Stitching Hands Studio

Imperfectly Perfect

All of life is imperfectly perfect, including love.  Today I'm working on this little piece.  It was started in the first cloth weaving class I took with Jude.  I can't even remember how long ago, seems like ages.  It's time it was finished. I added a braided tie that I couched down and am putting in some quilting stitches. It may or may not be done today, but I've got a cold and I'm tired so I won't push it.  Thursday is the hubby's birthday and we'll celebrate then, or this weekend.  Meanwhile, I'm just stitching.

PS- Exciting news to tell- I will be one of the featured quilters at our guild's show this August!  The other honorees are Janelle, a friend and member of my book club, The Undercover Quilters and Joanne one of the guild's greatest resources.  Joanne has been a member since the inception of the guild almost 30 years ago.  I'm am thrilled to share the stage with these amazing artists!

PPS- I changed up the blog a bit and added a subscription button there on the upper right.  I am subscribed myself to be sure it works.  It usually takes a day or more before the email comes out, but if it's convenient for you to keep track of this blog that way, you have one of my readers to thank. Kathleen wrote to ask how to subscribe and I really didn't know the best way to do it.  A little bit of research later and I had this going.  Let me know if you have any problems.

AAQI for February: Fine Feathered Friend

Another crazy embellished bird will be winging her way to AAQI soon!  I had a lot of fun with this one, which started with that print fabric that seemed perfect for applique.  I found the bit of hand dyed blue wool and there she was.

I did lots of beading, some braiding and found the perfect vintage button for her eye.

She has ribbon legs too.

I did the faced edges again,  definitely my favorite for these small pieces.  I also did my embroidered initials.  Now I'm just waiting for a registration number.  This has been a great week for my AAQI pieces.  Be Yourself and Tulip Fields sold at auction.  I was shocked to see that Be Yourself brought in $155.00 for AAQI!  Also, Little Blue Lamb sold recently too.  I'm a happy camper and getting close to my $1000 Promise Goal!

Why I have a silly grin right now

Quilt #8995 - Be Yourself

Leading Bid $ 120.00 

Time Left 21h, 56m 

More here.  If you want to make a bid, you'd better hurry.  The auction closes Friday, February 10 at 10 pm CST.

Corners of My Studio :: 3

Some of the other treasures in my studio.  A stretching cat I got at a shop in McMinnville last Christmas.  A Stellar's Jay I got from Fog and Swell on Etsy.  I also got Chloe a minke whale from Fog and Swell that she said was one of the coolest birthday presents ever.

And here are some older treasures- a couple of dolls from my friend Marion, a quetzal puzzle from Costa Rica, a vintage needle case from my mother's family, a kiwi puzzle from New Zealand and my telamadera piece.  All of these provide inspiration daily, whether in color or form or just an idea of whimsy.  They all make me happy!

Incomparable

Last night I had the great pleasure to attend the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show first ever Donor Appreciation Night.  I took my mom as my guest and we were treated with delicious appetizers, wine, dessert and a very funny presentation by the incomparable Tonye Phillips (this year's raffle quilt maker) and Kathy Deggendorfer (this year's quilt show poster artist).  Both of these artists have styles that sing to me.  

It was a lot of fun and nice to see so many local quilters and others who appreciate the impact the quilt show has on our small community.  We also got a second look at the Affair of the Necklace show ongoing at Sisters Art Works.  This chair was new there and of course, it's made by the incomparable Jean Wells.  I heard she will be teaching a class in making these sometime soon!

In other news, I just saw on her blog that the incomparable Salley Mavor will be coming to Portland, OR for an event on April 1 at Gossamer fiber arts shop in Portland.  I'm so excited!  I will try my best to get over there that weekend.  Salley's work is amazing, including her gorgeous children's books and the Rabbitat film.  I hope to be able to see some of her original art works there.  If you are in the area, please do try to stop by!

AAQI Auction Starts Today!

Two of my quilts plus 25 others are up for auction starting today.  Check out the auction website here.  The auction goes until February 10 at 10pm Central Standard Time.  I'm over halfway to my $1000 Promise goal already.  

If you don't know about AAQI yet, the Alzheimer’s Art Quilt Initiative (http://alzquilts.org) is a national, grassroots charity whose mission is to raise awareness and fund research. The AAQI auctions and sells donated quilts, and sponsors a nationally touring exhibit of quilts about Alzheimer’s.

If you'd like to make a quilt, you can follow directions here.  If you'd like to join the Quilt-A-Month club go here.  You can do anything you like for an AAQI quilt, but the February challenge is:

Theme Challenge
Birds

Color/Fabric Challenge
Wool

Design/Technique Challenge
Applique

Can you believe how perfect this challenge is for me?  I plan to do all three.  Won't you join me?

AAQI Newsflash

I just got word that I'll have two quilts in the February AAQI auction.  So exciting!  Be Yourself (above) and Tulip Fields will both be in the auction. Please bid if you are able! 

Corners of my Studio will continue next week.  I'm off to Portland for the weekend!

Corners of My Studio :: 2

Today, we'll see the artwork over my desk area.  Above, 5 mini quilts and a needlepoint picture.  Starting on the left, a Fall swap quilt by Kay Snyder in 2008, a Gee's Bend swap quilt from Jill Chapman in 2009, a copy of an owl swap quilt I made in 2008 (I just had to make one for me!), a Children's Literature mini by Sudi-Laura in 2009 (based on the book, The Carrot Seed), the needlepoint is a DeGrazia design with three children (made ages ago) and below, my Winter Solstice cloth keeping me company.  Well, there's also the wonderful little hanging bits.  There's an owl by Karen at Stitching Life. a little house brooch I made, a little felted gnome, one of my owls and that knitted tree ornament.  Right in the middle is a birthday card handmade by Chloe.  Do you see the little red bird?  It's a felt bird embroidered onto the card.  My inspiration board has a lot of owls, embroidery and winter pictures right now.

My two sunflower pictures always make me happy.  On the left is a Georgia O'Keefe print.  On the right an original pastel by my good friend Myria.  Below is the January page of the 2012 Quilting Arts calendar.  This year's artwork is especially wonderful because it's all animals!  I love it.  The look on these two cats' faces is priceless!

I slipped on the ice yesterday despite my Yak Trax and manage to injure my left thumb.  It's not too bad and already a lot better, but I don't know how the sewing is going to go.  Yesterday I took the afternoon off to read (Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks- beautifully written novel about the Black Plague!) and did some knitting in the evening which worked fine.  Now I've got to get back to sewing today to keep up with my timeline.

Corners of My Studio :: 1

How about a little series this week: Corners of My Studio? This corner is where I store the majority of my fabric and do my ironing.  I have quilts on top of the armoire because I have nowhere else to put them, but they look nice up there.  I have a goal to have mini quilts on all the availiable wall space, which is quite a bit.  

Of the ones you see here, the first one on the left is my quilt, Bohemian Blue, then a swap quilt from Alicia Wells for the Four Season Quilt Swap from 2008, next is Mr. Owl from another 2008 quilt swap made by Calamity Kim, The little one is Tuesday and Saturday from Andrea Bolosky (an AAQI treasure), then my quilt called Think Green, finally is a quilt I bought at a Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show fundraiser and made by local quilter Joanne Meyers.  

More to come!

James's Magic Carpet

James's Magic Carpet is for the newest baby of one of my cousins.  It's been received by baby James so it's safe to publish now. I like the simplicity of this pattern, called Slideshow.  It was quick, but fun to do.  Five of the prints are from the 1001 Peeps line by Lizzy House.  I found one other turquoise (for the border) to go with them.  I used almost every last scrap of fabric piecing the back, so there was little waste.

Now, I'm off to work on some other pressing projects, including gearing up for my Featured Quilter gallery show at QuiltWorks in March.  I'm both excited and nervous about it.  I'm feeling like I need to have some new works to surprise people who may have seen a lot of my work around this area lately.  So I'll be working on those projects, but will keep them under wraps until after the reception. So, maybe there will be a little less sharing here in the short term, but I'll come up with something to post.  Maybe some more duck photos- there's always a need for those!