Paint on Fabric with Kevin Womack

 Sue's first day class was Improv Paining on Fabric with Kevin Womack.  This was a "play day" to transform fabric with various surface design techniques.  We had various items like old kitchen utensils that could be used to create designs, stencils, bubble wrap and other items to create texture, objects that could be placed under the fabric and painted over for design & texture.  We also used color washes of diluted paint to transform a background.  Most students worked on white "new" fabric, but Sue used pieces that were previously dyed.  These were mostly pieces that didn't turn out well - too much white and/or blah colors, so this class was an attempt to make them more interesting.

work space

Image printed with a thermofax screen

Designs added with various mark making objects, a light blue wash colored in white areas

Design printed with a thermofax screen; original design is from a spiral masher/mixer (kitchen utensil)

 

This texture is from a length of cording placed under the fabric, and then flicking the paint brush over the raised area

Paint over a stencil created these images

It is fun and freeing to work improvisationally without thinking too much about what you are doing - just create!

Celebration Show & Tell & Challenge

Every Celebration starts off with a Show & Tell of projects from past Celebrations that participants have finished and brought along to show.  It's always fun to see the finished quilts, and some folks are very good about finishing the projects from the last event, while others may get to the finishing a little more slowly.  Here are some of the show & tell quilts from night 1, all from 2022 classes.

Left - Brimfield Block (Taught by Brimfield Awakening) 

Right - Kisses & Hugs (Taught by Barbara Black)

Glorified Nine Patch (Taught by Gyleen Fitzgerald)

Modern Improv (Taught by Heather Kojan)

Over and Under Rainbow (Taught by Gyleen Fitzgerald)

In addition to participant show & tell, there is a preview by the teachers of the projects they will be teaching over the next 2 days.

Here is Paula Golden with her Feathered Star quilt.

This year also featured a Ruby Challenge in honor of VCQ/s 40th anniversary.  There was an overwhelming amount of participation with members submitting red & white quilts for a viewer's choice vote.  Here are a few pictures of the ruby quilts.

Karen Brewster, VCQ president, also shared a red & white family heirloom quilt.  What a lot of eye candy!

VCQ'sCelebration 2024

Virginia Consortium of Quilters (VCQ) sponsors a 3 day retreat every 2 years that includes 2 days of workshops with nationally known teachers.  We meet at the 4-H Center at Smith Mountain Lake near Roanoke, Virginia.  What an idyllic setting!  It's a great place to get away for a few days to pursue our quilting hobby, enjoy comradery and long-time friendships, and appreciate the outdoors.  A bonus is that there is no cooking involved - just go to the dining hall for buffet meals!  This year's event was held April 18-21, and this is the first of several posts.  This one is dedicated to sharing photos of the facility.  Other posts will feature show & tell and challenge quilts, and the 2 classes that Sue participated in.  Elizabeth was unable to attend this year because she was otherwise occupied on a 30-day cruise to Fiji and other stops in the Pacific!

Looking from the patio of the activities building towards the lake.

Building on the right is the Taubman Conference Center and Hepler-Jamison dormitory.

View of the activities building, which includes the dining hall and auditorium.

At the lake; the gazebo is new since we were there 2 years ago.

Chairs along the shore.

An area of the grounds I had not visited before - a 3-hole golf course.

We also had some very lovely sunsets.

Wouldn't you like to join us in 2026?

Burke Quilters Unlimited Spring Retreat

In March Sue was fortunate to attend her local guild's spring retreat. (Burke chapter of Quilters Unlimited)  It was held in Winchester, VA at a Hampton Inn - we take over the ballroom to set up for approximately 50 quilters to come and sew for 3-5 days, depending on schedules.  It's a great way to make progress on multiple projects without having to stop for housework and other tasks.  (of course, those who are still gainfully employed get to take a few days off from work.)

Sue worked on several projects - one finish, one make progress and a new start.  The "finish" was a Hunter Star quilt, approximately 30" square.  This was started in an online class with David Sirota in February in which he teaches his method of foundation piecing and also his trick for matching points.

It is quilted with concentric circles.  These are 1/2" apart, using the machine's seam guide to keep the circles even.  Maybe next time she will space the circles further apart?  Not difficult, but a bit tedious.

Another project was a quilt top called the Harrisonburg Quilt, so named because the pattern is based on an historic quilt owned by the Virginia Quilt Museum in Harrisonburg, VA.   The Virginia Consortium of Quilters sponsored an online sew-in over the winter holidays on making this quilt, and Sue has been working on it ever since.  Of course, she decided to make the queen size version which is why it is still a work on progress.  But, all the rows and sashing are now joined, and the next step is making and adding the border.  Then find a long-armer to quilt it!

The fabrics used are almost all batiks, with a few commercial prints mixed in as well.  The background is mostly Moda Grunge.  

A third project that she got started on is in response to a challenge from the Virginia Quilt Museum.  The project is called Stitching together History and commemorates the 250th anniversary of the state of Virginia in 2026.   The museum wants to select 250 quilts from all submissions and feature them in an exhibit as well as a book to commemorate this anniversary.  Quilts should fit into one of four categories - Unfinished Revolutions, Power of Place, We the People, and Virginia Experiments.  Sue chose as her topic Loving v. Virginia, the Supremes Court decision that made interracial marriage legal in Virginia.  A portion of her original design includes foundation pieced Virginia Reel blocks, and that is what she worked on at the retreat.   More on this project in another post.

Here are a few more pics of the group with quilters hard at work.

Next retreat will be in fall.  Does your guild do something similar?