Quilter's Block Party Winnner

The winner of the Quilter's Block Party drawing is Mary G!  Mary wins a deck of  Block Party cards that she can play with her guild and quilting friends.  Congratulations Mary!  Please contact us with mailing information.

Favorites from QU Show

There were many wonderful quilts exhibited at the Quilters Unlimited show last weekend.  Here are some favorites.

Above is Striped Squares by Martha Bush of Annandale chapter of QU.  This is a Kaffe Fassett quilt designed by Liza Prior Lucy, a simple quilt that looks more complex because of the striped fabric.

This Hunter's Star quilt called Aldebaran is by Sandy Kretzer of Burke QU.  The quilting is by Wanda Hlavka.

Calico Twist is by Francine York of Springfield QU, quilting by Diane Henry.

Karen Cook of Vienna QU made this Batik Farmer's Wife as a block of the month.

The theme exhibit for the show was "Virginia's Beautiful Waters".  This view of Lake Barcroft is by Susan Bynum of Burke QU.

Winter Garden is by Jennifer Emry of McLean QU.  This is an original design by Jennifer using stripes, plaids, chambray and flannel.

Quilters Block Party Blog Hop

Our friend Terri Sontra, Head Moose of Purple Moose Designs in Mirror Lake, New Hampshire, has a new game she has created for quilters.  It is called Quilter’s Block Party and we're in the midst of a blog hop to celebrate its launch!  It is a drawing/guessing game similar to Pictionary, but based on quilt blocks.  It is simple to play and requires few supplies.  All you need is enough people to make 2 teams, the deck of cards, and something on which to draw such as a white board with erasable marker, blackboard and chalk or a large piece of chart paper.   It’s great for quilt guild meetings or retreats – or anywhere you have a group of quilters gathered.

54 cards come in the deck and each one contains the name and picture of a quilt block.  You draw pictures to give clues to the components of the block name for your team mates in the hope that they will be able to name the block and earn your team a point.  If they can’t, the opponents get the chance to guess and steal away your point.  We played the game at the Creative Arts Business Summit in late March and again at the Virginia Consortium of Quilter’s CELEBRATION retreat in April.  What a barrel of laughs!

You do not need a knowledge of quilt blocks to play.  Elizabeth’s first block to draw at CABS was Lincoln’s Platform.  She had never heard of the block before but was pleasantly surprised when someone actually guessed it from her primitive sketch of Honest Abe along with one of a hang man game and an arrow pointing to the platform.

Many of the quilters from around Virginia who played at CELEBRATION said they would like to own a deck to play at their quilt meetings, retreats, etc. Of course, some blocks are easier than others - Sue got lucky with rail fence.

Quilter’s Block Party made its debut at Spring Quilt Market, so ask your local quilt shop if they carry this new game by Terri of Purple Moose Designs.  If not, you can order directly from her online shop.

Would you like to win a deck of Quilter’s Block Party cards for your very own?

Comment on this post, below, telling us the name of your favorite quilt block.  The winner, drawn at random, will be announced Saturday.  Visit the other stops in the blog hop and comment on their posts for additional chances to win.  See the hop schedule and links below.  And finally, go to Purple Moose Designs and comment on Terri’s blog for a chance at the grand prize, perfect for your own Block Party (seen in the picture below) which will be awarded on June 12.

The Blog Hop blog stops are:

Friday 6/3 Terri - Overview
Saturday 6/4 Susan Emory Swirly Girls Design
Sunday 6/5 Tammy Silver, Tamarinis
Monday 6/6 Elaine Perez, Summercrafter
Tuesday 6/7 Beth Helfter, EvaPaige QuiltDesigns
Wednesday 6/8 Sandi Blackwell, Stitched Buy
Thursday 6/9 Sue & Elizabeth, PGFiber2Art
Friday 6/10 Penni Domikis, Cabin In TheWoods
Saturday 6/11 Joanne Hillestad, Fat QuarterGypsy
Sunday 6/12 Terri - Wrap-up

We hope you have a great time with Quilter’s Block Party!

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!

What Goes Around, Comes Around

Last Friday Sue was fortunate to be able to take a class with fabric collage artist Susan Carlson at the Quilters Unlimited show in Northern Virginia. Susan is a well-known award-winning national teacher; her most recent creation is a 22' X 6' alligator called Stevie which you can see here.

This class featured a spiral shape for learning her collage technique.

She had numerous wonderful examples, each more intriguing than the next. The one below was my favorite.

After some basic instruction we got started drawing our spirals and choosing our fabrics.

I got most of the orange section complete. The background section will be teal/turquoise.

Her technique uses glue to hold things in place on a muslin foundation until the quilting stage.

Here are a few of her other wonderful pieces.

This was a very low stress, zen-like class that Sue found to be "just what the doctor ordered" on that particular day.  She looks forward to completing the collage process on this piece.  If you ever have a chance to take a class with Susan, she highly recommends it.  Be sure to go to her website to see more of her fabulous creations!

UFO Busting for May

May started out OK, with the completion of a pop-up container for the Fat Quarter Gypsy to take to spring quilt market (a new project) and making blocks for a signature quilt for Sue's niece's wedding (another new project).  However, things came to a screeching halt when her husband had a motorcycle accident, so the 2nd half of the month was spent in hospitals instead of the studio.  Hopefully June will be a better month.

Above is the finished pop-up.  There are 3 screen printed panels.

These are some of the signature blocks for the wedding quilt.  Needless to say, the bride is a fan of neutrals!

So the stats for May are:
Starting UFO count: 10
New projects started this month: 2
Projects finished this month: 1
UFO count at end of month:11

Go to Vicki Welsh's blog - Colorways by Vicki Welsh (note new website/blog address) - to see what other participants have reported for the month of May.

I Spy…Taking Photos for Screens

What do you see when you look through your camera’s view finder?  Are you trying to frame a scenic landscape?  Are you zoomed in on flora or fauna?  Are you finding patterns in architecture or hotel carpeting?   Once you start taking photos with the intent of creating images for screens, you will start to look at objects in a different way.  And once you start using your own images in your artwork, it is difficult to return to using images other people have created.  If you are not proficient as a sketcher, which is another way to create images, but like to take photographs, you can create screens from your own unique photos.

Here are some tips that may help:

• What kind of images do you like to work with?  Nature, graphics, people, animals?

• Search through photos you have already taken for something that you think will make a strong black and white image.

• Remember that you don’t have to use the whole photograph; crop it down to just the part you want to use.

•  Learn a few basics about Photoshop or whichever photo editing program you choose to work with to convert your images from a photograph to a black and white image with high contrast and no gray.

• Learn to apply filters to your black and white photo to create different effects.

• When taking photos with screen images in mind, zoom in to your subject to eliminate as much background as possible.

• Another way to eliminate background is to angle your camera so that perhaps the sky, if you are outdoors, or a mostly solid color object, if indoors, is your background.

• If you are photographing natural elements such as plants that can be cut, you can stage your photo against a white or black background.

Here’s a photo of a zinnia and how it looks converted to black and white, with 5 different filters applied.

 

There are lots of options and once you start playing with images, it's hard to stop!