Chicago Quilt Festival

Here are a few favorites from the Chicago Quilt Festival.













I seem to prefer blended color effects over strong graphic designs, and do I love the Japanese quilts! Their intricacy, subtlety, and lack of formal balance just knocks me over. The best part of the show was the Husquavarna Challenge exhibit, and another special exhibit called In Fine Focus, consisting of small pieces, less then 10x 12 inches. A great deal of variety of style, technique, and subject was present in these two exhibits. No photographs were allowed in either one of these so I can't share, but if anyone has a chance to see either one, don't pass it up. The $100,000 Challenge winner was also on display in the vendor's area. I was glad of that since the white wholecloth doesn't photograph terribly well. It's a beautiful quilt, and I have no quarrel with it being chosen but I heard some negative comments. I think some people don't appreciate the skill and artistry required in that kind of machine quilting, not to mention the design.

Debbi at Dubiquilts has posted many more photos, complete with information. She's much more organized and patient than I am.

I enjoyed the show more this year than last. Last year included a large exhibit of Amish quilts, which seemed rather ho-hum to me, and decreased the space available for other work. This year seemed to have a good balance of tradition and innovation with something for everyone. And of course, there were vendors, and more vendors, and more vendors...

My Hoffman challenge quilt is finished! It's labled, sleeved and put away for now. What a good feeling. I now have been "commissioned" to make a baby quilt for a young colleague of my husband's. I bought this panel cheap at Hobby Lobby a couple of years ago, and then came across the coordinating solid blue. I really intended to just do a quickie with wide blue sashes around the squares, but some sort of pride wouldn't let me do that. After trying several settings, I remembered the Children's Delight block in Quilts from the Quiltmaker's Gift, so I'm using that. The color scheme is a little odd for a crib quilt--hope these people like it. I THINK I do. But isn't it too bad that manufacturers don't make the fabric between the blocks wide enough that you can use the original as a bit of a sash too? I wonder why they don't.



Ignore that sideways letter--I'm just auditioning here! The cornerstone will finish up as a 9 patch with another chartreuse polka dot square.

Check out my Weather Pixie; yes, it is snowing and 21 degrees. So much for spring. The daffodils that I picked last week are probably the only ones I will have because all the others are not only lying flat from the cold, but now buried in snow. It will be interesting to see what happens to the bluebells that I naturalized on the edge of the woods. How ironic and unfortunate that this freak weather had to arrive at the same time as the UN report on climate change, since it makes sceptics reluctant to believe there is a problem.

Thanks everyone for kind words about my quilt. It is now finished and blocked, just waiting for the label and sleeve. I'm now off to church to hide Easter eggs--happy Easter everyone.

Wednesday

I've almost completed the challenge quilt. After the binding is finally done, I will rinse it, remove marks, block, and think of a title for the label. Getting close.

On another subject, I want to put in a plug for this company which advertises on the Quilt Studio list page. I ordered one of their "No See 'Ums" quilt hanging systems and love it. Brackets attach to the wall either with adhesive or with screws, and then a rod goes into the quilt sleeve, and a hook slips through the fabric (no damage) and attaches to the wall bracket. Slick--nothing except the quilt is visible. Worth checking out the website for a clearer explanation. They have more traditional hangers too, but I like this one because it doesn't hide part of the quilt.

Happy Spring

Daffodils are my favorite flower--until the tulips bloom, and then the peonies, and the iris... But daffodils have the advantage of being totally low maintenance, which is why I have lots of them. The double ones came from bulbs I dug out of my grandmother's abandoned garden. They must have been there 75 years. It took several years for them to grow enough to make many blooms, but now they will probably be good for another 75, if the developers' bulldozers or global warming don't get them. You have to love something so tough.

It's Boring Here...

After reading a few blogs showing felting, dyeing, beautiful stitching, I had to share the exciting work I'm doing. How about lots of piping and bias binding on a curved edge? Why did I think this was a good idea? I'm counting on Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me and other Saturday morning radio to get me through. As for the little critter in our front yard, maybe he's bored too? He stood there, posing, long enough to think it over.

Miscellaneous

Just some random stuff, a break from only posting on Wednesdays. Create a Connection recently published the idea of looking out your front door and taking a picture, first to the right and then to the left. So here goes.




It is finally spring here; in fact yesterday was an all-time record breaking, global warming kind of day with high of almost 80. So those daffodils at the edge of the woods will be open later today, and the crocus will be gone. Unfortunately, spring means all sorts of yard and garden work which I do not enjoy at all. Spring cleaning is okay, raking, weeding, etc., no.

I went to a guild meeting last night and found it surprisingly enjoyable. I took the QOV that Deb Geyer quilted and it was well received, always gratifying. The program was on hand applique, not a topic that interests me, but the presenter did a terrific job, giving everyone a little kit to work on, and sharing some tips like how to make a quilter's knot. It was also interesting to see how other people who already know a great deal about applique handle various tasks. So I learned something and used the time to do some hand sewing chores I had been putting off. Also I had the pleasant surprise of discovering that my old Hoffman quilt which I put on display at a local quilt shop in January won best wall quilt, so I've got a little gift certificate to use. The owner told me she had a sale offer which she declined on my behalf. I think I'm sorry about that.

Time to clean, walk, maybe study French for my class tomorrow, and then quilt the aqua Hoffman. Life is good--who needs excitement.

WIP Wednesday

I have sewn together my class project, choosing the more realistic of the ideas I was playing with. I'm trying not to second guess myself about this. Now I'm mulling over how to finish it. I could either finish it simply with no border at all, just a tight close-up effect of the flowers, but I'm also auditioning a few fabrics for a border of some kind. I think I want the plain finish, as it's more dramatic, but I really love the way the batik on the right looks with the design. There's plenty of time to think about this, because I'm now starting the very tedious process of marking, layering, and quilting the Hoffman challenge quilt. Since it's very traditional, I'm just doing a close grid in the center and parallel curved lines in the border. This is something I can do without problem (knock on wood), and should fit the design. I must say that after a break from the Hoffman, it doesn't grate on me as much as it did--not not quite so Awfully Aqua.

Return of Winter

Here's a picture I took from my dining room window this morning--I was using color film, but the world was totally black, white, and grey. Incredibly beautiful. When I went for my camera there was a crow perched on the top of the tree, the perfect finishing touch, but he was gone when I came back. I love winter, and although it's good to see more daylight and more green, I was glad for one more touch of wintery beauty.

Workshop Creation

I have started trying various compositions for the shapes I made in my workshop last week. The pictures aren't quite right because I was trying to photograph the layout on a table. First I tried the vertical arrangement, but the way the flowers are floating bothers me, although I know this is too literal.


Then I did the horizontal, flower arrangement one. Very conventional, I think.

Then I tried this one, the least realistic, with all the shapes radiating out from center. It looks a bit like you're looking straight down from above. I've been leaning toward this one. Try to imagine it without the distracting background--I don't have a big enough piece of fabric for this at the moment.

Service Project Kids Quilt

Here's the kid's quilt I just quilted and bound for the Quilt Studio service project. Debra, Jen, Julie, and Barbara were also involved in this. Isn't it a striking, masculine looking quilt for a boy? I quilted it with 12 weight thread in a pattern to echo the nine-patch design; this makes it even more graphic. A value of this project to me was that I did something way out of my comfort zone. I would never have put these fabrics and colors together, but I like the way they turned out. I'll be sending it to Amy next week to go the Children's Campus in Bethesda.

Since I got back from Bloomington I've been dealing with a sick husband and two sick cars, so it's been hectic to say the least. It seems like things may be looking up now however, and also Blogger has decided to work for me, so here are a few more pictures from Jane Sassaman's class at the IHQS.

The idea of the class was to choose a flower, sketch it in several different ways, and finally produce a very abstract version of it. When the flower is basically reduced to shapes you can then decide on a composition and then finally move to the sewing. In a two day class we only did the sketching and shape cutting. The first picture is of the shapes I had by the end of the class. Although I like the colors, the shapes are not finished, not even satisfactory, and just sort of thrown on a dark background. I need to do something with the flying saucer-like thing on the left, and the leaves need more detail--they currently resemble sting-rays. (I do have a plan for both these steps.) My flower is something called astrantia major which most people, including me, had never seen, but it's a very interesting plant with pointed petals surrounding a large puffy center. I can't even think of another flower to compare it to.

The second picture shows a classmate's work, much farther along, even with a good composition. And the third picture shows Jane helping someone refine her sketch/shape. I loved doing this and am looking forward to finishing the project after I get some other work out of the way.

IHQS and J. Sassaman class

I had the greatest time in Jane's class at the IHQS! A wonderful teacher, delightful person, and interesting classmates, all of whom were way above my head in terms of artistic ability. But as I told Jane, one advantage of being old is that you don't really embarrass easily any more, and I just enjoyed myself tremendously. The quilts at the show were less interesting this year. Many of them I had seen before, either in reality or in pictures, and many more looked like something I had seen before.

Here's the Best of Show, made by Linda McCuen, who apparently also won the $100,000 quilting challenge for another quilt. This piece is lovely, amazing machine quilting. It's a traditional applique pattern with original quilting and trapunto designs. She used a ecru innerlining to make the trapunto darker so that it stands out. Linda was in my class; see, I said these were talented people.



The winners are on the IHQS web site, so these other quilts are just ones I liked. This is a striking portrait quilt; although it's not as intricate as many are, I thought the features and expression come through well. N



I have always loved the Carolina Lily pattern, but it's often very stiff. This setting is much more contemporary than usual, and I think gives it new life. Too bad about the blurry picture.



I did this part of the post yesterday and had to stop. Now pictures of the class and of any other quilts will have to wait until Blogger recovers from its current problem. Also, Firefox won't show me the letters in the visual verification thing, but won't let me post a comment without entering them. What's with that?

It's Wednesday again--

1. My Hoffman challenge top is in its final throes. The word choice should give you an idea of my feelings for it. Of course, now I see ideas everywhere I COULD have done, but I'm not making another.

2. I have one of the kid quilts for the Quilt Studio service project that I will quilt soon. Barbara pieced the top and you can see it at this link. (It will be a warm-up for the delight of quilting the Hoffman.)

3. I'm leaving tomorrow for the Indiana Heritage Quilt Show in Bloomington, Indiana. It's a very good, small show, and although not juried, the quality of the quilts is high, and it attracts fine quilts from all over. The teachers are well known too. This year I'm taking Jane Sassaman's class, and looking forward to it with a bit of nervousness. I hope to have some good pictures to post when I come back.

Miscellaneous Tips

Housekeeping: The best thing I've found to pick up threads, fabric bits, etc. from your work table, ironing board, or sewing machine area is a piece of medium or coarse steel wool. You just LIGHTLY brush it across the surface (lightly, not like you were sanding, but like you were dusting), and it picks up all the junk and doesn't redeposit. In fact, you can use the same piece almost indefinitely. I like this better than those micro-fiber cloths. They always look so dirty even after washing, and are too expensive to throw away. Steel wool is cheaper and lasts longer without looking hopelessly cruddy.
Who else has a secret?

Movie: My husband and I just spent two evenings watching an Italian movie (originally a TV miniseries, I think) called The Best of Youth. It's the story of two brothers over the decades from 60's to 2000's showing how their lives change with the turbulent times. I know that six hours--yes, six!--of a film in Italian with English subtitles isn't everyone's cup of tea, but if anyone likes that sort of thing at all, you should try this. The characters are fascinating, one of the actors (Alessio Boni) is amazing, there are beautiful shots of Rome, Tuscany, Sicily, and it's fun to see those excited Italian conversations and know what's going on. The last hour is a bit slow, but we were totally enthralled by this, even my husband who can't sit still for much.

WIP Wednesday

The last issue of Quilting Arts announced a challenge called "What's in a Name?" where you are supposed to make an art quilt interpreting one of the phrases they provide. One was "the devil is in the details" and to me that immediately suggested all the "great" ideas that don't get done because they don't work out somehow. I thought about how to express this, and came up with this result.

I never really thought I'd finish this, so I didn't take pictures in early stages and I'm sorry I didn't because the process was interesting and very unlike what I usually do. I usually have a plan, but this time I started with the idea of cutting up an orphan block and using that, then went to the four skewed nine patches and one perfect nine patch. That was boring, so after sticking it under the table for a couple of weeks, I tried what Libby Lehman calls "pot-luck applique". It's really reverse applique using a pieced fabric underneath, stitching the design on a top layer of fabric, and then cutting away, not really knowing what will show through. I was a bit hesitant to do this, but Nellie of Nellie's Needles had done something similar and encouraged me. That change made the background more interesting, but even after some thread embellishment it was drab because of all the dark colors, so I stuck it away again. Then last Sunday I got it out for one last look, intending to pitch it. Then I remembered the batik flower-garden patches I made two years ago, and when I put them on top, the thing came to life, IMHO. I glued them on, leaving the cardboard and the basting (not sure that was a good idea) and then put net on top and quilted around them. The silk and fleece flowers sort of jumped out of my ribbon and flower embellishment drawer and wanted to go on, and so did the pieced binding (but that doesn't show up much in the picture.) This was fun--totally no rules, and I like the result. I hope it suggests the way ideas pile on top of one another, unfinished and maybe poorly conceived, but sometimes turn into something interesting after all.

I'm calling it "The Devil is in the Details": a Quilter's UFO's". Even former academics love subtitles.

Friday Collage

One of my favorite paintings is "Love of Winter" by George Bellows, American, 1913. I visit it every time we go to the Art Institute of Chicago. I'm not sure what I like so much, but I think it's the colors: the dark blueish greens, and that one splash of bright acid yellow. So today I tried to abstract it, emphasizing the blocks of dark and lights and the colors. I just pinned the pieces to fleece, layered net on top, and did a minimum of stitching to hold everything down and to try not to successfully to capture the random splashes of yellow Bellows scattered in the background. I don't think it's too bad, although about half way through I almost trashed it. Needs more stitching to give depth I think, but that's it for now.

WIP Wednesday

I have been making cards. Two valentines:




And a birthday card:



In addition, I am almost finished with the border blocks of the Hoffman; next of course is the tedious business of putting them together with the points matching "perfectly" and then hoping the border will fit.

Friday Collage

Here's another snow scene. I tried to capture the look of the countryside north of my house last week during a near whiteout. I used a piece of yellow net over the sky to reproduce the eerie glow you get when the sun is actually shining through the snowstorm. I put Angelina fiber over the whole piece to represent the snow, and that makes it very hard to photograph. This week's lesson: think about the finishing. I used the pillowcase method for this because I was hurrying, and forgot that you can't press after you put on the Angelina. Hence the very wonky edges.

And here's the aftermath--ugh.

Fast Friday Collage

I cheated on this. I used this design in a Christmas card, but it was smaller and had no stitching, just fused fabric. So I enlarged and tried some stitching. I don't think I added much... When I made this in December it looked nothing like a view of this area because we had no snow. Things have changed!

Not Too Cozy...

No new work today; but this is what I saw from my bedroom window a few minutes ago when I went to take pictures of the snow. Perfect photo op, if only I had a better zoom!

Quilt of Valor

After I posted this quilt a few weeks ago, I almost took the lazy way and let it go as it was, but I decided to take Nellie's advice of adding a narrow white border and then a blue border. I'm very glad I did; it improves both problems, and I am now much happier with the finished product. Thanks, Nellie, and everyone who commented.

Friday Collage

For my last Friday Collage, I expressed the Daily Life theme by focusing on one of my favorite things. This time, I'm showing one of my least favorite: my regular visits to a well-known women's fitness chain. Exercise is supposed to free the creative part of the brain, but I find this place totally mind numbing--terrible music, mindless repetition, and the chit-chat which is supposedly one of its big sells usually just irritates me (there's that introvert thing again). However it's a necessity, so I go.

Not much to say about making this. I just printed some words associated with the place, and added a sketch of one of the machines. The composition has no clear focus. The word pieces and the machine should not be the same color; this was partly done to save time, and also, I need to learn to look more critically AS I work, not afterwards!

WIP Wednesday, and a meme

I'm putting a border on the Quilt of Valor that I posted on two weeks ago, and will post a picture when it's done.

In the meantime, Nellie of Nellie's Needles tagged me to blog about five things I've never mentioned on my blog, so here goes. It's hard, because although I don't blog about everything in my life, there doesn't seem much I haven't mentioned that is interesting.

1. I have a cat. Not a big deal, except that it surprises me I haven't mentioned it, because so many people post pictures of their cat(s) all the time. I don't take second place to anyone in my love of cats, having had one all my life. I could easily become one of those crazy cat ladies like the one on the Simpsons.

2. Like Nellie, I grew up on a farm. I never milked cows, but I did have a 4-H Baby Beef steer that I fed daily and groomed regularly. When he went to his fate, it was sad, but the money went in a savings account for college. I still won't look at the livestock projects when I go to the fair because they bring tears to my eyes. I also know how to pluck and dress a chicken although my mother always did the actual beheading!



I'm the tall one with the droopy drawers. This was a new tractor, so we are excited to be riding it!

3. Learning to sew was also a 4-H project, starting at age 9. Having work judged by 4-H judges in the county fair where I grew up in Missouri has caused me to be much more of a perfectionist in sewing that I am in anything else, and to have no nervousness about quilt judging. Over the years, I've made everything you can think of except a man's jacket or pants. Oddly enough, sewing never seemed that enjoyable to me (reading was much more my thing), and the clothes I made for myself never seemed right to me. It's only now that I really love sewing--quilting is somehow more liberating and creative.

4. I did mention our stay in Paris last summer, but I'll expand on that a little. For the last two years my husband has been able to spend a month in Paris doing a little research and writing with a French chemist there. We'll be going for our third and almost certainly last stay this May. We stay in a tiny Spartan flat near the Blvd. St. Germaine as poor relations in the heart of wealth, art, and culture. I never thought when I was growing up that I'd have such a marvelous opportunity. I love feeling some small sense of what life is like in this beautiful fascinating city. Hemingway described Paris as "gray, but always beautiful" and to me that is perfect. It's a city of lines, not color. The repetition and variation of the building shapes is the defining characteristic of Paris to me. In preparation for the trip, I'm continuing to take a very low key French class. I wish I could say that I'm fluent in French, but the best I can do is say a few phrases in a horrible midwest American accent and understand even fewer. I can read quite well, however. Without that skill we'd never survive! And--I don't find Parisians rude. A polite "Bon jour, madame" has always worked for me. It's when you forget, and act like an American, that trouble starts!



At home in Paris--



5. I've never posted about dyeing fabric, because I don't do it! I have one set of fabric I made in a workshop, and that will be it. Way too labor intensive, and I'm so sloppy that I would turn our house into a Super Fund site very quickly. (When you're married to a chemist and have a chemist son, you hear more than you ever wanted to know about the danger of toxic stuff.) I have done a bit of painting and stamping, which seems much more fun to me, but still-- I think I'll just buy it!

Part of this meme is to tag five more people, but I'm really shy about doing that. But please, I'd love to read about you!

Personality Traits

As suggested by Debra, I joined in with Jen at Bayou Quilts and took the Meyer-Briggs personality test and discovered I am a INTJ. The disparaging way to summarize this personality might be as a bossy, know-it-all eccentric. But the positive way would be as a creative, pragmatic and self-sufficient person with deep feeling for others, although often for only a selected few. As I e-mailed Jen, I'm glad to be grouped with Jane Austen, but I'm not so sure about Donald Rumsfeld! My favorite part of the profile was this line: INTJ's may "simulate some degree of conformism in order to mask their inherent unconventionality." But enough about me--

If anyone wants to pursue the personality analysis thing a little further, Dr. Martin Seligman at the University of Pennsylvania has a website with a questionnaire where you can measure your signature strengths. I read his book Authentic Happiness several years ago and found it thought-provoking. He defines "signature strengths" as the activities or values that give you the greatest satisfaction, and a job or life style which allows you to use them would therefore provide happiness. My strengths were interest in excellence, and pursuit of knowledge. (I may not be remembering his terms quite right.) As a teacher most of my life, I've been fortunate to be able to use these. Come to think of it, these traits fit with the INTJ personality too. Hmmmm.

I'm so happy to be home after being away for a week! I've been catching up on blog reading, and particularly the wonderful 12 x 12 x 12 Challenges on the Quilt Studio blog. Beautiful work, everybody, and what a range of techniques. This makes viewing them a learning experience as well as just eye-candy. I've been having trouble commenting as much as I would like, and have a question of those more Blogger-savvy than I am. Why do some people's comments open a new window, when some people's do not? I assume this is a setting, right? I have particular trouble with the comments that open in a new window. The response is very slow, and there is no sign that the comment has registered until it does, so I sometimes end up commenting twice. Is this just something about my internet connection, or is it more general? Can anything be done? I'd appreciate any hints, and meanwhile, I would love to comment on everyone's challenge work, but sometimes I can't. So if I haven't commented, blame it on technical difficulties!

Fast Friday Collage

I thought I'd like to try this challenge this year as a way to force myself to pump out ideas and try new things. Last week I was away and I'll be gone next week too, but here's at least one for the first month.

The theme Kim chose for January is Daily Life, so I've shown my favorite part of the day--morning. I truly love morning: everything seems possible, there are new things to do, the light gradually brightens. I especially love the wonderful coffee my husband makes, so here it is, along with lots of cheery morning cliches. This was fast, except for the fact that I had to soak the fabric with Bubble Jet Set and then mess around with Word Art and various fonts to get the look I wanted. I have a lot to learn there. I also used my painted fabrics, so I feel real arty!

I posted this piece a couple of months ago. When my son was visiting at Christmas, he admired it, but wanted it framed. I wasn't sure how to do this, but happened to read Deborah's blog describing how she framed a recent piece. Basically, the piece is tacked with stitches to a piece of mat board or foam core which is then put in the frame, glass removed. I tried her method, and am pleased with the results, although I would have prefered a narrower frame. Now that I've done it once, I will try some of the other frames and see how they work. Deborah includes a link to Melody Johnson's ideas for framing also. Very interesting reading.

Thanks for all the suggestions on my previous posts. I'm thinking it over.

One reason I didn't commit to the 12x12x12 challenge was that I wanted to clear up some UFO's and start new ideas that have been simmering for a while. One of them was this Quilt of Valor. I did these blocks in the fall and put them aside, but have now finished the top, I think. The blue and white blocks were the ones remaining from a guild exchange after I used the first half in an earlier QOV. The challenge this time was to use only stash fabrics. I considered tea dying the blue and white, but didn't because I've never done that and wasn't sure how it would work. I regret that I didn't; I think they jump out too much. When I planned this, I didn't think it needed a border and planned to finish with a wider than normal (half inch) blue binding, but now I'm not sure, and am considering adding a border. That will require buying fabric though. In addition, it's currently 62 x 62, and a border will make it an awkward size, I think. I'd welcome opinions on the border question. Decisions, decisions. Anyway, Deb Geyer has agreed to quilt this, so her work is sure to improve it considerably!

How Old Are You Really?

Our local paper yesterday had an article about this website and its creator:RealAge. I would advise a visit. It's a questionnaire about nutrition, life style, medical history, etc. that averages all the data and calculates your body's actual age. I came out very well, but need to eat more vegetables, less meat, and more fish. Alas, I already knew that! But I did find out I have an ideal body mass index, and that was a VERY pleasant and very LARGE surprise. I thought this idea fits well with the emphasis on a healthier new year.

Debra, if you see this and can move it to the Lounge blog, go ahead. I don't know how to post there.

Wednesday

The last showing of this, I promise. It is actually finished, except for hand work on hanging sleeve, label, and removal of the basting stitches which show in the lower right of the close-up. I use water soluable thread in the bobbin and basting stitches come right out in the final rinse or spraying before blocking. A neat trick. I don't know why this project has taken so long: I like it, nothing about it has been difficult, but I seem to let it rest for a long time between each stage. The other technical tip I would repeat is to beware of Rainbows thread by Superior Threads. This fine thread KEEPS coming loose. Backstitching and a gradual reduction of stitch length for the last 1 1/2 inches is all that seems to work. Tying ends and burying them does not work on this stuff and neither does backstitching alone.


My other project is to make a paste-up block of the Hoffman Challenge design I have planned. I probably won't reveal this for a while, but the color scheme is still what I showed last week, and I made trial blocks of the small pieces for the border, so I think I can pull it off.