Kristin Shields Quiltmaker

A Neighborhood Walk

This morning I was drawn out the door by this scene above that I can see from my kitchen window.  Scrabble is now to the point that only very short and very slow walks will do.  However, slow walking is difficult for me unless I have something to do.  Taking my camera on this little walk was just the perfect thing.

I loved taking a good look at my neighbor's Halloween decorations.  Most of which I hadn't really seen as I walked briskly by.  

I loved seeing the local Little Free Library with an autumn backdrop.

Back at home, I noticed the last stragglers in the flowerbed.

Also, the beautiful little Japanese maples are turning red. I didn't know they'd do that!  Here they're backed by the yellowing hostas.Lastly, there's a hint of things to come.

Willamette Valley Weekend

Now you know what I like to do when I'm not quilting!  I hope you enjoyed this photo essay of our trip to the valley over Labor Day weekend.  As much as I love the high desert, sometimes my New England trained eyes long for the lush, green views of the Willamette Valley.  We had a very nice visit with Chloe too!  If you're interested, here's a list of the places we visited:

Champoeg State Heritage Area
Methven Family Vineyards
Red Ridge Farm
Durant Vineyards
Vista Hills Vineyard
Our Lady of Guadalupe Trappist Abbey
The City of Carlton
Yamhill, Oregon Quilt Barn (see this cool Pinterest board!)
Elk Cove Vineyards

Love in Bloom :: The Language of Flowers Quilt Reveal

Ta-da!  Love in Bloom is finished, just in time for quilt collection tomorrow.  Our guild show is on Saturday and it is our plan every year to have that be the debut display for our book quilts.  Last night was the quilt reveal meeting.  Our quilts this year are inspired by The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh.  More on that below.

I had lots of fun with the embroidery here.  The story is set in San Francisco, so I wanted to have the bridge, the city and the flower fields on the other side of the bay. Not realistic, but that's okay.  It's folk art!

The city wouldn't be complete without some city buildings, a few painted ladies and a cable car.

The flower fields are signified with tiny french knots and the bay seemed a little lonely, so I added the sailboat.  The border is full of flowers that I'm calling dahlias. In the language of flowers, dahlias are for dignity.  

Below are the quilts from last night's reveal.  We have twelve members and 10 of us managed to make enough headway to get ours nearly done by last night.  The other two are encouraged to keep on going, but finishing a quilt each year is not the point.  The point is the friendships we've created.

Jane Davis and her lovely flowers in a vase.  The red flowers are created with wool applique.

Cindy O'Neal and her incredible portrait quilt.  Cindy is getting really good with the portraits.  Look for more fabulous-ness from her!

Janelle Rebick's quilt includes the thread painted bee.  So wonderful!

Betty Geintke's quilt has incredible silk work. It shines from within.

Martha Sander's daisies literally leap off the quilt.  This is going to be fabulous!

Sally Black's flowers were inspired by the design on her i-Phone cover!

Sandie Woodbeck's lovely flower basket was finished despite some recent health challenges. Isn't it pretty!

Susan Mondry's Language of Flowers was made with a vintage linen that had some flowers and their meanings- pretty cool!  She added some sweet patchwork and more vintage linens.

Wanda Barkhurst made this incredible quilt with fused bits of fabric that are 1/2" square, I believe.  She embellished her work with hundreds of beads and the cool looking fence.

And this is me.  My quilt was not quite done last night.  I'm so glad it's ready now though.  If you are in the area, the Mt Bachelor Quilters' Guild Quilt Show in the Park is this Saturday, 10-4 in Pioneer Park in Bend.  Hope to see you there!

Love in Bloom

My Language of Flowers quilt top is finished and I'm getting ready to start quilting.  Unfortunately, I had a set back last week when I woke up on Friday, got out of bed and was hit with a wave of vertigo.  It was just awful, so debilitating.  I managed to get somewhat stabilized on Friday, but spent the weekend doing some hand sewing and other art projects outside.  Actually, it was a nice alternative to the busy weekend I could have had.

The city started to come to life, the flowers are all in place. In fact, a hummingbird visited me today as I was doing some last minute embroidery.  Guess I must be doing something right!

On Monday I ice dyed a 2 yard length of fabric to use for the backing and binding.  Now, I'm working on cleaning the studio enough to get to the sewing machine to start quilting.  Seriously, a month of dumping things in here has left it quite a disaster.  Tomorrow is the quilt reveal at our Undercover Quilters meeting and I will show it here as soon as I can.  I also have photos from the special studio I got to visit.  More on that soon!

**PS**  I never heard from Penny G., so we chose another winner- Mathea!  Mathea, I have sent an email, please contact me to give me your info.  

Language of Flowers WIP

My latest work in progress is my Language of Flowers quilt, which I haven't worked on since this post way back in March.  The deadline is next Wednesday which means I really have to get going on it.  Today I started building my little city and I'm adding borders tonight.  I will be appliqueing flowers around the border and maybe some other things from the book.  We'll see how much time I have. 

PS-  I still need to hear from Penny G about the drawing.  Penny, if you see this contact me asap.  If I don't hear from her by next Monday, I will pick a second winner.  

Favorites from Portland

Some of my favorite pics from Portland.  The first four photos are from the Portland Japanese Garden which was so cool, green and shady on a sweltering day.  The last four are from the Portland International Rose Garden which was a riot of color.  

Speaking of color, I am working hard to get together more Hand Dyed Inspiration Packs.  Better get back to work!

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!

Language of Flowers Sneak Peek

I have begun my next book quilt.  This one is based on The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh.  This one is for my Undercover Quilters Book Club.  This is a story of a girl who grows up in the foster care system and what happens when she ages out on her 18th birthday.  She needs to learn to love again and finds herself through the flowers she has come to know so well.  The book is set in San Francisco and since I said someone needed to make a Golden Gate Bridge quilt, it turned out to be me!  This has some machine piecing, fusible applique (on the bridge), hand applique on the rounded shapes.  There will be flowers and I don't know what all, surrounding all sides of this center.  I believe this is the first quilt that I have made with all my own handdyed fabrics.  More to come on this one, but I've got a few other things to work on first.

Christmas Beauty

Small Wonders 2012

This is my entry for the Small Wonders Challenge this year.  The theme is 'A Patterned Village' and the challenge fabric for this year is the green print.  All the rest of the fabric is hand dyed, mostly by me, but at least one of the greens is from a local friend.  It measures 25" x 19".

I admit to having to push myself to make this.  My first idea for the challenge just wasn't going to be ready in time, and I love it so much that I think I want to keep it, so I made this all in one day yesterday.  I started at the bottom, working my way up to the row with the houses.  The main bodies of the houses are free pieced, with the roofs and other details added by fusing.  I call it 'The Red Door' because I've always wanted a house with a red door.  I also like blue doors!  Presently I have neither, but I'm happy to create little worlds where I can have any sort of door I please.  

If you are so inclined to make a Small Wonder, I have it on good authority that the deadline has been pushed back to May 15.  The prizes are pretty awesome, so think about it!

I hope you are having a wonderful weekend.  We are having our first taste of summer weather and it is just delightful!