Antiquities arch

According to our yearlong swap, I am to make an arch for Pam in West Glam who requested a theme of "all things aged, architecture, ancient relics, but no birds, please." My earliest idea was to create a ancient portal with fabrics .... but clearing the towering magazine pile, I came across a few National Geographics ... and my idea evolved to include magazine images of Persian ruins and other artifacts. Here is an early stage of my arch.

The magazine pages are collaged together on a base of brown felt. Tulle and fibers are overlaid and couched down, securing everything in its place. Then I hit a creativity-block. The arch remained stalled for days that lapsed into weeks as I struggled to come up with a method or technique to finish it.

I eventually found some great beads to use as accents. As you may know, beads can be difficult to capture well in a photograph. The next photo is one of the worse photos I managed to snap. I decided to share its disaster so that others may benefit from my lack of expertise.

As you can see, the flash has reflected against the sheen of the magazine pages, making the images difficult to see.

I decided to include a snap of the back of this arch, which is made from a portion of a table-runner. The stability and strength of the woven table runner has helped to stiffen the arch.


The day has sped past too quickly. The sun has set too soon, before I could get the ideal perfect photograph. This photo of "Antiquities" is a tad paled by the bright sunlight (taken the next afternoon), but the beads stand out nicely.

This arch is officially complete. All I need to do is to wrap it up, preparing it for a journey across the ocean. Anticipated departure: Monday, December 1, 2008 (at long last).

Pam, thank you for your patience. I hope "Antiquities" arrives safely to your mailbox and more importantly, that you like it!

Sunset arch

I am working hard to meet my amnesty deadline of November 30 .... here is partial proof: my arch for Arlee in Canada which I have named "Sunset."


Arlee had asked for hot colors and copper, wishing for a funky/non-cutesy theme for her arches. I had fun playing with fabric and sheer scraps that I cut and trimmed and layered under a pale tulle fabric. Stitching through peltex (my inner stabilizer), I added glass tubular beads as well as two hot-glue-gun painted squiggles. My final touches included small dabblings with a copper Shiva paint stik. My good news for Arlee is that this arch is now finished, packed and ready to mail to you in the morning! Of course, I could almost hand-deliver it as I'll be passing through Calgary next week-end.

Learning and sharing at IQF

Every year at Quilt Festival there is a tremendous amount of learning and sharing that goes on. This year was no different. I was fortunate enough to be in a two-day class with Katie Pasquini-Masopust which was tremendous!


During the two days, she had us exploring a fun variety of design ideas. We left the class with the beginnings of several future quilts-to-be and many innovative ways to dream up new game plans for additional abstract quilts. In this photo, near the end of our two days together, Katie is showing her quilts to the class, pointing out details, and answering all of our questions.


Another quilt friend I see annually is Marlene Glickman. She is a silk artist and readily shares her ideas and silk dyeing techniques at the "potpourri" multi-teacher-demonstration events held in the Ballroom during Festival. Not only does Marlene share her ideas, she always has fun give-aways for the participants who pause at her table.


In this photo, Marlene is sharing what she knows about foiling onto fabric, paper and cardstock. Everyone was given several pieces of foil to take home and try one of Marlene's techniques. As an additional bonus, she demonstrated how easy it is to dye silk scarves (which she gave away to whoever volunteered to iron them at the end of the session!) Marlene is a non-stop bundle of knowledge, willing to share what she knows and hoping to inspire others to adventure into the world of Silk fiber art.


Last of all, it is not a memorable Quilt Festival or Quilt Market unless I bump into my dear friend Hallye Bone, with or without a pre-arranged rendezvous. Years ago, when Houston became my home, Hallye was my first quilt teacher at Quilt Quarters quilt shop. Later, her home was the first that I managed to visit with my infant twin boys! Since Hallye no longer lives in Houston, I truly treasure our brief visits during Quilt Market.

Here we are -- tickled to have run into each other again. Oh, I almost forgot to mention -- Congratulations Hallye on the publication of your first book, Caring for Your Quilts! (Available from Kansas City Star website and/or your local quilt shop).

IQF Three weeks later...

Congratulations to Sharon Schamber for Spirit Of Mother Earth. Her exceptional quilt is the Winner of the Handi Quilter® Best Of Show Award at the 2009 International Quilt Festival. Sharon is seen above standing with her quilt and answering questions asked by admirerers. If you wish to learn more about Sharon and her artwork, click here.

Another winning quilter is Rita Steffenson who won The Fairfield Master Award for Contemporary Artistry for her quilt, Twilight. Here she is greeting admirers and answering questions.

To see more of Rita's lovely artwork, click here.


There were many Japanese quilters exhibiting their quilts in Houston this year. One of my favorites is this one, also a big prize winner. (stay tuned, as I need to re-futz with my photo for better clarity).

The Three Sisters are totally enjoying the spotlight as they laugh with everyone stopping to gaze on their lovely quilt.


Gail Thomas, Annette M. Hendricks, and Helen Godden's winning quilt Seasonal Sisters won the IQF World Of Beauty Award, sponsored by TheQuiltShow.com
To learn more about these three light-spirited friends and their award-winning quilt, click here.

I do occasionally take the standard "stand in front and smile" quilt-&-quilter photos, as seen below. But I think I prefer the candid laughter captured above better. Don't you?

From left to right, these three quilting sisters are Helen Godden from Canberra, ACT, Australia, Annette M. Hendricks from Chicago, Illinois, USA, and Gail Thomas from Vernon, British Columbia, Canada.

Grecian Profile arch

Every thing starts with an idea -- and sometimes a sketch, too.
The idea was to create something Grecian for Mags' arch and after looking into books and pondering, I came back to the Grecian profile (a modern sculpture) on display in the Houston Museum of Fine Arts. I had sketched it a year or more ago and when I happened on my old sketch, I knew I would use some portion of it to create my arch. Here is how I adapted my sketch to fit the size of our arches.


Choosing to work in the deep blue, I looked for a few brights to use. I selected a scrap of gold voile with bead-like highlights but quickly learned that appliqueing sheers is a challenge! Where did I put that Misty Fuse when I needed it? This problem was solved by couching bright yarns and fibers along the profile's edge, then adding a poof for the Grecian headdress.


Final touches included adding a piece of painted, heat-distressed, wrinkled tyvek. What more can I do to this arch? or is it time to stop? I think I am ready to mail it! For those not in the know, I am in a yearlong arch swap-trade with my Textile Challenges group. It's been great fun playing with new techniques all the while dreaming up new ideas for each arch -- trying to come up with the perfect arch to match the receiver's wish-list of themes.



But I puzzled over the back. I wanted to add a pocket, just like the other arches I have received. The pocket is the perfect spot to tuck in a note telling all about the making of the arch ... except that I need to create some neat fabric/paper/cardstock to write the note on ... I seem to find more delays or do I just wish to keep this Grecian profile in my hands a tad longer?

I have decided to send the arch at long last. I will send the note (to slip into the pocket) at some future date. I hope Mags is happy with her very late June arch, even with its empty pocket. After all, wouldn't you prefer an arch with an empty pocket rather than no arch at all?

Quilt Festival winners

I have a new collection -- photographs of prize winning quilters standing by their amazing quilts.

Stay tuned (or flip back to this page) to see a few of these photos as Blogger is having a snafu-glitch of some sort at the moment & is not allowing me to post any photos ....

My Quilt family

With the International Quilt Festival and Quilt Market coming to Houston each fall, I look forward to my reunions with friends who travel from across the United States (and other nations) to attend. I especially enjoy my annual catch-up visits with my quilting sisters and good friends: Mary Beth Hayes and Wanda Hayes Eichler. I keep trying to adopt myself into their family, but with 7 siblings already, I haven't gotten farther than being their "Texas cousin, sort of." We met many years ago, when Mary and I were in an online quilt round robin. She lived in Maryland and Thangles were not yet available for sale anywhere. Wanda, her sister, lived in Michigan where she owned a quilt shop, The Pigeon River Mercantile. I had just moved to Houston and worked for Quilts, Inc. setting up the show and hanging quilts. Mary & Wanda, do you remember that first lunch with my friend Margaret G.?

These days I work in both their booths: Thangles and Graywood Designs and I love it!

Here we are this year, at the end of a long Market day, in the Thangles booth.

Here's a great photo of Wanda and Ed Eichler together in her Graywood Designs booth.

While I practically live at the George R. Brown Convention Center during the weeks of Quilt Market and Festival, my family come at least one time to see what has pulled me away from them for so many days. I've caught Mary and Pat in this photo with my family taken as we depart Saturday evening.

This year my boys enjoyed the Political quilts, a special exhibit in honor of the Presidential Election that had not happened yet. Two voting booths were set up in this exhibit, enabling everyone interested (regardless of age or nationality) to cast their vote for their presidential choice.


While the race was tight among the quilt voters .... the result was the same as the national election held two days after Festival closed. Barack Obama was the victor among the voters at the Quilt Festival and Market as well as among voters across our nation.