Needle Turn Appliqué--- Sort of

Yes, that's it! 

That is all This Quilting Mama accomplished in a five hour class. The instruction at The Joyful Quilter (in Glenville, NY) by Kathryn Greenwold was awesome as the class covered numerous elements of needle-turn appliqué. 



 


However, it seems that the modern age in which we live has spoiled me. I am used to fast machines, all the fabric in the world available at a my local quilt shop (or the other 8 shops within a 45 minute ride), and all the best tools, rulers, and notions to help me whip up a quilt in an afternoon. Appliqué is not only hand-held, but depends on the maker's ability to slow down, to sew one perfect and invisible stitch at a time, and to relish in the process as much as the beautiful product being created. Stay tuned to see if I am able to complete this project and if I come to love handwork.

 My deepest respect and hat is off to any woman who has made a beautiful Baltimore Album quilt with thousands of little appliqued pieces. Below are some such quilts from various shows I've attended over the last year. Each is amazing in the sheer about of work and hours dedicated to those little tiny pieces and even smaller stitches. Enjoy!

My daughter particularly liked this "Elephant Friendship Album" from the antiqué quilt collection circa 1857. Curators Debra Grana and Sharon Waddell write, "Mary Palmer Ogden was the recipient and probably the maker of this friendship album. The elephant may seem to be unusual, but Mary lived only a few miles from where the first elephants brought to the United States lived. During the time the quilt was made, Mary married and moved from Yorktown to Ossining, New York." (Vermont Quilt Festival 2013)

"Petersborough Album" earned Susan MacDuff the Best Hand Quilting award at the Vermont Quilt Festival 2012. 

"Sampling the Silk Road" (seen above and below)  earned the Handiquilter Best of Show" Award and "Best Appliqué" at the Vermont Quilt Festival 2012. Maker Christine Wickert of Penfield, NY writes, "The appliqué blocks were designed by Edyta Sitar. The border, beading and quilting designs were my own. I challenged myself to execute a large quilt made entirely of dupioni silk for the backing, batting and the quilt thread." It was hand quilted.

 From the Garden State Quilters Guild show 2013, comes this lovely quilt. "Aunt Millie's Garden-Brown is the New Black" earned maker Megan Johnson the following awards: Best Hand Appliqué, Best of Show- Machine Quilting, and First Place for and Appliquéd Quilt, Professionally Quilted. The pattern is from the Piece O' Cake Ladies.

The Teacher becomes a Student

"The teacher who is indeed wise does not bid you to enter the house of his wisdom but rather leads you to the threshold of your mind." - Kahlil Gibran 

"Who dares to teach must never cease to learn." - John Cotton Dana  

"I hear, and I forget.  I see, and I remember. I do, and I understand." - Chinese Proverb

Today, I am going to be a student again. This is the preparation for a "Needleturn Applique" class I'm taking with Kathryn Greenwold at the Joyful Quilter in Glenville, NY.

I'm a bit nervous as the only handwork I've ever done is binding a quilt. So, here I go....over prepared, as is my personality, and with very little expectations of my own skills in this area. It will be a true day of discovery.

What classes have you taken or discoveries have you made recently that have impacted your art?

Red, White and............More Red & White.

“Red", I write "is the color of life. It's blood, passion, rage. It's menstrual flow and after birth. Beginnings and violent end. Red is the color of love. Beating hearts and hungry lips. Roses, Valentines, cherries. Red is the color of shame. Crimson cheeks and spilled blood. Broken hearts, opened veins. A burning desire to return to white.” 

Mary Hogan, Pretty Face

 The following quilts celebrate red and white in amazingly beautiful ways. 

They were all on display at the Vermont Quilt Festival 2013 in Essex Junction, Vermont this past weekend. Enjoy!

 C202- Second Place Red Ribbon (seen above)

"The Star and Crown" by Consortium of Malone, NY, was an entry in the "A New Twist on and Old Favorite" theme quilt category. The description reads "Twenty-four reds with twenty-four background off-whites made into Peaky and Spike, four-patches, half-square triangles, solid block units and paper pieced four pointed stars were arranged to create a circle and star within. Long arm machine quilted."

 

 C618- Third Place Yellow Ribbon

"Feather Storm" by Rose Orr of Colchester, Vermont is my personal favorite of this set of quilts. It uses a variation on Storm at Sea setting. Rose was able to play with machine quilted feathers in the blank spaces and how color progresses from red to white within the blocks. It was quilted on a home machine.

 

 C611- Third Place Yellow Ribbon

"A Quilter's Snowflake" by Cathy Pelletier of Danvers, MA

Cathy writes "A Quilter's Snowflake by Richard Larson, Quilter's Newsletter December 2005, is a two-color quilt bed topper or wall quilt. Traditional Hunter's Stars complement the large Feathered Star. Long arm machine quilted nu Pamela Gondola."

C1010- Third Place Yellow Ribbon

"Peppermint Swirls" by Pauline R. Charpentier of Maynard, MD was the maker's response to a guild challenge of red and white. This piece was inspired by "a friend's vase." It was quilted on a home machine.

C915- Third Place Yellow Ribbon

"My Fantasy Flower Garden-No Weeds" by Rita A. Bond of Pembroke, NH

 Rita writes, "My daughter-in-law has an antique embroidered red and white quilt, which I love. I have tried to duplicate it by machine embroidering the white blocks. I used floral designs from Garden Fantasy, digitized by Janet Sansom. Long arm machine quilted by Saima Davis."

This antique beauty was in a special exhibit at VQF. The exhibit called "For Fellowship, Love and Farewell" was curated by Debra Grana and Sharon Waddell.  This beauty above was made sometime between 1850 and 1870 by an unknown maker. There are little trees in the border which were common to NY, PA and New England. Debra Grana, owner, writes, "Some references attribute this pattern to the inspiration of woven coverlet designs. Note the heart variation in the center of the block."

"Drunkard's Path, circa 1910 was a pattern believed to have been used by the Temperance Movement. Some, offended by the name, refer to the pattern as Fool's Puzzle. This quilt was hand-pieced and hand-quilted by Louisa Campbell of Nyack, NY," writes collector Mary Daughton.

Next was a friendship quilt from the Woodlawn Reformed Church of Schenectady, NY. I was immediately drawn to it having grown up in the city of Schenectady and having known many from the congregation. This quilt, however, was made in 1915 by the Helping Hand Society of the church as a gift to Reverend and Mrs. Bruce Ballard as they moved on to another church. I love how each block has a unique setting for the signatures.

 

 "Touching Stars, circa 1880" is also from the collection of Debra Grana. She believes it is from Unadilla, NY.  "There is an assortment of symbols in the quilting, including hands, hearts, hex or good luck, scissors and a series of people holding hands."

Finally, this "Red Cross" quilt is believed to have been made for a Red Cross Fundraiser for World War I sometime between 1917 and 1920. There are over 600 names from the 1920 census in the Springfield, Illinois area included on the quilt. It was found at an estate sale in Albany, NY.

Black & White with a little bit of Red

“Light is meaningful only in relation to darkness, and truth presupposes error. It is these mingled opposites which people our life, which make it pungent, intoxicating. We only exist in terms of this conflict, in the zone where black and white clash.” -Louis Aragon

“When you photograph people in color, you photograph their clothes. 

But when you photograph people in Black and white, you photograph their souls!”
― Ted Grant 

From the Garden State Quilters' Guild Show in Morristown, New Jersey, June 1st and 2nd, 2013, comes this powerful display of black and white quilts. The first is "Zig & Zag" by Betsy Vinegrad. She writes, "'Zig & Zag' are a pair of quilts made in a color class at the City Quilter (NYC). The challenge was to use black, white and gray plus less than 10 percent of any other color."

 "Private Lessons with Karen Jack" by Wannetta Phillips uses the Twister Tool from CS Designs which I featured in my March 4, 2012 post titled "Change."

Mary Ames, "Black & White" was a small group group created from the members swapping of nine identical blocks.

Below is JoAnn Lepore's "Posie #7." This is the seventh in the four-patch stacked posie quilts JoAnn has made. It earned her Second Place in the Pieced Quilt, Machine Quilted- Large category.

 "I love you more than you know" is seen below. It is Wendy Sheridan's answer to a two-color quilt challenge. She writes, "This quilt reproduces a 'QR-Code' which can be scanned by a smart phone or other reader and encodes any sort of text. This code scans and the text encoded into the pattern is 'I love you more than you know.'"  This was my personal favorite of the Black and Whites in this show.

 Below is another beautiful black and white, but I was remiss in photographing the description, so I can't tell you anything about it. Sorry.

 "Two Faces" by Elsie Sienkiewicz is the result of an art quilt group challenge. Elsie writes, "It was inspired by a black and white sketch of two faces. Each quilt had to be constructed of five or more sections, each which highlighted a different technique. My interpretation includes hand applique, ink, hand reverse applique, machine applique, thread-work, embellishment and machine quilting."
WOW!

Finally, from the two-color category using red instead of black, come "I am a Woman" also by Elsie  Sienkiewicz. It is the story of her life of 74 years through all the roles she has played as a woman. Elsie so beautifully writes, "Creating this quilt was like walking down memory lane of my life. As the quilt progressed, I realized it is actually a love story of my life with Anthony. We married in 1957, when women's roles were strictly defined by society and definitely subservient to men's roles. I was lucky enough to have married to a man who worked two jobs so that I could stay home with the children when they were young, who encouraged me to go back to college in my 30s and who understood when I had to work long hours after I had a career. During our 56 years of marriage, I have been his wife, mother of his children, a businesswoman, and now an artist, and the one constant I have always been sure of, I am the woman he loves."

Thank you for the inspiration, Elsie.

Thanks to all the quilters of The Garden State Quilters' Guild.

 What a lovely show!

"Orion's Star"

Once upon a time, I was asked to make Eleanor Burns "Orion's Star" as a sample for The Joyful Quilter in Glenville, New York. This is the beauty which came from that request. Unfortunately this photo has muted the rich teal blue, orange and tan colors.

 

Here is a close up of the large 16 inch blocks which are a star set within a traditional log cabin of darks and lights.

So, this sample led to a class which I taught early in June.
Here is my table runner (teaching tool) from the class. I can't quite decide how to lay it out. Do you prefer this arrangement or the one below?

These beauties are Dawn's. She intends them to become a soldier quilt. Aren't they just stunning?

Mary Beth made these beautiful and rich blocks all from her stash fabrics. I can't wait to see how the large quilt looks with those beautiful blue stars.

Finally, the following "Orion's Star" quilts were featured at the Garden State Quilter's Guild Show the first weekend of June in Morristown, New Jersey. This first one is called "Secret Garden" and was made by Grace Walsh and professionally quilted by Jeanne Bancroft. It was made as a high school graduation gift for the maker's granddaughter.

My personal favorite, "Butterfly Kisses" was also made by Grace Walsh and professionally quilter by Jeanne Bancroft. Another gift, Grace Walsh writes about her granddaughter, the recipient "Since she was a little girl, she has had a great love for butterflies. She believes that when a butterfly lands on you, you have been kissed by an angel."

Lastly, "My Spring Orion Star" was pieced by Mary Ames and was professionally quilted by Sister's Choice Longarm Quilting. The unique setting sets it apart from the rest of the collection. I love the "piano keys" border treatment.

Garden State Quilters' Guild Show (BEST OF Quilts)

This past weekend I had the pleasure of going to New Jersey to visit old stomping grounds, "old" friends and take in the Garden State Quilters' Guild Show in Morristown. This beautiful show had a huge variety of quilts of all types and techniques. Over the next few posts I will share some of the highlights, beginning here with the "BEST OF" category.

 "Happy Clams" by Anna Macaluso began as a friendship group fabric swap. She made this quilt from the 120 pieces (size 7 by 9 inches) which she received. "Happy Clams" earned a blue ribbon and "Best Use of Color" prize.

 The "Best of Show- Machine Quilted" went to this beauty- Megan Johnson's "Aunt Millie's Garden--Brown Is the New Black." What an amazing display of applique. and professional quilting.

A lovely surprise of this show was the number of big prizes which went to smaller sized quilts. This lovely round quilt, titled "non e altro che un sogno" by Carla Condori, earned "Best Machine Applique" for this Alice in Wonderland inspired piece which has a diameter of only 23 inches.

Returning to the garden theme, "Garden Trellis" by Mary Gruszecki earned "Best Professional Quilting" by Cheryl Simonis. WOW, you can see why in the close-up pictures below.

"Peptobismol" earned quilter Anna Macaluso the prize of "Best Machine Quilting."  I believe those little tiny blocks are 1/2 inch or less in size. Amazing work.

 My personal favorite of all the "BEST OF" quilts is "Baby Bella" by Dawn Hayes.  Seen below, she measures only 24 inches square and is both machine pieced and hand appliqued. "Baby Bella" earned not only "Best Piecing" for the show, but also first place in the Miniature Quilts Category.

From the more whimsical category, the "Best Quilt That Tells a Story" is Shar Kennett's "Bunnies do Multiply in the Corner of My Garden."  It was a challenge from the quilter's small group which had exchanged 1930s fabrics. What fun!

 Last but by no means least, is "The Cutting Garden" by Dawn Hayes. Silks and cottons make the miniature dahlias in this amazing work. "The Cutting Garden" earned "Best of  Show- Hand Quilting" and a first place ribbon. The quilt measures 72 inches square.

More inspiring quilts from this show to come. Stay tuned!