SHE'S CALLED THE 'GRAND DAME' OF AMERICAN QUILTING

Our very own Georgia Bonesteel continues to wow us with her energy and design talents.  Most appropriately her work was featured at the Asheville, NC Quilt Guild Show this weekend. She's best known for inspiring legends of new quilters through her PBS series "Lap Quilting" and the many books that followed.

 Her show began in 1979 and she's not slowing down, even after all these years. Georgia's newly released book "Scrap Happy Quilts" is sure to be a best seller.  She shares updated methods for making 25 classic quilt patterns along with her wit and humor, emphasizing the importance of creating memoirs.        

                                                      
A room filled with quilters.....nearly hushed to complete silence absorbed every word of her lecture.  Several of her quilts were shared with the audience.  She and Linda Cantrell designed and stitched "Roots", an homage to our small fiber art group.  Linda is another award winning entertaining quilter who is also a member group.  We are referred to as the PTA group.....which stands for Professional Textile Artist. This 'family tree' design features hand appliqued black Ultra-suede motifs.  A silhouette of each member of PTA is surrounded by personal icons that depict that person's style/tastes.

Mine is a bit lower of center left....see the word "Bluegrass"....and next to it is the image of the dining hall at Lake Logan.....a retreat center where I organized our annual retreats for 10 years.  If you look really closely....you might want to count the number of wine bottles on this quilt, a definite theme among all our members.  Yes, what a perfect memoir.....roots have grown and generated a close knit fiber group of 14.

 I snapped this pensive photo of Georgia just before she was introduced to the crowd.  It got me wondering just how many times she's quietly stood off to the side, waiting to be introduced to her adoring fans.

Georgia, along with Charlotte Warr Anderson has taught workshops at a small ranch in Wyoming for many years.  She created this fun quilt of her many workshop projects and 4 or 5 using Charlotte's inspiring designs.

Georgia and I had been friends/collages when we both taught on the national quilting circuit....and now I consider her a very special personal pal as well.  One I admire greatly.

NEW LIFE FOR VINTAGE QUILT TOPS

Now that nearly all of our house renovations are complete and the new updated industrial railing is installed, I decided to scale back on the number of quilts I planned to display on it.

 Several were actually just tops and had been hung over railings both here and in Wisconsin.  None were in great shape to begin with and now they were pretty tattered with deteriorating fabrics in some areas.  Look at this unusual design change of this bed quilt.  Elongated hexi patches with an abrupt color change at about the halfway point.

 Fortunately most of this area, with careful cutting, was still quite useable.

But in many other sections.....it was truly falling apart, allowing me to use this as a cutter quilt guilt free.

 I set about making more bookcovers for Woolworth Gallery, downtown Asheville.  Of course this was far more time consuming than I wished but to preserve the fabric, it was important to securely stitch it to a batting foundation.

I don't even want to admit how long these took me......certainly no profit left after a sale if I counted my time!  However, I suspect they will find homes since my first batch of red/white composition bookcovers were sold in about a week.

Visit these links to see what other artists have been working on this week:  Nina-Marie's Off the Wall Friday, Sarah's Whoop Whoop Friday.

CREATING ON A SUNDAY AFTERNOON

It's another football Sunday so I was glued to the Internet listening to the Packer/Bronco game which left me leaping for joy -  PACKERS 27 - BRONCOS 16

Can't say I'm a fan of the throwback uniforms but I sure am of #12 and the team he leads.  Finally, a Packer game will be broadcast here in the mountains....as they face the Eagles on Thursday night.  But why oh why are these games sooooo late in the evening!?!?  

 Just sitting idle isn't my style so I decided to make shams for two pillows that came with a piece of furniture we purchased awhile ago and never used. 

We've been using our lower level space for evening TV watching all summer. Recently I blogged about the protective couch quilt I made for Sooty (our sweet rescue lab).  And because 'the husband' insists on running the ceiling fan at the highest speed, I made a lap quilt for myself.  Now there are companion pillows for further comfort.

ASHEVILLE, NC - OR IS IT ARTISTVILLE, NC??

Most folks have heard of Asheville, NC as the home of the famous Biltmore Estate and because of its location along the historic Blue Ridge Parkway.  But it's also known for the many excellent independent restaurants and the ever growing artist community.

Apparently the folks at the Boston Globe recognize our amazing city too.  I'm flattered and proud to have my work represented at two of the places mentioned in their article .

For nearly two years my work has been found at Woolworth Walk - stroll the steps to # 235.   The restored interior of the 1938 F.W. Woolworth building now showcases the work of almost 200 local artists on two floors, and includes a 1950s-style soda fountain serving club sandwiches and ice cream sodas.

Another gem of early 20th-century architecture is the Grove Arcade, a gorgeous, glass-topped indoor marketplace that spans an entire city block.  My felted wall art is carried at Mountain Made Gallery.

Okay....this is a bit of an advertisement but how else is a gal to sell work?  Oh....of course....you can also visit my online shop. 

3 FISH - NEW WORK

It's taken awhile.....but that's to be expected when one creates one-of-a-kind wall art.  Colors are a bit brighter in person, esp. the ice-dyed background but after dozens of photos...this is the best I've got!

3 FISH

Available Here

Artist hand ice-dyed & commercial fabrics.  Machine appliquéd & quilted.  Fabric hanging sleeve on back for immediate use!

MOUNTAIN ART QUILTERS - SEPT. GENERAL MEETING

The Sept. general meeting of the Mountain Art Quilters was so inspiring and frankly a bit of a blurr with so many great pieces to feast upon.  I hesitate to post some of these photos because I'm unable to properly attribute the makers to all of them.  If you dear reader can, please leave a comment so they are acknowledged.  

I PROMISE to take better notes the next time.....

Cheesecloth!*!*  Jenny Perry found a perfect way to achieve dimension of appearance of waves on this small landscape. 

  Diana Ramsay created this piece that she started in a Nancy Crow workshop.  The blocks are the same design, but altered by size.

 She quilted it in sections which made for a terrific complementary backing.

 New member Marene Parsons shared this nature inspired piece....such great color and movement!

 Kathie Briggs brought numerous pieces all featuring her trademark collage pieced backgrounds.

 This is one of two butterfly pieces Kathie mounted on a painted wood board.

 And another charming and colorful piece by Kathie.

 A quilt on a quilt was an inspired method to feature a printed photo.

 Simple outline quilting was all that was needed to highlight the scenery.

 What an awesome idea......(I think from Judy Smith).  This piece was dye painted by fitting the fabric into one of those canvas 'perfect pleaters' popular years ago.

Here's another delicious surface design created using a decolorant product and a needlepoint mesh.

GO PACK GO!!!

PACKERS 21 - VIKINGS 16

ENUFF SAID!!

MOUNTAIN ART QUILTERS - DYEING PART 2

In all, 16 trays of ice-dyed material was processed, yielding a lot of beautiful fabric.  Here are some closeups for you to enjoy.  I used mainly white PDF cottons, and a few previously dyed solids and prints. All were soaked in soda ash before dyeing.

 But....just so you don't think every piece was wonderful....here's evidence of some that weren't.   My over-dyed solid (right) that had been dyed at least once before was still ugly.  The mercerized cotton piece on the left had some lovely patterning, but the colors were simply blah.....

Not so with this one......great combo of colors and patterns.

We had time to do some acid dyeing.  Our equipment was fairly limited so for the most part my felted wool results weren't special, however, this small piece of was!  Others dyed silk scarves which came out great.

Sometimes achieving really bright red color can be difficult, less so though when using acid dyes.  Here I used 100% felted wool which was left to boil in the acid bath for about 8 mins., turned and processed for about another 8 minutes.

Lower right is my pile of ice-dyed cottons and above, on the right, are two pieces of cheesecloth that we dyed and shared equally.

We were so very lucky to have had picture perfect weather and such a great place to get wet and messy!  

MOUNTAIN ART QUILTERS - ICE-DYEING IN THE MOUNTAINS

Several members of the Mountain Art Quilters gathered for a few days of fabric dyeing.  The Mountain Art Quilters grew out of the SAQA chapter that met about 5 hours away in Raleigh.  It became apparent a local group would be more beneficial given the great distance we had to travel, so it quickly grew from the original 6 to around 18-20 members at this time.  One isn't required to be a SAQA member to join Mountain Art Quilters.

The weather was PERFECT....and nearly as fast as our tables and other supplies came out of our cars.....we were set up in a sunny clearing prepared to do some serious ice-dyeing.

We all brought MX dyes to share.....behind is the cabin in the Pisgah National Forest that we rented.

 We also brought bags and bags of ice in coolers......our screens are placed on kitty litter trays, soda ash soaked fabric was arranged on the screens, topped with ice.

 Donned with gloves and masks.....we sprinkle on several different colors of MX dyes.

 Each tray is wrapped in black plastic, secured with clips and left in the sun until the ice melts (overnight if necessary).

 Then it's Christmas morning when the plastic is removed.....

 Oooos' and Ahhhh's are constantly exclaimed.

After rinsing and rinsing and rinsing till the water runs clear, the fabrics are hung to dry....with more sighing and high fiving.

More results coming next.

HOUSE REFRESH FINISHED..."I THINK"

The final phase of our home refresh was to update the stairway and my studio loft railings.  We got tired of the bulky pine log look, wanting a fresher look instead.

 The railings served as such a handy surface for displaying some of my antique quilts and quilt tops.

However, as you can see, I have plenty more displayed...on ladders and hanging from the stairway wall (photo below.)

Here's the new look.....and I'm smitten.  Feels so much more open, larger and lighter!

I may drape one or two quilts from the studio railing just to disguise the ironing board and some of my storage bins that live beneath my cutting table.  I'm giving that decision some time.  So, unless we win the lottery (of which we don't  play), our home reno projects are now complete!  

3 FISH PROJECT COMING TOGETHER

Since no contractors have invaded our house today, there was a window of time to work on "3 Fish".

Darn it....I was determined to add some air bubbles for the fish. Seriously, I tried at least a dozen different materials. Persistence pays off....I had narrowed it down to painting them directly onto the background, but no matter what color, they wouldn't show up well enough. (Good thing I tried it on scraps of fabric instead the nearly finished quilt!)

 Alas.....lame' was the answer....fussy cutting & the fusing process took time, but it worked.

Yup....the light reflects nicely off this shiny fabric.

By the time you read this I'll be off the grid temporarily as I abandon 'the husband" & Sooty the rescue black lab for a few days of ice-dyeing, acid dyeing, and any other mischief my pals and I can come up with. Back soon....