Another Elm Creek Novel Give-Away

Once, again, the publishers of Jennifer Chiaverini's Elm Creek Quilters series have offered my blog readers a chance to win a free copy of the latest book.  This one is titled Sonoma Rose, and will be on sale starting today, February 21.

The publisher provided this information about the book.  "Jennifer has always been praised for her ability to write historical and present-day fiction with equal skill. While her last novel was set in modern times, Sonoma Rose tells the story of a young mother's heroic journey in Prohibition-era America.

Rosa Diaz Barclay is touched by the criminality surrounding Prohibition when she discovers that her husband, John, has given over the duties of their Southern California rye farm in favor of bootlegging. Fearing the safety of her four children, Rosa flees, carrying only a case of John’s ill-begotten cash and her mother’s two quilts. Lars Jorgensen, her true love and the father of two of her children, aids in her escape, and together the six travel north to San Francisco. Under assumed names, they are hired to work at a Sonoma vineyard, where Rosa creates a personal and professional identity that she would never have dared imagine at the opening of her tale, and one that brings great honor-and beauty-to all who surround her."

If you would like to win a copy of this book, just leave a comment on this blog post.  Make sure that I am able to get your e-mail address in case you are the winner.  I will announce the winner of the book on Monday, February 27.  Good luck!

Many thanks to Dutton, Penguin Group U.S.A for making this offer available to readers of All Things Quilty.

Some Colorful Art for a Gloomy Winter's Day

We have finally gotten a day of winter weather after many warm, balmy days in January and February.  My dad is here with us this weekend, and we took him to the North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh this afternoon.

Here are some exhibits of interest to those of us who love textile art.

This fabulous African costume looks like a patchwork quilt.  Here is the front view.

And it is diplayed so that it can be viewed from the back as well.

This outfit covered the entire body, including the head, but the dancer could see through a mesh area.  Here is the label.

This stunning exhibit is also in the African art area.  It is beautifully woven Kente cloth on the wall, and draped as a robe as Akan royalty would wear it.

All of us who sew recognize what these are.

But who would have thought to create an image of the Mona Lisa with spools of thread?  The image appears to be upside down until you view the piece through a glass sphere that creates a prism effect.

Since we just celebrated Valentine's Day, here is the classic Rodin scupture, The Kiss.

And here are a couple of Thinkers.

My dad is doing great these days, but we borrowed a wheelchair from the museum to conserve his strength as we toured the museum.

Here is the Valentine card that he gave me with some original abstract art.

And for a last bit of color on this gray day, here is the bouquet from my sweetie on the colorful quilt that I made for Dad years ago. 

Stay safe out there if it is snowing where you are.  So far we have just had rain and some sleet, but they say it is coming.

Some Valentine's-y Quilts

Happy Valentine's Day!  I thought I might show you a few quilts I have made over the years that might fit today's theme.

First up, Something Girly, one of my most successful quilts.  It is actually a wholecloth quilt from a rather sheer fabric.  Batting is trapuntoed and cut away to form the hearts and feathers.  Then, a layer of bright red is layered behind the white to create the pink background color.  After quilting, I added more color with Tsukinko inks.



Something Girly



Next is a smaller version made the same way.  It was donated to an auction to benefit one of my favorite charities, SAFEChild of North Carolina.



Heart's Delight



The next one was made the same way, but has couched fibers around the edges instead of binding.   This one was auctioned at Heritage Days for the Capital Quilters Guild.

Ring of Peace

The next one is a fabric collage that is quilted and mounted on a painted gallery-wrapped canvas.  This one sold for $45.00 at another charity auction.

Sweet

Anna's Quilt has lots of hearts and other girly things.  I made it for Anna when my nephew Jason married her mama and her little sister Lacy was born. 



Anna's Quilt



Second-Hand Rose was part of the Breaking Traditions traveling exhibit for over a year.  This one is really different.  I used an embroidered linen skirt from Good Will as the border.  The very shiny background is Textiva fabric, which is what Angelina fibers are before they are shredded.  Then it got some fabric, silk flowers, ribbons, applique, Swarovski crystals, and what-have-you.  The beads on the outer border are hand-made by wrapping fabric and fiber around a pencil and gluing them.  I still have this quilt.

The next one is sort of Valentine-ish.  I made this for the Capital Quilter's Guild's annual Quilts for Kids challenge.  I believe this won Second Place.  U used various patterns to make lots of things that little girls would love.  The border fabric was the challenge fabric, and I used lots of hand-dyes to coordinate.  These quilts are donated to Neo-Natal Intensive Care Units at local hospitals.



Garden Party



I hope you have a day filled with love...or that you love what you are doing today!

One Palette, Two Quilts

Here they are, two finished projects!  All bound and ready to hang.

I started both quilts in November during an online class with artist Pamela Allen called Four Quilts.  In Lesson One, we chose a painting and tried to reproduce the palette or color  scheme in fabric.  I chose this lovely painting by American Impressionist Mary Cassatt.



Portrait of Mlle. C. Lydia Cassatt, Mary Cassatt, 1880



  Usually, this color study is a quick mock-up to see if the fabrics we select really work.  In other words, are the colors in the same values?    The fabrics are cut free-hand with scissors and glue-basted to batting.



Miss Lydia, Jeanne Turner McBrayer, 2012


It was fairly easy to cut all the rather loose blobby shapes except for the face.  It took about four tries to cut a head that was the right size and had a pleasing profile.  In fact, I liked my color study so well that I decided to hand-embroider the raw-edge shapes, and then quilt it.  I also added gold and other colors of Shiva Paint Sticks to try to replicate the light and reflections of the painting. I quilted it with a variegated orange-yellow-green thread, a pear green, and black.

The other project is my original composition using the same palette.  My chosen subject for the class was landscapes.  I worked from a photo of a barn in the North Carolina mountains.  It is actually a horse stable that we pass every time we descend from the top of "our" mountain on our Gator rides.



Glen's Barn in Autumn, Jeanne Turner McBrayer, 2012



In the late afternoon, the sun is rapidly blocked by the mountain.  The last rays of the sun really light up the goldenrod and the beautiful autumn foliage.  Usually, our dog Kasey is running ahead of us, so I thought about putting her in the picture with her golden glowing coat.  Maybe next time!

Catching Up

Wednesday evening I participated in another watercolor class with Steve Filarsky at Art Student Academy.  The subject was a vase of tulips.  This time there were only three students, so we had more space, a more relaxed atmosphere, and more time for Steve to work with individuals.  He gave me a few tips that I appreciated.  I am not totally happy with my painting so far, but I think I will spend a little more time on it and see what emerges.  One of the things he showed me was how to get the little highlight on each tulip.

I have also signed up for a six-week watercolor class with Mary Benejam-O'Connell through Wake Forest Parks and Recreation. I think I will benefit from concentration on the basics.  One of my art quilt bee members has also signed up.  It will be at Flaherty Park on Wednesday afternoons starting on February 29.  I hope more people sign up so the class is not cancelled!

On Tuesday I went to Physical Therapy for the last time.  My very sweet therapist, Pamela, said I had met all of the goals she set for me.  Unfortunately, I have not met my personal goal of being able to walk without pain from my old sprained ankle injury, but I am hopeful that it will continue to get better.

Yesterday my sister and Dad came to Raleigh, and Charlie and I ate lunch with them again at Simply Crepes.  Then, last night was a meeting of one of my quilting groups, the Cyberbee.  It was the smallest group ever:  exactly two of us!  Martha and I had a great visit and dinner.  I got to know her a lot better, so it was a good evening.

This should be a quiet weekend at home.  Charlie had some oral surgery yesterday, and can't eat solid foods for a few days.  Since it turned colder this morning, I guess it will be a good weekend for soup.

I took my dog, Kasey, to the dog park in Wake Forest the other day.  This was a first!  She is sometimes very territorial on the greenway and growls at other dogs, and sometimes people, who approach her.  I thought maybe she would learn to socialize a little better.  There were about nine large dogs within the fenced area, and Kasey did not really want to go in.  She sat and looked around while all the other dogs were romping and playing.

After awhile I took her for a walk around the perimeter.  At least we got a little exercise after a couple of laps.

Dogs that never get to run free without a leash probably appreciate the acres of space and the joy of being unleashed to catch balls and chase frisbees.  Kasey gets to be off leash often, both at home and in the mountains.  We have a big yard, and she does not run off.  And, although she looks like she is part golden retriever, she does not retrieve anything.  Throw a ball or stick and she just looks at you like, "Why?"  But she will chase a squirrel, rabbit or deer, with no victories so far!

Now, my granddog Roo is the perfect example of a dog park lover.  His yard is small, and he has lots of stored up energy.  And he has become an expert frisbee dog!

This morning it was really cold, and Kasey and I went to the Sanford Creek greenway where we often walk.  Unfortunately, the earth movers were hard at work clearing the woods behind the creek to build yet more roads and home sites for the Heritage community.  The air smelled like diesel and the noise of the equipment was deafening.  They have installed orange fencing almost down to the creek and cleared out acres of trees.

They always do a nice job on the Heritage projects, but we will probably walk the other greenways and parks while all this construction is taking place.

And when the walks are over, it's time for The Furminator!  This dog brush helps get rid of the undercoat of thick hair- as seen on TV.  And guess who loves to be Furminated!  Ah, bliss!

Art Quilts a la Pamela Allen

Yesterday was a fun day with my Anything Art quilt bee.  Last month we met at my house and I introduced the group to the Pamela Allen method of making art quilts.  Several of the ladies had made great progress on the projects they began at that meeting.

Roberta Morgan absolutely loved this improvisational method of quilting, and had several quilts in her signature bright colors that pop against black and white.  Her self-portrait with cat is a work-in-progress, eliciting big smiles all around.

She also made this teapot quilt that reminds me a bit of Mary Engelbreitt.

She also made a vase with flowers that is already finished.

Peg worked hard on her color study of a Monet painting.  We had several suggestions for her to improve the barn on the far left and to add a dark hillside behind the barn.  What was really fun was that the lavender cloud behind the house on the right looks like an ethereal spirit when you look at it closely.  Peg was not even aware of the ghost watching over the house!

We watched a Kerr Grabowski DVD about Deconstruction Screen Printing, and may try that as our next group project.

Another Lady's Face

When I went upstairs to get the backing fabric for the Cassatt art quilt, I saw my unfinished lady's face on another painting...and decided to work on her instead.

Island Girl, Jeanne McBrayer, 2012

She is done in acrylics.  Some of the background is colored with water-soluble crayons and outlined with paint markers.  No collage this time, I just drew on the paper to make the doodles.

I'm not sure why I am creating all these island girls, except that this time last year I was planning to leave for a dream trip to Hawaii!

But anyway, I did finish stitching the autumn barn, and it is ready to be machine-quilted.

I will quilt in some lines on the barn to represent the boards, and add more branches and tree trunks.  I am thinking that this one might get a little paint embellishment after it is quilted.  I want to catch that sunlight hitting the goldenrod and the autumn foliage.

So, what did you think of 53-year-old Madonna cavorting at the Superbowl halftime show?  Pretty obvious she was lip-syncing, but the Material Girl still looks awful good, doesn't she?