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Archive for the ‘art quilting’ Category

Windows and Sketches–Exercise your Imagination!

Thursday, August 27th, 2009

Download is available here: Windows and Sketches PDF.

The September issue of Machine Quilting Unlimited is now hitting mailboxes, so I thought I’d share the cover:

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My article this month is about texture:  both literal and visual texture in machine quilting.  Quilts can be old-timey puckery like the 1930s quilts we know and love, but they can also be (literally) flat, like the fabric postcards made on Timtex or Peltex (a rigid stabilizer sometimes used in cap brims).  But there is also visual texture…what the eye thinks it sees depending on the type of line created by the quilting.

One fun exercise is to give yourself 30 minutes (at most!) to fill the 12 small boxes on a page.  Fill each square with a different “something” from around your house and garden; for a change of pace, take your sheet (or another one!) into town, walk in a park or look at the downtown buildings, and look for images that might make good quilting designs.  Check out the article for more information!  It is in the September Machine Quilting Unlimited magazine (ask your local quilt shop to carry it!) or order an issue / subscribe at www.mqumag.com.

Here’s the Windows and Sketches workpage I shared in the magazine:

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You can download a blank template of this form using the link at the top of this post or here: Windows and Sketches PDF.  This is what the blank looks like:

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Maine Quilts, quilts I liked!

Friday, August 7th, 2009

OK…for the final installment of my Maine Quilts 2009 review, here are some quilts that I just thoroughly enjoyed.  I wish I had had enough time to snap a close-up of the labels to give proper credit to all the quilters!  Enjoy this last romp.  Next, I’ll give you some close-ups of the quilted version of Be Inspired…stay tuned!

Coastal Quilters (my local chapter) didn’t have as many quilts this year, but what we did have was wonderful…Mathea’s quilt of her husband and son was in an earlier post, and here is Louisa Enright’s glorious NY Beauty…she picked and chose from various patterns, drafted her own blocks, and designed the whole shebang…glorious!

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The Coastal Quilters also had another fun, 10×10 inch Grab Bag challenge…you had to use EVERYthing (at least a little bit) of everything in your bag.  I suggested we also add a strip to show what we got so folks could understand where each of us began and where we ended up:

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Another chapter, the Crazy Quilters, had a tea cozy challenge…think I can convince CQ to do that one year?

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then, there are quilts I just plain liked.  One of the judges liked this one, too….and (oddly?) it had no regular ribbon, but DID receive (a well-deserved, I think) Judges’ Choice ribbon:

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A Hawaiian style quilt that I loved:

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And some fun other ones:

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Maine Quilts, Art Quilts

Tuesday, August 4th, 2009

There didn’t seem to be as many art quilts this year in Maine Quilts, but I enjoyed the ones that were there!   From my friend Betty’s cat quilt (in the Cat’s Meow section—each year the show has a theme…last year was schooners, the year before lobsters, etc., this year the Maine Coon Cat):

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To some of the quilts in the Art Quilts Maine section, there were some really wonderful ones.  AQM had a challenge:  black + white + one color… it was fun to see the results:

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And down the aisle from my Be Inspired Quilt was Judy Anderson’s seals:

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And Mathea Daunheimer’s quilt of her son and husband at the beach:

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And some more quilts…alas I don’t know who made the lilies, but the tree is by Mary McFarland:

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I’ll have one more post about the show in a few more days….

Maine Quilts, Jo Diggs

Sunday, August 2nd, 2009

Jo Diggs has been at the forefront of the art quilt movement since there has BEEN an art quilt movement.  She lives here in Maine, and we are fortunate to have her nearby teaching and exhibiting.  This year, there was a special exhibit of some of her quilts.  I was suprised at the range of the subject matter and colors:  usually Jo’s landscapes are small, sometimes wool cloth, and lovely muted tones.  WOW was I inspired by her quilts:

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When I saw her birch tree quilt, I thought why should I even try to make my “blue birches” quilt that has been hammering at the inside of my head asking to be  let out and made into cloth…..   I LOVE the sunset colors in hers.  I think I have just about talked myself back into making mine, telling myself that mine is just different…. but still…this quilt is close to perfection:

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More on Maine Quilts in a few more days…

Maine Quilts, Blue Ribbons

Friday, July 31st, 2009

Last weekend was Maine Quilts, the annual show put on by the Pine Tree Quilt Guild (PTQG).  The judging this year was quite tough, with only five blue ribbons out of nearly 100 judged quilts.  Although I didn’t get much time to savor the show (the first day I took hubby, his first time ever going to a show with me…hoooray!…so I promised him we wouldn’t have to stay long—since it was torrential rain, it also ended up being crazy crowded, and the second day I got there late), I did have time to take pictures of the five blue ribbon quilts plus a couple of others.  (In theory, the photos should be clickable for a larger view.)

Here is the Best in Show quilt, a hand and machine appliqued quilt with a ton of quilting (Machine):

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And the other blue ribbon winners, one of which also won a judges’ choice:

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And of course, (blush, smile) mine:

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I’ll have a couple more posts about the show… some of my favorites that I just snapped while breezing through, art quilts, and Jo Diggs’ special exhibit.  More soon!