Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show 2013

I thoroughly enjoyed this year's quilt show in Sisters.  The weather was perfect (not as hot as it usually is) and all the quilts I wanted to see were close together, within 2-3 blocks of where I was staying.  Where was that?  Just two blocks from the Stitchin' Post!  My son's girlfriend, Brandi, offered her apartment, so my daughter and I stayed there for two nights.  The 2nd night, Brandi went out of town to visit a friend, and since she needed someone to bunny-sit her rabbit, E.B., we were able to do that for her.  But I digress . . .

I met Fiberexplorations friends Torrie and Deb on Sat. morning and we started the show with a special exhibit from the Portland book and quilt group, Cover to Cover.  Their theme this year was from the book The Invention of Hugo Cabret.  Here are three of those quilts:

"Connectivity" by Dianne Kane, Camas WA.

I'm glad I caught Dianne's quilt in the morning with the sun coming through it.  Isn't that beautiful?
And the next one features circular motifs attached together with real gears.
[9/16/13 UPDATE:  Thanks to Dianne Kane for providing more info on these three quilts!]

"Suspended in Time" by Dianne Kane, Camas WA.

And one of my favorite quilts from the show . . .

by Judith Phelps, Battle Ground WA

You may have missed why the above quilt is so spectacular.  Go back and click on it a few times to enlarge it.  Do you see it now?  All of the scenes are ENTIRELY thread-painted!  No markers, pens, pencils, paints, dyes, etc. were used, not even on the shading.  It's done entirely with threads ranging from white, plus many shades of gray, to black.  Simply amazing!

Next, in the outdoor courtyard/deli of Clearwater Gallery, we saw quilts made by students of Jean Wells, using her improvisational style of quiltmaking, inlcuding pieces from two Fiberexplorations' members:

"Under the Canopy of Autumn" by Deb Sorem.

and this one by Erika Close (title to be added).

At that time of the morning, a layer of shadows fell across these quilts from the trellis above.  When I returned later in the afternoon to re-photograph them,  the sun was behind the fence they were hung on, putting them in complete shade.  Oh well, just IMAGINE that their colors were more vibrant!  For example, here's a detail shot of Erika's taken in the morning, in a section where the trellis shadow didn't fall:

Detail of Erika's quilt.

On the other side of Clearwater Gallery, just after we ran into Erika, we found our Fiberexplorations' challenge quilt. 

Fiberexplorations "Painted Canvas" challenge quilt (with morning shadows!)

The four of us posed  for a photo, not realizing that we stood in the same order as our quilts, all four of which just happened to be in the middle row!

L to R: Torrie, Joanna (me), and Erika, Deb

The quilt show organizers thoughtfully arranged another quilt by Deb to hang next to our group's challenge quilt.  As Deb explained previously, "I took my granddaughters' names and worked them into kaleidoscopes. The traditional Grandmother's Flower Garden pattern was a favorite of mine, and my mother made one for me as a wedding present.  I repeated the shape of the hexagons in this contemporary version."

"Grandmother's Secret Flower Garden" by Deb Sorem.

To see it in more detail, click on this link for the Dec. 2, 2012 post about this quilt.

Thanks for visiting!  Comments are ALWAYS appreciated.

The Arty Chair

When I saw this chair on the Stitchin' Post's blog, I knew I'd have to share it.  In her "intuitive quilting" style, shop owner/educator/author/designer Jean Wells gave this chair a very fresh update that says Spring to me:

Jean's new chair.

Visit  the Stitchin' Post's blog to read about this project and see the in-progress photos.  I admire this kind of outside-the-box thinking..  What other unexpected ways could you use strip-piecing to to create a more inspired living space?  (I have lots of left-over pieced sections from my wall quilt Natural Symphony, but where to use them??)

Since I'm on the subject of colorful and interesting furnishings, here's the couch I'd love to have:

My dream loveseat.

I labeled the photo Hampton 2 Patchwork Sofa, but didn't save the source.  Guess I'll have to dream about making it myself.

"Crosscurrents" Workshop with Rosalie Dace: Day One

I feel so fortunate to be taking the 5-day Crosscurrents design workshop with S. African art quilter, Rosalie Dace.  What an incredible teacher!  The workshop is at the Stitchin' Post in Sisters, OR.  In the weeks leading up to this workshop, our assignment was to pay special attention to the shapes x and +, which have intersecting lines, and collect images of these shapes.

My design wall: Day one

Day One was all about PLAYING, EXPERIMENTING,
and trying out different ways of designing with intersecting lines. Tomorrow we'll begin our actual design compositions, but Day One was all about exploring.


   
 Rosalie brought a wonderful selection of images that featured intersecting lines.  I sketched a few ideas from them, but went back to a previous little sketch in my design journal.  Here's how it looks now that I've interpreted it in fabric:

My first piece.  (Ignore the dark line on the right; I don't have a photo-editing program on this laptop!)

Exploring that idea further, I had a good start on my next piece.   Then Rosalie came around and asked the magical question   " . . . what if . . .?"  She gave me that extra little push that I needed, resulting in this piece:

Designing in layers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 I knew about "what if . . .?" but now realize I hadn't been asking it enough when designing art quilts.



 I began one more composition before quitting time.  It's not finished yet, but here's where I left off:

3rd design, still in progress.

I'm very excited for Day 2!  And something special happens Thursday evening -- Jean Wells, who's also in this class, has invited all of us to her house for dinner that evening.  Then at 8pm, it's time for Oregon Art Beat's season premiere (Ore. Public Broadcasting); one of the two featured stories is the one about Jean, filmed this past July!  I was privileged to be at the filming as one of her "students" working through the critique process.  It will be so much fun to see the results of that day's filming, done in the classroom and at her home studio!

Two classes with Barbara Shapel

 Gorgeous, luscious, yummy, free-motion quilting

by Barbara Shapel!!!!

Barbara Shapel's free-motion quilting

Lucky me! I got to take two workshops with Barbara Shapel (from Washougal, WA) at the Stitchin' Post in Sisters, OR on April 14 and 15.  The first day began with Barbara's discussion about which threads to use with which needles, thread tension, ergonomics, and other info necessary for successful free-motion quilting.

On day two, she also covered the "needle-thread-tension-sewing speed" topic before demonstrating her specialty, threadpainting.  If you're not familiar with the term, imagine a scene entirely "painted" with thread, and that's what Barbara creates with her sewing machine.  Flowing lines and layers of thread, laid one upon the next, magically become a graceful heron,

Barbara Shapel's threadpainted heron.

or an owl in flight with shimmering feathers:

Barbara Shapel's threadpainted owl

Her threadpainting is just as beautiful on the back as it is on the front:

Barbara's owl from the back

This gifted teacher spent several years of intense trial-and-error teaching herself to free-motion quilt with her home sewing machine.  Before there were books on the subject and other teachers showing the way, Barbara worked on her own, experimenting with different threads, needles, batting, thread tension, stitch setting and speed, hand placement, hoops, gloves, etc.  Over that period, she developed a systematic method of FMQ'ing that's practically fail-proof, and which has won her many quilting awards and made her a much-sought-after teacher.


If you ever have the opportunity to take one of Barbara's classes, GO FOR IT! (and fast; as they'll be sure to fill up quickly!)