Seamus the Wonder Dog

This wee quilt (11" x 14") is a gift for Vivian's daughter. She is bonkers over her beagle. And she's coming to visit in August so I pirated a picture of Seamus from her blog and interpreted him in cloth. I think it is funny and it was certainly fun to put it together. I recently received Leni Levinson Weiner's "Photo-Inspired Art Quilts" and combined some of her techniques with those in Marilyn Belford's book "Portraits for Fabric Lovers".

This was a great exercise to get me back to work (play) with my quilts. Now I think I'm going to roam the neighborhood taking pictures of the neighbors' cats and dogs because I have to do more of these fun little pieces.

Something New from Something Old

SPIRAL LONE STAR (52" x 52")
I have been very uninspired over the past few weeks. So I dug out my one UFO - I think I started it five years ago. I had the star diamonds and the appliqued squares finished so I sewed them together and added another fabric to make it square. Then I had something to quilt and keep myself entertained. It actually took almost two weeks to finish - certainly not all that time to quilt but a lot of time nevertheless. This was a nice opportunity to try out lots of Karen McTavish's quilting motifs. I usually don't like stippling but even used my own loopy brand of that technique in the outside setting fabric. Now I have nothing left to quilt so I'm going to have to do something to get the creativity going again.

LATE BLOOMER Finds a New Home

I had the good fortune of reconnecting with an old friend by way of Facebook recently. Last week, she was in Springfield and we got to catch up with one another. Wow, it is so great to spend time with someone who "knew you when" and who you enjoy just as much now.

I told my friend about my late life passion for art quilting and showed her some of my work. Today I learned she had contacted Waverly House Gallery and is now the owner of my favorite (and largest!) work - Late Bloomer. So congratulations to Cheryl for giving my quilt a new home and congratulations to me for letting go of it.