SAQA "I'm Not Crazy" Exhibit Entry

Studio Art Quilters Association is having an exhibit titled "I'm Not Crazy" which explores mental health issues. I think the title  is offensive but whatever. It is the perspective or someone with mental illness, a caretaker or friend or family member of someone with mental illness. I have a very close friend who is Bipolar and is medicated to have balance in her life. This quilt is my interpretation of being bipolar-one minute she is happy, hyper bouncing off the wall and the next sad, depressed and angered. I used muted sad, dull colors to represent being depressed and, of course, the frustrated facial expression. I used bright colored fabrics with lots of chaos for the manic side's clothing, make up and jewelry. Her hair is out of control and her facial expression shouts "manic." I used lots of desciptive words on both sides of the personality in a subtle way in the background. I purposely went subtle because in society we don't want to talk about mental health issues and they are subtle and quiet  in our discussions. I found there is a two sided smiley face which symbolizes Bipolar Disorder and I added it to the quilt in the lower center of the quilt.

This photo is a closeup of the depressed personality.

And this is a photo of the manic personality. She's kind of "out there!" Her expression deminds me of Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter in Alice in Wonderland!!

Cloeup of the Bipolar symbol and a few of the background words.

I embellished the manic side with hand made Sculpey clay beads, a beaded earring, rhinestones for pierced earrings, orange lame' in the hair to symbolize being wired, and some fabric paint. The intent was for excess and chaos in hair, make up, clothing and jewelry. The depressed side has a necklace made to buttons made from leather (pretty cool from a quilt show!), a few beads for the necklace and a rhinestone for the nose piercing. Both have a little fabric paint for details.

The exhibit aplication is online at SAQA's website the month of May and during the summer we find out if we made the cut then the selected quilts will travel for 2 years to the various Mancuso Quilt Shows.

This quilt is not meant to represent beauty but a social issue. I was thinking of entering it in the local community art show at my library which runs through the summer but I'm not sure if the social issue would offend people. I guess art can do that sometimes...

Victory Rolls

This is my latest quilt. I have been inspired by all the many hairstyle images on Pinterest. I love the 1940s fashions and hairstyles and there have been plenty of pictures of "victory rolls" and various pin curls and I wanted to do a quilt representing these ideas. When I went to Florida in January I found the large scale print, the dress print, the red wavy stripe and the purple tone on tone dot fabric and suddenly became inspired because I love flowers and I loved the "weird" yellowy lime green. So between the fabrics and my love of the 1940s this is what I came up with. The hair is my favorite part of the quilt and the most challenging. I was looking at images of curls and how the light reflects in certain areas and the shadows are in the depth of the hair and the pin curls. But how to translate that into fabric. I thought if I was doing this as a painting how would I approach it?? I began with the tone on tone dot fabric and had one big piece the size of the entire hair. then I visually sectioned off the highlighted (lighter) areas, the darker areas and the shadows or deepest and farthest away areas. I assigned 3 fabrics to each area and layered and fused them to the base purple fabric. I used a purple fabric marker to define the lines and then when I quilted it I defined it some more and I was satisfied with the victory rolls-it has definition and movement. I could have used fabric paint as a last resort if I wasn't getting the results from the fabric alone but I didn't need it. I have a paper doll book of 1940s fashions which helps me select the right clothing for my lady in the quilt. I didn't go nuts with jewelry just a simple earring make from a flower button and a few beads. The flowers in her hair are cut from leftovers from the large scale border fabric. Fortunately they were mirror images and I fused them back to back, tacked them down and glued a rhinestone to the center. There are a few red rhinestones in the background and a bit of fabric paint on her face for details on the eyes and mouth. She ended up looking a little like Lisa Marie Presley or Bette Midler isn the 1970s!.  I did contrasting quilting in certain areas-the striped background got circular quilting and the curvey floral of the outside border got striped stitching. I will enter it in upcoming quilt shows.

The second photo is a close up and a follow up of my last post to show the progression of the face as I begin the drawing, the fused applique, the quilting and the details.

New Quilt: Step A and B

This a sneak peak of my new quilt. I found this great chartruse, purple and red large print called June Bugs by Timeless Treasures while visiting Winter Haven FL and knew I had to have it. I love the website Pinterest and found inspiration from some of the photos plus I am obsessed with 1940s hair especially victory rolls so combined all these things and I have a new idea for a quilt!! The top photo is the drawing for the quilt and the second photo is the same area with the applique pieces cut and fused to the background. So the woman has green skin, purple hair, a floral 40s style dress, a red background and I used the funky big print for the border. The woman ended up looking like Bette Midler or Lisa Maire Presley!! I am almost ready to start the quilting process and will show finished photos when it is done. It already has a name-"Victory Rolls"

I have completed my entry for the 2012 Hoffman Challenge, an entry for the Studio Arts Quilters Association's "I'm Not Crazy!" Exhibit, Quilting Arts Magazine "What's Your Signature Color?" Challenge but I can't show any images yet due to the fact I don't want anyone to copy my designs so I must wait for the deadlines of April, May and July.

I've been busy and today is internet/computer day so that's why I have posted three different posts on one day!! Take care and be creative!

My Upcoming Teaching Opportunities

I will be teaching at University of Wisconsin-Platteville's 2012 Sewing and Quilting Expo which runs Friday and Saturday Aug. 3 and 4, 2012. I will be teaching "Color is Our Friend!" and "Embellishments 101" and lecturing on "Elements and Principles of Design for Quilters." I am not sure of the exact times of my clases but their website is www.uwplatt.edu/cont_ed and they have a Facebook page www.facebook.com/pages/UW-Platteville:Sewing-and-Quilting-Expo. which has the most recent info.

And I will be lecturing on Thursday Sept. 6, 2012 and Saturday Sept. 8, 2012 at Wisconsin Quilt Expo in Madison WI. I will be doing my "Elements and Principles of Design for Quilters" lecture at 1 pm each of these days. The quilt show brochure will be available this summer. Their website is www.wiquiltexpo.com for more info.

I hope to meet some of my internet quilting friends at either of these venues if at all possible!

Michigan Quilt Artist Invitatonal at Spies Library in Menominee MI

The 2011-2012 Michigan Quilt Artist Invitational themed "Art of the Kitchen" has traveled through Lower Michigan since Sept. 2011 and now my city, Menominee, has this awesome exhibit this April and May 2012 at Spies Public Library Gallery during normal library hours.  The exhibit is free to the public.There are 48 art quilts sized 20" x 24" either vertical or horizontal and I have photographed a few of my favorites. The first one is fun because it reminds me of Andy Warhol and pop art from the 1960s and 1970s.

This piece by Mary Andrews, one of the two creators and curators of MQAI, is awesome because I love rick rack, aprons and it reminds me of June Cleaver from "Leave it to Beaver!"

This quilt by Robbie Payne is great because she has mastered beading and there are LOTS of tiny sead beads in this piece!!

 I love this quilt because of the colors, the detailed appliques and the leaves protruding beyond the edges of the quilt. It is inspired by a kitchen wallpaper border.

This quilt is fun to me because it reminds me of a 1960s kitchen ! Love the colors and the background fabrics!!

This quilt is a seven layer salad and it puts a smile on my face because the artist used green pom poms for the peas and there are individual pieces of "cheese" scattered around the quilt. Very creative!!

And last I have included my piece because I had so much fun making it and exploring the difference between 1940s and 1950s kitchen appliances, fashions, hair etc. I love pin up girls and liked the '50s pastels with the black/white accents.

All the art quilts are very creative and amasing how 48 artists can interpret a theme in such a diverse way. check it out if you are in the area!!

Evergreen Quilters 2012 Quilt Show

 I entered four quilts in the Evergreen Quilters 2012 Quilt Show in Green Bay WI which was March 24-25, 2012. They are one of the few regional shows that have special art quilt categories-landscape/still life, figurative/portrait, surreal/fantasy and abstract. The two quilts behind me I entered in the surreal/fantasy category and I won both 1st and 2nd place!! I also won an honorable mention in the figurative/portrait category. It was hard to chose which quilts for this show because I don't do landscapes and abstract which meant my work fell into the other two categories. I also had a few favorites at the same time being juried into an art quilt exhibit in Escanaba MI. They chose one out of the three I entered so if I had a crystal ball I would have entered one of the quilts that did not make the Escananba cut.

This quilt I entered in the machine pieced, machine quilted by master quilter category and won 2nd place. That made my day since this quilt was a very challenging project. I used the 2012 Hoffman Fabrics Challenge Fabric since it was going to be used for the challenge but was too big for the rules. I chose to make it anyway and I will enjoy the ribbon!!

This quilt won Best of Show and I like it because it is in bright colors yet the technique is traditional using the Baltimore Beauty style of hand applique. I did not ge the artist's name. :(

 This quilt called "Boom-Cosmic Inferno" by Diane Auger was in the Abstract art quilt category. I love it because of the high contrast between the black/white prints and the bright rainbow colors. It looks like a double Ricky Timms' Convergence quilt with her own applique over it. I love circles and thus was drawn to this quilt. It only won an honrable mention but I love it!!

This quilt called
"Zippity Do Dad" was in the Abstract art quilt category by Linda Kuritz and won second place. It has actual working zippers with funky hanging do dads as zipper pulls. I love the string quilt technique and the irregular edge. Lots of activity but it is cohesive in theme. Linda had lots of work in the show and I was able to met her and compliment her on her creativity!!

The Green Bay guild had a great biennial quilt show with 22 vendors (I bought lots of batiks and a tote pattern.) I got to visit with some of my Appleton WI quilt friends and many others quilt friends even those from Marinette/Menominee where I live!! I had so much fun!!

Joann Fabrics "Quilt Your Colors" Quilt Contest 2011

I entered the Joann Fabrics "Quilt Your Colors" Quilt Contest last year and made the cut of 22 finalists and I mailed my piece to the Joann Fabrics headquearters for judging. Unfortunately it did not make the top 10 where all the prizes/money were. I was bummed and said I wouldn't enter the next year. The size requirement was a minimum 36" x 36" which I thought my quilt measured. It actually shrunk in the quilting process and was not the minimum size and maybe that's why it didn't make it any farther than it did. So after 6 months of thinking about it I decided to give it another try for the 2011 contest and go bigger with my entry. This is my quilt named "Sapphire and Topaz" and is 51" x 42." I wanted to explore the color combination of blues and oranges. This was a challenge using Joann Fabrics fabric because they did not have a lot of prints with both colors together in the fabric. I went to three Joann stores-Madison WI, Green bay WI and Escanaba MI, and finally was satisfied with my collection of fabrics for the project. I have a secondary theme of circles in the quilt-circle print fabric, circle appliques, circle echo quilting in the background and circle shaped felt buttons and sequins. I found a fun blue and orange metallic knit in the Hallowee section which fit nicely for part of the hair. I kept the face quite simple because the hair was the emphasis. There are also beads and buttons sewn to the quilt and a bit of fabric paint.

I received a phone call last week to let me know of 900 quilts mine made the cut of 22 which now are shipped to their headquarters for judging!! That made my day!! I sent my quilt to Ohio on Monday and the judging starts after April 1st and by the second half of April we find out who the winners are. The top 3 quilts are photographed and are featured on-line on Joann's website and in an upcoming sale flyer. So it's a waiting game now but I love this quilt-the oranges make me smile!!