Pelham Quilters Round Robin 2013 - Here is Cheryl's piece

So in June we brought in our completed round robins for the year to guild meeting.  You can see some of the progress on this years top here.  This is the top after I added my round...

I can't seem to find my picture of it with the last round on it, but you will see it in the picture of the quilted piece. This top was worked on by Cheryl, Donna, myself and Doris, in that order, all from the Pelham Quilters.

Since Cheryl has been ill, I decided to take hers home and quilt it for her.  I hope she likes it...

I tried a new quilting design, which I saw at the Kutztown Folk Festival and Quilt Show.  The quilt was amazing and the swirling design was an all over pattern on that piece, but I used in only in the white sections here.

 I also added some red Swarovski hot fix crystals from Cheri's Cyrstals over the points, to bring out more of the red.  Red is Cheryl's favorite color :-).


The rest of the piece is quilted with designs that just seemed to fit...  a meander in the mosaic, since it wouldn't be noticeable anyway: waves in the white points, swirls in the red points, half feathers in the light blue batik and an outline of the flowers in the darker blue outer border.

I used Aurifil 50 wt cotton in white and 2 different blues for the entire quilt.  Besides being practically lint free, it is nice and fine so it gave the quilt the right amount of texture, without trying to steel the show from the quilt itself :-).




All in all, I think it came out pretty good. 

Cheryl is now doing some light sewing, so I left the binding to be done by her. 

Now I hope she likes it :-).

Cheers!

Pelham Quilters Round Robin - 2013 Part 2

ooh la la...  do I have a treat for you!

Our 4 center squares have spent the last 2 months in the homes of their first care givers.  And what loving care did they provide!  I think each piece has been lovingly enhanced keeping the center owner in mind.  Remember, at the end of the Round Robin, everyone gets their own top back, with the center lovingly adorned by 3 other quilters.

So with out further delay, here they are:

 





Donna Chambers had the task of adding to Cheryl Heist flower center.  Donna used her mosaic technique to surround the flower and help it blossom.  Although the picture doesn't it show it (thanks to the light hanging down) Donna's fabric choices are off the hook.  She used a vibrant red to back the blue flower and golden touched gold and blue fabric for her touch of 'bling'.  I get this piece next, but I have no idea what I am going to do with it :-(.












I had Donna Chambers top, which as you might remember was an elegant couple dancing in full formal attire.  Donna has developed this mosaic and texture magic technique which adds so much depth to her work.  Donna always uses a lot of fabrics with 'bling' for added life.  In an attempt to keep the movement of the dancers flowing into my round, I added curves and swirls in an applique border that brought in some of Donna's fabrics, but also utilized some of my own golden touched fabrics.  I pulled the pink silk from the dress out to the corners to keep the colors moving.  Doris has Donna's top next.

Doris Green had my piece.  I appliqued 4 female African dancers, clothed in brightly colored fabric.  As always I tend to lean towards applique and Doris balanced the color and applique with a trapezoid border of the same brightly colored fabrics. I love the blue which changes in intensity set as a thin sashing.  Knowing how much I love swirls, Doris used applique swirls to continue the movement in the pieced border.  Cheryl will be enhancing my piece next :-).

Cheryl Hoist had Doris Greens center.  Doris is a piecer, so her center was an intrigue star made from several blue and yellow print fabrics.  Cheryl used a perfectly executed thin piping to delineate the star and then set it on point using a sold blue fabric to give the eye a rest.  The amount of yellow in the piping is just perfect as a bold pop of color.  As they say, just a little bit of yellow goes a long way :-).  Donna gets to add her magic to Doris's top over the next 2 months.




Wish us all luck and come back in April to see what these pieces evolve to next.  I promise it will be explosive!

Pelham Quilters Round Robin 2013 - Round 1

So we once again started a Round Robin as part of this years guild programs for Pelham Quilters.  This year we are following a slightly different format.  Since there are only four of us participating, we decided to do four tops, where after the round robin we all get our own tops back.

I don't have photos of all four centers only two.  The one I made and the one I work on first.  We each get a top to add a round to every two months.  Cheryl has Doris's center and Donna has Cheryl's.  I'll share pictures of those when it is my turn to work on them.

Here is the center for my top.  I have adapted my dancing ladies to make a group celebration.  Doris Green is working on it now.  I wonder what will happen to it next?

Here is the center I am working on.  It was done by Donna Chambers:

Donna used both her mosaic technique as well as texture magic for the female dancers skirt. Which means I have to make sure I live up to her artistic level...  ouch, not easy to do :-).   I have already ripped out my first attempt.  It didn't measure up.  But my next idea is really working out well.  It has advanced from the paper and pencil phase to the first level of execution.  Hopefully I will get the chance to work on it this weekend.  Wish me luck :-).

Mermaids and Merwoman in Black Folklore: A Fibert Art Exhibit

Well I am back from the Artist Reception and our little vacation to Charleston and Savannah.

Oh was it a wonderful experience.  First I want to say Thank You to Torreah "Cookie" Washington, for letting me participate in such a wonderful exhibit, full of magnificent quilts and dolls, made by some very talented artists!  Second, I want to Thank Donna Chambers, who pushed me to get my piece done and submitted by the deadline.

But, I must say, the exhibit was AWESOME!  There were 109 pieces of art, made by over 70 fiber artists.  I took tons of pictures and have them all loaded on Shutterfy.  I will post a few here, but if you are interested in seeing all 82 pics, you can try this link...  http://mermaidexhibit.shutterfly.com/pictures#n_5.  Not sure if it will work, if not, just post a comment with your email address and I will add you to the share site.

Besides the quilts and dolls, there were 18 poets who wrote new, original poems on the same theme for the exhibit.  All the quilts, dolls and poems are included in the book, "Black Mermaids in Vision and Verse", edited and conceived by Torreah "Cookie" Washington.  The book includes both pictures and artist statements of all the quilts and dolls in the show.  This is the first time a compilation of poems, quilts and dolls has ever been published for a gallery exhibit.  And to think, my work is included!!  So exciting :-)....

Here is the piece I submitted...  the Pelham Quilters Round Robin quilt that I did the last round on and then quilted.  I submitted it under all 3 names:  Donna Chambers, Doris Green and myself..

 I posted close ups of the piece in my last post.

Here is a picture of my friends, Donna's submission.  Tell me it isn't awesome :-)...

These two were also done by NY quilters, although the artists were from all over the country.

This piece by Bianca, is exquisite.  It is mostly painted, but look closely at her mermaids tails.  They are real fish scales that she got from the fish market and then cleaned and glued each scale on one by one....

Doesn't it look like her hand is coming right out of the quilt top?  ..

Wow.. is all I can say....
















Look at the fierceness in this mermaids eyes....  don't mess with those souls :-).


I have decided to make an effort to learn how to do faces after this exhibit.  So many of the quilters had such strong emotion in their pieces, all expressed through the facial characteristics.













And I have to share with you some of the dolls that were made.  The details....

I was truly amazed that you can ask 50 artists to submit their work around a single theme and end up with over 100 pieces that were all so different.  Each artist interpreted the theme as individuals and the result was one FABULOUS show.

If you want to see the exhibit for yourself, it is open until October 28th at The City Gallery at Waterfront Park, Charleston, South Carolina.

Hope you get a chance to see it....

I know you will enjoy it!!

Renee

Sneak Peak !!

I have been busy finishing up both my round on the Pelham Quilters 2012 Round Robin top #1 and since I was fortunate enough to be the one who got to keep the top (Thanks Donna and Doris :-) I was anxious to get it quilted.

At our May meeting when I shared my progress with the guild, I had most elements pinned in place, but not all, and nothing from my round was pieced in or appliqued down.  It was just truly a concept.  Since then, with the possibility of it making it into a gallery show, I had to steal all the minutes I could to get it finished.

Well I submitted the photo of the unfinished top and told myself if it was accepted, I would get it done.  If not, I would prioritize some other projects that I have going on...  boy is my studio a mess :-(.  Well it was accepted...WooHoo...  but wait, be careful what you wish for.  I had no idea how or when I would get it done!!  Well for the last two weeks, I had to burn the mid-night oil, cutting sleep to a minimal, but I made it. 

I posted bits and pieces on facebook as I went along, but have refrained from posting the entire quilt.  Why, because I want to drive as many of you as possible to the exhibit.  It will be a wonderful exhibit made up of 50 or so fiber artists who have chosen to take on the challenge of the folklore surrounding the Black Mermaid...  Mamiwata or the Mermaid goddess Yemaya.  There will be over 100 pieces, both quilts and fiber dolls, depicting black mermaids and the folklore which has been passed down over the years from the slave women who were taken from Africa during the slave trade era. 

The exhibit, entitled "Mermaids and Merwomen in Black Folklore: A Fiber Arts Exhibiton"  takes place at The City Gallery, in Charleston, SC.  The exhibit runs from August 28th thru October 28th, with three days of Opening Weekend festivities, September 6th - 9th.  Interestingly enough, the old Afro-Brazilian women celebrate "Boa Morte" on Wednesday, August 15th.  What is Boa Morte or the Sisterhood of Good Death Festival?  It is the celebration of the old ways and cultures, cultures that slaves were forced to denounce when brought to Brazil.  It mixes the Assumption of Mary from the Christian community with the "Good Death"...  those slaves who died free.  Well these women believe in the existence of the Black Mermaids who were the watch guards of the dead souls, those who did not make it across the seas and were thrown overboard by the slave traders.  So, guess where I will be on that day?  In Brazil!  It is as if I was meant to participate in this entire experience!

Won't you join me?  You can find all the details here...  "Mermaids and Merwomen in Black Folklore: A Fiber Arts Exhibiton" .

To tempt your fancy, here are a couple of snippets of my entry, Sirenias, A Pelham Quilters 2012 Round Robin.  The center square was done by Donna Chambers and it was two fish appliqued onto a white sparkling background.

Doris Green added the seaweeds floating around the fish on a light green background.

I then added another round of a darker green batik, with more seaweed, starfish, etc on the bottom and the mermaids on the top. 











Of course like many of my newer quilts, I doesn't have straight borders. But you will have to wait to see the quilt once the exhibit opens to see how it is finished.

Once the exhibit opens I will post a picture of the completed top :-).... 

Did I tempt you ???  I hope so!

Pelham Quilters 2011 Round Robin

I have been really bad this year.  I haven't kept you up to date on the Pelham Round Robin.  Well, we have 3 tops going around this year.  Unfortunately, I only have pics from two :-(.  But here goes.

I didn't get a picture of the center alone.  So I tried to crop it from another photo, so you can see the wonderful hand applique that started this piece.  The photo gives you a hint of what was added in round two, but think about receiving a square with this gorgeous hand applique on a square beige background.

We all had visions of a wonderful traditional quilt top springing up from the center tree.  Well, weren't we amazed when the second quilter brought the piece back in with her round added.

Stunning right?  She took the 'love birds' in the piece and created a mosaic heart boarder, circling the tree and love birds.  Talk about taking the obvious and putting your own personal spin on it.  The mosaic pieces were all randomly cut and individually placed on the background.  The fabric had fusible web on the back before it was cut into pieces.  I can't wait to see what comes in for the third and final round :-).

The second top started as a paper pieced circular star.  It's color choices were very unusual....  teal, purple, pink, off-white and BROWN.  That's right brown and not black.  She drew her colors from the batik, which had all of these as well as a bit of green and lilac.

Once again, the group expected the piece to come back with more paper piecing or as a circle.  But notice the change, not only in shape, but also in color focus.  In the above photo, the purple and teal come forward as dominant colors.  Not anymore....  The piece has morphed quite a bit and the brown and pink have replaced the purple as one of the dominate colors.  Funny what one picks out of another's piece as the focal point to draw inspiration from.  The second round has carried forward points as a design element, but those points are now pointing inward, vs out and they don't mirror the circular shape of the first round.

These are going to part of our best round robin yet.  Can't wait to see what comes in for the third top.

WooHoo Ladies!!

It's Round Robin time for Pelham Quilters

If you have been following my blog for awhile, you will know that Pelham Quilters in Pelham, NY have hosted a Round Robin for the last two years.  I started this idea, as a way to stretch members creativity and give folks an opportunity to work on pieces they didn't start, with colors and techniques they might not ordinarily work with.  I think Round Robins are a great way to begin working without a pattern or any preconceived notion of what has to happen next on a quilt top.  This year we have three tops in circulation.  I am working on the second round of one of those tops.

This is what I received just over a month ago.  It is paper pieced with some very interesting fabrics.  I love the batik in the background.  It is made up of white, chocolate brown, teal, pink and even a hint of green.  It took me almost 3 weeks to decide what I wanted to do with it.  I love working in circles, but didn't think I wanted to keep the initial shape.  Too predictable.  I love points, so I knew that I wanted to have points in my round.  I am also finding that I love having brown as a background, so I knew I was going to use the chocolate brown as a background for adding to the great colors of this piece.

Well here we are with two weeks left before I have to bring the top back to guild meeting and today I finally moved my idea from paper and strips of fabric and I am in the middle of creating. 

I am off to my studio to start putting it all together.  Check back next week to see if my ideas actually worked out. :-)

Cheers!

The juices are flowing... what about yours?

I had a great night quilting last night!  My round robin is coming along nicely.  I really like the fabrics and colors.  The design says Renee!  Can't wait to show it to you...  but that will have to wait until after 7pm on March 1st....  that's our next guild meeting.

But now that my creative mojo is back on track, I was thinking today....  was it really just being with my quilting friends on Saturday that finally got me going?  Almost 6 weeks I looked at the piece and my stash....  multiple visits to quilt shops, multiple conversations with quilting friends on ideas....  nothing.  Then, all of a sudden it clicked.  Now don't get me wrong, I am happy...  actually thrilled that it did, especially since the due date is coming up quickly and I am the organizer of the round robins for my guild.  Surely I couldn't be tardy.  But what would I have done?  Would I have just slapped some fabric on it to say it was done...  without making it mine...  without ?????  I sure hope NOT!

So with this in mind, I have one of the curious questions again...  where do you find inspiration????  how do you get unblocked, when you just can't seem to get going????  Is there a secret you can share with the rest of us??  :-)

Finally Unblocked!!

I have had a mental block for over a month.  I have not been able to find inspiration anywhere.  Yes, I continue work on Raven's piece  (I have even finished quilting it....  I will post pics after it is blocked and faced...I promise).  But, actually figuring out what to do for my round on the Pelham Quilters 2010 Round Robin has been impossible.  I have sketched out four different designs, even got two of them on graph paper.  But they weren't right.  Either I couldn't find the right fabric to get the look I wanted, or the dimensions didn't quite work.

Well after Saturday's workshop with Elizabeth Rosenberg, I came home really feeling good.  I sat down and did the last hour or so of the quilting on Raven's piece.  Then I sat down with my sketch pad again and went back to my first idea.  Still not thinking I could make it work I went to bed.  Well, they say dreams can come true.

I woke up yesterday and knew exactly how I was going to tackle the problem.  I had worked it all out in my head during the night, even seeing the fabric right in my stash.  After a wonderful Valentines Day with my husband, we sat down to watch the Olympics and out came the paper and pencil.  Within an hour or so, I had the pattern done, fabric selected and everything set up for a quilting day today.

Enjoying the three day weekend, I ran errands this morning, came home and made some Wild Mushroom Soup and garlic bread for lunch (YUM!...  even DH surprisingly thought it was very good...  he usually has to have meat in his soups :-)).  Next, I spent the afternoon and evening after dinner working on my round.  It isn't finished, nor can I show you what I am working on, until I bring it to the March 1st guild meeting, but I made great progress and I feel GOOD!

I will share with you the piece as I received it.......

 As a tease...  here are the fabrics I choose....  

Can you figure out what I am doing?

Round Robin Dilemma and other stuff...

What is a quilter to do? Yes, I have a dilemma... As you know the Pelham Quilters are doing our annual Round Robin. We have three tops going and each will have 4 contributors. I was absolutely thrilled when I saw who I would be sharing a top with... Teri Lucas, Doris Green, me and then Anne Frascarelli... all real fine quilters. Teri and Anne entered a piece in the Hoffman Challenge and it was accepted into the traveling show. You can see why I was excited!

Well, once I saw Teri's beginning 2 months ago I was even more excited. As usual, she created a wonderfully colorful square made with appliqued batik jewel tone diamonds on a Kona Black background. Doris brought in her addition last night and she added a bright on black print boarder then batik diamond and circles appliqued on a Kona Black boarder. It was a wonderful complement to what Teri had started and gave me quite a bit to think when I got home. The colors and fabrics could have been taken right from my own stash. In fact, I have quite a few of the batiks in the quilt in my own collection. But, do I continue the applique theme or do I change it up with some piecing? Do I add some curves to offset the geometric shapes or do I continue with points and diamonds? Do I work with it as a square, or do I do what Doris suggested and set it on point? I drifted off to sleep last night dreaming of all the possibilities.

So you can imagine what popped into my mind tonight when I hung it up on my design board and stepped back. Oh my, the center square is not a square, it is not a triangle... no, it is uneven...one side is almost 2/3" bigger.... and two of the circles in the last boarder are just a tad too close to the seam allowance... one will definitely get eaten up by a 1/4" seam!

What am I to do? Do I leave it as is, add my round, whatever that ends up being or do I take off the second round, square the center and then fix the circles, so they won't become ovals???

If I leave it as is, it will effect they type of design I add... I can't do any drafting, as the square is not a square and it will become increasingly noticeable as the piece gets bigger. If I don't try and make some adjustments, at the very least it will put poor Anne in the same quandary I am in now? Do I call Anne and discuss, so we can make a joint decision?

What am I to do???? I definitely won't be fantasizing about all the design possibilities tonight in dreamland.... I won't even get to focus on the piece I just basted with minkie backing and all the quilting possibilities for my great nieces quilt that has to be done by Friday night!

Ugh... I wish I had left it in the bag until I was finished with my deadlines :-(....

I've got pics!

So I posted a little earlier that our guild's round robin is really getting exciting. When I kicked it off at the beginning of the year, I asked the participants to step out of their comfort zones and do something they had always wanted to try and might have felt a little intimated by. Hey.. in a round robin, you never know what direction a piece will end up in... and you will probably not own the piece in the end... so why not go for it... right?

Well Donna Chambers just sent me the pics of our first center and how it is progressing, so I wanted to share them with you.

The center 'square' made by Cheryl Hoist

As you can see it is not a square so, when it came in last month, we all said... 'oooh I wonder how the next person is going to build on this. Look at all the curved piecing.....'

Well, tonight we found out! Here is the center with the next round added by Donna Chambers.

Donna took a class recently on 'Quilting out of the square'. Well I say she mastered the lesson perfectly. She made the background. Appliqued, they ladies on the background, and then appliqued Cheryl's center on top of the ladies. WOW!

And here is a close up of one of the ladies.
Notice the jewelry... both the earring and necklace is done with thread work... silver metallic thread. And no two ladies or their jewelry are the same. Isn't that clever!

Oh, I can't wait to see what Jeannie does with this piece and how our other 2 centers are being expanded. Such fun!

WOW... I am so excited!!

Just came from my local guild meeting and oh my!!! We are doing 3 round robin quilts and tonight one of the quilters brought in her progress for show and tell. She was a month early and a new quilter to our small guild, so we had no idea what to expect.

Well she blew our socks off! Yes, I will post a picture as soon as I get it, BUT... it was exquisite. She is an artist by trade and just quilting for a year, but she has gone way out of the block with her work. I just can't wait to see what the next quilter adds on. Feeling a little pressure Jeannie :-).

Donna, you have really raised the bar for the 8 quilters left to work on our pieces :-) !@!!

Pelham Quilters Round Robin #2

Ok... I have to admit that I am cheating here. I wasn't able to make guild meeting this week as I am away on business. But after catching up on my favorite blogs, I saw a picture of Mary Anne's progress on the Round Robin Top #2. It is a really nice applique piece that has been enhanced along the way. Mary Anne looked at it and had the same thought as mine.. wow, what to do next. So she made the only real choice... she needed to give the eye a chance to rest, so she added what I call a rather simple but fitting boarder. What do you think?

(here is where the cheating comes in ... I 'stole' this photo off of Mary Anne's blog)

But, I love how the curve piecing goes nicely with the feeling of motion in the ceter square and with the butterflies.... such a nice complement! and to bring out the yellow... it brings the quilt to life.

I must say.... great choices Mary Anne!

You can check out Mary Anne's blog to see how she ended up with this as her final decision.

Now... I wonder how the first round robin piece is coming together. The last time I saw it, it was hanging on Anne's design wall, attempting to tell Anne what it needed. I sure hope the lines of communication were flowing smoothly :-)!

Pelham Quiters - Round Robin #2

As I mentioned in January, Teri was redoing her boarder on the Pelham Quilter's Round Robin top she was working on. Teri said she didn't really like her applique... don't ask me why.

Well, she has definitely spiced up her work. Here is a the current top, with Teri's revamped butterflies and flowers, including a different boarder fabric. She is new to the whole fusible web thing and has decided she likes it quite a bit.


Here are a few detail shots:












The top goes to Mary Anne next for the last boarder. I can't wait to see who it turns out! Can you?

Pelham Quilters Round Robin Top #1

For those of you following the Pelham Quilter's round robin progress, here is top #1:

The last quilter was Lorraine Smith. Lorraine brought the yellow out from the center block and incorporated some of the black and white stripe from the very center of the piece into the corners. Anne Frascarelli took the top home with her this month. Thanks Anne for sending me a photo.

Anne has the priviledge of adding the last border. I can't wait until we get to see what Anne comes up with!

Teri Lucas is still reworking her border on top #2. She will send it on to Mary Anne Ciccotelli to add the last border on that piece.... and the anticipations mounts!

Pelham Quilter's Round Robin Top #2

Last night at our mini group meeting, Teri Lucas was working on (or should I say) unworking/unsewing her applique round on the second round robin top our Quild has going on. I was happy, as I got to snatch a picture to show everyone the progress of this piece.... (I posted the other top over the weekend).

Those are Teri's fingers (:-)).... she said she doesn't like her applique on the butterflies for she is taking them off and will redo them.

Mary Anne Ciccotelli gets this piece next.... I can't wait until these are finished... it is amazing to see them take shape, albeit slightly differently with each person's hands!

I forgot to show the Round Robin Progress...

For those who have been following the Pelham Quilters Round Robin. Here is the latest picture.


This quilt has taken on a whole new direction. I wonder if the next round will bring in the yellow or the white? Only time will tell... hopefully at our next quild meeting.

I have to get pictures of the other top. The person who was working on that top wasn't at quild last month, so she was sending it directly to the next member, hence no pictures. Oh well... February is only a few days away!

Cheers!

First peek...

If you remember, the Pelham Quilters have started a Round Robin project. I thought I would share our progress on two centers with the first round of boarders (ok, one has the beginning of the second round, as we forgot to get a picture... sorry). But anyway, here they are.

This first one, has the center I made, which ends with the white fabric. Doris Green took the center and added everything from the tiny pink sashing, up to the orange half square triangles. What a nice zing this added to my paper pieced center. Catherine Johnston has it now and so far she has added the last black boarder.







The second center was made by Pat Julian. It is beautifully hand appliqued. Jean Moccio added the green sashing and the zigzag boarder. Notice how she pulls out the purple and yellow from Anne's flowers into her boarder. Nice job Jean! Now it is with Teri Lucas to work her magic.








I can't wait to see what they look like at our December meeting. Ladies work your magic!

Round Robin Medallion

While snooping around trying to learn how to draft, I saw many entries on Round Robin quilts and Center Medallions. So I asked my guild if they were interested in starting a Round Robin project. As a result, 8 quilters including myself have signed up... with two of us making a center medallion square as the beginning.

Here is my Center Medallion....

and yes, I used my new drafting skills to create it. :-)

Cheers!