Altar Cloths

In process.   Red represents Holy Spirit's Flame.

Finished Product.   So happy it's done.

I mentioned that Father Livinus asked that I make altar cloths for the church anniversary celebration which was scheduled for December 2, the first Sunday of Advent. The Bishop of the Wheeling Charleston Diocese would be there too to confirm seven our our young people and join us in this momentus celebration. Liturgical purple was to be one color consideration, while Christmas red was to be the other.

Except for the few things I was making for the Bazaar (Ha!), and normal life (that takes an enormous amount of one's creative time), and a week in Maryland at a conference, and an annual quilting retreat weekend, I was totally focused from around mid-September to December 1----the day we hung the altar cloths and the wall hanging.

It really eased my tension when I learned the Bishop would be wearing the purple vestments.

T'IS THE SEASON

In deference to the season, I've changed my header to a triptych for Christmas,  made from fabulous seasonal fabrics I collected for a few years.

St. Peter Claver and the Enslaved African

The choir director at my church promised to cut a CD of our choir if I would do a wall mural of our patron saint, St. Peter Claver. I started off gung ho, last year, ideas coming faster than I could monitor them. But soon, the steam began to dissipate. I had found an image of St. Peter Claver side by side with an enslaved African, both symbolically holding crosses. I liked that better than those of the saint holding a lil black child, after all, his claim to fame was that he met the slave ships as they came in and gave succor to those who'd survived the horrific middle passage.

No one knows what St. Peter Claver actually looked like

For weeks on end I considered a border for the picture. If it was to be a wall mural of sorts, I needed an appropriate border to frame the image that I planned to set in a center circle.

That decision was a long time coming. Considering many traditional blocks and color schemes soon whittled away my enthusiasm. So I let it sleep within my subconscious over the summer.

In the early fall, I learned that the promised CD was forthcoming and would be ready in the time for our 75^th Church Anniversary. Our priest also asked that I make two altar cloths for the celebration.

That settled the border colors for me; I decided on the liturgical year colors of green, red, purple, and gold( which often framed the colors or images).

Well that pulled me back into gear immediately. As with most projects, I discovered many decisions and challenges. As I worked on the project, it's growth and unwieldy size proved daunting. Finally, it was finished. Now it hangs in the newly renovated parish hall.

Crystal embellishment

finished piece

(hmmmmm, I'm thinking another black border would frame that image perfectly).

CHRISTMAS CARD STORY

Angel set

Abstracts

ABstracts

It's The Christmas Season. In October and November, between other projects, I made collaged Christmas cards to sell at two Holiday Bazaars. Last year, I think I sold a few cards. So I just knew I'd have some left to send out to friends and family. NOT! I sold every last one of them.

Stockings

Pretty trees

front and inside of one card

In trying to figure out what I did differently, I note that the sizes are larger ( 5 x 8),  and since I'd run out of those lovely picture framing cards I'd bought as a bargain at an Awesome Deals store that  has since closed, I decided to make my own. Though they didn't turn out perfect, they looked professional enough – discovered I need a better glue or glue stick( with pointed end).

And Santas, of course

So now I'm taking a day here and there to make a few more to send out.

Fall Arrives in Huntington

     I feel Fall in the air in these cool mornings.  Days are already getting shorter.
I will miss the sunshine in the ripe red tomatoes of summer, but I look forward to longer evenings in my studio.

I submitted a quilted wall hanging to the challenge "Pearls of Wisdom" held by Creative Quilters.

It is part of a triptych of scenes, with a theme of AT-Oneness.  For the challenge though, I used the words from the song,  "I hope you Dance"  The photo doesn't capture the sparklies and the gems attached, but the moonlit waters shows up well. Thinking now, I'm going to have to invest in a new camera with stronger resolution so I can show quilting and finer embellishments in thread and ornamentation.

In the Meantime---Fabric Cards

Playing around with scraps---Whimsicals 

For my friend Ruth's 89th Birthday!

Aftermath of a Storm 6/29/12

at least it got rid of some Kudzu.

The storm came through WV on June 29 and left the towns without electricity and some without water for days.  The trees bowed and broke in the fury of 70 mile winds, taking down power lines all through the mountains and valleys.   I always thought our mountains protected us from such ravages.   Maybe mountain-top mining is beginning to reap it's vengeance.

On Monday, June 25th, I had Mayo Tree Service come to cut out the dead limbs from the beautiful old oak back of my house.  It is really too close to the house and it may be dying, the tree person said.   It would be very very costly to cut it down, so I decided to have it doctored.  Thank God.  Had the dead limbs  been on the tree when that storm came through, I know I'd not have a roof now.  As it was, my side of the block was without electricity for seven days, in temperatures that were 3 digits.

Yeaaaaaa! My 1st Ribbon.

I received "Honorable Mention" at the  West Virginia Quilt Guild annual festival.  The quilt portrait of my nephew titled the "Entertainer" was an entry in the individual small quilt category.  There were so many extraordinary quilts there.   I feel so honored.

My Sister's "CRAZY-TEE" Quilt

          For her retirement, she brought me a bag of T-Shirts and said, "Please make me a T-Shirt quilt. These are some of my favorite Tee's with memorable pics and sayings."
           I said, " Okay, no Problem!"
            The year was 2008.   And now it's finally finished!   TA! DAaaaaa!

Some of her favorite T-Shirts.

The Crazy side.

The T-Shirt side!

She really liked it.  I'm happy she's happy and finally has the finished product.

P.S.  Sometime between 2008 and 2012, she decided she'd like a crazy quilt too.

The Piecemaker Portraits Group

I'd promised earlier to share the results of several of the other ladies' projects in the workshop I conducted on making fabric portraits.  And here they are:  

Here's Joyce working on her daughter's picture.

Helen decided to surprise her son with a portrait of his dog.

Rebecca's project called for two portraits .  Ambitious one!

Fait Accompli!

Proud quilter at annual quilt show

Rebecca surprised her nephews at the show too.

Not pictured here was Robbi  who framed her portrait of her son.

We had a great time and I learned as much as I taught.  

[to see more of the SPC Piecemakers' annual show got to [ http://spc-piecemakers.blogspot.com/  ]

Piecemaker Challenge

          On Sunday, May 20, 2012 the Piecemakers had their annual
community quilt show.   It was wonderful success. Our challenge for this year was for us to create a quilt that illustrated our favorite Bible verse.   One of my favorite verses comes from Psalms 25.

Your ways, O Lord, make known to me

teach me your path

guide me in your path and teach me,

for You are  my saviour...

The process of preparing this quilt for presentation is viewed and discussed more below:

It started with a photo I took of a scene  found in Huntington's beautiful Ritter Park.

 Then came the bones of the the picture and the auditionioning of fabrics.  I used S2S fusing to hold parts together.  Quilting key sections as I went along.  I did leaves last.

  Here's a close -up of the bench that sits between the four majestic oaks.

I fused most of the leaves on then added three strips with 3d leaves that sort of swayed in the wind.

And here is the completed quilt.   It won first place.  My goal is to do a series of quilts depicting Huntington's  Ritter Part.

Blogger's Online Quilt Festival

Here's the final fabric portrait of Brittany.

     For this year I am entering a fabric portrait of my granddaughter, Brittany, in Amy's Creative Side-Blogger's Quilt Festival.  I had promised Brittany that I would attempt a fabric portrait of her as soon as I found the right picture of her for me to interpret.  Now you must know that Brittany is a young woman who posts lots of pictures of herself on her Facebook page as she goes through her day to day life.  She loves taking pics of herself, her nephews and friends too.  Finding the right picture to capture her from the hundreds she's posted as she tries new hairdos, new make-up, and outfits was a dilemma for me.  Her most times sunny mood is offset by her sometimes gloomy outlook.  In the portrait I chose, she seems to me to be sort of "mellow", in-between those two extremes of her personality.

        I am very proud of Brittany who recently completed a course of study at WV Junior College with a very high average.  I'm wishing her success and a real job soon.

Here's picture I used and portrait in process.

I love making fabric portraits and find them to be a study of personality and character. The whole process-- from finding the right photo and fabric, to creating and capturing the features of the face or body--I find a rewarding challenge.  In working with Brittany's portrait,  I had the hardest time settling on a background.  I tried out many different ones in the process, but when I saw the star fabric, something in me clicked and I knew that was it.  It speaks to, along with the expression, the sort of star quality she exudes in all she does.  See below some of the different backgrounds and fabrics I auditioned in working on this portrait.

 






I am looking forward to participating in the festival this year and viewing all the beautiful quilts submitted by others.

I love comments and will respond with joy.

The Entertainer and the Star

Here is MaShawn in full costume, ready to dance.

And this is Brittany, a star if ever there was one.

Completed both of these on February 24th 2012.  These resulted in workshop class I taught within Piecemaker's group on how to make a fabric portrait.    More pictures later of some completed by students.

PINTEREST POST 2

Anything as much fun as Pinterest had to be sinful!   Right?   Well not exactly, but one must be careful.
Pinterest Etiquette is a wonderful pro-pinterest informational page that explains how Pinterest can be used and enjoyed without the blot on ones moral character! LOL

And if one does not mind traffic from pinnings from your own site, then there is a pin you can post which allows this.  Check Permission to Pin