Stolen Pictures....

I was prancing around yesterday modelling my almost done new turquoise jacket (part of our turquoise jacket challenge a year ago) and Priscilla took these nice pictures. She told me I could share them. Here is the back of the jacket. At the bottom is some of my hand dyed salt fabrics and a piece of my marbled fabric. The diagonal piece of flowered fabric was my inspiration and I am sad I only have a little bit left (a Westminster Philip Jacobs print).

This is the front and unfortunately you can see very little of the sleeves which have a piece of hand embroidered Laotian (I believe) fabric centered in the middle. The upper diagonal piece is also a salt dyed piece and the stripey piece in the middle that matches so well is an Alex Henry (I love this fabric and bought all they had on sale at Joanns in this as well as a couple of other colorways. I still have some purple leaf beads to put on the largish turquoise area on the front.

This is the other side of the front and I think Priscilla did a great job of getting all the different views of the jacket. It goes great with jeans too!

A Little Progress.....

Well, this bog coat is almost done. I added a small band on the front and wish I had made it a little wider now although I like the comfort of the smaller band. I self faced the sleeves and the bottom and it is nice a comfy for summer. The fabric is a mix of silk and cotton done by Jeanne Beck.

Well, I have begun the quilting on the lions (even further along now than this picture shows) but am doing a lot of quilting so it is going to take some time fo finish and then it will have to be blocked significantly I am afraid! If you double click, you can see the beginning (maybe!) I am now working on the lion cub and doing some more textural quilting.


Jeanne S was here today and was working on this piece. This was just one of the many iterations. I do love her work!

This is almost the end of the second leaf piece Priscilla has been working on. She did change it from how it appears here to add a little red into some of the background areas.

Turquoise Jacket is Almost Done

Well, as the turquoise jacket below was almost done, I brought along a two yard piece of fabric I had bought from Jeanne Beck a few years ago. I decided it would make a nice light weight bog coat. I still have to make the band that goes on the front and I will self face the bottom so it stays a nice length. I made it nice and roomy as it is a silk/cotton blend.

This is the almost final version of the turquoise jacket -- only a year after it was started. I still have some shiny purple cording to put on as well as a few purple buttons for the front. I actually managed to find a piece of bright turquoise silk in my stash for lining -- I thought I was going to have to dye something to match.

I am thinking of doing some dyeing soon as it has been soooo long since I have done any serious dyeing. So stay tuned!

The quilting is progressing, albeit slowly, on the lions. There is just so much bias with all the seams that I am getting the inevitable puffiness which I address by quilting the heck out of it! I have been doing mostly straight line quilting with the male lion but think I will try some fancier stitches in the body of the cub and then go back to the straight stitching following the curves for the female.

The ArT QuILT ExPERIENCE - Part II - The Shows

Basin and Range by Frauke Palmer. I loved this very bright piece. It is 40" x 53".

Sunday was the Opening Reception for the The ArT-QuILT ExPERIENCE ( http://www.theart-quiltexperience.com/). Jonathan Holstein, Eugenie Barnes and Ann Clark (Dean of the College of Visual and Performing Arts, Syracuse University) were the jurors and 64 quilts were selected out of an international call for art quilts. The exhibition continues through the end of July and I really encourage people to take the opportunity to see it. They have also published a very nice catalog which is available for $25.

These pictures do not do justice to these quilts as you can't appreciate the size. The quilts are all at least 36" x 36" with many larger and these small pictures do not capture the detail and texture (although you can double click on them to see them larger).

This is View from a 747 by Marianne R. Williamson. This was another of my favorites.

This is Words 3 by Jette Clover of Belgium. Several of us spent some time trying to figure out just how she got these images.

This is Pod by Betty Busby. Pictures don't do this or the other quilts justice as they were just stunning!

I was sure when I saw the poster that this was a photograph but it certainly wasn't!! You can't see from the photo, but the background was really textured with bits of overlapping pieces of fabric.

This is Cityscapes #5 by Beata Keller-Kerchner of Switzerland. Her other piece in the show won the first place.

This is another very textured piece called Alberta Rockies #3 by Patti Morris of Canada.

This is a piece by Elin Noble who does extraordinary surface design work. I am pretty good at "deconstructing" how someone does a piece, but she uses so many processes, I don't even begin to understand her methods. I had the great pleasure of chatting with her for some time and meeting her delightful husband as well! Again, I would urge anyone who is interested in dyeing or painting fabric to immediately sign up with classes with her! I have been in three and always learn something new!

This is Down the Coast #4 by Noel Keith. I loved this one as well and have been thinking some time of doing one like this.

The Art Quilt Experience - Part I - Jonathan Holstein

What a thrill it was to again see Jonathan Holstein do a lecture on quilts and quilting!! I can't emphasize enough that if you ever have an opportunity to see and hear this iconic individual, jump at it!! I had gone to a lecture previously but it was a rather large audience. This was a more intimate setting and he was so open and sharing of his experience and background. He is truly the person who brought quilting as art to the attention of naysayers!!

As he lives in the area where the talk was given, he was able to bring several quilts from his own collection. This is one of the Amish quilts he was showing us. Early in his collecting career, he discovered the beauty of these quilts.

This was another quilt from his collection which was very striking. It was made of felted wools. For some reason, it looks so much richer in wool.

Here he is showing another of his Amish quilts. I believe this one was from the Ohio area where they were freer in their use of color.

Here he is showing one of the tops from Anna Williams. For anyone having taken a Nancy Crow class, you will know that Anna was the inspiration for the movement toward improvisational quilting. Jonathan shared two of the tops he had of Anna's.

This was a quilt that Jonathan had just come upon and was truly excited about. It was from Italy, well documented and was a beautiful wholecloth and made as a wedding quilt. He described it as a missing link in quilt history.

Catching Up!

This is the most recent incarnation of the turquoise jacket I have been working on. I finally finished the left side and look forward to finishing the right side this week and getting it finally together!

I have quite a bit to blog but lost my laptop computer last week to the repair shop as I managed to pick up some very nasty virus which they are removing. Of course now I have to reinstall all my software (ugh, ugh).

Fortunately my old desktop still functions adequately (although slowly).

Marcia and Priscilla are looking over Priscilla's latest version of the leaves which is primarily in blues and a bit smaller than the Parallax version.

I couldn't help but take pictures of the gorgeous rhododendrons that are blooming in my neighbor's yard.

Again, the rhododendron. The red one is so bright in the pictures, it almost hurts your eyes to look at it! This was the pink one though. I took these pictures with a flash late in the evening and really like how they came out.

Of course it wouldn't be spring without our beautiful clematis climbing up the walls! It is covered with blooms.

GVQC Project Iron Quilter - Down to Plan D

This is the Judge's awarding winning quilt by Kathie Everett. Her theme was "The Diet". There is a tape measure around the middle and cut up tape measure around the bottom. If you double-click, you can see the machine quilting along the sides which are the fat cells that have gone away. Wonderfully creative and really utilizing the theme she chose. In addition, the composition and construction was wonderful!!

Today was our Project Iron Quilter which entailed 20 contestants having 3 1/2 hours to make a quilt from scratch. They were only allowed to bring one piece of fabric from home in their pieces. At 10:00 they were given the theme they were to use (it was a choice of 10 different words). They were then given time to grab additional fabric scraps donated by club members. These were piled on tables in the middle of the room. At 10:30 they were allowed to sew. With one 1/2 hour break, they continued sewing until 2:30. They were then judged, Viewer's Choice ballots counted and prizes awarded followed by an auction to benefit Gilda's Club.

HOWEVER, there is a back story!! Priscilla Kibbee was the program chair for this activity with Marcia DeCamp and I co-chairing. Our judge for the competition was to be Mark Lipinski who was teaching at the Festival. About a month before the show, it was announced that he had to cancel out of the festival as he was awaiting a kidney transplant. So we panicked a bit and then asked a local celebrity quilter to be our judge as she was experienced and has credibility!

At 7 o'clock the night before, this woman's husband called to say that she was in the hospital and wouldn't be able to judge!!! Marcia surged forward knowing there were several well known art quilters in town. Marcia tracked one down and asked her if she would do it and she was thrilled to accept! Paula Kavorik (frequent Quilt National participant and award winning art quilter) was there also from Memphis and said she would happily work with her. The morning of the competion, one of the judges called to say that her husband had suddenly been hospitalized and she wouldn't be able to do it. Paula, however, did come and became our designated judge. I invited Carol Soderlund to "consult" with Paula when I saw her around noon. Carol had wanted to meet Paula for some time after admiring her quilt at Schweinfurth so she readily accepted. Paula with consultation with Carol did a wonderful job of selecting the winner of the biggest prize as well as helping to place appropriate prizes for the other quilts. We can't thank those ladies enough for stepping in and doing an awesome job!!!!

We were beginning to be afraid to ask people to judge as this was more than a fair share of bad luck! I am happy to report that both Carol and Paula are still healthy.

This was the second place Viewer's Choice winner.

Jeanne Simpson and Nancy Hicks really won the award for audience participation and humor!! Jeanne sported some tattoos (phoney) in hopes of garnering award for best tattoos. Mary Wieser also tried this tactic!! Jeanne and Nancy actually put a Tip jar on their table and complained to the audience that they had to pay to enter!!! They are too funny! This was Jeanne's quilt and I did put in the winning bid for it in the auction as it just spoke to me. Like the winning quilt, the word she picked was "The Diet".

This was my Judge's Choice award and done by Diane Enerson. Diane was amazed to that she was able to complete a piece in such a short period of time! I loved the colors. Coincidentally, the piece of fabric in the upper right hand corner was a scrap from the fabric from which I made the jacket I was wearing!!

This is a piece by Anne Fisher who won the Viewer's Choice award. It was also one of the larger pieces!

I had to give special recognition to this piece and the next one!! I did love this piece. However, the recognition was for the fact that both this piece and the next one were literally in small pieces 15 minutes before the end of the competion!! I NEVER thought they would finish -- it truly felt like Project Runway!! Aren't they fantastic!!

In the end, everyone finished and I believe they really set a high bar for this kind of competition!! Many complained of how stressed they were but others amazed themselves by how successful they were.

I was sincerely surprised by the incredibly high quality of work from everyone -- I mean really quality work and finishing!! Each piece also had a signed label on the back and most even had a sleeve for hanging (we provided the sleeves and fusible).

Genesee Valley Quilt Club 75th Anniversary Celebration Quilt Show

I only took a few photos today as my job tomorrow is (with a helper) to take pictures of all the quilts in the show!! I may have to add space to Picasa to get them all up online! Today I guided the hanging of the art quilts and we have to neaten them up tomorrow.

This first picture is a look down a row of the wall quilts. My quilt is the second in and is called If the Amish Met the Kuna Indians as it was inspired by a mola I purchased from Priscilla.

This is one of the drapes of one of the special exhibits. There were no labels on the exhibit or the quilts so not sure what they were but they were beautiful.

This is a quilt by one of the show organizers, Lisa Feor called Simon's Graduation quilt.

This is Judy Heath's Bali Star quilt.

I really liked this one but didn't get the name in my shot -- will tomorrow!

Well, the quilt show will be starting on Friday with a fashion show at noon with our own Priscilla Kibbee, our Project Iron Quilter on Saturday and then the Auction on Sunday with Carol Ritter. I can't believe how many of the quilts I had not seen before -- our ladies have been busy and with the special exhibits, there is close to 1000 quilts which probably puts it in the category of one of the largest shows in the country I would guess.