Violetta

I showed this quilt in it's earliest stages and now it is finished. I am pleased with the contrast of light and dark. I like the gradation of greens in the background and love the spiky hair. I used batiks for the raw edged fused applique because of the tightly woven quality of the fabrics. I embellished the quilt with beads in the green background, rhinestones in the outer border, blue glitter eyeliner and some pink, green and purple paintstiks on the hair to highlight areas. I intend to enter it in upcoming shows in 2010.

Ist Place!!!!

I entered this quilt in the Michigan Quilt Network's Quilt Show "Show Your Colors!" in Lansing MI on September 10-13, 2009.I call the quilt "The Blue Wig". I was not at the show so I mailed my quilt to the show and it arrived back home today and I was pleased to see I had received a blue ribbon.

Wisconsin Quilt Expo

I just returned from the regional quilt show in Madison WI. It is sponsored by Nancys Notions and Wisconsin Public Television. I entered a quilt for the first time after attending it the last two yrs. Iwas thrilled to have been juried into this show and not at all sad/mad I did not receive a ribbon. As my quilting friend, Jeanne P. from Kaukauna WI, calls the judging a "crap shoot". This is a great philosphy to take or you would made yourself crazy. I used a pattern from a book called "StrataVarious Quilts" for the background. I used 48 rainbow colored batiks. They are strip pieced and then cut into squares on point in various sizes and sewn back together. Then I drew a picture of the woman and raw edge fused appliqued it to the quilt. I went crazy with embellishing from beads to an electrical cord to felt to tulle. This quilt wil be exhibited at the AQS IOWA Show late October.

Should Quilts Be in Museums??

As I turn toward art quilts ,and away from traditional quilts, my thoughts lean toward artsy things. I want quilts in museums and art galleries!! They have categories when there is a call for artists called "fiber art". Isn't a quilt fiber? I think quilts can no longer be considered blankets that just keep us warm. I have had people assume if I was a quiltmaker then I made blankets. After doing show and tell at the local quilt guild, and displaying a wall hanging with lots of embellishments, a member asked me how I planned to wash it. I explained to her it was to hang on the wall like a piece of art and wouldn't need laundering. I have been entering a few of my art quilts in area art shows and exhibits. I want to share art quilts with everyone-especially those who would never see them at a traditional quilt show. I hope to show that art quilts are justified as art and belong in the galleries and museums along with the oils, acrylics, metals and sculptures. On a side note, I was reading in the SAQA Summer '09 magazine about should quilters study art? Some art quilters come from an art background, say as a painter, and have studied these things. And some art quilters start as traditional quilters where they have relied on the quilt store to choose their next project (kits). To learn the principles of design is important in all aspects of design be it quilting, gardening, decorating or fashion design. So yes, study the arts--it can only move you to a higher understanding of why your art quilts are improving and are more pleasing to the eye!!! Maybe your next masterpiece will win a ribbon at the national quilt shows!!