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....

Strike Zone: a raw edge applique flannel quilt

Welcome to October... and the last day of the regular baseball season. This is another quilt from the archives, called Strike Zone.

"Strike Zone"

Strike Zone is a raw-edge appliqué flannel quilt I made for my husband in 2010. After 7 years of use and a number of washings (and dried in the dryer), it has held up well.

Strike Zone, 64" x 56", completed March 2010

The weather on this beautiful first day of October is prime for either outdoor or with-the-windows-open indoor activities. At 3:15 pm (Eastern Time) today, however, all the last MLB [Major League Baseball] games of the season will begin... and

• baseball fans will be glued to TV screens or the field,
• baseball widows/widowers will be enjoying other activities,
• baseball fantasy league participants will be checking play-by-play and end-of-game points to reveal their final ranking.

Have fun and good luck to all!

The Chef's Dilemma quilt and a birthday wish

The Chef's Dilemma, 2003.
Best of Show 2004, A Mountain Quiltfest.

In honor of Larry's (my husband) birthday today, September 24, I've pulled a photo of an all-time favorite quilt, The Chef's Dilemma, from the archives. This quilt was made in the fall of 2003, when I was a brand new quilter and a member of my first-ever quilt guild. It was created in response to a Guild Challenge—another concept at the time that was new to me—where it won a first place. What an honor and a surprise for me as the members of this guild were all long-time and very accomplished quilters.

This quilt is a combination of patchwork and raw-edge appliqué [raw-edge means the edges are not turned under as in traditional appliqué]. The quilt is free-motion quilted and straight-line quilted with the walking foot. With the popularity of raw-edge appliqué collage quilts these days (see the wonderful collage quilt patterns by Laura Heine), this is a fun and freeing technique for anyone to try, or to revisit if you've not done it is a while!

"Fabric Larry" (the working title) then went on to receive the Best of Show at A Mountain Quiltfest in Pigeon Forge, TN in 2004. It was the first time a non-bed-size quilt won the top honor, and it was the most complete surprise and honor for me. I am forever thankful that the SBs (my quilting sisters) were there to support [literally—as I got weak in the knees when I found out it won] and celebrate this amazing accomplishment with me.

The Chef's Dilemma was accepted into other quilt shows and exhibits—the McMinn County Heritage Museum quilt show, The Smoky Mountains quilt show, and the Quilts for a Change Zonta exhibit—where it received awards.

These days, The Chef's Dilemma occasionally comes with me when I teach "Intro to Free-motion Quilting on a domestic machine" or if there is a special Show and Tell at a guild meeting or presentation. And "Fab Lar" is part of the quilt rotation at our house.

So, Happy Birthday, Larry! 

You'll always be my favorite chef.

Colors of the Sun, an Equinox quilt

Colors of the Sun 
38" x 41"  September 2001

Today, September 22, the sun shines directly on earth's equator and the length of the day and the night are nearly equal. It is the Autumnal Equinox.

This quilt is Colors of the Sun—a quilt I made in 2001. This was one of my first attempts at drafting a paper piecing pattern [needed for the suns] and the quilt was in response to my first Guild Challenge. It's also one of my husband's favorite quilts.

The Guild Challenge was called "Pick 6" and the quiltmaker was required to choose 5 or 6 of the following elements to incorporate into a quilt:

• yellow
• forest green
• purple
• sun
• 9-patch
• log cabin

I used all six.

There are several scrappy 9-patch blocks incorporated into the quilt. These are the most obscure of the required elements in my quilt. The 9-patches are 3" finished so the individual units are 1" each.

The 9-patch, sun, log cabin, yellow, green and purple elements can be seen here.

The quilt has free-motion and walking foot quilted. This was way before ruler work tools were available for domestic sewing machine quilting (and my free-motion skills were not quite developed).

Walking foot quilting around the suns and in the border.

The tops of the "log cabin" flowers were embellished with beads.

Beading on the flower centers.

From today until the winter solstice on December 21 (in the northern hemisphere), our days will shorten as the nights grow longer. As the cooler temperatures approach, it's a great time to rummage through your fabrics, decide on a new or pending quilting project and put needle and thread to stitch.

I love being involved with the art of quiltmaking in the fall and winter months!