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Quilting with Blue Jeans? from About.com

When you think quilting supplies

Everyone has a drawer or box of old blue jeans. Did you know you can make a denim quilt? The idea of frugal quilting with recycled levis is an excellent way to use up these sturdy, leftover garments. Denim quilts are hard-wearing, popular gifts for the younger members of your family, great for use as picnic quilts, camping or perhaps a bed for a special pet. Make a wallhanging jeans quilt with pockets in some of the blocks for a teenager's room or for a college dorm - the pockets can store small personal treasures!

This article will cover some sewing and quilting techniques for denim, ideas for quilt designs, quilt top layout samples and patterns for various easy quilts, and many links to sites on the Web to see and learn more about blue jeans quilts.

There is also a Gallery of Jeans Quilts here with photos and information sent in by quilters from the Quilting Forum. They share how-to information to help you plan and sew your own quilts.

Most artists paint ON fabric, but artist ANNETTE GRIGSBY doesn't. She paints WITH fabric! While quilting bees and quilters replicate traditional patterns in practicing this traditional craft, Annette has converted her extraordinary quilting talent to that of a new and unique art medium. Fabric art.

"I was born in Missouri, raised in Arkansas, married a Louisiana man in Mississippi and spent the last 43 years learning, teaching and traveling all over the country making quilts," Annette says. She finally ended up in Kansas, America's mid-point, where she continues to innovate and redefine her craft . . . her art . . . well, her artistic craft.

Her first memory of sewing was as a small child making doll clothes with her sisters on the front porch of their Eudora, Arkansas, home. Fifty years later the obviously gifted brood of three sisters, Annette, Betty Sanders (Cactus Flower Gifts) and Nancy Campbell (Designs on You), now strewn by the tides of life from Washington state to Texas, are all three Charter Exhibitors in OurCraftShow.com, a recently launched online virtual arts and crafts show.

Annette set a previously unexplored course for her talents, never satisfied with as good as any. "Of course, as soon as I learned the way they told me to do something, I figured out a better way for me," Annette explains. While some quilting patterns suggest three dimensional objects, like cubes and stars, Annette's quilting adds an unusual ingredient of depth and perspective to the picture. Her departure from repetitive patterns and shapes gave her the freedom to create images, scenes and interpretations not previously or elsewhere seen in the quilting community. Taking depth a step further, some of her works are actually in full relief.

So, when Annette entered into quilting competitions it surprised no one but Annette that she took the field by storm. Her work has won awards in both national and international competitions. First place, International Hoffman Competition; Finalist, Good Housekeeping Quilt Contest; Specialty Award from Woodlawn Plantation; and blue ribbons from too many state fairs and regional competitions to list.

Recognition is always appreciated, but it's evident that Annette is not driven by her competitive side. "I confess, I haven't kept up with all of the awards. There are a lot of others, but I just gave most of the awards away with the piece," says Annette.

No, what drives Annette is the only motivation strong enough to push an artist to the top of her craft, the love of her work. While her bent for detail and perfection is evident in the workpiece itself, her own description reveals the thought, concept and emotion she attempts, no, succeeds, in conveying. Of her Watchers From the Shore, she writes "You can almost hear the murmurs of amazement as the three natives witness the three ships' arrival in their world. Were these gods or men? Were they friend or foe? Hidden among trees and foliage, you can see the fear in the way they hold their bodies." A lesser passion would have produced a lesser work.
Just as there is only one original "Sunflowers", one original "Irises", most of Annette's pieces are one of a kind, like Watchers From the Shore, Christmas Eve at Our House, America's First Land-Sailing Adventure, I've Got the Blues X 3 and Sweet Caroline. But the same craftsmanship and originality are found in her other pieces, like her Forever Friends series.

Annette Grigsby's work can be seen and purchased on the internet at her booth (Annette's Fabric Art) at www.OurCraftShow.com.