A DAY IN BOONE, NC

Frequently I refer to PTA.....the small fiber arts group I'm fortunate to belong to......

We all lead busy lives, so it's rare when everyone can gather (except one member who lives out of state) as we did this week in Boone, NC to visit the Turchin Center at Appalachian State University.

The occasion was an exhibition: 12 Voices, offered by SAQA, Studio Art Quilt Associates. Work by amazing artists such as: Anglea Moll, Linda Colsh, Elizabeth Buch, Deidre Adams and Kathy Weaver, an old friend from another juried fiber arts group (Facets) I belonged to in the Chicago area was on display. No photography was allowed, so I'm trying very hard to recall all the fabulous techniques/designs to use as inspiration. It's a worthwhile event to visit if you have the opportunity.

Another worthy exhibit was work by Olivia Pendergast. She was raised on a small Appalachian Mountain town called Sugar Grove with a need to create art......and perhaps even a predisposition to live the artist's lifestyle inherited from her Grandfather who painted too. Her folk art style drew me in at one glance!

Outside the Turchin Center this interesting sculpture was on display......see next photo for details. Each year the Rosen Outdoor Sculpture competition at held at Appalachian State attracts many entries.

One of our members has a condo nearby where our 3 car loads headed for afternoon treats of cheese/crackers/brownies and beverages. Cathy's deck overlooks the famous Grandfather's Mountain. Can you spot the outline of a face towards the upper right side? ....the forehead, sunk in eye, nose, lip, and chin???
In this photo the face image isn't as clear, but it's a truer picture of the beginning of the fall color that changes the appearence of the mountains for about 2 weeks every year....bringing in flocks of tourists.

Alas, our day ended with a 2 hr. drive back to the Asheville area.......happy memories of another day with good friends.

FIBER ART ALLIANCE

The monthly Fiber Art Alliance meeting was held in Asheville yesterday......unfortunately, I wasn't able to stay for the entire program presented by our own member, Deb Brown. Her demonstrations covered how to work with Angelina fibers and silk fusion.....fascinating.

But, fortunately, my friend Judy Simmons has a very informative report on her blog......click here to see an overview of these amazing products.

Tomorrow our small fiber art group (PTA) is heading up to Boone for lunch and to see an exhibit.....I hope to have some inspiring work for you to see in my next post.

NEW XOTIC FELT

Some time ago I had the opportunity to work with National Nonwovens new XoticFelt.....50/50 Bamboo/Rayon. I loved it....though there were some issues to report: colorfastness, excess wrinkling, and pilling.

I'm happy to report I just received samples of their reworked line.....in 6 new holiday colors. The colors such as: Tropical Rainforest, Blue Hawaii, & Purple Paradise are so enticing. The fabric just arrived so there's been no time yet to experiment much, but I have tested it for colorfastness, and it passed...yeah!

However, I noticed it's a bit thinner than the first batch I tested, but since Bamboo is a strong fiber, it may not be a negative. I still found it to have a super soft texture, wonderful vibrant colors, and easy to cut.

There is even a 'white' in the packet....which I'll be turning over to my friend Nancy who is an expert at dying anything that stands still. The idea of having this fabric available dyed with lush mottled colors is exciting and Nancy's the gal to do it.

Bamboo Sunset 17" x 16" was the first piece I created from the original set of colorways I worked with. Being a wall hanging, none of the problems I found with that batch of fabric caused any issues, but it's good to know they've solved them anyway.

This piece was part of our (PTA) fiber group's recent exhibit at the WNC Arboretum which came down yesterday, well...this piece actually had been SOLD during the event....so it wasn't there to come down!! Yeah......

On a purely personal note.....I was silent yesterday because I was in mourning due to the Packer's loss to the Vikings on Monday night football. It was difficult watching our once beloved Brett wearing purple....but he sure reminded us of the old Brett. I'll be studying tonight to select my week #5 NFL pick for the Suicide Pool. As the weeks pass, it becomes more difficult to make my weekly selections because we can't use any of the previous teams we picked. I know that's only 4 teams but still......and of course that's part of the challenge and fun.

ALZHEIMER'S WALK

You never know the impact of a few simple words....my email signature includes the following:

Proud participant in the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative. Get involved at: www.alzquilts.org

It helped to inspire our insurance agent (on the right) to form a team for a local event: Walk To End Alzheimer's.

There were a dozen or more teams and many participants brought their 4 legged friends.

We walked the 2 1/2 mile path around Lake Junaluska, NC....a beautiful setting......that allowed
a serene setting for a few moments of reflection.

Walkers strung out all along the pathway.....it was quite inspiring and the event successfully raised needed funds to find a cure for Alzheimer's.

Don't forget, AAQI is bringing 1,077 quilts to Houston for this year's silent auction....if you are going, consider bidding on a piece. You can get involved in so many other ways.....click on the link above to learn how.

ROSE OF SHARON CONTEST

There is $22,000 in prizes up for grabs in a quilt block design challenge......entry deadline is rather short - Nov. 15, 2009. Click on the following link for all the details.

Design a quilt block using EQ6 software for Sharon Pederson's Rose of Sharon EQ6 Block Challenge hosted by Electric Quilt Company. Twelve winnng designs get prizes, get published, and get noticed. How cool is this....you don't even have to make a block....just design one with EQ6 using Island Batik fabrics and you are eligible.

GUINEA FOWL FEATHER COMPLETED

This project was one of two pieces I intended to donate to the Alzheimer's Priority Quilt Auction held at Quilt Festival in Houston in less than two weeks......unfortunately I didn't make the deadline. If you are planning to attend Festival, please stop at the AAQI booth. The silent auction this year will include 1,000 quilts.....so surely there will be one that catches your eye for a good cause.

I did complete and donate one piece which I blogged about on July 28, 2009....click here and scroll down to that date to get a preview of Inner Strength. Each of my previous year's 9" x 12" contributions sold for $350.....so if you are attending the show, perhaps you'll like this one just as well.

Guinea Fowl Feather Remembered 9" x 12"

SOLD

Because AAQI's online silent auction doesn't offer the in person inspection of my work, I've decided to either hang onto this one for next year's Festival, or sell it myself (my own stimulus package) and make a different piece for next year's auction. Email me if you are interested in purchasing it....click on my email link at the upper right side of this blog.

I've been plugging away on Guinea Fowl Feather Remembered for awhile. As with most of my pieces lately, the fabric is woolfelt, which I feel provides such pleasant warmth and texture to the hard bead surfaces. One area where I've struggled when making these designs, is how to add interest to the main fabric rectangle, without competing too much with the beadwork. I don't just mean visual competition, I'm also referring to the integrity of the fabric. Adding inappropriate stitching to the background can draw up/distort the woolfelt and may cause the beadwork to buckle.

After way tooooo much pondering, I decided to program a single eyelet stitch on my sewing machine. Gray rayon thread tested the best...it wasn't too heavy which might cause distortion, nor too thick which might overwhelm the overall design. Once the decision was made, it didn't take long to sew the circles through the stabilized woolfelt gray background. However, it DID take a long time to pull all the thread ends to the wrong side and tie them off. I had no choice....I'm a stickler for creating tidy work.

You can review step-by-step photos of the construction process by clicking here.....and scrolling down to my Sept. 5, 2009 post.

I've been attempting to add more dimension in my beaded feather/leaf pieces, with color, rather than raising the height of the beads. I achieved it here by changing the angle of the lines of beads coming off the center spine of the feather. Unlike fabrics where gradations of color are fairly easy to come by, that's not the case with beads. Though, I already have a new design in mind and will actively seek out seed beads with close colorways.

In closing today.....a reminder....I'll be presenting a fashion trunk show at Waechter's Silk Shop tomorrow, Oct. 3rd. at 2:00 PM. The talented staff of Waechter's will offer additional demos throughout the day.....their is no charge for attending any of the events.

COVER GIRL

Yesterday, my complimentary copy of the Dec. 2009 Holiday issue of McCall's Quilting magazine arrived in the mail.......yippie.....I'm a cover girl....well sort of. Get your magnifiers out and check out the box in the lower left corner and you'll see my woolfelt mitten ornaments, festively attached to a gift box.

McCall's always does such a great job translating my articles/projects....it's a pleasure to work with them. My article can be found on pages 40-42. Additionally, their website has one quick and one yummy version of the ornament. Working with wool must be catching on, this issue also features a larger pieced wall hanging and some fun jewelry. Get your copy today.....

Besides being an attractive addition to gift wrapping, another clever way to display the bead embellished small mittens is to hang them from a door knob, or even the obvious....on a Christmas tree.

QUILTERS' S.O.S.

Quilter's S.O.S. - Save our Stories is an oral history project of the Alliance For American Quilts. It celebrates it's 10th year and super milestone of 1,000 interviews of documenting our stories. The interviews are being archived in the U.S. Library of Congress....pretty cool!

Read Karen Musgrave's article about Q.S.O.S. in the Oct/Nov 2009 issue of Quilters Newsletter shared here compliments of Quilters Newsletter.

Recently, (and nervously....hoping I made some sense) I read Karen's interview of me. Trying to answer the questions with wisdom was more difficult than one might guess, but I don't think I stumbled too much. The only real goofs were done in translation..... one typo and a mistake with my blog address. You can read it here.

Two of my buddies in our small PTA Fiber Group are also included......I even learned things about them and their work that I hadn't known......read on....

Linda Cantrell and Georgia Bonesteel.

WEEK 3 - NFL SUICIDE POOL

Football lovers......read on.......

I thought I was a goner this week....I picked San Diego to win.....it took them longer than I liked to get a comfortable lead....WHEW......

There are only 21 of us left in the Suicide Pool.....this week only a total of 7 teams were selected to win.....and everyone picked a winner so all 21 of us will be battling it out for week #4 choices. Each week we must select only 1 team to win, but we can never use that team again.....so as time marches on, it gets more difficult. I've tried to save the top teams for later......because the last man (or woman) standing wins the pot of about $800.

Last year I got bumped out on week #5.....I hope I can do better this year. I'm already studying the line up for next weekend!

FREE MOTION QUILTING

So many quilters have already conquered free-motion quilting.....but I'm not one of them. Due to numerous back surgeries I'm not very comfortable sitting hunched over a machine for long periods of time....actually I should have said, as I sit nervously and tension filled, hunched over my machine!

My pal Patsy Thompson is an expert on this subject. She's produced a large inventory of excellent DVD's to help guide the helpless like me. After a recent 'whining' session with her, she suggested one of my problems may be the surface I'm working on. The insert that fits around my machine is (believe it or not) pebbled.....NO WONDER I can't slide that darn quilt sandwich!!

Patsy suggested I try using a specialty Teflon sheet that can be placed on the work surface which allows the quilt to move more easily. Sew Slip did the trick for me.

I was able to gain additional control moving the quilt sandwich by wearing a pair of specialty machine quilting gloves. The rubber dots help to grip the top...keeping it flat and smooth as the needle flows through the fabric.

If you too are struggling, consider researching some of these tools to make the job easier. Now all I need to do is PRACTICE.