Artist Altered Book Project

I'm enjoying participating in an Artist Altered Book Project. Here's how it works. Janice Paine-Dawes set this up for the ten of us who asked to be included. We each choose a theme and size we want for our book and create a cover. Then once a month another artist sends us a page for our book while we send a page to another participant. Janice has sent us a schedule to follow as well as setting up a Yahoo group so we can post our work.

My book's theme is Trees/Leaves/Rocks/Water--anything nature-related, in an 8" x 10" portrait format. Here's my cover:

I've made a page for Joani Share with the theme People, Places or Things, 6" x 8".

Here is my page for Leni Weiner with a Bird theme, 8" x 10": It is based on a photograph taken by my photographer friend Carol Clark and she gave me permission to use it. See more of her work at   www.facebook.com/carolclarkphotography.

I'm eager to begin receiving pages for my book!

Quilting the Shapely Challenge--With Help

My Shapely Challenge quilt is all assembled, bordered, layered and basted. Now for the quilting. This step really had me stumped. It turned out about 85" x 95" and I wondered IF I could handle the quilting myself and if so, HOW to quilt it. I have a Sweet Sixteen machine, but still worried about actually doing it. After much thought I realized that all the planning wasn't going to get the job done and I just needed to get started. Elizabeth is my constant companion and loves to curl up on whatever I am working on. Since it is important not to have anything restricting the movement of the quilt or dragging on the quilt, I kept moving her. When I would leave the quilt and come back, she was in another "more comfy" place.

Rah-Rah thought Elizabeth might be getting too much attention, so she joined her and got as close as she could.

After I was through she finally got to get under the machine head--where I wouldn't let her be while I was quilting.

Now for the binding. The reveal is at Pine Belt Quilters' March 9 meeting; I will post a full picture then.

Color Bars and the Ole Miss Museum

The Color Bars class was a success, if enthusiasm can be the measurement. We had such a good time I forgot to take pictures, but here is one that Linda Flanders sent after she completed a piece using the different exercises we did in the class. She is calling it a Sampler since it displays a sampling of free-form techniques.

"Color Bars Sampler" by Linda Flanders

What a thrill it was to see 58 of Caryl Bryer Fallert-Gentry's quilts at the Reception of her 40 Years of Color, Light, and Motion exhibit at the Museum at Ole Miss in Oxford. The exhibit runs through April 16. If you don't get to see it in person, Caryl has provided a link, click here.

Caryl Bryer Fallert-Gentry and Martha Ginn

She had her first quilt (very traditional) she made 40 years ago on display and showed her progression into quilts as fine art. I picked up Rita Warnock in Madison on the way to Oxford--much more enjoyable than driving alone. 

Martha Ginn and Rita Warnock

Then I spent the night in her home (under one of her masterpiece quilts!) before the SAQA pod meeting on Saturday. We had the "reveal" of the Ag Museum pieces that five of us had been working on. Sections 3 and 4 are still in progress, but we got an idea of how they will look presented together.

J Marcus Weekley, Martha Ginn, Cathy Reininger, Julia Graber, Rita Warnock

The pieces are 36" high and 24"-30" wide and are finished with facings. The photo behind Julia shows the entire scene that these five pieces depict.