A Bit of Earth

I've had in mind for sometime to create small art quilts featuring spring flowers. A week ago after a picnic I took photos on a trail walk along the Clinch River ...

The coming of spring here in east Tennessee has been late. There were no new leaves on the trees and just a few sprouts of early wild plants.

Yesterday afternoon I got a start on creating the foundation for the first quilt. On the left is the first step of covering the batting with pieces from my scrap bag ... I think of it as "under painting"...

A second layer of thread and yarn scraps, plus scraps of tulle netting have been added. Now to do just enough quilting to hold it together, then I'll continue to build the picture. I still haven't decided which flowers will be growing through my woodland bed.

Just a reminder about the contest at the Quilting Gallery. Go here if you haven't yet checked it out.  Voting for 4 favorite quilts from the 37 entries and entering the fat quarter give-away deadline is 6:00 p.m. (EDT). Have fun and good luck!

Quilts With Just Squares and Triangles

That's the theme for this weeks contest over at the Quilting Gallery blog. I've entered the cuddle quilt I had made for myself with the only fabrics and I had ever hand-dyed. You may recall reading about it on in a previous post here.

Woven Together - 60"x60"

Click on the Quilting Blog's link at the beginning of this post to see 37 wonderful quilts. You get to vote for four of your favorites.

While you're there, you have a chance at winning a $25 gift certificate from the Fat Quarter Shop. To enter the give-away, leave a comment at the end the Quilting Gallery Blog answering:

Approximately, how many fat quarters do you have in your stash and how do you organize them?

You have until Monday, April 22, 2013 at 6:00 p.m. (EDT) to vote and enter the give-away. Have fun and good luck!

2013 Special Award Winning Quilts

Again this year I was in charge of making the special award ribbons for the Smoky Mountain Quilt Guild Show that took place March 22-24 at the Maryville College in the Cooper Athletic Center. Guild members were invited to create rosettes for the various awards. I then assembled them ... choosing the colored side grosgrain ribbons and printing out the award information on the satin ribbons. I've heard it said that these ribbons are coveted awards at our guild shows.

Best In Show Bed Quilt...
"Jacobean Dream"  by Linda Roy - Knoxville, Tennessee
Ribbon Rosette designed by Nellie Durand
$600 Award sponsored by It's Sew Mary Jane Quilt Shop

Best In Show Wall Quilt...
"it's SUNNY in Baltimore..."by Patricia Scheideler-Kern 
Whispering Pines, N Carolina
Ribbon Rosette designed by Nellie Durand
$500 Award sponsored by Smoky Mountain Quilters

Judges Choice...

"Circle the Block" - Patty Ashworth - Oak Ridge, Tennessee
Ribbon Rosette designed by Nellie Durand
$50 Award sponsored by Gene and Christine Glazar

Excellence in Hand Workmanship...

"Let's Go Home" by Rosillis Rosario - Davenport, Florida
Ribbon Rosette designed by Itsumi Sasaki
$50 Award Sponsored by Tuesday Bee

Excellence in Machine Workmanship...

"Making Waves" - Pat Hilderbrand -  Columbia, Missouri
Ribbon Rosette designed by Cyndi Herrmann
$50 Award sponsored by Shana Margrave


Traditional Design...

"Just FOUR Fun" by Sue Jones of Maryville, Tennessee
Ribbon Rosette designed by Terry Passon
$50 Award sponsored by Gina's Bernina Sewing Center

Scrap Quilt...

"Double Wedding Ring" by Yumiko Harada-Morristown,Tennessee    
Rosette Designed by Louise Ragle
$50 Award sponsored by Norm and Linda Roy

Just For Fun...

"The Salacious Secrets of Sam and Sue" by Teddy Pruett
Lake City, Florida
Rosette Designed by Pat Blankenship
$50 Award sponsored by Lynn and Marian Sykes

Surface Embellishment...

"Crosswalk 1,2,3" by Tone Haugen-Cogburn - Maryville, Tennessee
Rosette Designed by Bridget Matlock
$50 Award sponsored by FAC at FAB

Innovative Design...

"Unraveled VII" by Nellie Bass Durand - Farragut, Tennessee
Rosette Designed by Tone Haugen-Cogburn
$50 Award sponsored by Thursday Bee

Novice Quilt...

"Spared For A Purpose" by Chris Calhoun - Knoxville, Tennessee
Rosette Designed by Jane Dunham
$50 Award sponsored by Jennifer Wilkerson

Martha Odell Memorial Award...


"Directions" by Barbara Landau - Oak Ridge, Tennessee
Rosette Designed by Linda Roy
$50 Award sponsored by Tuesday Bee

"Viewer's Choice" seems to be a favorite even though there's no cash award to accompany it ...

"Friendship Garden" by Fran Oroson - Nashville, Tennessee
Rosette Designed by Nellie Durand

........................

Go here for a tutorial for how I construct the award ribbons.
Go here to see ALL the ribbons (and the quilts they were awarded to) for the years I've been in charge of creating them.

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.