Threadpainting trees

I am doing my best to update my blog more often! Now that I have finished my first draft of my manuscript, it is being read by my friend, Cyndy Rymer. Cyndy was the editor on two of my quilting how-to books and an amazing writer and quilt artist as well.  I am forging on with my quilt that I hope will be featured on the cover of my novel, if and when it gets published. If Cyndy says my novel is a "piece of crap," I will go on to plan B. I just don't know what plan B will be..........My dear friend Jane Moxey also took the time to help mentor me and gave me so many helpful suggestions that made my novel so much better. A big shout-out to Jane - "You rock girlfriend."

Anyway, I am adding texture to the top row of trees with thread work or free-motion embroidery. I will be putting a layer of light pink tulle on the bottom half of the quilt to make the reflection dulled a bit and it won't be as necessary to do as much thread work on the trees as a result. Each of the larger trees takes around 30 minutes each and I use a stitch I invented - tight little circles with a squiggle on the end - takes two bobbins for each tree and a heck of a lot of thread on the top!
I am still contemplating whether or not to add a border or not.....normally, a quilt just whispers in my ear and says "You don't need a border, you idiot," or, "What were you thinking, put a border on me!"
It's funny how quilts talk to you if you listen, isn't it?
Onward and upward. Until next time!
Happy quilting,
Love,
Joyce

Landscape quilts and a new book

 Mt. Rainier reflecting in Tipsoo Lake (in progress)

 

 

New Happenings

After having rotator cuff surgery on my right shoulder last year, I was unable to create quilts. However, I was able to write! I've been diligently working on a "quilting" genre novel since then and am finally seeing light at the end of the tunnel.  I am in the process of creating what I hope will be the cover quilt for my novel (above). The novel is partially set in New York and on Orcas Island, WA. The theme also focuses on my protagonists love of landscape quilting (go figure....), her dream of creating a quilt based on Mt. Rainier, and becoming a "Professional" quilt artist. That's all I will divulge for now, other than to say it is a rather "spicy" novel and has lots of humor! 

After another rewrite, I plan on querying agents who deal with this type of genre. It's the agents job to find a publisher, so keep your fingers crossed for me! 

 FYI, I painted the sky and water for my Mt. Rainier quilt and I must say, it was loads of fun. I need to do more of it! I used transparent fabric paints vs. opaque.

By the way, after checking out McKenna Ryan's choice of  electric die cut machines, I asked Santa for the same type. He brought me a Silhouette electric die cut machine but as yet, I haven't had time to hook it up to my computer. I can just imagine what I will be able to do with it in the future (imagine being able to cut out multiples of trees, bushes, flowers, leaves, etc.) I will keep you abreast of my pursuits in that regard as soon as I get it set-up!

My New Years resolution is to be more visible on social media so let`s toast to that! See you soon.

 

The quilt show

See my latest quilt:


http://www.thequiltshow.com/os/quilt.php/quilts_id/1023348

The Quilt Show Episode 912

Well, after a year and a half after taping an episode focusing on landscape quilting with The Quilt Show online with Ricky Tims and Alex Anderson, my episode (#912) begins airing today and can be viewed for the next two weeks - there will also be a new project for members available later on as well as more slides of my quilts......It was so much fun being on the show and I am very humbled to have been asked to be a guest!

View more on Joyce R. Becker's website » www.Joycerbecker.com and her blog, www.joycerbecker.blog.blogspot.com

Garden tour, Luncheon, and vintage fashion show!

One of my "Thursday group friends," (my quilting satellite group) bid on an auction at her church for a group to enjoy a garden tour, a luncheon, and a vintage fashion show. My friend, Christine, treated us to the most wonderful day - The home we visited was beautiful with a huge flower and vegetable garden. It was a gorgeous day out, in the low 80's, and after the garden tour, we were seated at beautifully decorated tables in the garden, and treated to an incredible home-made luncheon. 

The quiche was creamy and full of ham, and a home-made granola, topped with garden-grown raspberries and Greek yoghourt, was delicious. We also had a small muffin with orange zest and an orange glaze on top.

After lunch, we headed inside the home to view an amazing fashion show of clothing and accoutrements, from the Victorian era to the 50's. What a treat. I haven't had such a wonderful day in ever so long and I think the rest of my friends felt the same. Thank you again, Christine!

Here's a cell phone photo of one of the outfits:

Change in Plans....

Today, I thought I was going to work on my quilting novel......silly me, what was I thinking? I was trying to tidy up my studio and put things away since our house-keeper comes tomorrow. I tried cramming one more thing into one of drawers and it just wouldn't shut, so....................
I decided it was time to clean those suckers out! OMG, I had so much shit stuffed in the drawers it was no wonder everything wouldn't fit. I unearthed all kinds of crap, none of which really belongs in a sewing studio like; ribbon/bows to decorate the top of a gift, 6 pairs of scissors that were so dull they wouldn't even cut paper, little bits of fabric, pins up the ying yang, and a whole bunch of machine embroidery needles that were UN-used!! The list goes on and on and on. Now, everything has a place and I feel a whole bunch better. However, now I need to re-organize my whole studio but wait a minute, I can't possibly do that with my shoulder still in a sling, can I......tee hee

Here's some photos of my newly organized sewing table drawers:

ALTERING FABRIC TO MAKE IT YOUR OWN & BINDING TECHNIQUE

Something I often do is alter fabric to make it "my own" or manipulate fabric appearance . In this case, I am talking about fabrics for the binding on my quilt, Tuscany. Yesterday, my dear husband squared up my quilt Tuscany after I removed the facing (see a earlier blog about why a facing didn't work on this quilt)....After removing the facing, the edges were lumpy, so my husband and love of my life, squared it for me. He has helped me in the past many many times squaring quilts, so he knows the routine. There is no way I can use a rotary cutter at this point because it would mean putting weight on my arm and shoulder and I sure don't want to screw up my recovery of my rotator cuff after going through surgery!

Once the squaring was done, I asked my husband (very sweetly, I might add) if he would consider cutting the strips for my binding. He agreed and with my assistance, he cut the 2 1/2 " strips I needed of various fabrics for the binding on my quilt.  My goal was to cut "like" colors" used in the quilt for the binding. In one case, I didn't have a speck of fabric left over, so I "altered" another fabric to make it appear the same as in the quilt. 

The technique I used was to color around 3 inches of a very similar Stonehenge print with a peach Neocolor wax pastel and smudge the color with my finger. Here's the original color and the altered fabric.

BINDING
Instead of using the typical method of joining strips when switching from one fabric to another on my binding, I tried something new because I wanted the binding to match the fabric in the quilt exactly. My method was to leave extra fabric on each end of each color of binding, then fold a portion and insert it into the other folded edge where the two fabrics meet. It is confusing because you have to look on the front of the quilt and front of the binding vs. looking from the reverse side as it won't line up properly. Here's a photo showing how the binding will look:

Next time, I will try and set up my camera to record a video so I can show you in person how I accomplished these techniques!
That's it for today.
XXOO Joyce 

Quilting withdrawal!!!!

I am suffering from quilting withdrawal.....I have soooo many ideas but here I sit with a right arm I can't do much with (I had rotator cuff surgery May 20th). However, I am working hard on my quilting genre novel and having fun writing! I am now writing chapter four. I do go back and rewrite and rewrite but I basically just want to get the words on the paper and then go back and tweak it, make the words more descriptive, and add more detail. I seem to do fine with the dialogue, though!
On another note, I was able to remove the facing on my quilt Tuscany (the quilt is just too thick to do a facing because the seam won't roll to the back, as desired). I am going to see if I can iron left-handed today and press the seam open to the front again so it can be squared. I think my husband will square it for me as he always helps me square my quilts (whatta guy!) I feel confident I can put the binding on as my ortho doc said I can use my right hand - especially since my sewing machine is at the perfect height (just like my keyboard). I tried hand-quilting earlier this week but my arm killed me the next two days so I will have to do way less.......
That's all that's going on with me right now. Take care everyone and keep on stitchin'
xxoo Joyce