Cut it up!

Getting ready to cut up my quilt! Well, not really cut it up, just create a curvy border. I think I have it figured out, with help from a book by Vikki Pignatelli called Quilting By Improvisation. (http://www.vikkipignatelli.com/)
I have taken out a few stitching lines and have high hopes that once I get the edges done and perhaps put it through the wash, I will feel better about the trapunto. Here goes nothing!

See more of my quilt photos at: http://community.webshots.com/user/roconnorquilts

Blog to Blog

I was catching up on a few blogs and discovered that Sarah Ann Smith, a wonderful quilter/teacher living in Camden, ME had included a photo of one of my quilts on her blog! It is one of the two Tigers I exhibited at Maine Quilts last year. Check out her post! Very very cool to come across that today. We met when she was interested in including "Postcard from Rajasthan" in her book. The book (might become 2 books!) is still in progress, so who knows, the horse may yet get published.

Meanwhile, I am stalled on Bali Blooms. The trapunto is not smooth and full as I had imagined it. Hmmm. trying to figure out what to try next. Last time I was unhappy I cut a hole in the quilt. It actually worked out, eventually! Still, not sure that is the answer to every quilt-y problem! So, I'm pondering and wondering if I can go ahead and finish the binding, then return to the petals. I'm planning a wavy, curved edge--similar to "Watch Over Me" (see post below). Check back to see what happens--maybe it will look just fine with a few holes cut in it!

See more of my quilt photos at: http://community.webshots.com/user/roconnorquilts

Sold!

Two bits of news today. One, Bali Bloom (see April 26 post for a photo) is almost completely quilted, and the good news is the quilting seems to be helping it lay flat--I had worried about a 'wave' that seemed to have formed in the petals. I quilted the leaves and veins with various green and turquoise threads, and the background with brown thread, in a random quilting pattern. Thinking ahead now to embellishments and wondering if some beads or french knots might be in order around the center stamens.

The other great news is I sold a quilt to one of my co-workers! It is a piece I started in a class with Christine Fries-Uriel (http://www.loveabideth.com/) It is the piece with the butterfly, mentioned in the February 20 post. Here is a picture of the full quilted wallhanging, "Watch Over Me" with a fairy watching over a napping mouse. I love the curvy, irregular border, and the tree made of random strips of batiks.

See more of my quilt photos at: http://community.webshots.com/user/roconnorquilts

Postcard from Rajasthan

The horse quilt, Postcard fromRajasthan, returned from Deer Isle today. It was on display at the Pearson Legacy Gallery as part of a "Portraits" exhibit (the quilt got in for the guy, not the horse.) At any rate, thinking about what to do with it now--send it to Henry, who took the photo on which the quilt is based? Look for more exhibit opportunities? I think it will probably go back on the wall at the office, since there is enough space for it to hang there while I think about next steps. I'm sure I would be able to part with it if a buyer came along, which was not the case when I first completed it. But it has been on exhibit several places, won some ribbons and accolades, and it would be nice if this horse and handler found a home.

See more of my quilt photos at: http://community.webshots.com/user/roconnorquilts

Nothing new on the home quilting front, but wanted to update you on the quilters' group. We finished and presented a quilt to a co-worker in honor of her marriage and blended family--we used a flip-and-sew technique on the 'roses' to create a Family Bouquet, with photos in the center of several roses.

We meet this week to start Art Bras--we'll be creating bras for auction in support of Breast Cancer. We have split into two teams and we plan to create "American Beauties" with silk rose petals and "Betty Boops" using the bra as a base for Betty's face. We'll see--if we get them done I'll post a photo. Meanwhile, click the link for a visual--much easier to see one than to explain it!

See more of my quilt photos at: webshots