Kristin Shields Quiltmaker

Doorway to the Past

Here's another older work in progress that I just finished.  This one is not really that old, as things go.  it's from last fall's class with Jean Wells.  This was a sample from an exercise where a composition is traced from a photo.  This one is from a window that Jean photographed.  This week I layered it and machine quilted it with cotton threads and some metallic thread that really twinkles in the sun.  It's hard to capture that with a camera though.

This little art quilt has just been listed in the shop.  This week I will be in a workshop with Elizabeth Barton, author of Inspired to Design and Visual Guide to Working in a Series.  The next few weeks will be super busy, but I'll check in when I can.  Also, if you want to follow my Instagram feed (my IG name is kristinshields), you might see various glimpses of what's going on as I go about my days.  By the way, did you know the buttons on the right that say Etsy, Facebook, Flickr Quilt Gallery, Instagram, etc. are clickable?  Just click to visit any of those sites.

Let's Celebrate!

First of all, if you are new to my blog, welcome!  The Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show was incredible this year!  What a fantastic year to be the Featured Quilter.  The weather was picture perfect and my whole experience was incredible.  I talked to so many lovely people and heard many wonderful comments.  It was really one of the most fabulous days of my life.  To celebrate, make your way to the bottom of the post for a little announcement.

My quilts were hung at Ponderosa Properties, just near the Sisters Coffee Company which is always abuzz.  I had a lovely grassy area with quite a bit of shade for most of the day.

When people asked which was my favorite, I always said it is Ryan's quilt.  It was so funny, when Ryan was actually there he kept hearing his name.  He was also very shy about it.

The Lone Star, standing alone, but looking great!

I had several requests for commissions and had to explain why nothing was for sale. Although I had to politely turn them down, it's nice to be asked!

Several comments about the Obama quilt, only one negative comment though.  Someone asked if any president could be in the show!  Had to laugh at that one.  I also pointed out that my quilt was meant to be historical rather than political.

I got photos with lots of friends that made my day.

Jean Wells, founder of the SOQS.

My sister, Cheryl.  I'm so glad she could make it here for the show.

My mom, Carolyn.

My dad, Jim, and Bo.

Janelle, fellow Undercover Quilter.

Cathy and Pris, Mt Bachelor Quilters' Guild friends.

Jessica and her sweet daughter.

Marion, amazing wire sculptor and quilter.

Ryan and Mark

Laurence and Betty Dyer, owners of Ponderosa Properties.  Laurence makes these beautiful wooden jewelry boxes and he gave me one.  Such a special gift!

Tonye Phillips and Sue Spargo.  They did a beautiful job hanging my exhibit and they also took down!

Last, but not least, my dear friend, Sarah.  Sarah took hundreds (maybe thousands) of photos during quilt week.  I feel like I had my own personal paparazzi!  I'm so glad my mom got a photo of us!  

Celebration Time!

And now, to celebrate this auspicious occasion, I would like to offer free domestic shipping on orders over $25 in my Etsy shop (use coupon code SOQS2013).  In addition to the mini quilts and ornaments, I have added the new Inspiration Packs, greeting cards and handspun skeins of yarn for embellishment.  The first 10 orders will also receive a special gift with their order.

I am heading out of town on Wednesday, so orders that come in before 8pm PDT Tuesday (tomorrow) will be shipped on Wednesday.  Orders coming in after that time will ship when I get back, the week of July 29.  

In addition to that, leave a comment on this post to be entered into a drawing for a bundle with a selection of goodies from my shop: hand dyed fabric, handspun yarn, greeting cards and maybe an ornament!  Last day to leave a comment is July 28.  I will choose a winner on the 29th.  The coupon code is only for US addresses, but for the drawing, I will ship anywhere!

Thanks to everyone who stopped by to say hi and to those who are just learning about my work.  Thanks to Ann Richardson and all the volunteers who make such a great show every year.  It was truly a dream come true!

**  Photos in this post were taken by me, my mom and Mark.**

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Thank you everyone!  The comments are now closed.  I'll be choosing a winner later tonight.

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Las Ventanas in the Garden

I finished the binding on Las Ventanas this morning and went looking for a suitable place for a photo shoot.  The colors of this one are brilliant, but hard to photograph well.  The background color is really a mustardy sort of yellow, but can look chartreuse or other shades of green in certain light.

After trying several places indoors, I finally took it outside where you can really see how it glows in the sun.  This quilt was started in a workshop with Jean Wells last fall.  This is the one where I forgot I signed up and missed the first day.  I just happened to run into Jean later that day and she asked why I hadn't been in class!  Oh my, that was embarrassing!  I did make it to the last two days of the workshop and was inspired by a book about the colors of Mexico.  I ended making each block as I imagined a landscape would look through a window.

When it came time to do the back, I decided to piece it with another large ventana.  Oh, wow, I love this back- almost better than the front.  I am hesitant to even put a label on the back, but I will have to for the show.  

I decided to try some straight line quilting with the walking foot.  It is remarkably difficult to make really straight lines.  I'm sure that is partly my own little quirk, but, actually, I like the variation in the lines and after a while I stopped worrying about making them perfectly distanced or straight.  This is the first time I've used masking tape to mark quilting lines.  That worked out great.  I laid on several strips spaced about 6 inches apart, quilted down both sides of them (not right next to the tape, because I knew my lines wouldn't be straight), then took out all the basting pins and filled in the rest with quilted lines.  Easy, but it does use quite a bit of thread.  I used a Sulky blendable for the top thread and a plain heavyweight Aurafil thread for the bobbin.

Another one down!  I have two quilts with machine quilters, three more quilts very close to done, one to be quilted (by me) and one more that I will take to a quilter if I can finish the top soon.  So much to do and 75 days to go!

Las Ventanas nearly done

I'm zooming away with this one and loving it!  The colors are hard to capture, so this is a bit off.  More photos soon.

Something New

Las Ventanas

I am still trying to figure out how one can completely forget they have signed up for a 3 day class!  Anyway, I made up for the missing day and had a great time too.  

I was making these little blocks and realized that many of them could represent a landscape as seen from a window.  That got me on a roll.

It's coming along, but I've got quite a bit more to do.  I will piece those blocks into the mustard background.  I'm also thinking about adding some small blocks as applique to fill in the empty spaces.  More to come!

The Wonder of Small Quilts

Tonight was the reception and award presentation for the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show Small Wonders Challenge.  We were treated to delicious food, music and the friendship of fellow quilt lovers.  As Ann Richardson announced the winners it was fun to see which of the 50 something quilts caught the judge's eyes.  Below on the right next to the window is Jean Wells' yellow, intuitively pieced quilt that got the award for Best Use of Color.  I forgot to get a close up, but the judges were impressed by her expert use of yellow.

The quilts in the above photo and the two below all include the green challenge fabric. There was an award sponsored by Michael Miller Fabrics for the best use of the challenge fabric.  

I was surprised and delighted to find that my quilt won the Michael Miller Challenge Award!

My friend and fellow Undercover Quilter, Betty, won two awards- Best Contemporary or Abstract Quilt and Judges' Choice!  Well done Betty!

My friend and fellow Undercover Quilter, Martha, won an Honorable Mention for her very cool snail quilt!

This quilt won the award for Viewer's Choice among the East of the Cascades Quilters (this award was just for the quilts that came from those guild members).

This quilt won the Best Use of the 2012 Show Theme- A Patterned Village.

My friend Jan made the quilt with the grey background.  I just love this one.  The houses are so subtle and the flower is beautifully appliqued.

It was very nice to see these quilts in person, but you can also see them online on the show's Facebook page.  You can even vote online for Viewer's Choice!  Go to the album page and down at the bottom there's a link for the vote on survey monkey.

All of these quilts will be sold as a fundraiser at the quilt show on July 14.  If you are interested in any of them, you should contact the quilt show right away, as I think they are going to make them available to out of towners.  Ann said tonight that she was thinking about having a silent auction for the award winners.  Either way, I hope they make a lot of money.  The quilt show will donate proceeds to a local Sisters charity that provides scholarships for kids to attend Parks and Rec classes. 

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!

Jean Wells: Local Quilter Makes Good

I just had to share this!  Jean Wells, the owner of the Stitchin' Post, originator of the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show and all around fabulous art quilter and teacher, was featured in last night's edition of Oregon Art Beat.  I hope you'll watch this video to learn a bit more about Jean and the wonderful shop where I'm taking my workshop this week.  

I'm especially excited because I actually got to have dinner at Jean's house last night along with the rest of my classmates.  It was just wonderful!  Her house is a true artist's house, with art by Jean and other local artists adorning every wall and surface.  Even the bathroom had fabulous original art.  It was such a treat to see Jean's home and studio and the fabulous view from her patio, above.  The mountains were in fine form last evening, showing their new snow in the crisp autumn breeze.  Enjoy!