90 Flames

The right panel of the banner is now appliqued. I used one of my machine's shading stitches, in various widths, from 4mm.-7mm. to applique the 5 sizes of flames on the panel. I free-motion stitched them using my regular opened-toed foot because I felt I had better control with it, instead of using my darning foot.












35 more to be stitched -
Since the 125 flames in total will represent 125 years of the congregation, they are also the people. Interpretations of music, outreach, family, caring, and our congregation's passion for taking in Jesus' true spirituality will be added to the flames.

Quilted Center Panel

I just finished quilting the center panel of the banner. Using the two forward, one back stitch on my machine, I was able to get the top-stitch effect that I wanted. I worked on about a 10 inch area at a time, changing thread color quite often. I was having a few problems with my bobbin thread showing too much, so I changed that thread each time too. Since I use this stitch quite often in my quilting, it really wasn't that tedious.

What also helped immensely was that I finally got a walking foot for my machine, so now you could say that I have a Kenmore~Janome machine. The dealer knew exactly what foot I needed.

What's next? I'll be warming up to free-motion quilt on the flames. I'll keep you posted...

She Sure Gets Around

The "Green Goddess Dressing" quilt does it again! Her latest photo is in the current issue of Common Thread,
Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft Stores company newsletter.

They wrote something very nice about me and the quilt...thanks to Sally, Becky and Kayla from Store 610 for setting this up ~

Painted and Embossed Hardware

I wanted to show a couple of the other pieces that I made for possible inclusion in the article. Even though they weren't chosen, it did give me the opportunity to explore my technique further and to use other metal pieces...

The "Creative Insomnia" journal ~ can you guess what her body is made from? It started out as a silver-plated pie server that was broken. Her head is part of an earring. The moon is a large charm.

I'm sure many of you know all too well why I gave it this title ~







I created this special bead box by taking a metal tin and first had to scratch off most of the picture that was on the lid, using an x-acto knife. I then painted the lid with forest green glass paint (described in my Cloth, Paper, Scissors article) and added the embossing. I adhered some silk around the edges of the tin, and some cotton around the edges of the lid. Embellished with a large washer, beads, copper wire and fibers. Added some "legs" to the bottom with fiber-wrapped ceramic beads ~



detail of the bead box lid ~

Page 22

What an honor! My article "Painted and Embossed Hardware" is in the current issue of this great magazine. Check it out...

Thanks again to Pokey and staff ~

Quilting Arts - page 97

She's been to Chicago, Houston, Massachusetts, and now she's home again...

In the soon to be out April/May issue of Quilting Arts, there is a gallery article about the Small Wonders exhibit that the IQF has sponsored for the past 8 years, and they chose some from the 2006 exhibit for the article.

And...while showing this to someone today, I was offered a solo exhibit in 2008! Thank you, Kiki of Kiki B's !!!