Spring advancement

Hello,

I am so delighted by the changes Mother Nature has wrought this week. From small buds last Thursday to four and five inch leaves this week. It is a wonder that we take for granted. I ate my breakfast out doors after I brushed the fallen maple blossoms off the table. It is an amazing transformation and I can’t get enough.

I have had a full week. I went to the Spring Weekend Retreat at the Schweinfurth Art Center were the new Barbara Fenstein Make Room was dedicated and open for use. Her quilts lined the walls and her sister Emily found this beautiful top among the stash as she sorted things. Some folks knitted, such as Kitsy, Donna and Linda here. Some sewed and some did a bit of both. Linda also did some beautiful thread painting of a on tree she had painted. She had the most extensive thread collection I have ever seen owned by an indivigal. Nancy finished off this little quilt. One she hopes to use as a teaching tool in the near future. I started two tops- one both days. We all had a wonderful time and hope to do it again next spring if not sooner.

Tuesday was meeting day for me. Both QuEGs and Divas meant as it was the first Tuesday of the month. Linda is taking a on line class and having a lot of fun with it. She is turning out a small quilt each month. This is her line assement.

Corinne is making baby blocks for a baby quilt. This one has wonderful thread work in it. I like how she created the shadows on the elephant in the center.

The Divas also had great work to share. Donna has completed this wonderful mirror. The frame is done with black Fimo.

Cheri is to the quilting stage on this wonderful piece. She is machine drawing / quilting out on to the boarder in the form of the white leaves. She also used the colored leaves as quilting line inspiration on the surface. ( you can see the white quilting lines on the purple boarder) It looks great.

Ruth has reached the quilting stage with her quilt too. This is one powerful graphic. She has discovered that quilting with dark blue in the black areas adds a special interest to the surface. Cool thinking!

Cindy is working small as she is still teaching. These are book pages that she will sent to friends of an exchange group. But even working 6” X 6” , she finds she can spend four to six hours on a page. They are all magnificent.

Progress Report: New Work

This is the first top I did on the week end. I used fabric from the Deconstructed Screen class I had taken last fall for the start of this project. I added fabrics I had stenciled and stamped as well as one wipe up cloth . It is ready for quilting and a title.

Insect ology This is the second top I started at the retreat. Funny how the name just came along with the process this time. I created and printed the insects a while back. I used oil sticks for the printing with this project.

Paper Quilt I am still struggling away with this project. It is made up of two pieces of paper that I printed with the Gelli plate last fall. A little of the Tyvek I melted last week is a part of this work. Some parts of it seem to work a lot better then others. I think I will add some additional paint to the surface as Carol Weibe recommends at this point and see if that helps me move forward.

Memory Map- Canyon de Chelly This project also seems to be only inching along. I did add Rosalie and Marty to the image however…… I am thinking this work might benefit from some paint too. The paint could unify sections and take the sharp edge off some areas. It is not holding together too well for my taste yet.

Minions As this picture shows I am still in the process of assembling the Minions. None of them have eyes or legs yet, but each evening I get a little closer.

Place Matts I was drooling over the wonderful fabric that Regina gave me a few week ago when I realized they could become place mats. I now have two new sets and I love them both.