Quilting Adventures in Arkansas

OK, I have been in 7 cities in 40 days and that doesn't include the 14 stops in Denver along the way.  Yes, I am tired but it’s been so fun and very exciting.  When God answers your prayers you'd better be ready. It's all good! 

Yes, Joe has no underwear, as he told me today but he is getting so good at shopping and laundry these days. Yesterday, the checker at the grocery story referred to me as “Oh, you're Joe's wife!” 

Hey, I've been shopping there for the last 18 years and now I’m somebody?

But I couldn’t do any of this if Joe wasn’t 100 percent behind me - plus he loves that I make money now, so it all works out. 

So here is a short video of my adventure in Arkansas. I was there twice in 2 weeks.

When I got home, I went online and found that my grandmother and her sister and their father, my great-grandfather Isaac Standlee, were all born in Arkansas.  

Lois and Ruby Standlee

Enjoy the clips and song and I'll have more of my adventures to come and, if you like BBQ, I highly recommend #Lindsey's in North Little Rock. Awesome food.

The Dogwoods Are Blooming!

Well, spring is finally here and for most of last winter, when I was not in an airplane flying off to teach and lecture,  I have been in the studio working on my new pattern idea.  The idea came after visiting in Paducah, Kentucky in April when the Dogwoods began to bloom.  It was breathtaking!

They even have a Dogwood Trail, which I followed (and it's beautiful).

 This really is a lesson in values.  How many values of white can you find to make a white Dogwood?But first, start by looking for the lightest colors you can find of the pink, blues, greens, yellows and so on.

By the way, my drawers are not always that neat!

 Now I have my painting palette. But don't worry, the pattern comes with a color chart and if you just get close to the color it will work.  It's more important to have the right value.

I built the flower first on parchment paper, which is laying over my drawing. I have found some great thin parchment paper which is larger than the product we have been buying at the grocery store. 

See my web store for this product.

After I  got the first flower halfway done, I started to audition background fabrics.  I tried at least 5 other colors before I found this one. I like the dark, woody coloration with the white flower.

Here I am adding more flowers and auditioning some greens for leaves. The greens you use can make or break your quilt.  These greens did not work, they were too teal.

 Here I have used one of my ice-dye green fabrics that has lots of sparkle and it works much better.

Now I am ready to quilt and sketch with thread.

 I love the shiny Sulky 30-weight rayon thread. This is also in my bobbin.

I am using a Top Stitch 80/12 needle.

 Starting to add the veins in my petal with thread.  I am changing thread color as I go.

I love the stitch I get with my #BERNINA 750 QE. 

 I add a little Sewer's Aid to my thread as I quilt to help it glide through the machine smoothly.  Rayon is a delicate thread, so if it hits a metal burr somewhere in your machine it will ravel.

I hope you enjoy working on your dogwood flower.

This pattern is now available in my web shop.  

Keepsake Quilting Catalog

So excited about my quilt being in the Keepsake Quilting catalog. 

I got a call last year from RJR Fabrics about doing a pattern design for them using their fabrics. They wanted a pattern that was big and bold and thought of me. What an honor!  I don’t think they really knew what I do but someone dropped my name.

Texas Wildflower is on page 7.

They sent me samples of all their colorways.  You would think that if you had all those colors in your studio you could just take one of my flower patterns and translate it into their fabrics but that is not quite the way it happens.

 My Poppy pattern.

You see, I learned that I have a look which has its own color palette.  That is why I have been dyeing my fabrics.  I also use commercial fabrics when I can find my colors but for my quilts I want a certain color look.  Just like a painter mixes the right color, I have to find or make that right fabric color and value.  Remember, the fabric is my paint.  It is all about the color for me.

The first flower I wanted to try in RJR fabrics was my Poppy pattern!  It’s a show-stopper and the pattern has 3 different color charts for 3 different kinds of poppies so I thought this would be perfect.  But it wasn't.  Their red palette was not my red palette.  There was a big difference.  Who knew?

laying out the Texas Wildflower laser cut fabric kit.

The more I study and teach about color, the more I learn.  As I was making the poppy, it just was dead.  No pop, no wow factor.  I had to call RJR and tell them I couldn't do it.  I don’t care how much money (by the way, it wasn't that much) it pays - I can’t put my name on something that is not me and not my colors. At this same time I was making my Libby Quilt for the auction to raise funds to help Libby Lehman with her treatments. This flower, by nature, was in the RJR color palette with its orange reds and peach pinks.  

So I simplified the pattern so it didn't have as many fabrics as the original and started working on this new quilt.  RJR liked the quilt so we had a deal. Now you can buy my pattern and a laser-cut fabric kit with the RJR fabrics that go perfect with this flower. 

Just for fun I made the quilt in another colorway using RJR fabrics again.  I like purples but there is no kit for this one but there is a color chart in the pattern to help you pick your own colorway.  

In Purple and reds.

I have also put together a thread pack for the the Texas Wildflower that goes with the RJR fabrics. You can the pattern and the thread pack at my web shop.

Something Out Of Nothing

I made this soft and cuddly knitted shawl two years ago. I got it out to wear to dinner the other night and found, of course after I got home, that there were holes in the fabric. It looked like it had been chewed. I tried to fix them but another hole showed up and then another. It made me sick. This was expensive yarn!

With a disgusted look on my face I grabbed the whole thing and threw it in the trash.  I think I even stomped my foot as I walked by the over-stuffed trash can. By the time I got to the door of my studio I paused and went back to the trash can and pulled the shawl out.  It’s just so soft.  I know there is something I can do with this, but what? 

What if I used my sewing machine and zig-zagged with black thread over the holes?  How about doing straight lines of zig-zag stitches all down the shawl?  It needed more. And then I remembered I have a bag of laser cut wool circles I bought two years ago at Quilters Affair in Sisters, OR. 

I think they were made up for the Sue Spargo class. I had no idea what I would use them for at the time.

I started by laying the circles on the three holes to be fixed.  Then I added more and layered them randomly all over the shawl.  I stitched them into the knitted shawl.

Then I did some more zig-zag stitches up and down the shawl.  With an extra ball of yarn I crocheted a ruffle on the ends of the shawl to give it a nice finishing touch. 

Then added a big vintage Bakelite button.

Front

I think I like this better than the original! I love creativity!

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