Asheville Quilt Show 2011

The Asheville Quilt Show was last weekend and this year it was in a new venue--the Ag Center.  Now, many people might think that moving from the beautiful Arboretum to this location could possibly be a mistake: however, as far as I'm concerned, it was a good decision.  The show was in a new building, there was plenty of places to park and all of the quilts and vendors could share the same space--without any crowding.  While it's true that thee weren't any lush gardens around, it's also true that most people just wanted to see the quilts.  Any move such as this requires a certain amount of time to settle into being the "norm" but I think most people appreciated the benefits.
So--here are a few of my favorite quilts.  This first one is Golden Chrysalis by Terry Williams.  I have seen a few of the quilts by this artist and they seem to have the same sort of theme but each one plays around with light and color in an imaginative way.  As you can see, it received a well-deserved first place.-

 This next one is Lotsa Merry Berries by Nicki Vick.  I love Christmas Quilts like this one that can also just be a winter quilt.  It was beautifully made.

 This is Fourth of July in Margaritaville by Christine Regina.  I love the colors.

 And this one was made by a friend of mine, Sue Weaver.  It is Gradation and, although you can't necessarily tell from the photo, it's a miniature.  This was the first time ever that Sue had won a ribbon and she was quite excited--and it certainly was worthy of the honor.  If you enlarge the picture and look in the 4 corners, you will notice that there a tiny tubes of woven fabric that make up the squares.  You have to have really dexterous fingers to do that.

Connie Brown made this quilt, Tiffalipa.  The interesting thing about this particular quilt (other than the fact that it well done and eye-catching) is that she and I sat next to each other in a class taught by Phillipa Naylor earlier this year and we each finished our projects.  However, they don't bear any resemblance to each other.  She fell a lot deeper into the creative pool than I did and REALLY made it her own.

 Heartwood is made by Marge Edie--a quilter who is incredibly talented in the math side of quilting.  This was a replica of the top of a box she carved for her husband as a wedding gift many years ago.  I was a member of her art group while she was in the creative process of making the math of the angles and the colors of the wood come together into a thing of beauty.  She really succeeded--partially because she also has the gift of perseverance.  She kept at it when things didn't fit right until they did.  And look what she ended up with!

 This quilt, Compass Fantasy, by Renate Jaeger won the Viewers Choice Award.  She said that it had 3,700 pieces.  Man, talk about perserverance!  The original maker and designer of this quilt is Judy Mathieson and it was on the cover of The Twentieth Century's Best American Quilts.  If you want to see more of Judy's work you can visit her website ttp://web.mac.com/jackmathieson/Judy_Mathieson/Welcome.html

This last quilt I'm featuring is Dresdan Plate Fantasy by Velma Frady.  No reason.  I just liked it.

And, Oh, one last quilt I liked--MINE!  I received Best of Show for Summer Soiree.  Needless to say, I was very surprised and a very happy camper.

Fast Friday Challenge

 Recently, I joined an internet art group named Fast Friday Challenge. The idea is that on the last Friday of the month a challenge will be issued and a quilt should be made within a week.

One of the objects of this is to free your mind of all of the "what ifs" and JUST DO IT.  This challenge was based on 35 master paintings.  Each of us was free to choose the painting we wanted and use the color palette from it in a quilt.  I chose James Tissot's Croquet as my inspiration and I almost immediately thought of the little leaf drawing I had done several years ago.  (And that's the beauty of doing drawings and collecting pictures and putting them in a place where you can find them later).  So, I took this drawing and enlarged it to the size I wanted and then decided on the rest of the layout for the quilt.

 As you can see, I choose a circle for the center and went out from there.  Since I had a fairly limted color palette, it was challenging to decide on the placement of the colors.  I have named my piece Strolling Through The Garden.  When I had to come up with a name for it I felt that there was a certain feeling of pathways so,thus, the name.
When I got to the quilting stage, I decided that it was a good opportunity to try something a little different from what I usually do so on the outside border I used circles but finished off with curved lines.  You can double click this picture for a better view and the last picture is a closeup.
All in all, I really enjoyed this challenge.  I ended up with a wallhanging that I really like--one that I never would have made otherwise.
Hmm . . .I wonder what's coming on the next one?

A Friend's Aurevoir

When I moved from Charleston several weeks ago, it was with mixed feelings because I have so many good friends there.  My Quilters Night Out group had a special dessert evening to tell us goodbye and one of the members of the group made me this wallhanging.  You would have to double-click on it to get the full gist of what it's about but it's pretty special to me.  On the right sidebar of this blog is a poem by Dawna Markova entitled "I Will Not Die An Unlived Life and my friend Ellen translated it into fabric and gave it to me.  She just recently bought a nice Janome sewing machine and has been having fun freemotioning words onto her creations.  I feel so blessed that she chose to do this poem for me.  Thank you, Ellen, and "Aurevoir until the next time."

A Note On Posters

I have been asked by several people about the photographs that I use for some of my art quilts.  They look at the photo that I use for my pattern and wonder where I had it blown up (I recently did find out that some Fed Ex --used to be Kinko's--offices can blow up a photo to quite a large size).
However, I do the job at home and have been quite satisfied with the result.
Most printers today have a "Poster" function.  Some can print out a picture on (16) 8 1/2" x 11" sheets of paper.  My particular printer will go up to 25 sheets.  You will find this function under Preferences in your printer menu.  And I recently read an article in the February 2011 issue of The Quilt Life that show you how to go even bigger in Excel (although the directions weren't for my version of the software and I had to figure out how to convert it).  So here you see my photo

printed out on 25 sheets of paper.  You then have to trim off the appropriate edges and and glue the trimmed pictures together (you could also use scotchtape--but using a stick of glue is better).
And voila--here is my finished photo which now measures 37" x 50".  I printed it out on the "Best" setting and was really amazed at the quality of the resolution.  Someday it will be a quilt but, for now, I'm just going to enjoy looking at it.

Slow Going

Things have been going pretty slowly the past week or so.  We have been having some much needed work done on the driveway and foundation of the house; however, most of it has been going on right outside the window of my studio.  The vibration from the backhoe breaking up the concrete has been a little much. 
And this morning I was supposed to go to my first meeting with the Art Group I belonged to when I lived up here before and, instead, I ended up in the driveway digging channels in the rock and dirt in order to keep the water away from the foundation .
Oh well--one of the phrases I remember from my Spanish classes is "Asi es la vida" or "That's life."  And I guess that's right.  At least I have the muscles and the shovel.
Anyway, I HAVE finished the blanket stitching the fusible applique on my newest quilt, Lady in Waiting.  I just thought I'd post a picture of the pinning.  So many people have asked me how far apart do I place the pins.  I like to place them between 2 and 3 inches apart.  I think it helps to prevent those nasty "accidents" that can take place on the back of your work when you all of a sudden discover that you have quilted wrinkles into your quilt.
So now, I can begin to actually quilt something.  This particular piece has been in the works for almost 3 years from the time I took the picture of the Lenten Rose.  And now I can hardly wait to get it finished!

The Finishing Touch

The final thing in my studio that needed to be done was to replace the formica covering for the top of the worktable.
As you can see, the large sheet of formica arrived and is ready to install.  It is 5 feet wide--a foot wider than standard.  We ordered extra length so the trim on the end of the table could be replaced, also.

 Smokey's first task was to cut off the overhanging section.  I looked up on the internet for instructions on how to do it but he decided that a saber saw was the way to go--and it worked perfectly.  The problem about cutting formica is that it's brittle and can easily chip off and leave an uneven surface.

 The next day, our neighbor Anthony came over to help with the actual installation.  The top of the table and the wrong side of the formica are slathered with adhesive and set aside to "cure."  Then removable sticks are laid down the entire table top.  This is to prevent the formica from touching its surface.  The adhesive is sort of like super glue and of the two surfaces were to make contact with each other when in the wrong position, it would be somewhat of a disaster because they would be STUCK.

 So, here are Anthony and Smokey laying the formica out over the table, resting on the wooden stakes.

And here they are starting to roll the formica where they want it to touch the tabletop.  As they rolled, they carefully removed the sticks as they went along.  They rolled and rolled and rolled so there would be no air bubbles that could lead to separation of the two surfaces.

 At this point, they've removed all the sticks, the laminate is in place and they're rolling some more.

 This is what the roller looks like.

 Next they used a router with a special bit to trim off all of the overhang along the edges.  Anythony's holding the vacuum up to it to catch some of the sawdust.  It actually did a pretty good job (of course I may find some later when I go through my fabric!  But that can be washed.).

And here is the final, finished table top.  I'll have to say, they did a better job than the man who installed the original top.  And now, I guess I've run out of excuses about getting back to work.  Hi ho, Hi ho.

Yes, I'm Still Alive And Kicking!

A lot has happened in the last two months.  And it's been pretty intense.  As many of you know, we have moved back and forth from the mountains to the sea a couple of times in the last couple of years.  When we moved back to Charleston, we said, "This is it.  We just don't have another move in us."
Well, little did I know!  Our house in the mountains hadn't sold--and most likely wasn't going to sell in the near future  (or who knows when given this economy).  So, we had more or less decided that we would list both of our houses and live in the one that didn't sell.
Wouldn't you know?  As soon as we made that decision, someone called up and offered to buy our house in Charleston (before we even put it back on the market).

And not only did they want to buy it, they wanted to move in right away.  WE packed and packed and packed, rented a truck to bring many of the boxes to the mountains before the movers came, took lots and lots of stuff to Goodwill and sold more things on Craig's List.
Given the speed and our age, the move went exceedingly well.  The movers didn't break anything and they were nice and polite--and worked.  Thanks to Craig's List, everything I have left fits nicely into my smaller space.  There is still much to do, but I'm beginning to sew.

 A few comments on the pictures.  We were able to get my large table out of my old studio and into the new one.  We did have to throw away the formica covering on the top, but a new piece is on order and we'll install it as soon as it arrives.  I sold two of my sewing cabinets (to a VERY nice woman in Summerville) and two of my machines and that opened up a good bit of space. 
Lighting has been an issue in this space.  You can see the overhead light in Picture #1 and the nice flourescent that my husband replaced it with in Picture #4.  It has made the world of difference and he will also be replacing the old flourescents with newer, brighter models.

 Also, a comment on Craig's list.  I think I was able to sell my sewing-related items for a higher price than I could have gotten on eBay.  Perhaps people prefer being able to come see the actual items in person instead of relying on a photo from an unknown person in another state and then adding shipping costs on top of it.  I really enjoyed meeting these people but I made sure that I wasn't home alone when they came.
We also sold some furniture and although we didn't get what it was worth really, it saved the headache of having to deal with it in the midst of a move.  All in all, for us, Craig's List was a good experience but I think that listing sewing related items are less likely to draw an unwanted response than other items.

And this is the piece that I am finally getting back to work on--a Lenten Rose.  I'm in the process now of anchoring down the fusible applique.  And, in spite of some bumps in the road,  this is feeling like home.  I surely miss my friends in Charleston--I have been blessed to be part of a wonderful art group there and have also known other quilters there for quite some time.  They are all special people in my life and I know that they'll continue to be so.
So, here I am--alive and kicking.  I hope everyone is doing well.