Missy Quilt: Finished

Earlier in the week I shared the beginning steps in a quilted portrait of our little dog Missy.  We had to put her down earlier this year, and I made this portrait for Mike to commemorate her.

After I finished collage-ing the top, I quilted it using very basic blendy free motion quilting.  The quilt is busy enough that I knew fancy quilting wouldn't show up.  I decided to mount it on a pre-stretched canvas, so I followed a technique Susan Carlson uses in her class to make a fabric frame to wrap around the edge of the canvas.  Unfortunately, somehow I messed up the way I sewed the fabric frame to the edge of the quilt and I wound up with these strange pointy excess fabric bits on each corner (below left).  I had to fold them over and hand-stitch them down (below right), but I wish I knew what happened to cause it.  I really like this finishing method for things that are not going to quilt shows, so I'd like to get it worked out.

After finishing the canvas wrap, I mounted the whole thing floating inside the frame I made.  I'd gone back and forth about staining the frame dark, but I finally decided to leave it light to complement Missy's colors, so I just put a couple of coats of clear coat on the frame to give it a more finished feel.

Missy, c. Shannon Conley, 2018, 24" x 24"

When you look at some of the up close detail shots you can see all the tiny little pieces of fabric on there.  The nose, mouth, and paws were the most precision oriented on her.

We love you and miss you Missy!

New Quilt: Missy

Earlier this year we had to put down our tiny Shih Tzu Missy.  She was mean and obnoxious and hated me always (unless Mike was gone and then she loved me), and growled at me every night when I came to bed.  But she was cute and I loved her anyway.  She had so much personality; when she was a puppy she used to run up and grab my ponytail to play with it.  I remember she used to love to hop in the shower or into the bathtub to lick up the water after we'd showered, but she could never get back out of the bathtub, so you'd suddenly hear this catastrophic caterwauling, as though she was being mauled to death, only to rush in and discover she just wanted you to pick her up and put her out of the bathtub.  She hated being petted, but she didn't mind being held, and would snuggle up nicely next to you on the chair.  She always wanted to sleep right up next to you, usually Mike, but me if he was gone.  If you tried to roll over away from her she would snuggle right back up, until by the morning she'd pushed you all the way to the very edge of the bed.  But even though I loved her, she was really Mike's dog.  Those two had an unbelievable connection.  She was never parted from him if possible, and when he left the house she would wander all over looking at him.  Sometimes if he went to work in the garage or something she would just stand with her nose against the garage door until he came back inside.

After we put her down, I decided to make a quilted portrait of her for Mike.  I started from one of his favorite pictures, this shot of her riding on the back of his motorcycle with her little pink doggles.

I used Susan Carlson's technique, and even though I love rainbow colors, I figured that for him I would stick with realistic colors.  Here are some in progress shots as I was collage-ing her.

I wasn't going to try to do the motorcycle in the background because I really wanted the focus to be on her, but I wanted a dark background so she'd pop.  I decided on navy and started collage-ing behind her.  It really makes her stand out.

I'll share the rest of the process (quilting and finishing) on Friday, but I wanted to share another construction part here.  I decided I was going to mount her on stretcher bars/canvas, but instead of just having a gallery wrapped edge, I wanted to have her in a floating frame.  I purchased a bunch of pine trim pieces and started building, but quickly realized that cutting the corners with my old worn down plastic miter box was going to be a nightmare.  So I took the opportunity to buy a miter saw.  It was really wonderful and made nice beautiful cuts.  Unfortunately, it was pouring rain so I couldn't use it on the back porch and it wound up making a disaster in my studio.  I assembled the frame using clamps, ratchet straps, wood glue, and finishing nails.

Check back on Friday for the final reveal!

Upcoming Shows

In less than one week, my mom and I will be traveling to IQF in Houston for the quilty extravaganza of the year.  If you're going, drop me a note in the comments, maybe we can say hi in person!  I'm privileged to have two quilts hanging there this year.  My quilt Eucharistic Prayer C: Convergence is in Quilts: A World of Beauty, and my quilt Peering Out of the Darkness is part of the Quilt National 2015 exhibit at IQF.

My mom also has a quilt in Quilts: a World of Beauty, hers is called Conflagration, Desolation, Rejuvenation, Jubilation.  She also has a second quilt in the brand new SAQA show "Turmoil" called Flying Geese (sadly I don't have a picture of that one).  If you make it to Houston, definitely check these out, they're so much more interesting in person than in pictures.

Shannon Conley, Eucharistic Prayer C: Convergence

Shannon Conley, Peering out of the Darkness

Vicki Conley,  Conflagration, Desolation, Rejuvenation, Jubilation

Mom and I also both have quilts in Art Quilts XXI: In Stitches.  This annual show is opening November 18th at the Vision Gallery in Chandler, Arizona.  My dog quilt is going to be hanging in the show, and my mom's fabulous donkey quilt, Shocked, is also going to be there.  Super exciting, her quilt is on the show postcard!

Shannon Conley, The Dogs

Vicki Conley, Shocked #2

It's really exciting to get to have pieces hanging at these venues, and I encourage you to check them out if you're in the area.

Sweater for Missy

Missy is a fairly grouchy dog and does not like to be brushed, so we keep her hair cut pretty short.  Sometimes she's awfully shivery in the days after a haircut, and since it's winter anyway, Mike asked me to make her a sweater.  I had no idea whether she'd even wear it, so I didn't want to put too much time into a crocheted one.  And given the way she's especially grouchy about her head, it couldn't be a pullover.

With that in mind, I trawled the internet for dog sweater tutorials, and found this tutorial/pattern on Mimi and Tara.  I didn't need a hood or a santa costume, but it had the requisite front closure, so using the pattern pieces as a base, I whipped up this little fleece number for Missy.

Overall it fit remarkably well for a first try.  There are a couple of areas that I'd like to change next time, yes, some tailoring for dogs, but it went pretty well.  She didn't like it at first, but she seems to like it fine now.  Unfortunately, about three days after I made it, Mike accidentally put it inside a box containing a jacket he'd sold online and shipped it off across the country.  Luckily the kind recipient sent it back to us, but for several days we could not figure out what happened to it.

I was always one of those people who couldn't understand why dogs needed clothes, but she does seem to get chilly in the winter, and she does look pretty cute.  :)

Have you ever sewed clothes for your pets?

Pet Postcards

Once again Pokey Bolton and the IQF folks in Houston are collecting 4 x 6 pet postcards to raise money for Friends for Life, a no kill animal shelter in Houston.  Apparently in the last two years they've raised over $60,000 (!!) to donate by selling the postcards at IQF for $20 each.  I made some last year, and thought I'd make some more this year (especially as its the last year for it).

If you want to participate you just make them and mail them in, super easy and there's still time left. As always, I featured a few of our many family pets.  When I told my mom which ones I picked she asked why I selected those (and not others) and the simple answer was because those were the ones with good pictures on my phone the day I decided to do the photoshopping!  

As always, my message is adopt, and each of ours get a fitting message to match his or her personality:

Bentley is definitely the loviest (all-loves-all-attention-all-the-time)

Bullett-the-insane-and-crazy-but-also-totally-lovable

Gibby (who actually lives with my mom and dad) who is not 1600-on-the-SATs-smart, but I-have-trained-my-people-to-do-exactly-what-I-want-smart.

Missy, whose defining personality trait is grouchiness yet you can't help loving her.

And the Samcat who is gone now, but really made you understand how "furry" could be a personality trait (here let me rub on you lovingly,  you don't have enough fur up your nose, in your mouth, stuck in your eyelashes, in your bed or on your clothes....)

I printed on different fabric than I usually do and am not really crazy about how it turned out, but it was fun as usual, and always best to test on a small project like this.

Also, in unrelated news, I'm super excited to say I had a piece accepted into Quilt National 2015.  The show doesn't open till next May, but hopefully some of you will get to see it if the show comes near you!

Bloggers Quilt Festival: The Dogs

Welcome to those who are clicking through from the Blogger's Quilt Festival!  Many thanks to Amy for hosting and organizing it all.  I'm entering two quilts, this one is in the Art Quilt category.

These are based on my photographs of the dogs which were digitally manipulated and then printed on fabric.  They were heavily threadpainted, then each panel was quilted individually (on my Janome 7700).  The background is a whole separate quilt, in which silhouettes of the dogs are thread sketched via bobbin quilting in the background. The remainder of the background was free motion quilted.  Each quilted dog portrait is mounted on the background by stitching only the top edge down, so the panels hang freely.  To see more posts about this project, click on the Dog Portrait tag.

The label text reads:  

"The Dogs"  Bullett, Missy, and Pumpkin.  Now there are four and Pumpkin is gone but they are all always in our hearts.

At some point I'll have to do a project incorporating the new two (Bentley and Shooter), but for now these three are staring out at me, filled with personality.

The Dogs.  c. Shannon Conley, 2013, 29"x 49"

Bullett

Missy

Pumpkin

Be sure to check out all the other wonderful Blogger's Quilt Festival entries, and thanks for stopping by!

Planning for the New Year

Here's a gratuitous dog picture of Missy queening it up on my giant pouf to start a wordy post.

I've never had a word of the year before, but I've decided that this year I should pick one, and that it should be calm.  I tend to be constantly running around like a chicken with its head cut off, and while I am busy and do try to do a lot of things, I can't imagine that I'm really truly busier than anybody else.  More importantly, I think my frantic approach is pretty unhealthy.  So this year, to use the 90s vernacular, I'm going to try to chill out, calm down, and relax.  My goal isn't necessarily to accomplish less or more, but just to be a little less "AHHHH".

When I look back at my goal post from this time last year, I feel like I accomplished most of the things I set out to do, including my two main goals which were 1. to finish my last big UFO (the dogs), and 2. to make four new art quilts in 2013 (you can actually see all my 2013 quilt finishes here).   Ring around the mole (the mammal mandala) feels like my biggest piece of 2013, but technically it's a 2014 finish.

For 2014, I have a lot of things I've either started,  have in my brain, or just want to work on.  I'm not sure I'll actually do them all, but here's a place to start.

Art Quilts-I have three new art quilts in my brain just bursting to get out, so far I'm calling them
Benedicta Quilt
Eucharistic Prayer C Quilt, and
Christmas Light Quilt
I also have to come up with some basic ideas for the Jane Sassaman class we're taking in April.

Quickie Quilts
I need to make a baby quilt for my friends Heather and Mark and
I want to make a pieced, minky backed lap quilt/throw for me.

Clothes and Accessories
I have a crochet shrug pattern I'm anxious to start, and
two sets of fabric for tops to make.
I've also ordered fabric for some rainbow leggings (yay), and I'm currently working on a
Weekender bag for my Mom (which was supposed to be a Christmas present but which I just started)

UFOs- I'm bound and determined to finish at least some of these languishing projects this year.
EPP Star Mini
Crocheted Afghan
Armadillo whole cloth quilt thing
Christmas tree doily

General Things to Learn/think about
Work on Embroidery Software
Think about/test different edge finishes
Think about/test different methods of including shadows
Think about a pulley system in the studio for large quilts


And just because pictures are so much more fun than long wordy posts, here's another gratuitous dog picture.

This is Swatch and Shooter (a mother daughter pair).  Shooter always seems to chew on ears.  That's poor skunk dog in the background- he's my mom's precious very very old dog (16-17 I think), and has to wear diapers and takes lots of naps, but otherwise seems quite content to still follow my mom around happily.

Pet Postcards

Once again, Pokey Bolton is collecting 4x6 fabric postcards to sell at the Houston Quilt Show this year to raise money for Houston Animal Shelters.  Pet adoption is a cause I feel very strongly about, and we're actually going to the Houston Quilt Show this year, so I thought I'd better make some.

I encourage everyone to participate, it doesn't take that long to make one and send it in.  For more information, you can see Pokey's blog post:  http://pokeysponderings.com/2013/06/28/quilters-its-time-to-get-busy-quilt-festivals-pet-postcard-project-is-back/

I made six, one for each of my dogs.  We don't have six dogs now, these are just all the dogs I've had and loved (not counting the lots and lots from growing up).  Six cards also fit easily on two 8.5 x 11 sheets of paper (to run through the printer).  I fixed my pictures in photoshop and then printed them onto regular fabric (I used a very light green batik) which had been stuck to a full size mailing label.  The first three may look familiar, they're just slightly altered versions of the larger dog portraits.  The other three are pictures of my dogs which either passed away before or came to us after the large dog portrait project started. For those, I found a picture of the dog I liked and superimposed the dog on a brightly colored abstracted background.  

Missy, who was adopted in ~2007 from Mike's brother who couldn't take care of her.

Bullett, who was adopted in 2006 from a girl at Walmart whose dad was going to drop him at the Humane Society

Pumpkin, who was adopted in 2007 from the Oklahoma City Humane Society.

My precious Angel, who was adopted in 2003 from the Humane Society of Southern Arizona..

Bentley, who was adopted in 2010 from Second Chance Animal Shelter in Norman, OK.

Shooter, adopted in 2012.  She was a stray out in the country northeast of Oklahoma City.

I don't know what I'd do without the dogs!