In the meantime look what I found... http://www.tafibrown.com/

Gotta love google!

I think my amazement comes from the combination of photography, quilting, and architecture. Those that know me will understand :)

Rooted in Tradition Quilt Exhibit

Recently I attended the Rooted in Tradition, Art Quilts from the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum exhibit at the Vero Beach Museum of Art (http://www.vbmuseum.org/). It is a free exhibit and it runs until 10/25/2009. Okay, I say recently... it was around two weeks ago. I started this post back then and it has been dwelling in my draft file since -- I wanted to finish perusing the catalog that we purchased after viewing the exhibit. There were no photographs allowed so the catalog was a must! It is packed with insight and inspiration, not only about the quilts on exhibit and the artists, but the history of the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum and, of course, the history of art quilts in general.

Although I found many quilts that can fall under my "favorites" category, I am so fascinated by one, Jewells by Tafi Brown (Alstead, NH) -- it was made in 1982 -- Tafi incorporated photography and quilting -- apparently she was well-ahead of her time. I am just amazed; today everyone is thrilled with the use of many types of available "printer" fabrics. This woman was utilizing this very concept almost 30 years ago, albeit in a much more elaborate and time-consuming photographic style -- like I said, ahead of her time. I do have many favorites from the exhibit, this one just stuck with me. If you get the opportunity go see for yourself and pick your own favorites!

Jan's Wallhanging

Wow, finally finished this little bugger! It wasn't the quilt that was the delay, it was that so much has been going on in my little world it was hard for me to focus this week! But, in the end I think this really turned out great, hopefully Jan thinks so too!

A little squall with dinner...

Here's a nice little storm that rolled in during dinner. Not our most impressive, but it was a pretty nice one. Again, the photo-junkie in me comes out... I wanted to jump in the truck and head to the other side of it which was so much more impressive, but the rest of the family pulled a veto on that one -- apparently dinner was more important!

Anyway, I spent the entire day working for myself... could you believe it??? I stitched my latest wholecloth design to a super-thick 20 oz batting. This was a major accomplishment. The original design came to me pretty quickly, but I then spent a few weeks "tweeking" it. Now I can spend the next 4-5 evenings snipping away all that extra batting! Not the most fun job, but the sooner it comes off the sooner I can start quilting away -- that's the best part!

Applique Quilt

I've just finished an applique quilt that Pat of the Quilted Lily pieced and appliqued for one of her customers, here are some pictures.


The quilting is hard to see as its tonal colored thread and batik, but if you try I'm sure you can make it out.

Sharon Schamber Trunk Show

I had the honor of meeting Sharon Schamber last night, which is great because she is one of the master quilters that I strive to be like! The Martin County Quilters Guild hosted a trunk show by Sharon and all I can say is WOW! She is amazing. I have seen her work, studied her stitches, and watched several of her DVD's -- nothing can compare to seeing her beautiful quilts in person. The ability to walk up, look at them, touch them, study them... I'm still on an over-stimulated stitching high from last night! I couldn't even absorb all the beauty in each and every quilt; like I said, it was over-stimulation for me.

On top of all that, Sharon is an amazing person! I wish I could have spent the entire night just listening to all her thoughts and ideas. I'm sure to just spend several minutes in that brain would fill almost a lifetime of creative curiosity. But I had to stop listening several times and just gasp in awe at her work.... again WOW! Thanks to the Martin Guild and also to Kathy, Amy, and Natalie -- it was a great evening!

If you get a chance, check out Sharon's websites http://www.sharonschamber.com/ and http://sharonschambernetwork.com/ . She will definitely spark your creativity!

Lyla's Quilt

Lyla's quilt is done... just a simple meander, but that's all this bright little quilt needed! She did a great job!

Onion is DONE!

Well, almost done... the binding will be sewn on momentarily and then I'll be hand-stitching away, and then it'll be done. But for the viewing world, it is done...

Hopefully Sue is jumping up and down as she's reading this... and look Dan, not a single flower!

Anyway, you two will be the proud new owners of this quilt by the beginning of next week! Enjoy it!

Sue's Quilt... the beginning

Okay, I'm making great progress, here's my sister's quilt so far...

Seems to be going along just peachy... must stop for dinner and real life... we'll see what tomorrow holds in store!

Sheila's Circles

Here is Sheila's Circle Quilt. Another beautiful one...

I think she has inspired me to finish my sister's quilt, something about all the circles... long funny story, here's the shortest I can get it... anyway after quilting 3 Onion quilts, I just had to make one for me (of course -- if you don't know this about me, I must piece a quilt just like every single one I quilt - it is the BAD side of being a longarm quilter). Another thing you might not know is that I MUST make everything bigger. So, I pieced a king size Onion quilt. And I figured this would be a great quilt for my son... he hates onions... great pun! Anyway.............. yep, its coming........... he hated it! AHHHHHH, turns out okay though -- my sister LOVED it, which is strange because it is all my colors, browns, greens, beiges. And since I hadn't yet made a quilt for her, this worked out great. Except I have a problem finishing my own things (like you didn't figure that one out yet!) I have still not quilted it -- its been pieced since January of 2008 -- the backing is cut and pieced, the binding is cut, pieced, and pressed... still not quilted. BRAINSTORM.... my Mom will be arriving for her summer visit on Sunday. I have decided that I will quilt my sisters quilt this weekend so that it can go back up north with my Mom! Besides, I always work much better with deadlines, and I think it might make my sister really happy to get a quilt! Okay off to quilt my weekend away! Hope it turns out great.....

Prototype #2

Here's the second (and final) Award Ribbon prototype for the PSL Crazy Quilters 2010 show. I still have two more changes to make, but they are not crucial to the final idea. The tails will be made out of ribbons (of course) -- this was constructed at 6am and I wasn't about to run out for white ribbon! And also, I'm thinking multi-color rickrack around the logo square instead of the not-so-neat blanket stitch. Anyway, let me know what you think. All the ribbons will be the same, except the color of the main square will be the proper placement color, i.e., blue-first, red-second, yellow-third, and so on. The Best of Show ribbon will also be similar, it will just have more folds and layers. And the "Member Challenge" ribbons are almost done -- similar to these but a little different, just solid white. They were easiest -- only three of them! There are 55 main ribbons, and then 3 for the member challenge for a grand total of 58 ribbons! Now I need to figure out my fabric and ribbon supply needs so I can run out to the store this weekend for all the goodies. I'll be working on these next week while my Mom is here visiting. Maybe she'll want to help? Help, what a silly word... LOL!!

Be Colourful Quilt!

Here is Sheila's Be Colourful quilt (pattern by Jacqueline de Jonge) -- WOW! Sheila really did a fantastic job - great quilt! She wanted it quilted "heavily" to grab all those little edges and she's turning the edge for binding. I hope she likes it and I can't wait to see it once it's done!

I have a Jacqueline de Jonge pattern, it's the Circle of Life quilt... still not quite inspired enough to start it; but then again, I think I've got enough on my plate at the moment!

Many Thanks!

Just wanted to formally say THANK YOU to everyone's congratulatory statements and kind words on behalf of myself and also Madeline.