“September Textile Love” prompt is a reminder to label quilts

I’m participating again in Seam Collective’s September Textile Love challenge. Today’s prompt is “Spinning a yarn” for which I have responded with photos and details about this quilt, “Blue Rhino Moon.” This is a  story—or “yarn”—that is worth re-telling.

“Blue Rhino Moon”
2014 Guild Challenge

Textiles have stories

I believe all textiles have a story to tell. (Oh, if some could actually speak!)  When I look at the quilts I’ve made over the years, I think the stories behind the ones I remember most are the Guild Challenges I’ve participated in. This quilt,  “Blue Rhino Moon,” is a Guild Challenge piece that often accompanies me when I bring samples of my work to my workshops, like my Intro to Free-motion Quilting or Intro to Improv Quilting. This is when I get to re-live and re-tell the story behind the quilts. 

“Blue Rhino Moon” detail.

“Blue Rhino Moon” was made in response to my guild’s “Paint Chip Challenge” in which participants had to find three paint chips whose color names began with the our initials, use fabrics in these colors as the predominant colors of the quilt, and include some type of hand embellishment. My colors were Volcanic Ash (grey), Hang Ten (turquoise), and Oh So Red—VHO. I love the vibrancy of the complementary color palette, and the contrast with the black and volcanic ash fabrics. The quilt is improvisationally pieced and free-motion quilted on my domestic machine. The hand embellishments are tiny crocheted and tatted motifs. 

Back detail of free-motion machine quilting.

Here are detail photos of the machine quilting from the back of the quilt.

Back detail of free-motion machine quilting.

The message is: Label your quilts!

I so appreciate when one of the requirements of a Guild Challenge is that a label be attached to the quilt. Labels are one of the best ways to document a quilt, its maker, and its story. Yes, it takes a little extra time and effort when we are running up to the last minute of that Challenge deadline… but we have too many quilts by “makers unknown.” Don’t add your beautiful quilt to that list.

The title for this quilt came from a fabric scrap that was amidst the fabrics I pulled while making the quilt. This fabric scrap (with the rhino) incorporated the colors of the quilt so I used it and other trimmings from the patchwork to create the quilt label.

“Blue Rhino Moon” quilt label.

In the astronomy of ancient cultures, from where other full moons get their names— like the Strawberry Moon, or the Harvest Moon—I don’t think there is such a thing as the Blue Rhino Moon. But for the story of this quilt, the Blue Rhino Moon does exist.

And this story also includes a reminder to document your quilt by including a label!

I'm a Guest Artist at Murray Arts Council quilt exhibit, October 14-15, 21-22

Exciting news! I've been invited to be the Guest Artist at a quilt exhibit to launch the opening of the new facility of the Murray Arts Council [MAC] in Chatsworth, Georgia.

Blue Rhino Moon (detail) will be on display in the special exhibit
at the Murray Arts Council Chatsworth, GA. October 14-15 and 21-22.

I'll have nine quilted pieces in the exhibit that will be held on two weekends in October: 14 - 15 and 21 - 22, with an opening reception on Saturday, October 14 from 1 - 3 pm. The address to the gallery is 120 N. 3rd Avenue, Chatsworth, GA (about an hour from Chattanooga).

Blue Rhino Moon, 2004, 33.5" x 43"

This quilt, Blue Rhino Moon (read this quilt's back story in this blog post), is one of the nine quilted pieces that will be on display. It's an honor to be asked to be the guest artist and exciting to have a subset of my work hanging all together!

When I was first asked to be the guest artist, I made a mental list of pieces I thought people might like to see. "This one has great color..." "that one shows cool quilting techniques..." "that other one incorporates interesting fabrics..." was my initial thought process.

As the time approached to make the final selection, I laid out a big bunch of my quilts side by side...

Hmmm... these really need to be curated.

So, what I thought might be "fun to see" was a wee bit different from choosing pieces that would tell my story and make a cohesive showing. After a few auditions and edits, I feel the ultimate group of quilts is a good representation of the work I'm doing these days... (and still offers great color combos, improv patchwork, and cool free-motion quilting).

So, You're Invited to the Quilt Show! And I hope you can come to this special exhibit. I'm planning to attend the opening reception to help celebrate MAC's new facility and would love to chat about quilts and quilting with you. In addition to my pieces, there will be other quilts at the exhibit made by local quiltmakers.

October is a beautiful time of year to be looking at quilts, showing quilts, making quilts, thinking about making quilts....

Chattanooga AQS QuiltWeek Opens, September 16-19

It's Opening Day at AQS QuiltWeek in Chattanooga! 

AQS QuiltWeek Chattanooga is open!
Septembre 16-19, 2015

Go see: 

• the show quilts (marvel at the juried entries and the winners), 
• the special exhibits (got your eye on one of the Egyptian appliqué quilts? They are for sale!), 
• drop your dollars at the vendor booths (they're showing lots of cool new stuff), 
• take a workshop or sign up for a lecture,
• visit the other in- town exhibits (the WorkSpace exhibit has 40+ quilts and hand-crafted stitchery items for sale by local artists), and
• munch out at the local eateries in downtown Chattanooga.

Blue Rhino Moon
by Veronica Hofman-Ortega

Here is my quilt, Blue Rhino Moon, that you can see up close if you go to the show. A photo of my entry from last year, Pi E²—Exponentially Embellished is being used in the AQS marketing materials this year and you can see a piece of it on all the name badges.

Make a day or week of it! If you're a quilter, you will appreciate the talent, creativity and exquisite hand and machine workmanship of these pieces.

If you are not a quilter and are not familiar with AQS [the American Quilters Society], these quilts are ART! They are not like the "old time-y quilts" you think of when watching black/white TV movies of settlers crossing the plains in covered wagons, or what someone's granny made from old clothes. 

This is an art exhibit with fabric and thread!  …with several pieces made by local Chattanooga area quilters. And it's here in Chattanooga—AQS QuiltWeek Chattanooga.

QuiltWeek name badge includes a photo of my quilt,
  Pi E²—Exponentially Embellished.

See you there!