Hoffman Challenge 2009

My Hoffman Challenge piece called Woodland Spring is done and on its way to Fort Collins, CO.

It took me awhile to be inspired by this year's Hoffman Challenge fabric. But finally, the idea for Woodland Spring surfaced. New leaves and blossoms are just appearing in the forest.
I used my Lazy Landscape for the background and my Graceful Trees design. Hot fix pearls made the sweet little blossoms.

Quilt Camp - Finally, Time for New Work

Just before Easter, I had the great fun of having 5 friends join me at my beach house in California for a week of sewing. We set up the family room, overlooking the ocean, with sewing tables, ironing boards and a cutting area.
We had a blast. It was one of my best vacations ever. I concentrated on UFOs and made this new piece here called Icelandic Poppies. I was inspired by all the California poppies that were in bloom.

Special Occasion Quilt

In late March we celebrated my Dad's 80th birthday. So naturally, I wanted to make a special gift to commemorate the occasion.

This simple piece features a photo of my folks, my brother and me, our spouses and the 6 grandkids. I had each of my kids write a sentence about why they love Papa. I free-motion quilted their words in the blue border.

I learned a lesson in making this small piece. I added the narrow black flange to the blue border before I attached it to the half-square triangle inner border. Duh, the flange covers up my near perfect points.

The Alliance for American Quilts: Quilters' S.O.S.

I was interviewed for the Alliance of American Quilts - Quilters' S.O.S. - Save our Stories as an artist in the Sacred Threads Quilt Exhibit. You can read my interview, by clicking here.

This picture is of my quilt, Miriam's Dance which exhibited at Sacred Threads in 2007.

New Work: Compassion

A dear friend of mine from church, Babette, went on a mission trip last summer to Rwanda. Knowing my love for quilting, she brought back this beautiful batik which I used here as the central panel. I added the black and half square triangle borders and then quilted it. I call this piece Compassion since she was on a trip with the Christian humanitarian organization called Compassion International.

Laptop Pattern For Sale

I am pleased to report that my first pattern is for sale! This pattern is based on the pre-cut 2-1/2" strips of Hoffman Bali Pops or any jelly roll collection. It is easy to make and adjusts to any size laptop.

You can purchase this pattern on-line directly from me, by going to my home page.

Carly Mul at Webfabrics.net also carries the pattern and you can buy the wonderful Bali-Pops directly from her website. Click here to see the pattern at Webfabrics.net.

For local Washington DC Quilters, Leslie Pfeifer at the Quilt Patch also carries the pattern in the store.

New Work called Punch Line: “‘Twas Me First Day With Me Hook”

My Fiber Artists @ Loose Ends group is exhibiting "Punch Line" at Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival in Hampton, VA, February 26-March 1, 2009. My piece is called “‘Twas Me First Day With Me Hook”




This inspiration drawing, shown above, was by my husband, Michael Ellis. My piece illustrates the last line of a famous joke about a pirate talking to a bartender about how he lost his eye.
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A pirate walks into a bar. The bartender says, "I haven't seen you lately. Last time you had both eyes.""Arrgh," says the pirate, "I was swabbing me deck, when gulls were flying over. I looked up, and one of them pooped in me eye.""So?" replied the bartender, "You couldn't have lost an eye just from that!"
"Well," says the pirate, "’Twas was me first day with me hook.”

Road to California - Hoffman Challenge

Mary Kerr sent me these pictures from the Road to California show. This is my 2008 Hoffman Challenge piece called Global Balance. Thank you Mary. It's exciting to see it among the other entries.

New Work Called Nothing on Earth

I made this quilt for my friend Dianne and presented it to her for Christmas. She redecorated a bedroom and asked that I make her a piece that would go with the new decor. The room is her son's bedroom when he is visiting from college. He is into music so I wanted to make something that fit his interests. The score is a piece written by my father called Nothing On Earth. It is based on Romans 8:28-39.

"Lord, you have called us, according to your purpose, and nothing on earth, or in all of creation, not fear or temptation, not want or tribulation can ever separate us, from the grace of your love."

SAQA Auction Part 3

"Midsummer Moon Dance" by Mary Vinovskis is my most recent purchase in the SAQA on-line auction of 12" x 12" pieces.

Here is what Mary shares about her piece: "I'm just starting to make art quilts. In this little piece I wanted to use unusual (for me anyway) fabrics to create my imaginary garden scene. I pictured an adobe wall with some sky above it, strong shadows on it and plants in front of it. At the same time I was focusing on the composition: trying to balance color placement, value, etc. The butterflies were the only way I could see to get some blue into the center of the design. The small scale was also a challenge, especially in deciding how to finish the edge -- my usual 1/4 inch binding cut off too much of the picture so I tried my first couched yarn finish."

I am thrilled with my newest piece.