Day 8 Moab Rock Talk

Being a southwest gal, I really groove on petroglyphs and rock art, in real life and on fabric too.
This quilt was made for a "Text" Challenge - it seemed to me that petroglyphs were some of the first text messages. Traveled with the Text Challenge to Mancuso Shows. Won award in challenge. Original design.

Mountain Goat/Sheep

Moutain Lion

Another Sheep

full quilt

Day 5 - Applique made modern

I love to give antique quilts in my collection a new life by recreating them. Often I make reproductions in close repro fabrics but sometimes I use modern fabrics. This quilt was made for a Riley Blake challenge (Isabella line) for the Home Machine Quilting Show (HMQS) in 2011.

Detail of Riley Blake challenge quilt.

Full quilt made in 2011  by Sandra Starley

Another version in repro fabrics along with the antique inspiration.

Heart detail

Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks

I have some great news: one of my new creations will be part of the next Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks magazine!!! I would love to share a photo but alas I can only tease you until the magazine hits the newstands and download queues in November. There will be a fun blog hop and great give aways then so stay tuned.

Scrappy Color Play 8.5" x 11"
Pattern available

The above photo gives you a preview of the colors used - black, white, pink and grey. Probably not a shock to anyone who follows my non-traditional quilts which tend to be in that color scheme. Another hint - a version of the block is found in the picture above and is related to churning butter or shooing flies and you might have read about the traditional pattern in my Behind the Block column for the National Quilting Association's magazine Quilting Quarterly.

To see what the magazine is all about or to purchase current and back issues, visit their shop.

Bloggers Quilt Festival - Art Quilts

Literally Challenging
Original Design
18" x 18"
Wools, Cottons, Lace

 This quilt recently came home after traveling for several years to national quilt shows with the Arts and Old Lace Challenge sponsored by Artistic Artifacts in VA.  I love Bloggers Quilt Festival time which is a great reminder to make and share ART

Here is what was included in the challenge packet: 2 sets of salesman's samples. Greys and black suitings and then summery stripes and woven checks, as well as laces and buttons.

I really enjoy paper piecing and making "word play" quilts using my own patterns.  I used more than 105 different fabrics from the packet and a lace for the ampersand. I only added 2 vintage laces and a woven tape binding (thanks Mom, for all 3).

OKAY, now time to see the rest of the Bloggers Quilt Festival quilts - enjoy. If you like my quilt you can vote this week at the viewers choice link or check back in a week and vote for it at the Art Quilts page.

Spring 2015 Bloggers Quilt Festival Page is HERE.

Art Quilts Page is HERE

Vote for Viewer's Choice HERE Nominations- May 15-21

VOTE for your Favorites in each category May 22-29
Winners Announced May 30, 2015

Fun with Antique and Modern Quilts in St. George

Need a breather and a chance to create.  Then come see me and lots of other wonderful people  in St. George, Utah,  January 6-10, 2015.  Time for the 2nd Annual Quilt St. George retreat, a truly Quiltabulous Event!

Need a jolt of joy or craziness ?  Then this funky free-form and fun, alphabet paperpiecing class with the choice of two delightful projects would be perfect.

Love Birds & Lady Bugs  18" x 30"

Crazy Quilt, 16" x 16"

I'll also be teaching my cheddar stars class as well as a red rock landscape quilt.


And I will be sharing antique quilts galore.  With a half day class on antique signature quilt, you'll get to see many museum quality early quilts from 1840 forward.  You'll be able to get up close and really examine the fabrics and names and the amazing tiny stamps and drawings that many people added to their signatures.

Hoopes Worral Quilt, dated 1850, Chester Co. Pennsylvania

And I'll also be doing a second half day class, Patterns Through Time.  You'll see about a dozen different quilt patterns and 2 or 3 examples of each which give you a chance to see the changes in quilting and society over time.

If you like modern artistic quilts, my luncheon trunk show: Everything Old is New Again will show you how to learn from past quilters to make amazing new quilts.

And I will be doing quilt appraisals in my spare time at the retreat.  I'm certified to appraise all types of quilts, old and new, traditional and modern.  Email me if you want to schedule a time.

Beatles Bird for Bloggers Quilt Fest

Happy to share my Inspired By the Beatles quilt "And My Bird Can Sing" with the Bloggers Quilt Fest crew.  Timely entry as my quilt is actually hanging right now in Houston at Quilt Festival with 149 of its friends.  Such an impressive quilt project.  If you enjoy seeing this quilt, consider
voting for me in the Art Quilt category.  Voting starts November 1 and goes through the 7th.

Here's the full quilt

Inspired by the early Beatles song "And My Bird Can Sing".  Thanks to my sister Donna for all her help and Mom for the frog applique and more help.

You can read all about it in the beautiful book written by the project creator/leader Donna Marcinkowski DeSoto and published by Schiffer.  Includes all 150 quilts and their stories.

Word Play and Paper Piecing Fun in Minnesota

Yes, Minnesota but not until it warms up in June.  Come take a delightful paper piecing class and see how truly fun it can be.  Paper piecing is one of the best methods to create precise patterns without having to work hard.  Just sew on the lines and you get exactly what you sew.
It really is a lot of fun once someone shows you the tips and tricks.  I'll be teaching my Word Play class and you'll have a choice of the Love and Joy Pattern

 
Or the Crazy Quilt

Or you can create your favorite word or just make 

Hope to see you in Minnesota this June, here's the registration information

And ps. if you are interested in purchasing some of my quilt patterns, my Etsy store is now open.

Scrappy Color Play 9" x 11"

Creating

This spring's project: a quilt for the Arts and Old Lace Challenge

"Literally Challenging"  Another one of my 'wordy' quilts.

18" x 18", machine foundation pieced (my own patterns)

Arts and Old Lace Challenge

I used lots of decorative stitches on my machine to add decoration and quilting at the same time.  The suiting fabrics esp. had such a crazy quilt feel that at my Mom's suggestion I added crazy quilt fans to the corners. 

An original design.  Obviously inspired by the challenge title.  Part of my series of "word play" quilts -- quilts that have something to say.  The name also notes the very challenging nature of the fabrics - much more difficult to sew than my beloved cotton.s

I used fabric ONLY from the 2 salesman sample books:  one with formal Italian suitings, the other with light summery woven (more than 105 different fabrics were used in the 18 inch quilt).  I used the challenge packet lace for the "&" but added 2 vintage laces from my Mom's stash.  She also found the woven coat binding - the perfect finishing touch.

   

Here's the challenge packet:

And here's a detail of the quilting:

The exhibit opened on July 21st at Artistic Artifacts, Alexandria, Virginia and the 87 quilts from 80 artists will be on display there until the end of September.  The exhibit will then travel to various locations.
Contact Cyndi Souder for information on how to get the quilts shown at your quilt show, museum, art gallery, etc.



Feel the Heat

My Corner of the World,  made for the 2006 Journal Quilt Project - a special exhibit shown at the Houston International Quilt Show.  Page sized, part of my miniature Moab, Utah  landscape series.

It is over a 100 degrees almost everywhere in Utah today and I think this quilt captures the feeling of HOT, HOT, HOT!

Flower Talk - Hoffman Quilt

Flower Talk (Pick Me I'm Cute) 29" x 29" 2010

My 2010 Hoffman Challenge quilt--flower talk. It was picked to be part of the Hoffman Challenge traveling collection (my sister Donna's feathered star is also part of the collection). The challenge fabric is the blue floral used in the 4 blocks without letters.

It is an original design, inspired by a field of purple coneflowers all asking to be picked ... flower humor. Part of my series of "word play" quilts--quilts that have something to say. A whimsical approach to quilting. Started for the 2009 challenge (brown paisley-see middle line of last E) --I kept the pink and brown centers and then reworked the next row adding blues and keeping the greens. I finished off with more pink and a funky dragonfly border. It was a design I really liked and it felt good to make it work.

Letters were paperpieced from my patterns. Machine pieced and then embroider/quilted in one step with Sulky thread. 2 batts- 80/20 cotton/polyester and 50/50 cotton/bamboo.

Clowns and Quilt Show and Appraisal Testing

Another one of my favorite quilts. Clowns Trapped in Tulle from a workshop with Lynda Faires. About 12" square. Shown in Chicago at the Friends of Keiko show.

We just had another very successful Delicate Stitchers Quilt Guild show here in Moab. I'll have to locate some photos. I was too busy to take my own as I was doing quilt appraisals, taking a class with Virginia Robertson from Colorado and doing demos on hand applique and a mini trunk show on antique quilts. And speaking of appraisals, I got the official notification on Monday that I'm now a candidate for certification by the American Quilter's Society as an appraiser of quilts and quilted textiles. I take the written and verbal tests at the AQS show in Paducah KY in April 2008.