July 12, 2015

Summer is going by just way too fast for me!!! But it has been hotter than usual.

Just finished a crazy quilt class with four lovely ladies. Here's some pictures of them working so hard on their squares.

 Everyone is hard at work...stitching their squares.

 Becky is examining her finished square. Very good!

 Carolyn is pleased with hers!

 Now Becky likes her square!

 Jana is please with hers also.

 Time for put on the embellishments!

 They also learned to work with ProMarkers to paint lace and ribbons.

 Karen, below shows off her piece with added embellishments.

 

Jana, above and her embellished square, and Becky and Carolyn, below with theirs!

Good job ladies, I enjoyed working with all of you!!!

This month of July, I am the featured artists on the Pocatello Art Center.  There are several framed pieces of Under the Sea sitting on stands.

 

The whole case is filled with things I have made over the years.

The bottom piece is my Christmas Tree Skirt.

 The yellow and purple are two placemats.

 Here, is a bracelet and some purses.

 This is a vest I made in 1998!

We just got back from spending three days in Boise. We had a great time visiting and going to the Farmers Market downtown! It was four blocks long!!!

Then we went out to Eagle and saw a parade!!! Well, we almost drowned in it!!!

We had a great time, but good to be back home!!! Thanks for visiting!!!

June 16, 2015

This is my birthday month, and I turn to a Beatles song..."When I am 64!!!" How did that happened?

Just got back from the Brazilian Dimensional Embroidery Seminar and what a blast we all had!

There were over 100 of us, from all over the states, Canada, Australia and Hawaii!!! We made new friends and watched others reconnect who knew each other over the years. 

The Guild is 24 years old, and have been meeting at the Concordia University for 12 years. So there were many who have come every year, and many of the founding members were in attendance.  I was just in awe!

I arrived on Sunday evening, and relaxed on Monday as the members got ready for all the stitchers to arrived on Monday evening. Everything was so well organized! Tote bags being prepared for the arrivals, lots of goodies in them!!!

Class projects were on display and the talent of all of these ladies was overwhelming for me!

The classes were set up from Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced. Needless to say, I didn't take any advanced classes, but I did learn 25 new stitches and now I need lots of practice! I was fortunate to win one of the 10 scholarships they award each year, so I filled up every morning and afternoon with classes. This is Rosalie Wakefield's work below and I learned several new stitches in her class. She was instrumental in me jumping out of my comfort zone to go in the first place, by convincing me  on the phone ahead of the seminar that I would enjoy it. And she was so right! Thanks, Rosalie!!!

One of the wonderful programs for the newbie is they assign an Angel to watch over you.  Well, mine had been lurking on the Brazilian FB site, and saw me post that I would be there. So Doni Palmgren called in and asked to be my Angel, and she was the best!

She had seen me post that I made a name tag for myself.

So she made me a gift of a needle book by tracing my initials. So thoughtful, I was blown away!

Thanks, Doni, I will always treasure it, and your friendship!

Gorgeous flowers for our Welcoming Tea!

 We all ate together in the cafeteria and the food was simply superb all week! In fact, I gained 3 pounds and I was doing my best to stay on my diet!!! Gotta get to the gym now!!!

 Debbie Kelly blew us away during entertainment...she competes in belly dancing, but the wax lips knocked us out of our chairs!!!

 The Concordia University was beautiful, and we had wonderful weather, which means in Oregon, it didn't rain!!!

 My first attempt at paper art...ok, I will stick with fabric!!!

 Here's one sample of my favorite stitch of the week, I think it's called, "Triple knotted cast on drizzle stitch", and that's a mouth full!  It looks like wisteria when done in purples, but I practiced with these threads to first learn the stitch.

Of course, I have much practice ahead of me, but I am hooked. I will be showing off these stitches on my crazy quilt projects.
The last night we had a banquet, with wonderful food and more belly dancing and entertainment. Then when it came to a drawing, the lady asked me to pick a name out of the box, and believe it or not, I picked my own name. But then so did the second lady!! What are the odds of that!
The goodie back they sent me home with was so awesome.  Though I did have to redistribute my luggage and carry on, I was over my 50 pounds by two. But they didn't charge me extra!

I had so much fun and loved meeting everyone, I can't even begin to list all the new friends that I made. But I will be back next year, since Loretta twisted my arm to sign up for teaching a crazy quilt class next year!!!

May 31, 2015

Hard to believe the month is over, and summer is about to begin. I had a great time yesterday sharing my passion at the Fort Hall Replica Grand Opening.  I had some special friends stop in and visit with me, and met some wonderful folks who showed interest in my classes coming up at the Pocatello Art Center later in June! Here are some of the pictures for the day:  I got there at 9:30 a.m., to set up for the opening at 10 a.m. I used both tables at first, because they didn't know if anyone else would be showing up!

 I had the table laid out with my many projects...the red heart is the door hanger for my front door for February. It was a big hit with several young girls...one lady may sign up her 12 year old to take my class, that would be special!

 I took advantage of the church bench behind me, and laid out my antique quilt along with the quilt on the left made by Evelyn Sandusky, my mother-in-law.  We didn't know she had been a crazy quilter till after she passed away and we found several among her boxes.  The middle one is my modern version, I call "Victorian Elegance" and it is the one I did in my first class with Judith Baker Montano!

                          How apropos to have the flag and a picture of Lincoln in the room!

                                                More display on the church bench.

 

Another close-up of the three generations of quilts!

                                                        More eye candy on the table.

 Here the Calendar and Magazine by Pamela Kellogg, Crazy Quilt Quarterly is shown. Thanks, again, Pam for the invite to be a "cover girl"!!!

 Since I knew I was here from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., I knew I better have something to work on! The square in front has four squares off visiting around the country in a RR!!!

 Betty Jane showed up and used the second table. She got a kick out of me telling her that I am the "crazy" one, and she is the "sane" one, so everyone who came in the door was told, "we are the sane and crazy quilters"!!! It's was fun sharing the day with her!

             And oh my, can she quilt.  Look at this beauty, I think she called it Purple Majesty!!!

 And here I am with all my eye candy surrounding me. Thanks to my friend, Gail Kern who took these two pictures!

It was a fun day, and heart-warming to hear people say, "oh you are the one featured in the local paper"!!! Thanks to Gerald up at the Fort for sending them back to us to visit with us! I had made up a board featuring the article and the cover of Crazy Quilt Quarerly.  I also had plenty of little flyers on my classes that they could take with them!

 

So what's next.  Well, next Friday, June the 5th is our local Art Walk. And I will be set up with the two lovely ladies that own The Paper Doll! Brooke and Whitney Richardson are doing wonderful!

So be sure to stop in and see us on Friday evening! https://www.facebook.com/thepaperdoll.biz

Thanks for visiting. Next post will be after my trip to Portland, Oregon for the Brazilian Dimensional Embroidery seminar. So be sure to "follow" me so you can see that post on what I learn!!!

May 21, 2015

Happy Memorial Weekend!

This has been an exciting and eventful month for me.  See the post below for the picture of the Crazy Quilt Quarterly by Pamela Kellogg....Thanks, again, Pam!!!

I was also featured in my local newspaper, The Idaho State Journal.  I must say, Rebecca Long Pyper sure did a wonderful article. I didn't even know she knew some of that about me. Obviously, she did her homework. I don't know how long the link will be available, so I will copy it here:

Crazy Creative Quilter

• By Rebecca Long Pyper For the Journal

      Crafters know those pesky fabric scraps can overtake a project space in no time, but rather than brush hers into the trash can, BJ Sandusky stitches them into custom quilts that are winning her accolades in the craft world.

     Sandusky is featured on the cover of the May issue of “Crazy Quilt Quarterly,” the only publication dedicated to the art of crazy quilting. She is also gearing up for a two-part basic crazy-quilting class she’ll teach at the Pocatello Art Center on June 20 and 27, and is prepping for classes she’ll offer this fall with New Knowledge Adventures.

     “Taking a class such as what I offer can get a newbie started right. I then can help you not only with embroidery stitches, but ribbon embroidery and beading. I can point you in the direction of many other artists, books and websites out there,” she said.

     Doing a little research can help too. Sandusky’s Pinterest board is set up for students to figure out what styles they like best and to inspire future projects. She also writes a blog — sewkrazzy4you.blogspot.com — where she shares current works.

     Crazy quilting has been around since the Victorian era. Quilters build their quilt — no pattern necessary — by attaching randomly-sized pieces of fabric to a muslin foundation. Next up is a layer of embellishments — think embroidery, beads, laces and more. Traditional fabrics are fancy and include velvets, satins and silks, but crafters today like to incorporate cottons and batiks too.

     Really, crazy quilting is a misleading name for what Sandusky does because she makes more than quilts. She’s fashioned tree skirts and stockings, wall-hangings and purses. But the hobby has roots in her childhood. By age 10, she had already fallen in love with embroidery, “but wanted to do more than just pillowcases,” she said. She fell for the look of crazy quilts in the late 1960s, but did not create her own until 1997.

     Crazy quilts are a good bet for any kind of quilter, from beginners to those with less dedication to precision.

     “Since there are no rules and no mistakes in crazy quilting, there is no such thing as a ‘bad’ crazy quilter,” Sandusky said. “Each artist develops their own style, and all have great skills and beautiful eye candy for the rest of us to enjoy. The more embellishment you put on your work, the better it looks.”
    Then this morning I get a message from the reporter, that  a gentleman wants to talk to me about being in the Bannock Historical Museum on May 30th! It will be a celebration of quilters, weavers and more!!!  And I will be able to promote my upcoming crazy quilt class with the Pocatello Art Center!
 I will be doing the Art Walk again on June 5th at the Pocatello Art Center, so be sure to stop by and say Hi!
And then I am off to Portland, Oregon for the Brazilian Dimensional Embroidery Seminar for 5 days. I am really excited about being able to go and learn a new art to add to my crazy quilts and to my classes.

May 5, 2015

  Hard to believe summer is almost here! Our warmest to be sure, for I already have a slight tan from reading on my deck and getting out to play some golf with my hubby!

Many thanks to all of you who watched my interview with Verna Pitman.  It received 258 hits on the website, more than any of their shows.

This month I will be interview by our local paper, and I will post that later in the month. I am also excited, pleased, proud and grateful to be on the cover of the Crazy Quilt Quarterly, thanks to Pamela Kellogg for inviting me.

You can order your copy now from: http://www.magcloud.com/user/kitty-and-me   
There are a lot of great tutorials in this issue and I haven't had a chance to try some of them.  But all of the artists did a fabulous job in presenting their work!

 I have been having a lot of fun the last couple months of participating in our Pocatello Art Walk, downtown, the first Friday of each month.  Thanks to the Pocatello Art Center for helping me to set up an awesome display.

I am excited to be making plans to go to the Brazilian Dimensional Embroidery International Guild seminar in June in Oregon! I have made my own lapel pin with my initials:

So my summer will be a busy one! I am also enrolled in August, in Judith Baker Montano's class, Mountains and Valleys! This will be my fourth class and I am really excited to be going to La Veta again!!! We will be staying with our friends at Two Fox Cabins and RV!

 So with two RR's and Monthly CQJP 2015 to also keep up with, I am totally busy with my crazy quilt passion, so stay tuned for more updates later in the month. Happy Stitching and thanks for visiting!