Machine Embellished Surfaces

I am taking another class at Quilt University , Machine Embellished Surfaces. The teacher is Susan Brittingham. The Discussion Forum is supportive and there is at least one person from the Filament Fantasy class taking this one also - Lilian. The class covers needle lace, adding texture using several techniques of scrunching fabric, manipulating sheer ribbon for different effects and a few other things. There is no real project in the class, just technique. Here are a few of the techniques I practiced and a couple of compositions:

needle lace dragonfly

tree canopy

sea kelp

mossSpanish mossnecklace using 'window' technique

auditioning layout for scrunched fabric

final layout

I received some very nice feedback on this piece. It looks very dimensional in the photo and this is what I was aiming for. I still have a couple of weeks to stitch everything down and quilt before the gallery closes. I have also signed up for a fabric dyeing class taught by Marjorie McWilliams and will probably take the People and Places class taught by Linda Schmidt.

Habitat for Humanity

My department at work is planning the logistics for a Habitat for Humanity home in Wylie, Texas. Part of the dedication is to present the new homeowner with several gifts, most with symbolic meaning. The program manager asked Rhea, a co-worker and fellow quilter, to make a quilt for the homeowner encorporating pictures taken during the build. Rhea, asked me me to help and of course I said yes. We discussed, more like sweated over what to do - a photo album? sashed photos in a row? and what size? This was exhausting. The turnaround was quick, less than a month and and we literally had hundreds of photos to choose from. We finally decided on something - because we had to, but neither of us was feeling good about the decision. We started looking through Rhea's stash of fabrics and both of us spotted a quilt Rhea completed a few years ago. Instantly we both had the same thought - what about this one!? The decision was made - circle or square within a square. The background in greys and the circle or square in a suede-like fabric. The photos were printed and cut to wallet size. It took one more get together and the top was 90% complete. We even found some fabric for the backing that looks like a computer motherboard. This is very appropriate because we work in the IT department. We got the final word on the dedication and the completed quilt will be ready. Here is a peek of the work in progress.
Rhea is great with color and loves to hand applique. Behind her is just one of her many creations.

Photo Finish

For the past few months, I have been taking a Photoshop class at the Sachse Assembly of God Church. The class was offered by a graphic artist friend of mine, Bill Wegener, who is a member of the church. He is so generous, sharing his knowledge for free. We met Sunday evenings for an hour and Bill showed us so much it was difficult to absorb it all. At least now I am not afraid of Photoshop anymore. Last night was the last class and Bill had a final exam/competition for us. The rules were to create an advertisement using at least 3 photos from a CD of photos he provided; include text of some kind and adhere to the dimensions he provided. We had roughly 50 minutes to complete our project. While we were desparately trying to come up with ideas, Bill found 2 staff members to judge the projects. Bill answered questions and helped us see our ideas to fruition and then it was time to judge. "Step away from the computers", tick-tock, tick-tock; judges evaluating required elements, creativity and does it sell the product...and the winner is #2! Hey wait, that's me! I thought for sure the peppers would win! When I shared my surprise at winning with my friend Merriel, she paid me a great compliment by saying she knew it would be me because of my creative side and unusual way of looking at things - my friends have more confidence in me than I do. Here is a look at the winning ad.







My prize was a framed, signed copy of "Someday". The story is the orphan boy in the picture used to stand outside of the classroom every day and listen to the teachers. It was always 'someday' he will be able to attend classes like the rest of the children who lived at the orphanage.