When Irish Eyes are Smiling

I back my quilts with beautiful fabrics that are related to the front of the quilt.
I hope you SMILE when you see the back of my quilts.



I like to include a label on the back of my quilts with a photo of the front of the quilt.
For these quilts I used T shirt transfers to make the labels. I ironed them onto a very smooth pure white Pima cotton. The labels are hand sewn onto the back of the quilts.

What are some of the things that make you smile?



I couldn't help but smile when I saw this photo of my great nephew yesterday on St. Patrick's Day! He may be Irish but I'm not sure he wanted to wear this outfit?



When I look at this photo of one of my granddogs I can't help but smile.



How can you not smile when you see this granddogs "puppy dog eyes"?

When I see these color samples I say "Oh, pretty colors" and a smile comes over my face!

Sentimental Journey

Recently I have had some wonderful experiences connecting with long lost friends and relatives I haven't see for years. The connections have been made with and without the aid of the Internet.


This is Threads Through Time. As I worked on it I felt a strong connection to my paternal grandmother. I thought about the similarities between the two of us and our differences. During the holidays I was looking through old photos and found photos of each of us at the same age. We could have been twins! I had never made that observation before. My grandmother also sewed and made quilts.
I have recently reconnected with 5 cousins who share the same grand parents. I had already had connected with several others. I now also know how my 2 surviving aunts who are 93 years old are doing.


Through The Years makes me think of friends who I had lost track of and recently made contact with. This includes high school friends, college friends, first job friends and quilting friends. These groups included friends I hadn't been in contact with for as much as 50 years. What a thrill to find them again.



For years I attended Jinny Beyer's Quilting Seminar on Hilton Head Island. For the 10th Anniversary of the seminar I designed the signature block and facilitated making this quilt top for Jinny. I made many friends through the seminar. As we all lead busy lives we lost contact over the years. I have reconnected with so many of them through Facebook.



This Lady Of The Lake quilt is significant because when I returned to Florida this year a long lost friend started talking about a lake in our area. I drove to the lake and also became interested in the history of our part of Florida. I am now reading the history of our county. We still have some "Old Florida" within a few miles but it is rapidly disappearing. Perhaps the current economy will help to slow down the disappearance of the natural beauty. We can hope.

I have so enjoyed reconnecting with everyone. Some nights after finding someone during that day or evening I am so excited I have a hard time getting to sleep. These connections are making my life much richer.


Recently I posted about the Quilt Art Altered Art Playing Card exchange I facilitated. After the post I heard from several of the participants. The cards for this puzzle are some of the ones I made for the exchange.

Up Where We Belong - Studio lighting and energy saving features

I offered to answer questions on my blog on subjects readers wanted more information about.
This post will discuss how I handled light and lighting in the studio.


I wanted a lot of natural light and a view of my tree top setting. This is the east wall and it has a lot of windows. The bank of windows to the left open and those on the right are stationery. I spaced them so that there was room to place this wonderful pharmacy cabinet between them. I had this before I built the studio. I knew it would not make the turn at the bottom of the stairs so when the builder was there I had him lift it up and through the opening for the right windows. Then he lifted the large window unit to install it.

All the windows have low E glass. It filters out the UV rays to prevent fabric fading and also provides insulation.



This is the north wall and you can see the blinds drawn on the windows. All the windows have honeycomb blinds which provide additional insulation when they are closed.
The two windows to the right are actually very tall and are two parts of a 3 window unit.

The wall on the west has no windows as it is all design wall and fabric storage. I like to think the fabric is another layer of insulation.


In this photo you see some of the fluorescent light fixtures I used. There are 8 four foot fixtures. Each has 4 bulbs. The fixtures use electronic ballasts which prevent a lot of the problems associated with other fluorescent fixtures.

Each bulb has a sleeve over it to screen out the UV rays. The bulbs are daylight bulbs.

If you look directly above the design wall you will see the track lighting I used to wash the design wall with light. These are halogen lights.

You also see the two skylights I used. I had never had skylights before and I was amazed by the amount of light they create.


I set these plants directly under a skylight and they thrive, even when I neglect them and forget to water them. I also feel the plants help purify the air in the studio.



I have another set of halogen lights over my sewing machines and ironing area to create task lighting. You only see two of the 6 lights in this photo.



This is my office area which is on the landing on one side of the stair well. I used two 4 foot fluorescent fixtures with two bulbs in each to light the area. What you can not see beyond the file cabinet on the far right is another bank of 4 windows.

I worked with a lighting consultant to select the proper lighting for my studio.

My office is your puzzle to solve.

Up Where We Belong - How I made my design wall and fabric storage shelves

I would like to share with you the details on how we constructed my design wall and fabric storage system.

The shelving was constructed first.
We used prefinished 3/4 inch white boards that were about 11 inches wide. This is the perfect width for 45 inch fabric folded in fourths.

We started with the uprights, spaced 4 feet apart. They were secured at the ceiling, the floor and the wall.

Next we added supports for the shelves. Originally the shelves were spaced 12 inches apart. In some of the sections we added a vertical divider to help keep them from sagging, and also to accommodate different sizes of fabrics.


After living with this for about 5 years I saw someone who had spacing of only about 6 inches between her shelves. This made so much sense to me. The fabric could be folded and placed on the shelves vertically instead of in piles. I could grab the piece I wanted without messing up a large pile.

We cut supports and just placed the extra shelves on them without securing to anything. We also placed supports in the middle of some shelves - again to prevent sagging.

This has worked out so much better and I would recommend starting with a shorter distance between shelves for anyone who is just starting out with a similar system.

This configuration also allows me to periodically go through my fabrics and decide which ones I no longer need in a short amount of time. I have donated some of those fabrics to different causes, givens some to friends and also even sold some.



My design wall is made up of 4 sections. Each section is 8 feet high and 7 feet wide.

Each section is made from two 4 x 8 sheets of luan mahogany plywood cut to total 7 feet wide.

On top of that we built a frame of 2 x 2's. The edge of the frame butts up with the edge of the 2 sections of plywood which are butted together. It also has a piece that goes across it half way between the top and the bottom. We attached the luan plywood to the frame with screws.

Next we cut 2" grayboard to fill in the two openings in each door of the design wall. (Gray board is a dense insulating board that they use on the outside of homes. It you were to look for it today you would probably only find it in pink or blue) We attached this to the plywood with an adhesive that was safe to use on the grayboard.

I purchased 4 flat queen size white flannel sheets. I laid a sheet on the floor, placed the face of the door down on the sheet. We brought the sheet around the door to the back and stapled it in place. There was some excess flannel which we trimmed.
(The luan side will be the inside of the door and the foam will be the outside which allows you to pin into it.)

At this point the doors were done and all we have to do was hang them.

To do this we purchased several sections of closet door track that totaled the entire length of the design wall. We attached this to the header at the top of the wall with very long screws, butting the sections together. If you have to cut a section of the closet track be sure and place the cut section at one end.

Leave 2 -4 inches of clearance between the front of your shelves and the back of the doors.

It is very important the sections of closet track are perfectly aligned. If not you will have problems when you want to open and close the doors.

We addded a piece of moulding and inch in front of the closet track to hide it.

Attach three of the closet door hangers to the back of each section.

Hang two doors in the front track and two doors in the back track.

You will be able to open one half of the wall at a time.

This can be adapted to any size you need by changing my measurements. You can make 2, 3, or 4 doors.

I am sorry I don't have construction photos to share but at the time we did this I had no idea how many people would be interested in learning how we did this.

If you have questions after reading this you can ask in the comment section at the bottom of the post. I will answer them in the comment section, or possibly even revise the post to make it clearer if several people have the same question.

Up Where We Belong - the best of my studio

Love lift us up where we belong
Where the eagles fly on a mountain high
Love lift us up where we belong
Far from the world below
Where the clear winds blow


I may not see eagles, but I am up in the tree tops in my studio. When I open the windows I can feel the cool winds blow.



This is an overall view of my studio. The design wall has 4 movable sections and I store fabric behind it. I use the design wall both to design quilts and to display them.



When you open the design wall this is what you see.



This is the area of the studio where I cut, stitch and quilt. Sometimes it looks better than this, sometimes not as good.
It is a working studio, not a show place.




A place for everything and everything in it's place - this is one way I store some of my finished work.



This post office desk houses some of my yarn for knitting. The color arrangement serves as food for my soul and inspiration.



These are some of the books in my library. They have helped shape my adventure as an artist.


This is an area where I can sit and read, do hand work or plan what I need to do.
It is also an area that a group can sit it. It could be a group of quilters, friends or clients.



Although I get a lot of my inspiration working on the computer and seeing the world around me, sketching and painting are always beneficial activities.

The puzzle I have done for you is my post office desk full of yarn.

Altered Art Playing Cards display for Quilt Art at 10

I facilitated an Altered Art Playing Card exchange for Quilt Art several years ago.
Quilt Art is an online mail list with over 3000 members where Art Quilter's exchange information, participate in challenges and so much more.
Each participant altered the front of an entire deck of playing cards and sent them to me. I sent each participant back an entire deck of cards. Each card they received was made by a different participant.
This assemblage shows the front or decorated side of one card from each of the 66 participants.
I created it for the exhibition "Quilt Art at 10" which was shown at the International Quilt Festivals.



This view shows the face or back of each card. Many of the participants selected unusual decks of cards to alter. There were Elvis cards, Spider Man cards, transparent cards, bird cards, Peanuts cards, Shakespeare cards, Winnie the Pooh, Charlie Brown, and many others.

It was so much fun to see all the creative ideas the participants used as they embellished their cards. Each card had to include fabric and use at least 3 different processes.

If you would like to see the cards close up you can click on this link.

http://quiltart.com/deck/deck.html

It has been 5 years since Quilt Art celebrated their 10th Anniversary.

Members are currently busy creating special quilts for the 15th anniversary.

Now you can put this assemblage together yourself!

Love and Marriage - You can't have one without the other - Part 4

This style of quilting with a zigzag stitch came about purely by accident. I was in my studio quilting quilts my grandchildren were making fast and furious. I'd finish the edges with a zigzag for them. I placed Jessica's quilt under the needle and started quilting away and realized I hadn't changed to a straight stitch. I liked the effect and quilted the entire quilt with the zigzag..
I have since used it on several of my quilts and this is one example. I added the blue circles to give it a focal point and a little more interest.

I quilted this with a zigzag stitch with peach thread. I added the spiral with the purple variegated thread for a focal point.


The quilting on this quilt was done with a narrow zigzag stitch. It echoes the design in the negative positive design.



When I thought I had finished the quilting on it I looked at it and realized something was missing.
I added a focal point with the stitched grid which also became part of the quilting.

One of the great things about quilting is there are no mistakes, just opportunities to try something different.

I hope you can see how the quilts and the way I quilted them make that perfect marriage.

A circle cut for a quilt with a circle.

Unforgettable, that's what you are

These are some of the quilts I have featured on my blog that many viewers have told me are unforgettable.


In Living Color is one of those quilts I have made that many find unforgettable.



Meet Me At The Fair has an unforgettable story.



Eight Pointed Star for One Arm Quilter is one of those quilts people don't forget.



Bordering On A New Millennium has a place of honor in my house. People have spent a lot of time standing in front of it and don't forget it.



Wow is another quilt no one forgets after they have seen it.



Anyone who visits my blog can not forget Journey.


Are these the quilts that I have featured that you remember?
If there are others that are imprinted in your memory I'd love for you to leave a comment and let me know which one or ones they are.

What a difference a day (year) makes!

I know everyone is so tired of hearing about the weather. I try to avoid discussing it on this blog.


This photo was taken in front of my house on March 6, 2009.



This photo was taken in the same spot on March 10, 2010.

This is the same azalea bush 1 year and 4 days later. There are a lot of buds but it will be at least two or three weeks before it looks like the one from last year.

Yes, we have had an unseasonably cold winter in Florida and even had a dusting of snow.

I am not complaining as I am thankful to be here and not "Up North" with the cold and snow they have experienced in 2010.

Today was one of the most beautiful days we have had. It was sunny and warm with a gentle breeze making for a very pleasant walk.

Love and Marriage - You can't have one without the other - Part 3

The quilts you see here are Fantasia and Fantasia 2. They are BRC quilts. Each one is hand quilted. They are perhaps the hardest quilts to photograph that I have every created. I don't know why.


In this photo you can see how I have used the quilting lines to bring out details in the quilt. Before I quilted this I took a photo of it. I placed tracing paper over the photo and drew lines to decide how to quilt it.
Remember you can click on any of these to enlarge them to see the detail better.


Evolution is a BRC quilt in the same series as Fantasia.


In the sections of this quilt pieced with curves I echoed that shape in the quilting lines. In the other triangles I did a straight quilting line in the ditch.

Tonight's star of the show!