Velda Newman: Living large!

I've been a Velda Newman fan for a long time, so when I heard she would be teaching at the SSQA Symposium, I signed up for a two-day class.
Often referred to as "the Georgia O'Keefe of quilters", Velda enjoys making big flowers on big quilts. I mean really big! She generously brought her latest work to share. This is "Zinnias"", which measures 8' x 18':

It was almost impossible to find a place to hold it up...thank goodness for the extra 2 feet allowed by that sunken seating area in the hotel lobby!
The cameras were clicking away and several non-quilter guests at the hotel also had to come in for a closer look. Can you believe this is hand quilted? There is a fair amount of machine work, too, but I was really amazed at how much Velda does by hand.
So what's the secret? (hah! even if we knew all the "secrets" could we still pull this off???)
Painting on fabric,which was the topic of the classes. But not a painted picture that is then quilted all over. No, all the flowers (or fish or vegetables or many other natural figures she loves)  are appliques made from painted fabric.

Of course, I didn't know any of this when I signed up for the class. I decided it was a great opportunity to take a class with a famous art quilter, and would be an excellent challenge.
Boy, was I right about that last part!
Of the 19 people in the class, only 3 of us had never painted before. I am pretty sure the oil-paint-by-numbers when I was a kid do not count. Nor do the hours of watching Bob Ross paint happy little trees on TV.
Let me say right away that Velda is a great teacher, despite whatever talent her students displayed. And I do know about teaching! She gave good demos and then set us to work. As she constantly circled the classroom she met each person at the level they needed...helpful encouragement for the beginners, or pertinent critique for the experienced artists.

We worked from patterns Velda provided. Here are some of the students using Nature's lightbox!
Once the pattern was drawn on the fabric we sprayed it with water to get it nice and damp, then painted with acrylics. First up was the apple:

This is where we learned why the hairdryer was on our supply list! The color will bleed out quite a bit if it just air dries.

The first and second day went pretty well, but by the third day we blew the fuses in the hotel.
Yes, I had such a good time in my 2-day class, I went back in the for third day as an observer. I was able to pay better attention to things like how to handle the brushes and paint, but it was really fun to watch everybody trying to get their hairdryer going before the others...only one or two could be used at the same time!
We did color washes:

We also learned Velda's technique of adding texture with stitching before the painting is done:

This is a basket. We also made some lemons with a gridded texture, and used distressed cheesecloth to create the skin on a melon. After the sewing comes the painting for color and dimension.

We made leaves, tulip petals, and a sea shell.
The Saturday class made fish and peaches and a conch shell. The hotel staff and various guests wandered through from time to time, intrigued by all the things we had drying on the floor:

If you have a chance to take a class with Velda, I would highly reccommend it! I certainly have a lot to learn about painting, but the techniques I learned are definitely ones I'll be using.
And the inspiration was multiplied by everyone in the class having a wonderful time together!

Barely in the Bag

It's time to get ready to go to the AQS show in Paducah! And what could be better than sewing a new bag to carry. Especially one made from a beautiful fabric I purchased at the Houston IQA show about 9 years ago!

This is batiked handwoven hempcloth from Thailand and (after washing) is not quite 14" wide.
I purchased a commercial pattern (See & Sew..."Yes! It's Easy!" claimed the front) for a teardrop shaped bag. I have always wanted one of those easy-on the-back styles.
It has an outside zippered pocket covered with a flap, a cell-phone size pocket on the side gusset, and a zipper opening to the lined inside.
This time I thought about it, and remembered to choose a light color lining fabric!

Ooooooo! pretty dragonflies in gold! Maybe I'll be able to see inside this bag, as opposed to the ones with dark linings. Sometimes you have to stop and ask yourself what is really practical: a dark lining that will show no dirt...in a place only you should be looking anyway!....or a light lining that will allow you to find what you are looking for!
There's an inside pocket, which I made from a purple scrap, so I can see that against the lining!
I thought I might like to make this pattern more than one time, so I ironed
the tissue paper pieces onto light-weight interfacing.

After that I rolled the fabric out and pressed it, then proceeded to arrange the pattern sections. It was no good following the pattern layout, due to the narrow width of this wonderful fabric, but of course I paid attention to the grainline arrows. I did decide to give up on some fancy matching-across-the- seams idea...I am not really into haute couture! (Cherry-cherry is the French expert around here...did I get it right?)
The bag and the lining used the same pattern pieces.

So I got them all cut out and ready to go.
All I needed were two 12" zippers, a rectangle ring,and a slider. All items I assumed one would find in the J-A. Big Box store!
Yes, you are right...no luck! All I could get were two 14" zippers, and then found the instructions called for cutting off 2" anyway! And no hardware the size required.
No problem! I was soon to head off on a cross-state trip that would take me right by the Sewing Studio in Maitland (every fabric you could possibly need!) and near to Rainbow's End ( probably the biggest quilt shop in the state).
I was horribly disappointed. Neither had the 1.5" slider or rectangle ring. Both had lots of beautiful bag patterns...but the hardware selection seems to be disappearing.
I came home and used whatever I could find...a slightly too-small D-ring, and a lovely pearlized plastic slider buckle.

By this time I'd stoppped work on the outside until I could get the hardware, and started sewing the lining. Uh oh...that went together like a child's drawing of an ameoba. I was not feeling good about the outside with my fabulous fabric, since I knew the patterns pieces were identical.

Well, let's just say I finally got it made, and it doesn't look too bad. But the side pieces certainly are not the same size as the gusset, and I knew slip-stitching the lining around the zipper opening was not nearly enough to keep it from hanging loose like a limp bag-in-a-bag! That had to be tacked a few plces from the inside.
OK, so I managed, and the bag is fine...except, having carefully followed the picture on the front (as the instructions were so terrible and the markings lacking or useless), I find it is actually is reversed. Meaning I am right handed, so I hang a shoulder strap on my left shoulder, and this bag really goes on the right shoulder, if you want the outside pocket on the outside!
Maybe it's just me.....?
Well, here it is:

Look for me carrying it in Paducah!
If I'm crazy, I may try it again someday...backwards...it couldn't hurt!
But I won't be buying another big pattern company pattern for a loooooong time.

The Moonlight Quilters are Blooming!

What a great day we had Saturday in Titusville, making flowers and leaves for the BLOOMS class!

This class was inspired quite a few years ago by Cherry-cherry, who wanted to know why a beginners' class had to be old tradtional blocks...why couldn't it be contemporary?
So I designed the piece on the left, to include the basic shapes of quiltmaking using fast-piecing techniques, but requiring very little matching.
It was rather bitter-sweet teaching this class, because the other basis of it is Designing on a Grid. I learned that truly valuable skill from Judy Hopkins' book One-of-a-Kind Quilts (That Patchwork Place, 1989). Judy passed away this month.

This fabulous big room had plenty of space for work tables and lunch tables both! It's the American Police Hall Of Fame museum, which happens to be right next door to the Astronaut Museum....just turn in when you see the Space Shuttle!

Almost everyone had strips cut and jumped right into the sewing.

We made the flower first, because it actually has sections that need to match. After that, the leaves are totally random. The hardest part of this class is throwing away the precision and matching that we've worked so hard to learn!

The Moonlight Quilters are a really fun group who also know how to get some sewing done.

One of the best parts of a class is looking at all the beautiful fabric...I love the way each person's choices reflect her personality. There was everything from Tropical to Traditional, with a large contingent of Batik Lovers.

We spent the morning sewing flowers and leaves, followed by a good lunch.  (I won't mention the fantastic snacks that simply appear by magic at any quilters' gathering!)

The afternoon started with a short round of sewing. Then everyone contributed some flowers and leaves to learn how to work out her own design by creating the grid space, moving parts around, and filling in the spaces with whatever pieces she thought would be best.

I can hardly wait to see some of the finished quilts!
Will they be larger? Smaller? Contain some new design elements? Be totally turned around? (C-C says she wants to see this as a landscape orientation instead of vertical).
I love to teach this class, where a simple-to-make pattern opens the doors of creativity!
And I love to teach for a group like the Moonlight Quilters, who enjoy learning and having so much fun together.

Quilt Discovery Day in Jacksonville FL

Last Saturday the All Star Quilters Guild, Inc., hosted a Quilt Discovery Day for the public.
We invited people to bring their quilts to be documented for the Florida Quilt Project, which will be online as part of the Quilt Index by the end of the year.
With renting space and making lots of copies, there are some costs involved...so we got a grant from the Sunshine State Quilters Association to help out. Three other groups also received grants for hosting a QDD.

First the stations had to be set up, and we were fortunate to have so much space to work in!

When people arrived, they were welcomed and given the 10-page form on a clipboard.
Not to worry! The form seems long because it has lots of lists so you can just check things off, and questions to answer are mostly to jog somebody's memory.
So if you don't know who made the quilt, it doesn't take too long to fill in the form. As you move through the stations of the Quilt Discovery Day  the writing is done by the workers. All the quilt owners needed to fill in was their own contact information.

The next station is where an official number was given to each quilt to be sure the form can be matched up to the correct photo. There is also a release form to allow the pictures to be used online.

Then comes Photography.
The quilts are carefully attached to several pants hangers (the clip kind), and the number on a small sign is attached. Then the quilt is raised up on a stand so a full-length photo can be made.

Sometimes closeups are taken, or an extra picture is made if the back has something of interest.

This one is especially interesting to me because it was made by my great-great grandmother, sometime between 1850 and 1880.

Next comes Description, where the quilt is measured and carefully examined.

One of the items on the form is how many blocks...I am glad we did not have to count how many diamonds are this beautiful Broken Star!
Also at this station the quilt pattern and name have to be determined. We had a laptop computer running Block Base to help us, along with some books about patterns and fabric dating.

Only pencils are used around the quilts!

The next station is History, where the quilt owner can give the name and story of the maker, if known, as well as how they acquired the quilt...gift, purchase, inheritance, or self-made!

Each person is so excited to be able to talk about their cherished quilt with quilters who share that love! We also had Nan Moore, a quilt appraiser, working with us to help get the dates straight. 
Last is the Exit station, where the form was checked to be sure all sections had been looked at (even if there was nothing to record). A small label was given to each quilt saying that it is now part of the Florida Quilt Project.

We did put out a donation jar, because sometimes happy people want to say "Thank-you" with a few dollars. The money will go to continuing documentation of more quilts!

As usual, I was far too busy to pay attention to making a complete photo record of the event and all the wonderful quilts. I'd like to close with just a few more pictures, to give you a taste of what treasures are seen at one of these Quilt Discovery Days! Maybe your group would like to host one sometime. It's both educational and fun!

Beautiful embroidery from the 20's or 30's...I'd love to know the name of the designer!

There's always at least one Yo-Yo Quilt! This one has a pretty diamond & sashing arrangement.

Not sure of the date on this well-preserved scrap quilt, but that's the famous color called "Cheddar"!

Yes, I DO like scrap quilts! This one is almost too much.

A real find...this unfinished top is a piece of real folk art from the 1930's, portraying the maker's homestead and some lyrics from "The Old Oaken Bucket".

So beautiful....so very Southern!. These starburst styles were more often made in the South, despite the magazine-created name of New York Beauty.

Amazing quilt made by a freed slave in Newberry, So. Carolina. Even though it was passed along in the family, some of the story has been lost...but it still has enough clues that we my learn more yet!

FANtastic Quilt Show in Mt. Dora

The Lake County Quilters Guild (Mt. Dora, FL) hosted their 29th annual  FANtastic Quilt Show March 3 & 4. This is a guild show (no outside entries), and it's amazing how they can produce so much wonderful work every year!
I'd like to share a few pictures and comments...and, as always, if you ask me to take a pic down, I will.
The guild does a great job of stating the pattern names, but please let me know if I miss any.

Spinning Stars by Betsy O'Neil from the Judy Martin pattern "Shakespeare in thePark"

What a great pattern, and who doersn't love a blue quilt?

Next we saw:

Bloomin' Kaffe by Kelly Woodworth from the Blooming 9-Patch pattern

All Kaffe Fassett fabrics! This is a really fun technique that blends one set of blocks into the next.



Blowing in the Wind by Betsy O'Neil using Pat Yemin (Come Quilt With Me) templates

I'm always taking pictures of red-white & black quilts because one of my friends really loves them!



Nest by Pat Arends from a Valori Wells pattern

OK, I admit I often take pictures of my friends' quilts...but it's beacuse I like them, and I also have lots of other people's quilts, too!
One thing this also shows off is the lovely venue of the show, Lake Receptions in Mt. Dora. It does add a bit of extra "class" to the show!

 

A Toast to Spandex by Shirley Schlimgen from the "Ladies in a Hot Tub" pattern by Changing Tides

It's always nice to see real women being celebrated!



Hooray for the White Glove Ladies!

MY APOLOGIES:
I have been fighting with Blogger, trying to get this post done, for two weeks...I have done it every which way possible. Lake Co. Quilters deserve a much nicer post about their show, but my patience has run out!
If I can manage a few more pics, I will try.
Otherwise, go see next year's show...it's always the first week in March!

Armenian Wedding II by Terry Reising



Quilt Show: Amelia Island "Quilts By The Sea"

Last Friday it was time to jump in the van and head up to Fernandina for the 12th triennial  quilt show of the Amelia Island Quilt Guild! That's right...this guild has their show every three years. From the look of things, those were three very busy years! Let's take a look at just some of the wonderful work...(as always, I will be glad to remove a picture if you have a problem about it being here...just let me know)(likewise I'd be happy to add the titles of any published patterns!).

"Halloween Delight" by Deborah Dunman

Setting the categories for a quilt show is challenging...you want to have the quilts that best go together, but you can't have everything. This quilt was in the Holiday category, which was almost all Halloween or Christmas. What I liked about this one was the "redwork" (did you know blackwork is actually another style of embroidery?) done in black thread. The illustrations must have come from old Halloween greeting cards.

An interesting category was Quilts for Children. What a great idea! We love to show and share these kinds of quilts, even though they were never intended for being Best of Show... but maybe Best Loved!

"Camouflage" by Charlie Russ

This quilt features at least two fabrics with a Marines theme print. The other fabrics came from the uniforms that belonged to the owner's father.

"Happy Pineapples" by Janet Sebastian

Happy indeed! This quilt had everyone smiling and snapping pictures.

There were also quilts made by Young Quiltmakers. There was a great challenge, where the guild members had to do a self-portrait...as a flamingo! And there were the miniatures, and a category for Miscellaneous, so jackets, table runners and bags could be shown.

There was even a Non-judged category that had this fun quilt:

"9-Patch Gone Wild" by Frances Barnett

There are many wonderful stories that go with quilts. The string pieced one below was sewn as a memorial from clothing that belonged to the maker's aunt.

"I'll Fly Away" by Dell Dunman

  When Dell found she had sewn some blocks turned the wrong way, she took the quilt apart and carefully laid them all out again to be sure. After the quilt was finished, there was one block turned around...surely her aunt had done it!The title is from the aunt's favorite hymn.



Untitled by Emma Sanders

This pretty red & white quilt has a cross-stitch motto about how a woman has to be twice as good as a man.....you know the rest! I like to see redwork mixed with piecing.

"Along Dorothy's Road" by Mike Polese

Poppies! Poppies! But these won't put you to sleep! They were in the Art Quilt category, along with this small quilt:

"Whine Not" by Gail Niedernhofer

The embellishments are wine corks. This was a favorite of several people I talked with, and surely had some reds we'd like to try!

The Amelia Island guild has a number of members doing real quilt art, and it's always a pleasure to see.

"Celebration" by Sandi Neal

I'm a sucker for anything lime green! This really does look like a celebration.

"Julia's Garden" by Sally Winston

 This is an inspirational quilt. Does it make you want to do a collection of little appliques?

I am guessing that Julia likes pink!

"Purple Passion" by Faye Justice

 It's not how complex or time consuming a quilt is to make, it's all about what you want to make! With just three fabrics, and a fairly easy pattern (my favorite: Snowball and 9-Patch!) this quilt really makes a statement.

"Oceans of Love" by Janet Sebastian

Do you see quilts at a show and are reminded of a friend? I have a friend who loves bargello quilts, so I'm always thinking oif her when I see them. This one is especailly well done for the seaside effect.

"Rainbow Tiles" by Shery Inserra

Not only is this glowing with beautiful colors, it really asks you to look closely and see if you can figure out how it all went together!

There are quite a few good machine quilters in this corner of Northeast Florida, and the show was filled with excellent quilting. There were practically no quilts that were done poorly or needed a great deal more quilting...and none that were quilted so much they were "over done"!

I only regret that I didn't get the names of all the quilters...they were on the quilt tags, but not in the program.

"Big Red" by Emily Baker

Deciding how to quilt can be a tough choice...there is no one right way to do any particular quilt. This is a lovely use of feather motifs on a pineapple pattern.

"Sara's Pinwheels" by Gail Niedernhofer

More well-done feathers in a lovely varigated thread to match the hand-dyed fabrics. This is the real big thing sweeping the quilt world...using colored quilting thread as an important part of the entire design. 

"Stars and Seashells" by Suzanne H. Driver

The maker here used her collection of seashell patterns to fill in on this simple blue & white quilt, showing that it does not have to be all fancy and complicated to be beautiful.



"The Ultimate Sacrifice" by Diane Keagy

Another example of how simplicity can tell as much as a mass of detail. This could have been quilted with all sorts of creative motifs. 

Yet the simple grids of the sashing, and the diagonal lines in the rectangles providing a small contrast, offer all that is necessary. The point (again) isn't always about how long it took, or how hard it was to do.

Awards and ribbons are a big part of any quilt show, whether or not you're in the competitive spirit.

The Amelia Island guild had some very pretty ribbons for all the prizes, especially for the major awards.

 The special awards featured an embroidered medallion with seashells and the "AI" initials for the show.

Besides the certified judge giving the place ribbons, I love it when there are some special awards. There was a President's award (kind of tricky for a single guild show!) and then I saw this interesting award:

Yes, that's the Mayor's Choice!  What a great way to be sure the city officials are made aware of the power of quilts to bring people to their communities, and also to get them into the show to find out what quilting really is!

 I spoke with several people who were attending a quilt show for the first time. They were amazed at the artistry of the display...and they were people who know quilters!

Oh, yes, the quilt that won this ribbon:

"Sunset in July" by Pam Wise

 

Among the many fine kaleidoscope style quilts (Stack N Whack, One Block Wonder. etc) was this beauty:

"My Garden" by Charlie Russ

 It received an award for "Best Use of Color", and we had a grand time discussing why.

 Saved for last...here it is... the Best of Show "Silver Streak" by Pam Baity:

The three ribbons also include it's first place for the Mid-Pieced category and a special award for machine quilting. The pattern is "Turning Twenty".

The solid black fabric in the border was stitched completely around with this lovely design, using silver thread. The crystals were used with good taste, and it really did glitter nicely from across the room.

Of course you want to see the back! Note the curved corners. You have to use bias binding for that, but it lets you skip the mitering that some don't like to do. However, you still have to do it well. If it's pulled tight, the corners will cup up and stick out.

This show had all the other things we love: vendors, a boutique, gift baskets and quilt raffles, plus a quilt appraiser. And there were many more beautiful quilts than I'm showing here!

Thank-you, Amelia Island Quilters, for a wonderful show! We wish you a productive next three years so we can come back and see more!