Haley Wendler's Wedding Quilt

I am in College Station Texas this weekend for the wedding of Haley Wendler. Haley was my graduate student for the past 2 years and we worked on several wonderful projects together. It was so much fun to be able to make this quilt for Haley and Casey. As soon as I post this I'm off to the church.

It just fit on top of the King Size Bed in the hotel room.

And here it was in progress.

Update on Amazon Star

I was able to get some more pictures of Vickie's Amazon Star quilt when I was in Colorado. It sure does look nice on the King Size Bed.

Here are a few more pictures to show off the quilting:

Combining Quilting and Tile

I decided to combine quilting with tile for a custom piece for my bathroom.  I started with 4 small pieces and made a small Convergence. Then I stitched the African Huts to create the center piece. Then I made the frame with tile that was left from doing my shower.

Quilting the Amazon Star Quilt

I finally got enough courage to quilt this Amazon Star quilt for Vickie. Vickie suggested using a wool bat - which I was very impressed with. it really shows the texture of the quilting - while not being heavy or difficult to work with. Following are some pictures of it while on the long arm, as well as laid out on my  queen bed afterwards.  I'll post a better full picture once Vicki has it on her King size bed.

Art Mix 2013

I am putting 3 pieces into the Tippecanoe Arts Federation Art Mix this year. This one is titled "Explosion of Sun and Fire". I started with a hand-dyed piece that I made. I wanted to add some interest so for the alternate strips I took a piece (black with white dots). After painting I got a piece that was black with color that came through where the white dots had been. Once I got the center done I wanted something customized for the border - so I painted the fabric for the border. I quilted it with the pebble quilting design, changing thread color to match the background colors.

This I-Pad case started with the satin piece that I painted (air brushing) last fall at a workshop in Indianapolis. It was great fun embellishing it.

This I-Pad case started with the flower. I painted that flower under the wonderful coaching of Mary Bunte a couple of years ago (thank you Mary - I never would have thought I could paint like that). When I found the piece as I was working on things for Art Mix I realized I needed something for the border - so I painted the fabric for the border. Then I had fun adding quilting stitching to enhance it.

Spring Break Cruise and Africa

Lauren and Teri and I had a wonderful cruise for Spring Break this year. On the boat Teri and I had lots of time to croquet, which was very relaxing. We used up every bit of yarn that we brought with us. I started by making pot holders - and then was inspired by Teri who was making bags and stuffed characters.  Here are some of the things we made.

Some of the characters were shared with a couple of children we met on the ship and I took the rest to Africa where everyone loved them.

My friend Germaine’s daugther, Ramatou (age 7), was immediately attached to both the bag and the small doll. She took the bag to school and her friends were all envious of it. When Germaine and I asked her to show us what she put in the bag she pulled out her pencils. She has been sleeping with the doll. You can see in the picture that she took one of her hair elastics and used it on the doll. 

Margo is one of the women who has tirelessly done interviews with the women street food vendors (in very hot and dusty conditions) for our research over the years. She also is an entrepreneur herself, making and selling food and juice items. Germaine thought that it would be good for her to have the bag as she could use it when she is selling (for her cell phone and money). She was thrilled with both the bag and the pot holders.

Haoua is another one of the women who has worked tirelessly interviewing the women street food vendors. She has always been very careful with the data collection and then entering the data into the computer. You can see how pleased she is with the pot holder.

Germaine Ibro, who I have worked with for many years is on the left. The woman on the right is a scientist working with vegetables (you can see the onions on the floor in her office). They are both very pleased with the pot holders.

Farewell Quilts

Angie Flack announced that she was leaving the Ag Econ department and taking a different job at Purdue that would allow her time to expand her balloon art business called High Expectations in June last year.  I was attending a quilt retreat at Ghost Ranch in New Mexico then. After reading the email I went to the studio we were working in and announced to everyone that my secretary was leaving - and they immediately understood what a loss this meant for me.  I declared that I had to make her a quilt - so I pulled out the batik fabrics I had taken with me and started to piece the top. After getting the center done I knew it needed something more - so I decided to paint the fabric pieces for the borders. Here is me painting the border pieces in that beautiful location in New Mexico.

It took me awhile to get Angie's quilt finished, since I returned home to house renovations. However, I did finally get it completed and here it is.

We had one other retirement this year. Brenda Pearl retired January 31, 2013 after many years of great service as the secretary in our main office.  I decided to go with a more traditional design for her quilt.

Happy New Year means Quilts for Christmas Gifts

I had a wonderful time creating Christmas gifts this year. Prairie Sunset was for my brother Glen and his family who live in Toronto. In fact his wife Teri is the one who got me set up with this blog - so thanks to her I am now able to post these. Living in Toronto they can now experience the energy of a prairie sunset with the reds, oranges and yellows on that straight horizon line. And for those of us who grew up on the prairie we know that the silhouette of the grain elevator completes the image.

I created this using batiks and hand dyed fabrics - and all of the fabrics have wonderful color variation to help create the image. I used the curved piecing technique. The effect is wonderful - but the curved piecing is easier with the hand dyed fabrics than with the batiks - since the batiks are such a tight weave.

Midnight Snowflakes is a table runner that was a gift for my friend Liz in Calgary. I started this piece over a year ago (when the first round of renovations were underway and I needed a small project to work on that I could do around the construction). It got set aside and then "found" just in time for me to finish it for Liz.

I started with the dark blue batik that has the lovely splash of pink. I cut out snowflakes to applique onto the table runner (yes I felt as though I was back in grade school again - what fun). Then the other snowflakes are done with thread.