My frog was stolen

Posted on February 28, 2012 by

Remember this guy? Well, he was on display in the lobby of a residential center here in Ashland along with a bunch of other quilts that I created and someone walked off with him. I have always worried about my quilts being stolen and now it has happened. I am just thankful that I took good photos of him and that the center took all of the other quilts down before any others went missing.

This will not stop me from sharing my art with others but I will have to be more careful about where it hangs in the future. The residents were so excited when I put the show up. I am just sorry that one person’s actions have ruined the enjoyment that others could have had.

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Balance challenge

Posted on December 5, 2011 by

The Friday art quilt group chose the word “Balance” to do as a 12″ x 12″. Here are a few of the results:

  Karen Bates

Elaine Turcke

Debra Wolfson

Tina Somerset

The next word is Emergence!

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Meet Sydney

Posted on September 11, 2011 by


I had the wonderful opportunity to teach Sydney quilting this summer. She is the most amazing 7 year old that I have ever known ( save my own kids at 7 years old!). We made quilts for her stuffed penguins of which there are many…all with names, of course. Some of the penguins observed us at work and two lucky penguins were tucked into her socks so that they could help her push the pedal on the sewing machine.
We made this quilt using a package of Bali Pops. I sewed the short ends to the wrong side of a yard of fabric being sure to switch between purple and green fabric strips. Then Sydney wove fabric strips across repeating the mantra: over the color it is, under the color it isn’t. We pinned the strips to the backing fabric and sewed across them with curvy lines to hold them all in place. Then we trimmed the excess around the edges and sewed all four sides down. As you can see, she and the penguins are very proud of their accomplishment. It makes me so sad that she is back in school again. Where did the summer go?

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A wedding and flowers

Posted on August 7, 2011 by

I know that I disappeared for a few weeks but I was very involved in my friend, Jayne’s wedding. You can see me here as the maid of honor helping the 3 year old flower girl down the aisle! It was a lovely occasion despite the fact that unbeknownst to me, I was battling strep throat!

In the meantime I have been trying to finish up projects including these flowers. I began them as part of my Spring/Crop Circle series but they wanted to be more Spring than Crop Circles so I let them have their way. I have entered this quilt in the Bits and Pieces Show as well as the earlier one. This time I used the silk chiffon to create flowers and I love the airy feel of the fabric.

Here is a close up of the quilting:

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Guys and Dolls…or luck be a lady tonight!

Posted on July 17, 2011 by

I have created a 12 x 12 quilt for the SAQA online auction by playing with my fabric. I collaged a bunch of great fabrics together and then pulled some of them apart and inserted hand dyed silk. After quilting like crazy, I asked Marni what she thought that I should call it.
She thought the green piece looked like an abstract of a man on his knees ready to roll the dice and since the number 7 is about the only legible thing left from the collage, it seemed appropriate to think gambling. Hence the name.
My favorite part was doing the hand quilting across the green area. I just love doing that hand stitching.

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Already July?

Posted on July 3, 2011 by

I am having a hard time believing that half of the year is already gone! In honor of summer I thought I would post a small quilt that I did a few years back with the help of my friend, Jayne Wangen. She drew the design and I made the piece. It is available as a pattern or I am selling the whole quilt on Etsy at Karenworksart. Check it out…and enjoy these sunny days.

And if you are in the vicinity of Ashland….don’t miss the Rogue Art Quilters’ Purple line show at US Bank. It is wonderful.

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Bits and Pieces: Spring

Posted on June 27, 2011 by

This quilt was begun as one of my crop circle quilts and it languished for a long time. I finally was re-inspired by a call for entries entitled “Bits and Pieces”.

I had already collaged the background with batiks so all I had to do was quilt it! What a laugh….it took many hours of intense machine quilting to hold everything down.

 

Then I added the circles which are made out of silk chiffon that I dyed. I am very pleased with it.

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Appliqued Sweater and a new show

Posted on June 12, 2011 by

I recently took a class from Sue Spargo and had a wonderful time playing with felted wool. I picked up this sweater for $8.00 from Deja Vu and went to town on it. I love the way the thread called Seagrass highlights my pieces.

My Friday Critique group…that doesn’t have a real name although we have been meeting for two years…just put up a show at US Bank in Ashland. Every couple of months we come up with a word and everyone  does a 12″ x 12″ piece to depict the word. Sadly I can’t seem to upload pictures so you will have to check  out the show yourself before the end of the month.

 

 

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A different kind of Spring

Posted on June 5, 2011 by

Spring!

When the latest “12 connected” word was announced I had just completed a Spring Quilt with bugs and flowers and I couldn’t go there again. So I decided to use a different meaning and thought of a spring bouncing around. I had purchased lightweight aluminum circles at a scrap book store a few years ago and they seemed like the perfect thing to use on this piece.
I have been doing a lot of fabric dyeing lately and I always throw some “Color Catcher” sheets into the washer when I am rinsing the fabric. They come out in beautiful colors and since I just can’t throw them away, I have quite the collection. I decided to use them in this piece too. I collaged the color catchers and some textured paper onto black felt and sewed them all down. Then I hand appliqued the circles on top. Does it look like it is springy???

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Hi There!

Posted on May 29, 2011 by

Last week I posted pictures of my Dark Places quilt and I just heard that it was accepted into the show! I am very excited that it will be touring the country. Wish I could go with it.

In the meantime, I have been working on another quilt for our “travel” challenge. I decided to focus on a Red Eyed Tree Frog who lives in the Rain Forest. I have never seen a frog like this in person but someday I hope to get to Costa Rica and maybe I will meet up with one.

I began by weaving two different fabrics for the background.

Then I fused my little guy in the foreground and quilted the heck out of him. His fingers took me hours to do. All those little circles! But I love the result.

I covered the bottom fabric with tulle because it was too bright on its own. Then I quilted and cut the tulle away from the fingers. After the whole piece was quilted, I hand appliqued the velvet eyes on top and he finally came to life. I hope he makes you smile!

I titled the quilt Hi there! because he looks like he is ready to surprise someone.

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