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I just sent in my donation for the 2014 Studio Art Quilt Associates Benefit Auction. The Auction is SAQA’s largest fundraiser besides membership dues-this will be my fifth year to donate. You can see all the quilts in this year’s auction here-be sure and check back frequently because it’s still very early. I decided I wanted to play with silk and sheer, similar to what I did in Emerge. I drew up a little sketch before starting to guide me. I used purple hand dyed Radiance fabric (45% silk, 55% cotton), wool batting and 2 layers of polyester organza that…
I had a wonderful weekend filled with two quilt shows and a gathering with old friends. I attended the American Sewing Guild luncheon and got to catch up with sewing friends I hadn’t seen in awhile. I then took a lovely 90 minute drive back in full tilt glorious spring weather to see the Foothill Quilters Guild show. Unfortunately I only had 45 minutes at the show-and that included the quilts, vendors and Country Store! So my photos are particularly scarce this year-sorry! The Special Guest was Velda Newman! I took a class from her about 10 years ago and…
Last Thursday had one of those rare moments that you want to savor-I received two acceptance notices in the same day. I was juried into a regional show of Studio Art Quilt Associates and I was also notified that some of my work will be included in an upcoming book by Sandra Sider titled “1000 Quilt Inspirations”. I don’t know how many of my photos will be included in the book-I submitted the maximum of 10 and will be notified later how many were chosen. I’ve been mum about the quilt that was accepted since I didn’t want to show…
I have a problem-I have Quilt it to Death Disorder-QITDD. I really don’t know how to keep it simple. I knew my Maine Girl quilt needed to have a simple quilted background that did not take away from the main image-one that just let the girl shine. Well, you know where this one is going… I tried sketching it with parallel lines in the background-ironically that seemed to distract from her. I also tried a simple stipple-ugh-so trite. I tried bubbles-that definitely overworked it. I thought it might need a grid, but plain grids are actually very difficult to pull…
Our Feb assignment in Elizabeth Barton‘s on-line Design Master Class course was to capture the sense of movement. It was intriguing to see how different students interpreted this challenge. That is one of the things I like the most about on-line learning-to be able to examine and study the work of others in the class. I depict movement a lot in my work-like my Morning Breeze quilt. So I did not want to do what I know-I wanted to challenge myself. I decided to work from a photo I took of 3 girls riding the mail ferry in the Casco…
I am working on a quilt that I will submit for consideration into a juried exhibit. The exhibit has specific size requirements. I completed my quilt and was preparing to cut it to be 24″ x 20″. You know the adage-measure twice, cut once. When it comes to making a cut on a quilt that must be a specific size, if you cut too small you will be out of the running. Since I made this quilt specifically for this exhibit, I was going to be very careful about my cuts. I lined up two rulers to lay the line…
On to the “Big Quilt Room” of the show: What a charming quilt! Geri Richardson designed and appliqued “9 Lives Plus 3”, featuring 12 months of cats. Quilted by Shireen Hattan. Sandi Fong made and quilted “Hearty Heart of Hearts” to do double duty as a Valentine’s quilt and for her anniversary. The feather quilting was beautiful. This was one of my favorites. Suzie Quinnell made and quilted “Zenspiration”. She combined traditional log cabin blocks, zentangled blocks, silk and some fabulous quilting to make this gorgeous quilt. I love this quilt! Donna Brennan made and pieced “Quilty Qwerty” and I…
The Folsom Quilt and Fiber Guild Show was held last weekend-this is my home guild. Our theme was “A Walk on the Wild Side” and it was a wild romp! Anita Marshall was our Decorations Chair and she definitely had a “wild” take on decorating! We hold our show in an aging community center and there are not enough women’s rest rooms, so we take over one of the men’s rooms to make it ours. To keep visitors from putting trash or debris in the urinals, Anita decided to put cactus in there. That’ll do it, huh? Sheep in Wolf’s…
I had a fascinating lunch time discussion during our most recent Regional SAQA meeting. A group of 5 artists were talking about happens when we make our art public. I was in the minority with my approach-I was also the least experienced artist in the group. I recognize that when I put my art up on the internet or in a show, people may/will copy it, put photographs up without attribution, or even outright steal my ideas. I’ve already experienced some of this and I’ve already seen another teacher use my class handouts and call them her own. One nationally…