Sunday, March 6, 2016

My Stick Family Quilt

My Grandson is 2 1/2 years old and he loves to draw.  They roll out a big white paper and they all sit on the floor and color or paint on it.  When we skype with them he narrates what he is drawing.  The other day he drew a skateboard and then took off his shoes and slid on the paper like he was a skateboarder falling down.  He said they go like this.... 

On Sunday, when the challenge was announced that we were to be inspired by children's artwork, I knew I had to use white fabric with the fabric markers and create a family of stick people.  I only drew bodies and arms and legs with a head and only eyes and a big smile.  No hair, no hands, no skirts or pants, that way any of the people can me anyone as my grandson names them... This is Mama and Dada and this is Grandmama and Baba and Oma and Opa and this is Uncle B and Uncle Joris..... I did add 2 dogs as we needed to include our Toby and my grand-dogger Rogue.





It's reversible!


Here's all the photos to show you "Step by Step" how I made my "Stick Family" quilted table runner.





























I will be linking up for Project Quilting over a Persimon Dreams Blog for this week's challenge.

You will be amazed at all the quilts that are created in only one week, that are inspired by children's artwork!

Hop over and check out all the quilts!



Enjoy your evening!

Marcia


Friday, March 4, 2016

A Quilt Show of My Own!

I am super excited about having the opportunity to have my quilts on display at Timber Lane Coffee and Gallery for an entire month! 



They have a beautiful space!  It is 40 feet wide by 6 feet tall. My husband and I hung over 35 of my quilts on the wall.  We also displayed several table runners and placemats on the top of the piano.  My Blue Denim Quilt is on the back of the sofa and some on the tables too.  My quilts are everywhere!

Timber Lane Coffee and Gallery is located in Boscobel, Wisconsin and features a new artist each month. I want to extend a huge thank you to Madge and Tom for making this possible to display my work (quilts) in their gallery. 

They host a reception for each artist  ---  "Meet the Artist".  Mine will be Saturday, March 12th from 3pm to 5pm.  I would like to invite you to come!  You can come any day during the month of March and check them out!

I have been making quilts since 1981.  I have been longarm quilting since 2003.  I recently shared my quilts in Viroqua, Wisconsin as a Quilt Trunk Show.  I gathered up my quilts and packed them into six suitcases and shared 99 quilts! I did not even know I had that many quilts!  

Keep in mind, these are the ones I did not make for someone.  I make several quilts each year for my family and friends.  In the past couple years, I have made five quilts for my grandson! Three baby quilts, a lap one, and recently an I Spy Quilt. I have teamed up with my friends and we make hospice quilts.  Every year, I make a large donation quilt with my Mom. In 2015, I made 14 quilts for the Project Quilting Challenges. The 99 quilts are quilts, I have made and I kept in my Quilt Studio. Plus, I longarm quilt full time for my customers! 

I gathered them all onto our guest bed. I knew that I could not hang all 99, but I wanted to!



My husband said I needed a plan of how to hang them.  He came up with the idea to string up masonary cording, fastened to screws, into the wood strips. That way, we could clothespin the quilts to the cording. It was a great idea!

We took measurements on Monday. My vision or plan was to hang the larger quilts on each end and the smaller ones in the center with my thread painted orange flower quilt in the middle, with signage on it about my quilts.

Look at that wall!




First, I rolled the quilts and then I wrapped them into sheets, so we could transport them in the car. That way, they wouldn't get wet or dirty. I stacked the smaller ones and wrapped them up too.



We got a later start, as we waited for it to stop snowing. We could not get them all hung in one afternoon. 

I selected seven lap and baby quilts.  Three for one side and four on the other side.



We took a measurement of the center space. We went home, Tuesday night and figured out what would fit and what would not!



It was like a puzzle. I taped the pieces in place. 

These were the pieces that did not fit.



But it all worked out, as Madge suggested, we put a few table runners and placemats on the top of the piano and I put six of my quilts on a quilt rack as some were too long for the wall. I put my Blue Denim Quilt on the back of the sofa and scattered a couple table mats around too.



We started early and by noon we were done!



Wow!  I love how they all look together!



I added tags - price tags and information tags and just made sure everything looked perfect! I will add a photo of me with my Longarm Quilting Machine next week.





Most of my quilts are priced for sale, but some of them are not. I made tags for those too, as I would make a similar quilt for a special order. I added that signage to the middle quilt too.





I took a photo of the table runners and placemats on the top of the piano.






I stood back as far as I could to take this photo!


There's my Blue Denim Quilt on the back of the sofa with my House Quilt behind it. We folded my Pillowcase Quilt and put it on the sofa.  You can see the quilts on the quilt rack too.






I snapped a few more photos of the wall....








If you read or follow my blog, you have probably seen most of these over the past 8 years.  If not, there are links in the sidebar of my blog and you can search for any of them with the search button. If you can't find something you want to see, just leave a comment or send me an email. Marcia@craftysewing.com

Update:  I added some links at the bottom of my post of some of the quilts I am sharing at Timber Lane Coffee and Gallery.






I took the next photo, up the wall, of my Connectivity Quilt.












Thanks again to Madge and Tom for this wonderful opportunity!  If you are on facebook, hop over and LIKE their page Timber Lane Coffee . If you are in Southwestern Wisconsin, stop in and have a cup of coffee or something to eat and check out my quilts this month and another artist's creations next month.

Timber Lane Coffee, 1005 Wisconsin Ave, Boscobel, Wisconsin.

Here is their website --- Timber Lane Coffee

Enjoy your day!

Marcia

Here are a few links for you:
First Bloom
Confetti Tree
Love Makes the World Go Round - Rainbow Quilt
A Vacation at Home
Blueberry
Imaginary Blooms