Quilt Show Winners

I've been delinquent in posting about the Smoky Mountain Quilt Show that took place recently on the Maryville College campus here in east Tennessee recently.

It's a pleasure to report that my three entries were each awarded ribbons.

"Lavender Haze" 31"x 30"

It won 2nd place in the special category for the Smoky Mountain Quilt Guild challenge pieces made for this year's AQS Guild Challenge. If our guild's entry is accepted, you'll see this one exhibited in Grand Rapids next August.

"Smoky Mountain Sunrise" 20"x 16"

It won 3rd place in the Art Quilt category. To see the beginnings of this piece as well as others that present variations of my favorite view in the Smokies go here.

 "Unraveled VII" 24"x 40"

This piece got one of the special award ribbons, the one for Innovative Design (its rosette designed by Tone Haugen-Cogburn). I pretty much knew this piece would be controversial ... and it was. I had entered it in the "Modern Quilt" category because it fit the requirements:

— An interpretative quilt using elements which are simple, yet sophisticated. This hybrid form may include: improvisational techniques; an emphasis on negative space; a minimalist approach; simple shapes, patterns and quilting designs; clear, crisp colors with white or gray neutrals; graphic or large scale prints and/or an abundance of solids; asymmetry.

I was aware the texture of this piece was not what the "modern quilt" movement expected. There was doubt expressed by several viewers that this piece was even quilted. Granted it has the look of a woven tapestry piece. However, there's quite a lot of stitching and all of it functions as quilting.

I'm especially pleased with how the length of yellow rick-rack worked in at the top. A piece of the raw silk stripped from the background fabric anchors the rick-rack by being carried across it and stitched back into the base fabric.

To read more about this piece scroll back a few posts. The first post was February 8th.

Hairy Mess Controlled

Trimming is a slow and rather deliberate process ... what to cut? where to cut it?

After two days of slow going I think this is it. The loose yarns are contained so the surface is no longer "wild and wooly" and controlled so there's a suggestion of the green triangle. Here's what was trimmed away...

I'm playing with the idea of this band across the top ...

It's a piece of large yellow rick-rack (found in one of the scrap bags given to me) interwoven with a piece of green suede. Not sure if it'll stay and if it does, if it will remain in one long piece. I'm still playing with the composition.

Big Hairy Mess

...of yarns sewn around the squares of silk.

Now to tame and control them into a balanced composition. This piece is entered in the "Modern Quilt" category of our upcoming quilt show, so the fringed surface of loose yarns will be much more contained and controlled than on the other art piece I made in this technique with the same materials.

Unraveled IV - 24" x 48"

Unraveled VII

This piece has been brewing in my head for quite some time. Finally, it's being realized in materials to be one of my entries in our guild's upcoming quilt show.

First, I laid out silk fabric samples on a background of raw silk to see the effect. I liked it! So I went digging for the disc shaped "beads" I bought in Colorado last summer. Seeing those discs in the bead shop is what sparked the idea for this...

Then I got serious about the arrangement of hues ... to create a diamond shaped focal point with the yellows, plus arranging the others in a loose progression of hues...

Then I determined that another row was needed to balance out the proportion of the design made with the silk squares to the size of the background...

This is part of the "unraveled" series ... meaning yarns are part of the surface design. I'm always on the lookout for the yarn made in Nepal from recycled silk saris. This past year I found the two that are hanging to the sides in the photo above.

The background silk tussah has batting and a backing of upholstery fabric attached with a minimum of machine quilting. The silk fabric samples were kept the size they were already cut and have been sewn to the sandwiched background. Each silk square is individually stuffed on the surface, then the disc bead is hand stitched in place with mono filament thread. The variegated green silk sari yarn is couched around the squares that reflect the diamond pattern made by the yellow ones.

Stay tune for the next step ... the variegated gray silk sari yarn will be stitched around the other silk squares to fill the surface ... I think.

Backside of Elvis

Here's the backside of "My Velvet Elvis" that's exhibited in the Smoky Mountain Quilt Guild Show.

The main body of the quilt has the heavy flannel with the image of Elvis. It had been a damaged wall hanging that was in a friend's shop. Nobody wanted to buy it at even a much reduced price so he gave it to Lee. You may recognize the fabric in the three borders. I think it was one of the early ones on the market a number of years ago.

Today is the last of the three day quilt show. So by tonight the above picture of Elvis will be up against the wall of the shrine room while the other side adds even more sparkle to room.

"My Velvet Elvis"

The 2012 Smoky Mountain Quilt Guild Show and Competition opened this morning. I'm pleased to say that my one and only entry was awarded an Honorable Mention in the Art Quilt Category PLUS the Embellishment special award ribbon.

The show runs tomorrow from 9am to 5pm and on Sunday from 11am to 4pm. I'll be there both afternoons.

Here's a better photo of just the quilt.

My Velvet Elvis - 29"x 39"

Ready for the SMQ Show 2012

My entry for Smoky Mountain Guilt guild show is ready for delivery tomorrow. It's completion has kept me busy since I got back from our Hawaii trip mid-January. Here's a peek at the bottom portion.

My Velvet Elvis - 32"x 43"

It's constructed in my "unraveled" technique with a variety of chenille yarns. Lengths of those are machine couched around patches of Elvis stuff I had been collecting ... motifs cut from fabric, hats, neckties, scarves, shirts, a silk blouse, and a sock.

After this step was finished, I began sewing and hot gluing charms and jewels between the patches and to the borders ... lots of sparkling bling ... somewhere around 1500 pieces give or take a few.

Long time readers may recall this post from 2009 when my husband had gifted me this charm bracelet...

Back then I thought there was an Elvis crazy quilt in my future. Well, this is a crazy quilt, but not the kind I originally had in mind.

After the quilt show opens this next Friday on March 23 I'll post a photo of the whole quilt. The event takes place for the whole weekend at the Cooper Athletic Center on the Maryville College campus in Maryville, Tennessee. The times are 9-5 on Friday and Saturday and 11-4 on Sunday.

"Unraveled V" Finished

Four hundred and forty-eight ... that's 448 ... knots later, plus 28 shisha mirrors and yarn edging sewn in place ...

  and this piece is finished ...

Here are before and after pictures ...

The knotted strands hang "skinny" ...  there's a more controlled quality to them than the unknotted ones in the "before" photo.  The shisha mirrors have the effect of bubbles floating in the depth of the background.  The bright slashes of color on the rich dark background with the mirrored "bubbles" and the loose yarns floating off the surface creates a drama that I find amusing.

"Unraveled V" In Process

I was so excited to get back to working on this one.  Those sparkling squares of silk on that upholstery fabric background have been a siren while number IV was being finished for the upcoming SMQ Guild quilt show.  Lengths of the most intensely colored of the four yarns were pinned in place to get a feel for how they'll drape.

I chose this yarn because it had a tighter twist of the four plies.  Most of the wool, or wool-like, yarns have a looser twist that makes them too fluffy and fly-away for the effect I'm after.  My favorite is the heavy and thick drape of the silk sari yarns.  I'm playing and exploring options at this stage.

After couching those pinned yarns in place, I could see that the coverage of these thin yarns weren't what I had in mind.  So back on the design board where another line of yarn was pinned across the center of the silk squares.  I'm loathe to pick out stitching unless I absolutely have to.  Also, I very much liked the fact that those silk fabric samples just happened to echo the woven squares in the background fabric.  That additional row of yarn helped.  However, it still wasn't the coverage I had pictured in my mind.

Soooo... I "unstitched" the bottom half of those that already had the yarn couched around them and cut the squares in half.  I would never have guessed that I'd like these shapes and their arrangement better than my original plan.

Now there are enough edges for the couched yarns to hang from for the coverage I have in mind.

Unraveled V   18" x 40"

The shading of the yarns didn't work the way I intended.  Each of the four yarns have different lengths for their colorways.  I had expected them to be the same, or at least close.  In spite of that, I'm pleased with the result.  There is a gradation from strong to weak intensity of the yarn colors as the eye moves down the piece, which was my intention when I selected these yarns. 

Since the above photo was taken all the loops have been cut.  I'm busy knotting the ends to give the yarn tails a bit of weight.  I also have an idea about adding something more.  Come back in a day, or two, to see this one finished.

Ready For the SMQ Guild Show

I finished sewing the buttons in place ... but not outside on the deck because the weather turned a bit cool.  The yarns look a mess as a result of working on the piece while it lays flat.

I flipped it over to hand-stitch facings to the three raw edges.

A hanging sleeve was also stitched in placed on the top edge.

Unraveled IV - 24" x 48"

Last evening all the clothing tags were over-painted with a mixture of gold metallic pigment and acrylic gloss medium.  This coating lessened the contrast between the bright white ones and the background.  In the photo above a light is reflecting off the surface of some.  In reality those reflecting the flash of my camera appear like the ones at the top of the piece.  All the labels have a soft sheen as well as a glaze of gold to give them a commonality.  They are now truly secondary to the loose yarns on the surface.  The initial reaction is no longer, "Wow! Labels."  The lettering draws attention to bring the viewer in for a closer inspection.  The buttons add visual "punch" as well as a more regular rhythm to the compositon.  I knew they belonged on this piece, because I missed them after they were removed in preparation for sewing them on.  The one thing these photos don't show is the depth of the loose yarns.  In the lower half the "hanks" extend an inch and half out from the background fabric.

I'm pleased with the resulting piece and look forward to it being in our upcoming guild quilt show.

PS: This piece was awarded 1st Place in the Art Quilt Category.

       Woo Hoo!

"Unraveled V" ?

Last evening I put together the beginning of another possible unraveled piece.

The colored squares are old silk noil fabric samples that had come from the imported fabric shop owned by my mother-in-law.  The background is a left-over piece of upholstery from an interior designer friend.

I had purchased the yarns with the intent of using them for this unraveled concept.  I want to control the flow of intensity from pure colors to neutral.  I'm still thinking about the pathways for doing that.

Instead of beginning another unraveled piece I should be getting started on my entry for this year's ArtPrize exhibition in Grand Rapids, Michigan.  It is forming in my head.  But I am so enamoured and excited about this newly discovered concept.  From experience, I've found it's best to stay with a project while the proverbial "iron is hot".  There are plenty of long hours of just plain work involved in crafting fiber art.  So I'll dig out some batting, find a backing fabric, and enjoy this "rush of infatuation" for another few days.

In the meantime, this afternoon was good outside on the deck for finishing the sewing of the rest of those buttons on "Unraveled IV".  If this spell of warmth continues, I'll be out there hand stitching bindings over the raw edges on its back side as well as a sleeve.  Then it will be finished and ready to be delivered on March 9th for our Smoky Mountain Quilt Guild Show.  That show will be at the Maryville College campus from March 18th through the 20th.

PS:  Patty inquired in the previous post's comments as to whether Elvis makes an appearance in "Unraveled IV".   His image doesn't, but his name does.

Time For Buttons

Over the holidays I was given a collection of old buttons by a cousin of a friend.  It was a big grundgy box holding some treasures.  Among them were about 100 silk and wool fabric covered ones.  I pinned 91 of them in the open spaces between the labels.

 

To keep track of this button arrangement, I used Press'n Seal to store them by rows.  I tore off a long sheet, positioned the buttons by rows, then folded the Press'n Seal over and pressed it together between the buttons.  A Sharpie pen was used to write the row numbers on the top sheet.

Today was beautiful and I didn't want to spend it in the studio sewing those buttons on.  I set up to work out on the deck.  

A working surface was created with a piece of fabric affixed to a PVC pipe quilting frame.  I just needed something to support the quilt while sewing the buttons on.

These wonderful old cloth covered button don't have shanks.  I cut a length of polyester buttonhole twist thread,  The thread was brought up from behind the quilt, threaded through the padding on the button back, then the thread needled to the back side.

All the buttons in a row were positioned in this way.  Then I folded over the quilt to tie the thread lengths together with an overhand knot.  I prefer this particular knot because it can be tightened close to the surface by sliding the needle down the loop of the knot.

All was going well ... until I dropped a button.  Of course, it would slip between the cracks.  I spent half an hour fishing it out.  Luckily the needle was stuck through the back.  I don't think I would've been able to see it eight inches down in the dark without the glint of it.  Taping a magnet to a length of thread finally fished it out.  Whew!  There were no more buttons of this size.

So I did what should have been thought of when I was setting up ... put a sheet over all those cracks waiting to swallow precious buttons.

I hope tomorrow is as nice so I can finish sewing outside.

 

All Unraveled

 24"x 48"

... and that pile below is what I've unraveled from the base fabric as well as what is trimmed from the warp and the added yarns to shape the bottom.  This part is done, but I'm not finished yet.  Stay tuned for more.

Back To "Unravelled"

Unraveled IV - 24" x 48"

I'm still excited about my newly discovered concept.  This is where I am in the process of creating number four.  Most of the clothing tags are couched to the raw silk base fabric.   More yarns will be added as that part is finished.  I've controlled the colors and values in this piece following this sketch.

 

Here are close-up photos of each section ...

 top section

 center section

bottom section

There's a lot more work before it will be finished.  This will be my only entry in our guild's show that takes place in mid-March.

PS:  I'm honored to be on Sharon B's Pintangle "Time for the Letter N" list.  Check it out.  I'm in good company.

Untangled

First, thank you to all who left comments on my last post.  I appreciate your suggestions and observations.  Between those and input from one of my Thursday Bee friends, Deb, my problems with the smaller clothing tag "unraveled" piece have been "untangled".

14"x 24"

I resolved the problem of the labels/tags not being  cohesive by over-painting the white ones, or their white parts, with a watered down blue acrylic paint.  This softened the high contrast ones so they now blend with the others which keeps them all on the same visual plane.  My eye now sees them as a  group, rather than individual spots.  None are shouting and vying for individual attention, but I do feel "invited in" to inspect the more interesting labels.

And then there are the buttons ...

Some of my buttons

My friend, Deb, had brought buttons and beads to Bee for the project she was working on.  I love buttons and have an extensive collection of my own.  Since buttons were on my mind, I was reminded of them when I looked at the painted dots on the black background while I was over-painting the labels.  So I got out all my colored plastic ones and pinned a number of them on the piece up on the design board.  That's the point where I am now.

What a difference these changes have made!  The buttons not only add a liveliness to the composition, but extend the association of the labels to clothing.  I may add "buttonholes" to the painted and printed dots to carry that idea even further.

YEAH!  Now I like it.  In fact, I like it a lot and am enthused to finish it.  I think its title may be "Untangled".