Crooked Gulley Art Quilts

 I don't have my beautiful sewing studio anymore. We decided to get out from under the mortgage. That means we sold the house including my awesome sewing room above the garage! Bummer! But we're going to Italy in the Fall for a month.... not a bade trade off at all. Italy always inspires new quilts. So we got creative with space. This house is 1400 sq' compared to the 2800' we sold. There are two bedrooms. That's it! The "guest bedroom" is my new sewing room. DH converted the closet into a lighted sewing center with my thread racks on the back closet wall. Not too bad. From now on I'll make smaller art quilts :-)  But, what to do about a bed in the center of the room???? DH to the rescue again. He built a Murphy Bed from a kit and directions off the web. His next project is a large work table that will fold up and go under the lowered bed when company comes. The picture below is of the Murphy Bed. We've already had several overnight guest...

Three years ago at this time my husband, Dick, and I were on a wonderful trip through the Tuscan Hill Country. Dick planned the whole trip based on what he remembered from visiting Italy 45 years prior! We traveled with another couple and forged our way through beautiful countryside, incredible vino rosso de casa, daily gelato, miles of walking, and the most incredible food! When we got home I had to make a bedspread that told the story of our journey... So, 3 years later, the quilt is on the bed. Take a look ~ The picture above is my representation of the floors in all the ancient catherdals. I saw almost the exact floor in St. Peter's Basillica. I used the Stonehenge fabrics from Northcott to do the large center. The fabric truly looks like slabs of marble! The cream colored fabric and the blue edge is from the La Scala collection by Robert Kaufman. Those two pieces so reminded me of the frescos. The covering over the pillows is also from the La Scala collection and takes...

JUST finished THIS Wall Quilt For My niece.

I just finished making a golf cart sear cover for a friend.  It was very fun to do! Now, on to the next project.

So this  is a test to see if anyone reads this blog along with,  has stitched in the ditch while enjoying a glass of wine..... If so, did the stitching get better, worse or did you really  care as the wine got less and less? 😀

I just finished a fun art quilt .  While we were visiting Italy, I  took lots of  photos  of windows in Hill Towns. I just had to create an art quilt wall hanging. And, I   just had to include our adorable kitty, named Taz, short for the Taz mania Devil When doing art quilts of ancient European  architecture, all I   can say is thank goodness  for Stonehenge fabric! so here you go..... A Tuscan Window...

I have been working on so many things. Most recently, a commissioned piece! That's right! There is a person out there who is actually paying me to quilt! Wow! This is to be a Christmas present to a ladie's daughter. The two girls are the granddaughters. With all of the animals, trees, barn, fence and kids.... Well, this has been a project. The trees are partly confetti method. I still need to add straw in the barn, sketch in the girls' shoes and pants, bind and quilt the border.  I do see the light at the end of the tunnel! Hope you like it... Always love your comments. Hugs from Mary

Created from a vision in my head and the help of my DH,  the civil engineer who understands the elements of perspective. Detail of the bell tower. The wine bottle, grapes and glass were photos that I printed on white fabric backed in 'Wonder Under'. Yes, that is a real cork from Greve in Chianti... I cut it in half and glue gunned it on. 

Another Table Runner This past November my local garden club held a charity auction. My table runner garnered the highest bid at $360.00! I was overwhelmed with pride! Luckily, at the last moment, I thought to take a few pictures of it with my phone. They're not the best, but you get the general idea. I titled it, "Morning In the Marsh" I set the runner on the carpeting to take the pics. The carpeting makes the background confusing, but that's the best I  have to show.

Swamp Egret is Completed! It measures 13.75" X 24".  Tomorrow Swamp Egret will be on her way to Florida! Would love to have hidden an alligator head in the water. Too late now! Be sure to visit all the WIP's at Creations-Quilts, Art

A New Wall Hanging! I have been so busy making table runners for friends and charity auctions... it is nice to actually be working on something that I am being paid to do. I am going to bring a few pine pine boughs in from the top left corner, and stitch in some grass around the rocks. Not sure how I am going to stitch in the border... maybe a simple vine. The white thread used in the water and on the egret is a very old silk thread... so old it is on a wooden spool! It has yellowed somewhat with age and matched the Fairy Frost fabric of the egret perfectly.   When the hanging is finished it will be stretched around a wooden frame (which my DH builds) with 2" of the border showing. I'll post more when it is completed. Hugs from Mary and Happy New Year!

Talk about being the lazy blogger........ I win the prize!!! Where in the world have I been? I lost myself to company, travels, projects, gardening, cleaning (which is what I should be doing), reading... Company started in March and appeared every month through yesterday. Last night my husband and I sat at our little bar and toasted the quiet normalcy with a wonderful vino rosso. We almost giggled knowing that no one was going to appear until our daughter comes home for Thanksgiving. Don't get us wrong... We love to have visitors from California. We catch up on all the news of our old school district. I love finding out about my former first graders and what they're up to. And, we do live by the beach. CA people love our beach because it is warm. The Atlantic vs the Pacific is like No Wet Suit vs Wet Suit! The pacific is cold!! But, now we're alone. It's quiet. I need to pull weeds.   Forget that! I NEED to quilt. I'm going back to work on the Italian quilt an...

I just love the action around my neighborhood. Check out this gator at  Oyster Bay Golf Course

Welcome & Thank You to Mary Winegar and Madamme Samm for organizing and officiating this event!  I'm sharing a Blue Bird table runner today. The basic directions for making the table runner can be found several posts below. Also... Hope you notice that I have a "Bird Series" tab above.  Take a look...I love to do egrets and herons! I made this runner as a birthday present for a sweet lady who  loves beige and Blue Birds! The runner can also be hung as a wall art panel. The three blue bird sections are 8.5 X 11...  Yep, you guessed it! I used my regular ink jet printer. All you need to do is iron freezer paper on the back of the fabric, carefully cut it to printer paper size, and then just feed it through fabric side down. I chose pictures from a public domain site,  making sure they predominately had a beige background. Once I had the pictures printed on the fabric, I pulled the paper off the back. I s...

I just finished this table runner using the pattern/directions  in a previous post a week ago.  The backing and border is one long hunk of  fabric 1/2 yard wide. This pattern is so very easy. The basic design is to sew a long tube and then finish the ends. The picture below shows how I used one of the many machine decorative stitches  to outline the picture/border I backed the blue fabric with a fusible interfacing to stabilize the fabric  for the Free-Motion quilting process. I did not do any stitching on the blue - just the FMQing on the koi.  When I use a metallic thread I use a metallic thread needle. The eye is larger and the thread feeds smoothly. The soft pink blotches were created by using Ink Tense Colored Pencils and a water color brush. The pattern for the koi is from Java House Quilts  .  Remember... Keep Stitchin' For the Ones You Love! Hugs from Mary

Well, as you can see in the previous post, I have donated the oak tree quilt and now have a bare wall above my old treadle machine. Here is the replacement.  We have so many Great Blue Herons and Great White Egrets that inhabit our coastal salt marshes. We even have a large rookery where both types of birds nest high in the pine trees surrounding a pond. It is not unusual to see six to eight nests in a single tree. It is real apartment living! I tried some new skills on this hanging. I wanted the full moon to have texture so I did areas of small circles.  To the left of the moon I made a large nest in the dead tree by using a technique called needle lace.  It is not a heron nest, they prefer pines.  This is a typical Osprey nest which can be found everywhere in our neighborhood. Right now the females are sitting on eggs. The chicks usually hatch late May into June. The picture below shows marsh grass. Rather than stitching it dow...

Final Update... And the winner is... Betsy Slover, one of my many Sea Trail neighbors who bought raffle tickets. Congrats to sweet Betsy... a breast cancer survivor! I'm thrilled, Betsy is thrilled, American Cancer Society is thrilled! UPDATE... Thanks to the genrosity of many, I was able to sell nearly $500 in raffle tickets!! Thank you! I am donating one of my favorite art quilts to my Relay For Life Team ~ The Sea Trail Strollers.   We are selling raffle tickets for $5 each. The quilt measures 36"X50", is based on a pattern by Nina Stevens, and made of beautiful batiks and prints. All $$ for raffle tickets must be received by Friday, May 3rd. So, Hurry!!! And, GOOD LUCK

Welcome! So happy you could stop by to visit on this beautiful spring day. Erin Davis  and Madamme Samm  have done a fabulous job of scheduling and coordinating this event...  To them I send ~   A Grand Thank You! My mug rug is a bit on the large size and does not have a thing to do with rain, showers or April. In fact, I should have saved it for next month's bird blog hop. But it is the one and only mug rug I've ever made, and I just love it.  (Oddly enough, so does my DH) It all started with this litte table located in our cozy reading corner of the kitchen.    It's functional because it holds magazines and has a lamp.  However, the top is not real wood! Tacky!  And, our kitchen is pretty nice... We love its open style and views.  Enjoying coffee there in the morning is quite nice. I wanted a nicer looking table. That little table was just screaming... MUG RUG! We have a bird fee...

My sister, Georgia Enid, is so, so talented.  Just look at this beautiful, spring table runner she made for me! A special birthday present for moi. This is a super easy pattern. No quilting or batting involved.  Just straight stitch sewing.  A very good project for the beginning seamstress, or a quick project for the expert. Directions For the Quick Six-Seam Table Runner Fabric for 14" X 41"  1/2 yard for runner back and borders 1/4 yard of second fabric for center accent Directions:  Straighten cut edges and remove selvedges from both fabrics Lay fabric right sides together, matching the long cut edges of the crosswise grain. Using a 1/4" seam, sew each long side together, creating a tube. The 1/2 yard will be wider than the 1/4 yard, and this creates the border along the center accent. Press the two seams open then turn the tube inside out. Center the accent fabric so that borders are about 2" wide a...

I've been working on a few things... The Italian quilt is still my main project. I want to update the last post about stitching over the Glad Press N Seal. It is easier to pull off if you stitch over it once, peel, and then go back over the stitching (if you want). I stitched my design several times and then peeled. Wasn't quite as easy as I thought it would be! Also, I wanted the design to look like the rod iron you see in Italy... I needed a heavier thread. Below you can see where I re-stitched. I like the look so much better, and should have used it from the get-go. You can see, in the photo above, the difference between the heavier thread and regular thread. I just wish my FMQing skills were better. Hopefully time and practice will work that one out. I needed a break from the Italian quilt, so I have started another heron. This one is much bigger than my usual ones. It measures 44x30. I've already ripped out the tree on the right. I want to put in shadow like t...