Do you sell your quilts?

What have we here?  It's a wild mushroom I picked up on my walk today.  I have no idea what kind it is or if it's edible, but it looks like fiber art to me.  I probably translate every neat thing I see in nature to fiber in my mind.

This mushroom has a nice round symmetry; I often use circles as a design element in my quilts.  A new quilt I am designing and drawing right now will be based on a circular design and is inspired by my love for music, nature and quilts.  Hmmmm, a quilt about quilts.  Stay tuned.

I'm just writing an update today.  Often I'm asked if I sell my quilts and the answer is always: "No, I don't." If I sold them, I would no longer have them in my possession (obviously) or have them to share with other quilters.

At the moment many of my quilts are on display elsewhere.  Several are part of a wonderful art exhibit at The Campanile Center in Minocqua, WI.  This exhibit is open through September during any of the events held there. 

Two of my quilts are now on display at Cheri's Fabric to Quilt, Mercer, WI promoting my book.  Many of my quilts have been displayed at The Fabric Patch, Ironwood, MI, sort of a rotating show there.  And 3 of my quilts are still "on tour" with The American Quilter's Society Quilt Week shows around the country as part of their author's exhibits.

I've recently kept busy making a crib quilt for my soon to arrive first grandson.  I can't show a photo yet as it's to be a surprise for my daughter Carla and her husband Jack, though they approved the design before I started.  This cute rabbit which I crocheted, was a shower gift and I'm working on a mobile consisting of little crocheted dogs!  Tiny stitches seem to take forever, but I love working with wool yarns and having needle and fiber in my hands.

"Nature's Edge" quilt top is at the long arm quilters being artistically quilted and I can't wait to see it and of course get it out to shows.

 And finally, this quilt top (not yet named) is also off being quilted.  I had planned to quilt this one myself with an overlay of tulle, and magical quilt designs to create the snowy effect shown in this photo (my inspiration):

However, after the top hung on my design wall for quite some time, one day it occurred to me that I was avoiding starting the quilting as I really had no idea how I was going to pull this look off.  It's out of my expertise, and within a couple of days I sent it off to the long arm quilter.  

Now, listening to rain outside, it's time to get back to my fibers.

A Few of my Favorite Things

Finished!  It's always a great feeling to have completed a project regardless of how long it took.  All the work and planning and imagining means nothing until a quilt is bound and hung and photographed.  Long sentence.

This quilt was adapted from the pattern My Christmas Album by Tina Curran.  Some of the blocks are my own design such as the ice skates above.  I hand appliquéd all the motifs in wool on cotton backgrounds and borders. 

Take a moment to note the long arm machine quilting done by Ann Becker, Always in Stitches.  Each block was quilted differently, picking up the theme of the appliquéd motifs.  Little quilting details were added - see if you can find them.  Ann does amazing work and turns each quilt into a personal work of art. Her love of what she does really shows.    

This kind of machine quilting is beyond me, though I'll continue to work at my own level.  

As always, quilting makes the quilt. Feast your eyes. 

A Few of my Favorite Things

48 1/2" x 48 1/2"

Published!

May/June 2014 issue MQU

I am excited to tell everyone that two of my quilts have been published in the current issue of Machine Quilting Unlimited.

December is featured in a special Appliqué Quilts article by Diane Rusin Doran and Oh, Mexico Beach is displayed in the Quilts from our Readers section.  

Both are shown as full quilts and also with close up details and include the story behind each quilt.  

I subscribe to six different quilting publications and do enjoy them all, but MQU back issues are saved and kept in my library of quilting books. They are a great reference for inspiration and instruction.  I can honestly say that reading this magazine inspired me to improve my own machine quilting skills and gave me the courage to quilt December on my home Bernina.  

Other news from my quilt world:

Electric Quilt has released it's computer program software for Macs and it is truly wonderful!  I bought a  MacBook Pro about a year ago (lifetime PC user) and struggled trying to use my PC Electric Quilt program with VMware Fusion and Windows 7 on my Mac - it just never ran smoothly. 

For around $30, I could upgrade my PC version of EQ7 to the new Mac version and downloaded it in no time.  Other companion software such as "Stash" is easily installed. I've been using it without a glitch.  

Still December?

December 58" x 58"

The most popular topic of conversation here in the Northwoods of Wisconsin is the weather   - at least it has been this winter.  I don't keep track, but it has to have been one of the snowiest and coldest in a long long time.  Even though it's spring (not December) by the calendar, it's still winter outside. Why just the other day, Mother Nature delivered about a foot of new snow.

I can't say that I mind as it gives me many hours in my sewing room to work on my quilts. 

Speaking of December, my quilt titled December has been juried into the American Quitler's Society Quilt Week, Paducah, Kentucky, April 23 through 26.  It is always thrilling to have my quilts displayed there, my favorite show of all.  

On to other things besides the weather - oh wait - my quilt in progress is winter related too!  

Hmmmm….. do we have a trend going here? 

See my last blog post for an intro to this quilt.  

Below are photos of progress I've made.  After adding the roof, sides and sidewalk to the "old building"  I'm now working on the snowy trees.   The smaller tree took me an entire day to draw, cut, fuse and appliqué stitch.  The larger tree is pinned in place and will take a bit more time to get just right, and then it's on to more trees and branches to the left side of the building.  

The last phase will be the tulle overlay and/or other ways to achieve that really soft, lovely snowy effect.  This may take awhile. 

New York City

 New York City building in the snow

My daughter Carla is an art design director at Knock, Inc in Minneapolis and she travels to NYC at least monthly to shoot all those wonderful Target in store model photos for apparel and accessories.  Yes folks, that is HER work.  

Recently, she sent me the above photo. The city is a mess to get around in the winter, but that old apartment building smothered in snowflakes looks so quiet and peaceful.

 I of course thought this would be a great quilt design and sketched out the old building, then overlaid a  tissue paper drawing of snowy trees.  

Phase 1 in fabric is done - fused and ready to stitch:

It looks only slightly like the photo thus far, but this is a work in progress and a big project.  In order to achieve that hazy, snowy look, I've overlaid some white tulle to the right half of the quilt top:

You get the idea?

I'll be adding sides, roof and sidewalk to the building next, then I will need to enlarge, cut and fuse those tree branches over the entire quilt top.  

In contrast to this peaceful winter scene, I spent my 60th birthday in NYC in September, 2010 with my daughters and sister.  It was a wild 4 day blast of fun and touring, noise and people and just too much fun.

Someday, I'll go back in winter.

Carla, Jane, Katy, Ellen

Enter this contest to win fabric for life!  Contest ends February 28th, but you can still enter each day until then - it only takes a minute.

To enter:  Click here  

GOOD LUCK!

Published! And other news from Jane.

Dresden Basket 

23" x 23"

My original, complete pattern for Dresden Basket has been published in The Appliqué Society's Jan/Feb newsletter.  I would encourage any appliqué enthusiast to become a member -  I have been for many years.  

TAS states:  "Our Mission is to Promote, to Teach, to Encourage the Love of ALL Types of Appliqué in Quilting."

The newsletter is delivered to members in print (black and white) and includes an online edition in beautiful color.  

The Appliqué Society's editor Patti Ives has written a wonderful review of my new book Nature's Journey Appliqué; you'll find the review in the current newsletter issue.  

Also included is a feature story about Gail Gilson Pierce and Lisa Wood owners of Wooly Lady, neighbors from northern Wisconsin. Their appliqué designs are wonderful and I consider their hand dyed wool fabrics the best around.  A number of those wools are included in My Christmas Album quilt still in progress:

My Christmas Album

in progress

Other news from Jane's quilt world:

This morning, winners of The American Quilter's Society Phoenix show, which opens today, were announced:  WOW!  I was pleased to see that my entry "Oh, Mexico Beach" won an Honorable Mention award.  

Oh, Mexico Beach

85" x 85"

Closer to home - meaning my actual sewing room - I have been working to complete my Nature's Edge quilt.  If you'll notice I completed that last block and have been working on the  borders.  This is a "rough" photo as there will be many more adjustments and additions to the appliquéd borders.  

I have this quilt top hung on my design wall where I pin and re-pin my appliqué motifs, sit back and stare, walk away, go away completely, and eventually that moment comes when YES!  I know I've hit it. I can then fuse the motifs and finish stitching.  

For some time, I was just stuck on this quilt and did not have any creative ideas for finishing it.  But I'm on a roll now!  

I'm anxious to start a new quilt which is spinning and turning in my head .  Remember those words "spinning and turning".