Funkytown

I have been working on this quilt for a few months. I call it "Funkytown". It's a Curvalicious design. It's so different than any other quilt I have created using Curvalicious. It's bight and whimsical and it makes me smile. The print fabrics are from an upcoming line of fabric by Tula Pink, called Tabby Road. If you look closely you can see catfood cans and cats in the prints. I'm not a big cat lover, but the colors and the graphic qualities of this line really caught my eye. It pairs so well with the solids. I bought a far quarter stack at Quilt Market. The fabric will be available soon and I've seen that some shops on line are taking pre-orders.

I finished the top before I left for Key West and sent it off to Till We Quilt Again, aka Helen Ernst, to be quilted. She did an amazing job.

When she mailed it back to me, I realized that the fabric I brought with me for binding wasn't going to work.I ended up ordering a Tula Pink fabric from a different line, called Chipper, for the binding. Everything takes longer to arrive here. We call it the end of the road and it truly is the end of Rte 1 that starts in Maine and goes all the way down the East Coast.

I finished binding it right after my son and DIL arrived. Since Key West is as colorful and exciting as my quilt, my partners in crime and I decided to have fun and photograph it at lots of locations. So enjoy some views of Key West and Funkytown.

Funkytown will be in my booth at Quiltcon that starts Feb 23rd, in Savannah, Booth #443. Please stop by and visit this well traveled quilt.

A pattern will be available soon. Sign up for my newsletter to be the first to know.

 

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I Hit The Jackpot!

I was so happy when I was chosen to be an Island Batik Ambassador. I wasn't exactly sure what that meant, but I knew I would get some Island Batik fabric to make a few projects. But I had no idea what that really meant. Leave it to me to jump in with both feet!

Our packages do not come directly to our place. Instead they are delivered to our management company. The fellow that brought it over for me wanted to know what was in the package because it was so heavy!

Words cannot express how I felt when I opened the box and started going thought it. I was flabbergasted. This was the most exciting package I have ever received. It was filled with batiks in every color and every size.

I have to say these 10" squares are my favorites. The fabric line is called Sweet Nectar and they are definitely sweet. It's going to be hard to open this amazing arrangement and actually cut it up.

And thread! I had no idea that Aurifil thread was part of the deal. And a few spools of Superior's Fantastico too. The Fantastico is a variegated 40 wt polyester. I can't wait to try it for blanket stitching my Curvalicious appliqués.

There is even fabric I can't show you because it won't be available in shops until the Fall! But let me tell you that if you know anyone that likes to cook, you'll want some. This fabric is perfect for my DIL who loves to be in the kitchen and even has chickens that lay eggs.

As an IsLand Batik Ambassador, we have a monthly list of projects to make and share. So you'll be seeing what I do with all these batiks along with a bunch of other Ambassadors. Here's a peak at my first "assignement" with these gorgeous batiks.

This whole experience reminds me of the saying "Will work for fabric". Obviously, I will.

Stay tuned for this exciting experience.

 

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Before & After

We have 2 mismatched ceiling fans on our first floor. They are only about 12 feet from each other.

They were like this when we bought the place. Not only are the light fixtures different, but the fan blades are different - natural wood and white! Who would do this? This was the year I was going to fix this. Buying new matching ceiling fans was not on the agenda and who needs more stuff in the land fill, especially here on this little island?
I love decorative painting and I love polka dots and luckily I have a partner in crime, who is willing to work with me. The blades were removed from the fans and were made to look alike. I gave them both a coat of white paint and added key lime polka dots! So adorable and so Key West.

And replacing them was my "handy man". The blades need to be balanced for the fan to spin without wobbling. Would you think about weighing them to make sure they weighed the same?

This looks so much better.

Just enough flavor of the island. Speaking of island flavor, here are a couple of sights from the last couple of days.

We have a resident iguana. It's a big one. Here he or she is at the edge of the pool. Luckily there was a fence separating Bailey from the iguana. She was barking like crazy, but the iguana did not move.
And check out this adorable VW Beetle. A Barbie car? Is it about cupcakes? Whichever one, it's unmistakenly visible, especially for you pink lovers.

I hate to gloat because a snowstorm is hitting PA, but it's just another week in Paradise!

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Painting With Rick

I just finished my January "intercession" going to Painting Bootcamp with Rick Worth. He is an iconic Key West character, who has a unique philosophy of painting. I am so happy I got to know him. Although his paintings are all over the island and his Painting Bootcamp classes are filled, he is so unpretentious and kind and sweet and goofy too. I do love goofy. He moved to Key West 30 years ago to become a painter, and he has become more than that.

For those of you that missed my initial post about the class at The Studios of Key West, I'll fill you in a bit. Everything is provided for you - canvas, paint and brushes. He uses, and we used, high gloss house paint - red, yellow, blue, black and white. His painting vocabulary includes words like juicy and the ugly layer.

The photo above is on the side of a bar, not far from our place. I pass it often. It's called Wilhelmina Crossing the 7 Mile Bridg, a take off of Washington Crossing The Delaware. The original painting dates from 2012. He just refurbished it, because all of his paintings include a life time guarantee! In his update he included his dog, who he recently lost.

A friend of mine bought a house that had one of his outdoor murals along the fence. I wish you could see the scale of it. I'm guessing it's 8 feet tall.

They subsequently bought the house next door and decided it needed its own mural that included their sail boat. They really enjoyed watching him paint. What really impresses me about his paintings nd the way he taught us was the way that he adds lighter paint to form shadows. It makes all the differnce.

The most amazing painting of his that I've seen is the one he did for the theater at The Studios of Key West. It encompasses the highlights of this wonderful place, including Hemingway.

He even tips his hat to another local self-taught artist, Mario Sanchez, who died in 2005, at the age of 97. I saw an exhibit of his paintings a few years ago and fell in love with them.

So now we come to the paintings I did. Sometimes people can be great artists and not very good teachers. I have to say, this is NOT the case. Rick is a wonderful and encouraging teacher and my paintings are a testament to that. His weekly class was a highlight of my week. For 2 1/2 hours, I immersed myself in learning about his 3 levels of painting. And I mean I immersed myself, always coming home with paint all over my arm. There was no prescribed syllabus. We never knew what was going to be the topic of our painting for the week.

Week #1

Week #2

Week #3

Week #4

Week #5

It was nice to step out of my comfort zone. The class was a bit stressful at times, but definitely worth the time and the risk. Do you ever step out of your coma fort zone?

 

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An Eclectic Life

Being a quilter and a designer is pretty much a solitary life. Don't get me wrong, I have friends, but most of the time I'm in my studio. I'm either at my sewing machine or on my computer. I love to go out and visit quilt guilds to share what I know with other quilters and I try to make lunch/coffee dates with friends to get out of the house. My daily walk is so important to me.
This all changes when I head to Key West. We live in a small place around a plant filled courtyard with a eleven other units. I create and sew while I'm here, but there isn't a day that goes by that I'm not socializing. Just taking Bailey out to do her business, results in multiple conversations. My weekly painting class immerses me in the art community. The quilt shop, The Seam Shoppe, is a 20 minute walk. I'm there at least 3 times a week. We eat out a bunch and my favorite places to eat are located on the water. Here we are at Geiger Key Marina, with my favorite company and a food I only eat down here, blackened fish tacos.

How about Bingo at The Green Parrot, the southernmost bar, to benefit The Studios of Key West?

And instead of walking, Bailey and I head out on a bicycle ride, where we often circumnavigate the island. That sounds far, but it's about 10 miles! This is one of my favorite sights on our ride.

The bicycle becomes my means of transportation. Riding my bike to buy drawing supplies, or groceries or miscellaneous items at the dollar store makes it a very healthy lifestyle.

I'm still sewing and designing and staying active on social media. I'll be vending at QuiltCon in February and need to add some new items to my booth. I found this cute little toddler sundress DIY on a blog called Blooms and Bugs. I added a cute scalloped border using fabric from The Seam Shoppe. Isn't it adorable?

I'm hoping to include a video of how I add scalloped hems with Curvalicious, which will work for skirts, dresses and even pillowcases in my next monthly newsletter. If you haven't received one yet, you can sign up for my newsletter HERE, so you don't miss it.
I was asked to review a Craftsy class presented by Christa Watson on machine quilting. It's called The Quilter's Path: Plan It, Stitch It, Quilt It. It's a basic class packed with a lot of information. Christa talks about thread, walking foot and free motion quilting. I like her attitude that her "quilting is perfectly imperfect!"

While watching the video, I thought about this little paper pieced mini quilt I had just designed and made called "Philly Love".

It was inspired by a Philadelphia iconic sculpture.

I'm in a pink mini swap on Instagram (@CherylLynchQuilts) and this will go to my swapmate. I had some ideas about how I was going to quilt it. It's only 12" square. In the Craftsy class, Christa shared how she quilted a spiral circle with her walking foot. I decided to try her technique. It was easy peasy and I just loved the result.

Here's the good news. You can get Christa Watson's machine quilting Craftsy class for half price by clicking on this link, CRAFTSY.
It's certainly nice to be living outside of my comfort zone, and the beautiful weather sure does help. When you spend a morning videoing roosters walking about town, to send to your grandson, you know it's not Pennsylvania.

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Intercession

Do you remember January break during college? Either you could take a mini course or spend 4 weeks at home doing nothing, hanging with your friends, or getting on your parents' nerves. As an adult, I now view January as Intersession and an opportunity. Being away from home frees me from all the routine and mundane chores of regular life, leaving extra time for enrichment.

I always try to do something new and different. Sometimes I stick it out, sometimes I don't. This "intercession" I've signed up for three classes! I'm hoping I find the discipline to follow through, because I'm also trying to launch a new quilty product (Woo Hoo!).

I'm taking Painting Bootcamp at The Studios of Key West with Rick Worth. The first class was yesterday. You walk in empty handed and leave with a painting. This was my blank canvas and my paint ( in the upper right corner).

Rick is a self taught painter and has quite a unique technique, not the least of which is using high gloss latex house paint in only 5 colors - red, blue, yellow, black and white!

He uses his clothes as a rag, during his demo, which I of course found endearing.

And I can't believe this is what I left with after 2 1/2 hours.

And, of course, I had to wear my work!

I'm also taking an on line class at Sketchbook Skool called How To Draw Without Talent with Danny Gregory. It is broken down into 26 very short videos. The mini promo video was sketching a dog. How could I resist. My goal is to be able to use a sketch as a jumping off point for a quilt. I really want to be able to do collage type dog quilts. (Bailey and Abby, are you listening?)

The third class I am taking is also an on line class with Abbey Glassenberg, of While She Naps. The topic is email marketing. Growing my newsletter subscribers is my goal. (If you haven't yet signed up, it would be a good thing for me if you did, by clicking HERE, or sharebthis with a friend.) I'm sure to some of you that sounds very boring, but it is fascinating to me. There are so many facets and parameters to this topic. It is so essential to my business of sharing my quilts, techniques and products. The behinds the scenes goings on of the quilting business is certainly fascinating to me. It's a small industry with lots of intertwined relationships. Some segments are shrinking while others are growing.

I'll try to share my "Intersession" experiences as the month progresses. Do you take classes other than quilting?

 

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