Dragons at the Door

One of my annual treats is to participate in Quilt Camp in the Pines (quiltcamp.com) held here in Flagstaff. We enjoy nationally recognized teachers and take classes that address a wide range of skill and interest levels. I was very excited to see Esterita Austin (http://esteritaaustin.com/) was one of the teachers... her classes were on depth and perspective, something that I've struggled with over time. "Dragons at the Door" was my quilt in the first class that I took from her. The handdyed fabric had perfect serendipitous images of dragons that just sort of landed at each side of the door. We also added paint to highlight some areas which added a lot. I like this one. My second class project was not nearly as successful. It's covered on my design wall, I'm not sure I'll finish it! I just don't like the colors she chose for me.... I might do the image again someday, but in colors that speak to me!

Called

Many years ago, in the early days of my internet experince, I met a nurse from Australia who was doing his graduate thesis on the same topic that I had pursued in my master's program. We began an email friendship that has lasted until this day. Darryl visited AZ in the mid 1990's, our first eyeball encounter. During that visit, we did all the northern AZ tourist things, including the Chapel of the Red Rocks in Sedona. It was at that chapel that Darryl began to feel the pull of the religious life. He tells the shory better than I do on his blog http://www.mendicantsoul.info/ - and is now known as Brother Nathan James, a Franciscan brother in the Society of St. Francis.

I have followed his path over these many years and when he told me that he would be taking his vows of Life Profession, the universe bonked me on the head and I knew what quilt I needed to make.

"Called" is the image of not only the Chapel in Sedona, but the statue of St. Francis that graces the courtyard and where Nathan first heard his call. Machine appliqued on a pieced background. Machine quilted. And cherished by my dear friend from Oz. He is currently visiting the east coast with Franciscans from around the world and was, to put it mildly, gobsmacked when it arrived to his hands this past week.

Namaste, Nathan. Sunrise, Sunset and Big Bug Hugs.

Safari and Moebius knitting

So I haven't been a total slacker of late. Safari is a fun kid quilt (made with fabrics from Laurel Burch's Secret Jungle line) for a friend who is expecting in April. I promise to get a better pix when it comes home (its hanging in the quilt shop right now).... free pattern on line for everyone http://www.clothworkstextiles.com/pdfs/patterns/secretjunglequilt.pdf- I had it all ready to quilt in a weekend.

With the opening of a new yarn shop here (and conveniently located inside the LQS), I'm back in my passion for fiber and knitting (esp good on cold winter and windy spring nights).... this is a felted purse that was big enough to pack up a small village before I felted it. The strap is a moebius strip and its all knit in one piece... fab button, too! The moebius is the brainchild of Cat Bordhi, who I think, stays up nights thinking of new ways to torment knitters (and we love her for it)....

Click on the images for larger views.....

Stepping Stones

Last summer, I bought a jelly roll. That's 50 cuts of 2 1/2" strips of various fabrics. It was all batiks (one of my favorites) and in colors I would have never dreamed of putting together. A great creative challenge. After unrolling them, and putting them all on the design wall to see the choices, I decided on a simple log cabin variation. The result is Stepping Stones.

Front and Back

And since it's a bed quilt for ME (first time since 2003), I decided to have it machine quilted, and my quilter did a fabulous job. Yes, that's some trapunto in the alternate blocks.

Now, to remake the bed with my new quilt!

NeedleNooks

So lately, I've been pretty dry in the quilt inspiration department.... and so since its winter, I've felt more like knitting. We have a new yarn shop in town (conveniently located inside the quilt shop!) and I've been playing with samples and hats and little projects. I opened my knitting box and found a nest of needles, and I wasn't able to really tell what was what or what I had. I've seen fabric needle holders and decided I could make them! Here are my three, all folded up and easy to store. This one holds my smaller metal and plastic needes (single and double pointed): This one has my larger wooden needles and circulars:

And the last one has my crochet hooks, rug hook, cable needles and other small assorted accessories (in the small pouch on the left):

And NeedleNooks were born..... now the yarn shop is carrying them and I'm taking special orders!

Muses Shoes

An online friend of mine has enlisted the help of our gals group to create wildly decorated shoes for the 2009 Mardi Gras Parade. Since this has been a week of bad weather, and 2 days that work was closed, I decided to rock and roll. I donated the surviving pair of stilettos, the ones I can put on but not walk in!

First, spray painted them purple, inside and out. And then add lots of glitter, sequins, fabric, glitz, bling, glamour. Not to mention burnt fingers from the hot glue gun, and a glitter explosion in the kitchen. I just to to add a coat of clear coat (I'll get that when the roads clear... maybe tomorrow, Saturday for sure, we've had 36" of snow in the past few days). And then I'm ship them off to Crawbaby!

Not bad for a first attempt!!

Oh no, here comes the snow plow again.... that means the fourth time I've dug out today!

Halloween - Totally NQR (not quilt related)

Goofy Halloween Fun at the Campus Health Center The nurses: Me: I'm a Nuva Ring! Me and my adopted son Tony (he's Fast Food Fred)