Kristin Shields Quiltmaker

Hello :: Goodbye

I am taking a little bit of time off from the blog right now.  I finished the binding on the last show quilt last night.  I did my presentation tonight at the East of the Cascades Quilters- fun as always!  And, I am getting ready for a trip tomorrow.  I will be gone til next week when things really heat up (literally and figuratively- a heat wave is on the way).  I haven't had time to take photos of the last couple of quilts, but should be able to do that Monday.  For now, I will go finish packing and try to get a decent night's sleep.  

If you haven't liked my Facebook page yet, there is a button on the right for Kristin Shields Folk Art.  I may be able to post photos from my trip there.  I am sure to post photos on Instagram too, which also has a link in the sidebar.  See you on the other side and have a great weekend!

Shattered: AAQI for June

This is my June quilt for AAQI.  Things are coming down to the wire now.  July is the last month to send in quilts and I have two fun ones coming up for that.  In the meantime, Shattered is this one.  It started in a class with Gwen Marston last fall.  It's made from some leftovers for the main quilt I was making at the time.  I decided to hand quilt it which will hopefully add some extra value to it.  It's number 14569.

I've been so scatter brained lately, that I just realized I never posted my May quilt for AAQI.  It's called Los Colores de Mexico (14263) and is also up now on the AAQI website.  I forgot to get a photo of it before I sent it out.  That one is also free pieced and hand quilted.  

I also have two other ones that are available for sale.  They are abstract free pieced quilts that I machine quilted.  Check out my $1000 Promise page to see them all.

Castle Peeps

Castle Peeps is a quilt that started last year.  I was inspired to make the free pieced castle towers to match the border fabric.  I had a small piece of the fabric with the people and fussy cut them to fit the windows.  I made the blocks with the scrappy colors because it was all looking a bit too green.  I like the punch the colors add.

I finished the top and put it away until the retreat in March.  I started quilting it, but I couldn't decide exactly what to do in the sky until I got a suggestion from a friend to do a dragon.  I loved the idea, but wasn't sure I could execute it well.

It's been sitting around since then and today I finally decided to get down to it and get it done.  I went to Google images to search for a dragon shape I liked, and drew something free hand.  Then I transferred it to freezer paper.  I ironed the freezer paper to the sky area and stitched around it once.  Then I removed the freezer paper and stitched around the outline once more.  I filled in the details with more double stitching lines.  You can click the photos to see even more detail.

Then I completed the rest of the sky with swirls and clouds.

I'm pretty pleased with it!  This would be a great crib quilt, but I plan to keep this one for a teaching sample.

In the Night Garden

Well, finally, I got some photos of this quilt!  I've been waylaid by numerous things over the past couple of weeks, mostly good like graduation, some more concerning issues due to various medical complaints.  Things will be fine, but I've just not had the time or inclination to do any sewing.

When I first thought of this quilt I wanted to make some cats that would seem to glow on an indigo background.  I had some indigos and found new Japanese prints to round it out.  I think the end result meets the goal I originally had.  There are 9 cats with various facial expressions which were so much fun to do.  **Edited to add:  I learned to do the cats in a class with Jude HIll.  She considers them her own design.**

I knew that this was one quilt that I wanted to machine quilt myself.  My machine quilting skills are improving steadily, but I have trouble when a quilt gets to be too big.  This one worked fine.  It measures 41" x 52".

I decided to quilt an overall swirl in blue to blend in but have an organic, maybe celestial feel.  I left spaces where I could add in some flowers and other garden elements with a variegated orange thread.

I like the back too.  The main backing fabric is a cool batik I found recently and I added a strip of the border from the front for some interest.  

This week I had visits with an interviewer and photographer from the local paper.  Very exciting, but also nerve wracking.  The special publication will come out on June 28 and will be available for free all over Sisters.  The show is just about 1 month away and I still have some finishing things to do with a few of the quilts, plus some other projects that need attention.  More soon!

Congratulations Ryan!

Free photo slideshow generated with Smilebox

We had a fantastic graduation weekend!  It's all there in this slideshow if you'd like to see.  Things will get slightly back to normal this week and I will get that cat quilt photo.   Be back soon!

End of Year Crunch Time

I have been so busy for the past week, I haven't had time to photograph the kitty quilt, let alone do any sewing.  Ryan had his senior awards assembly, where he was awarded the Lifelong Learner Award.  He was so happy and we are so proud of him!

I left the award assembly last Thursday and headed right over the mountains to pick up Chloe from college.  She and her roommate cleared out of their dorm for the last time.  Next year, they are both off for semesters abroad in the fall, and then plan to get an apartment.  We took a time out for a fun photo shoot.

These two will certainly be lifelong friends, and, yes, they've been asked many times if they are sisters, if not twins!  

I did manage to get my quilts registered for the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show before all the hoopla.  I have 18 quilts registered for my own exhibit, plus 4 quilts for other special exhibits.  I had my goal set to have it all finished by the end of May because I knew things would go a bit crazy after that.  This coming weekend Ryan will have his graduation.  I will be back next week with photos of the cat quilt and more of what's going on in the studio!