Sewing on the Vacation

We took a long trip in our travel trailer this summer.  Some of my friends told me to take my sewing machine and a project, so I did!

Normally when I'm out on vacation, I don't want to be cooped up in inside a trailer.  Well, anywhere inside actually.  But I learned that the weather doesn't always cooperate, your husband needs a break to go fishing, and/or you're not able to go anywhere because you're exhausted.  I'm never too exhausted to sew a little bit, though.

Joanne Roth trailer sewing

I tried one of those modern techniques where you sew a scrap of fabric to the corners of squares.  My stash is loaded with teal green and light turquoise, plus black and white prints.  So that is what I selected.  I did a little bit of cutting out before we left to make it easier to pull out the project for quick sewing here and there.  And my inspiration was from "Diamonds in the Rough" pattern by Jenny Rekeweg in Quilters World magazine from the Winter of 2013.

After we got back, I sewed together the blocks into a 57.5" x 67" top.  Although the pattern didn't call for a border, and modern quilts often do not have a border, I decided to add one in black and white prints to give it more stability on the edges.  Final size is 63.5" x 73".  It's not quilted yet, but I like the top.

Modern Diamonds by Joanne Adams Roth

I hope you like it too!

Nest Art Quilt Show in Camas

My nest art quilt show in running this September at the Second Story Gallery in Camas, WA.  It is a joint show with Wilson Cady and his paintings of the Columbia Gorge and areas nearby.

The staff of the gallery is so wonderful and they did an amazing job of hanging this show to blend all of my 19 art quilts and Wilson's paintings.

The opening night was on September 2nd, which turned out to be a rainy night -- one of the few during the last couple of months!  We had a great turnout anyway, and the musician was perfect.  Nice food, nice company.  It was a great night.

I even got a little picture in the local newspaper.    I hope you get a chance to see the show!

Into the Woods at Night, Part Two

This is a continuation of the Part One post on the quilt, "Into the Woods at Night".

I added a couple more layers of the woods, and added Shisha mirrors as eyes in the foreground.  I really feel like I captured the sense of going into the woods at night and not knowing what is out there looking at you.  The main reason I am scared of the dark!

Last two layers and the hiker 

Gray tulle covers the bottom half, as well as the flashy black tulle as the final top layer.  I added the shadow of the hiker, who happens to be my husband.

All layers pinned and ready to quilt

Have I told you yet that I love my new quilting machine from Innova?  It is so easy to do larger quilt pieces on this machine, and I can change threads anytime that I want.  I used 5 different threads to quilt this piece - ranging from white through gray and to black.

Here is the finished quilt.  It measures 31" high x 47" wide.

"A Walk in the Woods" by Joanne Adams Roth

I hope you like it!

Into the Woods at Night, part One

This art quilt was made for the Clark County Quilters 2017 Show theme, which is "Walk on the Wild Side".  I had so many ideas to fit this theme and am showing you my sketchbook of some of those ideas... hippy with wild clothes and hair, walking into the woods at night with wild eyes looking back, and just plain old nighttime wood scenes.  I liked the idea of the woods the best, so I used this idea to do my sketch.

design sketch

Did I tell you that I am afraid of the dark?  Yes, the only thing I'm afraid of.  I love to hike, camp, and go into the wild, but I am terrified of the dark even when I am with another person and it is my own front yard!  So eyes of wild animals that are reflecting the light had to be the "hidden" feature of this quilt.

I enlarged my design and used a technique that I learned from Patty Hawkins, which is to add fusible to the front of the batting, and then collage pieces of fabric onto the batting.  I did this in 5 layers on the background.  Also using techniques that I learned from previous art pieces, I used organza in two different colors and tulle to dull the backgrounds.  Here are some progress pictures showing how I achieved this effect.

Two background layers done

Trees added to the two furthest backgrounds

Thread and organza layer

3rd background layer, tulle and organza 

More thread and another layer of organza.  Some quilting added.

Front two layers added, plus "eyes"

When I was at Jo-Ann's getting material for my quilt carrying bags, I spied a really cool black netting with just a hint of sparkle.  I could really envision this material as an overlay for the woods.  I bought 2 yards and planned to have this as the very top layer.

Stay tuned.  I hope you like it so far.

Summer hiatus

We're not exactly in the dog days of summer in the Pacific Northwest, but we are now officially in the trailer travel, hiking, biking and gardening season.  

So that means I want to be OUTSIDE!

While I still have some things in the works, and will blog when I get to them, I won't be blogging each week during the summer.

Summer hiatus is in store for me.

Thanks for reading my blog this last year, and catch up with me again in the fall.

Nancy Crow workshop in October

It's still way ahead of the future workshop with Nancy Crow, but I've been getting ready early because of the exhaustive supply list.  I'm really looking forward to the week-long intensive class and am positive that I'm going to learn a lot about abstract design.

To tell you the truth, I'm not that keen on abstract art in the museums, partly because I just don't understand most of the pieces.

Yes, I've taken a few classes from other instructors and have made a few abstract design pieces, and I kind of liked them, but I know that it takes more practice to develop your own technique and outcome.  Sigh...  I think my mechanical engineering brain is too entrenched.

It is a good thing that we broaden our viewpoints as we age, isn't it?

Larkin Jean Van Horn class

Larkin Jean Van Horn taught a class to our guild this week.  Wow!  This was the most fun I've had in class in a long time.  She told us to bring a bunch of fabric in colors of our own choosing and to bring beads to coordinate. So, since lime green is still my favorite color and I have lots of it, I pulled from that pile and added a couple of purples.

I put together the background with my lime green fabrics in her very fun method of fusing directly to the batting.  But when I pulled out the purples, they were nixed!  Luckily, other people in the class offered up their stash and  I was able to cobble together the right colors.    In every class that I take  through my quilt guild, the people in the class turn out to be the most generous and fun group!  If you aren't taking classes yet, try it.   (I'm not showing you the processes I learned from Larkin.  You have to take her class to learn her techniques.)

Mom's Beaded Memory

My focus beaded center is a pin that I made for my mother many years ago.  When she passed away, I inherited it back.  So Larkin helped me figure out how to attach it to this piece.  I spent a lot of time thinking lovingly about  my Mom as I hand beaded the background to go with this pin.  There's a cute little fringe that I added in two colors.  

I faced this little art piece and think that I may attach it to a larger background.  But here, for now, is this lovely little quilt.