I visited my Aunt in January and she asked me if I could make a quilt with the birds she has cross stitched. When I asked her what she had in mind she said "I don't know, do whatever you want......I'm not fond of purple"
I immediately called on my online quilter friends for advice. I didn't find anyone who had done it before. Someone said to line each section of aida cloth so the batting won't beard through the holes, so I started with that. Then the blocks spent a lot of time on the "design wall" (that's a flannel sheet hung on the wall with a curtain rod, not fancy but it works). It was a challenge to arrange them; mixing the various styles and colors of aida cloth and then filling in the gaps to get columns and rows. I selected fabric from my "stash". I started with greens, browns, looked for some florals (got a little purple, but I think it's OK) I wanted the fabrics to be varied as the cross stitch panels were varied. I was hoping this would draw attention away from the differences in the birds. I think matchy matchy fabrics would have accentuated the differences in the cross stitch panels. I played around a lot with the fill-in pieces. I probably made twice as many as I needed and then chose from those. The scrappy border was an after thought, but it needed something. I chose the quilting design because it reminds me of puzzle pieces (something else my Aunt enjoys) It's a basic meandering. The stiffness of the aida cloth gave free motion quilting on my basic sewing machine a whole new feel and I was glad it wasn't any bigger than it was. The label on the back lists the name I gave it: "Birds of a Feather" (My Aunt and I have a lot in common. My mother once said that maybe I should have been her daughter. I think it was when I was learning counted cross stitch, too funny!). I just love the way it turned out and hope they do to. I will happily take it back at any point.
A Colorful Pink Tourmaline 
Exquisite Emerald
Alexandrite in blue
My first quilted photo. This photo of a petunia from the patio was altered with a photo altering program on the computer, printed on fabric, and free motion quilted. Thank you Beth Wheeler for the inspiration. I bought both books after seeing the preview show so there will be more. 
Another little convergence quilt. Quite different from the first one. A shout out to Leah Day for free motion quilting inspiration and Ricky Tims, king of convergence. 
This is my 2nd Convergence Quilt. I followed Ricky Tims directions on this one. One square is an owl border fabric and the 2nd square is wonky pieced square with the stars on top and the "trees" on the bottom. 
I found this fabric on clearance. I thought the colors were great, but the funky blue roses, yuck! So taking the advice of one blogging quilter......
Trying something new, my favorite thing. I love origami and fabric and putting them both together to make these flowers was a fun experiment. Now, what do I decorate with them? I think I need to make more. 
My mother has been very busy. When we visited her at Christmas she gave me these 12 monkeys she had embroidered and asked me to make a quilt. Before we left Q-town I picked out some fabrics to use with these monkeys. So I will be "monkey-ing around" in the studio to turn these into a quilt for my grandson, her great grandson. 
Yellow Coneflowers is a hand appliqued wall quilt inspired by Kumiko Sudo's quilts. It was the first time I used bamboo batting for hand quilting. I like the silky feel of the bamboo and the softly quilted quality it achieved. I tried using a hoop for the quilting but the dimension of the flower petals kept getting in the way so most of the quilting was done without a hoop. I liked the way that felt with all the fabric and batting soft and bunched up in my hands. Here is a shout out to all the "liberated quilters" and the freedom to do what feels good and works for you. This quilt is currently on display at the Appalachian Art Center retail gallery. 
