Monday, March 14, 2011

Petite New York Beauty


“Petite New York Beauty” was inspired by the 2008 Q.U.I.L.T.S. (Quilters United in Learning Together Schenectady) raffle quilt, a full size bed quilt using the same pattern. This 11 and ¾ inch square piece has over 150 pieces of fabric. I used the 2 and 5/8inch sample blocks as the paper-piecing foundations from Karen Stone’s book “New York Beauty.” It is machine quilted on my Viking home machine.
In October 2009 , “Petite New York Beauty” won a First Place award in the Miniature Quilts Category at the Empire QuiltFest. Miniature quilts are defined as any quilt 24 inches or less in length and in width with
all aspects of the quilt reduced in scale. This is quite an honor as the Empire QuiltFest included over 200 quilts from numerous guilds in the eastern part of New York State. Then my "Petite New York Beauty" traveled to the Vermont Quilt Festival (VQF) in the Summer of 2010, and earned 83 points (the ribbon cut off is 85 points). I was thrilled as VQF is one of the oldest and most competitive quilt shows drawing from the USA, Canada and abroad. Finally, this quilt went to my local guild show and earned a First Place.
My husband likes
"Petite New York Beauty" so much that he has requested a series created in different color palettes. We will see about that!

Meanwhile, here is the link for the Vermont Quilt Festival Contest Winners 2010:
http://www.vqf.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4&Itemid=4

Thursday, March 10, 2011


Lenten Reflection in Collage

With Easter being so late this year, I almost forgot about Ash Wednesday. It actually surprised me. In the middle of two other deadline driven projects, I took a little spiritual reflection break and made this little piece of art.

Purple, the color of Lent, set the tone and the book "Collage Sourcebook: Exploring the Art and Techniques of Collage" (Authors: Jennifer Atkinson, Holly Harrison and Paula Grasdal, Quarry Books, ISBN 1-59253-101-6) provided the inspiration. Next came the layering and gluing. Soon my spiritual life was appearing in this little work of art.

First, the roofline of my first church appeared and then symbols of my faith followed in the lace cross and the butterflies. Second, fabric from our bed quilt containing love letters and purple polka dots (It is "P" week at preschool!) from my daughter's world appeared. Finally, the hexagon with pansies comes from the "I-Spy" quilts I'm making for friends. Therefore, it represents an outreach of our family.

Lastly, I utilized the fancy stitches built into my Viking Designer I sewing machine and "quilted as I went" into the final stage of this project. Small enough for the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative (Maximum size 9" by 12") this will make a nice donation after Easter.

Do you have experience with fabric collage? I'd love to hear about it. Please comment below or e-mail me.
Thanks,
This Quilting Mama