Surface Design Round Robin Update

In previous posts, I have shown pictures of the plain white fabric being transformed by members of my Anything Art Bee in our surface design round robin.  At yesterday's meeting, I actually got to see my own fabric for the first time!

This is mine after the first three rounds.  Wow!  

We had no rules for this exchange, so some people just worked on a section of the cloth, and others tried to relate what they did to the previous work.  I think mine all relates, although each section is unique.

Peg's is actually finished!  She has some blank area to work on. 

Toni's keeps getting more and more luscious.  

Peg added some twin-needle stitching to make curvy stems, and then some folded fabric blooms.

Here is a new one that looks like those candy dots on paper.

It was really fun to get together with my art quilt girlfriends for lunch and a day of catching up.  I was very touched by a special gift from Tama.  She made a flower quilt block and an Artist Trading Card for me in remembrance of my father.

The front has a message in Morse code, because in my father's Army Air Corps service in WWII, he was a Morse Code translator and air traffic controller.  I have not yet translated the message!

And the back is lovely.

Toni showed us a traditional quilt that she made for her daughter, with quotations about dogs.  It was quilted with hearts by Cathy Kirk.

And Marion had an art quilt that she made for her husband using a stencil for Year of the Dragon.

We had planned for Marion to do a little group "toot" on fusing plastic bags to make quilts, based on an article by Cathleen Bradley in Cloth, Paper, Scissors magazine.  (Instructions free to subscribers on their website.)

We did not get around to it since we spent so long on Show-and-Tell and just catching up.  But I brought a little piece of a plastic bag project that I did in an online workshop with amazing stitcher  Shelagh Folgate.

Isn't that cool?  I can't remember exactly how we did it, but we started with a base of a black trash bag, needle-felted strips of  heavy plastic bags, fused with an iron, covered with organza, machine-stitched like crazy, did reverse applique with gold lame, and who knows what else?

I made a clutch purse out of some of this fabric.  It sold at the "Purse-onality" auction at the 2009 North Carolina Quilt Symposium.

Okay, that's it...I have been putting off going to the gym for the first time in about a month.  Not looking forward to it!

Ashe County Quilt Show: Art Quilts and More

Instead of my usual Wednesday-Work-in-Progress, today I will bring you more images from the Ashe County Piecemakers' Guild show in West Jefferson, NC, last weekend. I did have a WIP to show, but I actually finished it last night, and will show it later on.

Unlike the North Carolina Symposium show last May, this guild only had a handful of art quilt entries. This was my favorite: it represents "Sang" or American ginseng, a plant native to the North Carolina mountains whose roots are prized for various purported herbal health benefits. Aphrodisia is one of them!

I also really liked this quilt depicting a working mill. The water spilling over the dam is incredible!

The poinsettias on this quilt look lovely on a pieced log cabin background.

This is the most unusual piece in the show, in my opinion. This quilt is made of silks or satins with delicious quilting.

It does not resemble any other quilts from this mountain community, and I believe it was made by one of the "snowbirds," or Florida residents who escape the heat by residing here during the summer months. At the center of each four-patch is a 3-D floral element.

Since the entire show was judged by Viewer's Choice, the only quilts with ribbons were from some guild project involving teaching quilting as a service project, I believe to children. I liked this painted sunflower quilt.

This is the most colorful Bargello quilt I have ever seen.

This was a rather outstanding large quilt depicting Lewis and Clark's explorations. I wonder if it was made for the quilt contest featuring that theme a couple years ago?

There was only one entry in the garment category: this charming child's patchwork jacket.

There was an outstanding assortment of handbags. My favorite was this purple purse with a braided handle, piping, and artsy button.

My last report on the show will be the antique displays with wonderful quilts, hooked rugs, tatted lace, and furniture.

Project Reveal: "Think Freddie" purse

Today I can show you one of my "secret projects" of the last month. I decided it would be a birthday present rather than a Christmas gift. My daughter-in-law has a December birthday, so I mailed it this week and she received it yesterday. (And was very appreciative!) So here is the "Think Freddie" purse.

It is from a pattern that went together very easily UNTIL I tried to put in a zippered top and turn the thing right-side out. GRRR- after the quilting and seaming of this bag, the recommended zipper size was too large. And I guess the vinyl pockets I made were from vinyl that was a little too stiff. So, this is the part where I taught it a lesson by whacking off the whole top of the purse that included the zipper.



Since I couldn't quite manage resewing the side seam of the lining with that vinyl, I glued a piece of fabric over the opening, then zig-zagged it in place.



And since there was no longer a zipper closing, I made a button and loop closure. I love the button for this purse. I bought it at MQX last year from We Got the Buttons. It is fused glass. I also added some buttons for embellishment on the straps and houses. I added some decorative machine stitching to the patchwork.

My daughter-in-law is very petite, and I have seen how cute she looks with other small handbags like this, so it had to be for her!



The reason it is called "Think Freddie" is because the bright colors against black and white prints are often used by quilter Freddy Moran. The pattern also shows the bag made in other types of fabrics- all cute.



People that do not have a directionality problem can probably follow the pattern directions for the zipper and lining better than I did.



Back to the Tacky Christmas Sweaters post from yesterday: at least one reader has taken up the challenge to show her Christmas sweaters. Barb has revealed her lovely Christmas sweaters and also her collection of Christmas socks.




How about the rest of you???