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Festival-Houston: one in, one not

Tuesday, July 7th, 2009

The ways of jurors for big quilt shows mystify me……this year I entered Koi:
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and Fields of Gold:

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In the annual World of Beauty contest at the International Quilt Festival in Houston. The good news is that after FIVE years of “sorry but….” letters (I got in the first time I applied and never since), I am in AGAIN!!!! HOORAY…

What baffles me is that I consider Koi, a 40×60-ish quilt, two sided, lots of good technique, great quilting, imposing, yet it was “declined” (OK…let’s be blunt: rejected! For the second year in a row!) and the lovely but small (about 16×20) Fields of Gold, which began as a 9×12 journal-type quilt as an illustration/project for my book, has been accepted! I will admit, I ADORE the wheat in the quilting (even if I did do it myself…), which is my favorite part of the quilt along with Lisa Walton’s fabric (visit her website Dyed and Gone to Heaven) which really made the piece. But still… whazzup?

At least Koi got in to Paducah (if my faltering memory serves me correctly) and then got featured to my great surprise in QuiltMania, in a photo spread on the AQS show. Weird. Don’t get me wrong… I’m thrilled the drought is over and that as I teach there for the first time this year, I will have a quilt in the juried show. Still, I’m happily baffled.

Maybe I’ll be able to use Koi as my teacher’s quilt LOL!

Addendum:  Suzanne Sanger and Terry Grant both had very astute observations (see the comments)….  that there have been other koi quilts by other people, but nothing like Fields of Gold…… I think they are on to something…..

My First National Level Ribbon!

Friday, July 3rd, 2009

WOOOHOOOO…..  in his final year of eligibility, I entered Bijagos Warrior into the NQA show after Lynn Kough invited me to submit an entry for the juried Contemporary Colorations Exhibit II after having seen Fields of Gold in the Chandler show in Arizon at the end of 2008.   Well, to my utter astonishment…while we were away on a trip to a WONDERFUL family reunion in Florida (more in a few days), someone on the Janome list said my quilt had won a prize.  Since I hadn’t seen my name on the list of winners I was confused…turns out NQA hadn’t posted THIS year’s winners, and I was looking at LAST year’s list!   Thanks to Marie K. on the Janome list, I have this picture of my quilt with an Honorable Mention ribbon (in the competitive pictorial category) at the show!

Bijagos Warrior with Honorable Mention Ribbon at the 40th (2009) NQA show in Ohio

Bijagos Warrior with Honorable Mention Ribbon at the 40th (2009) NQA show in Ohio

Thank you so much Marie for letting me know, taking the picture, and allowing me to share it.  The ribbon–my first ever in a truly national level show (had an Honorable last year at the large-regional, nearly-national show at Lowell Quilt Festival in Massachusetts)–is now hanging on the doorknob to my studio.  Now…to find time to make more truly competition worthy quilts.

In addition to Bijagos Warrior in the main show, I submitted several entries, for the contemporary colorations exhibit.   Fields of Gold was juried into along with works from Laura Cater-Woods Nancy G. Cook, Jane Davila, Karen G. Fisher, Marilyn Gillis, Terry Grant, Gloria Hansen, Leigh McDonald, Kathy McNeil, Pamela Mostek, Scott Murkin, Joanie Zeier Poole, Ruth Power, Jeri Riggs, Norma Schlager, Sarah Smith, Elizabeth Spannring, Cynthia St. Charles, Beth Wheeler, and Kathy York.  It is an incredible honor to be included among such talented artists.  Thank you Lynn!  Without your invitation, I probably wouldn’t have entered the main show and had this wonderful outcome!

Fields of Gold

Fields of Gold

Family history

Tuesday, June 30th, 2009

200906blog006Wow!   A few weeks ago there was a discussion on the QuiltDesigners Group over on Yahoo, and  internet friend Diane Harman-Hoog of Quilters Keep Learning was prompted to do a quick search on me on the internet.  Diane, you see, is a maven of family genealogy (spelling?).  In just a few days, she had traced my dad’s family back to the Patrick who immigrated from Ireland in 1857, and my mother’s family back to Switzerland and Germany to 1590!!!!!!!!  She incredibly generously sent me a TON of information (and discovered that we have a common ancestor in Edward Plantagenet!) and did this extensive family tree:200906blog007

Dad’s family is the little cluster on the upper left portion.  All the rest of it is my mom’s family, which has been in the US since the late 1600s.  I had NO idea I had family ties to the Netherlands, Switzerland or Alsace-Lorraine (now France, previously Germany)!  Here’s that corner of the chart:

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And here:

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And then there were tons of records including my dad’s 1921 passport application.  I printed out over 100 pages of history into a binder (photo at top).

THANK YOU DIANE!

Collage Mania, revisited

Sunday, June 28th, 2009

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In early May, Virginia Spiegel brough her multi-year campaign to raise funds for cancer research through her FiberArt for a Cause to a close with a final Collage Mania sale.  I was lucky to nab two of my favorite collages by North Carolina artist Grace Howes!   I selected them as gifts for my husband for his birthday.  One reads Faith, the other Trust…because I trust him implicity and completely, and because I have faith in him.   Happy Birthday Dear!

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The collages themselves are 8 by 10 inches, and are mounted on stretcher bars covered with batting and batik (11 by 13 inches if I remember correctly).  Interestingly, despite the clear similarities in the two pieces, it was difficult to find a single fabric to use that played nicely with both collages.  In the end, I chose a black with wheat/rust/ochre from my stash. I sure hope Grace likes what I’ve done!  You can visit her web site at Red Barn Studios...

Thanks Grace for donating these wonderful collages! We’re so happy to have them in our home.

My first advertisement

Thursday, June 25th, 2009

In the recent issue of Quilting Arts,

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I placed my first ad!  It is in the Artists’ Marketplace section.  If you look at the two-page spread below it is on the right hand side of the page, almost in the center: the peach one (using the same basic set-up as my rack card and business card that I purchased to promote my book).  It says Artist, Author, Teacher…. and has my website and blog address, with my book cover and “coming in Fall 2009.”  Now, will anyone see it?  Will anyone follow the links?  Will I get any possible jobs??? Who knows…. anyway, here it is:

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Here is a closer look at the ad:

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