Pennsylvania National Quilt Extravaganza

Real life nearly completely prevented me from visiting my favorite local quilt show this year! It was a real struggle to get away from work but in the end the quilts prevailed. Here are some of the top prize winners.
B. J Titus from Coatesville, PA received the ribbon for Best Machine Workmanship, Innovative for Nocturnal Iridescence.

The background appears to be whole cloth and the motifs are appliqued on, even the embroidered ones. That makes the designs really stand off the background.

The orange and dark blue color pallet is a mini-trend this year. It is 63 by 63 inches, and according to the artist's statement, part of a series. From statement: This is the third quilt in a series exploring the use of one or more elements common to all in the series. Having raised the bar each time, this was undoubtedly the most difficult quilt to design to date.

Summer Class

My beloved camera journeyed to Egypt with my more-beloved loved one. I felt a bit like one of my eyes was missing. But they are both back now and I'm able to update my activities. In July Phil Beaver taught a class at Quilt Odyssey. I have always thought his quilts were amazing and Hershey is fairly close so off I went.

His quilts are large and he has such a distinctive style. I wondered how that would translate in a two day class. It was a mix of technique, hands-on quilt building and a smidge of art theory lecture. He pays quite a bit of attention to teaching his style of painting fabric and it does produce beautifully colored fabrics. I can also see how one could experiment with different brush strokes and paint application patterns to produce different effects.

He was an art teacher for a some years. That is evident in his class. He is encouraging and generous with his time and attention and he takes the trouble to try to teach some larger design principals. It is also evident that he is inspired by his imagery.
As usual I got more ambitious than I thought I would. The class is geared towards completing four or five blossoms but once I started looking at his samples I got my own ideas for an autumnal scene.

Large pieces that I built in class.


Core design, using four sunflowers in a rough diamond.


Small pumpkin and leaves. I'm particularly pleased with the little pumpkin.


Rabbit and large pumpkin.


All of my pieces are cut out for this quilt. This is what I have left over.


I've nearly completed the quilting for the applique portion of the quilt. The entire project has gone quickly and I'm pretty thrilled with the process. Despite the fact that I love sunflowers, I'd like to experiment with other color pallets using this painting method. The paint stabilizes the fabric just enough to make the raw-edged applique easy to deal with. That allows some pretty detailed shapes to be cut.

The Blue Hour

Summer has been so amazing here this year. Day after golden day the sun has shone but the temperature has remained mild. It has rained in the evenings after sunset but not produced the suffocating humidity that Philadelphia is famous for. It is how I remember the summers of my childhood.

Without stunning heat and mildew-producing humidity my city garden has done well. Things have grown and flowered that have never flowered before. One day last month I took some photos in that time that begins when the sun is going down and ends when you can no longer see distinct colors. It was almost as though I was taking picture through a filter that both darkened colors and made them more vivid. I'm also trying to get better at using the macro setting on my camera.

Better Than a Spa Day

Recently I took a Friday off of work to spend at my local quilt shop for a raw-edge applique lesson from Debra Gabel of Zebra Patterns. The project was to make one of her flower patterns. The patterns capture the spirit of the flowers well, I love flowers and I was very willing to simply spend the day playing with the pretty colors.
Several things made the class special. One was Debra's clever method for weaving the work into the fragmented, interrupted time that I, and most women, have to spend on their creative projects. Another is her really remarkable personal story. I can't seem to link directly to her blog so I'll summarize: In 2003 she was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma which resulted in nearly a full year of bed rest, chemo, radiation, and finally a stem cell transplant. During this time in her life she promised herself that if and when she got better she would pursue her passionate interest in art quilting.
The last remarkable thing Debra did was share her creative and business goals. In 2004 she set a goal of focusing on and applying real effort to creating a line of patterns that would appeal to most quilters. She wants to grow her business to a national audience and she wants to compete nationally in the mixed media art categories at all the top shows in the US. She brought some the art quilts that she has entered in national shows and they are beautiful.
Here's is what I made. I cut the pieces out in class and put it together later at home. She covers the raw edges with a narrow satin stitch that matches the fabric colors. I will give that a try also. I like the results so far a lot.

My Coreopsis.

Common Textiles

I have many sets of old pillow cases. They are pretty but that is not the primary reason I have them. I bought most of them in the 80s at the Salvation Army, thrift stores, flea markets and garage sales. I could spot them in almost any setting and the amazing handmade detail would compel me to buy them every time.

Although some of them are probably quite old I've use them all. I hardly ever make the bed without vintage pillowcases on it. They are all one hundred percent heavy cotton. Most of them are made from actual pillowcasing fabric, woven in a tube without a side seam. They have been washed over and over again so they feel velvety and I iron them (yes, I do) so that they are crisp AND velvety.

I noticed the colors in the roses on this one this morning. I wonder if the fabric has faded from a more brilliant pink to the salmon or if she was thinking of a particular rose that she had seen and reproducing the shading on the petals with thread she chose to edge the applique with. The two-tones of pink seems to argue for deliberate shading.

Sew or Die

I love everything about this little quilt! I love that it is inspired by tattoos, I love the tough imagery, I love the Virgin of Guadalupe, I love the sewing tools appliqued on, but most of all, I love the title!

The artist is Marcia Zimmerman. She won my personal prize for Best Sense of Humor, Wall Quilt.

Peace

An extended family member died suddenly and unexpectedly this weekend. Someone who, I think it is fair to say, was challenging to herself and others. No matter what happened during or after her life she is at peace now. But because of who she was many in my family are left to sort it out.

There have been people in my life who have died that I miss greatly. I expect to miss them for as long as I am alive. Because we are human, and so imperfect, there is always a list of regrets but I see and read things that I know would make them laugh or that they would love and I feel a familiar mix of emotion that always ends with a kind of pure sadness. I have come to think of that feeling as what grief is transformed into.

It is harder by many degrees when loss is so intermingled with anger, relief and shock. In the days ahead everyone will get to make their choices about all of the unfinished business she left behind.

The Sweetest Yo-yos

By Anna Macaluso this is called Sweet Hearts and it is.

I have not seen yo-yos doubled like this with a very tiny yo-yo used as a center for a larger. The edging is great also. I have all those hearts left from my quilt-as-you go quilt. Could I combine them with yo-yos and make a wall quilt...?

It is a reason to make more yo-yos. The tool makes it fun and just about perfect every time.

Yo-Yos

In the last few weeks I've bought several Clover Yo Yo makers. Two in Paducah of the large size, one to keep and one to give away to one of the Library quilters. I liked mine so much that I bought two more at my local quilt shop, the small and the jumbo -- so I've been making yo-yos. And apparently lots of other people have too.

This yo-yo wreath appliqued quilt is by Barbara Smith and won first place for an appliqued bed quilt. Please notice that each yo-yo has a blending or contrasting color laid inside.

This one, Blue Poppies, by the same artist, uses yo-yos as centers for the dimensional blue flowers. Her descriptive sheet mentions that the yo-yos are padded with batting.

I particularly like the orange and blue color scheme. This combination showed up several times.These are wonderful crisp, classic quilts.

New Jersey Quilt Convention 2009

My own projects are sitting alone. Work is as frenetic and stressful as I have ever experienced. The poor economy has meant budget insecurity but also the need to prove our value, seemingly in every direction at once. The result has been many extra hours on the job.

But today the weather was beautiful and it was time for a drive and a quilt break. I didn't get lost going or coming home, that's a first. When I got to the Expo Hall I had to hunt a bit for a parking spot and I was glad. I've thought about the impact the economy could be having on quilting, crafts and the arts. Today is the second day of the three day show and it looked well attended to me.

I did buy a few things but mostly I looked and I took pictures. Here are some favorites:

Sunflowers quilts always catch my eye and there seems to be endless techniques and design arrangements. This one won "Best Innovative Design." The artist is Raina Lynn-Knapp.

The center looks to be woven strips of fabric. They are wonderful colors, so luminous that they look like they might be satin but I think they are cotton. I love the way she has chosen to weave the colors together. Wonderful shading results.

I think some of the petals are hand-dyed velvet. Many are dimensional and stand away from the background.

The petals, leaves and stalk are also a combination of raw-edged and satin stitched applique. Some of the pieces have such a sculptural quality they almost look as though they are wired, like french ribbon. I often have mixed feelings about dimensional applique, understanding the idea and the attempt but not so convinced by the final product. This is a case where the dimensionality really adds to the piece. The use of the texture and color direction in the fabric is also outstanding. I came back to it at least three diffrent times to admire.

Because I'm not sleeping

I'm wandering through older quilt show photos. This is one of those nearly traditional or, traditional art quilts (take your pick), that I seem to love. The grid/block arrangement is there, and in this case the block content repeats but the pattern is in no way traditional and there are lots of non-repeating elements straying out side the lines.

Then there is this fellow. The art nouveau-influenced heart jungle provides a great context for him.

I believe the quilt is hand appliqued, at least partially hand pieced and certainly hand quilted. The surface also features some beading.

The whole thing is whimsical without being cartoon-like.

What I've Been Doing

Twittering. I signed up for Twitter because I didn't "get it" and I needed, both professionally and personally, to understand what it was - AND - I will confess I like all of the words that go along with Twittering. Like Tweet. I actually started to use Twitter as part of my day job, tweeting through "webinars" and on line conferences as a kind of widely distributed on line chat. Now I like it. It is a quick way to record what I'm thinking about or doing to some extent (although, honestly, I don't use it much that way). A convenient way to promote anything I want to promote and an easy way to connect to others across a wide spectrum of my own interests. For example, someone sent out the URL to a great blog the other day: http://www.subversivestitch.blogspot.com/. I love all the content it is packed with. It makes me want to try to do something different with my own blog.

Cleaning my sewing studio. I've been taking stock of everything that I actually do and putting away or getting rid of materials and tools that I seldom use. I've also purged some projects that I accept that I will never finish. This is part of the Paducah effect of looking at quilting more seriously. It is like walking around what I do and looking at it from an entirely other direction. Interesting.

Piecing and thinking. I am working on piecing my moon and stars quilt. I have been quilting some off and on since undergraduate school. Over the years there have been various parts of the process I didn't like. Now I like all parts of the process. Maybe some more that others, but there is nothing that stops projects from moving forward. An illustration, in part, of skills building through classes. Thank you to all the wonderful and diverse teachers I've had over the years.

Princess Stuff

This morning an update from Luana Rubin was in my inbox. Soon I'm sailing along in eQuilter adding things to my wish list, browsing my favorite fabric categories and twitching towards my credit card. I have been in love for years with autumnal rusts, oranges and purples but this spring I am infatuated with the pastels and chalky brights that many of the Free Spirit designers are using. I'm also fascinated by the flattened, layered patterns that are the latest evolutionary version of the collaged prints of the past few seasons.

But, shockingly, I ended up, as I have recently, looking at the fairy prints by Michael Miller. Flowered, faintly sparkly dainty children with wings. I can't seem to help my attraction to Cicely Mary Barker's illustrations. I also still want a canopy bed, or at least a tall, dramatic one. That's part of the reason we don't have a new one yet. I fear it is all a symptom of the same problem: not enough princess stuff as a child!

More Paducah: Caryl Bryer Fallert

Caryl Bryer Fallert opened her studio to the public during the show. I love her work and it was incredibly neat to see her work space. It also made me think about quilting in a new way. The show in general exploded my thinking about quilting and fiberart. It, of course, gave me new ideas for quilts. Looking at quilts and anything to do with fabric and fiber always starts my mind racing ahead with things to try and ways to solve problems.

But being immersed in all things quilty encouraged me to take quilting and creativity in general more seriously. Fallert creates, teaches and lives her commitment to her art and she is a three-time prize winner but it was great to see lots of other folks, with maybe less exalted abilities also mange to make their way in the creative world.

Feather Study #30 by Caryl Bryer Fallert. Winner of 2009 AQS Machine Workmanship Award, Wall Quilt

Detail.

The back. Beautiful.

After Paducah

I had a wonderful time at the quilt show. I took many, many picture, spent time at the show everyday, explored the town and ate the most amazing piece of coconut creme pie. I also got a bit overwhelmed with quilts, ideas and inspiration. I overheard show goers around me exclaiming over the beauty and imagination on display and more than once expressing near-despair at ever approaching the level of accomplishment on display. I could certainly empathize with the feeling. On the other hand it was amazing to be immersed in all things quilty for 4 days.

Next year, or the next time I go to a big show, I will take a class. The quantity and quality of the classes looked amazing.

Pictures are being uploaded to my Flickr set here. More to come about the quilts and the show.

Paducah

Getting here was an epic journey. I opted to take the 4:30 pm flight into Memphis. Since there doesn't seem to be direct flights to Paducah the next leg of the journey was on a small propeller plane with worn leather seats. It was old and rattled like a SEPTA EL train! As we got on the plane the sun was going down. By the time we took off it was dark. The big plane had rolled through turbulance on the way across the country. We felt every air current on the small plane.

My seat companion was a wonderful distraction. Her name was Jane Kirkpatrick. She is an author and was visiting the quilt festival on a tour to promote her new book. Called Aurora, it is part of a series based on the life of Emma Wagner Giesy who helped found a Utopian community in the Pacific Northwest during the 1850s. Some of her quilts have survived.

Jane also has a pilot's license. She is multitalented and multifacted and it was delightful to meet her.

The third and final part of the trip was renting a car, getting lost several times, arriving at the wrong motel twice and eventually, finding my way to the room waiting for me. This morning I realized that the hotel is directly on the shore of the Ohio River. The river is enormously, hughly wide here. The land makes way for it so that you are aware by the flatness and the bogs that something is coming before you see it. Like saltmarshes signal the ocean. Working ships and barges float on it. They are far enough away that they look small.

The hour time difference helped me get to the show early.

I did take some pictures. Many did not come out well. I'll try again tomorrow. I wish I understood more about why some pictures work and some don't!

Getting Ready

It is the dreariest, most dour day here. So windy that even the little trees usually sheltered alongside the much taller buildings are whipping around. Dark enough that I have the lights on though it is only 2:30 in the afternoon (compact fluorescent of course, at least mostly...). The rain is audible nearly everywhere in the house.

It is not a good day to clean up the garden, something I thought I might do today, but it is a great day to spend in the sewing room with a cup of tea. My vacation week started Friday. I finally finished squaring up the first thing I've ever done that I would consider an art quilt. It was an adventure! It is now ready to be backed and quilted. Its small enough to be done on the machine.

That freed up the design wall so that I could start to take a look at the pieces for my Moon and Stars quilt.

Seeing it up inspired the creation of many more moons and stars. I've used up all of the applique backing I had.

Then I moved on to painting chipboard. I'm not sure what I'll use it for but it was fun to slather the color on the gray paper.

During breaks from sewing and coloring I worked on getting ready to go to Paducah! I leave tomorrow.

Chaos Continued...

I found another detail of Norika Ikeda tea-themed quilt and I could not resist posting it.

My Favorite Quilts: At the Edge of Chaos

I have some favorite quilts that I come back to for ideas, inspiration and sheer enjoyment over and over again. I really love this one. It is very busy with all things tea. How could I not love it? The artist is Norika Ikeda of Japan. I seem to have a weakness for Japanese-made quilts.

The text includes the names of quilts (broken dishes, log cabin), correspondence, addresses and cancelled stamps. This detail shows the words and music to the Star Spangled Banner! I believe many of the cups and dishes here and all over the quilt are cut from printed fabric and appliqued

in layers. There are also tea-thing-shaped buttons scattered about. It is really a large scale, fabric collage. It approaches the edge of chaos but doesn't descend. I believe the theme holds it together.

More details.

The quilting is free-form and I believe done by machine. Here is some metallic quilting/embellishment.

On Point

This unusually-shaped quilt is called Remarkable Vantage Point. Its creator is Beth Shulman and it was part of a special exhibition at this year's Quilters' Heritage Celebration. The piece, a view down through tall tree at a forest floor, is a great marriage of shape and subject. It is 51 inches from point to point. The challenge was to oppose two 36 inch squares.

This detail highlights some of the thoughtful machine quilting. The artist filled each color area with unique texture, adding to the illusion of spearate trees and patches of rock, undergrowth and earth.

This somewhat blurry detail is worth showing for what looks like couched yarns and fibers, adding more mossy, leafy texture.
I believe hand-dyed fabrics were used and possibly some fabric with texture? Maybe upholstery chenille? The quilt, like all the quilts in this Milwaukee Art Quilters challenge, also includes some means of support for it's points. There is no information how this problem was solved but it looks great.

Ann Horton: Daughter's Gift

This 52 x 48 inch quilt generates quite a bit of viewing on my Flickr account. Based around two blocks hand-stitched by the artist's young teen daughter the piece incorporates thread-painting, digitized embroidery, machine quilting and hand beading. It is the artist's original design.

I think this is one of the original blocks that the quilt was built around.

Thread-painted bunnies. I would guess that the they were stitched on a separate piece of cloth and applied to the patchwork. Close inspection leads me to believe that the strawberries to the left of the bunnies may be the digitized machine embroidery.

Detail of some of the applique. This quilter uses the patterns in the fabric to create shadows and highlight and dimension in her work. The flower petals are a wonderful example. They are composed of three fabrics. The base petal fabric, in two shades, looks like it might be cotton with a pearlized finish or some metallic woven into it. The top petal is a two-tone damask. All fabrics with some degree of reflection and texture intrinsic to them. Really skillful and lovely.