A Little Bit of This and That

In the email I got from AQS today my eye was drawn immediately to the words:  "What A Boost: Art Quilt Wins BIG!" The article is about the Art Prize Winning Quilt by Ann Loveless. If you'd like to read what AQS has to say, here is the link:

A section of "Sleeping Bear Dune Lakeshore" 

Art Quilt by Ann Loveless

Later today I opened the email from The Quilt Show and there was a link to hear the interview Alex Anderson had with Ann Loveless. There was a slideshow of some photos from Ann that show her process and some of the quilts. Click HERE to hear the interview.

What is it worth?

As I looked through my Facebook feed, a quilter asked how she should figure the price for a quilt she has been asked to make. I think we all have faced this dilemma at some point in our quilting journey. I am facing it right now as I prepare items for a local craft show. A reference was made to a blog post from November 2012. I am bookmarking this blog post because I am sure I will refer to it in the future. (A follow-up was posted on April 4, 2013.)

WHAT IS IT WORTH?

Follow-Up: A BIGGER PICTURE

Off to sew some mug rugs. What are you sewing?

Blog Hop Prep

It's less than a week until the EQ Autumn Applique Animals Blog Hop starts. I was very pleased to have had an email from Bea asking if I would like to participate in a blog hop with an autumn theme. I replied right away with YES! 

I have designed a few "friends" as applique blocks. I am working on one small project to show as an idea on how to use one of the blocks. AND, I am diligently working on getting the tutorial ready to share with all you bloggers. 

It should be FUN. Each of us will have tutorials, there will be an awesome giveaway, and new ideas for quilting projects. Mark your calendars for October 21, 2013.

Here is the tentative schedule of Blog Sites:

October 21st

Bea Beaquilter

Jane’s Quilting

October 22nd

Connie Freemotion by the River

October 23rd

Amy Sew Incredibly Crazy

SewCalgal

October 24th

Nancy PatchworkBreeze

Marian Seams to Be Sew

October 25th

Carol Funthreads

 "EQ Mouse" Electric Quilt

Art Quilt Genre Gets Big Boost

I will cut to the chase. Ann Loveless won the $200,000 Art Prize Award for her stunning art quilt! The public had 10 finalists to vote for as their choice for Grand Prize Winner. I quote my friend, Leslie's, Facebook post:

"More than 49,000 people cast 446,850 votes over 16 days, 

divided into two rounds of voting, 

to pick "Sleeping Bear Dune Lakeshore" its favorite 

among 1,524 works of art in ArtPrize 2013. It is amazing!"

Her work is amazing. She has entered the ArtPrize twice before. Guess "3rd time is the charm."

MSN News has a report here.
A local story shows more photos of the mural.

Ann taught a workshop for our guild a year ago, which I was able to take.  She is an amazing artist and a wonderful teacher. It was so easy to follow her instructions and leave with a great landscape quilt. Unfortunately, I was able to visit ArtPrize only one day and did not get to see her piece.

I am going to be participating in another Blog Hop sponsored by EQ and headed up by Bea from Beaquilter. I look forward to designing another cute fall-themed applique to share with you. Mark your calendars for the starting date of October21. 

I have finished the last of the Persian Star blocks for the swap. Well, I still have one of my own blocks to finish, but those that had to be mailed are done and sent. I wish I could have gotten better photos, they do not show the actual colors. 

Quilting Has Gone to the Dog

I began the day doing some chores around the house. Then I got busy cutting out a dog coat pattern for our daughter's dog. It was a very easy pattern to make. I had the main part sewn in no time. I took a break to meet a quilter for lunch and a chat. I then visited The New Ewe Quilt Store to chat with the ladies at the Open Sewing. After getting home I finished the strap and velcros for the belly band on the dog coat. It is done, fits well, and is reversible. I like the blue side best.

Tomorrow a friend is coming over to help me learn a bit more about working with my embroidery machine. I look forward to trying some kitchen towels for Christmas presents. Maybe there will be another dog coat with some embroidery on it! 

Wrap It Up with Binding

I went to an all-day sew this past Saturday. On-line I found a group that was meeting about an hour away from my home. I think it is wonderful how the internet can help us with so many things. 

Growing up I remember the difficulty involved in searching for information. I am astounded that my father (living in Michigan) in 1968 was able to search for our summer vacation experience-- sluicing for rubies in the Ruby Creek in Montana! This was a small creek, reached via a trail, not even a two-track road. But what a wonderful experience and he found all he needed to know without the internet.

But, I digress. The day was great and I made new quilting friends. In fact, I had met one of the ladies at the AQS Show this August. I did not know until she told me, via Facebook, two days before the sew that she was going to be there. 

I took what was on my "finish" pile. I had binding to do in order to complete some quilts. I sew bindings on from the back, turn them to the front and topstitch from the front. This allows me to see that I am keeping the stitching straight and even to hold the binding down. It allows the stitching on the back to appear like part of the quilting. And no flare ups of carpal tunnel in my hands.

So, these are the quilts I finished! 

I asked my daughter to take this photograph. She said she "really likes it" and said "it looks like chocolate at Christmas." So I was able to name this quilt: Chocolate at Christmas. It is a deep, dark chocolate brown color with white. I used the "Stack N Whack" method of cutting the kaleidoscope stars. 

This quilt I made following a pattern I got in the mail from a magazine company trying to sell me a subscription. I decided to try the pattern. If making this again, I would use Anita Solomon-Grossman's idea of using fusible on the area where the diagonal will be cut so I don't have to deal with the bias stretch in the cut blocks. 

This kite quilt is one I started about 2006. I drew my own paper piecing kite pattern. I did bobbin work to make the kite tails. I did the quilting this past spring on the Sweet 16 at Inspirations of Arts Studio. 

I posted the beginnings of this quilt a few months ago. The pinwheels were leftover blocks from another quilt I was working on. I had a longarm quilter quilt it with spirals. I am quite happy with it. It is a long toddler sized quilt. 

I began this wonky quilt back in the early 2000s. The border was most difficult to sew on. I used a pattern from a magazine, but I no longer know which one. This one was sent to a longarm quilter. I am glad to have finished it. 

And today I return to sewing the Persian Star Blocks for Bea's block swap. I want to get the rest of them finished. 

I am looking forward to taking time this weekend to view some of the Art Prize entries in Grand Rapids, MI.