Christmas Inspirations

This beautiful quilt was one of the winners at the Houston Quilt Festival 2011.  It is called, "The Loading Dock" made by Mary Buvia. This quilt was magical to look at.  I heard that this quilt may be turned into a pattern sometime in the future.  I certainly hope so because I would buy it to make one of my own.  If I remember correctly there was a lot of sparkle to this quilt, possibly from swarvorski crystals.   Since we're in the holiday season, I wanted to share this beautiful Christmas quilt.  I took about 100 pictures of quilts at the show but this was the only Christmas quilt that won an award.  I'll post pictures of other quilts from the show at a different time.

Here's a close up of toys in Santa's sleigh.

Santa has an organized staff & this elf is checking his list.

This was the look on my face when I entered the show.  Okay........so this shot was staged.  My friend, Diane, took this picture because this was my first time attending the show.  

Here's Diane & I standing close to where the winning quilts were exhibited at the entrance.   This was a fabulous show.  It is huge & you really have to have a map of the George Brown Convention center & plan what to do ahead of time.  This avoids getting overwhelmed when you first walk in.  I'm so glad I planned ahead of time.

I'll post more Christmas quilt pics later......have a great day!





Christmas Inspirations

Below is Piece O' Cake (Linda Jenkins & Becky Goldsmith) Santa's Christmas village pattern that I made a few years ago while living in Mexico City.  While the original pattern was done in a dark navy blue scrappy background,  I made one with a neutral background & another with a navy background.   The one on the right in navy I donated to charity & the neutral quilt is still in my (slow) growing collection of Christmas quilts.  If you take a closer look, the yellow building block on the lower right hand corner is a Guatemalan Doll Shop. While shopping one day I came across some small Guatemalan dolls that were too cute to pass up.  The dolls give the quilt a dimensional & really cute look.  Some of the blocks are also done with preprinted fused fabrics. Remember that when using a basic pattern, you don't have to sew it exactly like your instructions are stated.  Have fun & be creative!  You'll enjoy making a pattern over & over again.  

                            

If you're interested in the pattern, below is the book that you will find the pattern in. 

You can't just make one!  Especially if your family tree continues to grow like mine is.  Have a great day!



Is it snowing near you?

I'm torn between wanting to have snow during this time of the year but, not wanting to deal with shoveling the driveway or driving in the slush.  Thankfully, I don't have to do either but, I am longing for the glistening beauty of snow that sits on tree branches when I look outdoors.  For now I'll just enjoy the type of glistening snow that is fabric sewn into my quilt shown below. 

Some of the houses are drawings of homes that we've previously lived in & the smaller one story cottage house is a pattern from Great American Quilts Book Two, 1994 called, "Cottages in the Snow", 1992 made by the Wenonah Depot Quilters of New Jersey.  These blocks are hand appliqued & also has some embroidered figures to give it a more whimsical look.  The quilting was done by free motion.  Doesn't this quilt remind you a little bit of a Christmas Dickens Village. 

I'll post more Christmas quilts in another day or so......

November Lavender

I've just spent that last few days working on drapes for my living room & valances for my breakfast room & kitchen area.  Whew!  Thought I would never finish.  Which means this has taken me away from drawing & quilting.  This week will be busy because of the holidays.  I'm not overwhelmed because I have the calming effect from looking at my backyard.  It's cloudy this morning but my flower beds are still blooming.  The lavender & zinnias have a very soothing affect on me.

Next year, I'm planning to expand my flower beds & plant a nice border of lavender.  I like to pretend that I'm somewhere in the countryside of Provence'.  There are no rolling hills of lavender but this is okay.  I'm enjoying the purple-ish blue color no less.  For now I've got to get going with my day.  I'm making Red Velvet Trifle for one of my mini-group meetings.  Have a great day everyone!

Roses Workshop

This past Saturday I taught my Roses Bouquet workshop to a fun group of three ladies.   This group of students are quite advanced/experienced in their quiltmaking skills.   I think I'm correct when I say that Pebble has won several awards in her quiltmaking career.  It was so exciting to hear them tell me that they want to branch out & get creative with the roses technique.    They have several fabulous ideas of what they want to create into a quilt.  I can't wait to see what they come up with.  Of course, we'll have to wait a while before we see their quilts.  We have to remember that creativity can not be rushed & must be allowed to simmer, (like a pot of soup), in order to get great results.   Thank you Linda, Pebble, & Linda for such a fun workshop day!  Below are the photos of their blocks from the workshop.....

You just can't make one rose!

To see photos of  roses bouquet quilts done in various color ways, look under labels-roses or roses workshops. 

                                           

T'was The Summer Before Xmas

Below is a quilt that was in the Festival Gallery of Quilt Art: Town & Country from 2008 thru 2010.  I just got it back from a three year juried world exhibit from Houston.  It's so nice to have it back. 

The idea for this quilt started in 2007, while my husband & I were living at the Sheraton Hotel in Mexico City, Mexico.  We were in the process of repatriating back to the states.  With all our belongings packed, I only had my drawing pad & colored pencils to keep me busy during a whole month's stay at the hotel.  I just kept drawing the characters from the 12 days of Xmas in a summer scene.  When it was finally time to board a plane back to the US, I packed my drawings.  Towards the end of this same year I saw a call for entries by the Houston Inter'l Quilt show web site.  I decided to translate my drawings into fabric & then a quilt.  I didn't know if it would be accepted but, I thought I would try anyway.  I was so excited that it was accepted for this exhibit.   This quilt measures 60"w x 72"l.  

I'm thinking of making this quilt into a Christmas scene.  This quilt took a few months to complete but, this time around it should go a little bit faster because the placement for the design is done.  At least I'm hoping it doesn't take as long to make.  In any case, I plan on enjoying the process.  The hunt for the fabric is always exciting.....  

Inspirations

I have been wanting to make a quilt made up of Fall colors for as long as I can remember.  So I thought that a Sun flower would be a good subject to start with but, my sun flower quilt below looks more like Summer than Fall.  I'm merely drawn to certain colors.   

So I looked through quilting magazines to see if any fall colors would inspire me to start on a small fall quilt.  While I did see many beautiful fall quilts I instead noticed this new book by Joen Wolfrom called "Adventures In Design".  As the cover of the book states, it is definitely the ultimate visual guide.  If you're looking for something new, this is definitely a book to not only inspire you but will take you through some great exercises.  I think it's a great reference book to have in your quilting library, along with any of the other books that Joen Wolfrom has authored.   For now, I'm going to go through some of the exercises in the book.  The photography is eye candy!

    



Roses Bouquet

I recently heard from my friend Linda Barton who has moved back to the area from Mexico.  We met while we were both living in Mexico a few years ago.   Linda also took my Three's Company Roses Bouquet class I taught in Mexico City, Mexico.  She mentioned that it is still a work in progress & here is the beautiful roses bouquet that Linda created.  Thank you Linda for giving me permission to share this photo with everyone.  I love how Linda chose red, orange & fuschia fabric colors which work so well together.  Linda, you'll have to send me a photo when it is completed.

It is such a thrill to see the bouquets that students create.  They all turn out quite differently.    How can anyone go wrong when working with roses.  The best part is no thorns, no watering, & you can keep them around all year round.