Here I am!

So, I hate having my picture taken. But I'm working on facing fears and trying new things, so here I am. This was taken at the Sacred Threads Exhibit, in front of my quilt. The exhibit is now over and I am eagerly awaiting the return of my quilt.

While trying to get a decent shot of myself, and by decent I mean I don't look enormously fat, pregnant, grumpy, red-faced or really awful, I learned that sometimes when I think I am wearing a cheerful face, I'm really not smiling much. Gotta work on that. I'd hate for folks to respond to me like I'm grouchy and unapproachable when I'm just a bit shy.

Now I've got to get to quilting. I finished my commissioned quilt with the tree and owl and the customer loved it. Now I've actually got a quilt to quilt for someone else, but I can't share it. Yes, I'm being mysterious....that's me; a woman of mystery. LOL: people who know me know that I'm pretty open and honest, so don't read too much into it. There's no book deal or anything going on. Though that would be fun!

I'll post pics of the tree quilt tomorrow hopefully.

Sacred Threads Part 2

The following images are all quilts from the 2013 Sacred Threads Exhibit, which is in Herndon, VA. That's near Washington DC, and it runs through this coming Sunday, July 28.

There are so many quilts that it was hard to pick just a few to share. This quilt was near the beginning of the exhibit, and as I rounded a corner I was thinking how blessed I was to be able to get away with a friend and see this exhibit for a whole weekend. My eyes landed on the heart and for a moment I saw "You Time"! Kind of felt like a voice telling me it was ok to take this time for myself..

"Rooted in the Heart" by Amelia P Morusiewicz, Mitchellville, MD.

 The trunk of this tree (I have a fondness for trees, you know) looks to be done with Texture Magic in a very wonderful application.

The following quilt is by Patty Powers who lives pretty close to me. We have begun to attend a small textile art group together. I love how she handles color in this piece!

I found this next piece just lovely! Peaceful and beautiful. I was calmed just by looking at it and thinking of the 23rd Psalm from which this piece is inspired. Still waters indeed. The quilting was beautiful, the whole piece was just wonderful, and paisleys for leaves? Brilliant!

"He Leads Me By Still Waters" by Sharon L Schlotzhauer from Colorado Springs, CO.

Sacred Threads had an 'Artist in Residence' this year. Dominique Ehrmann from Quebec, Canada creates quilts in 3D. The best way to explain her large work in the exhibit is that it is a series of four quilts layered about 6 inches apart, each depicting a layer of the total image.

It has an incredible amount of detail and of course, depth to it. It has a quality that reminds me of stage props, in that I can imagine a puppet to appear, ready to perform in the midst of the scene. The first part of her statement is below.

Larkin J Van Horn of Freeland, WA created "Pentecost" below.

The quilts in the grief category were up on the stage of the exhibit, and displayed in a way to separate them from the main path of the exhibit. Having bawled my eyes out at the 2011 show when reading the statements of several of the grief quilts when I was in a very fragile state during my husband's cancer treatments, I appreciated this.

Helen Turnbull, of Broad Run, VA created "The Broken Branch". It symbolized her daughter who died in an accident. I was very moved by this quilt and its story, besides being a beautiful work on its own.

Betty Busby, from Albuquerque NM, created "Mourning Doves". I found the piece disturbingly beautiful. Again, this was in the grief section of the exhibit, so I wasn't expecting sunshine and rainbows. Each feather of the doves was an individual raw-edged appliqued piece and further enhanced with stitching and a bit of paint.

Sacred Threads is an exhibit of spiritual themes, but not necessarily Christian based. Judaism was well represented as was Hindi, Buddhism and other faiths. Chrishna made an appearance too. And not all quilts had a particular religious link to them. This white on white quilt was quite large and rather breath taking.

Made by Pierra Vernex of Quebec, "Simply Mandalas" featured dense free motion quilting, machine embroidery and decorative machine stitches.

Nancy Kay Smith of Belleview FL, created "The Journey Through Lent and Easter" below:

I found it absolutely stunning! I hope this quilt graces the wall of whatever church she attends!

I wish I could show more pictures! You can purchase a book or DVD of the quilts in this year's exhibit at Sacred Thread's website.

I'm linking this post with Nina Marie's Off the Wall Friday. Go check it out.

Free Motion Quilting Video: On Fusible Appliqued Leaves

I did a video while I was quilting on the newest tree quilt I'm doing as a commission for a friend.

In the video, I stitched dangerously close to a basting pin and put a warning on the video. You don't want to end up breaking a needle! But I don't take my own advice apparently. I did not break my needle, but if you look closely at the picture below....

You'll see I stitched right over the pin! Maybe I should buy a lottery ticket. I had to break thread and tie off when I got the pin out, but otherwise the pin was easily removed. Note to self: Stop stitching further from pins!

I'm linking this post with Leah Day's Free Motion Fridays link up at The Free Motion Quilting Project

Darn Free Motion

I used my free motion quilting skills the other day to go old-school. You've seen the free motion foot referred to as a darning foot in many places and that's exactly what I did.

 I had a small hole by the zipper of a pair of my jeans. I slipped a small piece of fabric behind the hole then free motion stitched around the hole. After I had circled the hole, I began stitching back and forth across the hole to basically create new fabric and hold the worn spot together.

I should have chosen a better blue thread to blend in better. If this had been in an area other than between the biggest part of my stomach and my crotch, I might have chosen a decorative thread color and made it more of an embellishment. A great idea for a hole in the knee!

Since the darning is done in free motion, you don't have to worry about moving the garment around so much. That's a big plus if patching down in a leg or sleeve of a garment.

Did you know you can also use the free motion/darning foot for long basting stitches? Depending on your skill level, they might not be as even as a machine basting stitch, but it you need a longer basting stitch than what your machine will give you, it's a great method.