Carol's Pun Poetry - Poet-Tree

In the beginning when the word was chosen I was completely stumped. I started thinking about it and came up with poetry, which translated to Poet-Tree.

I copied a small picture that was my inspiration (it was about 3”) and used my enlarger to obviously enlarge it! I started out with a white piece of fabric and used fabric paints and Inktense sticks, not the pencils, to create my wood tree. I also used some masking for the

whites of his eyes, which I had never done before, and a hair dryer to dry th inks and paints when I added more color. Once I had him all painted up, I did stitched texture for his bark/mustache/face/hands and then cut him out of the fabric.

I then got another piece of fabric and painted his background. I attached him to the background and stuffed him a little so he would have a small belly. I then sewed him down and added more

quilting and fancy stitching, etc. His right hand and book were added last. The book cover is a small piece of silk and the pages are white cotton. I wrote the poem Trees by Joyce Kilmer in his little book, of course.

All in all, I like him quite a bit.

HI. Karen Pulaski here!!

Hi Mavens. I'm happy to be part of your talented group.

  I've been sewing for most of my life. I started my career in the bridal field. For 13 years I made or altered bridal dresses.
   I made the move to teaching quilting 20+ years ago. I've added children's sewing classes to the mix as well.
   I enjoy all the aspects of the quilt. Machine applique is what I really love.

 I am however not a pro with the computer. I'm going to try to post some pictures for you to see. If they don't show up you can go to my Face Book page, Karen Pulaski Fiber Arts to see what I've posted so far.

I've enjoyed seeing the posts from Nantucket. I'm disappointed that I couldn't be there.

Thank you
K

He sees FISH

Yes, an odd name for something in the cell category, but my son works in a Pathology Lab and this is his view of the microscope in a dark area with a color florescence that can be changed depending on what you need to see/know.
He posted this pic on facebook one day after the "word" went out and I said that is a cool picture, and proceeded to make it.
I used cottons, fabric paints, inktense pencils and of course thread.

Nedra's South - "Sunbonnet Sue Goes South"

Being a native southerner, I thought this would be a breeze.  However, I had a very difficult time settling on an idea, even though south brought to mind many words, sayings and pictures.  I dismissed most of them for various reasons.  The singular picture of "The South" that kept recurring in my mind was of the beautiful live oak trees draped in Spanish moss that dominate the landscape where I grew up.   Having seen the same landscape in Charleston and Savannah,  I decided that was what I wanted to portray.  I discussed my idea with Andrea, who knows I have a special attachment to Sunbonnet Sue.  She thought I should incorporate her into my design somehow.  Well here she is!!

“Sunbonnet Sue Goes South” wearing her crisp white “sundress” – but wait!!  Ever wondered what she looked like under those unflattering dresses?  Now you know. 

The leaves of the tree are painted with Setacolor paint.   The moss is thread painted and then embellished with an eyelash yarn, that I pulverized with my rotary cutter, and fused on top. The tree, sue and flowers are fused and machine quilting finishes it off.

Nedra's Surprise Quilt - Let's Party!!

My inspiration was a birthday party given for me by my best friend when I was 15 which meant a lot to me, thus the girly color scheme. I also tried to evoke the feelings I had when I entered the room and everyone unexpectedly and suddenly appeared and shouted surprise, so I wanted to make things pop!!!! I imagined an explosion of color and confetti and sparkles raining down around the word in the air of the room and tried to create that with my piece. I think that I accomplished that goal.

I did not take process pictures this time - so I will explain what I did.
I wanted to print the word surprise on a background piece but I wanted the letters to be scattered. Sooo... I printed the letters on paper and then using a light box, I traced the outline onto the background fabric. I wasn't sure how this would look, but I used setacolor paint to fill in the outline in a stencil like fashion. It came out pretty well so I then backed this fabric with fusible and cut out the letters, then fused to another piece of the background fabric in a scattered pattern. I then picked pinks and purples and applied fusible to them. I cut triangles of different sizes and shapes randomly and worked with them until I had an arrangement that appeared to pop. I fused these and used decorative stitching to embellish the edges. Next I cut confetti and streamers from the leftover fusing backed fabric and added them. When all of the pieces were fused, I sandwiched and machine quilted, finished the edges and squared it up. The finishing touches are metallic pieces and crystals which I glued on to add touches of sparkle. And voila, we have SURPRISE.

I have to admit that I made THREE pieces for this! After seeing them all together, I decided I liked the first one I made the best afterall.

If you scroll back in the blog postings, you may notice that I've posted twice. I wrote my post yesterday and saved it, but I didn't realize when I published it this morning it would still be dated 11/14. So I republished it for today's date. Sorry for the duplicate.

Five Mavens at Festival in Houston!

As planned, the five of us there at the Quilt Festival in Houston got together Thursday evening for a delicious dinner and much fun conversation.  Above you see, from left, Alice, Carolyn, Judy, Sara, and Rita.  The latter two took classes, and they gave enthusiastic reports on how much they enjoyed them and how much they learned.  Judy worked a vendor booth, as she does every year (and at many other quilt venues!), so how she can look so totally un-tired and cheerful is testimony to her youth!  Alice and Carolyn chiefly feasted their eyes on the gorgeous quilts, concentrating primarily on art quilts.

The "big winners" were stunning, and the various sizes and categories of art quilts, amazing.

A highlight for Carolyn and Alice during Wednesday's Preview Night was seeing "up close and personal" the two different series of the original 12 x 12 group.  Karen was manning the exhibit [womaning the exhibit???!!!], and what a delightful person she is!  We identified ourselves, and she got out her iPad, went to their website or blog, and then found us in the sidebar.  She seemed to like in particular our banner, and she commented most favorably on our quilts.

Before dinner on Thursday, Carolyn and Alice went back to see who else might be there, and we met Deborah Boschert, Gerrie Congdon, Kristin La Flamme, Karen Rips again, and Brenda Gael Smith.

Thursday evening after our dinner we not only brought out and examined closely one another's little Harmony quilts, but Judy showed us how to Zentangel (is that a verb?) and also some lovely examples of her machine quilting.  Sara, the only Houstonian, had forgotten to bring HER quilt, so she

was the photographer for the picture of the four Mavens who brought theirs!  Sara, incidentally, had the group Alice in Wonderland puzzle quilt, for which she posted a photo here earlier, was a Maven who had a quilt exhibited in Houston.  What an honor!

Carolyn, Alice, Judy, and Rita with our Harmony quilts!

And here's Sara with her Harmony quilt!

Delighted to be Invited

I want to thank Andrea and Alice for the opportunity to be part of a new creative experience!! Andrea and I have been friends for many years as we are members of the same quilt guild and we are currently co-chairing a 12 X 12 challege for our group. It has been a great experience for me, pushing me out of my safe box of fairly traditional quilting. I welcome the opportunity to be a member of a group eager to try new things!!!

I have been quilting about 25 years and started off with traditional designs. I enjoyed piecing and applique, but spent the first 5-10 years working on patterns and kits. Once I became more skilled and comfortable, I tried original designs, but they were frequently inspired by things I had seen in magazines or shows; I "copied" very well. I have gotten increasingly interested in doing more original work. I have experimented with embellishments, fusing, stenciling and a little painting and dying, although I still usually work with commercial fabrics. My long-range goal is to create my own fabric, utilizing some of these techniques, as I want to develop a personal style. I also enjoy the quilting process and enjoy hand and machine quilting. Bright colors appeal to me and my most recent quilts have incorporated Kaffe Fassett fabrics. The picture above is my most recently completed quilt. The best way to describe my quilting style and work is to say it is always evolving and I am willing to try almost anything.

On a personal note, I am a retired dietitian, originally from Louisiana. LSU is my college alma mater and I completed a dietetic internship in Virginia. Vermont, Maine and Massachusetts have been my homes for the past 30 years. John is my husband and we have two children and two dogs. My other interests include travel, tennis, skiing, gardening, boating and volunteer work. That's probably enough about me.

Again, I'm so happy to be a member and have an idea for the Surprise theme!!