My favorite art quilt

This piece is part of me English series. It is titled Marketplace at Stonehenge. I used purchased hand dyed fabric. and hand appliqued and embroidery. I made a triptych. It hangs in my kitchen.

Baby quilts

I have four grandchildren, and I have made them all baby quilts. On the quiltart web there was recently a discussion about whether baby quilts should be simple. Mine aren't--I couldn't resist making them special. My oldest grandchilren now 11, are twin girls. My daughter lived in a rented house, and requested quilts to hang on the walls. I made Rosie a sesame street quilt, and Caroline a quilt featuring my daughter's favorite books. Four both quilts I used settings based on some Japanese quilts I had seen, as I didn't want them to have rows of pictures. This design allowed me to fill in the blank spots with some jazzy material.

Since these were wall decorations, I felt they needed quilts to drag around. Rosie loved bunnies, and Caroline loved ducks. Here are their drag around quilts:

When my son had a daughter, I decided to make a quilt based on The Cow jumped over the Moon. I used the house they were living in at the time, and added their two pugs. Murphy, the black one, has  only has one eye, and Maggie has a Gene Simmons' tongue:

 

A few years later my son had a boy, Sean. His parents requested Eric Carle quilt. I didn't use preprinted material for Sean's quilt; I created the images myself.

I have made all four grandchildren bed quilts and Christmas quilts, using my own designs. 

Rosemary Hopkins

working on the beast quilt

I am still working on the beast cloth.  I am almost finished, just a few more holes to fill and, of course, quilting the piece.  I don't know what I will do for the edges. At first I thought I would turn the edges of the tablecloth over to the top, but I think I will have problems with the corners if I do.  I could always make a border using some of the cloth in the beasts.
I have used several of my granddaughters drawings in the piece.  I asked them to draw me some beasts.  You can see them below:

 I'm not very good at moving the pictures around, but you get the idea.  The first picture is a 2 headed beast drawn by 7 year ole Ellie.  The next one with 2 heads also was drawn by 11 year old Caroline.  The rest of the beasts were drawn by Caroline's twin sister, Rosie.

January 16, 2016

I'm still working on m beasts.  Three of my granddaughters sent me drawings to interpret in fabric.  Here is Ellie's, and her drawing:

This is one of Rosie's drawings

Caroline has sent me a beast but I haven't transformed hers into fabric yet.

beasts again

I am still working on my beasts quilt.  I had hoped to have it finished to enter into our quilt show, but I don't think I will make the deadline. Here is an early picture of the beast cloth:

It has a lot more beasts on it now, including 2 drawn by my granddaughters.  Two corners are finished, but there is still blank space on the tablecloth that I am using for the base. Even if I don't make the show, I should get it finished early spring.  The last picture shows a drawing my my granddaughter Ellie and its recreation on cloth.

Working on challenges

Yesterday we went to the neurological doctor and a further evaluation of Ron.  The doctor said he didn't think that Ron has Parkinsonism,  and wants to further evaluation him for normal pressure hydrocephalus.  Next week Ron will return to Barnes Jewish Hospital for 3 days so that they can do several more spinal taps.  These should indicate if Ron has normal pressure hydrocephalus, and if he does, they will schedule surgery to place a shunt.  So we have to wait, something we do a lot.
Today I went with Norrie and Wilma to the Ethical Society for a lecture “Politics and Problems of the World’s Water Resources” Dr. Robert Criss, MS, PhD, Department of Earth an Planetary Sciences, Washington. It was interesting, but somewhat depressing.  I guess a series that investigates world problems won't feature a lot of happy topics.
I am finishing up the entry forms for our quilt show in March.  The forms for the Art Quilt group are due tomorrow.  There are 4 challenges:

Inspiration--I did a piece celebrating my father.  I used pictures that  printed on fabric, and used reverse appliqued to  fit the pictures behind  the fabric.  I used black embroidery floss to quilt the piece. I think the group really wanted a piece on what inspires my quilting but I featured my father anyway.

Snack Pack Challenge : We had to get a container for a snack and use those colors in the piece.  I used a drawing by my granddaughter for the center.  I made the center, and passed it on to other members of my group who added to the piece.
My package held crackers and had brown, blue and green.

Whisper Challenge: Mine started with a picture from the Winterthur Museum Fairy Garden.  I used a picture of a fairy house. I passed it on, and after 5 people made interpretations, the small quilts were returned to me.

Out of the Box Challenge: Debbie donated cigar boxes to the group.  We had to give everyone one item (all the same pieces), and we had to use all the pieces in their box.  I used a mojo doll that Pat Owoc had given me as the focal point.

These were the 4 challenges that the Art Quilt group did.  I also participated in the Guild Challenge, based on a page from the National Geographic Magazine.  My page featured mountains on a blue sky,  I changed the scene to a night scene.  The mountains, or most of them, were purple. I added woods, a river, and some teepees.







I am entering 2 more art quilts, Weeds and For the Love of Outlander.  I got permission from Diana Gabaldon to use the cover design. The designs were sewed to silk and the pieces then sewn to cotton.

my mother

I'm still trying to figure out how to allow comments on my blog.  No success yet.
Yesterday we got a beautiful large tv.  We have a technician coming today, since some things are working right.
Today I need to work on getting my entry forms filled out for our quilt show.
I also want to straighten up the back room, so I can make more art. The back room of the basement, shared with work tables, washer and dryer, etc. is my "studio."
I have been watching to a Textileartist site that is discussing creativity.

Here is another
picture for my Heritage quilt. This is a picture of my mother at about 3 years old.  She had just recovered from scarlet fever.  She tole me that her hair was blond before she got sick.  They shaved her head and it all grew in dark brown.

John Eagan

I had an enjoyable evening last night when I went to the initial meeting of the Fibers Section of St. Louis Artist Guild.  There seem to be lots of opportunities to link up with other fiber people, take classes and enjoy myself.  There were a lot of people there that I knew, and some new faces.  Today I signed up to take a class on marbleizing paper mat the artist guild.
Wendy and her crew are coming in at 6:30 for a brief visit.  I can give Caroline her Harry Potter Coloring book that just came today.  It was supposed to be a Christmas present. Oh well.
Here is another picture for my heritage quilt:

This is John Eagan, my maternal grandfather.

Margaret Doyle, my maternal grandmother

Today I am going to the new Fibers Section meeting at St. Louis Artist guild.  Karen and I are going together.  I might also go to Art Mart for some supplies for my heritage quilt.  Here is another thing I want to include in the heritage quilt.

This is the birth registration for my grandmother, Margaret Doyle, born 1863 in Macclesfield, England.  Macclesfield is located in Chester region of England.  They have great genealogy sources.  I got this birth certificate from them, and other paper documents, like Margaret's twin's certificate, and their parent's marriage document.
I think it's going to be a problem to fit all the info and pictures I have into the heritage quilt.  Edit, edit, edit!

researching my maternal side

Surprise! The new tv came yesterday and was left at the back door.  It wasn't supposed to come until Wednesday.  Ron and I hauled it inside, waiting for my son-in-law Chris to set it up on Sunday, when they are in town.
I am still gathering supplies and pictures for my heritage piece, and drawing in my sketchbook (not so good but I hope I'll get better).
I am scanning some shots I took in the 90s when I took high school girls, including my daughter to Ireland.  Pictures were so good, but I'll see what I can do with them. I'll have to fool with this on on Facebook.  It is cropped from the bus ride to the Dingle Peninsula.








Here's another picture of my grandmother. Pretty lady, wasn't she?  She still has the dime broach on.

Margaret Doyle Eagan

Not much going on today.  I got my haircut on Saturday--really short, and I love it.
the cleaners came today, so the house looks good.  I am trying to make myself clean out one drawer or one closet a day.  Today I did a kitchen drawer.  I am not a neat or organized person, but I figure if I can finally get things neat and organized, they will stay that way.  Highly improbable.
I am going to look at the pictures I have on the computer for my heritage

quilt, and scan the ones I don't have. This is my grandmother, Margaret Doyle Eagan.  She was born in 1863! in Macclesfield England.  Look at her ringlets and the feather on her hat.  You can't see it very well, but the bar pin by her throat contained dimes, the first money her father earned in the US>

bought Maggie Grey's book

Today is the depressing day when we take down the Christmas decorations.  Now the house is back in order.
I am beginning planning for my heritage multimedia piece.  I bought Maggie Grey's new book, Long Diaries Tall tales.  I have wanted to make a piece about my Irish heritage.  at first I thought I'd make a quilted piece, but since I got this book I think I will work on a multimedia piece.  I am busy acquiring pictures and ephemera  to use, and paints and other items to use.

Rosie and Caroline's Christmas hangings

Several years ago I made wall hangings with my 2 granddaughters, Rosie and Caroline.

 The girls are now 11.  Sean is 5 and Ellie is 7, and while they were staying at my house this year.  I decided to make Christmas wall hangings with them.  I had gone to Joanne's and bought 2 versions of sky fabric and some green corduroy. They chose the sky fabric that they liked.  I put a piece of bating down, and glued the sky fabric down on the top.  I had some fat batt that we attached to the bottom, and they sewed it on the sewing machine. Ellie used some fancy material (also from Joann's) that I cut in strips and she decorated the tree with it, and added a white moon and some pompoms for bulbs.
The one with the house is Ellies.











 Sean preferred to be minialist.
 I was working with Ellie and Sean got bored.  I have a felt covered board and I got out a bag of assorted Christmas fabric scraps.  Sean had a great time developing his picture.  when I was working with him Ellie took over.  Each of them sewed on the sewing machine, fastening the tree, batting,  and in Ellie's case the house.  After they went home (they live in Colorado), I backed the pieces and sewed fabric loops on the top.  Sean had used one of the pictures of Santa on the material he was playing with, saying that the story on the felt board was the night before Christmas.  I used the Santas to make labels for the back.  I mailed them along with some home made granola.  The package hasn't arrived yet, so I am waiting for their take on the wall hangings.  I rescued my felt board, put the scraps back in a bag to be donate. Here are the labels for the back:

Sean's creation 

cigar box makeovers

I have neglected my blog since October, but one of my 2 New Year's resolutions is to blog every day.  Don't know whether I will follow through on the resolution, but I am doing a blog for January 1, 2016.

Who can believe it is 2016!  I remember years ago thinking that 1984 was far in the future, after I read a book by the same title, and here we are, in 2016.
My husband Ron has been ill for most of 2015, first with an aneurysm surgery in April that he never really recovered from.  He spent 10 days in the hospital and another 10 days in rehab.  He is better, but not back to where he was in March.  We are hoping that he continues to improve.  Due to his health, I have been unable to travel to see Wendy, my daughter, in Overland Park Kansas or my son Scott in Castle Rock Colorado.  Luckily both of my children and their spouses and children came here for Christmas.  It was great fun to see Ellie and Sean.  They had been here for Thanksgiving. I hadn't seen them for a long time before Thanksgiving.

I made my grandchildren decorated boxes for Christmas.  One of my art quilt friends owns a high end cigar shop, and she share some of the boxes with me.  They were beautiful wooden boxes. I scanned images from a book published in 1923 and printed the images in fabric.  I back the fabric with batting and embroider the pictures. I framed the pictures with fabric and glued them onto the top of the box.  I glued fabric onto the sides of the box.  I lined the interior with more fabric. I used a handkerchief in the bottom of Rosie's box since it had an embroidered rose.







I used a handkerchief with daisies on it for the interior of Caroline's box, since daisies are her favorite flower.

I made another box for Ellie: 

I had to think hard on how to do a box for my grandson Sean.  I made a steam punk box with my friend Karen.  I used a cropped picture of Sean in his Halloween custom for the lid, and put scanned pictures of Power Rangers inside the box. I was going to use Transformers, but Scott told me he was done with transformers and now into power rangers.  Good thing I checked.


 That's all for now--Happy New Year!