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

"Which Path would you Take" wins First Place, Wall quilts at Northern Stars show 2014

As you can see from my last post, I am catching up on my blogging.

The 2014 Northern Star Quilt Guild show was a good show for me.  I have won many second and third place ribbons at this local guild show, but I have wanted for many years to see one of my pieces hang on the 'blue ribbon' wall.  So I was extremely pleased to see this piece do so.  

Lucky for me, the person who brought this piece at the gallery exhibit was happy to let me enter the piece in a few shows this year.  This was the first show and it made me proud.

Besides, this first place ribbon, "Paisley Inspirations" was awarded a third place ribbon in the same category :-).

It was also nice to see a good friend and fellow Pelham Quilters guild member, Donna Chambers, also on the blue ribbon wall for her Umoja piece.  "Umoja, Goddess of the Sea"  won first place in the People, Places category and Best of Show, Small Quilts.  :-).  

"Which Path Will You Take" is finished!

So you have seen the original beginning from my QBL adventure in July 2012, but it is finally finished.  And as I talked about the gallery exhibit opening this week, I showed additional pictures.  So now I thought I would show you the finished product.

Hope you enjoy...

There were six different green fabrics in the center of this piece and each different green had it's own fill pattern.

 I wanted to make sure I had some type of continuity, so in each of the swirly-ques in the green fabrics, I filled the centers with little bubbles..  which made me really HAPPY!
As with alot of my recent pieces I have added trapunto to give just a little bit more of interest..

The border fabric, was a different green fabric and it had its own design.  I also didn't want a straight border, so I added the curves from the center piece, since the whole spirit of the piece is that our lives usually don't take a straight path as we travel on our journey.   So you will see curvy quilting in the border and a curved edge to the piece.


The inner border plays off of the center design, with both straight and curly quilting, again to lend focus to the spirit of the piece.  Remember, the choice is always yours in life.  No one says you have to take the straight path to your dreams.

Another one of the things I like in this piece is the double piping before the binding.  I just love the added touch of detail!

 So here is the finished quilt....  no top or bottom border, because our journey should never have a defined start and stop....

This piece is quilted totally with Superior Magnifico: Congo Lime and White; and Superior BottomLine Majenta (yes, I used BottomLine in the top for the pink, because it was a perfect match).

Hope you enjoyed!  It took awhile to get it finished, but I am glad I did. 

A special thanks to Philippa Naylor who gave me the courage to start this technique in QBL 2012 :-)...

NSQG 2013 Challenge

So 2013 is here and that means that Northern Star Quilt Guild has a new challenge.  Although I have been a member for about 5 years, this is the first time I have entered a quilt in the challenge.

I teased you with a corner of it, last month before I submitted it, but I didn't want to post a pic until the challenge quilts were submitted and the votes were cast.  Well they were and they were...

So here it is..

It is a tribute to my mother.  A 3 times breast cancer survivor, I named it "Three Times Stronger".  You have read other posts with quilts made honoring the love I have for my mother.  This was inspired after a follow-up visit to the Oncologist.  My Mom has Alzheimer's as well and she has adapted so smoothly to having lost a breast in her last fight.  A fight she had no idea that she had to incur.  I think it was probably as hard, if not harder for me to make that decision on her behalf and then stay with her in the strange place called the hospital.

So wave that flag Mom, you're one strong woman!  

Note that the pink ribbon dress is trapunto'd, as well as ribbon's in the pink half of the quilt.  It was appliqued, constructed and quilted using Superior's Masterpiece Thread, by Alex Anderson.  I wanted a pretty fine 50wt cotton thread and I didn't want the stitching it self or a sheen from the thread to be what jumped off the fabric.  I wanted the quilting to be an integral part of the quilt story.  I also used Superior Vanish, water soluble thread, to trapunto the ribbons.  I use it in top and the bobbin.  This way you don't have to worry about any write spokes popping thru the fabric...  Just a dab of cold water and poof, it is gone.

The challenge was to make a quilt, not more than 80" square, using black, white and one other color.  As you can see, my color was pink.  I didn't win the challenge, but I had a wonderful time making another quilt in honor of my Mom :-).

There were 53 challenge quilts submitted.  19 traditional and 34 contemporary.  All 53 will be on display at the NSQG's 2013 World of Quilts XXXIV Show on May 3rd and 4th, at Kennedy Catholic High School in Somers, NY.

Hope to see you there.  (I will have other quilts in the show as well :-)).

   

I have never quilted soooo small...

Ok... I made good progress tonight. The center of my black and white piece is all quilted, but boy I have never quilted so close together as I did tonight! It took me 3 hours to do the center of the piece. I do like the way the trapunto pops, but I learned one thing... only trapunto small areas.

The overall quilting looks nice.... not sure how it looks up close like this. But I did a scallop or clam shell all over the piece.

The triangle applique look like a marshmellow sticking out of the quilt!

This is a better picture of the quilting. I like it.

Tomorrow, the red stripe and then the boarders. Lastly I will have to figure out how I add the pellon and back the swirl that comes off the top right side of the quilt. This is a close-up of the area before I started quilting it. Suggestions anyone?

Well, I finally sat down at the machine again...

Finally last night I got back to sewing... boy it seemed like a life time after my trip to California last week, then having my daughter home for Easter weekend. It was wonderful... we had a Mommy and me day on Saturday. We first went to the Mac counter at Macy's and had our faces done, then a full day of shopping. New clothes for me (I am down 35 lbs!!!!) and then a dress for her for the drama club formal at school. Later in the evening it was dinner and some jazz at a local restaurant with my daughter and DH. We found a nice spot, to as my daughter said, show off the new me :-)

Anyway, I am rambling.... But, with my fill of family, I sat down last night and did all the trapunto prep work on my black/white and red piece that I had been practicing trapunto for. Tonight, I was able to sit down and cut away all the excess batting and pin baste the piece. I am hoping I will be able to get it quilted tommorrow, then bound on Thursday.

I want to get it finished to take with me for show and tell at retreat this weekend. That's right... it is Quilt Escape Weekend again, sponsored by the Country Quilter! I can't wait... and this year they added an exta evening, so now we will sit and quilt from Friday afternoon until Monday morning... ahh sheer bliss!

Can you see the smile on my face :-)

Night!

Pictures as promised... and finally a name for the Woven Challenge

Teri... beat me up this morning for not posting pictures last night. Ok, well not literally, but you can see her comment on my post from last night. So.... here we go...

The unveiling of 'Sistah Chat'... a.k.a.: Woven Challenge....As I mentioned last night, the piece is not 100 percent finished. I have added the shawls which are actually drapped from behind the sistah's shoulders and will just be tacked down for a 3-D effect. All the quilting is done, but I need to do some more embellishments... earings, rim of the brown vase in the center, beading of their necklines, friz around the masks, etc.... Then I have to decide on how to finish. I don't want a traditional binding. I really want to do some sort of fluffy fiber boarder, although I will probably add a dark fused boarder first to wrap around the edges, so that the batting doesn't show. But that is still up in the air at this point. What do you think?

Next here are the pictures of my trapunto playing... and tonight I did two more with bamboo batting. You can definitely see the difference... oh yeah, you can see where Dancing with the Stars sort of distracted me and I snipped the fabric while cutting out the extra batting... duh....

This was done with 2 layers of cotton batting, Superior vanishing thread and then quilted with variegated Sulky thread. Not enough puff for me and the variegated thread is too overpowering.







This one was done with the same vanishing thread,
but regular weight black cotton thread and 2 layers of cotton batting. It looks better overall, but still not enough puff for me.

So tonight I tried bamboo batting. I like these results better....

This is two layers of bamboo batting and the same thread. Better, but still not great. The picture is bad, but you can definitely see the puffiness is greater.









This is 2 layers of bamboo batting, but with a lighter thread, 60 weight cotton. It looks heavier, but I ran out of scraps of black fabric, so it shows up more. I also was tired of doing an all over stipple, so I played with another quilting pattern, just quite a bit smaller than I have ever done.







I like this one the best.... You can definitely see how puffy the piece is.... but you can also see my snip throughs... oh well, it was only to play.



So, I think my batting choice for trapunto is definitely bamboo over cotton. I hear wool is also nice, but that will have to be for another night.

Night!

A Good Day... woven piece, trapunto and more!

Today was a good day... rainy, so what better to do than play with fabric and thread!

I made great progress on my woven piece that I have been working on since January. It is all quilted, and I am adding the embellishments. But it looks like I will need to take a trip to the store to find the right pieces for earings, etc... so I squared it up and then began playing with the black and white piece I had been working on.

Well, actually it is ready for quilting, so I didn't work on it. Instead since I want to add trapunto to this piece, I decided to practice the various techniques I have been reading up on. I have read Philipa Naylor's book and she adds quite a bit of trapunto to her pieces. I tried her double batting technique and I like the puff, but of course I used my scraps of cotton batting, which didn't make it puffy enough for me. You can see more of her amazing work in her online gallery.

So I began chatting on facebook with my friend Teri and she gave me some tips as she has also started using trapunto in her work lately. So tomorrow night I think I will have to pull out some of my old polyester batting and give it a try. I hear it puffs up much nicer. I also hear the wool is the best, but since I just brought my first package of wool batting and it is quite pricey, I will wait until I perfect my work alittle bit first. Oh yeah... I have some bamboo batting around as well from another project. I will give that a try to see which I like the most. Do you have a favorite trapunto technique or batting you think I should try?

I know, folks have been asking for pictures of the progress on my woven piece and I promise.... I will take pictures tomorrow and post them!

For now, good night!