Playing Favorites

At the Sew Expo last weekend there were several exhibits.  One called “Playing Favorites” was sponsored by the Quilt Alliance who mount a contest, exhibit and auction every year as a way to support their mission of documenting, preserving and sharing quilt history.   The quilts were all 16 inches square.   They were hung in groups of 12 which showed them off nicely. 

Elizabeth’s favorites were: the guitar quilt named “Strat-O-Masters II” by Annedore Neumann of Moenchengladback-Wickrath, Germany;

this stunning landscape “The Cycle-Hawaii” by Maria F. Cousins of Great River NY;

the Monarch butterfly (always a favorite subject to Elizabeth),”My Favorites Orchids and Butterflies” by Charlotte Noil, Lauderhill, FL;

and the splash paint looking art quilt called “Angled” by Sherri Lipman McCauley of Lakeway, TX;

The grand prize winner was “My Garden” by Margaret Cibulsky of Port Washington, NY.

Our friend Susanne Jones of Potomac Falls, VA had this sweet quilt based on the song “My Favorite Things”.

The only problem with the exhibit was that the signs were so small we couldn’t read them from behind the rope.  We had to take photos of the description and blow them up on the computer screen to see all the details.

There were many lovely quilts donated by quilters all over the US and the world.

These quilts will be auctioned on-line in November at QuiltAlliance.org.  Check them out if you are interested in bidding to help out their cause.

#PlayingFavorites #QuiltAlliance  #MyFavoriteThings

UFO Busting - September

It's that time again - time for the monthly UFO Busting report.  Turns out September wasn't the month to spend more time in the studio either.  Though I did some preparation for the 2 classes I taught this month, there wasn't much sewing going on.  The one thing that got finished was a pop-up container (also a new start) because that was one of the classes I taught. 

So the stats for September are:
Starting UFO count: 11
New projects started this month:1
Projects finished this month: 1
UFO count at end of month:11

What do you think will happen in October?  Will Sue finally get back to work in the studio?  Will she get smart and pull out an almost finished project so she can actually cross one off the list?  Tune in next month to see!  Meanwhile, go to Vicki Welsh's blog - Colorways by Vicki Welsh - to see what other participants have reported for the month of September.

Sew Expo

Sue and Elizabeth are regular attendees at the Original Sewing and Quilt Expo, attending the Fredericksburg edition that is held at the beginning of October.  This show used to be very close to us at the Dulles Expo Center but a few years ago moved to the Fredericksburg location, so it's a bit more of a trek than it used to be.  We thoroughly enjoy the quilt exhibits they have each year, which show a cross section of quilting in the U.S. from traditional to art to modern.  More on the exhibits in future posts.  Of course, the other major component is the vendors.

Maybe we have become a little jaded, or is it just that we have a lot of stuff and don't need more, but there wasn't a lot that was terribly exciting in the vendor aisles.  Often shows will have the same vendors as previous years, so you don't see a lot that's new or different from what you've seen before.

However, the one thing that WAS new and exciting for us this year was that a vendor friend of ours, Early Times Workshop, has begun to carry our Thermofax screens.

So it was fun for us to see our screens on display in her booth! They're on the right in the photo below.

And after further perusal Sue did find some fabric to buy (for a project her daughter wants to make), so she did not come home empty handed.  Either way, the inspiration of the exhibits and seeing our screens for sale made the trip worthwhile.

Kimberly Einmo - Quilter, Designer, Author, Teacher

Kimberly Einmo is a national and international teacher, author of 5 books, and designer of quilts and specialty rulers.  What we didn't know about Kimberly is that she lives in Northern Virginia and last night was the program speaker for the Burke chapter of Quilters Unlimited.  Her lecture covered what to do with jelly rolls and other pre-cut fabrics that are available in today's quilt market.

She gave an informative and entertaining lecture with several tips from her quilting and teaching experience.  Having traveled with a military spouse for a number of years, she wrote her first book on creating a travel souvenir quilt.  Successive books have focused on jelly rolls & precuts, while her newest being released later this month focuses on block combinations.  Check out her website for more about her books.

Did you know that jelly rolls (2.5 inches by WOF strips) contain 40 strips of fabric?  These are a way for a fabric manufacturer to showcase a line of fabric and have become very popular.

A   "layer cake" is a set of 10" squares.

Both a jelly roll and a layer cake yield 2.5 yards of fabric.

If using a jelly roll for a quilt top and you want to add fabrics for background and borders, buy 1 1/2 yards of each.

Kimberly has several classes available on Craftsy, including a free Block of the Month class that you can enroll in on her website. See her homepage for the link.

Saturday's Printing Class

Saturday saw us back at Artistic Artifacts to teach another group the techniques of thermofax screen printing. 

We are always a little surprised where people travel from to take classes, this time we had one from Maryland and one from Delaware.  For some there are not local venues that teach fiber art techniques.

These ladies dove right in and experimented with various fabrics including silk, organza, and previously dyed commercial fabrics. 

 

We start with various brands of textile paints on cotton fabrics, then branch out to other fabrics and mediums.  This time we were also able to play with the new line of fluid textile paints developed for Artistic Artifacts by ProChem.

We also show how to tape a screen and how to use other products including discharge products (to take color out), thickened dye, foil, and resists.

Here are some more student pieces.  The bottom left shows a metallic foil transfer that is adhered with glue printed through the screen.

And a few more....The piece on the left is a peacock feather printed with discharge paste.

Below is the demo piece that includes paint, thickened dye, foil, and discharge(the leaves) on a background created with a paint resist and Tumble Dye (a spay-on dye).

It's lots of fun to play - come join us next time!

Printing with Thermofax Screens

Time to sign up for our fall offering of Printing with Thermofax Screens at Artistic Artifacts!  Join us on Saturday, Sept. 24 from 10 AM to 3:30 PM for a fun day of printing with our extensive collection of original screens.  Many images are elements of nature based on photos we have taken.  Others are more graphic designs.  We will work with textile paints, discharge products and thickened dye.  Bring as much fabric as you like and build your stash of custom printed fabric!  You will also go home with a small screen of your choice, and learn to tape the edges for ease of use.  Go to the AA site for more information and registration.  Below are samples of Sue's work.

These are some snaps from our class in January.

Hope to see you there!

Fat Quarter Pop-Ups!

Friday night Sue led a sew along at Artistic Artifacts to make a fat quarter (small size) Pop-Up container.  Pop-ups are the creation of Joanne Hillestead, AKA The Fat Quarter Gypsy. 

These collapsible containers are great catch-alls in the studio or to carry along to workshops.

Everyone completed their pop-up, with a few "lessons learned" for next time.  Such as, don't forget to cut the tape on the wire before you stitch the bottom on!  Oops!  (Guess who - yes, teachers make mistakes too!)

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The finished work....ta da!

Patterns are also available for medium, large and extra large pop-ups, though the construction method differs somewhat from the small size.  There are also pop-up partners - designers who have adapted their pieced patterns to fit various size pop-ups.  Check out The Fat Quarter Gypsy site for examples and ideas.