Inspiration Outing

Went to the International Quilt Festival this past weekend with a friend.  Had a blast!  All this textile talent under one roof gets me so inspired.  The collage picture above was just a few of the pieces exhibited.  They restricted our photography in some areas.  Shoot!!

I’m from a family of quilters….well… some quilt and some just appreciate the art.  It’s been a part of my life since before I got married.  I’ve witnessed a huge growth of this textile art in the last couple of decades.  When I was in my early twenties, living on my own in Houston I went to my first Quilt Show.  None of my friends were into this sort of thing, so I went solo.  Other than the children accompanied by parents I was probably the youngest one there.  Hours later I walked out, with my head in the clouds.  That week I signed up for my first quilting class.  I made a grandmothers fan by hand.  Funny too, it was my grandmother that quilted it for me.  I really don’t like the quilting part.  I like the the designing part (The top).  I’ve made a handful of other quilts since then that I’m pretty proud of.  Mostly proud because I FINISHED THEM. 



Above are some quilts I’ve done in the last 10 years.  I started out with scrap quilts.  Made five, and gave three away plus one for my daughter that’s still in my stash.  Then a series of applique quilts (made 6 gave 4 away).  I tried some wall hanging landscape pieces (made 5 gave 4 away) done in layers.  What really honed my rotary cutting skills are the last 4 quilts done in squares (kept only one).  All of these are very simple…simple…simple.  Someday I will expand on my quilting……when I have more time! 



I made a few fabric names too!  They were fun to make and didn’t consume too much time.

I think one thing that has helped me in my drawing since I have worked with quilting.   Is color selection!  Trust me, if there were color errors to be made….I probably made them.  The errors tended to be on the “too loud” fabric side, next to another piece that was just as vibrant.  What I have since learned is that Color…. bold colors have got to be balanced with neutrals.

This quilt show was a wonderful inspiration outing!!  Or Artist’s Date!  You just never know what will inspire you and it’s always good to see different forms of art….if ya ask me.

Where do you find additional inspiration for your art? 

Charity Cardinal……..done!

I talked about this back in January in this post. My son has an auction for his university/fraternity in April. He’s one of the organizers, so when he gets excited about something, well….. then I get excited about it, too. He’s a contagious sort of kid young man.

I was unsure of what I wanted to do with my embroidered cardinal. I was thinking I’d make a little quilt, for a small bed or even a wall-hanging. Well, before I knew it…. January turned into February, and I hadn’t done anything with the quilt. Stuck, i was. And then project avoidance set in due to my indecision. I finally just settled on stapling the Cardinal quilt to a 24 x 24 artist’s Canvas Board. The nice thing about this option is I don’t have to actually quilt anything…..I can just do quilt tops, which is what I like to make anyway!! Only wish I knew then what I would end of doing cuz I would’ve sized up my squares for that dimension….. Ahhhh, c’est la vie!

If I can pull it off, I’ll embroider another cardinal and do another one similar to this by April 18th. Heck, I’ve got material left, even some squared rows! We’ll see……

As you can see from this picture, the way I stapled this piece to the board has made a little sway in my fabric! Ugh, must try and remedy. If any of you have any suggestions as to unswaying the left side, please post! I’m thinking I should dampen it and adjust it wet, but I don’t want to induce any wrinkles either!!

Studio/ Guest Room

I am so excited!! I have company coming in on Thursday and they are staying in the Studio! It’s the 2nd biggest bedroom and they won’t be as crowded as they would be if they stayed in the room that we usually reserved for guests. Granted this room doesn’t have a TV, so the other room is better for TV viewing.

This room is over the garage, hence the funky ceiling. It also gets extremely cold in the winter and hot in the summer. As you’ll see the A/C unit in the window and the space heater on the table.

Inspiration Board is a work in progress. And a wonderful place to put things I don’t want to lose. No, that’s not my guitar or keyboard. My son has taken a real interest in music over the last few years and this is his first guitar. I’m pretty musically inept, but love to belt out a Song or two as I sing along with my mp3 player. (much to my family’s chagrin….geez I really don’t get that)

My modest fabric Stash! You really ought to see my mother in laws!!! M.A.G.N.I.F.I.C.E.N.T., to say the least!

To the right of the dresser is my Current project. I’ll be appliquéing the flower petals and leaves to a tan pieced background. More later when I finish.

Some of my absolute favorite pictures of Family. The wonders of digital and scanning in old pics lets me have brand new pictures for just 19 cents from Walgreens. (If I really had my act together, I’d upload about 50 favorites and have snapfish print them for just 9 cents a piece.)……But that’s if I had my act together!!

I have had this rack for about 5 years. I had bought two at the time for only about 6 bucks each. I hung the first one right away in my bathroom. I have almost given this one to Goodwill about 3 times, but something inside said, “Wait, you may wish you had it someday”. And now, It’s someday....It’s a perfect spot for those dropper paints I told you about in this post.

I covered one of those big body length pillows about ten years ago with that striped fabric you see on the closer bed. Then my dear grandmother gave me a quilt she no longer uses that she had embroidered herself! I use what I love and I love this, however, so did the dog and the kids, so now there are tears to more than a few stitches and ink marks! Ah, well…..what can I say?? I’m so happy with those Deka Curtain wires from Ikea. I can now put all kinds of fun stuff up. And Look, that same dog has made her way into the picture. Good thing she’s on the floor, huh?

Thanks for stopping by and letting me share with you! Posting this here really helped motivate me to get this done! Pictures are clickable (become larger upon clicking them), if you want a better look. - Eden