Art can be humbling...

I was in a business meeting for work last Thursday, when I received an email telling me I had won 'Best Innovative Style Quilt' for Let's Here it for the Girls at the Mancuso, NJ Quilt Fest.  As you can imagine I was ecstatic.  I was sitting in Chicago, but couldn't wait for the weekend, so that I could see my quilt hanging in all it's glory in New Jersey.

Well, I am happy I had those 3 days to bask in my glory.  As always, the show had some phenomenal quilts hanging.  My notification email for the award had said that the judges felt that the competition was extremely tough.  But as I walked the show floor, I was amazed at the talented quilts and the big name quilters who I had gone up against...  oh my.  I didn't even rush to find my quilt.  I decided to take my time and appreciate all the other work, because surely they had made a mistake and I had maybe received Honorable Mention.

One of the reasons I like this show is that the quilts are usually so varied, and this year was no different.  Artsy quilts hung next to traditional, big next to small, hand next to machine...  In all, the workmanship spoke for itself.  These artists put their heart and soul into these pieces... surely, mine won't look as good, or as professional.  I quilt at night, after work, after dinner, after all the other things have been taken care of.  I quilt for me, not for judges...  I experiment with all different types of techniques and yes, sometimes, I say to myself, it is 'good enough', knowing it isn't perfect.

It is funny how all these thoughts rushed through my mind as I walked the floor.  Almost as if I was preparing myself to be disappointed.  And then I saw it.  My quilt...  my ladies, on the dance floor for all to see.  And YES, there was my ribbon as well..  BLUE for first place in a particular category.  As always, I watched the people as they approached.  Almost as expected, their eyes seemed to gravitate to the other 2 pieces handing next to it....  see I was right, it didn't deserve that ribbon....  then all of a sudden, they turned around...  they stopped and looked and took out their cameras.  They noticed the finely tuned bodies of the dancers, the realistic effect of them in front of the back-drop as a result of the trapunto, the 3D flowers that had been scattered across the stage in accolades.  They chatted amongst themselves and read the description and the quilters name.  At that point, I felt it was alright to step forward, to comment that I was the quilter.  They congratulate me and ask questions about the piece. As they walk away, I breath.  Ok, that wasn't so bad.  I survived, I belong....

No this isn't the first time I have won a BLUE ribbon, and no it isn't the first time the competition was tough, but it always seems to amaze me, that others enjoy looking at something that I created, and for that I am humbled.  I quilt because I enjoy it.  It brings me peace.  I think it is wonderful that others get some joy from merely looking at it as well.

For that, I say Thank You!

Renee

Quilt Odyssey 2013, Hershey, Pa

I went to Quilt Odyssey in Hershey, PA this weekend.  My quilt, In the Spotlight, was juried in. :-)

Had a wonderful time and ran into good friend, Teri Lucas, and my FB friend McLisa Tangerine Starfish Snipes.  I love Lisa's work, but have never met her in person.  She is a fantastic quilter.  If you have never seen her work, check her out.

Both my husband and I were wowed by the special exhibit of Sharon Schamber's quilts.  Sharon is a Master Quilter.  I have heard her speak before at Empire Quilters, but this was the first time that she has shown a collection of her work, actually hanging together.  If you haven't had the pleasure of checking out her work, take a look here. 

Once moving into the actual show, it was a feast for the eyes.  Although, I forgot that it was as small as it was.  Don't know why I thought there were more quilts in previous years, maybe because there were so many large quilts this year.  Once again, my commentary that the vendor room was almost twice as large as the quilts and had better lighting :-(.  I go to these shows to see the quilts, I try to only buy things that I can't get at my LQS's, like Superior and Aurifil threads in large cones/spools.  I prefer to shop at LQS's to help support the LQS, who are getting undercut by the large stores and will one day be forced out of business.  Anyway...  I did enjoy the show.  Just wish there were more quilts.

Here are some of the quilts that caught my fancy...

Lorilynn King's A Pocket Full of Paisley's, which won First Place in Wall Quilt Category.  This piece really wowed me, especially since I am making a paisley quilt now myself.  She digitized all the paisley's on her embroidery machine and then appliqued them on top of the pieced/quilted background.

Mary Kay Price's All that Jazz.....

Missed grabbing the quilt maker's name on this piece that took Best Pictorial Quilt..

Melissa Sobotka's Chihuly's Gondola...  The colors are stunning!

Barbara Persing's Magnolia....  the color's here are muted. but so striking.  The magnolia and brown background are painted/shaded on white fabric and then the various commercial prints are pieced.  Since I have been thinking about playing with paints, this piece really spoke to me as it has a great balance.

I was so enthralled with this Mallard, that I don't know how I missed taking a shot of the signage, missing the quilters name and the name of the piece.  My sincere apologies, but it is stunning!  Her threadwork to highlight the head, using a thread with just enough sheen to make it catch the light is amazing!  I also love the way she quilted the water.  It really looks like the ripples are moving as you look at it.

My girlfriend, Donna Chambers, also had a quilt juried in...  Mermaid Mariah & Her Circle of Souls.  This piece gives homage to the African-American folk legend that a black mermaid traveled along side of the slave ships.  Her job was to save the souls of the dead slaves thrown over board in the middle passage during the slave trade period. She is said to have plenty of hair, which Donna shows flowing wildly as she cleanses herself in the bathtub.  The souls that she has saved are always on her mind and are represented in a circle surrounding her.

(If you follow my blog, you would have seen Donna's piece in previous posts about the African American Mermaid gallery exhibit in Charleston, South Carolina that Donna and I both had pieces in.)


Mary Jo Tatum's Noel....

Nancy S Brown's Penguins 

Lisa Calle's Red Velvet

The quilting in this piece is amazing as well!

Bethany Nemesh's The Shell Collector, is done all in Dupioni Silk (I love dupioni :-)) 

Sunset on Cayuga was pieced by Cathy Rice Messenger and quilted by Mandy Hares Applebee of Yellow House Quilts.  My shot of the full quilt was too blurry.  But here is a close up....

The amount of detail quilting in this piece is mind boggling.  You really need to check out Yellow House Quilts on Facebook to get a better feel of the amount of work that went into this piece!  Just look for an album called Sunset on Cayuga.

Another quilt that I a) didn't catch the name or the quilter's name (sorry) and b) the picture of the quilt is too blurry.  But here is a close-up.  I just love, love, love the quilting!

 Hope you enjoyed the virtual show.  As you can see I am really drawn the art quilts and detailed quilting, so I apologize to those fantastic quilters who had work in the show and are not pictured here.








 

New Experiences

I have a few quilting friends who are members of FANE, a Fiber Arts group that meets monthly in Somers, NY.  This month, another friend and I decided to attend one of the meetings, to see if it was something we would like.  I don't know why we questioned it.  We know the groups leader and several members, so we knew they were great people and the type of work they did.

Well we went and knew it was for us.  I have been looking for something to coax me out of my normal quilting realm.  Looking for something to take me to the next level.  The good thing is they are preparing for two upcoming exhibits.  Both with a theme...  I don't normally do themes.  I quilt and name the piece afterwards, I don't know what I am doing or why before I start.  Yes, I have an idea of what the piece will look like, but I am not making it for a reason.

So here was my first challenge.  To choose a line of a poem or song and make a piece no bigger than a 14" square that interpreted the line of the poem / song.  The piece had to consist of more than one element, meaning it could not be one quilted square.  The elements could be joined, but it had to be clear by the viewer that the elements were made independently.  While there are a couple of other design guidelines, that is the jest of it....  interpret a poetic line into a 14" piece of art.  At the next meeting we will mount the pieces on an 18" canvas for a uniform gallery exhibit.

So here is my piece.... I still have to secure the fishing line to the outer frame, but you get the idea :-)...

As I look at it here (it is laying on my applique sheet), I realize I still have a bit of work to do on the hair.

Oh my song line....  "And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance, I hope you dance!"  Lee Ann Womack's song "I HOPE YOU DANCE".  This fits my life so perfectly.  I am not one to sit on the side lines, I truly believe in engaging life to it's fullest!

So, I hope you dance!!

Northern Star Quilt Show 2012 - Ribbon time :-)

So as always, the first weekend of May means the Northern Star Quilt Show in Somers, NY. 

This year, besides the normal show entries there was a special dedication to Mrs. Rose, the women the quilting world owes their gratitude to for the show "Infinite Variety:  Three Centuries of Red and White Quilts"  in NYC last March.  The guild had a red and white challenge, that resulted in an exhibit of 95 red & white quilts.  Our exhibit was hung similar to the way Thinc Designs hung the show at the NYC Park Ave Armory, with the quilts suspended and backed by other quilts.  It was a wonderful tribute.  I am just sorry that I missed the presentation by Mr and Mrs Rose and Tom Hennes from Thinc on Saturday.  But it was my birthday and my family had tickets to the Gladys Knight concert, featuring special quest Brian McKnight, at Foxwoods that evening, with dinner and an overnight stay in Connecticut planned.

But thanks to my friends, I didn't have to wonder as to how my quilts did in the show. :-).  Between Facebook posts and text messages, I knew that one of the two quilts I submitted had won a ribbon.  I didn't know which quilt, nor what ribbon until I got back into town late Sunday afternoon and made it to the show.  Yes, Ashante Rhythms won a 3rd Place Ribbon, in the wall art category of  "people, portraits, animals of other recognizable forms"

 It is always nice to win a ribbon, but this year, it was the judges notes on my comment sheet that really made me smile.  My quilt was held over for 'best machine quilting' judging....!!!!  While I totally understand why I didn't win (the quilt that did was exquisite) it was good to know that my quilting is starting to get recognized, not just the visual appeal my pieces have due to the vibrant colors.  I also appreciated the comments underneath the notation....  a few short thread tails on the back...  a skip an area thread not trimmed.... and lint on the back of the quilt.  (Black...  I lost points in the judging because of lint on the piece...  need to be more mindful of that in the future).  But notice the comments...  nothing about equal or un-equal stitch lengths, nothing about the regularity of the quilting, nothing about the density of the quilting...  NOTHING to indicate I needed to improve my machine quilting.  WOW was I excited.  All the comments were on the attention to detail, after you finish a piece.  OMG!!!! I can easily fix those problem :-).  Oh yes, I know that even if I didn't have any of those issue, I still would not have won. Believe me the quilting on the one that did, was absolutely breath taking.  But just to know that for once, the judges did not have a negative thing to say about my machine quilting.  In fact they thought it good enough to be held over for machine quilting judging.  Oh YES, I am happy :-).

Northern Star Quilt Show 2011: Part II

Here's an update on the NSQS, A World of Quilts XXXII.  I never did post pictures from all the other wonderful quilts. 

This won Best in Show....  it is fantastic...  but it took Carolyn Cook 4 years to complete!  Shaping the trees and adding all the details.  The trees on the right hand side are shaped by using wide ropeing, cut in half and stitched over with various yarns.  If you get a close look, you will see how each element was made individually and added to the top.  Carolyn said it took her months to decide to leave the top uneven.  Her original plan was to have a black boarder...  but after looking at it behind the piece for months she knew it wasn't right.  I am glad she didn't.

You have seen this piece before, it is from my friend, Donna Chambers.  "Dr Smoooth" was a creation pulled together after taking a 3D class with Mary Anne Ciccotelli.  Donna and Mary Anne (you'll see her quilt in a minute) are both members of Pelham Quilters with me as well as a fellow quilters in the mini-group I belong to.

"Goodbye NY" by Jerri Riggs received Honorable Mention.  Jerri is known for his bright colors, which is why I have always loved her work.  There is tons of quilting in this piece.  Jerri dyed her own fabric for the background.

I have always wanted to do a Jacqueline de Longe quilt.  Here is one "Colors of Life" by M. Sugar.  Look at all the piecing.  I love those points and colors!

Another friend of mine, Mary Anne Ciccotelli, made this quilt as a wedding present for her niece and nephew.  It is absolutely gorgeous!

I really was happy to see so many quilts of different styles and techniques, and soo many by my quilting friends :-).  I actually watched this piece by Sandra Parratt, another member of my mini group, come alive.  I remember Sandra going through the decision process on the size and shape of the black birds.  "Eye of the Black Bird" took 2nd Place in it's category of small quilts.  Sandra does a ton of thread painting in her work.  She did a lesson for our mini group, but I still haven't mastered the technique.

 This quilt just captured my eye for a long while.  "Scattered Blocks" by Sterk (sorry, I missed the first name), is very different then the rest of the quilts in the show.  Each block is totally different, but blends into the rest of the quilt quite nicely.  I love the way she gave the illusion of the blocks being 3D by adding a darker fabric to give the feel of shadows.

While I didn't get pictures for some reason, I want to give a shout-out to Eunice and her husband.  Both got ribbons this year.  Eunice for 2 very different quilts, in 2 very different styles.  Eunice and I, as well as Donna Chambers partake in the bi-annual Country Quilter Retreat (hear after to be known as the CQ Getaway).  Way to go Eunice!

Ok, time to get quilting.  I will see if I can post more pics later in the week.

Cheers!

Quilters are such wonderful people!

I received a really wonderful card yesterday with a Happy Birthday message from a woman I have never met before.  She is a fellow quilter and member of Empire Quilters, a guild I belong to in NYC, although I rarely attend the meetings.  In the card were photo's of two of my quilts which were in the recent Empire Quilter's Show - Urban Inspirations. 

In the card was a note, telling me how much she enjoyed seeing my quilts in the show, congratulating me on my ribbon and telling me how much she enjoys seeing my work.  WOW!  I am deeply touched.  She concluded by saying she was one of my many fans :-).

So Cindy Russell....  if by chance you happen to be at this months meeting, I will be there and I hope I get the opportunity to Thank You in person for making my day!

Renee

Thanks to Jane Davila, I finally figured it out!

If you remember in March I did on post on Quilt Show Judges comments.  I had just received my quilts and comments back from the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Fest.  All in all the comments were spot on, but I just couldn't seem to comprehend what one comment was meant to tell me.....  "Your quilting was all the same size, flattening the otherwise very daring composition."  I discussed this comment with quite a few quilting friends and we all just scratched our head.  How would varying the size of the quilting improve the composition?  Especially when the design included trapunto and to see the full effect of the trapunto, you need tight quilting.  That is what helps make the trapunto stand out.

Well, last night Jane Davila gave a lecture to The Pelham Quilters on the "Elements of Design".  She discussed the principles of color, value, contrast, symmetry, repetition, scale......  and quite a few others and how they work together to help improve the design of the quilt and to tell the quilts story (oh..  I will share one quote in a bit, that really hit me in the face :-).   She shared some of her pieces, as well as those from family and friends to highlight how each of these elements improved the overall aesthetics of the quilt.  But notice the word SCALE.....  hmmmm...  the judges comment talked about how my quilting was all the same size.  Well, think about it, varying scale of objects in your quilt top, makes it more interesting...  your eye has to roam, move around the quilt.  The various size of objects help to make some more important or dominant in the quilt top, while allowing others to play back-up roles.  We do this all the time, without even realizing it.  All this I knew.......  But could this really be true with the quilting?  OMG yes!  The quilt in question, has 3 different size medallions, nested one inside the other, appliqued on a blue background.

Can you imagine the difference in this piece, if I increased the scale of the quilting as I came out from the center?  Since the colors get brighter as you work your way out of the center, just think if the quilting did the same... from tiny to small to medium to large!  It might even had an almost 3D effect !!!

Well, thank you Jane for my 'AHA!' moment.  Sometimes, we have to have a nail pierce through our outer protective layer and listen with no ownership for us to really understand things that can effect both our being and our art!!  I am glad, that I was at least open enough for it to penetrate, for that is how we grow, both as individuals and as artist.

Now for the comment of the night (at least in my humble opinion)....

"Art is a conversation between the artist and a viewer, so a piece is not finished, until it has been viewed by someone else besides the artist."

Cheers!

MQX East 2011, Providence, Rhode Island

I have been jotting around a lot lately and last weekend was no exception.  I was fortunate to be able to get away Thursday night and DH and I toke the 3 hr drive to Providence, Rhode Island.  It was a gorgeous day, so the drive was a pretty one.  I had signed up for a class with Cathy Higgins (hint, hint...  "What's Brewing?") on designing quilts from photos and one with Gina Perkins on creating great quilting designs.  Gina had a family emergency come up, so I was fortunate to have Karen McTavish step in and teach the class.  I have always wanted to take a class with Karen, so I wasn't too upset :-).  But more on my classes another time.  Today's post will be about the quilts.  Boy was I blessed...  the show was a gem!  I have so many pics I am not sure all will make it into the post, but here goes.

Let's start out with the quilt by a friend of mine, Teri.  Her quilt "Moon Over Manhattan" won a Teacher's Award.  This quilt was also used as cover art for a rock group out of England.

Next is a quilt of another friend of mine from Facebook, Pat Delaney.  Pat's quilt "Inspiration From Nature's Art" was quite striking.  It is always nice to see quilts made by friends hanging in shows.  I had never met Pat in person before, that is until MQX.  She and I both tried out the APQS Millennium long arm machine.  Yes, I am still dreaming :-).  But for the time being Pat does all her quilting on her domestic machine, like me.
 

Here is a close-up of the quilting.   Pat and I were both in the quilting lecture by Karen McTavish.  Not sure she needs it.

There were a couple of quilts by Dustin Farrell that really impressed me.  His quilts were so original and so full of detail and of course, I loved the color in "Garden Orbes".

Look at those flying geese...  they are all 3D...  yes!!

Dustin did something I have seen very few quilters do.  Once he had all his background quilting in using black thread on black fabric, yellow on yellow, blue on blue, etc..., he went in and added accent quilting using silver and gold thread.  It looked like Glide poly, but I can not be sure.

Look at the level of detail in this piece.  He has buttons and gems attached by crocheting them on with cotton thread circles.

And if you think that was good, look at this piece.  It is done almost entirely with thread.  Talk about a lot of thread!!  Take a look at "Whitetail Morning"....

Take a close look....  let me know if you can see any fabric that isn't covered in thread.  I dare you to find an area, bigger than an inch that isn't covered :-).

The level of detail is amazing.  This deer looks so peaceful, just sitting there, taking in the sights...

 

Even the birdies in the tree are just chilling out, enjoying the morning air.

Well that's all for now.  I have about 40 more pictures, so I will post more over the next week. 

The kids are coming home for Easter weekend and then I am off to Peru and Columbia for work on Monday, so I will have plenty of plane and hotel time to do some posting.

Cheers!

New Jersey Quilt Fest pics!

As promised here are pics from the New Jersey Quilt Fest held earlier this month.

Once again I created a SmileBox slide show, because with 51 pics, it was toooooooo many to copy here one by one.  Most have the signage showing title of quilt, quilter and data about the quilt, but some, I just got carried away and started taking pics :-).

Free picture slideshow generated with Smilebox Hope you enjoy the show :-) Renee

In the Spotlight wins Honorable Mention at the Empire Quilter's Show!!

This past weekend one of the guilds I belong to, Empire Quilter's, held their bi-annual show:  Urban Inspirations 2011.  I was lucky enough to have two quilts in the show.  In the Spotlight and A Blaze of Glory.  If you remember, these are the same two quilts that were juried into the Mancuso, Virginia Quilt Fest.  Well, In the Spotlight won an Honorable Mention, in the Art Quilts category....  WooHoo!!!

Blaze of Glory was in the Wall Quilts category...

I really chuckled when I read the judges comments, because if you remember I felt kinda bewildered after reading the comments from Va Quilt Fest.  But thankfully, these judges gave both compliments as well as suggestions for improvement,...  like on Blaze, here are two of the comments:  1)  Scale of quilting is perfect for the design of the quilt, and 2) When using flange on a quilt try to make sure it is the same size all around the quilt.  Boy, I couldn't agree more and remember considering taking off the binding when I first finished the piece to try and fix the piping.  Compare those two comments to the comments from the Va show:  1)  Your quilting was all the same size, flattening the otherwise very daring composition., and 2) Like the use of piping.  So I guess as the saying goes, take a judges comments for what they are worth and move on :-).

And that is what I am going to do.  I submitted both of these quilts and a third in another show at the end of April.  I don't know if they will be accepted, but it will be interesting to hear what those judges have to say.

Anyway, for some reason, the colors and quality of my photos from the show aren't great, so I am only going to share those that are half decent.  Enjoy....

I love the beading on this piece.  The bodices on the dresses as is the bottom border are hand beaded!

The center applique figure is a pattern, which the quilter embellished with bead work.

Believe it or not, this was a Kaffe challenge.  All the skirts are made from Kaffe fabric.

I find this peice visually striking and her detail is exquisite!  Too bad I didn't get a close-up so you could appreciate the quilting.  Sorry :-)

This piece reminds me of many of my doodles, that have yet to be turned into a quilt....  oh well ...   The quilting really enhances the effectiveness of this piece.

 

Well hope you enjoyed the show!  I have pictures from two more shows that I have to share...  AQS Lancaster and Quilt Fest NJ.  Since I am traveling, maybe the nights in the hotel room will let me catch up.

Cheers!