Monday 31 October 2011

Happy Halloween

Saturday I went to the local garden shop and found this delightful lady hanging about waiting for someone to take her home.  I think she looks lovely hanging in front of my grandparent's mirror over my fireplace.
 Also on display was this hybrid VW Bug/Spider looking rather creepy.
 I decided to take some pictures of some of my Autumn quilts.  This is a Mary Lou Weidman chicken quilt that was featured in a magazine several years ago.
 This table runner pattern I got on a trip to New England, it also has an apple design as an alternate.
 I took the above basic table runner and merged it with a turkey pattern from another pattern.
 I found this Holiday Baskets pattern by Cheri Saffiote several years ago and had lots of fun deciding on fabrics.  I ran out of my pumpkin fabric and substituted a polka dot one for fun.
 Driving down to California I found this pattern Ghoulish Fantasy by Pine Tree Lodge.  I made a few creative modifications to make it my own.  I call mine the Three Amigos!
 In the lower corner I stitched a spiders web and added this fun pin.
 My moon is different and I added this witch checking it out.
 Boo says the ghost.
 I added faceted eyes to my black cats.  This guy has a 3 D tail and the tops of the fence are made with prairie points.
This next quilt was made in a workshop with Jane Sassaman, so I call it October Weekend with Jane.
 My friend Ethel designed this fun group of pumpkins for a guild workshop.  I decided to have 4 different borders.  Check out the candy buttons the witches are dancing among.
 The names escapes me of this pattern's designer, but I love the sentiment.
 I think this is from Nancy Halvorsen's Art to Heart collection. 
 Saturday night the sky was looking particularly Halloweenish.
 Milady bits you all a safe and Happy Halloween!
Trick or Treat!

Monday 24 October 2011

An evening with the ladies of Gees Bend!

Our hostess Maureen with China Pettway, Revil Mosely and Louisiana Bendolph in The Creative Edge after an enjoyable evening of stories and show and tell.
 The ladies sharing a smile as Matt Arnett tells how he and his father "discovered" the community of Gees Bend and the wonderful quilts the ladies made to keep their families warm.
 Louisiana sharing stories of learning how to quilt after playing under quilts her mother and grandmother used to quilt and threading needles for them.  Revil reading an article for the Canadian Quilters' Association of their trip to Halifax some years earlier.  Matt listening along intently.
 Revil nodding and agreeing with the ladies.
 China interacting with one of the ladies as we broke for coffee and desserts.
 Louisiana chatting with some other ladies.
 Back to the business of quilting, show and tell by those of us who came to hear them speak.
 Ethel's crazy quilt patch of pumpkins from upholstery velvets, recycled scarves and wool
 Admiring another audience's 9 patch pizazz, a combination of both machine and hand quilting.
 Another lovely show and tell from the group with admiring glances from the ladies.

They kindly signed Maureen's book, the Quilts of Gees Bend.
 Closing out the evening with Revil and China leading us in a rendition of Amazing Grace.  It truly was, I had the opportunity to see their first exhibit in Houston in November 2002.  Now an evening with them, how amazing.
 China and Revil admiring the fabrics in Maureen's shop.
The ladies are here until their flight leaves early on Wednesday morning, what a joy to have spent time with them and hear their stories.  Thanks to Maureen and the American Consulate for organizing this so quickly [they found out the ladies were here in Vancouver on Friday!]

Sunday 23 October 2011

Eileen Neill workshop

Last week at our regular Fraser Valley Quilters' Guild meeting Eileen Neill was our speaker.  She came back yesterday to do a stamping workshop with us.  She started by showing us how to cut our own stamps and by using a fabric glue and embossing powder to get some interesting pieces.  We then embellished with Lumiere or Setacolour paints.  This was the piece she demonstrated on in the class.
 Eileen is also known as the bead lady and loves to make these mini quilts for you to work upon to hone your beading skills.  These pieces are quite small as you can see by the little blue scrunchy on the table.
 Here are samples of some of her other pieces, they are about 15" square.
 This one she used commercial stamps and then beaded.
 She also does some interesting work with tyvek and other plastic based materials.
 Then we were off and carving.  Some gals chose to use original designs.
 Here is another original.
 This one is an adaptation of her pages that she allowed us to use.
 Another original design..can you tell it is almost Halloween?
 One of her shared designs.  A lot of people chose this one, it rather looks like the Dogwood flower, our provincial flower.

This was my first attempt along with a test stamp to see if I wanted to remove more background.  I decided to enlarge some of the lines to create a bit more detail.
 Second attempt, I drew right onto the stamping surface.  Remember everything will be reversed.
 A design chosen from another reference book she offered.
 By inking the back you can test stamp and decide if you want to carve out more negative space.  The white lines will be fabric and the black will be covered with embossing powder.
 Hard to see but a line drawing of a bare tree.
 Getting fancy with circles Mary!
 Doreen trying a complex Japanese inspired design.
 Eileen adding some heat to her piece.  It changes the look of the piece.
 Below she is using a paint stripper for added  power and heat.
 Embellishing with Lumiere paints.
 Setting aside to dry for stitching.
 Here is my piece dusted with the embossing powders.
After the heat the look changes, less pink and more silver comes through.
 Embellishing with different paints.
 Trialing some commercial stamps.
 Liz getting the heat on her piece.
 Ready for the heat gun.
 Mary adding some paint to her piece.
 The bare tree stamp along with some curving lines.
 Watching Eileen how she enhances the design with machine quilting.
 Here is one of Wilma's pieces.
 After some paint drying it will be ready to quilt.
 Susan with a different layout and original design.
 Wilma was very busy during the workshop.
I started to quilt my piece and the thread kept on breaking.  I guess that means it will be finished another day.
Thanks Eileen for a wonderful creative day.