Prairie

I had been wanting to try machine embroidery and the prairie dogs seemed as good a chance as any. I got a copyright free picture, traced it onto stabilizer and hit the pedal, literally. Again, as with any new technique, it had its problems but since I could just go over with more thread, my mistakes were covered. It was a lot of fun and helped me get out of my perfection mode.

Kathy

Where the Buffalo Roam

Buffaloes were one of the first things that came to mind when I heard the word "prairie."  I think of the hundreds of thousands of American Bison that used to roam across America's prairie's and how we over hunted them and are just now working to raise the numbers of buffalo across the country.

My quilt is a reversed appliqued buffalo silhouette on a free form pieced prairie.

Gulf Oil Spill

Do you remember those Matinees that we all attended as children on a nice Saturday afternoon? The headlines were boldly placed on the movie screen as they declared the state of our world in a bigger than life manner. This is what I thought of when I heard the word Matinee. The Gulf Oil Spill is bigger than life news, and the pictures of the Pelicans sitting in the vast oil spill is enough to tug at your heart strings. To watch the story unfold every night on the 6 P.M. news made my soul cry. I just could picture those words flashing across the movie screen declaring the state of our world on that fateful day, April 20, 2010. When, are we as a people going to learn that the world is vulnerable and we are stewards of it? It is up to us to care for that which the Lord gave us.

I did a photo transfer and then machine quilted it in grey threads. Using Setacolor paints I highlighted the eye of the Pelican and some on the wings. I hope the solomeness of the picture will speak to our hearts.

In the Likeness of Green

I took a class from Libby Liehman this spring, and discovered the circle atttachment for the Bernina machine. I decided that I would use it to make my "Green" quilt. After piecing the background in different green fabrics, I used multiple green threads to make different size circles.

Prairie Grass

The images of the prairie with the grasses swaying in the wind is what I wanted to capture in this little quilt. I selected a piece of my hand dyed fabric, and placed grasses from my yard in a pleasing manner, and used dried corn silk at the base. I put some bird feathers to replicate a pea hen in hiding. Over the top of this I used tulle, and machine quilted the entire quilt. I thought the grasses would fall apart when quilted, but so far it hasn't. I used sissel twine for the edge treatment. I achieved what I was trying to do, and am happy with the results. This entire quilt reminds me of my trip last summer to the Badlands and South Dakota.

It took me awhile, but my "matinee" quilt is finished. I had the idea nearly right from the start. My junior HS friend & I would go to the matinees at the local theater quite often. One week we saw "Le Mans" starring Steve McQueen & was hooked on auto racing. Specifically, IndyCar racing with a little bit of F1 thrown in. I've had 7 yards of this IndyCar fabric for a long time, not knowing what I would use it for (it's hard to find anything but stock cars). Ah Steve, gone too soon.

Colorado Prairie

Colorado Prairie. I dyed the piece of fabric at the dye party in July. My free motion quilting still needs a lot more practice, but I am trying.

A Bad Movie

This is my matinee quilt gone bad. I had planned to hand stitch "film" on it, but my hands have been hurting a lot lately. Soooo...like a dope, I used the sewing machine - my nemesis! - and I will just deal with it later. So, for now, this is it! The End!

Matinee

My first thought of the word Matinee was the marquee outside the theaters of my childhood.

There were several theaters with the name of the theater in large letters that would light up at night.

I pondered how fancy to get with the building as well as the scaffolding that held up the sign and which angle. I concluded that simpler is usually better and 

I decided I wanted the sign to look like I was standing on the street looking up just before participating in one of my favorite activities with my Mom and Sister.

well it has taken me way too long to get these three done - Winter has been done for a bit.. my word BTW- Green is a leaf all done in Photoshop.. took a picture of ferns used a cookie cutter shape of a fern and there you go.. and the Chaos finished it today - it has a name.. There is no Black and White in Chaos..

Matinee

Matinee had me scratching my head. Do I go literal? So I took my inspiration from "One Blue Tulip" after I realized that my private matinee had been the nest building, egg laying and hatching of robins in my backyard evergreen tree. Every morning, every afternoon, I checked on them. I was anxious when it snowed in SLC so late in May but they all hatched and went their merry way. The quilt was from a class I took at Quilt Fest a couple years ago by Jeanna Kimball. I love the English method of applique and hope to use it more. What is this bird, who knows. But I got to practice free motion quilting, some embroidery with the machine and was very glad to have something for this word.

Joni Blue

My first thought upon hearing the word "blue" was Joni Mitchell's album cover for "Blue." I wasn't sure I could do it but came pretty close to what I envisioned.