For our February meeting, we had a fabulous trunk show from one of our talented and prolific members, Stephanie Bennett-Strauss.  Enjoy photos of her quilts!

 We started 2023 strong with our first meeting!  We introduced 'getting to know you' as a way to learn more about our fellow members.  We also drew names for a new name tag exchange.

Our own Michelle Peerson led a thoughtful discussion on Creativity.

Several members had show & tell quilts:

'Against the Flames' by Robin Hart
26" x 39"

This was created for the July 2022 reveal.  Since it was accepted to the Houston show, we are just now able to share it.

This is a tribute to the wildland firefighters.  Robin was so alarmed by the number and severity of the wildland forest fires in 2021, and the ever pervasive smoke in Nevada County throughout the Summer that she thought about all of the firefighters that put themselves on the line to save lives, property and forest.  She created this quilt to honor the bravery of those firefighters fighting a forest inferno.  Robin created this using the digital surface design by painting in Adobe Photoshop and then she output it on whole cloth and thread painted to enhance the billowing smoke and fire.  

by Sophia Day

by Stephanie Bennett Strauss

by Tracy Visher

 We had our last meeting of the year as a potluck on December 9th.  I was not able to attend, but some of our members got some great photos and shared them to our facebook account.  Visit 

Mountain Art Quilters | Facebook if you have facebook and see the fun.  You can also follow us there!

 Yesterday was the last reveal of 2022 and it did not disappoint!  We had a full house of members and walls full of beautiful quilts.

Seashells

Remembering Sanibel 20" x 22"
by Pat Gillings

Artist Statement:  This fits the challenge by incorporating seashells.  This was made in memory of my sister, Carol.  We spent a lovely weekend in Sanibel, FL some years ago and some of the shells are from there.   With the recent hurricane Ian destroying much of Sanibel, it is particularly meaningful to me. Most of the quilt was hand stitched on wool fabric.  Materials:  Sari silk ribbons sewn to represent the ocean. White waves created with a wool roving webbing and a dyed scrim for sand.   I used various hand embroidery to create elements to go with the actual seashells. This quilt was actually challenging in that I used heavy interfacing to keep shells from sagging but then couldn't fuse layers as wool would just absorb it.  Had to add more layers which then made the quilt too thick to face and had to improvise a binding.

It's all Shells 18" x 37"
by Jane Haworth

Practice seashell painting

Artist Statement:  I am exploring using seashells in my work for various projects and mediums.  The inspiration was painting of my own collection of seashells.  Materials:  Home Depot drop cloth, various commercial cottons, textile paints & acrylic paints.  While exploring making seashell patterns in various sizes, making watercolor paintings of them and also in fabric collage, I opted to paint these shells in fabric & acrylic paints on the drop cloth base.  It was quite hard to paint on.  I also played around free motion stitching on my new longarm sweet sixteen machine. After the painted shells were stitched, I added collaged shells and an impro layered background.  This will be a table runner.

Reflections

Turtle Reflections 38" x 34"
by Michelle Peerson

Artist Statement:  Inspired by a photo by Hailey E. Herrera of Los Angeles.  She gave me permission to make her creation in fabric.  I dyed several of the fabrics, mainly the whole cloth piece.  I used sun dyes, salt to create the bubbles & designs.  I waited too long to finish "Reflections" and plan to do more embellishing with quilting, shells & hand dyed cheese cloth.

Evening Reflections 23.5" x 26"
by Jan Mitrovich

Artist Statement:  Her own thoughts and reflections were habitually her best companions" - Jane Austen.  The inspiration was Betty Albert (Cree nation). NW artist paints native American women.  When I saw her painting in a gallery in Washington labeled Evening Star Women, I immediately knew this one should be adapted to an art quilt.  Materials:  Cotton, silk, tulle, misty fuse, batting, beads, rayon ribbon (hair), paints, watercolor to shade the sky, acrylic spatter for background starts, staff ornament, purchased dreamcatcher embellished with paper features, embroidery floss, crystal stars from a diamond paint kit & lots & lots of thread. This piece created itself.  I had the basic image of a woman looking at the moon, but the fabric choices, embellishments and process was revealed to me as it came together.  As I reflect over my past year with MAQ and my beginner's journey with art quilts, I thank you all for your instruction, inspiration & friendship.

As Through the Wishing Glass
by Stephanie Bennett Strauss

Artist Statement.  This fits the Challenge by showing a cat looking for his REFLECTION in the mirror.  Materials:  Cotton & Organza fabric; cotton, polyester, and monofilament thread, cotton/poly batting, Iron-On stiff Interfacing.  I chose the Reflections Challenge because it immediately invoked a memory of a greeting card I had seen many years ago, and I thought it would translate well into an Art Quilt. My quilt depicts a Lady’s Vanity dresser with a large mirror, and several beautifying items on the dresser scarf. Nearby is an antique Tiffany shade hung from a Steampunk style floor lamp. This lady’s  Tabby cat has jumped up to admire himself in the mirror. The perfume bottles reflect nicely in the mirror, but something Magic has occurred when our feline friend looks for his reflection. He sees himself through a silvery mist, appearing very grand, powerful, sleek, and handsome, indeed. Seeing his Reflection has confirmed for himself that he really is who he thinks he is. He purrs, loudly. This quilt was quite challenging for me. I was trying to do things I had not done before, like using organza, working with vinyl (which did not make it into the final quilt), and an attempt at trapunto. Working to create a dramatic up close perspective was new. Figuring out the geometry of reflections was a trial. I thought about trying out the facing method of finishing, but given a deadline, and the many time-consuming mistakes I’d already made during this learning process, it was a bridge too far. Making this quilt was very rewarding, and I learned quite a lot.

Leaf it to Me

Leaves - Botanical #2
by Lynn Tubbe

Artist Statement:  I decided to challenge myself to try some techniques new for me - curved piecing, as well as pulled printing on organza and seeing if it was possible to paint dryer sheets.  What better way to practice - using one of my favorite subjects - leaves.  This was my own design, inspired by Joan Dyer's work.  Materials:  cottons, silk, organza, painted dryer sheets, painted and stamped fabrics.  My first attempt at painted fabric ended up with fabric so stiff, i ended up using it for the leaves sewn down after the facing was finished.  Next time I will use fabric paint, rather than adding textile medium to craft paint.  Steep learning curve.

Hosta 30" x 25"
by Jan Petre

Artist Statement:  The design source is a picture of my daughter's hostas in Michigan.  Having spent half of my life in Michigan and Connecticut, I was inspired to capture the new leaves emerging from the dormant bulb in the springtime.  This was a combination of hand dyed and commercial fabrics, with wool batting; leaf edges were shaded with inks.

Leaf Dance 12" x 18"
by Carole Rossi

Artist Statement:  I love leaves, any kind or shape, any time of year!  They make me happy.  This piece is meant to be joyful & fun.  It's all about the imaginary leaves, dancing all around! The inspiration was improvisational piecing & machine applique.  This was my own design - leaves, all sizes, flying out of a patchwork vase.  Patchwork was repurposed from an older, larger piece.  Materials:  Commercial cottons, including batiks; fabric paint (Lumiere by Jacquard); beads; couched yarn; some hand-stitching around the smaller leaves; buttons; 100% dream cotton batting; Quilting:  Simple straight-line quilting, both on the leaves & in the background.  I enjoy working on smaller pieces because I am more courageous about embellishing.  I'd like to include more embellishments in my larger pieces.

Forest Floor 29.5" x 28"
by Tracy Visher

Artist Statement:  This quilt is entirely comprised of leaves of many sorts.  I had an idea that involved ferns (a favorite forest plant, as they seem so cool and peaceful).  I came up with a design where I could feature the fern but wanted to create a full scene where its surrounding environment was included as a frame for it. I used an ombre fabric for the background.  I loved how the light area of it looked like filtered light in a forest.  I used a large stencil to get the fern image.  I used stamps and stencils for other leaf outlines in acrylic and fabric paints.  there are felt bits and embroidery threads.  Theis is burlap and tulle. The biggest challenge was how to do something unique with the fern image.  I didn't want to just stencil it.  I used it for the outline, then stitched around the whole thing over fusible on the back as a stabilizer.  I then cut out every leaf (which I used as "babies" along the ground).  I backed the whole fern with burlap, but I covered it with green tulle, so it wasn't so "brown".  I couched/embroidered the stem, along with a couple of vines elsewhere.  It was fun using a variety of techniques to add in all of the other plant life. 

Wild Card - Black & White + 1

Pop Art Tom 22" x 19.5"
by Karin Polli

Artist Statement:  All materials are black & white plus green.  I have been trying for 2-3 years to get a good picture of my cat, Tommy.  But he always closes his eyes when he sees the camera.  I finally surprised him in September and got a picture:  Materials:  Cotton fabric, batting and thread in black, white and green.  I inherited the black & white fabrics from a friend and wanted to use what I had without buying any additional fabrics.  Because of the type of designs on the fabrics I had to use, it was somewhat difficult to get shapes and shadows to fit the picture.  I am happy that even with the strange fabrics, it looks like my cat.

I am Not a Frog 20" x 30"
by Sophia Day

Artist Statement:  This used black, white & a light, medium and dark shade of green.  4 of us chose to combine this with a Quilt Guild Paint Chip challenge.  We drew random paint chips.  We also chose to have a theme of "circles".  This used commercial fabrics, monofilament thread and variegated thread.  I wanted to piece the circles but with so many interlocking ones, I didn’t think I could do it accurately.  It’s machine appliqued with monofilament thread.  I left negative space because I wanted to practice my Free Motion Quilting. My husband kept saying he saw a frog on a bicycle, hence it's name.

Where Do Your Dreams Take You? 20" x 30"
by Robi Holmen

Artist Statement:  Sophia Day, Holly Miner, Sue Marshall and I decided on a paint chip challenge using dark, medium and light fabrics, circles and black & white.  This is my own design, drawn first on paper using a large compass to offset some of the circles.  Flying geese imply movement.  Materials:  cotton solids, ombre dark to light, batik print and black & white cotton.  Wool batting is used in this piece with a faced edge.  I cut out each piece of the design, added 1/4" seams to everything, then stitched each section one to another.  I chuckle to myself seeing it complete, thinking:  "What in the world was I thinking".  Applique is so much easier.

Circle Party 20" x 30"
by Sue Marshall

Artist Statement:  I used mainly black & white plus a color chip to meet a guild challenge also.  This was a group challenge, 4 of us decided to do this color challenge, with the added element of circles.  I tried to use fabric that I had:  batiks, commercial black & white prints, grunge circles and dots. I used curve piecing, improv, did sketch for guiding design. It has FMQing with circles and rulers.

Black & White Fibonacci 20" x 30"
by Holly Miner

Artist Statement:  This uses blue, black & white.  It features Fibonacci shown 3 ways:  circles, spiral and boxes (in the quilting).  Materials:  cotton fabric, cotton batting, 12 wt Wonderfil spaghetti thread, 100 wt micro quilter thread.  I designed in Adobe Illustrator and had a good time figuring out how to make the spiral.

We also had one show & tell for a quilt that is in the Houston Quilt show.  

Letting Go
by Jan Reed

The inspiration was an image from a 1920s magazine illustration by Cheri Herouard.  It uses commercial batiks, seed beads and prismacolor pencils.  As I worked on this quilt, I realized how many grievances I still hold onto and wondered why it was so difficult to let them go.

 We had a wonderful meeting outdoors yesterday.  Our speaker was Linda Waddle, who shared her expertise doing discharge and bleach on various fabrics.  So many possibilities!  I think we'll be seeing quilts with this technique from our members in the future!

We had a special program for our August meeting.  Guild members brought in their favorite quilts and shared the story behind them.   It was wonderful to hear what inspires us to make our art. We also shared some of our favorite tools.

Michelle Peerson

Pat Gillings

Kat Madison

Karin Polli

Lynn Tubbe

Shelli Fried

Karle deProsse

Sophia Day

Sharon Rizatto

Stephanie Bennett-Strauss

Jan Reed

Marie Brower

 

 We had our Summer Reveal yesterday and there were many beautiful quilts presented.

Challenge - In the Trees

"A Summer Night in the West" by Tracy Visher
21.5" x 28.25"

Artist Statement:  A reflection on summer in Reno in 2021 when we were surrounded by wildfire smoke and didn't see the sky for 6 weeks. Sadly this is our "new normal". We end up packing for potential evacuation at least once each year. Fire season here is now 12 months a year.  I used bleach sprayed on black Kona cotton for the background, to attain the rust colored "smoke". I melted organza and copper lame' fabric to create some of the distorted shiny bits that represented flames. I cut out compressed sponge in the shape of a tree and stamped the black trees at the bottom foreground. 

"Windsong in the Morning Mist" by Karle deProsse
31" x 18"

Artist Statement:  The birds in flight are weaving in and out of the trees.  I was hiking in the woods around where I live one morning when I disturbed a flock of birds out of a tree.  I heard the sound of their wings before I saw the birds in flight.  I wanted to capture that enchanting moment.  I used 31 shades of blues in batiks, hand dyed and commercial fabrics.  The 215 paper pieced birds took much longer than I expected.  (What was I thinking in designing them so small?).  I wanted to piece the bird strips, not applique them.  figuring how to weave the birds in and out of the fabric was a challenge, as I wanted to keep the integrity of the fabric rather than piecing it in sections.  It seemed my garment sewing skills were used as much as my knowledge of quilting.

"High Above" by Patty Blesso
17" x 23"

Artist Statement:  The large oak tree has many animals in it.  I love nature and enjoy seeing animals in the trees when I am out hiking and kayaking.  I used Cotton fabric, photo pictures of the deer and eagle that I put on fabric.  I enjoyed making the tree and placing the animals among the branches.

Challenge - Fractal or Fibonacci

"Exploded Fibonacci Sequence" by Sophia Day
34" x 21"

Artist Statement:  The blocks are made using the Fibonacci Sequence.  They are 1", 2", 3", 5" or 8".  Rather than keeping them all together, I "exploded" them to get a more improv version with a lot of negative space.  I used commercial fabric, warm & natural batting and Superior thread.  The straight-line quilting was with a ruler.  The rest was Free motion.  I was very pleased and then I had a series of unfortunate events with fabric bleeding and then fabric bleaching.  It's much less vivid now than originally, but I learned what not to do.

"The Big Bang, Reimagined" by Kathryn Madison
24" x 43"

Artist statement:  Fibonacci is a series of numbers that define many spirals in nature, among them galaxies and seashells.  The inspiration was the stunning photos from the Hubble Space telescope.  I used a soldering iron, freezer paper, organza, acrylic felt, cotton, batting, vilene, polyester thread, monofilament thread, Swarovski crystals & beads. For the shell and the nebulas (cat's Eye, Hourglass and Helix) I used a soldering iron to precisely cut and fuse layers of organza, then thread painted them for texture.  the hand was painted on 100% polyester, then cut with the soldering iron for clean edges, then appliqued to the shell.  for the two galaxies (M81 and the Milky Way), I drew them on vilene, hooped it with a layer of tulle, then thread painted them.  After rinsing away the vilene, I appliqued them in position and trimmed away the tulle.  Then I fused hundreds of crystal "stars" in place.

Challenge - From a Fairy Tale

"Blue Fairy" by Tracy Visher
14" x 15"

 

Artist Statement:  She is the blue fairy from the 1940's Disney's Pinnocchio animated movie. This quilt is made entirely from my husband's worn-out denim jeans. Her wing tips are the edge of the pockets. Her wand tip is the "button" from the pant's waistband. Her belt is from beltloops. I added paint, beads and inktense pencil. 

Challenge - Black & White & One Color

"Intersections" by Julie Berry
16" x 21"

Artist Statement:  I love the clean, crisp contrast of black and white and added just a little blue for accent.  I have been wanting to try an angular modern design and thought black and white would be perfect for this.  I usually do landscapes, birds or flowers, so this was a personal challenge.  Cotton, organza and ric rac are the body of the quilt.  Sandra Bruce's buttons are a design element.  Something I learned while finishing this quilt was never plan on just a little glue coming out.  the buttons wouldn't stay straight, so I thought a couple of dots of glue would take care of it.  The barely flowing glue tube erupted and then I had another problem.