Afternoon of the Arts

Recently I organized "The Afternoon of the Arts". This was the culminating show for the Paint Chip Challenge projects. It was a lot of fun for viewers and participants alike. We had only 12 15 projects. Yes, I was disappointed. But I was surprised by the variety of projects and by the artists. People I had never met and who were not a member of our Creations Guild also participated.

Inspired by a quilted jacket my mom made, I put together a wall hanging using many of her techniques. I find it fascinating that even though may mom passed away fifteen years ago, I am still learning from her! My wall hanging also included some of Mom's fabrics. The Challenge colors were perfect for a project with flowers... lots of pink, lots of yellow and a soft blue/green. Here is a sneak peek.... it isn't quite finished in this shot.

The night before the projects were due I decided to try my hand at pastels to have one more thing to display at the show. I wasn't all that displeased.

Several of the Guild members came to help put up the show. I was in awe of how artfully they arranged the entries. We had ceramics, needle point, a beaded bracelet, flowers and stained glass. We had a two full size quilts and two quilted wall hangings. We had painted metal, painted pine cones and even a painted coconut!

What thrilled me most was that people came! Our show ran from 4 - 6 PM. The club bar opened early and offered Happy Hour prices. We had slips where folks could vote for "Viewers Favorites". Almost 60 slips were turned in! We also sold tickets for a quilt raffle. We sold $270 dollars worth of tickets at the show, and another $170 the next morning before the show was taken down. 

Here are some shots from the show:

And the viewers favorites:

 Yes, that would be my hanging with the first place ribbon. I felt a bit chagrinned.





                                                                                         

Under the Presser Foot

I have been sewing with other women at the crafts building, and I do some sewing on the motorhome.  This week I completed two projects. Hooray! Completed projects are always nice.

First, I finished a small quilt top with a pattern I bought over 2 years ago! Whenever I stop by a quilt shop I feel I must buy something. I like to support the small guy. So when we were in Ozark, AL on our way to or from Red Bay, AL for service on our coach I stopped by the Front Porch Quilt Shoppe. I picked up the Fancy Forest quilt pattern by Elizabeth Hartman and tucked it away. While packing for the move I came across the pattern and decided it would be a great gift for one or the other of my grand children. The pattern is deceiving. It was much easier to construct than I thought it would be. (Apologies for the lousy color. The lights in the craft building do funny things to colors.)

 In progress:

Completed:

I will be taking the quilt top to California when we go back so I can quilt it there. I'll have to do some thinking about how I want to quilt it!

I led a "Mystery Quilt" for ladies at our resort. For three weeks I gave out instructions for part of the quilt, which could be used to make two pillows or a table topper. This is my finished version:

As I completed the plans for the quilt I had reservations about the color of the sashing I was suggesting the ladies use. The sashing cuts the pillows into quarters, meeting at the middle. I used the same background color as I had used in the blocks. Once I assembled my pieces I rather liked the way it turned out. However, one of the ladies used a dark background and sashing and the effect was totally different.  I'm not so much of a fan of the way her pieces look. We decided that her design could be called the Dollar Sign pattern!! If I ever do this pattern again I will reconsider the colors for the sashing pieces!