Quilt shows are one of the most inspiring events a quilter can experience. Quilts, classes, special exhibits, vendors, seeing old friends and meeting new ones - it all comes together at a quilt show. For me recently it was the Kansas City Regional Quilt Festival that meets every two years at the Overland Park Convention Center in Overland Park Kansas.
This show is the result of the combined effort of the members of 18 guilds from the greater Kansas City area. It is organized and run by a board of volunteers from the 18 guilds - each guild having an area of responsibility. This year was the third show and they seem to get better and better every year. I'm already looking forward to 2021!
This year, I viewed (very closely in some cases) the approximately 450 quilts in the guild showcase area, 100 quilts in the judged area, 40 quilts in the special exhibits, and the 7 challenge quilts. I took 4 classes, attended 1 trunk show, entered 1 quilt in the judged portion of the show, had 1 quilt appraised, volunteered twice to be a "White Glove" ambassador, sold opportunity tickets for my guild's raffle quilt, volunteered to support the quilt appraiser, shopped the vendors, and enjoyed the company of 2 good friends at a nearby hotel. I had an awesome time! The only thing I wish I had done now was to attend the Ricky Tims Concert, as Ricky is one of my favorite people, as well as a favorite quilter.
I'll write about my classes in separate posts, suffice it to say, I learned a bunch and met some great and inspiring teachers.
There was inspiration at every turn. One of the most inspiring corners of the show was Cindy Parry's special exhibit.
Cindy's exhibit was called Tohoku Daishinsai which means Tohoku Disaster. Cindy, who was born in Japan, was especially touched by the 2011 Tsunami and decided to translate her anxiety, sorrow, love and worry for the people of Japan into a series of 15 wonderful wall hangings.
Cindy used multiple techniques in her wall hangings (which always makes my socks go up and down) as well as incorporating images from Japanese newspapers and her personal photographs.
Cindy's work inspired me in several ways - first of all is her technique and workmanship, secondly is that she was inspired by an event and turned her feeling into quilts, thirdly is that she worked in a series - with each wall hanging being different, but around a common theme.
Cindy says that her profound sadness and obsessive thoughts about the devastation have lessened somewhat since she has completed the quilts and traveled twice to the affected area (in addition to her annual trips to Japan). Other quilters have indicated to Cindy that they too have made meaningful quilts that helped them heal from their own private suffering.
A final thought (for now) from Cindy - "I think my best quilts are those that mean something to me. I think that most any subject when carefully considered, has many aspects and angles from which the story can be told. From those, a series can be born." Food for thought as I consider my quilting going forward. I see some series in my future.
Didn't see her exhibit at KC Regional Quilt Fest? No worries. Cindy's exhibit will be at the Starlight Quilters Guild on August 27th. Can't make that meeting? Check out the Japan Festival at Johnson County Community College on October 5th.
If you would like to bring Cindy to your guild or organization for a presentation on her quilts, please contact her at idyllways@aol.com. She spoke at our guild and I was riveted.
Keeping it Curious about my sister quilters and what inspires them.
Wow, its been quite a week with the Kaw Valley Guild's Quilt Show. The Show is now behind us and I am catching up with housework (yuck) and sewing (yeah). The show was a success by many standards. A lot of hard work by many people and also great fun and inspiration.
So, now that I am a bit caught up, I can work on my Judy Niemeyer Cattail Mixer. In previous chapters I designed and colored the quilt on Quiltster, and prepared the papers and fabrics. In this chapter I am working on one series of cattail sections. One of the best features of Judy's quilts is her method of assembly line sewing.
Actually, it should be assembly line sewing, pressing, folding, and trimming. Because the mantra here is "what you do to one piece, you do to all pieces". For Judy's patterns that could mean 4 pieces, all the way up to a hundred - on the border for example. In this case I have four sections.
For those of you who have done foundation piecing before, this is pretty much the same method. What is different is that you do several at the same time.
The first step is to lay out all your pieces that you prepared in Chapter 3. I aligned them in the order that they will be sewn with the "sew side" towards the top. In this case, I had 11 pieces of background and cattail leaves.
When doing foundation piecing, you should reduce your stitch length so that the paper is easier to tear off. Its a bear to rip out if you make a mistake though . . . curse words have been heard coming from my studio. Judy recommends 1.6. So I adjust my trusty Bernina and I'm ready to go.
Following the "do it for every piece" method, I lined up the first 2 pieces of fabric on each of the 4 papers. The beauty of foundation piecing, is that you just have to be able to sew on the lines. You get perfect points on difficult patterns just by sewing on the lines. I sew on line 1 four times. By the forth time, I really know that line well. Practice makes perfect!
Second step is to press the seam open - yes, 4 times! I sometimes use getting up to the ironing board as exercise (don't tell my trainer Zach), but this method saves those trips. I iron all 4 papers at the same time. I guess I'll have to do real exercise instead.
Step 3 is to fold the paper back and trim the excess fabric away. Judy recommends a long piece of template plastic because you can get a good fold all along a long paper. Using an "add-a-quarter" ruler butted up against the template plastic gives you a nice straight cut edge.
Now you do it again with the next piece of fabric, then the next, and next, sewing on lines 2 through 11 - you get the picture. I now have 4 raggedy papers, so obviously there are still a couple of steps left.
Step 4 is to sew the registration lines using a basting stitch. This is one of the brilliant features of Judy's patterns. The registration lines help you put the sections together. This section has 3 registration lines on each piece.
Now the last step, the fun part that really gives me a feeling of accomplishment - trimming the papers on the outside cutting line. If the lines are straight, I use a ruler. If they are curved I do it free hand.
So now I have 4 left side cattail sections complete. In this pattern there are a total of 4 different sections - 2 corner sections (left and right) and 2 center sections (left and right). As soon as I complete the 4 right side sections, the cattails will be done and I can move on to the inner border. The cattail sections include some applique stems and cattails which I'll address in the next chapter.
Keeping life curious with Judy Niemeyer!
Every time I sit down to write about a quilt or project, I think its my favorite! Yes, they are all my favorites - like your kids, you really can't choose. They are each special for different reasons.
Autumn Path is special for several reasons. First, it is my first confetti quilt. Second I learned this technique from Japanese quilter Noriko Endo. Third is that it is the first quilt that I actually sold! My baby is going out into the world!
OK, let's start at the beginning - I was visiting my Mom in Glendale, Arizona in 2014. At that time there happened to be an AQS show in Phoenix. Ohhhh two birds, one stone.
In our materials list, Noriko asked that we bring a picture that we wanted to recreate in fabric. I found a photo on the internet of a path through a wood in beautiful autumn colors.
First she had us lay down large blocks of color for the background. Then we sliced up fabric into matchstick size pieces. I used mostly batiks so that no matter what side was up it was the right side.
After laying down the confetti pieces for the leaves and the path, I covered it all with a layer of black tule. We could have used any color, but I think black worked well. Some free motion quilting on the tule ensured that all the little confetti pieces were trapped under the tule.
Next came more confetti to give depth and perspective. Finally, before a second layer of tule, Noriko went around the class and added little bits of turquoise, pink, and purple confetti. She said it was the secret ingredient to make our landscapes "pop". A final layer of tule and then some thread painting to highlight some areas and lowlight other areas. I finished it off with deep red piping and black binding.
Autumn Path was hanging at my mini-show at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship Founders Hall, and really grabbed the interest of the membership there. It's new home is with E. Jay Hilty. I'm glad he will be enjoying it.
If you ever get the chance to take a workshop with Noriko, run, do not walk, to sign up. She is a great teacher and a beautiful artist. Her book is a good reference, but nothing beats the real thing!
Curious About Confetti?
I first became acquainted with Gyleen Fitzgerald through a sew along on Facebook. She was guiding us through a mystery stash buster called Bricks, Cobblestones and Pebbles, which she subsequently published in book form. It is a really cool pattern and is a great way to use up some of your scraps.
So when I saw her on the class program at Houston, I jumped at the chance to meet her in person. I wasn't disappointed. She is a dynamo!
Her class, Bent Star, was a class in which we learned some piecing techniques including how to handle set in seams. My first challenge was fabric choice - I loved her colors and wanted the same bold impact without being a copy cat. I was able to find darker and lighter tone on tone fabrics in 4 different colors - fuscia, teal, green, and brick. I chose two shades of brown for the small kite shapes. I think it looks sort of 3-D because of the light/dark values of the same colors.
I started with a dark blue for the background, but the teal blocks just faded away. Since I really wanted the star to pop, I tried several light greys before finally settling on this very light grey.
Gyleen quilted hers with straight lines and angles. Not feeling quite up to so many absolutely STRAIGHT lines, I decided to do come gentle curves - all going horizontally across the quilt. I'm pretty pleased with the results. It makes a very stunning wallhanging.
Check out Gyleen's stuff!
As you can tell by most of the pictures in my blog, I like modern, colorful quilts. In the past I've been able to resist the temptation of wool applique because most of the patterns were very traditional or primitive in style. Not so anymore.
The new trend in wool applique is whimsical, colorful, and full of wonderful embellishments. So, count me in!
I've had my eye on Sue Spargo's work for a couple of years now. Unfortunately I haven't had the opportunity to take classes from her. So it was lucky for me that Catherine Redford was teaching wool applique among other things in Houston.
Our kits included wool, cotton, applique threads, and embellishment threads to make a little needle case like this one. I'm not finished yet, but I am really enjoying it. It's refreshing to be able to applique without having to prepare the applique pieces. That's the beauty of wool!
Catherine's pieces are awesome and she is a great teacher. She also teaches beading and embroidery embellishments. To see more of her work, check out her website.
While at Houston, I bought a wonderful wool applique pattern by Australian quilter Wendy Williams. Round the Garden is quite an ambitions project, but I'm itching to start on it. I bought a piece of linen for the background and have begun collections wool felt for the applique.
Look for updates on Round the Garden later this year.
Did you know Kaffe Fassett designed clothes for Barbara Streisand? Me Neither.
My first introduction to Kaffe was through Rowan yarns during my knitting days. I had no idea he was a haute couture fashion designer, a needle point designer, as well as a fabric designer.
So over the years I have used some of Kaffe's fabrics and have become more enamored with it. I made this Convergence Quilt called Ricky Tims Meets Kaffe Fassett back in 2013 with Kaffe and Brandon's fabrics. But starting in Fall 2016, I really kicked up my love affair with Kaffe's fabric up a notch.
First I joined Kaffe club from Charlotte's Sew Natural - I get 6 half yard cuts of Kaffe Collection (Kaffe, Brandon Mably, and Phillip Jacobs) fabric once a quarter. I am anxiously awaiting my second shipment. Now Kaffe Collection fabrics have their own shelf on my fat quarter spinner rack!
Second, I joined the Kaffe Club at Sarah's Fabrics. We meet once a month on the first Saturday at Sarah's. Each month there are challenges - pertaining to fabrics, colors, or patterns. I haven't done any yet, but have fabric and plans to do the flying geese challenge.
Third, I had the definite pleasure to hear a lecture and take a workshop with Kaffe and Brandon hosted by Sarah's Fabrics on October 4th and 5th.
The workshop was awesome! Kaffe took some of us shopping in Sarah's to get just the right fabrics for our zig zag quilt. We all did the same pattern from Kaffe's book Quilts In Italy. The pattern is quite simple but it's the fabrics that make it outstanding. We all used very different colorways. I choose soft blues and greens to evoke the feeling of the Italian coast. We only did cutting and arranging during the workshop. I have most of my quilt sewn together now.
Sarah's is having a show of all the workshop quilts on Friday January 27, 2017. Since I'm traveling, I don't think I'll have my quilt done in time to hang. Too bad! But I'm going to go and see all the completed quilts. I'll add some pics in a blog update so you can see some of the other colorways.
Curious about color? Check out the Kaffe Collective!
The Houston International Quilt Festival was fantastic. You can read about the overview here. I was fortunate enough to be able to take several classes and I learned so much in each class.
My first class was a Paint Sticks class with Laura Murray. I had bought some of her tiles and paint sticks at a show several years ago, but this process was so far out of my comfort zone that I hadn't even cracked the plastic on the products. So I was uber excited to learn from Laura how she makes these terrific fabrics by embellishing plain fabric with paint sticks and textured tiles.
It really was quite easy. You just place the fabric over a texture tile and rub over it with an oil-based paint stick. OK, there are some tricks to it to get good results, but even my ho-hum (technically and color choice speaking) results looked stunning.
We used Laura's Exotica stamp set and a choice of several paint sticks to make several different mini blocks that were cut apart and layered to make a complete block. No sewing - its all fused. Laura's website is great - it even includes instructions on how to create the Exotica block we did in class. You can find it here.
Since I don't have the exact colors of paint sticks at home as we used in class, I decided to use the single block to make a mini project. After micro stippling the background, I had the block framed. I think it turned out great.
I can really see making more of these. It was fun, pretty fast and easy, and with several different tiles and colors I can envision tons of creative colorful blocks.
Curious about paint sticks? Check out Laura Murray's site. She'll also be teaching at the Kansas City Regional Quilt Festival in June 2017.
OH BOY, OH BOY, OH BOY!
My quilts are being featured in a small quilt show during the months of January and February in the Founders' Hall at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Lawrence. I am sooooo excited. I'm also giving a small talk on January 8 at 9:30. It would be great to see some friendly faces there - just don't make faces to make me laugh.
So how did this come about? you ask. Well . . .
In 2015 I was the featured quilter at the Kaw Valley Quilt Guild quilt show. It was so fun to show my quilts, think about my quilting life, and basically wallow in quilting for two days. Someone from the UUFL was there and asked if I would hang some quilts in the church fellowship hall. That seemed so long ago, but of course time flies and now its here.
I hung the quilts this morning and they will hang through February. It was so cool was seeing my quilts actually hanging somewhere - not just draped over a chair!
I'm totally nervous and excited. On the one hand it seems like a big deal, on the other hand, it's just me and a few of my quilts - no big deal. They asked me to write an artist's statement - I know it sounds a bit pretentious, but it really is helpful for me as I'm setting my quilting goals and priorities. You know I love my lists! So I took this opportunity to revisit some thoughts I wrote several years ago, and come up with some 2017 quilting goals.
So, I hope you come out and see me on the 8th, or if you can't make it then, come out and see some of my quilts.
OH BOY, OH BOY, OH BOY!!!!! (Doing a happy dance!)
Cindy says that her profound sadness and obsessive thoughts about the devastation have lessened somewhat since she has completed the quilts and traveled twice to the affected area (in addition to her annual trips to Japan). Other quilters have indicated to Cindy that they too have made meaningful quilts that helped them heal from their own private suffering.
