Crazy Quilts are Quilts too!

kitty RR

my1st attempt at CQ

Thearica at Pigtales and Quilts has a cyber show that features nothing but crazy quilts!

kitty RR#2

my work for barbara RR

my work for barbara W

 So, in the spirit of thinking "outside the box" this year I have entered.

the beaded portion of my belt

Though I don't quite know what I have entered,

my work for peggy

other than a place where more people can come by and see my blog

2011 BJP

(which is nice;)

my sun box

there are prizes and since I never win at these things anyway,

inside lid of my box

I am entering for the eyecandy!

box for my son

so far, many of my favorite quilt artists have entered as well,like
Pat Winter, Nancy Eha, Kerrykatykackes, Leslie at pinyon creek,  Gerry Kruger and many more!

Imbolic box

sun and moon boxes

I need to say something about myself here and my growing obsession with CQ.

picture frame

I have been embroidering since I was 5 or 6 and I come from a long line of seamstresses.

shabby chic box

movie star purse

my mother and grandmother taught me to appreciate the hand made and handwork.





CQ is the right fit for me with few hard and fast rules and lots of scope for imaginative uses, from small bags and wall hangings to clothing and full size bed covers.

Big Island adventure

I am still a relatively small fish in a very talented pool!

our X-mas stockings

Cq of my BFF's daughter

I regularly feel rather like wayne and garth genuflecting at the knees of my heroes shouting "I'm not worthy!I'm not worthy!"

Witchi-poo#3

hearts and hands for Sendi

  I love creating "functional art" that is  small pieces like my witchy-poo hats or cq covered wood boxes.I try to tell a story with my blocks, though that has been a bit muted this year, I want to be getting back to that.

DD#2's cq do

 I'm also obsessed with beads and leaned the "Indian way" to bead on a loom and free hand and have made almost all of my presents to close family and friends since childhood.

Sharon Boggins encrusted class

I stumbled into sane quilting when I was pregnant with my first child and the obsession took off from there!

witchi-poo #2

niece Lily's memory bag

I "discovered" applique when I was pregnant with my second child and CQ when pregnant with my third (hmm, seeing a pattern here!) and have never looked back.


Every RR I enter in CQinternational the more I learn from these talented generous women and I'm trying my best to be a sponge.

lancelot

My goal is to create a large CQ piece depicting my favorite fairytales. so far I have 3 panels finished, so yeah, that one is gonna take a while!

Fools Gold RR

 I have joined the "Fools Gold" RR with Gerry it starts on Feb15th and I'm soo excited!



I have dabbled in glodwork before,I've wanted to try more but haven't gotten arountuit so this should be a good kick in the pants to get going on that!



I bought these two books for the occasion, this one just looked so interesting I had to try it and the one below I've been coveting for a while and now is as good a time as any..



I've looked through both of them and there is  gorgeous eye candy in both of them but the first has more" how to do  it" in it.



both are sumptuous and informative
the second having more history and the first having more of a beginners feel to it.


and here are the blocks I will be sending out to Janet.

I though goldwork would stand out excellently on a field of burgundy.

I'm hoping for jacobean flowers and bugs!

I can't wait to start!

ORTS

 or as I like to call them, threads too short to use.












this array of beads struck me as interesting neat and tidy rainbow colors waiting to be used in some novel way.

I'm trying to look at things with a new perspective

instead of doing things in the same old way

what i'm working on now

peacocks and puses

 the peacock is getting closer to done just one more layer of feathers

here's the tail from a different perspective.

 a close up of the lower body



and head

 look how pretty from the side!

another 2 purses down!

I call this one "Drama Queen"


the little blue spider

 a close-up of the dragonfly

and the panseys

and here's mermaid

I'm pleased with how the fish came out but I'm not sure about the rest.

Now for the new year

Ms twitchy whiskers

This lovely little girl is Jubilie, our rescue kitty. and the newest member of our household.
she is still getting used to her new roost and is still looking for her fellow cast-outs.

every day she gets less skittish and more used to the noises the house makes.

cat ball

She has also decided several spots are now "hers"
My daughters bed is one of those spots


This little paisley is my first installment to this years BJP.
white for the missing snow of this winter

I've decided to make a paisley for each month this year.
each one 2-3 inches.











I have decided it's about time I did something with this dress.
so I am going to embroider things all over it, this peacock is the first.

closing out the old year

 closing out the old year by finishing off things begun at the beginning of 2011
I have 3 more little purses to finish, this one is the fist of those.

I love how the pansies turned out!





Here are all of the  2011 BJP's together,
My Mara is sanding in for "Beautiful you are my world"
which I gave to my friend Laura-Lee for her birthday.

the "moon" and "Time" are my favorites.

peacocks comment

 Peacock left a comment on myBJP2011
"I totally understand the frustration of something not turning out the way you envision it... but sometimes the way that it turns out instead has a different but equally important beauty. Is it possible that this tree falls in that category?" 

very definitely!
I started out with a slightly different vision and ended up with this tree which is not diminished by my inability to make it "right".

most of my frustration with this particular piece was how long it took me to finish!
I kept loosing interest in it.
then I would feel like i HAVE TO work on it and I don't think I have to tell anyone, how inhibiting to creativity that particular feeling is!

so now that it is done the question is, do I like it?
                                                                               yeah.
I know uninspiring answer but I do appreciate the things I learned from doing this project much more.

happy new year!

Happy Solstice!

Happy Holidays!

christmas stocking fr Lydia

in the beginning

 I started with Lydia's favorite color green

added jingles

it jingles!

 lots of sparkly and a turtle

there had to be a turtle

Add caption

Voila!


a stocking for Lydi!

with gingerbread and snowflakes

a poinsettia

 daisies and a key
(of knowledge, to my heart, part of the family crest)

more snowflakes and

Mele Kalikimaka!

all hung by the chimney with care!