Category: Portraits

  • Quilt Queen will be traveling!

    Quilt Queen will be traveling!

    I just got notice today that “Quilt Queen” will be traveling! She has been accepted into the 2012 International Quilt Festival in Houston, Texas. What fun! Now she can survey the far-reaches of her kingdom. I also sent an entry form for “Surrender,” but that one was not accepted. I really am not upset at…

  • 2012 NQA Show

    2012 NQA Show

    Sweet hubby and I just returned from the 43rd Annual NQA Quilt Show. (NQA stands for National Quilting Association.) I was scheduled to teach six workshops over a three day period! I was pretty nervous about that, and it took quite a bit of time to get everything prepared and ready to go. I’ve actually…

  • Review: The Complete Photo Guide to Art Quilting

    Review: The Complete Photo Guide to Art Quilting

    I got a special gift in the mail this week. I’m rather addicted to books, especially ones with lots of pictures. The Complete Photo Guide to Art Quilting by Susan Stein will make a nice addition to my bookshelf, but first it will live by my couch for a while so I can leaf through…

  • Winners from the 2012 MVQG show

    Winners from the 2012 MVQG show

    The Miami Valley Quilters’ Guild met last night, and they announced the winners from last weekend’s show. Our guild doesn’t use a panel of judges to pick the winners. Instead, each person that comes to the show is given a ballot as they enter, and they get to vote on their favorite quilt in each…

  • Permanent pages for Surrender and Quilt Queen

    Permanent pages for Surrender and Quilt Queen

    I have added Surrender and Quilt Queen to the “My Quilts” page. I’m sure I’ll be tweaking the information a bit from time to time, but for now you can read about each of these quilts on their own pages: “Surrender” can be found at http://mariaelkins.com/index.php/quilts/surrender/. “Quilt Queen” can be found at http://mariaelkins.com/index.php/quilts/quilt-queen/.

  • Quilting is done!

    Quilting is done!

    Hooray!!! I’ve finished all the quilting, and we’ve celebrated with Dairy Queen! Now I just need to label it, sleeve it, photograph it, document it…what else? I’m afraid all that is going to have to wait a bit since I have two other deadlines to work on first. BUT, I did finish it in time…

  • Background beginnings

    Background beginnings

    I had a few available hours today, so I dove in and made a start on the background. The basic outlines are now in place. Tomorrow I finish it off! This was the fourth month of SewCalGal’s 2012 Free-Motion Quilting Challenge. This month guest teacher was Don Linn. He introduced a method of tracing your…

  • Stuck on the background again

    Stuck on the background again

    I gathered up my courage and finished quilting the mom’s face and hair. It is a small, but important area. I really wanted it to look nice. I tried giving myself some convincing self-talk so I would quit procrastinating and get it done. In the end, it took the motivation of an impending deadline for…

  • Best part of eleven hours

    Best part of eleven hours

    Eleven hours, minus breaks and meals. What a luxury! I was able to lavish most of the day on my quilt. I finished the baby, his baby quilt, the arms reaching for him, and his mom’s clothes and hands. Tomorrow morning, when I’m fresh, I’ll tackle the mom’s face and hair, and then I need…

  • Basting and preparing to quilt

    Basting and preparing to quilt

    I was able to squeeze in an hour or so this morning before church. I spent the time adding some brown background to the right and left of the baby quilt. I also added some additional shadows within the quilt to try to emphasize the idea that it is bending over the edge of the…