seams, and lots of red, white, and blue prints. The other turned out to be a whole cloth or "cheater cloth" print, circa 1987, with stars and hearts.


With all the busy fabrics and colors on the patchwork top, I chose to just meander and add free-style stars.














I thought the "cheater" top needed some emphasis on the block designs to make it look like it was pieced. One of the Line Dancing patterns by Diana Phillips fit the bill. That kind of quilting goes quickly: go down, turn right, go up, go down, and then at the end make a left turn and work your way back! Actually, I did not look it up to see if this was one of her designs, I just added a loop in the line dance curve.

Next problem: what to do about the young man's quilt I offered to "see about." DSH brought it back from the mountains after the November hunt camp. This was a high school graduation gift from his mom, who does not sew. She picked out some very appropriate deer fabric for this member of the hunt club, and a plain red for the back. She got her mother-in-law to close it all in with a zig-zagged hem over the turned-in sides. I had thought I could add some nice leafy quilting to it, but it has very high-loft batting and LOTS of pucker factor. So, I think I may leave this one for him to use in his camper, and make him a quick patchwork one that is easier to work with. HMM, I may have promised him to make one a long time ago. His dad is one of my sister's brothers-in-law. He also owns his own plumbing company and did all our plumbing for free in the mountain cabin. Need I say more?