I'm in!!

It's official....my new studio is now open for business. A few days ago, our contractor left out the back basement door, and I came down the stairs with my rotary cutter in hand to start working...at long last.  There are still a few finishing touches that need attention--like changing out the hinges to match the doorknobs (I have discovered a new love in redoing our basement.  I am obsessed with doorknobs!), grouting the shower in the new bathroom and hanging some sconces and overhead lights.  But even with these last things undone, it is complete heaven to work down there.  And the best part is that it has been raining non-stop here for the last week or so and I do not even have to think about water coming in because of the drain tiles we had installed last November.  An unfinished basement is one thing, but water pouring in around your longarm frame is quite another story!

The first project to be tackled in my new space was to finish my last quilt for spring market, which is approaching at breakneck speed.  Janine came so we could do some tag-team sewing.  I know I have mentioned team sewing before but seriously--try it if you have a deadline and any willing and able body to iron seams for you.  You won't believe how much you can get done in an evening!  We sewed for hours and things got a little messy....

People wandered in and out to see what we were up to and even Maggie gave us a hand!

I love this quilt!  I have been wanting to make it ever since I drew it shortly after I first started designing. It's called Green Glass Door--so named after a game my sister Anna used to play as a kid.  I had a lot of fun collecting the fabrics for this quilt.  I made sure to have some random prints like green peppers and chairs.  They are all framed with green solids.

And a quilt with random fabrics deserves a random backing....like this fish print!

All of my market quilts are now at the quilter's---sadly, I do not have the time to quilt them myself.  But it is a tremendous relief to have them all done--and with a couple of days to spare.  I am not quite sure what I will do with myself!

Happy Easter!

Have a beautiful Easter Sunday! 

 I hope your Easter Basket is full of fabric.....

Southeast Wisconsin in 8 hours

On Thursday, we did a lecture and trunk show for the Lake Country Quilt Guild that meets in Delafield, Wisconsin.  We love going to different quilt guilds and talking about quilting.  First of all, we get to meet a ton of new quilters in the process, and second of all, we get to take advantage of some face time in the car to talk Blue Underground business.  We got a little lost when we got off the highway...but that only adds to the fun.  Delafield is a super cute town!  The Lake Country Guild has great quilting spirit-- we had a lot of fun with them and their guild meets at 9:00 AM so we had some time to bum around our favorite hang outs after the meeting.  That of course started with lunch at my mom's!  After lunch we went to two of our favorite quilt/fabric shops in the area:  Patched Works, Inc. and Bigsby's Sewing Center.  Both are on Watertown Plank Road in Elm Grove.

Janine and I are hardly ever known to pass up a fabric buying opportunity.  We love the fact that we can find completely different fabrics at each of the quilt shops we frequent even if they are down the street from each other!  Both of these shops rank high on our 'favorites' list.

Bigsby's carries many of Lonni Rossi's fabrics (printed by Andover).  Of course I had to zero in on the green section--I don't think I will ever get over green--it really is my favorite color.  I have a ton of green fabric, I've made a respectable amount of green quilts, and if I didn't wear so much black even all of my clothes would be green!

They also have a great selection of buttons.  I am loving the fact that they organize them in a rainbow palette.

And if you are feeling over burdened by the number of bolts you have chosen to buy from, do not worry!  They will wheel you over a sewing chair to relieve your stress...

I started a collection of Lecien and Lecien-type fabrics on this shopping trip.  They are not my usual bright colors but I have a specific project in mind.  I want to make a wall quilt for the new bathroom in my soon-to-be finished studio.  I chose a tealy-grey paint color called arrowroot from the Martha Stewart collection at Home Depot.  I cannot stop thinking about how great these fabrics would look with that paint...In fact, I thought about it the whole time I was sewing a quilt for market today!

As soon as I can move into my new studio (which could be as soon as Sunday evening!!!!!), this is going to be the first stack of fabrics to go on my cutting table.  I might not be able to sew them right away, but I can at least look at them while I am sewing other things!

Creative uses for quilts brought to you by a 2 year old....

At the Walsh house, we have quilts in every room.  In fact, when I first started quilting in earnest, I finished a couple of quilts and thought "wow, I can't wait until I can have stacks of these around to put on chairs, guest beds, etc..."  Little did I know when we started Blue Underground Studios how quickly that time would come.  We are lucky enough to be able to live with quilts that are not out on trunk shows (Janine and I take turns with our favorites).

I have been known to use quilts for many different things--table cloths, picnic blankets, Christmas tree skirts....but if you are two years old and you have at your constant disposal a stack of quilts that can be used, loved, tossed around, washed and sat upon, you can come up with some pretty creative things.

If you're in the mood for some nature, you might wrap yourself up in a quilt like a little caterpillar in a cocoon.

Be sure that the quilt is wrapped loosely enough so you can burst fourth like the beautiful butterfly that you are!  We have it on good authority that quilt cocoons produce the most gorgeous of butterflies...

If you are in the mood for adventure, you might set out for a boat ride on the high seas!  Make sure you have enough friends around you to make big waves and watch out for pirates!!

Of course, when you return home from your journey, the best thing to do is wrap yourself in some love and just chill out!

I love that Maggie is growing up with fabric and quilts all around her.  She's already "making quilts" by arranging scraps on the living room floor and remarking about things that are "extra colorful."  I can only hope that someday she will love to sew as much as I do.

You know you're getting old when...

...you find yourself in an art gallery looking at paintings created by one of your former junior high students in the SAIC BFA exhibit.  That is exactly where I found myself on Wednesday of this past week, after I had spent the day at a social media conference downtown.   I snuck over that evening to the Sullivan Gallery on State Street to see the work of Samantha Haring.  I had the pleasure of teaching Samantha during her junior high career at The Willows. The entire exhibit was beautiful---and inspiring.  It's exciting to think of all of these young artists graduating and moving on to making art.  You can see some of Samantha's work here.

I love visiting galleries and looking at art in all forms.  It can be so inspiring, especially for a quilter (or just plain anyone who's crazy about color)...I often come home from a trip to the Art Institute with new ideas for color palettes and quilt themes.  Looking at art online can also be very inspiring.  Do a google image search using some of your favorite artist's names.  A host of images will come up, some of them with commentary on the colors or a brief history of each painting.  Some of my favorites are Grant Wood,  (partially because of my penchant for all things green--look at those Iowa farm hills!  How can you resist running to your bin of green fabrics?)

                                      Young Corn by Grant Wood
                                   Source:  Grant Wood Art Gallery

Vincent Van Gogh (I love the yellows and blues in this painting--)

 

                  Cafe Terrace on the Place du Forum, Arles, at Night
                                         by Vincent Van Gogh
                           Source:  http://www.vangoghgallery.com/

and Vermeer (speaking of blue and yellow, see below!)

                                   The Milkmaid by Jan Vermeer
                            Source:  http://www.artinthepicture.com/

So just how, you might ask, can you use these paintings to inspire your quilting?  You can, of course, do the obvious thing and take an entire color palette from a painting and use it in a quilt.  The simple thing would be to use equal amounts of each color.  If you want to be more complex, you can study the color relationships in the painting and determine each color's proportion.  You can also take just a few of the colors (or even just two) and use them as a color palette for a quilt.  If I were using Grant Wood's Young Corn as inspiration for a quilt, I would use all of the shades of green.  To further the farm theme, I might create a strata-based quilt (hmmmm....I might have to try that when spring market is over).  If I were using the Vermeer or Van Gogh painting, I would probably do a quilt with different shades of blue and yellow and possibly cream.  Since I am not ready to use any of these paintings for inspiration at the moment, I will come back to them from time to time.  You never know how something will inspire your work in the future!

So, congratulations, Samantha!  And thanks to you for giving me the opportunity to look at some art on a busy Wednesday afternoon.

 

My Other Life

I am a person who is never satisfied doing one thing only.  As a college student, I sang in an opera chorus and did some community theatre in my spare time.  As a teacher, I nannied, did a little community theatre, worked as a dresser/nanny at the Lyric Opera, and worked on the musicals at the high school I taught at.  As a pattern designer, I am still helping out with the musicals at the Willows, 15 years after I started teaching there.  I LOVE it!  But, it makes me busy and sometimes keeps me away from my other obligations.  These days, that means that I do not get to sew as much as I need or want to.

This year's production was Roger and Hammerstein's Cinderella.  It's always a challenge to do a full scale musical at an all-girls school.  We have to hire out a prince, and many of the girls play male roles and well as female.  Luckily, in the 'Cinderella days', the men probably wore low pony tails, so no one had to cut their lovely locks.

Of course I am constantly looking for links to quilting in every aspect of my life.  During this show, I was able to help with not only the students and their rehearsals, but also the set and the costumes (See the stone wall in the photo above and the pumpkin carriage in the photo below).

It really is a fun change from my normal day.  When else would I go to JoAnn Fabrics and buy 50 yards of orange tulle?  I mean, who even knew they sold orange tulle??  And in multiple shades of orange?!  And when else can I go to Home Depot and purchase spray paint in every shade of beige, brown, cream and gray that they have with no questions asked?  (Either I don't look like a graffiti artist or graffiti artists don't favor the "neutral-castle wall" color palette)

The bottom line is, I got to help out with the musical AND talk a little about color and design as well.  And the best part?  Maggie got to tag along almost every day.  Working at home has been the best gift ever because I get to spend every day with her!  Here she is with the Fairy Godmother--one of her favorites.  She can't wait until she can be in the play...

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the work continues on the basement.  It got a whole lot better looking...and then....it got a whole lot worse.

But the fine details are now being taken care of and we are on the home stretch--or so they tell me.  I have happily taken over the ENTIRE house at this point with my fabric and now that the play is over, the days find me furiously sewing at the dining room table or cutting at the kitchen island.  But, more on that later!  It's late and I have to rest up for a big day of sewing tomorrow!

Quilt Camp!

This past weekend, Janine and I had the honor of joining the ladies at Camp Tecumseh's Quilt Camp in Brookston,  Indiana. We were invited to camp at quilt market last May!  At that time, it seemed like so far in the future.  We made all of the arrangements, and put the date on our calendars.  Whenever I schedule things a year in advance I have a hard time believing when the actual date arrives.  But, it always does, and I found myself packing up pajamas and a pin cushion on Thursday evening.

Honestly, I had no idea what expect as we drove down Interstate 65.   We left Chicago behind, and as we drove south the landscape became more and more rural.  As a city girl, I really do love to drive on a highway flanked by cornfields.  When we pulled into camp, the first thing we saw was our name on the welcome sign.  How cool!  We've never had our name in lights before!

From that moment on, we began a weekend of sheer bliss.  We sewed, talked about sewing, ate, sewed some more and met some really wonderful ladies that I hope we have the honor of seeing again.  Here is some of the exciting things they were working on:

Lydia and Caroline started a Gemini with a cool palette.

Judy worked on these applique flowers.  She told me this was her first try at machine applique.  You really couldn't tell--she seemed like a pro!

Cheryl made this cool Mod Quads out of pink, red, black and white fabrics.  Both Janine and I want to make one of these soon!

Jayne made this funky little quilt out of fabric she bought when she arrived at camp.  She made the entire top AND a pillow case while she was there!

Christine started this Around the Block with reproduction fabrics.  Gotta put one of these on my list, too!

Ruth made this top that she calls Wild Child!


                                         

And look at these cool blocks Liz made using chopped up police patches and pants from her husband's uniforms!  Super innovative!


I sewed a ton, and was happy as a clam!  However, I was suffering from a severe case of 'head in the clouds' syndrome (yes, this is real...) and I had to rip almost every seam I sewed except on my name tag! In fact, putting my name tag together might have been the most fun I had sewing this weekend.  Beth, who organizes and runs camp, gives everyone new a small piece of fabric with their name embroidered on it.  You have to personalize it and make it your own.  I used a stack of shot cottons that I have been moving around my studio for a couple of years waiting for the right moment to cut into them.

Frankly, I couldn't stand it any longer!  I saw the opportunity to cut and piece these fabrics randomly and couldn't resist.  Here's the result.

 When you leave camp, you file your name tag in a little baggie with your name on it.  That way it will be there when you return.  I like that idea!  It's like insurance that you'll come back.

The weekend went very fast.  Before I knew it, we were packing up and heading home.  I will always have the fondest memories of this camp--my first quilt camp.  I can't wait to go again!