Moving on.

I belong to a great international organization, S.A.Q.A. or Studio Art Quilts Associated. They have an amazing website where you will see lots of fabulous work.

Once a year they have a fund raiser where artists are encouraged to donate a 12 inch square which is then auctioned off. Below is my last year's contribution.

Today I am going to complete mine. I am calling it Letting Loose but don't have pics as yet. Will post when it is ready.

Yesterday I entered two pieces to a juried show in Montreal. The Winter One and the Summer One squares that are in the landscape series.

I was on a roll and also entered a couple of pieces into

The Grand National Quilt Show. The theme this year is OFF THE WALL, perfect for my quirky sensibilities.

More sheep stuff

I continue to work on the sheep piece. Now you see all of the pieces ironed together onto a heavy weight pellon ready for thread play. Threads , here I come. The stitching is my favourite part.This is the colour palette for the back ground, aren't they luscious? All fabrics that were hand dyed by Elaine Quehl.

Work on a Sunday

I have made some new goals for myself and one has been to get more work out there so I have entered an online challenge organized by Three Creative Studios. Once every two months we have a theme to develop. The theme for the end of February is "PUZZLE". It gives me a chance to move in another directions and play with some new ideas.

This is how far I have gotten. Can't show you the whole thing until the end of Feb. Stay tuned.

Now for the second piece. Quite some time ago I interpreted this picture taken by Peggy Dewitt a photographer for her Tampered With Show. Other artists were invited to interpret her work, which I did. Much to my surprise this piece sold so it didn't live in my house for long. It was the first time that I made an animal from a photo. Now a friend, Janie Hickman of Janey's Knits has asked me to make one for her seeing that she has a massive sheep collection.
I painted the fabric yesterday, so now I am putting her together. I am also planning to paint on some more detail for the curly hair.
The starting point and more to come. Wish me luck.

Another one Bites the dust!

Sometimes when you make a piece, it does not sit with you well. Although my friends told me that they liked this, it always bothered me, it just didn't seem to belong with the rest of my work. It was a response to a challenge and I left it way to late to do the original picture justice.

Mike's Flower

Detail

When I am not happy with something I am working on , I used to throw it in a box and forget about it. Now I turn it into book covers and it's amazing how great it looks when finished. These books go on blank, acid free books from Wallack's and the cover can be used over and over again. Who doesn't like a pretty book to write in?

This is the back. I take a chance and cut the whole piece to get the most number of books out of it and they always look great.

I managed to get four out of this piece. Look for a tutorial on how to make the covers. Next time I make a batch, I will take pics and show you how to make them. They are great gifts as well.

Options revisited

In the last while I have been playing with the whole idea of options again. This started a few years ago in a class by Marilyn Stewart-Stothers at a C.Q.A. Conference out west. She mounted her work on wooden frames and made several pieces that worked together as a unit. Taking it a step farther, I wanted to be able to change the pieces around ,thus the name "Options". I am such a fickle girl and do get tired of the" same old same old".

Here are the four pieces arranged in one way. I have called it OPTIONS:SKY

Another way.
Another way.

I love this one.

The original design.
Some details.

Now to make this work you have to repeat some of the elements in the pieces. You need one fabric or colour that has a presence in each piece. For me this time it was the cloud fabric.

Then other shapes or colours had to be repeated in at least two other pieces . The black really grounds it and you can play off that. If you have any questions, please ask. I am happy to share what I learn.

Playing with sheers and a present for you.

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL

This time of year always starts for me not with resolutions but plans to try something new. I vow to set up a mailing list and keep everyone in the loop.

1.There will be some new projects and classes will start again here in my studio starting in April. 2.Also there will be a sliding scale for classes. The larger the group,the cheaper the price for the individual. More to come.

3.The little bear pattern below will be sent to anyone who wants to be on my mailing list. Send me a quick email and it will be done. No charge.

catelaw@ripnet.com

Little Bear Pattern

Above is a new quilt which is now hanging in my bedroom. I used some of Elaine Quehl's hand dyed silks as appliques and then had lots of fun playing with different techniques. There have been some requests to run this as a class and if there is enough interest we could certainly set that up.

Resolution( I wasn't going to do this) to post more often.

Rain, rain ,rain

What a summer this has been so far. The only good thing about it is that I like to work in my studio on rainy days. With our quilt show coming up it has been a good thing.

Now I have been able to finish a couple of new pieces for the show.

Doreen's daisies is quite a large piece and it pretty well just rolled out of my brain. Sometimes it is this easy.

Having bought a variety of Kaffe Fasset fabrics , the challenge was to make it work as another Madonna. This one will not be cut up for journal covers.

Now for info on our quilt show.

QUILTS ON THE TAY

St. John's High School

2066 Scotch Line Road

Perth,Ont.

Friday: Noon to 5 p.m.

Saturday: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Sunday: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Featured quilters: Bev Cooper and Carol Darou

Special Exhibit: " Kamloops to Halifax"

Workshop: "Colour Play" with Karen Goetzinger

Come and enjoy all of the others things present at a quilt show merchant's mall,exhibits, and much more. SEE YOU THERE!!!!!!!

Fin ishing things

Every once in awhile I get on a real finishing splurge. Although I generally like to work on 5 or 6 different pieces at the same time, when they reach a certain stage they need to be completed.

Meditation One

Sunset
Sunrise
A dress for Janie Hickman of Janie's Knits. A way cool project for a yarn lady.
Now I'm off to the Vermont Quilt Festival. Can't wait, I probably won't get much sleep tonight..

GREAT NEWS

For quite some time I have been totally in awe of Kaffe Fassett 's colour sense. I had bought one of his knitting books when they first came out and just loved looking at the pics. It was fascinating how he put all of those colours together, so many of them, and so brilliantly.
Imagine then how thrilled I was to learn that he was coming to Perth, of course I have to go to the lecture.
Janie H. Knits in Glen Tay is bringing him to town.This is another place where fibre junkies like me can get a fix. In a lovely stone house Janie has a fabulous shop. The most wonderful fibres can be found here. In my last visit to buy tickets for the Kaffe Fassett lecture I came home with the shawl kit below. The kit is designed by Gita Maria and it is fabulous. The Bandana Fringed Scarf comes with wonderful yarns and a hand made silver enameled "Hug" pin. I couldn't help myself and finished it that very evening. What a wonderful piece to wear when I lecture this fall.

Now to order tickets you can email info@janiehknits.com.

My old bed quilt is also a Kaffe Fassett design.

I am back happily creating this week working out some new ideas. Above is my first attempt at creating a mosaic type of piece. Will keep you posted to see how it goes, there are always glitches to work out. Take care!

OFF ON A ROAD TRIP

My husband has a lot of family up north --- Timmins and Sudbury -- and we are off for our annual visit. Since I have very few relatives in Canada , Terry's cousins have adopted me as one of their own. Besides the card playing and visiting, I can scope out the local quilt and fabric shops while he is playing golf.
The scenery is also magnificent and my new camera will get a workout. I need lots of pics for inspiration when the snow is blowing outside in the middle of January.
Talk to you in a week or so.

THIS AND THAT

It's summer and it's time to bring out some unfinished things. Last year when I was watching the Live Earth Concert I drew up this design for a Savin' Earth Quilt( I stole this name from the licence plate that my brother Peter has on his hybrid car). I was pretty proud of myself because I actually pieced the circle that represents earth. Then I had fun stencilling on a copper tree.More to come.

One rainy day last week and there have been many, I noticed my little friends across the road. This needed a pic and will probably turn into another cow piece. Love those rain drops on the fence. How will I ever do that???

The top half of my bed quilt is now pieced. No more randomness for me as the next 6 blocks have to work in this design. Who said that random was easy!!!

Again, more to come.