Art Bee Whisper Challenge 2020

The Burke QU Art Quilt Bee is a group of approximately 20 members who normally meet in person once a month to share our love of creating with fabric and art quilts.  We share techniques through demos, discuss upcoming events and participate in challenges.  During the pandemic we have been meeting virtually and just last week revealed the results of our third Whisper Challenge which has taken place over the last 10 months.   

What is a Whisper Challenge?  Well, it's basically a game of "telephone" in the form of quilts.  The first person in the chain chose an inspiration photo and made a quilt inspired by that photo. She passed her quilt to the next person in line, who made a quilt inspired by the previous one.  And so on down the line, with each person seeing only the previous quilt.  Each person had one month to make their quilt.  When the pandemic restrictions hit and we were no longer able to meet in person, we switched to sending photos of our quilts electronically to the next person.  Ten of us participated in this challenge.  The rules were simple:  all quilts must be 18 x 24" in portrait orientation, and any interpretation of the inspiration photo/quilt is allowed.  With that, let's get to the big reveal!

This is the inspiration photo chosen by Judy Grumbacher who made the first quilt.

Judy made a colorful interpretation of the windmill photo, then passed her quilt to Anna Willard.

Anna was inspired by the blades on Judy's windmill to make a windmill on a hill. She passed her quilt to Judy Albert.

Judy was inspired by the windmill shape to make "Lighthouse".  She also chose colors to tie in with the previous quilt, and passed her quilt to Linda Cooper.

Linda used the lighthouse inspiration to make "Souvenir Lighthouse".  She has been playing with painting and creating bubble and glass images, so set Virginia’s Assateague Lighthouse in a snow globe. She passed her quilt to Barbara Wise.

Barbara's "Safe Harbor" incorporated the colors of Linda's quilt.  She interpreted the lighthouse as a metaphor for safe harbor, creating a safe shelter for the bird.  She passed her quilt to Susan Price.

Susan focused on the idea of "shelter" in Barbara's quilt and used this collection of door photos to show that "There's No Place Like Home".  She passed her quilt to Barbara Sherwood.

Barbara's "Shelter" reflects a home in her neighborhood.  She passed her quilt to Terry Peckarsky.

Terry was inspired by the colors in Barbara's quilt and used them all in different values to create "Here Comes the Sun".   She passed her quilt to Willa Downes.

Willa liked the contrast of warm and cool shades in Terry's quilt and wanted to create the same feeling in her quilt which she passed to Janet Palfey.

Janet's "Sunflower" was inspired by the sunflowers in Willa's quilt.  Since it was fall and hers was the last quilt, she focused on sunflowers ready for harvest with seed heads heavy and bending over.  She also stayed with the same color palette.

Didn't these turn out great?  It seems to be a very cohesive group and it would be great to see them hanging together in an exhibit somewhere.  Barring that, we've put them all on one slide so the progression is easier to see.  (click on the image below for a larger version)

This is a fun challenge for any group - the hard part is waiting till the end to see the reveal!  What is your favorite type of group challenge?

Quilt Camp Week 12 - Fall Opportunities

Thanks to everyone for following along with our virtual quilt camp for the past 3 months. We are wrapping up with a compendium of quilt-related opportunities for fall.  While Elizabeth is preparing to close up her New Hampshire summer house and return to Virginia, Sue is preparing for a medical procedure and will be taking it easy for a bit.  So we thought it would be good to leave you with a list of fall online opportunities - hopefully everyone will find something of interest.  But first, a sneak peek of some projects we are working on.  Elizabeth's acorns on the left, Sue's eco print on the right.

Shows

• Pacific International Quilt Festival Online - Oct. 14-17  While many workshops are closed, it appears you can still register for others.  There will be online vendors as well as a virtual quilt show/competition.  Online Merchant Mall and quilt galleries will remain open through Oct. 31.
• International Quilt Festival (Houston) - Dec. 3-5  This largest quilt show in the US is moving online to a Virtual Quilt Festival this year.  The corresponding Quilt Market that usually happens just before Festival is moving to January and will also be online.  There will be classes, vendors and exhibits.  Sign up for their newsletter to stay informed.  
• Fabric Forecast - Oct. 19 - Nov. 9  This Quilt Expo Event  is open to quilt store owners, online retailers and quilters to see the latest fabric lines that will be debuting in the coming months.  A virtual ticket costs $10.
• The Art of the Quilt at Piedmont Arts in Martinsville, VA - Oct. 24 - Jan. 9  Quilt artists from across the Southeast exhibit work in this biennial invitational exhibition.  This is an in-person exhibit, so if you are comfortable visiting an exhibit center, this is always a worthwhile exhibit.  Sue has 2 pieces in this exhibit. 

Classes

• Craftsy (formerly Bluprint) is back!  This online class platform is offering a special price for their relaunch - $2.49 for a full year of access (normal price is $79.99).  Craftsy features online instruction in over 20 hobbies, not just quilting.
• Global Quilt Connection is a series of virtual meet-the-teacher webinars that introduces you to teachers who have moved their instruction online and the workshops and lectures they have available.  While intended to help teachers connect with guilds and others who might like to hire them for virtual instruction, these webinars also give you an overview of teachers whose online classes you might want to pursue.
• Live Online Quilt Classes - This is a site that allows teachers to teach live via Zoom.  The class offerings continually change so check back frequently for updates.
• Craft Napa - Jan. 13-17, 2021; additional workshops scheduled for Jan. 19-24 for workshops that sold out.  These are primarily art quilt and mixed media workshops but do include some more traditional offerings.  All are virtual for 2021. 
• QuiltCon Together - Feb. 18-21, 2021; this is the annual convention of the Modern Quilt Guild which will be online next year.  Registration is underway.  Activities include lectures, mini workshops and mega workshops, quilt show and vendors. 
• Virginia Consortium of Quilters (VCQ) - Our state-wide guild is now meeting online via Zoom.  We have offered 2 classes so far as well as an informal Come Quilt with Me session on the 3rd Saturday of the month at 9 AM.  Our November meeting is our annual meeting along with a lecture/trunk show by Augusta Cole.  Class offerings will resume in January. Also join our Facebook page to keep up with current events. 
• Original Sewing and Quilt Expo - ongoing, Oct. & Nov. virtual classes.

Museums

• Virginia Quilt Museum - The VQM in Harrisonburg is open with 6 exhibits currently on display.  Some are there through December, some will change in October and November.  There are 2 Zoom workshops coming up (Bowl Cozy on Oct. 10 and Scandinavian Stars on Nov. 13).  They are also having a Stash Blast on Oct. 17 at the museum; fabric is for sale at $9 a pound.  One of the upcoming exhibits is the Colors of Fall challenge that Sue contributed a quilt to and shared here on the blog a few weeks ago.
• National Quilt Museum in Paducah, KY -  The National Quilt Museum has reopened to the public.  They have also just announced Quilt Museum Digital.  For an $8 per month fee, you can experience the museums exhibits online from the comfort of home, as well as other subscriber-only content.  One of the current exhibits through December is OURstory: Human Rights Stories in Fabric. Opening October 9 is Inspired by Endangered Species.  Sue has quilts in both of these exhibits, which you've probably seen here on the blog.

We hope this list provides you with some new and fun things to discover over the coming months.  Happy fall!

Quilt Camp-Week 11 Sometimes your creative journey takes you in a different direction

Last week, Sue wrote about how she revived her original idea for using our new screens in a project to benefit the Virginia Quilt Museum by adding variety to her 9 patch squares.

Elizabeth also tried to make a 9 patch but took the path of a quilt-as-you-go with a leaf quilt design.  Her plan was to fuse applique her fall inspired leaves to the block after the quilting and then stitch them around the edges.  What happened?  After making a few trial blocks she decided the leaves were too small for the blocks,   Also, the leaf designs, while lovely and some of our best selling screens, are not the new thermofax screens we hoped to showcase for you.  The bark screen was the intention for the 9 patch.  

After seeing Sue's dyed fabric, Elizabeth remembered this spiral ice dyed piece and it reminded her of the fall through the skylights here in her house in New Hampshire.

Taking the spiral as a whole piece, she laid out her fused leaves in a circular pattern and then still thought, nah, this isn't working.  That happens some times when making an art quilt and we have to give ourselves permission to put it aside and go create something else.

A few warm early fall days were arriving so she went back to ice dyeing some masks. Maybe she will return to the other ideas on another day?  On some lime green/yellow ice dyed combinations the new Luna Moth was printed with fabric paint.

One of our new screen options are words.  We will burn screens of your choice of words and you can use them in your fiber, paper, clay, or other surfaces that will take a paint or thickened dye.  Elizabeth made these masks using some screens she had on hand.  Wouldn't "smile" be a great one to use?  Smile is one of our new word screens.  Bloom seemed like a good choice also.

You can find the luna moth and word screens, as well as all our other designs, in our Etsy shop.  We are also happy to make custom screens from your images.  Don't forget our fall sale runs through Saturday, Oct. 3. Use code SEPT2020 at check out for a 15% discount.

Quilt Camp Week 10 - Colors of Fall

After 9 weeks of quilt camp posts, last week we took a much needed break.  We had a topic in mind but sometimes things don't work out as intended.  The extra time helped to take a step back and refocus on the project.  Our goal was to feature some of the new screens added to the Etsy shop.  Along with that, we were reminded of a challenge for fall quilts to be donated to the Virginia Quilt Museum, so we decided to combine the two ideas. The museum is asking for 15" square quilts in "Colors of Fall" to be sent in for display by October 19.  After display, they can be donated to the museum for sale in the gift shop. Sue chose to work with the bald cypress screen on 5" squares in a 9-patch pattern, and fall leaves (also screen prints).  Things started out pretty well, with 9 squares printed.

Sue used rusted fabric as the background and printed with Simply Screen paint by Plaid in "French roast".  (The Simply Screen paint appears to have been discontinued - an online search only found it available on eBay.)

Then she printed leaves on a multi-colored piece of fabric that had fall colors.

Fusible was added to the back and the leaves were cut out.  But the problem came when laying out the blocks and leaves; it was really blah, to put it mildly.  The leaves didn't stand out the way she thought they would, and there was too much brown. The first step to correct that was to add a brighter color behind the leaves.  If you enlarge the photo below, you can see that some of the leaves have a yellow or orange edge that was done by  fusing to another layer of fabric.

But even that wasn't enough. Still not very exciting, right?  So, what could she add to liven it up?  Here were 2 options.

This hand-dyed red seemed to add a nice spark.  Should it be a column down the center, or should she stick with the standard 9-patch format?

The 9-patch format won out.  Above are the 9 blocks sewn together.  As it worked out, some of the smaller leaves that didn't contrast well with the brown cypress print worked better on the red background.

So here is the finished piece.  The leaves are fused on, then free-motion stitched.  The background is also free-motion quilted with a meander stitch in clear nylon thread.   The cypress bark prints are a nice contrast with the red.  Much better than the original idea!  Now it is ready to be sent to the museum - we hope they like it!

If you would like to participate in the museum's Colors of Fall challenge, you can read about it here.

Quilt Camp Pause

This week we are taking a break from our quilt camp posts and want to share - for those who don't subscribe - that our latest newsletter was recently published and includes a discount code for 15% off on screens in the Etsy shop through October 3 with code SEPT2020.   If you aren't a subscriber you can access the newsletter here.  Better still, just to the right on this page, you can subscribe to our email list and then will receive our newsletters in your inbox. We promise not to inundate you with mail, our average is 3-4 newsletters a year. You can also follow the blog by email and get notices of new posts.  The newsletter debuts 3 new screens that were added to the Etsy shop, shown below.

Quilt Camp Week 9 - Fusible Applique with Thermofax Screens

 Another technique we have used Thermofax screen printing for is to create raw edge fusible appliques.   Back in May, Sue shared a project where she used the "lazy daisy" screen in 3 sizes to make appliques. They were printed with black acrylic paint on yellow fabric.

After printing and heat setting, they need to be backed with a fusible product before cutting out.  Sue used MistyFuse, but you could also use Wonder Under or Steam-a-Seam2 Lite, or another favorite fusible, as long as it is fairly thin.  You don't want to add stiffness or something that might gum up on your needle when stitching. After fusing, cut them out, then you are ready to create your arrangement on the background.  Play with the arrangement until you are satisfied.  Consideration was also given to where the stems and leaves would go and what needed to go underneath what. Above right is the arrangement with stems and leaves added.  The stems & leaves were fused and stitched before the flowers were fused in place. To maintain your arrangement, take a picture for reference and you can also lay them out on another surface the same way you want them on the quilt.

The flowers were all edge stitched in black along the printing lines, and the petals have some accent stitching in yellow.  

Elizabeth made her applique sample using a zebra screen and made it into a postcard.

She cut her postcard base (fusible Timtex or Peltex can be used) to the standard 4 x 6" size and printed the zebras on a yellow fabric.  Then she fused Heat 'n Bond to the back before cutting them out.

Above shows the cut out zebra and positioning it against the background of grasses printed on the fabric to be used.

Finished postcard above.

Here are some other examples of applique projects.

Butterfly postcards - printed butterflies, cut out after fusible applied, finished postcards.

Falling leaves - pin oak leaf appliques, before and after applied to quilt.

The birds were printed on a color catcher (colored by putting in with a wash load of dyed fabric); different colors were tested to see what looked best on the piece on the right.  Color catchers are great for this technique because they are non-woven and won't fray on the edges. 

We have a number of screens in the shop that work well for this fusible applique technique, including various flowers, leaves, bird, butterflies. If you have a photo of an item, you can turn it into a screen - all of those items mentioned started out as photos we took. And like the flowers, when they are digital, you can create various sizes.  What photos do you have that would make great appliques?

Quilt Camp Week 8 - Deconstructed Screen Printing

Have you ever tried a technique called Deconstructed Screen Printing?  It can also be called Breakdown Printing.   It has been a long time since we have done any but this week, we went back to try it again.

It takes a standard screen in a wooden frame.  These can be bought at the big box craft stores or online at art supply sources.  After taping the wood part of the frame, so it doesn't get wet and swell, you are ready to start your process.

We mixed dye with a product called print paste which is purchased from a dye house or art supply store.  Print paste is mixed with water to create a thick medium which is used to hold your dye in a viscose suspension instead of a watery one.  This can also be called thickened dye.  First you mix the print paste and then save out about a cup to add dye to.  You will use the remaining paste to squeegee across the screen later.  

Into the saved cup of print paste went some dye powder and it was stirred well.  On the flat side of the screen, this dye mixture was spread evenly over the screen and laid paste side up over a rack sitting in a clean cat litter box.  Once the dye mixture is starting to set, you can add items of interest which will leave silhouette outlines when you pull your final prints.  We have used thick foam stamps in the past and this week tried with some shredded paper from the mechanical shredder.  No one is ever going to read those documents again!  When we used the foam stamps they went into the dye infused print paste when it was starting to set up and left until it was nearly or quite dry.  With the shredded paper the screen with the dye infused paste was completely dry because truthfully it has been sitting in the litter box for a LONG time!  Once your screen is ready, you can start the printing fun.  First though, soak your fabric in soda ash just as you would for tie dyeing or liquid dye techniques.  The fabric we used was old pieces of hand dye that wasn't very inspiring and needed something more.

For this piece the shredded paper was sprinkled over some previously dyed fabric and then the screen was placed dye side down on the top of the shredded paper and fabric.  Clear print paste was poured into the well of the screen and gently spread to cover the screen.  As this piece had set so long, it was very solid on the side next to the fabric, and the clear print paste was allowed to sit on the screen for a few minutes to soften the reverse side.  With a squeegee drawn over the print paste in the well, the negative space between the shredded paper was printed onto the fabric.  As you move the screen to cover the fabric you may want to rotate the orientation of the screen.  When the dye infused print paste is all used up or begins to get very light you are likely done.

After a few days of sitting so the dye could bond to the fabric, the piece was washed out and hung to dry.  It needs a good wash as the soda ash as well as the print paste will make it feel stiff.

This piece looks a lot better now than when it was just rainbow dye colors and now can be envisioned cut up in some other project.  What would you make with it?