Stitching Hands Studio

AAQI for November

Little Blue Lamb was just finished for my Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative piece for November.  I keep rolling along with the Quilt-A-Month club.  This piece was started in Jude Hill's Patchwork Beasts class in September 2010.  A little more stitching, some batting, a backing and a facing and it's done.  I like using my old class samples for this sort of thing.

I realized a few days ago that I don't have a photo of my October AAQI quilt.  I thought I had taken one, but can't find it anywhere.  The photo isn't up at AAQI yet, but you can keep track of it here if you like.  Tulip Fields started with the class sample below, from a workshop that Jean Wells did for our guild last month.  She gave us most of the fabrics you see below to use for experimentation and said that they weren't a very good palette.  That was enough of a challenge for me to make it work.  I added some extra bits and even more when I did some applique and stitching.  This one should be up in the next week or so.

Right now, the AAQI people are at the International Quilt Festival in Houston doing an amazing job at selling some 1500 mini quilts for AAQI!  I have 4 quilts there as far as I can tell and 2 have sold so far.  Nine Daisies and Through the Window I have sold!  Zoom and High Desert Sun are still available at last count.  Over $20,000 has been made at the festival so far!

The Magic Feather Project

A while back Jude Hill began a project called the Magic Feather Project.  I added a link in my sidebar, but just realized I never posted anything about it.  Jude is attempting to collect 1000 magic feathers to create a large cloth that can be used to bring comfort and healing to children.  She's asked for anyone to stitch or applique a feather to a small block and send it to her.  So far, there are 329 feathers in.  You can follow her blog posts about this or her Flickr page.  You can even see some free lessons in how to do this.  All of Jude's lessons are wonderful, so to get some for free is particularly delightful.

My story about the three feathers above is here.  In addition to my feathers for the project, I couldn't resist making a thank you for Jude.

I am now working on some patchwork feathers.  Here's a preview:

Look who I got to meet!

Finally, Lazy Gal Tonya and I are in the same place!  It was so great to meet her- like old friends.  We had a nice dinner at Los Agaves Mexican Restaurant and then attended the Gee's Bend quilter presentation.  While waiting in line I did a mini show and tell and of course, we had to get a photo of this quilt, Love Always, our collaboration.  Tonya made the letters and sent them to me and I made the rest.  

I've got more to share, but it will have to wait.  Two more long days ahead.  See ya! 

Hope for June

This is my June quilt for AAQI.  It will be sent in next week.  My May quilts are posted with pictures now: Through the Window I, II, III, IV.  Zoom is still for sale, but Ginger's Garden is Sale Pending- woohoo!  Check out my $1000 Promise page to keep up with me and my quilts.  

Biggest news though is that the June auction is on-going.  Please head over and bid on one of these fabulous quilts!  Also, the Quilts for Sale page is busting with gorgeous little quilts.  All proceeds are going for Alzheimer's research.  AAQI is attempting to have this month be the biggest month for sales of quilts.  Please make that happen.  If you buy one now, or have ever bought or donated a quilt to AAQI, please tell me about it in the comments!  In this post I showed a couple of the lovelies I scored from AAQI earlier this year.

In other news, it's my talented sister's birthday today!  Happy Birthday Cheryl!  You should see her latest glass art.  Cheryl's hares, birds and other animals shine with personality and these necklaces are a fantastic addition to her Etsy offerings.  

Now I'm off to take in the warm weather that finally rolled into Central Oregon, just in time for the Heaven Can Wait walk tomorrow.  I'll be walking with my Undercover Quilter friends!  I'll be back here soon with lots of stuff I've been working on lately.

Small Wonders

* Edited to add:  I should have known better, to make sure I had all the quilts and awards right.  I made some mistakes, but have fixed them and added the judges' comments below.  I still hope I can get over and take some better photos of the winners soon.

During the month of May, the Sisters Library community room has been filled with amazing color and design!  Over 80 quilts were entered into the Small Wonders Challenge for the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show.  I entered two that you can see above, Ginger's Garden II and Quilt!.  Last weekend Sarah and I went over to see the quilts and vote for Viewer's Choice.  Sarah did a nice post about it here.  Most of the photos here are clickable to see more detail.

As you can see it was hard to decide.  There is so much variety in technique and design!  

Here are some close ups of my favorites:

Marion Shimoda

Little Bird by Valori Wells

Virginia Cole

From a woman's soul, through a  woman's eyes, by a woman's hands.

Marion Shimoda

Ann Richardson

Bird by Jean Wells

Salmon Says by Dianne Scharf

Tonye Belinda Phillips

Spring has Sprung by Mary Ann Lisk

Shirley Peterson

Karen Shadley

Quilts by kids in Sisters schools

Last night there was a reception to reveal the winners of the Viewer's Choice, as well as the judges' picks for Best Use of Color, Best Use of Recycled Materials, Best Use of Innovative Techniques and Judge's Choice.

Three of the winners were there and one was me!  I couldn't believe it.  I won Judge's Choice for Ginger's Garden II.  Joanne Myers (middle) got the Viewer's Choice award and Kathie Leonard (left) got the award for Best Use of Innovative Techniques. 

Best Use of Color, "Seasons in Bora Bora" by Mary Nyquist Koons

Judges' comments:  Use of color allows the eye to move around the piece; Great form of color wheel – very innovative; Clever composition, contemporary shape and feel and the use of color makes it dynamic

Best Use of Innovative Techniques, "African Adventure" by Kathie Leonard.  No wonder I was confused.  The name listed on the quilt here is wrong.

Judges' comments:  Great use of batiks and choice of beads, feathers, etc.; Embellishments used tastefully to create an African look; Nice composition; like the variety of surface embellishments

Best Use of Recycled Materials by Charlene Kenny.  This quilt uses pieces of an old quilt to great effect.

Judges' comments:  Outstanding use of recycled fabrics, nice design; Like the mix of old & new to create a classic little quilt;  Re-creation of old quilt – very unique; Traditional with a twist; Great choice of fabrics to compliment recycled blocks; The use of completed blocks from other projects was put together beautifully and was very unique.  The technique to create the wave pattern was successful and created a very pleasing piece.

Viewer's Choice by Joanne Myers

Ann's comment:  Just about by a land slide!

Judge's Choice, Ginger's Garden by me!

Judges' comments:  The color in this piece produced a very vibrant, rich image.  The bright colors combined with light but intense colors played so beautifully off of each other;  The quilting is terrific and while the border is busy, it is filled with interest and truly sets off the image in the center.  Everything works together – lights and darks; Truly a charming piece; Wonderful combination of color, pattern and design; Very fun piece; Great composition and fun – happy quilt

 The quilts will now be sold as a fundraiser.  All the quiltmaker's get first dibs on their own quilts.  I think the 5 winners will be sold for $200, the honorable mentions for $150 and the rest for $100.  The sale will be at the Sisters Summer Faire on July 2 and 3.  They'll remain at the library until the end of May.

It was a wonderful evening with delicious food catered by a new Mexican restaurant in Sisters, Los Agaves.  Thanks to my friend Sarah for attending with me and to my Mom and Dad for coming to the event and to my Dad for taking the three photos here with me in them.

Kapitoil Quilts: The Grand Finale

The culmination of the Novel Idea program was a big success!  Teddy Wayne came to QuiltWorks to see the quilts in person and got a private tour with the quilters.  It was so much fun to meet and discuss with him how his work influenced us.  Above Erin Biskup, on the left, talks about her quilt with Teddy and Chantal, one of the librarians who were part of his entourage.

Pris Brubaker discusses her quilt.

Everyone got a kick out of Jill Monley's Oil Futures quilt.

Teddy taking a close look at Jean Egle's quilt.  Jean used hand calligraphy to write on the gold ribbon of fabric running through her quilt.  

Mary Ann Lisk also got a quick chance to talk with Teddy.  Mary Ann works at the shop which was in the midst of a very busy first day of the Central Oregon Shop Hop.  She had to get right back to work!

Teddy and me!

And the whole group!

On Friday night, the lecture at the Tower Theater was presented to a sold out crowd.  My book club and a few guests, including Chloe, went out to dinner and then to the lecture.  It was such a great evening.  Teddy is a funny guy so the presentation was full of laughter.

I was totally surprised to see slides of our quilts projected on the screen for all to see!

There was a special presentation of Mary Ann Lisk's quilt to Teddy as a thank you.  Sorry for my blurry photos, but I thought they were important to show.

As we left the theater I intended to get a photo of that great Tower sign.  We stopped at the candy shop and I thought I'd go in for a moment and get the photo afterwards.  When we came out, 10 minutes later, the sign guys were already changing it up!  So, what's next?  I'm working on my next book quilt, On the Divinity of Second Chances.  In a couple of weeks the QuiltWorks quilters will get together to choose another book to interpret in cloth.  I may not be able to help myself!

Kapitoil Quilts: Take 2 and New York Beauties

I went back to QuiltWorks the other day to take more photos.  There were a couple of new quilts in the display too.  

By Amy Kowalski.  As Amy says, this quilt is Karim-esque.  You'll have to read the book to understand that!

By Jill Monley.  This quilt represents the computer that Karim used to create his Kapitoil program for buying and selling oil futures.  Karim also had a love of fresh juice and his "Juicinator".

By Kathie Eckman.  This quilt represents the cubicle that Karim worked in.  There are masks and flashes of chrome.  The indigo represents Karim's girlfriend.

Since the book takes place in New York, the rest of the gallery space was filled with New York Beauty quilts.  Enjoy!

Imagine: Done!

Happy April Fools Day!  Today is also the opening of the Kapitoil quilt exhibit at QuiltWorks.  On Wednesday, I was finishing the binding just minutes before I had to turn this in.  I actually added the label at the quilt shop.  As such, I didn't get the greatest photos of this finish.  

I love, love, love this quilt!  It's soft and so substantial.  It would make a lovely baby quilt.  I ended up adding a lot of quilting on Earth.  I also did Jude's hug method of binding- easy peasy though it requires a lot of stitching.  This quilt is completely hand stitched.

If I had more time I would've added more quilting stitches.  Maybe I'll still do that when I get it back.  Meanwhile, it will spend the month of April at QuiltWorks and can be seen there any time the shop is open.  If you are in the area and would like to come to the grand opening, it's tonight 5-7 pm!

Previous posts: here, here, here and here.

A little stash enhancement never hurt anyone!

Last week was spring break here.  Both the kids had the week off.  Hubby was working, but not traveling, so we were all at home.  We had nixed a little Oregon vacation with the trailer, mainly due to our heavy travel schedule for the summer.  And a good thing, the weather's been classic Central Oregon "spring"- snow, hail, sleet, rain, wind and brilliant sunshine in small doses.  Anyway, with a totally free week, I had visions of staying home and sewing for hours on end- always a fantasy for me!  As the days went on, each one was filled to the max with time with friends which was fantastic, but not the week I had envisioned.  I have lots of stuff to post about, but I need to take photos and get them organized.  So, we'll start with these as they are easiest!  

On Thursday, I had a wonderful day out with my friend, Erin.  We had both won gift certificates at our guild meetings last year to Homestead Quilts, a store about 45 minutes from Bend.  We kept putting off the drive due to distance and weather.  Finally, we got to go and it was great.  The store was much bigger and well stocked that the last time I'd been there 4-5 years ago.  I stocked up on solids there.  I can always use more solids and these are the Moda Bella solids that I particularly like.  Today is Erin's birthday!  A big shout out Happy Birthday to her!

Yesterday was the Fiber Market Day in Prineville.  I went over by myself this time and didn't even buy any fiber.  I got some locally made soap and hand lotion.  Then went to The Quilt Shack in Prineville.  It's a small shop and had some nice stuff, but I didn't end up buying anything there.  On the way home I stopped in Redmond at one of my favorite quilt shops, Material Girl Fabrics, which sadly doesn't have a website.  Leslie has a fantastic assortment of contemporary prints.  It always makes me happy to walk in the door there.  I got the wonderful Alexander Henry Halloween prints above.  Plans for these include the Halloween/Christmas mash-up blocks that Tonya is looking for.  If you don't know what that means, you can read about it on UnRuly Quilting.  By the way, Tonya is coming to the Sisters Quilt Show this year!  Woohoo!  We've already made plans to get together.  It'll be great to meet after all these years.

Material Girl Fabrics also had the MoMo owls and Route 66 prints.  I've been collecting owl prints for a while now and have quite a few. I just love the Route 66 print with the retro cars and maps.  I've been to many of those places, but don't have plans for that fabric yet.  The last one is a street map of Paris that I bought on Etsy from Uberstitch.  This summer will be my first trip ever there and I already know I'm going to love it and will need to make a quilt.  I'll post more about the crafty pleasures of the week soon!

LOVE for sale

LOVE is for sale here.  It's quilt number 6477.   Check out the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative for more wonderful quilts for sale and to benefit a great cause.  Also, I am now a member of the $1000 Promise as well as the Quilt-A-Month Club!  ZOOM is now awaiting assignment too.  I'll post when I know what's up with that one.  I have several exciting things to post when I get the chance.  It's been a busy few days.