Utah Quilt Festival

We painted too!

Utah Quilt Guild

As ye sew, sew shall ye rip

Great people, learning new things!

Eye Candy Quilts

Quilt Show

China Rose
I expresses my love of nature and color with my quilts. Inspirations frequently come from gardens. Formal Chinese gardens offer peace and tranquillity through the use of artistic screens and harmonious botanical forms.

The flowers are hand dyed fabric, hand appliquéd to commercial cotton fabrics from my collection. The piecing was done by machine. The machine quilting adds the final texture.




Star Bright
The imagery I use is frequently inspired by nature. For months at a time I travel never missing a sunrise or sunset. This piece captures the brilliance of clear dawn stars against a blue velvet sky.

100% cotton materials, machine pieced & quilted.

Paint, Glorious Paint - The DVD

Coming soon!
Welcome to my studio for your private workshop Paint, Glorious Paint. This Step by step DVD lists all the supplies on a printable shopping list. It includes many techniques to play with paints. Learn to customize fabric for your project! Work with easy - Textile Paints, iridescent Luminere, fun - Dye-Na-Flow and elegant - Paint sticks. You will love the short learning curve and instant gratification! Let your imagination soar!

Melody's Painted Clock

This is for all of you who have heard the 'clock' story
and want to see the clock!

Quilting Borders

A few simple principals apply especially to borders:

Use similar amounts of quilting in the border and the center of the quilt.
Straight lines parallel to the edges are hard to keep straight.
To mark quilting lines start in the center and always measure from the quilt rather than from the previous quilting line.
Quilting shows well on fabrics with no or very little pattern - this is the time to show off.
Possibilities for design placement include one border or several borders.
Quilting does not show well on busy fabrics - a wonderful place to practice your skills.
When hand quilting, to avoid stretching the edges, baste a towel to the edge and then use your regular hoop.


Six Blonde Ladies

Inspirations

Today, I'm sitting at my sewing machine looking out the window, and I realize that Fall is coming soon. I'm not ready, so I'll save some images of Summer for inspiration this winter.

Back Art

I like the backs of my quilts to be as interesting as the fronts. I often include blocks that did not make it to the front of the quilt and a fancy label too!








Ping An
Melody Crust
Dimensions: 63”w X 73”h
1998
China! Land of mystery, world of wonder. I suffered culture shock. I found the Chinese people to be friendly, and full of humor. We hiked for a couple of hours, up thousands of steps to a small mountain village. The village, Ping An, was the gateway to the terraced rice fields. The local hotel was charming, if lacking in modern conveniences.
I threw open my mind, hungry to absorb every sight, sound, smell color, texture.
This quilt is hand appliqued and machine pieced with a large variety fabrics. Machine quilting explores the textural effects.

Threads at QuiltWorks NW

For those of you who have asked for workshops in the Pacific Northwest, here's your chance. I'll be at Quiltworks Northwest in Bellevue leading the workshop, The Decorative Thread Experience; Sunday August 30 from 12:30 to 4:30 PM.

Come play with me and thread!

New in the Studio

I finally got around to opening the bags from LA's Fashion District, what lovely surprises I found.

Beads








Sequins

Quilt Show

Wildfire
Dimensions: 24"w X 36"h

Fire creates a hypnotic state, the way the fire glows, changing color, dancing across the logs as it burns.

Machine pieced and quilted, hand appliqued, with commercial fabrics.





Starz
Dimensions: 24"w X 36"h

The imagery I use is frequently inspired by nature. For months at a time I travel never missing a sunrise or sunset. This piece captures the brilliance of clear dawn stars against a blue velvet sky

100% cotton materials, machine pieced & quilted.

Wonderful Embellishments

This quilt was made by Joan Spencer from California.

She says "This is an art quilt that I made in Rosalie Dace's class using the wonderful embellishments made in your class. The class was in the spring for The Santa Clara Quilt Association. In the three years that I have been quilting, this is my favorite!"

details

Lowell Quilt Festival

Melody's Teacher ribbon was awarded to Anita Bowen of Columbia, SC

Anita sent this picture and says "Thanks so much, ....the original pattern source for this quilt was the April 2000 edition of McCall's Magazine, New England Revisited by Lynn Dash."

Paula Nadelstern on CBS

Sunday August 16, 2009 features Paula Nadelstern on CBS Sunday morning. Kaleidoscopes have come a long way from those cardboard tubes you may remember looking into as a child. Serena Altschul takes us to a Kaleidoscope maker's studio, and to the American Folk Art Museum in New York City, where Kaleidoscope quilts surround the kaleidoscopes that inspired them.
Also check out the American Folk Art Museum in New York City.

KALEIDOSCOPE QUILTS: The Art of Paula Nadelstern

On view April 21-September 12, 2009
at the American Folk Art Museum

This is the American Folk Art Museum's first one person exhibition highlighting the work of a contemporary quilt artist. Paula Nadelstern has achieved international recognition for her innovative and complex designs inspired by the bilateral symmetry of kaleidoscopic images. Her artistic vision encompasses science, history, and tradition, expressed in crystalline patterns composed of slivers of jewel-like fabrics.

Lowell Quilt Festival

Eye Candy Quilts made in class

Lowell Quilt Festival

Here are some of the work created by my students in the Simple Surfaces workshop.
My apologies for not showing work where pictures were taken. It was either camera malfunction or operator error!
Melody

Road Trip

Welcome to Sue's Stitch in Time in Shelton WA. The shop is full of quilt supplies, fabric, books, patterns, notions, classes. The friendly, knowledgable staff will help you with all your quilting needs.




Sue's Stitch in Time
927 W Railroad
Shelton WA 98584
360.427.6164

Hi from beautiful Western Washington

It is sunny and warm here, I am sitting on the porch trying to stay cool. Thursday I'll be on my way to Quilt Fest in Lowell, MA.

Check out my lecture and workshops:
Lecture
Quilt Toppings
Wanted quilters seeking new ways to express their creativity. This lecture taps into the strong emerging trend toward embellishment of quilt surfaces. Paint, foil, paint sticks, thread, crayons, buttons, ribbons and beads are all fun, easy ways to add that final design element.

Workshops
Simple Surfaces
Learn all about paint sticks and foiling on fabric. Applying foil or paint sticks to silk or cotton is easy, fun and permanent.
Eye Candy Quilts
Eye Candy quilts are stunning mini-quilts that are so much fun to make they should be illegal! They can be finished in practically no time!