I am a super planner person who sometimes drove coworkers nuts in my professional life before retirement. I find the PLANNER in me comes out big time when I’m preparing for a festival. Every festival prep is different because the inventory of quilts is different and sometimes the target audience is different. You may want
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In Studio
Preparing for Arts Festival Season
For some artists the arts festival season is all year. I only do a handful of festivals which don’t start until April so I have had a break in the travel routine. This will be my third season so I am still a novice and still learning. Every year I work at refining the packing and
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A custom mandala design quilt
My oldest daughter recently asked me to make wall quilt with a mandala design. I cautiously agreed but after researching mandala designs, I was having second thoughts. My design style is anything but the precise and exact lines of a mandala. I’ve seen some beautiful mandala patterns and designs and I knew I could not
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Reorganizing my sewing studio
This was one of those crazy weeks of disruption, extra work, but good results in the end. The day finally arrived when my sewing studio was getting new carpet and new wall paint. Dismantling everything in the room and completely emptying it was a daunting task. But…the painting was finished last weekend and the new
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Challenges of Small Art Quilts
I am a fairly free form art quilt designer and often don’t know what size wall quilt I will end up with until it is finished. This is a challenge I have mastered with custom quilts where I more carefully plan the dimensions and proportions. But when I am experimenting with a new design or
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How Much Time Does It Take to Make an Art Quilt
I want to write about this topic because visitors to my booth or my informal shop in my home often ask “How long does it take to make this quilt?”. Now is a good time to tackle this topic as recently I spent about 90 minutes sorting out fabrics to use for Sunset quilt # 26. The
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Art Quilts for Your Bathroom
When you are thinking about a good place to hang a quilt in your house, don’t forget the bathroom! Yes, the bathroom! How many of us have neutral colors in our bathrooms in our tiles and toilets and tubs. Even counter tops tend to be neutral. This is true in my bathrooms too but in
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New Tree Wall Quilts
Last year I started making what I refer to as my “Tree” quilts. They have a touch of realism to them which seems to attract buyers. In addition to the sunset quilts, these are my best sellers of a particular design. Since every quilt is unique and I don’t use patterns, I continue to experiment
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Making an Art Quilt from a Photograph
There are art quilters who create wall quilts that look like realistic photos and then there are art quilters like myself who are reaching for abstract interpretation through fabric. These different approaches don’t preclude contemporary quilters from using a photograph as inspiration for an art quilt. I have made a series of sunset art quilts, some
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