DENVER QUILT QUILTED

Hey, it's quilted.  All the pins are out, and back in their jar.  And I trimmed off the excess batting - I hate all that fuzz.

CHANNEL QUILTING

You know, you have to shove half of the quilt through the 'keyhole' when you get to the middle...

But, I'm half way done!

OKAY - I STARTED QUILTING IT

BACK FINISHED

The back is finished!  It's too large to photograph.  Here it is on the ironing table.

HANDMADE LABEL

Using my lightbox, I inked the label, onto a piece of the lightest hand-dyed fabric, using Prismacolor Pigma pens.  

HALF A BACK

I got a little less than half of the quilt back done.  I pinned that part to the bottom of the work wall.  It's the part from the leftover-block-row down.  

I put the rest of the plain squares up and just moved them around a little to get the basic layout of the colors.  I need to tweak it still, I see.

I reorganized all the leftover pieces so I can find them easier.

Then, I went to work on a different project.

I'll be back.

BACK FOR DENVER QUILT

I redid the fabrics, this time reading the directions first.  Always a good idea.

Just as a reminder - here's a comparison from the first batch:

I cut up the fabrics and started putting them up on the wall:

I came back the next day with the realization that I didn't have enough fabric.  I have a lot of scraps leftover from the top.  So, I started adding them.  I'm stuck in a grid.  That's how my mind works, I guess.  I like grids.  Besides, we've been talking and thinking about maps lately.

I sewed all the extra blocks together in one long row and stuck it up in the middle.  Then I started on the upper left and started sewing things together.  There's a lot of blank spots to fill up yet.

BACKING FABRIC FOR DENVER QUILT

I decided I wanted to dye my own fabric for the back of the busy Denver quilt.

I got out this great new book I got recently - 

Great book, but I didn't read all of the important parts before I started so....

I thought I was using an awful lot of dye....

I was!  After I had the fabric in the bags with the dye solution, it looked a little darker than I wanted.  So, I went back and read the directions.  Oops.

The fabrics turned out beautiful, but they are not what I wanted.  

So, today, I actually read the instructions and then started again.   I will post the results tomorrow.

DENVER QUILT TOP FINISHED

 Finished sewing the rows, and sewing the rows together today.  Tomorrow I'll start on the back.


See progress photos at:
http://terrypeart.blogspot.com/search?q=denver

DENVER QUILT ON THE WALL

Putting blocks on the wall and moving them around...

PROGRESS ON DENVER QUILT

Over 240 blocks made all with an inset seam and there's still fabric left!

FABRIC FINDS IN DENVER

One of the things I used to do all the time was go Quilt Shop Hopping. I love fabric! I love collecting it. I haven't been fabric buying in a long time. So, while Darrell was busy in Denver I went to a few quilt shops in the area. Having a gps in the car made it extremely easy. I had a whole list of shops, but after I went a little nuts at the first one and spent too much money, I had to cut back on my list. I didn't pace myself. So, I only went to two shops, The Great American Quilt Factory and Fabric Expressions. Nice stores but I think their selection was down a little, maybe due to the economy. I did my best to stimulate them, though!

In the past what I would do with the fabrics, when we got home, is make a quilt commemorating our trip. [See Berkeley quilt] So, now my mission is to come up with a design for Denver. Hmmmm.

Stay tuned.

DENVER TRIP

Wow, my Mom just pointed out to me it's been a while since I updated my blog.

We went to Denver last week, got back on Sunday and was back to work on Monday. So, I didn't have a lot of time to paint (or anything).

I wasn't sure if I should post about our trip or not. I started this blog with the idea it would be about my painting and art making. It has evolved.

We had a good time at the Denver Art Museum. Unfortunately it was covered in tarps because the brand-new roof had been leaking. A very cool building. We'll have to go back when its fixed.

We saw:

a show of posters from the 1960's San Francisco area. Then we wandered around looking at their collection of Western paintings, a nice collection of European paintings (Pissarro, Monet, and folks) a very cool Hieronymus Bosch (strange) even some Gustav Baumann prints. Darrell enjoyed the furniture, there were a few nice pieces by William Morris. There was even a chair exhibit, showing examples of different styles through history.

We went to Denver because Darrell was conducted a workshop for a group of woodworkers. So, on Saturday I was on my own for most of the day. I took the advice of a friend and went to the Mile High Flea Market. I didn't go to shop so much as people-watch. I put a long lens on the camera and wandered around trying to get candid pictures of interesting-looking people without their knowledge. I want to use the pictures for painting portraits, so I was looking for people with no hats and no glasses (I hate painting glasses). Such people are pretty rare, especially on a very sunny morning. The light that morning was very intense, just the way I like it. I did get some photos I can use, and I got some interesting photos of some of the stuff for sale there.

Oh, and I did buy a very interesting African Mask. This is the second mask I've acquired, the first, a 'Day of the Dead' type mask I got in Galveston, probably 10 years ago, while on a side trip from Quilt Market in Houston. I guess this means I'm on my way to having a collection. (nooooo).