Parks Quilts in Berryville

Saturday was a good day.  Sue was able to make a trip out to Berryville, VA, to visit the "Inspired by the National Parks" exhibit which is there until November 25. 

Of course this is not the first time she has seen the exhibit; it has previously been at the Quilters Unlimited show in Northern VA, and also at the Virginia Quilt Museum.  And we've shared them in previous blog posts.  But it's always fun to see the same show in different venues.  This venue, The Barns at Rose Hill, is a wonderful space. 

The rustic interior of this re-purposed barn is a fitting backdrop for these nature inspired quilts.

Some of the quilts are hung in their park grouping of larger quilt of the park with the 2 smaller quilts of flora and fauna.  Others are hung separately due to the venue and method of display.

Above you can see the portable display units that are used for most of the flora and fauna quilts.

The larger park quilts are displayed on the walls.  In the downstairs portion of the building, the walls are white as seen here.

The upstairs portion of the barn has a large meeting room where many of the quilts are hung against the backdrop of the wood paneled walls.

Sue's quilt is the center one of this panel - Scarlet Globemallow from Mesa Verde National Park.

These three are some other favorites, especially the singing vole.

This Rocky Mountain landscape is also a favorite.

If you have the opportunity and want to take a road trip, ride out to Berryville to the Barns of Rose Hill, located between the government center and library, next to the park in the "downtown" area, just off route 7 east.  It's a great way to spend an afternoon. They are open Tuesday through Saturday from 12 - 3 PM, admission is free.

Current Exhibits at VQM

Over the weekend Sue had an opportunity to visit the Virginia Quilt Museum in Harrisonburg, VA, for the opening of the "Inspired By the National Parks" exhibit and artists reception.  It was a double treat as she has TWO quilts currently on exhibit, the one in the National Parks group and the other in the "Along the Spice Route" exhibit still on display.  How cool is that??  All current exhibits run through September 10.

We started with the Spice Route quilts, since Sue's friend Kathy had not seen that exhibit in person yet.  The gift shop offered this reminder of the exhibit.

Here is Sue with her quilt, Mustard Seed.

Some other views of the display - the "log cabin" room.

And gallery walls; Elizabeth's quilt is in the corner on the left.

Moving on to the main floor, we found the a portion of the parks quilt exhibit in the room that normally houses Civil War quilts and artifacts.

The exhibit covers the walls floor to ceiling, windows too!

There is great impact seeing all these wonderful quilts blanketing the walls.

However it is a bit more challenging to see those near the bottom close up.

Sue's quilt was in this room, the Scarlet Globemallow flowers at the bottom representing Mesa Verde National Park.

The other half of the exhibit was in the upstairs hallway and small exhibit room on the 2nd floor.  The small room had the best lighting.  Of course the lighting in all the galleries is controlled so as not to damage the textiles.

It was a great day for an outing as we did some row by row shop hopping on the way to the museum.  More on that in another post.

The Making of Scarlet Globemallow

Sue here.  It dawned on me today that now that the National Parks book has been published, I can share pictures of the construction of my Scarlet Globemallow quilt.  It's fun to revisit this project that was created 2 years ago. 

It started with a background of 2" squares (2.5 before stitching) of batiks and a hand-dyed blue for the sky.  These were pieced on the diagonal.

The background was quilted before adding the globemallow plant. Click on the photo to enlarge for a better view.

The plant greenery was made from hand-dyed greens; one piece used was dyed with color magnet which creates a two-toned effect.

The flowers and leaves were created from hand drawn patterns based on photos and cut individually.

Then the leaves and flowers were quilted.

Next, the flower centers were added.

Above is a close-up.

Then some hand stitching was added in the flower centers.

And there you have it, the finished quilt.

Inspired By the National Parks

The highlight of the Quilters Unlimited quilt show last weekend was seeing the National Parks exhibit in person.  Sue had seen photos of many of the quilts, and also paged through the book, but a photo just does not capture all the detail and workmanship that you see in person.  Not only that, the quilts were able to be exhibited in trios as originally intended, with a landscape, flora and fauna for each park.  I did a post about the book on May 27, which you can find here, and it is available from Amazon as well as quilt shops.

Here are a few favorites from the show - trios and detail photos.

Arches National Park - Landscape Arch by Etta McFarland; Living Soil by Deborah Dempsey; Bobcat by Luana Rubin.

Mesa Verde National Park - Cliff Dwelling by Mary Lois Davis; Scarlet Globemallow by Susan Price; Collared Lizard by Gitta Smith.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park - Echoes from Cades Cove by Mary Ellen Simmons; Galax Flowers by Diane Herbort; Synchronous Fireflies by Laura Robertson.

Above is Karin Tauber's Ladybugs, representing Sequoia National Parks.  Look at all those ladybugs!

This is a detail of Kings Canyon, Meadow in Bloom by Laura C. Gilmartin.  The thread painting and felting on this piece are masterful.

Representing Kobuk Valley National Park is Singing Vole by Joyce L. Carrier, another piece with exceptional thread painting.

Treat yourself to a copy of Inspired by the National Parks - you will not be sorry!

Inspired By The National Parks

You might remember from past posts where Sue talked about being involved in a quilt project honoring the 100th anniversary of the National Parks. This exhibit and book project was put together by Donna Marcinkowski DeSoto.  Some of the quilts debuted at the International Quilt Festival in Houston last November, and now that the book has been published, we can share photos of our quilts.  You can find the book on Amazon if you're interested in a copy.

The book is spectacular! It is not just a picture book of quilts, it includes a narrative about each of the 59 parks represented, written by a ranger who works at that park. They bring a familiarity and perspective to each of the parks that complements the quilts and artist statements.

Each park is interpreted with 3 quilts - a landscape which could be either vertical or horizontal, and a flora and fauna specific to that park. Sue's contribution was flora for Mesa Verde, the scarlet globe mallow.  Having visited Mesa Verde in 2006, this was her first choice of parks to create a quilt for.

Here it is on page 192!

There are 177 quilts in all, and even though many were seen prior to publication, it is absolutely wonderful to see them all together. 

This landscape quilt for Arches is one of Sue's favorites. Here are some other flora and fauna examples.

This is a book to be digested slowly and savored, both for the information about the parks and the quilts themselves. It is a visual and inspirational delight!

All of the quilts will be exhibited at the Quilters Unlimited annual show June 3-5 at the Dulles Expo Center in Chantilly, Virginia. They will also be exhibited at the Virginia Quilt Museum in Harrisonburg, VA, beginning July 26 thru September 10.  If you live in Virginia, we hope you will be able to see the exhibit at one of these venues.