Evergreen Quilters 2012 Quilt Show

 I entered four quilts in the Evergreen Quilters 2012 Quilt Show in Green Bay WI which was March 24-25, 2012. They are one of the few regional shows that have special art quilt categories-landscape/still life, figurative/portrait, surreal/fantasy and abstract. The two quilts behind me I entered in the surreal/fantasy category and I won both 1st and 2nd place!! I also won an honorable mention in the figurative/portrait category. It was hard to chose which quilts for this show because I don't do landscapes and abstract which meant my work fell into the other two categories. I also had a few favorites at the same time being juried into an art quilt exhibit in Escanaba MI. They chose one out of the three I entered so if I had a crystal ball I would have entered one of the quilts that did not make the Escananba cut.

This quilt I entered in the machine pieced, machine quilted by master quilter category and won 2nd place. That made my day since this quilt was a very challenging project. I used the 2012 Hoffman Fabrics Challenge Fabric since it was going to be used for the challenge but was too big for the rules. I chose to make it anyway and I will enjoy the ribbon!!

This quilt won Best of Show and I like it because it is in bright colors yet the technique is traditional using the Baltimore Beauty style of hand applique. I did not ge the artist's name. :(

 This quilt called "Boom-Cosmic Inferno" by Diane Auger was in the Abstract art quilt category. I love it because of the high contrast between the black/white prints and the bright rainbow colors. It looks like a double Ricky Timms' Convergence quilt with her own applique over it. I love circles and thus was drawn to this quilt. It only won an honrable mention but I love it!!

This quilt called
"Zippity Do Dad" was in the Abstract art quilt category by Linda Kuritz and won second place. It has actual working zippers with funky hanging do dads as zipper pulls. I love the string quilt technique and the irregular edge. Lots of activity but it is cohesive in theme. Linda had lots of work in the show and I was able to met her and compliment her on her creativity!!

The Green Bay guild had a great biennial quilt show with 22 vendors (I bought lots of batiks and a tote pattern.) I got to visit with some of my Appleton WI quilt friends and many others quilt friends even those from Marinette/Menominee where I live!! I had so much fun!!

Joann Fabrics "Quilt Your Colors" Quilt Contest 2011

I entered the Joann Fabrics "Quilt Your Colors" Quilt Contest last year and made the cut of 22 finalists and I mailed my piece to the Joann Fabrics headquearters for judging. Unfortunately it did not make the top 10 where all the prizes/money were. I was bummed and said I wouldn't enter the next year. The size requirement was a minimum 36" x 36" which I thought my quilt measured. It actually shrunk in the quilting process and was not the minimum size and maybe that's why it didn't make it any farther than it did. So after 6 months of thinking about it I decided to give it another try for the 2011 contest and go bigger with my entry. This is my quilt named "Sapphire and Topaz" and is 51" x 42." I wanted to explore the color combination of blues and oranges. This was a challenge using Joann Fabrics fabric because they did not have a lot of prints with both colors together in the fabric. I went to three Joann stores-Madison WI, Green bay WI and Escanaba MI, and finally was satisfied with my collection of fabrics for the project. I have a secondary theme of circles in the quilt-circle print fabric, circle appliques, circle echo quilting in the background and circle shaped felt buttons and sequins. I found a fun blue and orange metallic knit in the Hallowee section which fit nicely for part of the hair. I kept the face quite simple because the hair was the emphasis. There are also beads and buttons sewn to the quilt and a bit of fabric paint.

I received a phone call last week to let me know of 900 quilts mine made the cut of 22 which now are shipped to their headquarters for judging!! That made my day!! I sent my quilt to Ohio on Monday and the judging starts after April 1st and by the second half of April we find out who the winners are. The top 3 quilts are photographed and are featured on-line on Joann's website and in an upcoming sale flyer. So it's a waiting game now but I love this quilt-the oranges make me smile!!

SAQA 2012 Auction Piece and 4 x 6 Exchange 2

Studio Arts Quilt Associates (SAQA) has an art quilt auction every September to raise money for the organization. They encourage members to create and donate a 12" x 12" piece for the auction and this is the third year I have donated a mini art quilt. Above is my piece which I named "The Woman by the Beach." The quilts will be on display at SAQAs website www.saqa.com later this summer and there is an on-line auction.  I was able to find out the individuals who purchased my quilts and that was nice to receive an e-mail from them and thank them for choosing my quilt-it makes it more personal!!

I was still inspired by the soft blues, tans and yellows from the Florida mermaid quilt I made for my friend and went with them in this quilt. I modified my pattern to fit the required size. I pieced the background and raw edged fused appliqued the image of the woman to the background. I embellished with blue/turquise crystals for eyeliner. If I mailed it before the March 16th deadline  my quilt will be included in the SAQA exhibit that will be displayed at the IQA Quilt Show in Cincinnati OH.

On-line I discovered  through The Art House Coopertive an art exchange. It is called The 4 x 6 Exchange 2. All I had to do was enter for free, make any art piece sized 4 x  6 which would fit in a standard envelope, meet the March 31st deadline and mail it to the designated address. When they are all mailed the mini art pieces will be exchanged and I will receive one back in the mail. I will post this returned exchange piece when I receive it! I thought it was a nice coincidence that my fabric postcards were 4 x6 so I used my scraps from the SAQa auction piece and made this postcard. I embellished with fabric paint and a few rhinestones. I mailed it this week and it went to Brroklyn NY. Can't wait to see what I get!!

Fabrications III: Art Quilts of the U.P.

I may have posted this quilt before when I made it for my local quilt groups 2010 quilt show challenge but it has been chosen for inclusion in the Fabrications III: Art Quilts of the U.P. at the Bonifas Art Center in Escanaba, MI. The exhibit runs from March 29-April 36, 2012 with an artists reception on Thursday April 12 from 7-9EST. This exhibit is every other year and this is the third time the Bonifas has done it-in 2010 my Tina quilt was entered and I won second place!!

This quilt began with three fabrics-the gold crackle, the dark green batik and the small floral print. I kept seeing the Green Bay Packer colors and couldn't get insprired. One of the local quilt shops got in a line of fabric with greens, browns and yellows and I had a plan. I used Ricky Timms' convengence quilt as a background and did a raw edged fused applique technique for the image of the earth mother. It has a very naturey feel to it and I added rhinestones, silk and felt flowers, leave buttons, silk leaves, and a decorative button as part of the necklace as embellishments. When I look at this quilt it is very calming to me.

The second photo is a close up of the face area.

Tale of Two Mermaids

 These two quilts began with the bright version on the left. It is a smaller replica of a mermaid quilt I made last summer for myself. Is basically the same minus a bottom row of blocks and I eliminated the lighthouse and plants. I call it "Lake Michigan Mermaid." My intention was to enter it in an exhibit in Milwaukee this spring but I don't think they are doing the exhibit in 2012 so I will try to sell it at a vendor show this summer, The brown muted mermaid is a gift to my friend Jan who invited me to her Florida home recently and I call this quilt "Winter Haven Mermaid" since the area is abundant in lakes. Would the alligators eat a mermaid??!! I was inspired by Jan's decorating using soft blues, yellows and the sand/tan tones. I used a medium brown to do the raw edged fused applique keeping in mind to have enough contrast to be able to see it but not too dark to veer away from the soft muted tones.

This is the close up of  Miss Lake Michigan and ever though I am using the same technique her face looks different from the first mermaid quilt I did and she looks like Lacey Schwimmer from Dancing With The Stars!! I enbellished with rhinestones, beads, buttons, Sculpy Clay fish buttons, fabric paint, glitter and nail polish.

Miss Winter Haven has embellishments of sea shells, since Jan had lots of shells as part of her Florida decor, a small amount of glitter from nail polish, fabric paint and rhinestones. I didn't go crazy with the bling because it seemed more calm/serene without it.

I like them both but the choice of bright or muted fabrics definitely chances the emotion of the quilt. Do you prefer one mermaid over the other??

Cabbage Rose Mandala

This quilt began with the picture in the second photo from a quilt book from 30 yrs. ago. I bought the book before I was a quilter and have always been fascinated with the mandala design but never attempted it. I was planning to do the Hoffman Challenge and drew up the design (third photo) using a 6" block and after cutting it all out and designing the blocks I actually read the Hoffman Challenge rules and discovered it was too big. "What did we learn from this experience??" READ THE RULES and READ THE RULES AGAIN!! So I made the Hoffman Challenge in the size that fit the rules and then decided to make this quilt anyway because I really wanted to and was up for the challenge of the mandala blocks. The challenge fabric is the cabbage rose floral.

There was no pattern in the book-just the little bit that you see in the photo. I drew it out on graph paper and decided to foundation piece the blocks. I drew the pattern and colored in the areas to the color scheme of purples, pinks and greens. (Photo Three) Some of the blocks were very complicated and to reduce the block size smaller than 6" would have been too crazy for me. This was fun but time consuming and I stopped and did other small projects in between to calm myself. Once the top was completed the hard part was over.

 I chose to quilt with a combination of straight and circular lines. The pieced top was very angular so I felt it needed some softness from the curved lines.

Photo Four is an example of the quilting.

I have some fun purple flower beads left over from the REAL Hoffman Challenge and used them in this quilt (photo five.) I also used a few pink tiny rhinestones as accents. The finished quilt is 53 x 53. I plan to enter it in a few upcoming regional quilt shows.  THe REAL Hoffman Challenge is due in July 2012 and I will wait until closer to July to display because I do not want anyone to copy my design.

Busy January: Florida

 My January at the hair salon was busy with bridal shows. As far as quilting, I have been working on a foundation pieced quilt sized 53 x 53 and it was very complicated in the piecing and the machine quilting I chose was plentiful. I have finished it and am blocking it as I blog and will do some minimal embellishments on it. As soon as it is finished I can post the photo of it. Then Last Monday I had the chance to visit a friend who winters in Winter Haven FL. She has been asking me for a few years now and I took her up on her offer. Granted this has been an easy winter in Upper Michigan but a chance to wear summer clothes, flip flops and enjoy the 70-80 degree weather was not to be passed up!! I found that Winter Haven had a quilt shop called Heart Felt and it was the biggest quilt shop I have ever seen outside of Mill House Quilts in Waunakee WI. Visual overload and very hard to choose fabric that I could still carry on the plane home. I was inspired to make one of my mermaid quilts for my friend Jan, who invited me,  in the colors she was decorating her FL home-beiges, tans, light blues and peachy pink. I will make the fused applique in a tan color dark enough to see it but light enough to stay with the color scheme. I found some fabrics for this quilt and some sea shell beads for embellishments.

This large doll called "Grandma" greets people as they enter the store. The owner told the story of how the former owner made the doll and the new owner had her in storage for a while. The shop carries a line of purse and tote patterns called Easy Peasy and the pattern designer made a pattern for a walker holder. She asked if she could bling the walker for a trade show and that's how "Grandma" has been ever since. Very colorful, eye catching and funny!

So I managed to hit 3 quilt shops in the area, visit a botanical garden, enjoy the Florida sun and eat some great regional food.