Meeting with Maggie

I do have one of the best jobs on the planet. For my work the other morning, I met with Maggie Bonanomi to see the projects she plans to include in her next book. We do this for every book (this one will be our 7th book together). We meet and she shows me each project, talks a little about how it works and how it fits into the theme of her book, and how we want to present it. I take a photo of it for future reference.

Well, I can't show you any of those photos but I can show you this! I am always impressed by how unafraid Maggie is to just pop a little patch onto a spot in a project that has a hole or a flaw. The rest of us would probably NOT use that fabric, but Maggie sees that as an opportunity for creativity, a little spot to pop another cool fabric.

So what about this! I noticed she did the same thing with a favorite shirt she was wearing.  Look at the bottom edge of her shirt - yes, that is a patch of green silk, covering a hole!

Maggie graciously modeled the backside of the shirt - another patch, to reinforce the front one. Way to go, Maggie! Her creative well never runs dry, be on the lookout for a new book of her exciting work this fall.

Surprise! Shirts Quilt by Elsie

Our guild speaker this month was Elsie Campbell, the award-winning maker of many tasteful quilts. She gave a wonderful talk - I was especially impressed by a brief little video she showed of how she hand quilts. That little film was worth a million words, it was so interesting and helpful to see how she quilts.

When she showed the quilt above and mentioned making it from shirts, of course, everyone turned and nudged me. Look at this great quilt (apologies about the classic guild meeting shot, I was in the back of the room - Elsie is the blur at the left)! Elsie proclaimed she is not a purist, meaning she collected shirts she liked, not necessarily all cotton shirts. She made this from 47 shirts, some even had a bit of spandex. Her opinion about that was you just need to notice what you are working with and make sure you treat it appropriately (don't stretch it).

Elsie sure makes great quilts. She also said, "There's no law that we have to finish what we start."

Kansas, Land of Mythical Birds

What a bird! My friend Georgann just gave me this dishtowel, embellished with a very fancy Rooster created with bias tape. I've posted pictures of bias-tape birds before but this one takes the cake. What a fancy tail, it is fantastic!

Hmm. Do you notice the feet on both these birds? I see similarities ...

                                                   

 Happy MARCH!!

Yoshiko Jinzenji

I apparently am a latecomer to knowing about the wonderful quilts made by Yoshiko Jinzenji.

Her quilts are on display now through May 18 at KU's Spencer Museum of Art - along with Jean Mitchell's of Lawrence (more about Jean later).

Yoshiko was here in February. She is tiny, with a mop of beautiful silver hair. This isn't the best picture, but it also shows part of her work, one of four large pieces in her Code Series.

It seems to me Yoshiko's work could have inspired many of our modern quilters. She uses a lot of solids, with heavily quilted white backgrounds. Her work was inspired by Amish and Mennonite quilts four decades ago.

At a gallery talk, Yoshiko showed photos of rag patchwork called Kesa funzoe. These are right up our alley. They were made of scraps/rags donated by parishioners and given to their priest in the 18th century. They were improvisationally pieced. Her example was lovely - I googled it and couldn't find any photos to share with you, but I will keep looking.

She dyes her work - at her place in Bali - using bamboo dye. Here are a few detail shots.

Detail from Code Series

These slices in another quilt are tiny.

These pieces are also tiny - it reminds me of Seminole piecing. This is one of her Ribbon Tape quilts.

Clever Binding Idea

Corner of quilt back - quilting extends to the edge

I have the very pleasant task of collecting and delivering quilts our guild members make for local kids. Each year, we make about 140 quilts and they go directly to children in our area. Some kids are in the hospital, some are with their mothers as they get help with alcoholism, and some are being helped by the local Family Promise program. Forty go to our local Headstart program for nap time.

A wonderful quilt was in our donation box last month - guild members leave them there and we often have no idea who made them. It has a very clever binding idea for us all.

The quilt backing is flannel. Notice that the very cool quilting extends to the very edge of the quilt.

Extra backing was included. It is folded to the front to make a generous self binding.

Corner of quilt front

The binding measures about 1.5''. Notice it is hand stitched in place and mitered at the corners.

I'd love to know who donated this quilt and how you learned this technique. It makes a very sturdy and practical finish for a child's quilt.

Jenifer has ALWAYS been Modern

My friend and esteemed colleague Jenifer Dick asked me to join the blog tour for her new book, The Modern Applique Workbook.

I have probably known Jenifer the quilter the longest of any of us on the tour. I met her working on her first book - Grapefruit Juice and Sugar - published in 2005. I was her first editor.

We were both new to quilt book publishing. Boy, have we learned a LOT since then! To me, Jenifer has always been a modern quilter. Her early work was definitely a precursor for today's work. Her quilts have always been bold.

So her new book is certainly an exciting addition to her life work. The quilts are great. The instruction is clear, detailed - everything you need to know about how to applique.

The wonder of working on quilt books is that you turn in your portion of the work - a carefully edited, well organized manuscript. And as the book continues through the production process, more and more wonder just piles on. It is carefully edited from the technical standpoint. Art is created. Photos are shot. And all of that ends up in the hands of an incredibly talented book designer who turns it into the beautiful product you can hold in your hand and admire and work with for years to come. It's just magical to be part of this process.

I will gush. C&T turned Jenifer's work into a gorgeous book. The solid, solid content is enhanced by the solid, solid design. Color bands in Jenifer's palette edge the pages. Groovy tabs help you find the project or section you need. I love how they styled the photos.

Last but not least, there are 11 exciting modern project designs for you to practice different techniques. If you are looking for a great workbook to learn new techniques for modern, machine-applique projects, buy this book.

Stash Books has generously offered to give a book to one of you reading my blog. If you’re in the US, you’ll get a print copy, and if you’re an international reader, you’ll get an electronic version (complete with full-size printable applique templates). If you are interested, leave a comment on this post. The giveaway is open until Saturday, Feb 22 at midnight.

For more reviews and opportunities to win, check out the other blogs on the tour:

Feb. 10: Bonnie Hunter www.quiltville.blogspot.com

Feb. 11: Amy Smart www.diaryofaquilter.com

Feb. 12: Angela Walters www.quiltingismytherapy.com/my-blog

Feb. 13: Debbie Grifka www.eschhousequilts.com

Feb. 14: Tammie Schaffer www.craftytammie.com

Feb. 17: Casey York www.studioloblog.wordpress.com

Feb. 18: Deb Rowden www.debrowden.blogspot.com

Feb. 19: Melissa @ Generation Q magazine http://generationqmagazine.com/ 

Feb. 20: Shea Henderson www.emptybobbinsewing.com

Feb. 21: Diane Harris @ Quiltmaker Magazine http://www.quiltmaker.com/blogs/quiltypleasures/

Silvery Icicles, Silver Shelves

Bye Bye Icicles

There is great celebrating going on in our region. EVERY conversation starts like this: "Boy, am I sick of this weather ..." Well, today, the icicles are melting! Warmer temperatures are in the forecast.

I am delighted but I will report that icy, cold days kept me indoors lately and my sewing room is in much better shape as a result. I ordered tall metal shelves - they were delivered to my house - and they are already filled with boxes of my precious stuff, which you will notice does include a plethora of scraps!

It doesn't look like that much BUT they let me sort and organize. Right now, scraps are going into piles of lights, mediums, darks, red, blue, brights ....

It is like visiting old friends. I open a box and find something I'd forgotten all about. Things are getting organized, projects are getting planned. One big quilt that you will soon see was delivered to a machine quilter this week, another is on the design wall.

We have a quilt show scheduled in early April - that is my deadline to have both quilts done. Wish me luck!