Off the Beaten Path Studio Tour thoughts

My first blog post in a while... because I have exciting news!
I am going to participate in the Off the Beaten Path Studio Tour in September.  I has been 9 years since I have been "on tour".  I still remember the first time - a great and happy memory.
In 2006 I joined the tour but had no idea if anyone would be interested enough in my art quilts to drive all the way out to my house in the woods south of Calico Rock.  It was quite a drive from Mountain View.
But over 150 people came that weekend!!  I was thrilled and still smile at the memory.

We moved to town a year ago so it will be a lot easier for folks to visit and I hope that seeing a wild and crazy art quilter will tempt them to come see me - and my quilts.

The start of a Marvelous Adventure!!!!

Talented Students!

 So look what the talented students in the class designed.  Aren't they just wonderful?  The personalities of the birds (and of the ARTISTS!) really sparkle.  I can't wait to see the finished little quilts.

I found it very interesting that four of the five students selected the same bird to work on .  Each person got two copies of each of the three patterns - one facing each direction.  Look closely at the eyes on the birds.... they add a lot of personality. 

I can't wait to figure out a Next Class to teach with my favorite folks.  They inspire me.

Teaching Again

Hurrah!  I just got to do one of my favorite things..... teaching a class at Sew Unique in Mountain Home, Arkansas.
Not only is Sew Unique the BEST place to teach (great room set up, lots of space to work for each student, good display space for samples for class) but the students who come there to classes are some of my favorite fellow ARTISTS.  We learn a lot together.
Special thanks to Debby for having this beautiful store and for letting me teach there.

This class was about using color in art quilts.  Using color with fabric is different than using color with paint.  We used the color black as the background and some of my little bird drawings as patterns.
Here are my sample quilts - - - Each of the quilts is about 9 x 12 inches.

One of the lessons was to find a piece of fabric that "spoke" to you and then find fabrics to work with that fabric.  Another lesson was how to relate quilts in a series - common theme (can you guess what it is?), along with common colors in all of the quilts.

Once I made the original little quilts shown above with my very bright colors, I thought that perhaps not every person in the world would like to work with those colors.  So I made three more - in earth tones.
And I also love them!  Even though they are not my crayon colors.  I think they are rather sophisticated.  If you can think about whimsical birds being sophisticated.....

In the class we studied how using different fabrics with the exact same pattern produced such a different LOOK and personality to the little birds.  If you are looking at this blog, I placed the photos in line so that you could compare.









And of course then I had to think about folks who might want to work in pastels.... or use a different background.  And these are the samples that joined the class....
The second one uses the exact same fabrics that were in the earth tone bird on the black background.  What a difference.

Museum Show

If you picked up my card or saw the information on the KTLO site (thanks again KTLO!) and are looking at this blog for the first time..... the quilts below are featured at the Calico Rock Museum show starting April 5 and running till April 9.
Thanks for visiting - let me know what you think!

Farkleberry Characters and Friends

This particular group of small quilts are all from the Residents of Farkleberry Road series.  Each and every one of them has a story to tell.

And these two are some of my other whimsical critters. 
Stories and adventures and Flirting!  Oh my!

EIEIO

I love the colors of this particular quilt - and the crazy design.  It all started with just fiddling around with a furniture catalog and picking out shapes and sticking them together - and the design that emerged was such a lovely shape that it just HAD to become a quilt.

Two More Whimsical Designs

 A special family favorite --- my husband Bob fishing with our granddaughter Chloe.  And there is a secret!  She actually caught a fish - pick up the corner of the quilt to see it!

And this is a quilt I made for a challenge a few years ago.  I don't remember what the challenge was - but I do remember creating the Flying Fish.  They have beads and sequins and wouldn't it be wonderful to see them flying thru the air when you were fishing?