A Blossom Fell - Azalea Time

The most glorious display in my yard is put out by the azaleas. This photo is from 2 years ago today.



Last year they bloomed very late. This photo was taken on April 1 last year. We had a severe winter and they were very late and not nearly as full.

This year they are not quite ready to show you yet. I am hoping we don't have a rain storm to beat them down before they come into full flower. Our winter was also very cold this year but it didn't last quite as long. They only last about a week, but for that week they are my very favorite floral display.
We are having a beautiful spring for which I am so thankful.



Little did I know when I painted this table it would be a very close match to the azaleas. We did not choose the color of the flowers, the builders planted them.

The Colors Of My Life: My Own Personal Book

In addition to having the mug made from these photos, I also had a 20 page 8.5 x 11 inch book made. There are 20 quilts in the series so this was a perfect opportunity to showcase them all in one place.



These facing pages showcase two similar quilts.



The two quilts shown on these facing pages use exactly the same fabrics. The only difference is they are in reverse order.



One of the nice features of these books it allows you to size your photos up to 8 1/2 inches. This requires high resolution photos.


I was able to use a different layout on this page.
It shows the left, center and right views of this quilt - the Grand Finale quilt in the series. It is 3 dimensional.



This page shows the Grand Finale quilt from the center front.


I am including a puzzle at long last for those of you who enjoy doing my puzzles.

The Colors Of My Life With Coffee

I had this coffee mug made with most of the quilts from The Colors Of My Life series printed on it.



I was amazed by the quality and color of the reproduction of the quilts. I selected the layout I wanted to use and then placed each quilt where it would be most effective.



I showed 3 different views so you can see how the collage of photos goes all around the cup.
I think coffee is going to taste much better in this cup.

Wouldn't it be great to get a set of mugs, each with a different one of your quilts?

These could also make great gifts for friends and family.

Circle Inset Quilt - Design Process - Part 5

Today was a busy day.
I finished sewing the quilt together.
I am always amazed at how much better a quilt looks when you don't see the white spaces between the blocks.
Next comes the quilting. I think about how I am going to quilt something as I work on it.
Sometimes an idea comes and other times I have to wait - and the waiting can take a few hours, a few days or even a few years.
I expect to start quilting this one tomorrow. I will probably do a small practice piece so I can see that the thread, needle and design I plan on using will work.

Circle Inset Quilt - Design Process - Part 4

I added and inset the rest of the circles today. Some are barely visible as the contrast is so subtle. Others are very obvious because of the high contrast.
I feel to be successful a piece must keep you looking at it and continually seeing something new. I think that will happen with this one when I finish it.

I have started to sew the squares together.

I really enjoyed the process of insetting these circles once I got the hang of it.
You can be sure I will be using circles again in my work.

Circle Inset Quilt - Design Process - Part 3

You saw the collection of fabrics I started with.
Eventually I pulled all these fabrics from my fabric collection to make the choices of what fabrics to use. I did not use all of them.



These are the tools and supplies I am using to create this piece.



In this photo you can see I inset two more circles.



I have now added several more circles. Some are more obvious than others. I have done that purposely. I will add more, but I will not put a circle in each square.
How many circles can you find in this photo?


I am enjoying designing this and can't wait until I can sew it together, quilt it, and finish it.

Perfect Patchwork Furniture

I have been enthralled with patchwork furniture for quite some time.
I have finally come up with a few places I could use some patchwork on furniture in my house.

I have a few pieces of furniture that are hard and not as comfortable to sit on as I would like them to be. I will be adding more padding to the cushions and then making new patchwork covers for the cushions.


This sofa is very bold and would only work for a certain style of decorating.
The sofa I intend to use patchwork on is a loose cushion Scandinavian sofa. I had new cushions made for it, and they were thinner and harder than what I wanted. I had them covered with black Ultrasuede. I will remove the covers from these cushions and add a lot more padding to them. I most likely will reuse the black Ultrasuede in the patchwork either combined with more Ultrasuede in other colors or other fabrics. The other options would be to cover each cushion with a different color of Ultrasuede.


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I have a chair that is similar to this one. I will not cover the entire chair with patchwork. I will just use a tasteful assortment of fabrics to make patchwork to cover the cushions.



I also have an antique chair in quite a state of disrepair that is similar to this. It could be only used as a decorative accessory, maybe hung on a wall or from the ceiling. I intend to paint it and then use some fun patchwork on it. I haven't decided what room I will use it in yet, so that will affect the decision on what colors I will use.

This is not something I'll be doing soon. I just wanted to share some of my inspirations with you, and perhaps give you some ideas you could use.

Now I know at least a few of my friends who are reading this are rolling their eyes and saying, what is she doing now. You know who you are! Well, they will have to wait and see. They may just love the finished products!

Circle Inset Quilt - Design Process - Part 2

In this photo you see more squares and several fairly major changes. I have now added some blue. I feel it is getting there now and doesn't have too far to go.


When I got to this point I was quite pleased with it. I know it is often best to sleep on it for a while. After sleeping on it I gradually made a few more changes.



Often when I am evaluating a design I will convert it to grayscale to observe values.
I see a few things I want to change here.

I made a few slight changes since I took this photo.
I am also in the process of adding a few more of the inset circles.
It's a process and it can't be rushed.

Circle Inset Quilt - Design Process

I would like to share with you one way I go about designing something.



I am working on my design wall. I started with those two circle insets I showed you a few days ago.


I continued adding more pieces to this.



I am starting to remove pieces and move them around. Here I have added some fabrics that were not in the original group.





Here you are beginning to see some major changes. I have not shown each and every photo I took after making changes. Up to this point there are at least 15 photos and of course I did not show each time I added something or moved something around.


It is getting much closer to being a work of art. I made more changes and took more photos after this one, but I am saving that for another time.

When you see a quilt that is simply squares, it doesn't just happen. A lot of decisions are made while laying it out on the design wall.
Working with these hand painted and dyed fabrics with their irregular patterns just adds to the challenge.

While this takes time, it is one of the things I really enjoy - CREATING ART!

Works In Progress - Welcome My Majestic Queen - Circular Quilt

This is one of those quilts that I was quite pleased with. I made the circular design from a very interesting piece of hand dyed fabric.
I felt it needed something more so I added the bottom section to the circular area.

I couldn't decide if I liked it so I removed that section. When I removed it, I felt something was missing.

I can't decide whether or not to put it back on the bottom, and I have not come up with anything else that enhances the design.

It may just be one of those pieces that needs some very creative quilting.

So I guess you could say "I am working on it!"

I'll think about it a little longer, but at least thanks to one of my good friends it has a working title.

Racine Washington Park High School Class of 1957 Reunion 2011

Today was our second High School Reunion in Florida.

We went to Alfies, a restaurant down the road from our community.
It has a north woods flavor.
It's very close to the site of the Ma Barker shoot out in 1935 at Lake Weir.



Front row: Pat Davidson Maranger, John Maranger
Back row: Kay Koeper Sorensen, Ron Brodsko, Pat Schaltz Brodsko

We had a great time. The food was good and we had a great time catching up with what we each had been doing and our plans for the upcoming months.
We hope to have at least one more reunion here in April. Will you be here?

Color to Color Flow

I received this photo this morning from a friend who knew I would enjoy it.
I absolutely loved it.


I just created this color blend with Corel Draw and Photo Paint. It has the same feeling as the photo.

You see this type of color flow in so much of my work.


You see it in these slippers I recently knit.



It is also quite obvious in this afghan I knit several years ago.

I always enjoy it when people "get" my way of working with color and I think this friend really did.

Included with this photo were several others and I am going to show you a few of them.



This might give me an idea of a way to use these color flow arrangements in a different way in one of my art pieces.



This is one more that could be adapted to a piece of art.

Long time friends sometimes know us very well, and sometimes we can still be a mystery!

The photos you are seeing are tulip fields in the Netherlands.

Insetting A Circle In A Piece Of Fabric

Today I tried a new way of insetting a circle into a piece of fabric.

I used 6 inch squares and inset 4" circles



This is the first one I did. I do like the colorations.




This is the second one I did. There is a lot more texture in the circle fabric in this one.

I did this with fabrics I had painted so they were a little stiff. I think it would have been a little easier with softer fabrics.



I am starting with these hand painted fabrics. I suspect I will add others.

There's More To Polymer Clay Than Just Amulets - Jewelry

I just finished this polymer clay necklace. The round beads are ones I made and they are strung with some vintage beads I purchased.

If you click on these images you will get a larger photo so you can see them better.


In this closeup you can see the individual beads better.
The design and colors all come from the clay. I do not use any paint on my clay work.

I start with packages of clay in various colors and mix them to get the colors I use. Once I have the colors I want I use them to create my designs.
I use many of the same color and design principles I use when making quilts to create with polymer clay.

Quilt Cars For Quilt Show Season!

How many times do a group of ladies make a visit to a quilt show in a vehicle like this? They may not have the patchwork squares on the outside, but they are thinking and talking about them!



I guess this carful of ladies is also heading to the quilt show.




Although this quilt car is not made from actual fabric quilt blocks, the design and execution are so unique, creative, artistic and quilt like.



Smaller cars are quicker to cover with quilt blocks as you don't need as many. This one is very well done.



Even a truck can be a "quilt car"!

These are just a few of the quilt cars I have photos of and they include some of my favorites.

I'm Bowled Over!

While watching Color Splash on TV last week I saw an item that looked very familiar.
I backed up the recording and yes, it was exactly the same bowl I had bought about a month previously.
I stop the recording and took this photograph.



This is my bowl on my coffee table.
I think many of us think they use expensive items on those TV decorating shows.
I paid $7 on clearance at TJMaxx for this huge bowl. When I watched the show theirs also looked like it had a TJMaxx sticker on it.

This is the second thing I have found on this show that someone in our family has. The last one was even more interesting to me as it was a very unique graphic piece of art that was over 30 years old.

This seemed like a perfect photo to make into a puzzle. since it is a circular bowl I used the circle puzzle cut.