I'm Having A Quilt Exhibit!!

I want to announce I am having an exhibit of many of my art quilts. The exhibit is in Menominee Mi, where I live, at the Spies Public Library Gallery, 940 1st Street, Menominee MI. My quilts will be on display from March 1-31, 2010. I am having an artist's reception in the gallery on Thursday March 4, 2010 from 4-6 pm. If you live near by or are in the area or want to sample my daughter Jordana's yummy munchies I would love to see you!! Jordana has freed up her work schedule and will be there from Green Bay to be my lovely assistant. When she was a "youngie" (she's in her 20's now!) she would always accompany me to quilt shops/shows and has witnesses the trasformation from traditional quilter to art quilter. She even took some crap when she was in high school, when she was hostessing at her part-time job, when this woman says "That girl's mother uses those BRIGHT fabrics. How could she!" I still laugh at my use of lime green and fuschia bothering this woman!! Anyway, Ken helped me hang the quilts and it was fun to see so many quilts on display at once.

Quilting Arts' Reader Challenge

I have decide to enter in the Quilting Arts Magazines' "How Entertaining!" Reader Chanllenge. The deadline is May 3, 2010 and I am about 3/4 finished. Just like my "Tina" quilt, this challenge is the size of a piece of paper. I can not show anybody yet (secret!!) The theme is entertainment-music, movies or TV shows which was quite broad. I chose one of my favorite TV shows from the md-70s-a little fun, fashion and funk!! It has been enjoyable making this quilt and will post the photo when I feel appropriate. The small size makes for a quick project but difficult to get your message across in that amount of space. :)

New Quilt

I have finished the quilt I have been showing on my blog. My goals were to work with a white background, instead of black my normal choice, and to create a portrait using a new technique. I usually layer fabric on top of each other to get the look of shading and highlighting. This time I went with a "mosaic" look. I wanted to use brights so I picked warm tones for the hair and cool tones for the face. I wanted the figure offcentered as well. This left me with a large white background area to fill because it wasn't balanced. I chose to do a thread painted figure behind the woman. I wanted it noticeable yet not to overpower the woman. I have done minimal embellishing because I think it doesn't need anymore. I probably will sew beads or french knots on the binding edge. When I showed the finished quilt to my boyfriend, who is an artist, he freaked out. "It doesn't look like your normal work!" He was confused by the modernness of the woman in the quilt. "It was way out there" and he didn't really like it as well as my other work. So that got me thinking about "is that what art does-provote emotions-good or bad?" I then chickened out of show and tell at my quilt guild meeting last evening. The women are traditional quilters for the most part and I wasn't sure if I was ready for the same reaction as my boyfriend. Maybe art can make people angry or sad not just happy.

AQS Lancaster PA

I have been notified my quilted wall hanging "Violetta" has been juried into the American Quilt Society Lancaster PA Quilt Show. The show is March 24-27, 2010 and my quilt is in the wall quilts-pictorial category. I am way excited!! I will not be in Lancaster but my quilt will be!!