MQA - Patches Workshop

Recently I taught my "Patches" class in Jackson for Mississippi Quilt Association. These nine students were a fun group and did wonderful work.

I'm always thrilled with the talent and creativity of the group.

 

 

Mississippi Ag Museum in Bloom

I feel honored to be among 4 other Mississippi fiber artists in this rendition of the Mississippi Ag Museum in Jackson. I had section #4 of 5 sections and I call my piece "Small Town Mississippi." My piece measures 25"X36" and is made by fusing commercial cottons and then stitching and quilting heavily.

Small Town Mississippi

Detail

Detail

Label on the back.

The back with hanging sleeve.

This is the picture we worked from which was divided and each person was given a black & white copy of the finished size of their section.

Mississippi Ag Museum in Bloom

Starting from the left the artists are:

1. Marcus Weekley

2. Martha Ginn

3. Cathy Reininger

4. Julia Graber

5. Rita Warnock

I decided to take 'artist license' to make blooming flowers in my section to cheer and brighten it up. Now, I'm not too sure that was a good idea. They seem to stick out like a sore thumb!

  

  

Mississippi – AMB Blog Tour -- Giveaway

I am honored to be a part of the AMB blog tour representing Mississippi.

One of my first thoughts about joining the blog tour for AMB was to find pictures of actual Mississippi license plates. I liked how this plate represented Mississippi’s forestry with the pine trees, the coast with the water at the bottom of the plate, and the magnolia, the state flower.

So I proceeded to make a trial block and ended up with this, “Go Mississippi.” You can see my process HERE.

Then I simplified the block and made “Go Mississippi II” using the AMB fabrics.

I wanted to try a third block, something completely different. Different colors and different style. So I used this license plate for inspiration.

I still liked the idea of using the pines, magnolia, and coast line but I liked the periwinkle background to this plate. So …. here is

“Go Mississippi III”

And did you know that AMB solids are made here in the USA? Maybe some of that cotton that we grew on our farm, that was ginned locally (Scroll down on that link to see the gin.) went into my own quilt block!

Mississippi has some interesting sites to see and things to do.
Explore the Natchez Trace – A Unique Journey from Natchez to Nashville.
The Tupelo Automobile Museum has the largest selection of classic cars east of the Mississippi River.
The Dentzel Carousel in Meridian brings back memories of days gone by.
Spring Pilgrimages in Natchez, Aberdeen, Holly Springs,  and of course Columbus where I get to volunteer with hand quilting.

This giveaway is now closed.

Clothworks is giving away a fat quarter bundle of 8 of their AMB solids to one lucky winner. And I’m giving away 7”X7” squares of my left over AMB fabric to another winner. To enter the giveaway leave a comment on this post letting us know why you would like to visit Mississippi. And if that reason is to come visit me, then “come on!”

This giveaway will be open until June 8 at 9:00 p.m. CDT to US addresses only. Then we’ll choose two winners with Mr. Random Generator.

You can download my free
Go Mississippi III – Instructions

   

Mississippi License Plate – Go Mississippi II

This is my 2nd Mississippi license plate quilt.

Remember how I said I want to simplify, yes, simply the first one?

The biggest noticeable difference is two pine trees instead of four.

And this time I used the American Made Brand cotton fabric.

The AMB blog tour will start Monday, May 19. I hope you will follow along and visit two states a day. My day will be May 30 along with Indiana. You will have to wait until then to see my “real” Mississippi tag block for AMB. You can see the schedule HERE.

But for now, here is how I made

Go Mississippi II.

I paper pieced the pines.

I added the blank center fabric and …

… and the strips of water at the bottom.

I resized and printed out the “Mississippi” logo and then traced around the letters onto the fabric with a textile marker. (And yes, I’m left handed.)

For the magnolia flower, I drew, cut out, and fused the petals and leaves together …

… and ironed them to the background.

Then I outlined the flower with a permanent craft pen.

Next I layered the top, batting, and back and began quilting. I left the background behind the letters unquilted because I was undecided how to make it look good.

After working with a sample, I decided to quilt right through the letters and then use my textile marker to blacken the thread over the letters.

Now it’s all finished!

Go Mississippi II – $60

Detail

Dimensions: 12 1/4” X 6 1/4”
Material: AMB cotton solids, King Tut cotton, Rainbows, and other thread, unknown batting and backing
Finished with “Fast Finished Triangles” and is ready for hanging.

The back

And you have until 5:00 p.m. PST, May 16, 2014 to enter my fabric giveaway HERE.