Intarsia-the method I use for making a horse quilt.

I've made this same pattern, perhaps a dozen times.  It never gets old for me.  I really enjoy giving the horses life and movement.  Art is all about creating something that was never there before.  Creating is therapy and maybe a god complex of sorts.  We can't control things in our lives, but we can put fabric together and create things just the way we like them to be.  

I saw a new term at the the American Folk Art Museum in NYC.  I think it perfectly describes the method for making these quilts.  I took this photo of the description of the process.

Intarsia-is a method of butting fabrics up to each other to create something.  

When I make my horse quilts with the intarsia method, I butt the fabric next to each other and use a blanket stitch to carefully attach the pieces together.  The horse quilt above uses wool, cotton, and silks in the piece.  

It is going to be auctioned at a benefit for the Broken Arrow Baseball team.  In Kentucky, I donated a couple to the Mom's Closet for a benefit which was sold during the Kentucky Derby festivities.  #quiltersdoinggood

Mystery Quilt Obstacle Course! Are you Quilter enough????

In the wee small hours of the morning, the course is set.  Back and forth the quilter traverses, bin after exciting bin of holy stash fabric, that's rarely touched or has seen the light of day.  Like the treasure of the Sierra Madra dancing miner she bops and weaves and sings her maddening song as she tries to decide the fate of the fabric.  Oh worra, worra, worra, will this be a great quilt or a drag around quilt?  Attacking the first hurdle of the Mystery Quilt obstacle course, she must choose a Sofi's Choice: A, B, C, D, E and F of tiny 2 inch pieces of fabric attached to boxes that will determine the fate of her beloved fabric that she has, like the proverbial squirrel, stored for the WINTER IS HERE!  It's a commitment!!  She's turning it in and throws fabric stash caution to the wind...BWAHAHAHAHAH!

James Bond Quilt

 Quilting can be cute and traditional or edgy and modern, or completely original like this James Bond Quilt.  I made it for my brother, Don Blanchard, Jr.  In the best of worlds, quilting is relaxing and hobby that can be beneficial for your mental well being.  Art is therapy.  That is what I believe.  A pot of tea and a chance to work in my studio is, to me, like Radiohead and butter, oh so good when you need a boost of flavor in your head or your mouth.  Using your hands to create this or any work of art is also some soul food for your mind.  

Twenty Years on the Shelf! They Never Go Bad...smile

This is a project I started over 20 years ago.  Thank goodness, fabric does not have an expiration date.  I guess maybe if you are shop owner, you cringe at that statement, as moving out fabric means selling fabric.  But, thankfully for us quilters, who are closet ADD folks, we can always circle back around and pluck it off the shelf and start again, right where we left off!

This is a pattern called Radiance, by Judy Curtis.  The pattern came out in 1985.  I was working at the world"s greatest quilt shop at the time, called Creatively Sew.  It was in Old Town Spring, north of Houston.  This was a wildly successful quilt shop.  When I worked there we sold a lot of material.  Of course, this was before the internet, and Houston has a few million people living there, so that helped.  

BINDING LESSON:  

I chose the dark blue to be the frame for this wallhanging.  Whatever color you choose, especially for a wallhanging, it pops out the color on the quilt.  I also wanted to emphasize the contrast.  I would be a shame to work on such a difficult piece and not be able to see the design, because you didn't choose a good contrasting material.  

BJ Designs at the Tulsa Quilt Show!!!

     I have been making this horse quilt pattern, "Race the Wind", for several years now.  I get a charge out of making it every time.  It's so much fun to put a new spin on the pattern.  This is one I made for my oh so awesome nephew, Kole.  He got married last weekend and he has always liked the quilt that is not really similar, but sort of, that is hung over my fireplace
     Like all patterns, I make them my own.  When I teach classes I tell my students that patterns are only guidelines to bend at your will.  Sometimes they take this instruction a little too far, but, you know, it's kind of good they embrace the idea...smile.

Thank you BJ for giving me years of pleasure with your wonderful pattern designs!!

Bucket List Items Grow...smile

We have been sidetracked from our fun for sometime now.  But, that's got to stop!  Now we want to start working on the bucket list again.

I want to go to Yellowstone and ride snow mobiles.  We went for 2 weeks when the girls were little during the summer.  It was spectacular.  The animals and the crowds were large.  So, I'm thinking maybe the winter it will be less?  http://www.togwoteelodge.com/play/winter/snowmobiling/yellowstone-tours.aspx?cct_info=1%7C15832%7C9798656323%7C50177394%7C1796093034%7Cb%7C17559783354%7Ctc%7C%7Cg%7C%7C%7C&cct_ver=3&cct_bk=yellowstone%20snowmobile%20tour&mkwid=svRPhhtGL&crid=17559783354&mp_kw=yellowstone%20snowmobile%20tour&mp_mt=b&gclid=CJzMsvSF5LgCFdFDMgodAQUAcw

I wan to go to Cancun and scuba dive to see the underwater museum.  http://www.aquaworld.com.mx/underwatermuseum.html

These are 2 I'm really interested at the moment.  Maybe we can get them done within the next 2 years?  

Boy...life...go figure

Yes, I'm back.  It's been so long since I've wrote anything here.  I've been dealing with some family stuff and it's starting to be something good...I hope...I think...I'm afraid to say...

Like Cher and Nicholas Cage on the movie, Moonlight, it is now time to snap out of it.  Juggling so many balls is going to have to be a way of life and I've got to deal with it.  It doesn't do me any good to try to eat my feelings.  I've put on 33 pounds since my last family crisis.  That doesn't do anyone any good, least of all me.  So it's time to be true to myself and get back to the things I love.  I'm beginning to use the My Fitness Pal app to track my food and exercise.  I'll be getting back to volunteering for my 2 favorite causes, WFPK and the public radio partnership and my church.  Hmmmm you say?  Well, I'm of the thought that what's wrong with a little conversation?  Can't we agree to disagree?  I don't agree with everything my church is about and I don't agree with everything my favorite radio station is about.  When I don't like something, I can turn it off, or look ahead to the sermon series and decide if that's something I want to hear or not.     

Besides volunteering, my husband, Bob and I are SLOWLY trying to downsize.  We've done the upstairs of the house and now we are almost done with the first floor of our house.  We have painted every room and packed up all the house, except for our kitchen and master bedroom.  We just don't need this big of a house and this big of a yard, 1 1/4 acre.  I'm not a great house cleaner, but, we still have to mow and that kills half a day or more on the weekend.  

My training for triathlons is going to have to take a back seat.  As much as I love, love, love, swimming, biking and running, it's got to wait.  I still see women older than me out there, so I can hold.  

Well, there you have it.  I'll be uploading the progress of all these things.  The family business is still fluid and working itself out.  Children are the joy and loves our lives and so you do what you have to do.