More Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival Photos

Here's more quilting fun from the 2006 Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival:

Diane Wold:
Carol Taylor, "Dispersion":


Marian Coleman:

Pauline Salzman, "Threads from Hell":

Marguerite Jay Gignoux:

My fellow Uhuru guild member and conference buddy, Sheryl, resting our hurting, hurting feet after a long fun day of guiltgazing and doodad-shopping:

I'm In! NQA Annual Show

I'm pretty excited. "Tish Groove" is going to be in the 37th Annual Show of the National Quilting Association. Yay!

Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival Tour!

Here I am at the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival! Note the pre-quilt shopping frenzy smile! Some of our fellow AQ ringers had quilts there:

Julie's "Tarot: 5 of Wands"


Desiree's "Transformation" (Best Trad. Pictorial)


Diane's "Grotto"


Sheril's "Free at Last"

Pat's "Threads of Our Lives"

Here I am looking studious as I test-drive a dream machine for me--a Bernina with the stitch regulator. Mmmm...

I was almost overwhelmed by the amount and beauty of so many of the quilts. I'll try to feature some across the next two postings or so. Here is the Best Innovative, "Spirit of Tibet" by Barbara Swinea & Linda Cantrell and the fabulous Best of Show, Charlotte Warr & Aubry Kae Andersen's "Starcrossed."


I did get a chance to meet Vikki and there we are in front of her quilt! Her guild, the 54-40 African American Quilters of Virginia had a very nice, large section featuring their quilts!

I had such a good time yesterday I was practically giddy!

WOO-HOO!! Off to the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival!

I'm heading down to Hampton with my guild to the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival! I am so excited! I've never been to a quilt show before. GASP. Yeah, I know, right? I'm really looking forward to it.

While I'm there I'll get to see quilts by AQ ring members Diane, Desiree, and Sheril. I also get to meet AQ member Vikki and the ladies of the 54-40 African American Quilters Guild of VA.

I'll make sure that I take plenty of pictures!

"Just Me Being Negative"--DONE!

D-O-N-E! This is "Just Me Bring Negative" (its full title). The smaller pieces are joined by needleweaving. I got my submission off to PAQA-South for their ARTQUILTSimages exhibit.

I cut it a little close for comfort, but I'm going to sleep well tonight. There's nothing like being up last night needleweaving at 2 am. Yawn.

Keyhole Nebula 2--DONE!

Remember the scorched fabric from when I was working on Starbirth: Keyhole Nebula?

Well, I cropped it and it's my SPUN entry now, LOL. Keyhole Nebula #2. I like the quilting I did on this little 12 x 12.5 piece better than #1!

Detail Shot--"Me Being Negative"

Here's a detail shot from "Just Me Being Negative." I just have to join the pieces and I'll be DONE. Then I can photograph it and send it off to the Images exhibit. I've been trying to be a bit more proactive about trying to enter my pieces into shows, you know?

"Being Negative" Quilt Challenges

I will be done with "Being Negative" tomorrow. I handquilted that central image and the smaller ones and freemotioned the rest of it. Once I back it, I'm attaching the smaller images via needle weaving--something new for me. Only problem is that I have no idea how to hang it as it would be from the top, smaller images. Any suggestions?

I intentionally quilted the central image in a way that would leave it a little full and poufy. I wanted it to have a more 3D-ish effect to make the lying on a pillow part really stand out. I am going to submit this to the PAQA-South "Images" exhibit. I see a FedEx-ed entry in my future as the deadline's Friday, LOL.

Thread & Memory

I am almost truly done with "Being Negative". Got Ol' Singer to work and everything, go fig. I realized I didn't have any lavendar thread and it would be a perfect color for a part. I went through my threads and there was my great-grandmother's little spool sitting there. I'll admit I was a little apprehensive. I keep it in there as a momento as we were very very close, but I figured she'd rather that I used it.

So I did.

And I think the color turned out beautifully. As I was sewing with it, I felt so good as I couldn't help but think that it was her favorite color and I was using the exact thread she had used herself. I think it was meant to be.

CRASH! AAIGH!

My hard drive crashed last night and was wiped out. I have spent all day getting my computer running again. AAAIGH.

Lucky for me, I backed up my novels and stories, websites, scanned ancestor photos/genealogy info and quilting stuff on a thumb drive 2 weeks ago. I saw that it was running slow and got paranoid about saving stuff.

I did lose my entire iPod library though. Damn. Now there's something to cry about. 2339 songs. I have all the CDs and backed up bought ones. I'll have to pull it from my iPod itself. I hope they'll all go over. Cross your fingers for me. This sucks!

Hoopla Traders

My husband and I had a little time to kill and popped into this wonderful little store called Hoopla Traders on Valentine's Day. Located on 8th St. SE in Capitol Hill (across from Barrack's Row) here in D.C., we found the enthusiasm of the sales rep infectious. They specialize in hand-crafted gifts and there's an emphasis on artists and artisans there. I love stores like that--unpretentious and where you can tell the owners really put a lot of thought into what and who they carry.

We really liked its vibe and the layout too. The whole store is set up in a series of rooms. It was like uncovering surprise after surprise. Great store!

On Quilting & Connections

Years ago back when I was an intern at a magazine, I was wrapping up my last college semester and preparing to leave. My editor asked me if I'd like to go on a press trip somewhere warm. I said "Okay" thinking Florida or somewhere like that in the States and then she said "Kingston." I was off to Jamaica! I had a great time with the other journalists as we visited wonderful hotels and resorts, the Bob Marley Museum, Devon House--where I met actress Sheryl Lee Ralph by accident (her mom had a shop there), and sipped fresh Blue Mountain coffee on a plantation high in, well, the Blue Mountains.

I made a friend, a fellow journalist named Nathasha, and we lost touch a few years back. She's now an editor and recently contacted me because she found me through quilting. Turns out she's an art quilter too! How cool is that? (Ohhhh...did I just go all Rachael Ray with that expression? Yikes, LOL.) It's nice to have found an old friend again through quilting!

Snow Daze

Well, it seems like the weatherfolks were on point for once. Yup, that's my car.

Ughhhh...I hate winter and snow. I could absolutely do without it.

Hand Quilting for Dummies

I haven't hand-sewn in quite a while, but since Ol' Singer's on the blink, I thought I'd try it again. While I enjoy the experience of feeling the thread being pulled through, I now know that I like using my machine better. There are certains "effects" I like in my quilting that I can't get by hand.

I've also found that, despite owning 6 different kinds of thimbles, I hate using one for the most part. Now I have a callous on one finger ("Wow, now that's ladylike!" my husband joked. Ha.Ha.) and prickmarks on my thumb. I have this thing about being able to feel what I'm doing. I do like using these little ThimblePad things. Okay, I really like using these ThimblePad things. They slide around a little once they warm, but I still feel everything. For you hand quilters who hate thimbles too, what do you like to use?

I've quilted all of the smaller "snapshots" now. I don't know how well the stitching comes up in these photos, but here they are!

Elle's Ziploc O'Fun!

Working on the "Negative" piece. Each of the small ones will be handquilted as I haven't tested Ol' Singer yet and, well, I like the effect. I got some work done on the way in to work this morning--hence, the Ziploc bag. I wish it was warmer, because during lunch I'd go sit somewhere outside and work. Right now, there are very few places here in downtown D.C. where you can go and do that without feeling like someone's waiting for your space.

I'm about to go fight it out at the Social Security office this afternoon. I went to file my taxes and the IRS told me my birthday was wrong. What?! How come no one has ever let me know before? How come no one let me know when they caught it? I called S.S. and sure enough, my birth date was reversed and always has been for over 31 years!! Can you imagine?! Arrrrrrgh. What a pain!

"Being Negative" Quilt Beginning!

Well, the photos are printed out and the main one fused down onto some lovely painted fabric by my guild member Elsie Houston. When I first saw that fabric it spoke to me. I knew exactly then that I'd make this quilt from it and told her I had a great idea for it. She found it funny as she didn't like it or how it turned out. I was like, are you kidding me? What you can't see it that the pale green has shades of very pale blues, lavendars and grays as well.

I've got an idea for this inspired by some African textiles I saw...Hmm...

New Quilt Beginning: "Me Being..."

What do these images have in common? They're part of a new quilt I'm working on. I've been going through something really emotional for me and this will be a reflection of how I've been feeling.

I'll keep you all posted as I make progress. I've been printing the images out today. They've been turning out pretty well. I haven't killed my printer yet, so cross your fingers.

When I took the pics (w/my camera phone!) my husband was like, "What in the world are you doing?" I have to admit, I was looking pretty strange. I told him "Art." He said, "Ahhhhh." Nice to have a dude who gets me.

Art Quilt Inspiration & One's Own Style

Picked this up at the bookstore the other day. There are so many incredible pieces in it that I felt really inspired. It was great to see fellow AQ ringers Melody, Alison and Lisa in it.

Lately, because I seem to be working in portraiture, I've been feeling as if my pieces aren't as "artsy". I know, I know, I suppose they are, but I see so many wonderful abstract pieces and mine feel very...different. I guess every artist goes through this from time to time. All I know is that my backgrounds are really influenced by African textiles, and I think that all of that time spent in the museums overseas seeing the works of so many great master painters really affected me. Maybe I'm getting a feel for my own style?