Bee on a flower art quilt

I made another painted art quilt .  This one has a close up of a bee on a flower.  The picture was taken by Pam Ballard on my camera phone, right after I showed her how to take close up photos.

Here is the picture she took.

And here is the picture with the painting completed.

I pulled together all of my decorative threads that were possibilities for this quilt.  They ranged in colors from dark purple and brown, to maroons, salmon, orange and yellow.  I used these for the thread sketching and also the quilting.

Here is the piece completed.  It is 13" W x 17-1/2" Long.

Pam's Flower by Joanne Adams Roth 2017

I hope you like it!

Surprise Call for a Quilt Shop Hop

I got a surprise call from my long time quilting friends that they were coming to Vancouver for part of their fall shop hop.  So I scooted some of my other appointments around and met them at Fiddlesticks.  We took a picture in front of the fall display and posted it on Facebook. 

Diane, Lynn, Dessie, Joanne (me), Chris.  Kathy is missing.

It's so much fun to see my friends and catch up on news.  We had a nice lunch together and then they went on their merry way to the next store (or set of stores).  Happy shopping my friends!

Kids Quilts for our Comfort Quilts Committee

I've been making more quilts to donate to children through our comfort quilts committee.  A few months ago, the chairperson handed me nearly a bolt of banana fabric and another one with monkeys on it.  I finally have gotten around to making the quilt tops.

Monkey and Banana fabrics

I'm not going to share all the steps, because I basically only made squares with borders.  But I will share with you the pictures.  This is what all of the quilts look like, but with slightly different shades of turquoise or bluish-green.

And here's the pile showing the quilt tops and backing that I gave back to our charity group for the quilting.

Enjoy!

Winning Quilts by Friends and others at Northwest Quilting Expo in Portland

I don't know if you get as excited as I do when I see that friends of mine have won awards at quilt shows, but it is a real joy for me!  While pursuing my career, I traveled and lived in a lot of different places and so now I know people all over.  I have lost contact with many of my friends over the years, mostly due to distance, and I'm sad that we don't share letters anymore.  But, I'm also really happy with all of my local friends.  Well, anyway, that is a long winded way to introduce some of my friends' winning quilts at the 17th annual Northwest Quilting Expo in Portland.

Bonnie Keller was with a group of women that went to Asilomar last spring.  It was the first time that I met her, but wasn't the first time that I'd learned of her amazing design and quilting skills.  Here is a wonderful quilt of hers.  "For Everything There is a Season, Turn, Turn, Turn".  This won 2nd place in the applique category.

Judith Phelps is in my quilt guild and we've worked together on many committees.  She has a wonderful sense of design and does both painting and thread painting.  This quilt , "From the Ashes" has a really cool three panel effect, showing how a forest regrows after a fire.  Some people think she made it in memory of the recent Columbia Gorge fire, but, of course, she completed it beforehand.  It won a judge's choice award.

Jodi Davila is a friend from my Puyallup quilt guild.  She entered a stunning portrait quilt, "Margaret", which won 3rd place in the art quilt, representational category.  I loved her playful color selections.  She has been an art quilter as long as I've known her and has made numerous original quilts.

Linda Reinert was one of the featured quilters and had a display of her circle quilts, including some new ones.  She  is a member of my local quilt guild and has won several awards at our show, including best of show.  She was so gracious to show me around her display and talk about her classes at the Pine Needle. 

Sonia Grasvik was a member of my quilt guild in Sammamish.  She does amazing things and I loved her quilt "Happy Dance". 

And here are some others that I liked:

I hope you get to some of the quilt shows where you live and that you do the happy dance for your friends and other quilters too!

Texture pictures for art quilts

Another thing that I have been taking pictures of this summer is texture.  I find it very interesting to look at the texture of things around me.  I think this probably drives my husband crazy as we can't take walks the same way we used to.  I'm always stopping to take a close up of texture.

Oh well, he is a gem and hasn't grumbled at all about minimizing our cardio vascular workouts.

Here are some of the pictures for your enjoyment.

Petrified Wood

Douglas Fir bark, cambium and core

Lichen and moss on bark

Grass

Blue Spruce

ground

Bark

vine and tree trunk

steel door in bathroom

stem

basket in museum

ornamental building detail

concrete pattern

concrete walkway

concrete walkway

cant remember

hazelnut shells

concrete moss

pine cone

leave on palm tree

rope

rusted steel

clouds

Pictures of water drops for art quilts

I have been taking close up pictures of water drops on leaves, flowers, and evergreen trees this summer.  The intent is to get a better idea of how water drops look so that I can use this idea for future art quilts.

Here are some that are helping me see how the water drops really look.

Photographs for future art quilts

I learned how to take close up pictures with my cell phone this spring.  It has been super fun to take close ups of flowers and especially bees on flowers.  The intent was to build up a library of photos that I could use for future art quilts.

Here are some of the ones that are making the short list.