Nesting Boxes

I just can't resist openning a box to find another little box inside. It is so much fun to travel down the path of box after box to discover what hides inside. Okay, currently there is nothing inside the smallest of these quilted boxes, but one day I might find a treasure. To create these boxes, I began with a piece of fabric I had used to wipe up paint while painting some Red and Green fabric paper. I then quilted it using red metallic thread on top and green in the bobbin. The tension was tight so the green thread came to the surface adding specks of green along the quilting lines. I then used this quilted fabric to create little boxes by zigzag stitching the sides together. The fabric was soft enough to be able to manipulate it under the sewing machine. The smallest box is a 1 inch cube and each box is 1/4 inch larger. The largest box is a 3 inch cube. These will make a fun addition to my Christmas tree, tucked in among the branches. And who knows, maybe there will be some treasures hidden in there.

My Art is For Sale in New York City!!!

These are a few more "Dreams" pieces that I have made for Art-O-Mat. I'm working on sending off another 100 pieces before Thanksgiving. I am excited to here that they have sent my pieces to eleven different machines including The Whitney Museum in New York City. I never expected to know that my art if for sale in New York City! You can find my work in the following locations: Contemporary Museum Shop - Honolulu, HI BKB - Tacoma, WA Amarillo Museum - Amarillo, TX Carrburritos - Carrboro, NC Salem College - Winston-Salem, NC Whitney Museum - NY, NY Erie Art Museum - Erie, PA SW School of Art and Craft - San Antonio, TX Pi Gallery - Kansas City, MO Accent Designs - Goshen, IN Turchin Art Center - Boone, NC I would love to here from anybody who has visited these machines. And if you happen to have a picture I'll ladly send you a treat in the mail.

The Next Experimental Step

I've started cuting up my fabric and piecing it together with a zig zag stitch. I needed some more fabric so I created some more with the same yarns on a purple hand dyed base. I have a feeling this quilt will call for a lot of fun embellishments. Who knows, it might take after my dandelion quilt. The photo isn't the best, even taken outside the colors are't appearing true. There is definetly a blue cast with very little of the green showing up. It may be the early morning light, so I'll have to try again later in the day. We have clear skies so I didn't want to miss a limited opportunity.

Christmas Inchies

I created these inchies for a trade at Fiber Arts Bits. We are trading from 1-20 sets of five inchies each. The trade is open until December 1st so if you would like to participate feel free to jump over to the web site and sign up. I had so much fun with these that I couldn't stop at just the twenty sets. I created them with the same method I used for my experimental piece of fabric. I used the needle felting machine to create swirls of yarn on red and blue fabrics. I then free motion quilted with more swirls. I then cut them up into 1" squares and zig zagged around each. I then hand sewed each of the embellishments and hangers. My husband was very gracious and played Barbie, Polly Pocket and Go Fish with the kids while I was able to sew away. I think I will leave all our old Christmas ornaments packed up this year and decorate our tree with inchies. The kids wont be able to break them and I wont have to unpack everything. Here's a detailed view of each of the inchies:

A New Experiment

This is some fabric that I am working on for a new quilt. I'm trying this time to take pictures and blog along the journey. I've already forgot to photograph two steps, but I'll have to live with that. I began with one of my paint clean up rags. The colors are mostly blues, greens, and purples, with a splash of the whole rainbow. I then needle felted spirals of various yarns. I then free motion quilted sprials over the whole piece with gold, purple verigated and green verigated threads. The fabric is very textured and has an interesting free. I've began cutting it up and piecing it back together.

I'm hoping when I can tame the craziness with some strong line and embellishment, much like my daily attempt to tame the chaos. I don't think the chaos will end any time soon, but maybe I can add some order.

Inchies in Houston

My inchies made it to Cloth Paper Scissors's Make it University at the International Quilt Festival in Houston. I didn't know for sure until I saw a glimpse of them in photos taken by Kathy. The wall hanging was in the corner of a photo of another work, but I will take what I can get. I'm just excited to know that my work was there. If you would like to see better photos of the actual pieces, just scroll down a couple of entries.