The Harvest Challenge voting complete

Well, I am pleased to have the privilege of receiving the most votes cast in the Harvest Challenge. The running was very close between a few of us. I suspect my nudge over the top has to do with the email I sent out to my family and friends. A reflection of my wanting to boast and show off what I am doing! Making the win an interesting potential for the continued sending of my "Shameless self promotion" email when I want to share what I have been doing with the limited circle that is my 'comunity'. I know I missed at least one family members address... (Note to self: work on a possible email group titled Shameless! I did ask if they wanted to be removed from my posting of these shout outs they were invited to do so.)


It is also an opportunity for them to visit the wonderful art on Etsy! Often I find myself pulled in by one person's work. Sometimes it feels like I'm wandering through an art gallery, especially when I view it in 'gallery' rather than 'list' view. http://www.etsy.com/ I love the sense of being in on others expressions of the passion they feel inside!


Haven't steam blocked Rose yet, but Spin Off is nearly ready to bind! I have to have them all ready to go a week from today! This has made me much more forgiving of my developing skill with the ratio of my needle's speed to the speed I move the quilt. I know one thing, the smaller the whole quilt the easier to manipulate. A measure that increases exponentially in the negative way! If I continue to have a desire to create these bigger pieces I will try a few 'quilt as you go' techniques. I made several quilts that way in the 80's & 90's. A bit more difficult to construct a unique whole in pieces! I'm playing with one right now that will use a set of stacked & slashed hexegons I have had a difficult time placing.


I don't think I ever look at a piece of fabric or other patterns found around me with out trying to imagine the possible kaelidoscope images it could create! Probably the same thing that keeps me buying blue and white fabric as well as autums amazing color way! Back to the quilting!


So I said an image of the Rose...
I know I'm working large when the finished quilt doesn't fit on my design wall!

August Challenge Entry!

I took time to finish the last of the pieced leaf kelidoscopes, from my stash, table topper pentagons this weekend to enter in the Pagan Street Team August Challenge "Harvest"!

To see all the entries an vote on your favorite visit our blog!

http://paganteam.blogspot.com/

Or search Etsy for 'paganchallengeaug' and they will show up also!

I have completed the quilting of Gypsy Rose! I need to block/steam it and then mount it on a piece of dark fabric with a sleeve as the shape is odd and won't easily hang in the show! The fabric challenge quilt Spin Off" is next in line to begin the quilting! It is good to be busy!

I have pretty much decided to put off the Barter Fair this year... too much to do and not really up for the camping experience right now. And I don't know what I want to barter for or if I am ready to commit to barter commissions, it may freeze my creative side for the winter. That happened last fall when I was putting too much energy into 'marketing' ideas and got lost creatively! Not going to happen this year! The day job calls my name!

Gypsy Rose

The images are of the design phase of the top. I have nearly finished the quilting and will post a picture soon! Machine quilting is something I am still very much a novice at. Stippling is getting better, more consistent stitch length, but not what I would like to be able to do. More, and more practice in my future...

I haven't fully figured out the placement of images! Another thing to work on....

Innovations Fabric Challenge progress!

The fabric challenge fabric is the awesome batik leaves from Sew Batik! I have added 3 non batiks. Beginning with the triple Irish chain blocks I wanted to possibly do something like blooming nine patch but was unable to see it through. I have once again become fascinated with circles. I recently cut a set of wedges, not yet sewn together, from a collection of fabrics I have had for 15+ years! It may one day reach a finished state and show up here! So, I thought... I have enough batik left from the yard sent for the challenge I could make alternating wedges to add to the movement of the chain blocks. It took several days and a few alternate designs to come up with the way to connect the 2 elements. Please excuse the box of batting, my design wall is functional but would require effort to arrange it for a clear full image and I am lazy! My original intent was an image for myself so I can work on the how to quilt it phase. That is still in the works! And the final border size is under consideration as well.

My other entry is at the machine. Last night I spent an hour picking out stitches from a section I did not like the results of my limited machine quilting ability! POUT! I hate picking out stitching. Worse yet is I have to rethink how I want to continue with the quilting as it is not conforming to previously determined ideas!

Thankfully I have a few more weeks to wrap up and complete both quilts! If only the day job wasn't so ever present! But then, how would I purchase all this awesome fabric.... hum... someday my work may pay for itself, that would be fun! Off to get ready for said day job!

July Challenge on Etsy for the Pagan Street Team and more!

As I have noted before I belong to several (4) Street Teams on www.Etsy.com. I have also mentioned working on challenges for these very different teams. We the recent reference to the Fiber Arts Street Team challenge ideas didn't get loud enough to get completed in time.I was also working on an entry for the Pagan Team July Challenge. It isn't fully completed either, fortunately this being the first challenge in a while they allowed us to enter an item we already had so I took advantage of this option. The Challenge theme is- Roots & Shoots, Buds & Blooms… In any manner you wish to express please create something to reflect the herbal nature of this month’s theme! There are 11 entries! Each is unique unto its own art form! This is fun but also makes it a challenge to select your favorite! Good Luck!
Please vote on the Team blog for your selection of the entry that meats the theme best! Each of us was asked to express why our entry is representative of the theme, it is interesting to see all the interpretations! The Voting is found here: www.paganteam.blogspot.com Voting begins on August 4th and will only run through August 6th! Get your vote in!

Now for the more!

I am feeling bold. I have entered 3 quilts in the Tacoma, Washington Innovations Quilt show! The web page is: www.mqinnovations.com It is specifically for machine quilters, professional long arm users all the way to me, a home machine quilter! Some day I will have a short arm machine with a much bigger area to quilt in! I have quilts in the Contemporary/Art category- In My Image: Maiden, Mother, Crone, the Fabric Challenge- Spin Off, still under construction, and one in the Challenge Series #6- Scraps, Stash, UQPs- Gypsy Rose. Begun originally for an EAST Challenge (Earthpath Artisans Street Team) on Etsy, when I deviated and did the ACEO series, this is the one I was pushing to finish as the above noted July challenge for the Pagan Team on Etsy! This went on hold when I decided to actually enter the fabric challenge knowing they might want to see a picture of the quilt! I was fast and furious designing and piecing and then realized they are going to want the picture for identification purposes, what they really needed was the entry form so my information could be in the program, but I did need to have a pretty good estimate of the dimensions, so good to get it designed! I am at the border stage in designing and it is a fun challenge. I ran out of the challenge fabric, a beautiful batik from Sew Batik www.sewbatik.com they have some of the most amazing fabrics! I also chose to use only 3 other colors, one of which I knew was limited to a small role as I had only a small piece left, it was used up in the first design element phase! This leaves me with 2 fabrics and about 3 pieces of 4inch X15inch piece of challenge fabric! I want a 12 inch border on the top, and 6 total for the main part of the sides... not sure it's enough, it's a challenge! I am having fun!

I finished the beading on the mountain element some time ago. I am stuck on how, hand or machine, and what, fancy stitch or beads or both, and then what about the sky? So it may be a while before I get back to that one! :)

Still no glass cutting.... high on the list though, would like some things done for the Olympia Family Barter Fair, www.oly-wa.us/olybarter/Home.php ,the beginning of September. Along with art and other utility items I am planing... I want to finish a few of the quilt tops I have, good time to teach myself to machine quilt better. Speaking of, I think I'll quilt a bit before sleep calls!

Quilter's Newsletter Magazine!

Woo Hoo! My quilt, The Butterfly's Friend is published on the Reader's Quilt Show pages (specifically p.33!) of the August/September issue of QNM! I am pretty excited to say the least! It has been a long wait. They requested the quilt for a photo shoot last spring after having seen it hang in Houston during the Fabled Fibers Exhibit at the International Quilt Fest! I am excited they also mentioned Operation Kid Comfort, and on the Extra Credit page (p.89!) they noted to see more of my work visit http://www.cobaltquilter.etsy.com/! Potential for national exposure! Certainly inspires me to get to work!

It was a fun project! Inspired by a challenge on www.Quiltart.com there are a lot of galleries posted there of challenges! Check it out!

Designing day dreams

I have been playing with ideas in my head lately. Water, ocean ideas abound. The Tacoma quilt show Innovations ( http://www.mqinnovations.com/ ) is coming up in September (deadline to apply/enter is in July) and I have 3 more of the series I used one of to enter last year. I've been thinking of taking one out and quilting it in response to the judge's comments from last year... a positive growth experience. The latest encouragement for this idea comes from an Etsy street team challenge from the Etsy FAST Team = Fiber Arts Street Team, a group of fiber artists who have shops on Etsy.
Our team page: http://team.etsy.com/profilest/fast.shtml

This team hosts monthly challenges you can follow on Etsy, an index is available on the FAST Blog:http://www.etsyfast.com/blog/?page_id=66


The July Challenge is 'Splashing Fun in the Summer' so the connection to completing a second in this series of 4 quilts is a fun playground. I don't know if there is enough pull for me to get to it by the Tacoma deadline, but I have a longer range if I complete one and list it on Etsy. I can use the julychallenge tag into August a bit if needed. It is fun to play with ideas in my head! I should pick one of the remaining in the series and hang it on the design wall in the kitchen! Here is an image of the 4 pieces in the series, before one was completed last year. The finished one is available in the Etsy Shop, you can see it on the right in my Etsy mini! All the fabric, except the solid borders, is hand dyed by me.





I still have the desire to make myself complete one more table/altar cloth pentagon a week, but I would settle for one a month at this junction! That is a good goal! We shall see what happens. More and more to do... a good thing.