The Polka Dot Debutante

Quilter's Affair is having the postcard fundraiser again this year. I didn't think I would be able to get one done due to the surgery but when my friend Kristy was up last week helping out, she assisted me in the construction of my postcards. I was able to get two made, finished and mailed off. This year I wanted to do something simple with flowers. For the first postcard, I dyed a little piece of fabric for the background. On the second poscard, I applied the dye directly to the timtex just to see how different it would look. Then I carved my own stamp and stamped on the leaf shape using some fabric ink. This fabric ink is an older product and after some searching on the web, I don't think it still exists. Too bad, it's easy to use and permanent after being heat set.
Anyway, after printing my leaves, I put tuile over the second postcard to get a more muted affect. Kristy pinned the backing fabric to my long arm for me, and we laid the postcards on top. The backing was such a little piece of fabric that Kristy had to hold it while I quilted the postcards. Luckily they were so small that it only took about ten minutes. I quilted the postcards using some new thread I picked up at quilt market called Art Studio Colors by Ricky Tims. The thread is very shiny which I just love, and the colors are beautiful. They come on spools and they ran well on my long arm after a little adjustment.
I'm happy with the postcards although I think I like last years postcard better. Kristy did the satin stitching around the edges for me and made sure they got into the mail. This is a big thank you to her cause they wouldn't have gotten done without her.

It's been three weeks since my surgery and it's time to get back to work. I spent a full eight hours in the studio both Saturday and yesterday and it's manageable. My back is still not what it was ( and probably won't ever be) and it starts hurting around 3:00. Yesterday I broke down and took a pain pill but I really don't like taking them. I'm stubborn that way.

I've been working on the collage for the "Broken for You" quilt and I'm having fun with it. I've got all the parts glued to the background and I'm auditioning tuiles to put over the top. I'm going to stitch through everything to hold it together, then wash it and dry it to shrink it slightly. Then I'll cut it up and use it like any other fabric. Who knows how it will turn out, but I'm having fun experimenting with it.

I've been sewing tons lately and it's been fun. Can't remember when I've had this much time to just sew what I want. No deadlines, no long-arm commitments, it's wonderful.
This is a shirt I made (for me!) from one of the Amy Butler patterns. It's called the Anna tunic.

I really like how the top turned out and plan on wearing it if we ever get summer around here this year.

These are the new pillows I made for the guest bedroom.

Art school daughter is living here this summer, but after she goes back to college in the fall, it will be our guest room. I'll probably whip up a quilt using the large floral pillow fabric and lots of brown and turquoise. Something simple like Valori Wells' Olive Rose pattern. I'll have to make it bigger than hers but the quilt is just a series of 20" blocks and so is easily enlarged. Of course that means I'll have to paint the walls a new color because then the blues won't match. Oh what we get ourselves into!

At our meeting in May, a group of us in Cover to Cover came up with a challenge that was inspired by the book "The Uncommon Quilter" by Jeanne Williamson. In the book, Jeanne uses all sorts of unusual objects in her small quilts, things like avocado bags and bubble wrap and paper. Her work is fun and interesting and visually appealing. So we decided that we would each do an 11 x 14" piece using whatever found material we liked. And that we had to get it done by the next meeting, which is tomorrow! Nothing like a deadline to make you finish something.
I had an idea right away about what I wanted to do but didn't start until Monday. We had talked about doing the work quickly and trying to be spontaneous and not labor so hard over every little decision. And so that's exactly what I did. We're calling it the Flotsam challenge.

I've also worked a bit more on my mosaic quilt. Got all the oval blocks pieced and pinned on the background. I'm liking it but it needs something and I'm not sure what. Any ideas are welcome!

One more thing. I went to the Portland Art Museum last Friday and saw some wonderful art. One of the current exhibits shows work by the artists who won the Contemporary Northwest Artist Award. There are five artists who won and I was especially enamored by the work of Marie Watts. She has three pieces in the big room you go into directly from the lobby. They are made of leftover wool blankets and are totally fabulous. I've given you the link but the pictures don't do justice to the work. I also went through the exhibit by glass artist Klaus Moje. I'm not usually that turned on by glass but this is unlike anything I've ever seen before. Very fun. Definitely worth a visit to the museum.

At our meeting on Thursday, the four Flotsam challenges were revealed. It was just great. Such an inventive group of work. I really enjoyed doing this and hope to do another one. My challenge was in the last post so here are the other three.

by Elaine Millar. Elaine used lots of papers, from junk mail to paper bags to chocolate candy wrappers. She also did some stamping on her piece.

by Susan Bucharest. Susan used paper, leaves and ribbon from the chocolate shop as well as sheers and other yummy fabrics.

by Heather Poole. Heather painted those plastic pieces that are on loaves of bread and used them as the body of the fish along with a scrap from a quilt as it's tail and a button for the head. She also used ribbons for sea weed.

I've been finishing some projects and just want to share the results. I made a new bag using Amy Butler's Frenchy Bag pattern. I used this awesome decorator fabric I bought about a year ago and paired it with a stripe I had and I love the result. I think I'll take it with me up to Sister's next week.

The other project was to recover the bench in our living room. I've been looking for the right fabric for about a month now and finally found it last week. The guy who works in the drapery department at Mill End suggested shantung for the piping and it looks great. I picked gold instead of black so it wouldn't be so strong, and I love how it turned out.