Friday, April 27, 2012

Mountain Art Quilters first Challenge Reveal is here ! The challenges were "No Straight Lines", "How Does Your Garden Grow?", and "Layers & Shadows". During the reveal, the members participated in voting for their favorites in the following categories: My Favorite Interpretation of the Theme; Best Original Design; Outstanding use of Color. Those who missed the reveal, enjoy the following photos and read what your peers are creating.

Lorna Tiller "Japanese Treasure Dragon" 
33"x44.5"
Challenge Name: No Straight Lines
"Using the collage technique for the first time in a class, I opened up to a whole new world of using tiny pieces of a multitude of different fabrics.  Almost everything on the quilt was a first to me including the tulle and beading."

Karel Hendee "Garden Blessing" 
Winner of My Favorite Interpretation of the Theme and Outstanding Use of Color. 
 Size: Triptych.
Challenge Name: How Does Your Garden Grow?
"I tried to vary my quilting stitches from what I learned in Cathy Stone's machine quilting class.  Hand-painted silk, cotton fabrics, cotton batting and decorative threads were used." 


Patricia Porter "Spinning a Rose" 
22" x 30.5"
"I cut out graphic shapes from hand-dyed cotton to create the large rose. I satin stitched each shape to the background fabric creating abstract rose petals.  I attached colorful wool yarns in a circular pattern on top of the rose petals. Wool batting, hand-dyed cotton and commercial Shot cotton fabrics, multicolored cotton threads, wool and polyester yarns were use.

Sandra Bruce "My Imaginary Garden" 
39" x 53"
"I wanted to try using Spoonflower to print my artwork on fabric, so I created this image from flowers that I created with brush and ink.  I do not have a green thumb but these flowers will last!  Cotton fabric from Spoonflower, Dream cotton batting and muslin back.  Thread is all Perma Core"

Jeanie Ferguson "Orthoptera Caelifera" 
7.75" x 14"
"My daughter studied entomology and taught it in 4-H.  Cotton fabrics, Thermore batting, Mettler and DMC threads were used.  Techniques used were needle-turn applique, hand quilting, hand embroidery and Tsukineko inks for shading. Creative Opportunities: framing and padding the quilt for a different effect. 

Lorna Straka "Weeds" 
11" x 17"
"A weed is simply a flower that hasn't reached it's full potential"
My beautiful garden has been neglected and turned to weeds.  I like to see the potential that hides within.  I used scraps of trim purchased at Fab Mo to create a garden scene.

Maureen Garrison "My Rose Bushes" 
12" x 12"
"When I lived in Alta Sierra, I grew 48 rose bushes and trees.  One spring I decided to see how many rose buds were being produced, so I started counting.  I was about 2/3rd. of the way through when I stopped counting, I had reached 640 rosebuds.  Cotton fabric/cotton threads/cotton-silk batting/canvas backing and Fast Grab Tacky glue were used." 

Edith Gregerson "Great Grandmother's Flower Garden"
"I started making paper pieced colored fabric hexagons several years ago.  After making a hundred of them I changed my idea and drew a design because I like the flowers I had created.  Soon I realized I needed more interest and added a fence to the design.  Cotton fabrics, threads in a variety of colors and batting were used."

Karel Hendee "Working Hands"
"I quilted some with first layer of batting then quilted more with a second layer of batting to create a more uniform look.  Hand-painted silk, cotton fabric, cotton batting and decorative threads were used."

Linda Waddle "Dahlias in My Garden"
"This began as white fabric-stamped in black with a large dahlia stamp. Dyed painted grasses and sponge painted sky.  Stamped, stenciled, screen printed flowers with dyes and paints.  Hand painted into stamps. Fabric markers, threads, dimensional paint.  Pimatex cotton, Procion dyes, opaque and transparent fabric paints. Rayon and trilobal polyester threads were used." 

Darlynn Evans "Fruit of the Vine" 
35" x 42"
"This is the second quilt I made using the radiating picture technique inspired by Katie Pasquini Masopust's book.  I dyed my fabric except for the purple on the grapes and border and the multicolor orange used on some leaves.  I used an orange gradation dyeing technique to get the orange backgrounds and used the darkest in the front. Mostly my own hand-dyed cotton fabrics, wool batting, Madeira poly-neon quilting threads were used" 

Lindsay Ostrom "Mary, Mary"
"I drew her with PITT pens onto the muslin, then colored with Prismacolor pencils and heat set. I wanted to attempt beading, so I added flowers to the grass in beads. Another technique was wire and fabric wrapping from Jennifer Swift's book "Creative Bloom". This was my first try and I will say my fingers got poked a lot and I'm not sure I would do it again.  Muslin, Faber Castel PITT pens, colored pencils, glitter, rusty wire, embroidery floss, bamboo batting, class beads, mushroom birds and pink vintage hanger were used."

Jo Hathcock "Springs First" 
12" x 12"
"I used an old original tulip painting to make a printed fabric design.  Loved the way it turned out. Scraps, fusing, colored pencils, painted fusing, original photography print were used."

Sandra Bruce "Big Buddha" 
40" x 50"
Challenge Name: Layers and Shadows
"This is an image I created some time ago and has been a favorite of mine as I love Buddhas.  It was a challenge deciding how to handle quilting the face without it being too distracting.  I did all the quilting on my long-arm except the black outline which I did on my Bernina for purposes of precision. I like the idea of creating shadows and layers with the image and not necessarily literally with layers of fabric.  Cotton fabric, Spoonflower, Dream cotton batting. Permacore and monopoly threads and glass beads were used."

Pat Gillings "Reflections of Things Past"
 Winner of Best Original Design
21"x 23.5"
"I have wanted to create a blend of photographs & sheers to create a unique meld. I have always loved architecture and the ethereal feeling that old buildings possess. Public Domain photos by Vera Kratochvil and Jon Sullivan were manipulated in Photoshop along with a public domain architectural drawings provided by phenom1859 and Karen Whimsey.  A commercial chiffon print was also used.  These items were combined with painted tissue paper, fabric, vintage lace and trim as well as stitching and beads to create the quilt.

Carol Walsh "Green Man" 
19" x 19"
"Protector of the green world & symbolic reminder of the cycle of life, death and rebirth.  The sacred tree is the male principle growing out of the earth. The ancient correlation of the tree (male) and the Holy Well (female) symbolizes the unity of these Divine polarities. There is a riddle that went along with the Green Man at the Roslyn Chapel in Scotland. "First I am green, Then I am brown, When the wind blows, I fall down, What am I ? " Hand-dyed wool and sold black backing. Thermore batting and poly deco threads. Embellishment: dyed wool roving and dyed finger weight yarn scraps were used.

Pam Berry "Elsa's Sister 
10" x 10"
"Working with silk was a pain! Original design was four times as large so reducing was tricky.  The face is several layers of chiffon;outline is pearl cotton, hair is various fabrics from upholstery to curtain sheers from Triads'. Pieced work is silk over a layer of silk. Designer Elsa liked to use beads and beaded applique.  Inspiration for the quilt came from clothing designer Elsa Schiaparelli."

Darlynn Evans "Water Lily" 
34" x 34"
"This is my first attempt at making a radiating picture quilt inspired by Katie Pasquini Masopust. I dyed all my fabrics using a 6 gradation for the orange, and 3 for the blue. I heavily thread painted the petals using stabilizer then quilted again.  When I made the quilt sandwich, I tried to show an infusion of light on the right side by choosing the petal colors and quilting in the background. Hand-dyed cottons, wool batting, poly-neon Madeira threads were used." 


Claudia Martinez-Sinsel "El Bombin" 
37.5" x 33.5"
"I have always been fascinated by the hats worn by the indigenous women of Peru and Bolivia in the Andes mountains.  The "bombin", as it is called in Spanish, is fashioned after the bowler hats worn by the English railroad workers in the 1920's.  It is worn by women and passed down from mother to daughter as a family heirloom.  Before I started quilting, I painted portraits and wanted to transfer this to quilting.  This is my first face in acrylics.  The face was done with a mix of liquid & heavy body acrylic paints on PDF cotton and the sky & background were done with a "wash" technique, also on PDF.  I used a dry brush technique with black & white heavy body acrylics for the hat.  The mountains, hat, hair, shawl, agave plant and water are rough edge applique stitched down with Wonder invisible thread and quilted with polyester and cotton quilting threads."

Monday, April 23, 2012

Another winner from the Foothill Quilters Guild Show

Michelle Peerson: Beach Walk
Pattern: McKenna Ryan
Category:Hand Applique
3rd. Place Viewer's Choice
Photo by Michelle Peerson

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Congratulations to the winners at the Foothill Quilt Guild Show. This was a very special year for the Guild, they were celebrating 30 years. They had over 300 quilts and pieces of wearable art that were entered in the show. Representing Mountain Art Quilters were Christine Barnes, Darlynn Evans, Joan Dyer, Jan Reed, Ann Sanderson, Linda Waddle and Carol Walsh.

Darlynn Evans "Convergence"
Category 4: Art-Applique/Other
1st. Place, Best of Show and 1st. Place Viewer's Choice


Detail of "Convergence"


Christine Barnes "Transparent Circles"
Category 1: Pieced-small
1st. Place
Quilted by Cathy Stone

Jan Reed "Ancient Echoes"
Category 5: Art-pictorial
1st. Place
3rd. Place Members Choice and 2nd. Place Viewer's Choice


Darlynn Evans "Geopatria"
Category 4: Art-Applique/Other
2nd. Place

Ann Sanderson "South African Whirlwind"
Category 3: Art
2nd. Place

Joan Dyer "Mountain Morning"
Category 6: Art-pieced
2nd. Place
Judges Favorite
Viewer's Choice/Honorable Mention

Jan Reed "Painted Ladies"
Category 5: Art-pictorial
2nd. Place

Detail of Painted Ladies

Christine Barnes "Black Opals & Ribbon Candy"
Category 1: Pieced-medium
2nd. Place and Viewer's Choice
Quilted by Cathy Stone
Photograph by Steven Buckley/Photographic Reflections


Linda Waddle "Dahlias in My Garden"
Category 3: Art
2nd. Place Viewer's Choice

Linda Waddle "Art"
Category 3: Art
V.I.P. Ribbon

Joan Dyer "Barkcode"
Category 6: Art-pieced


Joan Dyer "Color Blocks"
Category 6: Art-pieced

Joan Dyer "Green Cheese"
Category 6: Art-pieced

Linda Waddle "Oopsee Daisy"
Category 3: Art

Linda Waddle "Trouble Makers"
Category Pieced/Other
Photograph by Linda Waddle


Linda Waddle "Thumb Sucker"
Category 5: Art-pictorial

Detail of Thumb Sucker

Linda Waddle "Gearing Up"
Category 3: Art

Ann Sanderson "Tsunami Rattles California"
Category 6: Art/pieced

Carol Walsh "The Green Man"
Category 4: Art-Applique/other
Photograph by Carol Walsh

Carol Walsh "The Last UFO"
Category 10: Pieced-medium
Photograph by Carol Walsh