{Welcoming Life}...

Welcoming Life this

fine winter's day. 

Technically, it's still winter but

I am always ready for spring to come

and this is a very springy feeling quilt.

It has a light and fresh feel to it.  Just light spring. 

I grabbed a couple of scraps laying on the desk for a

little surprise patch on the back.

And I received a surprise myself when I turn it over after doing some of the quilting.

Although I was careful to pull up the bobbin threads each time I quilted a new line

on the petals this little "thread knot" appeared.  At first I thought it needed to come out.

But while looking at it I saw a little flower design in it.  So I have decided to keep it.

I may yet add a tiny bead to the center to enhance it's look even more so.

{be true art quilt}...

Below is the back label of the Be True Art Quilt.

As you can see from the pins on the binding I still need to do the hand stitching.

I've tried the "stitching in the ditch" method but it never looks all that great

on the back to me.  And I have to go really slow on the front to get it perfect.

So I am ok with doing the hand stitching.

 And the front. 

 I did choose to go more with the folded fabric shape for the dress.

I am so thrilled with being able to use one of my facing paintings on a quilt.

It's one of the many things I love about the Art Quilt.  So much is possible.

I just need more time to create all of the ideas and images I have in my head just

waiting to become an art quilt, journal or some other piece.  I still have many more face paintings ( I wish I had a better way to describe these paintings.  Portrait paintings seem  to formal and face paintings are not quite right either. ANYBODY have a better name)? Anyway, I digress.  

Another quilt with a face will have to wait a bit. What I have in mind for the next quilt

is of a single flower.  And it will not wait.

So before we get snowed in again I'm off to the quilt shop to check out some

fabric options.

{Gathering the Fabric and Creating the Patterns}...

Getting a new quilt shop in town helped in gathering enough

coordinating fabrics for the quilt.  But which ones for what?

Pinks and browns, blues or

blacks and grays with a bit of teal?

The teal wins!

 I tried out several body shapes.  I finally decided to go with just the upper body as

I would prefer the quilt not be long and skinny.  At least not this time.

I removed the wings from the original painting so that I could

add larger wings to the quilt surface.

Also with the magic of PSE I was able to change the background of the painting

to match the fabric nearly perfectly.  Now that's just plain cool.  I love it.

The body fabric when just laid down to get an idea of

the fabric combinations I want to use is not as curvy as the paper pattern

which I just might like better.  We'll see.

So now I just sit with it for a while longer as she continues

to speak to me before proceeding to cutting it all out.

{Art Portrait to Art Quilt}...

My newest portrait painting step by step. I paused in painting just

long enough to capture some shots for the progression the painting took.

Follow the photos to watch the digression of this finish painting

Next Up ~

 watch how I create an art quilt with her.
Click here for the quilt

Art Quilt: Phoenix #2 - First Flight

First Flight Art Quilt - This quilt is my second in my Phoenix series. What I enjoy about birds is all the feathers. They allow me to be able to use lots of different fabric combinations.

Close up of Phoenix #2 First Flight

"Spirit" Art Quilt

I enjoy using horses as the theme in my art quilts. Their manes allow me to use fibers as surface embellishments.

Close up. Of Spirit

2 More Art Quilts

This quilt has sold. It sold at the Les Femmes des Montage show a couple of years ago. It is hung over her flat screen TV mounted on her wall.

It seems nature..... flowers, animals and trees are my favorite themes.

I love out of doors. Sometimes it can be sooooo breath "takenly" beautiful, at other times comforting and peaceful, still other times "aw" inspiring. These are the things that inspire me most.

There is a poem on the back of this quilt by Samuel Taylor Coleridge; It reads

What if you slept

and what if

in your sleep

you dreamed?

And what if in your dream

you went to heaven

and there plucked

a strange and

beautiful flower?

And what if

when you awoke

you had the flower in your hand?

Art Quilts.....

Art Quilts....my art form.

I got my portfolio out this week to the new art gallery here in town. 'Tis. I haven't found a web site for them yet but when I do I will post it. These are a few of my art quilts that I included in my portfolio to them

I didn't use these exact pictures with the "scratchy" marks. But I can here just because I like them so much.

More pics to come. Hopfully later this weekend.