Looking Up

We're in!  We finally got to spend the night in our new cabin last weekend.  The beds were not delivered until after ten o'clock on Friday night, but they sure felt great!

Although we have had a garage apartment on the same lot for six or seven years, we never realized that we would be able to observe sunsets from our new deck.  The colors are even reflected in the pond below the house.

Our son Dave, his wife Emily, and their baby Charlie came up to help us move in.  It was so nice to have a proper bedroom for them, and lots of room for Charlie to run around.

In fact, she is a Mountain Girl now!  She has been on Gator rides,

run through  the Christmas tree farm,

and played with Aunt Katy's baby goats and chicks, and a whole mess of Hall cousins.

And I think I may have another budding artist in the family.  I got out my box of 64-color Crayolas, and I swear she said, "Oh, Wow!"  She carefully took out one or two crayons at a time and then put them back IN the box without breaking them.  That's my girl!

Back at home in Raleigh, the dogwoods decided to start blooming while we were gone.  Now if only the weather would warm up a bit, we could go outside and enjoy the North Carolina springtime.

Here are two of my pieces featuring dogwoods.  Carolina Woodland Spring is a trapunto quilt with additional painting and beading.  I used real dogwood blossoms for the patterns.

Carolina Woodland Spring, by Jeanne Turner McBrayer

And here is my watercolor painting of the dam over the creek at our mountain place.  

Creek at Dogwood Time, by Jeanne Turner McBrayer

And for those who read my previous post about my dog needing more surgery...she did just fine.  What a trooper!  We have a very good dog.  Getting expensive, but what a sweetheart!

Nature's Best Quilt Contest- Please Vote for Me!

I entered my little dogwood trapunto quilt into the Nature's Best Quilt Contest at the Quilting Gallery online. It is in the Small Quilts category.

Only one photo is permitted in the contest, so here are some additional photographs of this quilt. The patchwork contains hand-dyed, hand-painted, and commercial cottons, and Dupioni silk. It is machine quilted, trapuntoed, color trapuntoed, painted, beaded, and embellished with Swarovski crystals.

If you like this quilt, which won a first place ribbon at the North Carolina State Fair and a Judge's Choice prize at the North Carolina Quilt Symposium, please consider voting for my quilt!

Just go here and scroll down to Carolina Woodland Spring! Thanks!

Catching Up...and Symposium Report #1

It has been a hectic week and weekend. At school we are still giving End-of-Grade tests. Since I do not have my own homeroom classes that have to be "covered," I have been pulled to administer tests, make-up tests, and re-tests for the last two weeks. I would much rather be working with my groups. It continues tomorrow and at least through Wednesday.

Last Tuesday we had a whirlwind visit from my son and two grandchildren. My sons went to see the Carolina Hurricanes in their playoff game in Raleigh, and we babysat. We kept the kids overnight, and then Bryson took them home the next day. Then both kids got sick. Lily had pneumonia, ear infection, and eye infection. Sure am glad that did not happen while she was here. She was just starting to cough a little. Charlie got them light-up sticks that they were wearing in these pictures.

Friday was our 38th anniversary. We had a wonderful celebration at The Melting Pot in Raleigh, a fabulous fondue restaurant. We had a four-course meal of cheese fondue, salad, lobster, shrimp, chicken, pork, and beef fondued in a citrus flavored oil, and finally, white chocolate fondue with Amaretto added. Oh my my! Charlie got us a beautiful bottle of French champagne for a gift, and I got him new wine glasses. We must be made for each other!

This is how Charlie looked in our engagement picture. Lots of glossy dark hair!

Then, on Saturday, I had my first opportunity to attend the North Carolina Quilt Symposium show. Symposium is held once a year and hosted by various guilds in North Carolina. This year, the Capital Quilters Guild were hosts for the conference at Peace College in downtown Raleigh. I spent all day Saturday gazing at the quilts and shopping from the fabulous vendors.

I only entered one quilt in the show, my Carolina Woodland Spring trapunto quilt. I have written about it before, so you could search my blog for it and see how I made it. This won a first place in the North Carolina State Fair last fall.

It did not place in the Small Wall Hanging category at this show, but it did win a wonderful award! Look at the nice big Judge's Choice ribbon! There were three judges in the show, and they each got to award one special ribbon. Mine is courtesy of Cindy Brick.

Today when I was heading to my class, I met the quilt symposium chair in the stairwell. She said to wait a minute, and then she fumbled through her bag and fished out a nice check that was a monetary award for winning the judge's choice! What a great surprise!

Unfortunately, it did not cover the expenses of the fun things that I purchased from the vendors. But every little bit helps! Here are some of my purchases.

A Symposium T-shirt, a new 6" x 24" ruler that was on special sale at a great price, and a straight ruler to use with the longarm. This one has a plexiglass handle to hold on to while using the ruler. Maybe it will help my stitch-in-the-ditch.

Some fun fat quarters of fabric just right for some little girl quilts.Two adorable patterns for little girl's clothes. Maybe if I get busy, Lily will have a new little dress for her birthday in a couple weeks.Some beautiful bead assortments and beading thread.Misty Fuse and printable fabric sheets in lawn and organza.More girly fabrics in softer shades, and a pattern for all kinds of bags for phones, etc.Gorgeous hand-dyed vintage linens and fibers from Artistic Artifacts.Some nice buttons and charms.

Here is the quilt that won three major awards, including the Carolina Longarm Association ribbon. Isn't it a beauty? It was quilted by Linda James with lots of feathers, pebbling, and McTavishing.

It was a wonderful quilt show with fabulous quilts of all descriptions. I will report on the show tomorrow, and eventually on my class with quilter, beader, and author Larkin Van Horn. She is from Whidbey Island near Seattle, a place I visited when we were out there on Camano Island to visit my brother's family. Lots of fun and I learned a lot.

Quilt Patterns from Digital Photographs

Are you enjoying spring blossoms yet in your part of the world? We are in full bloom here in central North Carolina. I noticed on my morning walk that the dogwood trees are beginning to blossom. I believe that is a little early, as it is often mid-April when the azaleas and dogwoods put on their awesome display.

Anyway, have you thought about using the actual petals and leaves of plants to make quilt patterns for applique or quilting motifs?

I used this technique to provide the dogwood patterns for my Carolina Woodland Spring wall quilt.

Just pick a blossom, lay it on your flat-bed scanner bed, and scan away. With most flowers, you will not be able to cover the top without flattening the flower. This will sometimes produce a little rectangle of reflected light, but you can work around that.

On this quilt, I made a pattern from a single blossom, and repeated it to make a circular medallion center on a piece of sheer white fabric. The leaves were also traced from a computer scan. The wreath was quilted with only Quilters' Dream poly batting, then cut away and requilted over lime green velour.

By referring to your scanned image, you can add details to your quilt. Here, I painted some stripes on the white petals, added a tint of reddish-brown to the indentation in the petals, and constructed yellow stamens from bugle and seed beads. The leaves are just quilted and painted, not trapuntoed.

By scanning your flower, you get less interference from natural light and busy background. Compare this photo of a daffodil in a garden, with this close-up scan of a daffodil flower.

Here are some single blossoms from a Yoshino cherry, placed face down on the scanner.

And one of my favorites, a pansy (viola) with a cheerful "face."

You can take your original scan to your light box to draw your pattern, or tape it to a window and trace the main design lines. Sometimes I trace onto Golden Threads paper to make an outline that I can stitch right through for quilting designs.

I have also discovered a wonderful online tool for making line drawings from digital photographs. Go to this website:

http://www.dumpr.net/sketch.php

and upload your image. It will instantly create an outline drawing for you.

While this little skink would have been easy to trace, these tree branches and winter landscape---not so much!

I will admit to using Sketch to help me with the drawing of the dog, Meathead, in my art quilt Galveston Sunset. He is painted with Tsukineko inks and Fabrico markers and machine-appliqued.

Many photo-editing and drawing software programs will also produce an outline or line drawing for you.

Today's quilter has many tools to make representational art!

Happy Dance!

I had a very quick stop at the North Carolina State Fair in Raleigh on my way to South Carolina on Monday. I guess you can see I was pretty tickled to see a blue ribbon on my little green trapunto quilt! I have gotten two seconds, two fourths, and an honorable mention in the past at the State Fair, but never a first place from that venue. Yippee!

Actually, when I first got there, I did not see my quilt at all. Do you see the new way they are exhibiting the quilts this year? It resembles the rugs hanging at the home improvement store. There were two large racks of stacked quilts. In order to see any quilts, you had to ask the attendant to flip the racks. I was waiting with two other ladies for her to come and show us the quilts, and I saw the scalloped edge of my small quilt just peeping out. As it turns out, the two ladies were waiting for the attendant to turn the display so they could see my quilt! They had gotten a glimpse of it during her last flipping session.

Well, on the way to the Fair I had taken my camera to the shop, and they have sent it off for repair. So, I had no camera to take my picture with the quilt. But, one of the ladies offered to take my picture and e-mail it to me. And today, there it was in my e-mail! Many, many thanks to my new friend Kathy Lassiter for troubling to do this for me.

I wish I could have taken lots more Fair pictures. It was a beautiful day! I ate my hot dog and got a fabulous ice cream cone from my Alma Mater N.C.State's ice cream booth. I would love to have shown you the garden displays. One of the Theme Garden categories was "Patchwork Quilt Garden." The blue ribbon winner was a garden with a twig bed, and the "quilt" was made up of different flowers and plants. I loved it! Very clever!

Anyway, I did get to see my grandchildren the before my son's surgery. When you only see them once a month or so, they sure look "grown" at the next visit! My son did very well and was getting along fine when I left early this morning. I enjoyed a beautiful sunrise which you can see for miles in the flat land of coastal South Carolina. I filled up on gas for $2.62 per gallon, which is 44 cents cheaper than I paid in North Carolina on Monday. We have the honor of much higher gas taxes in NC. Now the floor guy is installing the wood floors downstairs, so I am breathing a sigh of relief that maybe this remodel will be done in time for the party on Nov. 1.

Quilt Show Entries and The Green Man

In the midst of my painting, packing, and preparations for our floor remodeling project, I have sent in a couple of quilt entries to Innovations 2008, a quilt show in the Seattle, Washington area. This is probably the last outing for my little wall quilt, Something "Girly." Innovations is a Viewer's Choice, or Peer-Judged quilt show, and this little quilt has been pretty popular in other shows.

And, for his first official show, I have entered The Green Man. I have never posted the final picture of him, although I wrote about him when he was a work-in-progress. I finally decided he was finished! I just need to make him a sleeve and a label. You can read his story by clicking on the above link .

The main difference since the last picture is his nose. I wanted it to have some dimension. I finally decided to sculpt a nose out of wool roving and other fibers, and stitch it down.

Now I ask you: could there be any two different styles of quilt in the same show by the same person? LOL! One is so feminine and pretty, and the other...well, it has been interesting to watch people's reactions to him. I have shown him at the CyberBee and my local bee meetings, and also took him to school with me last May for the third grade quilt lessons.

People either love him or hate him! One of the third graders actually stuck out her tongue and starting making "barfing" motions when she saw him. One adult at CyberBee had a more refined, but similar response as this quilt was passed around. I have entered him in the "Unusual" category, which seems just perfect for him!

I have one more entry to prepare. I think I will put "Carolina Woodland Spring" in our state fair. This one is the same technique as Something "Girly", but with patchwork as well. It was shown at MQX last spring, but has not been exhibited locally.

The NC State Fair is not my favorite quilt venue, because the quilts get short shrift when compared to, let's say, cows, pies, 4-H projects, and even needlework. The quilts that don't win any recognition are rolled up and dumped on a table. The ribbon winners are folded about four times and draped over a pegboard wall so you see about an eight-inch section. The big winners are fully displayed. Between the trip to Raleigh to bring the quilt, the dour lady in charge of entries, the sawdust, and a second trip to pick it up, it is hardly worth it. But, I will give it one more try since I have not entered a quilt there in several years.

Another long-armer recently wrote that at the Idaho State Fair, her quilts won multiple ribbons, and she collected $38.00 in prize money. Her sister submitted a plate of brownies and won $150! Now, what takes longer to make...an heirloom quilt or a pan of brownies? Oh, well!

Hurricane Hanna seems to be veering to the east, which they now say will bring the Raleigh area only rain (which we still need very badly) and gusty winds.

So, I think we will leave tonight for the mountains without worrying too much about hurricane preparations. We are on schedule to have the kitchen floor installed on Monday morning, and I have all that area packed, cleaned, and painted.

I hope that you have a great weekend, and if you are in the path of the storm, batten down the hatches and stay safe!

Time to do the Happy Dance

I am not planning to go to the Machine Quilters' Expo in New Hampshire this year, but I found out today that two of my quilts are! This year, the quilt show was juried for the first time. And this is my first try at entering a juried show. Yippee! I hope someone will take pictures of my quilts hanging in the show. Here are my two babies that will be going on this outing in April:

Carolina Woodland Spring

2008

Something "Girly"

2007

Now I need to remember to add a five-inch sleeve to Something "Girly" since it currently has only the usual four-inch hanging sleeve. That should not be a problem. Last year I was still painting this one a week before its debut at the Capital Quilters Guild Show!