HAPPY ST PATRICK'S DAY

Life is all about Love, Loyalty, and Friendship. What better way to show that to a dear friend than with a gift. http://nestlingsbyrobin.com/pattern_quilts.html
This design is dear to me, not just because I am Irish, but because my mother and I designed it together and had a blast doing so.
The claddagh is mostly known for it's 'betrothed' history of facing the heart in on your finger when spoken for. The other little tidbit is that the claddaghs are passed down from Grandmother to Granddaughter. I wear my Grandmother's proudly. It is the ring that my Grandfather put on her finger on their 50th anniversary vow renewal. Much love to you both:)
May you all have a wonderfully mischievous day-Irish or not!
Check in later this week for photos of my workshop-Exploding Patterns.

The Tree Project

The International Fiber Collaborative will be assembling a full-sized tree in April. They will be needing up to 30,000 leaves made of fiber in some form. I am a fiber artist and so I grabbed some scraps and away I went....SO MUCH FUN!

I used darker strips on the back side so they would be reversible. The batting was lightly sprayed with basting spray and the strips were put down in a 'v' format. After quilting the strips in various swirls and squiggles, I used a freezer paper template leaf form to stitch around. I then cut away the excess and satin stitched the edges.
I am excited to send these in and then follow the project to see what happens. If you have some scraps and a couple of extra hours, be a part of a collaborative just for the fun of it.

Fractured Flowers

This past saturday, Valentine's Day, my fiber art group got together to unveil our 2008 challenge pieces....we gave ourselves flowers. Our challenge was to make four sections of a pink flower. Three of the four sections were then exchanged with others in the group so that you had 4 sections-one of them your own.
As if that weren't enough of a challenge, I made it more so for the 3 other people who received my sections. Somehow I misunderstood the parameters of the challenge and finished my sections-quilted, threadpainted, and embellished-before exchanging them. I am so sorry, again.
The challenges I faced with this were 1. the color pink-not my favorite 2. trying to find a way to fit the pieces together- especially since mine had batting already 3. how to expand on just a flower. Plus all of that, my pink sections didn't really match in values and hues. In the end, I am glad I challenged myself and I like the border I ended up attaching.

On our group's blog http://artrageousfibreart.blogspot.com/ you can see the flower we began with along with the other finished challenges. It was a lot of fun to see how everyone faced the challenge and creatively solved it. Enjoy!

Mirror Writing

This morning on the Ellen Degeneres show there was a woman who could write forwards and backwards at the same time. Intrigued, I thought I would see how hard it would be. I found it quite easy. Amazingly the brain fills in more than I thought and just does it.

The picture is a bit blurry but it was fun and now my mind is racing to see how I could use this new found talent in a more practical way. Knowing that I am easily entertained, I am fighting the urge to keep playing with this and get to work.

Try it...just for fun!

Shop Hop in NC

Here in southeastern North Carolina we are preparing for the annual shop hop called "Romancing Eastern North Carolina". From Wednesday 2/4- Saturday 2/7 come visit 8 shops from Jacksonville, Morehead City, Washington, New Bern, and Kinston.

Again this year I was asked to design a new pattern for The Quilted Butterfly in Morehead City. We decided to go with a small project that is useful, a stashbuster, as well as a doorway to the best addiction of all... beading:) Here is the "Sparkling Scissor Case".

I love the way beading can completely change the look of a fabric. The fabric used for this design was ideal for allowing someone to try their hand at beading by following the design of the fabric. They can embellish as much or as little as they would like. There are two sizes in the pattern for a 10" and a 7" case. You can see the difference in the fabric between the larger embellished case vs. the smaller unembellished case. I can't wait to make more of these.

Happy 2009

Well it has been awhile since I have had a moment to write. The holidays flew by and here we are 3 weeks into a new year already. My daughter has been accepted to a college for next fall, 2009 has begun, and we have a new president.

All of these feelings of 'new beginnings' make us take stock of what we have and what we would like to have as well as who we would like to be. I guess that is why we set new goals and make resolutions every year. We may not achieve them right away but this process keeps us moving forward.

I am still working on what my goals for this new year will be, but I already see some of them in the direction of my art.

This is a detail shot of a new piece I am working on with tremendous inspiration from Larkin Van Horn. I have been working on my free motion quilting skills for some time now and beading has always been a passion. One day everything came together to point me in a direction I really wanted to go. I was at my local wood artists gallery and they were working on some new pieces that I loved. Generously, I was given one to play with. When I came home, the vidcast by Bonnie McCaffery with Larkin was in my email (a definate must see). That was the push I needed.

I am absolutely in love with this piece!

A Mermaid's Playground

This past weekend, the Arts Council that I am involved with hosted a mini show to celebrate the one year mark for our Adopt an Artist program. I wanted to have a new piece to show vs. the 7 in the catalog that the businesses can choose from....she exceeded my vision.

We invited the already existing business representatives along with new businesses that we would like to sign up for the program. The program has been a wonderful experience for me by allowing my art to be shown to audiences that wouldn't normally see it. This cycle I was adopted by the Leon Mann Senior Center in Morehead City. They chose all 7 pieces that will hang through December.

Lorelai, the mermaid, was a lot of fun for me and I am very pleased with how my threadwork turned out for the coral.

Of course, when I start a project around here it somehow becomes a family event with recommendations and ideas flying from every angle. Some I accept and some I don't. Usually the creativity of this family adds hours more work but is worth it in the end.

I knew I wanted beading on her tail but the idea just wasn't coming together quickly enough until my daughter suggested her idea....

I machine quilted a clamshell design and then placed a bead at each point of the stitching, by hand. The beading was a lot of work but the results were just more than I imagined.
So now the mini show is over and she is mine to submit to shows. I am very excited about where she may end up.