Sunday, October 25, 2009

Sedona Craft Show 2009

Yesterday was the Sedona Historical Society's annual Arts & Crafts show and bake sale. I participated for the first time last year, and even though I didn't have great sales then, I decided to do the show again this year. What a difference! My sales were great, and I took several special orders as well.
Here's a picture of me with my friend Joyce, who I first met in 2003 at my first craft show in Flagstaff:

I had a great location on the lawn outside the museum:


If you are unfamiliar with Sedona, it is a community built among beautiful red rocks... very scenic and warmer than Flagstaff, which is a mountain community north of Sedona. We had great weather in the high 70's, clear skies... just the perfect conditions for a craft show. The crowds were great, and they were in a buying mood, at least at my booth. Thanks to all who stopped by!

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Look Grandma, I'm quilting!

Well... it had to happen sooner or later. After all, I did inherit the quilting gene from both my paternal grandma and my paternal great-grandma... probably countless other ancestors as well. But for years I have been resistant to traditional quilting... too much measuring, too much precision, and really! How many bed quilts can you use? Well, the perfect opportunity has presented itself. As posted awhile back, my quilters' guild makes quilts for several organizations in the community, to be distributed and used by those less fortunate. Our guild has a committee that cuts and packages fabric and instructions for several items that are checked out by members, assembled, then turned back in to the committee. I have done several pillow cases over the past couple of years, but I finally decided to bite the bullet and try one of the quilt kits. It even gave instructions for how to put together a pattern (absoloutely essential in my book!). Anyway, I'm about 2/3 done with the quilt top:
When finished, it will be a lap quilt. I'm not totally thrilled with the colors selected to go with the print fabric, but I'm looking at this as a good learning experience. Maybe the next one I do, I'll grab fabric from my stash instead of checking out a kit... one way to reduce the overcrowding in the stash dresser! More to come...

Sunday, October 4, 2009

Autumn Leaves at Sunset

I love fall foliage... never grow tired of the brilliant colors. For the past couple of years, I have done 'Autumn Leaves' designs on shirts using soy wax batik and low water immersion dyeing. This year, I decided to create a landscape quilt using the same techniques, and I'm convinced it won't be the last one I do. I just finished binding it, and here is it's debut photo:
I needed one more piece for my exhibit in November at a local restaurant, and thought Autumn Leaves would be a timely piece to add... someday, I really need to try another design to batik, but for now, I'm hooked on leaves!