Now that PIQF and Houston are over, I have been thinking a lot about quilt designing and quilt artistry.  Seeing the quilts in person and Instagram/FB posts, it starts to get overwhelming.  I find myself going back and re-looking at the pictured quilts, categorizing them and picking them apart.  What is special about each one, what “makes it” special?

From there I am thinking about the difference in traditional quilt and innovative quilt categories, the prevalence of photo realism, digital fabric print quilts.

Traditional quilts, pieced, common angles (30,45,60,90), usually cotton fabrics, distinct patterns/designs and sub-patterns and designs. Curved piecing to some extent.  Crystals and beads (although crystal use seems to be waning).  Interesting color combinations, pattern geometry, tessellation, 3-D effects. Applique, raw edge, fused, or machine/hand done. Machine quilted, hand quilted.  Quilted to death or not.  Texture from quilting, trapunto, pantographic, tied (heaven forbid 🙄) big stitches, micro-stitches, colored thread, mono-poly.  Usually bound and finished edges.

Innovative/Art quilts, all of the above, some, or none of the above.  Photo realism, collage techniques, appliqué, raw edge usually.  Let’s not forget embellished, painted, inked, rusted, dyed.  Beads anyone? Imagery, statement pieces, emotion grabbing pieces, also fun stuff, plays on words and ideas.

Photo realism, should it be a separate category? Maybe, it’s a collage, it’s made from fabric, it’s quilted.  I enjoy pieces that are a study in value and hue, sort of like a Monet painting.  This also opens up the category of pointillism, OY!  Fabric used like paint, to make a picture/quilt, like landscapes.  This flexibility of fabric is one of the things about quilting that really interests me.  The ability to use a piece of printed fabric to represent texture or shadow, or movement.  But what about quilts that are a digital fabric print that is quilted on?  Does the quilting actually add to the finished quilt, or does it serve to make it a quilt? This area is a bit gray to me.  I enjoy seeing the finished pieces, but rarely do I revisit and want to get up close and visually dissect it.  These quilts are often like posters of art to me.  I used to have a poster of Georgia O’Keefe’s Orange Poppy.  It was pretty, but then when I saw the real painting, I took that poster down, it was hollow and lifeless in comparison.

Lastly, I am trying to come up with inspiration for next year’s quilt.  Right now I feel overwhelmed by the sheer amount of talent out there.  I am trying to balance my joy in creating with my artistic side.  How to combine them with out loosing the balance.  Self doubt figures in here, unfortunately.  The technical stuff, I have down, I can sew a 1/4″ seam with my eyes closed.  I’m mastering pattern creation with EQ8 and have a sizable stash of “inspiration”.  Maybe it’s that next step that’s scary, the falling-off-the-cliff step.  Is it time to start a masterwork, or think more? Do I need to make a few more sub-masters, to reach to top?  When I see the ‘best in show’ quilts, I feel that I am a fledgling, but when I see the quilts of my peers, I feel confident.  Practice or stretch?

I have been steadily working on this quilt that I bought as a kit.  I stated earlier that I was channeling Judy Niemeyer methods, but now that I have progressed I find I’m really channeling Bonnie Hunter.  If you’ve ever done one of her annual mystery quilts, you can relate.  Each week there is a clue, like make 150 HST’s or 250 flying geese.  It seems overwhelming at first, however if you divide it up over the seven days, it’s not too bad. For this quilt I’m making, There are 150 nine patches made from 1 ½” squares, then you make them into 25 larger nine patches with plain 3 ½” squares.  The vertical sashing has 40 small four patches set on point.  I put it all together today, yay – Quilt in a week.  Thankfully we still have electricity, PG&E spared us from the mandatory shut down.  As you can imagine not much sewing gets done without electricity.

On my frame this week is the butterfly wall hanging.  I made this about 4 years ago, started quilting it and took it off the frame for some reason.  I am going to finish it this month.  I’d say week, but I have obligations this weekend, which involve cleaning and entertaining. Bleh.  I also fixed the green and red quilt, so its up next for quilting.  I was going to put the Growing up Odd (pattern from Wedding Dress Blue ) top on, but its huge, (110 X 110) and I don’t know what I’m going to quilt on it.  Panto or graffiti or feathers or ???

Linking up with Sarah over at Confessions of a Quilt Addict for Can I Get A Whoop Whoop? this friday.

Something new, and something blue.  My DS was here for the weekend to attend a high school friends wedding.  Maybe that’s why the saying popped into my head this morning.

The something old is a finish, the Unicorn Playground quilt is bound and finished.  So sparkly and sweet.  I think I should have used light pink thread to quilt it, the white isn’t really visible.  They are secret unicorns.

Something new is a quilt kit I’m working on.  Got it all cut out and I’m ready to put 150 little nine patches together.  I think the organization skills from the Judy Niemeyer quilt are blending into my work habits.  It’s an improvement to be sure.  I didn’t work on sewing the star this past weekend, just got the pieces cut for the next section.

The “something blue” is exciting, a blue ribbon for Sew She Did.  I was so surprised to get the email Thursday that my quilt had won Best Interpretation of Theme at PIQF this year.  I entered the show first as a challenge to my creative self, and secondly thinking that I could get some exposure for my LA quilting.  It worked out that way.  My quilt was displayed in a central location, right next to the Cherrywood Prince exhibit.  The lighting was good and it was hung singly, with nothing next to it.  So fun to watch people looking at it and admiring it.  I was very proud, and happy to share it.

When I went to pick it up yesterday, the man who was giving them back announced that I had won a ribbon to everyone else who was waiting for their own quilts.  Everyone applauded me, it was very, well, nice and felt really good too.  You can see all the winners for 2019 here PIQF 2019

 

Last week I cut and pieced this quilt top.  I had seen the pattern somewhere on a surfing expedition, and made a similar pattern in EQ8.  The borders were my addition and the color selection.  I wanted to use up the scraps from the Christmas Figs sampler that I finished up earlier this past summer.  I was able to cut all the pieces with the Accuquilt Go.  It was quick and easy, and now I have another top to quilt.  UGH!  looking at the picture I see a green triangle out of place.  I fix it later.

I dropped off “Sew She Did” at the Santa Clara Convention Center yesterday.  I’m planning on going Friday to shop and then Sunday to really look at the show. Of course I’ll look for my quilt first thing when I get there :).  I really don’t need *ANYTHING* for myself, so my strategies may include only bringing a small bag for purchases, making lists of what I have (thread colors) and bringing only cash.  I have to go back Sunday to pick up my quilt after the show.  It always amazes me how quickly they take the show down.  It closes at 4;00pm, the vendors are packing up at 4:01 (sooner if they can) and runners are taking down the quilts and bringing them up to the lobby area for pick up.  Last year mine was in the last bunch to come out.  It’s fun to wait with all the other locals, talking about the show and what they bought.

The feathered star quilt is taking shape.  I started chapter two yesterday, which is the second round of pointy feather thingies. This one is green and tan, I am enjoying working with the batiks.  There is something that satisfies my need for order and straight lines.

Linking up with Denise at For the Love of Geese for “Put Your Foot Down #22” today.

I have started a new project.  It’s an older Judy Niemeyer pattern called “Feathered Star”.  I found the fabric kit for it on sale earlier this summer, and the pattern was on sale too.  I’ve been chipping away at each “chapter” of this quilt.  If you’ve never made a Quiltworx pattern, they have a system, and it is very effective, helps you organize and it breaks down each step of their complex patterns.  I find it comforting in a methodical way, but first I have to let go of my need to do it my way.

This week I promised a friend that I would help her make a halloween costume.  She wants to be a magical mushroom.  Yeah, not your typical cape or jump suit costume, It mostly involves a hat, shaped like a mushroom cap.  I am trying to come up with a way to make it light, as no one needs more weight on their head, and she needs to fly with it to NY.  There will be upholstery foam and glue gun work involved.

I finished off the hand sewing on “So She Did”.  The binding, ugh black on black, I used quilting thread.  It’s a full binding, and I knew if I used regular thread, it would pop with the stress.  It worked well, and it was easy to thread the needles.  I also had to sew the hanging sleeve on and make a label with my name and address on it.  I’ve gotten out of the habit of making quilt labels.  I think its because I sign most of them with my initials and date when I long arm.  But most of my quilts are for sale or donations, and no one is interested in that.  I think if I ever make that quilt that is in my head, it’ll have a label on it.

Last week I got the unicorn quilt back on the long arm.  I had taken it off before I started “Sew She Did” and then the Lions club donation had to be quilted.  When I first put the sparkle Minky backing on the frame, I did what I always do with Minky, I pinned the selvedge edges to the leaders.  However I didn’t orient the quilt top so that the long side was parallel to the long side of the Minky.  I  found this out the hard way as I advanced the quilt to the last rows of the pantograph.  The backing was eleven inches too short, Minky is 60 wide, quilt is 71 long.  I was able to cut the extra backing from the side and add it to the bottom.   Thankfully I hadn’t centered the quilt top on the backing, as I wanted to have a decent sized scrap left over when the quilting was done.  One side was 4 inches and the other was 12.  Phew.

I want to start quilting the Christmas figs quilt after the Unicorn is done.  I also saw a quilt that will use up most of the scraps from it.  I drafted it on EQ8, and it is mostly HSTs, squares, and HSTs with one part split into two ( is there a name for them?).  Recently I signed up for an online class with Kari Schell at On Point Quilter to further my knowledge of EQ8.  It’s really helpful so far, Kari is a good teacher, and along with the handout PDFs and videos I feel like I getting a better understanding of the software and what it can do.