Cross Village Rug Works

Cross Village Rug Works was such a fantastic place. They made custom rugs by hooking wool and by using looms. It was located near the famous Leggs Inn Restaurant and I frequently visited to see the progress on the numerous rugs. In the fall of 2009 they offered a class in which you could make a rug of your own. It was a two day affair and I have included pictures of myself and my sister. It was such an absolute blast. My finished rooster is featured for this blog. I think of rug works every time I come to cross village, I wish they wouldn't have closed. It was such a great destination. Prior to their closing I bought a shelf that was made of wood (featured in an earlier blog post) and some of the wool roving that was hand dyed. I still use the wool in many of my quilts and I cannot look at my pillow without thinking of that magical weekend. The building is still vacant where the rug works was located. I still think it would make one neat studio....... For all of those places and projects that hold special memories......until my next post. XO

Botulism-See Beauty

See Beauty! Sometimes in our day to day lives it is difficult to find beauty in the little things. Cloth Paper Scissors magazine was offering a challenge for "felted wonders". I love my felting machine but was at a creative road block. My friend Jamie was pulling her mail out of her box at work when I spotted the cover. It was absolutely gorgeous. I asked her if I could have it for inspiration. The electron microscope picture was of botulism. There were vibrant purples, oranges, reds, yellows, and blues. I felted the quilt with pure dyed wool roving. The small spore forming bacteria were constructed from wool roving and old nylon scarves in yellow and green. Black nylon scarves were felted around the border. The scarves were then hand stitched with purple cotton embroidery floss. Large orange beads were added for dimension. Finally a quote from an old dictionary defines beauty and a cool dog tag that says "see" was pinned on the front. As a reminder, remember, beauty is everywhere you just have to open your eyes.

Hat Boxes Quilt

The Hat Boxes Quilt is from Kaffe Fassett's book Passionate Patchwork. Another quilters must have. His use of color is so amazing. This quilt was made using floral fabrics with earth under tones for the divisions between the hat boxes. As an added punch of color, the had boxes are outlined in a blanket stitch in bright red fabric. The gloves and hankies are all vintage finds from yard sales. This is one of my favorite quilts and I have it in my bedroom so that I see it everyday!

An Apple A Day......

 This quilt is from the book Quilting with My Sister by Barbara Brandeburg and Teri Christopherson. This is a quilters must have. I have actually three quilts in progress from this one book. They have such an amazing eye! This one is titled "apples" and is in the hearth and home section.  For those that know me, there is no hearth and my home is a small apartment. I still find these very feminine quilts so cheerful. This quilt I finished 100% on my own. I find now that I like to have my quilts professionally quilted as I just don't have the time to quilt them, nor the patience. Not to mention they come out exquisite when done on a long arm machine. This is one of the few that I did from start to finish on my own. Remember an apple a day keeps those doctors away.......

Glass plate 2

This glass plate was made at The Village Glassworks. My friend Kirsten invited me to take a glass fusing class with her. This studio is located in Auburn, Michigan. It was so much fun. The plate was made using three layers of glass. I used scraps for the larger stripes. The smaller stripes were made from "noodles" of glass. I really enjoyed this process and would love to play with glass again soon.

Village Glass Works

www.villageglassworks.com/

Glass Plate #1

This glass plate was made at a studio in Cross Village/Harbor Springs Michigan. Lynn Dinning and I met at the Good Hart market days last summer. She was at the booth next to me and was kind of enough to provide me bags for the sale of my blankets/towels for the humane society. I looked her up and was able to take a tour of her studio. I was also able to make this glass plate. The glass on the top is my favorite as it has the neatest properties. It is called dichroic glass. I plan on using this plate for my pins while sewing. It is the perfect addition to my studio. I hope to take classes from her in the future. She teaches at the North Central Michigan College located in Petoskey, Michigan.  She can be reached at her website, it is worth checking out.  http://www.artistsnorth.com/dinning/

Leaf #9 Fabric Paper

Leaf #9 is made from fabric paper. I just enjoy this technique. I am amazed that I can use scraps of paper and plain muslin to get such neat effects. This paper leaf was made using some old book pages from an educational secretarial book on short hand. It was then embellished with tissue paper. The final color was added with shimmer mist in grape. The embellishment is an old earring. The die cut by sizzix is very an oak leaf that is quite a bit smaller than the previous maple leaf. It still adds such a flair to the tree!