Moonlight Madness

I had begun this piece in a Jane Sassaman workshop, which my younger son and daughter-in-law had given me as a present .... including airfare to Chicago. To see the piece that resulted from this class for my daughter-in-law, Jeanette, go to her website.

"Moonlight Madness" - 37"x43" - 2005

Description: Only in the moonlight do you see bold shapes and colors. The flower petals and leaves are the same paisley shape. The circles in the border represent a bit of magic ... or are they fairies?

Technique: Machine applique and machine quilting.

Materials: cotton fabric; cotton, metallic and polyester threads; oil pastels (on vine and leaves in the outside border).

Exhibitions: 2005 Dogwood Arts Quilt Show - Knoxville, Tennessee
awarded Second Place
"2006 Festival of Quilts" Folklife Museum - Farragut, Tennessee

Jane Sassaman's applique technique is uniquely her own. I was happy to add it to my "bag of tricks". The background of this piece is not "wholeclothe". I was able to control the value placement in the background because each section is appliqued in place. As a matter of fact, I ran short and substituted a different fabric for one section.

MORE Elvis

This is the second shoe I had designed for "Imelda's Dream" wall quilt. Lee tried to lay claim to it for the shrine room, but I wouldn't let him have it.

"Rock 'n Roll" shoe - 8" long - one of 16 shoes in "Imelda's Dream"

Instead, I designed a 12" long one as a birthday present for him. It's mounted on the door leading to the shrine room.


You can see Lee's tongue-in-cheek attitude toward Elvis by the objects mounted on the door entering the shrine room. As I said, "He has fun playing with Elvis." Following are photos of other Elvis things I've made that have become part of the irreverent shrine to the King.

















"Love Me Tender Souvenier Fork"
14"x14" - 2004
This piece is the result of a piece of cake themed round-robin exchange with SMQ's Thursday Bee group (Sheila Rauen machine embroidered the fork made by Patty Ashworth). Yarns are couched to make the frosting and raspberry filling.

Valentines from three years made for Lee. The crazy quilt one became the backdrop for Elvis and Priscilla. Lee had bought a wedding cake topper and made the appropriate hairdos for the couple with clay.





























A piece of artwork we had purchased in New Zealand was converted to the "Presley Puppet Palace" by Lee. The valentine I had presented to him on the day of purchase is part of the piece.

Elvis Has (not) Left the Building

I've made several small quilts that feature Elvis for my husband. Lee claims he's a "tongue in cheek" fan. However, he's serious enough to have devoted to the King a whole room ... plus a Honda motor scooter and its trailer in which it gets hauled to Michigan and back. I must say he does have fun with Elvis. A year ago he had a three month long Elvis exhibition at the Folklife Museum where the "Festival of Quilts" was just held. I'm afraid to speculate how I'd have to fight for my studio time if Elvis ever left our building.
"Elvis Has (not) Left the Building" - 20"x24" - 1998
The picture in the center is cut from a child's T-shirt that I over-painted. It took well over a year to collect the "doo-dads". It's hand-sewn and hand-quilted.

Exibits:
1998 - Dogwood Arts Quilt Show - Knoxville, TN
awarded 2nd place
- "Scattered Pieces and Gathered Treasures"
Holland Arts Council - Holland, MI
2005 - "70 Candles for Elvis"
Folk Life Museum - Farragut, TN
2006 - "Festival of Quilts"
Folk Life Museum - Farragut, TN

"The King" - 17"x17" - 2004
A friend had given me a woven tapestry piece of Elvis that she had purchased in Nashville. I collaged over it with silk threads, roving, and sequins. Tulle and machine quilting holds it all in place. There's also a touch of pastel work on his face.

Exhibits: 2005 - "70 Candles for Elvis"
Folk Life Museum - Farragut, TN

"His Music Lives" - 23"x26" - 2005
Fabric and sequins are collaged under tulle and machine quilted. Yarns are couched to the surface and edges. Paint and glitter glue are used. The center is a 3-dimensional figurine.

Exhibits: - 2005 - "70 Candles for Elvis"
Folk Life Museum - Farragut, TN
- 2005 - Emporium Gallery - Knoxville, TN
donated to Art & Cultural Alliance
auctioned to raise $ for Knox County School's art programs

"Where's Elvis?" - 55"x50" - 2003
Carrying on the tradition of using old clothes to make quilts, I used T-shirts that Lee discarded to make this throw. He had designed and made several of the shirts which accounts for some images that don't look like the King. It's constructed with the seams exposed on the front to frame each picture and it's machine quilted.

Exhibit: - 2004 "Threads of Time"
Folk Life Museum - Farragut. TN
- 2005 - "70 Candles for Elvis"
Folk Life Museum - Farragut, TN

... and that isn't all. Stay tuned for more ...

2006 Festival of Quilts

A wonderful quilt show here in Farragut closed yesterday. It was put on by the Farragut Folk Life Museum and the Arts Council. This was the 9th biennial show coordinated by Linda Ford and it featured 110 quilts. It was a nice mix of vintage, traditional, and contemporary quilts. I was the featured artist/quilter with 21 of my quilts in a special exhibit, "Nellie's Needles".


I was there for about 2 hours each of the 4 days and got questions and attention from visitors that I wouldn't have thought would take an interest in the direction I've taken quilting.

My latest postings have been about quilts in this display. Stay tuned for those I haven't yet covered.

Also exhibited were seven of the eight quilts that comprised the Smoky Mountain Quilt Guild grand prize winning entry in the Ultimate Challenge contest at the AQS show in Nashville this last August. All eight quilts will soon be a special exhibit at the up coming AQS show in Paducah.


Following are photos featuring some of the other quilts in the "2006 Festival of Quilts". Enjoy!

Vincent's Flowers

Vincent's Flowers - 33"x23" - 2002

Description: After viewing Van Gogh's sunflowers in an exhibit at the Chicago Art Institute, I felt compelled to interpret his exuberant style of painting into fiber. I was most intrigued with his skies. They seemed alive with color and light ... of hope, possibilities, and optimism.

Technique: A collage of fabric, wool roving, and cut apart "silk flowers" arranged on a hand-painted background fabric. Machine quilting holds all the layers together.

Materials: cotton and synthetic fabrics, polyester thread, fabric and acrylic paint, "silk" flowers (old & new that get pulled apart and cut into new shapes), wool roving, netting. cotton batting

Exhibitions:
2003 Dogwood Arts Quilt Show - Knoxville, Tennessee
awarded an Honorable Mention
2006 Festival of Quilts - "Nellie's Needles" special exhibit

I couldn't resist backing it with Monet's garden fabric. I went on to make a piece titled "Painted Flowers" that has a strong Monet influence ... but that's another story.

I had made a number of smaller studies before making the large one. This one doesn't have the spashes of paint to make it even more "painterly", but this 10"x13" one does.