Quilted Sunshine...

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Quilted Sunshine

Tablerunner

Quilted Sunshine Tablerunner

Look what you can make with those 5 inch charm square packs you have in your stash!

Quilted Sunshine Detail

I was just notified this morning that my tablerunner is part of a slideshow and contest on THE QUILT SHOW.

CLICK HERE to view the SLIDESHOW

May Your Bobbin Always Be Full,

LuAnn

Quilted Sunflower Pincusion...

Another fun & fast project:

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Quilted Sunflower Pincushions

5 x 6 inches

Layer a gorgeous fat quarter of fabric with batting and backing fabric into a quilt sandwich. I spray basted it together.

Choose a thread to quilt it.

Audition several colors until one appeals to you.

Drop the feed dogs, put on a darning foot and free motion til the cows come home!

You could also put on the walking foot and stitch straight lines in a grid pattern.

If you choose a fabric with a large motif, like the sunflowers, it gives you a design to quilt around.......and it's lots of fun!

This is a very manageable size and very good practice for machine quilting!

Cut up the fat quarter quilted sandwich into 9 sections, like a 9 patch block.

These measure approx. 5 x 6 inches each.

Choose a backing fabric for the back side of your pincushion.

Layer it with batting and spray baste the two layers together.

You are ready to sew your pincushion together.

Pretty sides together, top and bottom of pincushion.

I sewed a quarter inch all the way around.....leaving a space for turning it right sides out.

Here is my first pincushion sewn and ready to stuff.

I like these polyester pebbles, the size of rice.

Fill the bags nice and full, then whip stitch the opening closed.

Quilted Sunflower Pincushions

May Your Bobbin Always Be Full,

LuAnn

To see my New Work CLICK HERE

To see the Thread Shed CLICK HERE

To see my Exhibit Quilts CLICK HERE

Quilt Exhibit....Last Call to see the Show

My quilt exhibit is closing on October 27, 2009.

One week left to see the show...

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The exhibit gallery is a round room, which gives a nice flow to the display of the quilts.

I spent the morning at the exhibit with my very favorite people.

This was my first opportunity to get a full view image of my sunflower quilt measuring 100 x 100 inches square.

Detail view of Sunflower Quilt

CLICK HERE to see more on creating the Sunflower Quilt

Viewing the exhibit with my family was an emotional experience for us all.

It is so rare for any of us to see such a body of our work displayed together in one room.

Many of my pieces are stored away and my family has not seen them for a few years.

Let's just say, the exhibit took us back a few years...

Strength & Courage

2003

Heath & I standing with his graduation quilt.

It was my first big leap into contemporary quilting and original design work.

This quilt represents all the things Heath loves in life.

Birthday Surprise

2009

Nicholas and I are pictured here with his memory quilt.

What great fun we had the day he brought home his new puppy, taking photos in the snow.

Nicholas has a graduation quilt created in 2001.

He has slept under it for 8 years now...and wasn't about to give it up for the show!

Here is the man that makes all of this possible, my favorite guy, Brad

We are standing in front of his favorite quilt, Cabin in the Woods.

It took quite a bit of convincing to get him to take it off the living room wall so I could display it here.

Cowgirl

Here we are with Cowgirl framed under glass.

She spent 14 years riding in the pick up truck with Brad.

There will never be another farm dog like her.

Tatanka

This quilt hangs in our coffee room at home.

Brad has the room decorated in Buffalo.

Memories of Yellowstone

A memory quilt created after a wonderful family vacation in Yellowstone Park.

What a wonderful time we all had at the exhibit together.

I hope you had a chance to visit it yourself.

There is one week left to see the show.

CLICK HERE to see more on this exhibit

Unitarian Universalist Fellowship

www.uucorvallis.org

2945 NW Circle Blvd
Corvallis, OR 97330-3937
(541) 752-5218

9:30 - 1:30 Mon-Fri

May Your Life & Family be Quilted Together,

LuAnn

To see my New Work CLICK HERE

To see the Thread Shed CLICK HERE

To see my Exhibit Quilts CLICK HERE

To see Tutorials CLICK HERE

Evolution of a Quilter -Virtual Tour of Exhibit

I stopped in at the exhibit last week and snapped a few photos to share with those of you who are not able to see the show in person.

There are 30 quilts in the show.

I will share a few images each day with you.

Enjoy this virtual Quilt Exhibit Tour

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Postcards created for the exhibit

Sunflowers

100 x 100 Inches

This quilt is so large I was not able to get the entire image in the view finder of the camera.

You can see the chickens on the bottom portion of the quilt in this photo.

Close Up View of Quilting on the Rooster

Close Up View of Quilting on the Hen

Close Up View of the Quilting on the Sunflower

Signage for Quilt at Exhibit:

Sunflowers

Inspired by the sunflowers grown in the front yard and by my favorite quilting friend, Linda.

Created over the course of 5 summers, while I was inspired by the real sunflowers that were growing.

This quilt was a joy and a pleasure from start to finish.

The machine quilting was accomplished

on my little Bernina QE 153

LuAnn McDonald Kessi

Harlan, Oregon

http://luannkessi.blogspot.com/

Techniques: Strip Piecing, Fusible Web Appliqué, Machine Appliqué, Free Motion Machine Quilting, Original Design

I have learned, as a rule of thumb, never to ask whether you can do something. Say, instead, that you are doing it. Then fasten your seat belt. The most remarkable things follow. --Julia Cameron

To see my New Work CLICK HERE

To see the Thread Shed CLICK HERE

To see my Exhibit Quilts CLICK HERE

To see Tutorials CLICK HERE

My FIRST Quilt 1987

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1987 My FIRST Quilt

Rail Fence Baby Quilt

I took a class and came home with a completed baby quilt top.

I remember how excited I was, exhilarated is more like it.

I didn't walk out of the quilt shop.....I floated on a cloud.

I tied the quilt and quickly sent it off to my cousin who just had a baby boy.

I continued to make rail fence quilts for the next few years until I took a Log Cabin quilt class.....then I made log cabins for the next few years.

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My LAST Quilt

Woven Sunshine

Original Applique Design & Machine Quilting by me

22 years after making my first quilt I still feel as excited as I was making that rail fence quilt. I have learned so much over the years, shared my passion for quilting with others, exhibit my quilts nationally, teach quilting, enjoy designing, always learning, and most of all hope I am always creating quilted textiles until I take my last breath.

As quilters we are too fearful about making mistakes. We are unduly concerned about making a perfect quilt. What we need to realize is that perfection and creativity are not synonymous. It is almost impossible to be creative and perfect at the same time.

Perfection Stifles Creativity

Thus, with each project we should determine which process is our goal: perfection or creative growth.

If you want to learn or explore a new concept or technique, give yourself permission 2 play, permission to enjoy the process. Learning is often best when punctuated with a mistake or two...even if you are not too thrilled with the consequences at the moment.

Making a perfect quilt is best to strive for when you work with skills or techniques you know very well.

It pleases us greatly to make quilts as perfectly as possible for special gifts or events, such as weddings or births. If you are interested in making a perfect quilt for such an occasion, then work within your world of known techniques and concepts. This is not a time for learning new skills.

Lastly, enjoy yourself. Have fun quilting. It will reward you with beautiful quilts, fascinating explorations, unknown talents, and great friendships. What more could you ask for?

Hens & Hollyhocks

These are the last of the summer images I have to share with you.

The trees in our yard have fiery red leaves, the evenings are cooler, autumn is upon us.

Hydrangeas and Glads

Growing in front of the Thread Shed

Butterfly on a pink spider dahlia

Porch Swing out Back

Enjoy the last of our fleeting summer days, sit outside on the swing, take a nature walk and press botanicals in a book and clean out your flowerbeds and bring the last of the flowers indoors to enjoy in a vase on the kitchen table.

May Your Heart Always Be Full of Summer Pleasures,

LuAnn

To see my New Work CLICK HERE

To see the Thread Shed CLICK HERE

To see my Exhibit Quilts CLICK HERE

To see Tutorials CLICK HERE