One of the most rewarding aspects of my long time teaching career are the friends I've made along the journey. It's VERY flattering to be invited to a guild, not just once but 3 times as I have with the Dallas Quilt Guild.
A small bee within that organization, Twisted Stitchers, has issued their 10th anniversary challenge which includes an invitation to their extended arty-farty family of friends. (That would be me....thank you Judy for asking me!) It's titled Twelve Squared Inches.....obviously the piece must be 12" x 12" and made by a single person.....that's it....short and sweet rules. Love it.
My piece isn't due until March 1, 2010.....can you believe I'm already tackling this task? That's me......I'm not a last minute person......when I have a deadline.....even if it's 6 months away....I'm not content until I have it finished. I can just hear all of you out there.......but yup....that's me....miss organized!
The exhibit will be on display at the 2010 Dallas Quilt Celebration show.
Small is good.......because that's just the kind of piece that will show off some fun beading. I began with a 9 1/2" sq. of
Woolfelt which was thread basted to a stabilizer. I decided to make this one fairly colorful.....with high bright contrast colors in the images and beads.
After beginning the
beadwork with yellow beads on the pink fabric.....I realized it didn't provide the impact I wanted. I tried just one line using various green beads and knew I had to start over.
to create the veins, and a single bead back stitch with bugle beads for the center vein.
My idea was to bring this piece up to the 12" size by backing it with a dark green
Woolfelt.....so I'm auditioning other design elements using this back drop. I love securing objects such as cabochons and flat sequins by sewing beads in the round to capture the element to the fabric.
Due to the size of the finished piece, I decided to use these flat mirror discs to keep the weight down.
Before I began the beadwork, I decided to give the lime green background some texture by machine echo stitching with a variegated rayon thread. Next, I beaded the mirrors in position. Note...I'm ONLY stitching through the lime green wool and the stabilizer at this point. The piece has been placed on the darker green fabric on my design wall only for viewing and for this snap shot. The backing won't be added until all the beadwork on the center unit is complete.
Which is is now.......you can see I added some scatter stitched bugles and seeds along the machine stitching lines to add further interest. AND......after thinking dark green all along, I changed my mind and hauled out some lemon yellow
Woolfelt instead for the backing/border treatment.....which perks the whole composition up.
So, the backing has now been added....the two layers are secured with the 'spiral bead technique' which outlines the lime green center (instruction in:
Beading Buddy). And finally, I used a decorative rotary cutting blade to trim the outside edges and added a few more beads to complete the piece.
THIS IS CHOICE A.
Now....I need your help.......during the whole design process I position this leaf with the pink edge on the bottom.......BUT.....when I stitched on the hanging sleeve and put it on my wall to photograph......low and behold.......I reversed it.......as you can see below. Now I'm wondering if I actually like this position better???
THIS IS CHOICE B.
I'd love to hear if you have a preference?? A or B??
I'll be on the road for the next couple of days, but expect to have internet access so I'll be looking for comments posted here or email me personally by using the link on the upper right side bar. Thanks in advance for your insight.
Small is good.......because that's just the kind of piece that will show off some fun beading. I began with a 9 1/2" sq. of Woolfelt which was thread basted to a stabilizer. I decided to make this one fairly colorful.....with high bright contrast colors in the images and beads. 
My idea was to bring this piece up to the 12" size by backing it with a dark green Woolfelt.....so I'm auditioning other design elements using this back drop. I love securing objects such as cabochons and flat sequins by sewing beads in the round to capture the element to the fabric.
Which is is now.......you can see I added some scatter stitched bugles and seeds along the machine stitching lines to add further interest. AND......after thinking dark green all along, I changed my mind and hauled out some lemon yellow Woolfelt instead for the backing/border treatment.....which perks the whole composition up.
So, the backing has now been added....the two layers are secured with the 'spiral bead technique' which outlines the lime green center (instruction in: Beading Buddy). And finally, I used a decorative rotary cutting blade to trim the outside edges and added a few more beads to complete the piece.
Mary loves to create smart and stylish quilted clothing. Many avoid this approach because of the bulk, but she has developed innovative patterns and procedures to keep the clothing flat and flattering.
She shared many of her tricks when working with different weights of fabrics. For instance, she'll back a lighter fabric with a fusible tricot interfacing to bring it's weight up to heavier ones that she's working with. I too use this stabilizer for most of my garments and find it's worth the trouble!
Not all her pieces are quilted....this one has inset panels of a textured fabric to add interest.
This small bag was inspired by a photo of baked goods (photo beneath the purse).....who'd have thunk? Mary's doesn't focus on too many embellishments....but clearly she know how!
Did I tell you how amazing this design center is?? Yes......I know I did.....but it bears repeating......
This was my favorite area.....I love a good deep soaking tub. I miss the one we had in our Wisconsin house. Personally, I think jet tubs are over-rated......I always feel like I'm bracing myself, in water that cools off too rapidily, rather than just sitting back and relaxing. I've never seen such a variety of really distintive tubs.
A beautifully executed and designed piece by Martine House was displayed in a nook of one of the kitchen displays.
If you live in the area and are in need of tile, this is the place to go. Isn't this tile wall Mosaic incredible?
And.....you could walk into their warehouse to personally select high quality granite.
I requested a farm sink for my kitchen when we were selecting fixtures for our house......our builder had no clue what I was talking about. Maybe I was ahead of the style curve, because now 3 years later, apparently they are very popular. I LOVE the look. Note the back wall.....it's filled with faucet options. Oh my.....this is the place I want to shop if we ever have the opportunity to build again.
Imagine the dedication it took to locate buttons from the late 1800's in excellent condition.
I wondered out loud about whether I had gotten a reflection from a label on another quilt when I took the above photo....because I didn't recall seeing the image that appears near the center top of the quilt. Chris tells me, the shadow is actually a poem about a sunset which she printed on Extra Organza. She's made quilt kits to recreate the piece in a smaller size, 24" x 30". All the fabric needed, including 1 yard of hand dyed fabric for the sky and sun, plus detailed instructions. This is a great starter for beginning free motion quilting. 
