New Class Coming!

Beginning January 31, 2013, I will be teaching an extension course class at Millsaps college! The class will be once a week for 2 hours, running for 6 weeks. I'll also have additional time scheduled at the studio during the week for students to work on their pieces. We'll be making wall hanging quilts from photographs, from the pattern stage through to the finished piece.

I am unbelievably excited about this opportunity. I love teaching as much as I do sewing and I am really looking forward to this class. I have posted some pictures of completed pieces using this technique. Some of my own and a couple from students. Gwen Harris did the Cypress Swamp piece while working with me in the MS Arts Commission apprenticeship program and it won a blue ribbon at the Pine Belt Quilters show last month. Rynetta's piece isn't finished yet, but hers is absolutely stunning. The rocks are insanely realistic.

Gwen's finished quilt.

Rynetta's in-progress quilt.

My friend Sally's house in New Orleans.

From a Wyatt Water's picture, used with permission.

The Cedars on Old Canton Rd.

You can see the original pictures that the quilts were made from at http://photobucket.com/Photo-to-Fiber.

"Mississippi Roads" tomorrow night

Bottletree Studios will be on tv tomorrow night! Anne and I were taped several months ago in connection with our participation in the Project Rezway show and the "Mississippi Roads" episode is airing at 7:00 on ETV Thursday evening. I believe you can watch it at http://mpbonline.org/ after it airs.

We put a lot of work into our submissions and had so much fun doing it! Our imaginations ran wild and it paid off with some wins. We had a group of drama students from Brandon who served as our models during the show and they did a wonderful job. We're looking forward to participating again next year and already have some new ideas.

Storytellers Ball juried art show

4th place win! I am over the moon excited about this. Not only was I the only woman to win, but mine was the only fiber in the show. The three pieces were apparently judged as a tryptich since they didn't single out a specific one by title.

The Jackson Arts Council had a nice artist reception and opening last night and it was great to meet people and chat with the other artists and viewers. The artwork was all so gorgeous I can't imagine it was easy to judge it. After seeing what I was up against, I was blown away that I had won anything! Just being accepted to the show was a boost for my confidence to begin with, so you can imagine what an actual win did for it. It gives me hope that another piece currently in the judging stage for an art show at The Cedars has a shot at being accepted also.

So now to the pictures. The three pieces in the "Blame it on the Blues" show at the Art Center of Mississippi, 201 E. Pascagoula Street, Jackson, MS 39201 (hanging through Aug 31) are Kona cotton and batik reverse applique. The quilting is the lyrics of signature songs of each musician. BB King "The Thrill is Gone", Muddy Waters "Rollin' Stone", and Buddy Guy "Damn Right I Got the Blues"

Well crap....I can't get the photos to load so here are the links to the photobucket pics.
http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk194/DeltaMoon/TheThrillIsGone.jpg
http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk194/DeltaMoon/RollinStone.jpg
http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk194/DeltaMoon/DamnRight.jpg

Sally's house quilt

There have been some comments on the MQA list about landscape quilts made from photographs, and it has motivated me to post one of my own made recently. I had a grant through the MS Arts Commission to work with an apprentice and we decided on quilts made from photos we took. Mine is from a picture of my friend Sally's house in New Orleans. The finished quilt and the reference photo:

And this is a commission I did a month or so ago from a Wyatt Waters watercolor (with written permission!) and the original painting.