Celebrating I met all my goals on time this month!!

This has been a very busy few weeks, I didn't have time to post 

because I had several deadlines to meet.  

I made two polymer clay heirloom bags for my friend Jen.  

The babies are her adorable twin boys; John and Andrew.
The purses are gifts for her mother and mother-in-law this month.  

I took photos for a tutorilal on my polymer clay page 

that show all the steps to completion I used in making these bags.
I will let you know when I get that posted.

The making of the bags is quite time consuming but definitely worth the effort.  

She gave me the photo which I then printed on fabric.
I strip the fabric off these purses and paint glue onto the carboard base.
Then I glue the picture and cover both sides with textured clay, mica powders for the sheen... 

I add favorite flowers for each mother, Chrysanthemums and Tulips.  

I chose red to compliment the Santa hats.
The purse is assembled in stages and baked several times.
I leave the back side plain. 

The other deadline was my local guild's quilt show.
The Desert Quilter's of Nevada have a huge quilt show every year.  

I turned in my quilts and garment on time. 

 I finished a garment I began in 2007 in a class with Rachel Clark;
a wonderful quilt designer who makes primarily garments, gorgeous coats, vests.....
do go see for yourself. 

I am so thrilled to have finally finished it. 

We learned how to fit our pattern to ourselves,
an extremely valuable skill
and how to alter patterns: one example- add a flare. 

She also shared lots of tips and tricks for different piecing techniques
like these curved flying geese.  

We learned how to draft them and then paper piece them. 

I loved that technique so I used it to flatter my figure with the curves on the sides of the vest.  

I love batiks so I used batik fabric as a foundation and applied all my piecework to that-
an excellent choice since this has been handled and stored for 5 years.
Batik does not fray and holds it's shape better than other cotton fabrics.

The piecing was assembled and then free motion stitched to the Batik base.  

There is no batting involved so that I can wear it more often.
 (remember I live in the Desert) 

I took Rachel's advice as she helped me to choose my colors 

and she was so right about limiting my favorite color, which is the turquoise blues.  

They really pop against all those warm honey, brown and red tones. 

That advice also helped me to not go overboard with the beaded embellishments as well.
 I was thrilled to find out this weekend at the Show
that I took First Place in the garment category!

I have two quilts that were entered into two different art quilt categories. 

 "The Angel Gabriel at the Lake of Compassion"
This one has a Third Place Ribbon in the Art Quilt- Original Design Category!

and 

"The Door to My Imagination".
has First Place in the Art Quilts- Framed Category. 

Both of these quilts were quilted and then enhanced with paints and permanent markers. 

I used Shiva Oil Paint Sticks to paint after I free motion stitched my designs on muslin. 

I love this technique, just need to have good weather in order to avoid breathing the fumes. 

I sketched the doors on parchment paper, pinned it to a muslin quilt sandwich (mmm) LOL

 and outlined the important details.

 Then I spent a very, very, very ( did I say Very?)
 long time filling in all the sections with very small quilting patterns.

The wood on the doors is the tiniest free motion stitching I have ever done.  

I overdid it on purpose so that the doors would be stiff and stand up. 

  I also participated in my favorite part of the Quilt Show- The Fashion Show this year.
I will share more about that next week.  I need to take pictures of the items I wore.
It was great fun and I hope to do it again.
I was so proud of my fellow art quilters who also got ribbons in the show.
Our fearless Circle leader Deb had a first place in the photo transfer category,
we talked another member of our group, Jean, into entering
the wonderful musical wedding quilt she made for her son (a musician) and his wife
into the show and she got a First Place Ribbon too!!
My good friend Ricky got a Second Place Ribbon for her fabulous thread painted Raven.
Sandy and Mary, my fabulous doll making pals took several ribbons in the doll categories.
So many talented and fun friends- I am truly grateful to have them in my life.
I am going to see if I can get their permission so you can see their work too.
If you don't have creative friends like this check your local library for groups in your area.
When I moved to Las Vegas, someplace I never ever dreamed I would live,
I knew no one. I found a pamphlet at the local library for this quilt guild and
noticed there was an Art Qult Circle.
From the very first meeting I attended I felt like I had finally found people like me.
People who had an insatiable craving to create beauty.
The unique thing about our circle is that we not only have quilters,
but many other types of artists,
polymer clay, fine silver jewelers,
painters, people who knit and crochet, doll artists....
we welcome them all as it is so inspiring to see each other's work.
I hope you have or will find a home such as this too!
Have a wonderful week.
Heather