A Look at the Quilt Show

What a whirlwind the last five days have been...but what fun! It was the biennial Forsyth Piecers and Quilters Guild Show, themed this time "The Art of Comfort." There were around 145 gorgeous quilts on display judged by Linda Fiedler and Linda Cantrell. There were lots of great vendors too and the BIGGEST guild boutique I've seen since I've been a member (it was amazing!). The show chairs were my bee-mates Laura Patridge and Lisa Alley and they did the most fabulous job ...the venue was beautiful and well attended. Hats off to them for making it all happen!

I jumped into the vendor arena for the first time with my hand dyed fabrics and handcrafted buttons and was very lucky to have the best booth neighbors. They were so kind and fun to hang around! They were Annie's Keepsakes (wool felt, rovings, patterns, tools etc.), Shakerwood Woolens (hand dyed felted wool, patterns, threads), Empty Pockets Alpaca Farm (yummy yarns and rovings), and Karen Gray Design (fresh modern quilt fabrics, patterns, etc.She has a shop in Reynolda Village, Winston-Salem).  I didn't really have much time to visit the other vendors but my favorite LQS was there - Sew Original of Winston-Salem...they were demo'ing one of the Bernina embroidery machines, making these really cute "Hot Stuff" coffee sleeves (and you know I love coffee!). Next to them were Justi Ard of Witch Hazel Handmades (she makes cool glass pendants encasing all kinds of images), and the newest Bernina dealership, Studio Stitch of Greensboro.

Do visit their websites and see all the wonderful things they offer!

Here is a look at just a few of the quilts and scenes around the show:

The Flower Garden
By Jane Houser, Quilted by Theresa DeWalt
Best Long Arm Quilting, Best Hand Applique, Viewer's Choice, and 1st place in  its category

Southern Comfort
By The Beecassos
Row 1: Linda Worsley, Sara Nutter, Cathy Bogan
Row 2: Wanda Norman, Karen Fridy, Vickie Clontz
Row 3: Joan Lowder, Gail McNeill, Penny Sharp
Row 4: Marlene Land
First Place, Red and White Challenge, Judge's Choice Award

Top: Night With Sunflowers by Anna Reich, 1st place Art Quilts
Bottom: Shimmering Vine by Penny Sharp

The Art Quilts!
I won third place for "How Do You See Me"(winking at you now, bottom left), and Honorables for "Cracks Where the Light Gets In" and "Kay Oss". The portrait piece top left is also mine.

This One's Mine
By Gina Boone
Best of Show!

Butterfly Garden
By Susie Oulette, Quilted by Winnie McCrary

Bali Dancing
By Debra Voigt

Hop To It
By Carmen Cannon, Quilted by Jan Strubble

The Red and White Challenge
(I especially love the upper right with sewing terms made by Ava Lewandowski)

Left: Southern Star by Lisa Alley, quilted by Gina Boone
Right: Tinker Belle's Neighborhood by Rosann Davis, quilted by Rosemary Cushman

(I'm guessing this must be Tinker Belle :)

Christmas Quilt by Anna Reich

Part of my booth - handcrafted buttons

More of my booth - hand dyes and patterns

View from my booth
(Shakerwood Woolens has such a pretty booth!)

In my fortune cookie Saturday night...that pretty much sums it up :)

Now it's time to unpack, clean up, regroup, and get ready for the next adventure!

Wherever the Four Winds Blow - A Commissioned Memorial Quilt

I recently had the honor of creating an original art quilt as a memorial tribute to Harold Myers, commissioned by his daughter Lauren. It was such a wonderful process. I first met with Lauren last summer to look over the materials, which were her father's silk shirts and ties, and to talk to her about who he was and the things that inspired him in his lifetime. He loved mandalas, and she had several that he had sketched. He had collected some beautiful silver pieces with lovely engravings. Paisleys were a common motif in his ties. The number 33 was significant to him. He was also an extraordinary musician, a concert pianist, and what was especially inspiring to me was the CD of his performances that Lauren gave me to listen to as I worked on the quilt. That is a CD which I treasure and will listen to often!

After pondering all of the things Lauren shared with me about his life and her memories of him, I created Wherever the Four Winds Blow, named (with permission) after one of his original musical compositions.

I created the design on my computer using my AutoCAD program, largely to simplify the process of repetition and spacing of the various motifs. A unique feature of the design is that every measurement within the quilt ties back to the number 33 or some division of it, and the overall size is 33" x 33". Another nice thing about using my CAD program was the ability to copy elements and offset them to get the seam allowances. (I would guess that EQ does that too, but my background is architectural design so I use what I have and know :) 

The ties were deconstructed and backed with fusible stabilizer and the elements of the quilt pattern were printed onto card stock to use as templates:

I also used printouts without the seam allowance as templates for pressing under the edges of each piece. Oh yes, the entire portion of the quilt within the circle is hand appliqued with silk thread. That was a lot of little stitches!

Once I got to the background and borders I was able to machine piece, still using silk thread.

One of the other unique features of the quilt is the inner border, which is a custom fabric printed with a musical score composed and handwritten by Mr. Myers. I'm not showing any close ups of that to protect it from any would be copyright infringement out there in cyber land, but it turned out really great!

I tried to keep the quilting fairly simple to show off all of the beautiful fabrics and make the paisley motifs stand out. In the background I used a metallic silk thread to quilt a filigree-like stipple, to honor his silver collection.

In the many hours that I worked on this project I feel like I got to know a remarkable man and someone who was quite a kindred spirit. I was very pleased to present the finished quilt to Lauren when she was in town for the holidays!

Catching Up

Things have just been hopping around here lately! What have I been up to? Let's see...

I've been teaching...

 

Altered Surfaces - rust dyeing, stamping, discharging, and gelatin plate printing

(Here Deb and Lynn show off their awesome creations!)


Silk Scarf Dyeing...

I've been making clay buttons...

which have now been glazed and fired and I need to go pick up :)







I've done 2 festivals...

One the weekend of the hurricane and one the weekend it turned cold and rained! LOL! Yes, outdoor festivals are a hit or miss kind of thing. I can't say that it's been a highly successful adventure yet, but it's been on my list of things to try and I want to do a few more before I make a final judgement on their feasibility as part of my studio business. I don't like the unpredictability of the weather...


After all, gallery exhibits are climate controlled! I've had two openings in recent weeks...

"Courage"               
This is a traveling exhibit curated by my friend Kathy Brusnighan (seen left). A gift to the community, these inspiring and encouraging pieces debuted at Circa Gallery in Asheboro, NC on Sept. 15 and will be exhibited in hospitals and galleries throughout central NC through the end of 2012 where the exhibit will conclude at the Center for Creative Leadership. For more information on the exhibit and a schedule of locations visit Art With Purpose.

We all had a great time at the reception! Thanks Circa Gallery for hosting us!

 

(my piece is in the lower right..."Consider the Lillies (Even When the Sky is Falling)" hand dyed fabric collaged to canvas with dimensional flowers)







"Faces"

 
 Another fun reception! This show is at Sawtooth in the Davis Gallery and will run through November 17.





My pieces from L to R:
"Rest" and "Relaxation" (stacked)
"Sam"  (daughter of a longtime friend)
"Faith", "Kay Oss", and "Clara T." (whimsical)
"How Do You See Me?"  (interactive, changeable piece)
 

I've been hard at work on a memorial commission piece...but I can't show it yet...


The boys and I enjoyed an evening at the Dixie Classic Fair. My favorite part...the fancy chickens!

And of course, there have been lots of soccer games...

And baseball games, including a FUN! trip to Myrtle Beach for a tournament at The Ripken Experience!



Well, that's it in a nutshell!
(Did I mention I love coffee?)

:)

Cue the William Tell Overture

Haven't had time to post in a while...classes, vacation, more classes, field trips to IKEA in Charlotte(fun!!), art fair. Oh, and back to school stuff!! Seriously, August should have at least one more week added to it. I don't know how I managed to cram it all in! :)

And...I've been working on this:

She got her hair today. I'm just giddy over making progress on this one! It's done with my hand dyes and will be in the "Faces" exhibit at Sawtooth Gallery in Winston-Salem. Opening reception is September 22. I'll have other pieces in the show too. Some yet to be made. I have three weeks.

Meanwhile, I have another piece in the works for the "Courage" show which opens on September 15 at Circa Gallery in Asheboro. I have two weeks to finish it.

And I'm working on a commission piece too.

<: O
(It may be a while before I post again...Wish me luck!! And please send chocolate!)

* Footnote: the piece for "Courage" is finished and delivered! Yay!

Fun with Ink!

I've been having the most fun!! My guild - Forsyth Piecers and Quilters - booked a Tsukineko Ink workshop with the brilliantly talented Judy Perez, held this past Saturday. I've been wanting to learn what to do with these inks for a while now, and have been looking for an opportunity to have Judy here for a class ever since we met a couple of years ago when she was in Winston-Salem on a personal trip. When I saw Asheville on her calendar I jumped at the chance to book a class in Winston-Salem, only 2 hours east of Asheville.

It was 6 hours of bliss!  :)

In this class Judy teaches two different methods for working with the inks, and she provides images to work from so you don't have to get bogged down in trying to think up something. It was a relaxed, really fun day! Look what we did!.....

Judy (right) giving tips to Joanna White

OK, we didn't do these...Judy did! Aren't they amazing?

This is my first test piece...learning to get the feel of it using the Fantastixs

My second pieces, done mostly with the Fantastix. I call them "Alien Fruits"  I was in a playful color mood :)

This is Fred, my seahorse. I love him madly! He is what I created in the afternoon using paintbrushes in the second technique Judy taught. Be on the watch for Fred to turn up in a future art quilt...

Asheville is hosting Judy's Ornamental Fiesta class and I'll be heading up there for that this week, so tune  in later for more pictures!

Teaching the Teachers

On Monday I had a wonderful opportunity to teach a Fusible Fabrics workshop to art teachers in the Winston-Salem Forsyth County school system. It was so much fun! I took in tons of fabric choices, some already fused and some not, a bolt of fusible web, some examples of my work and several issues of Quilting Arts flagged with sticky notes of some of my favorites. A couple of them had used fusible web before but it was new to others. As always, I love seeing how people react to using fabric as an art medium! One of them said she felt like a kid at Christmas! That's how I feel about it too :)

Here are some shots from the day. I didn't get a picture of all of the pieces, but everyone did really good work! What's really exciting for me is that they will take what they learned back to their classrooms and the love of fiber art will spread.

Enjoy!