Smoky Mountain Quilt Guild Show 2016

Posted on October 16, 2016 by zippyquilts

One of my local guilds had their biennial show recently, so of course I have many pictures of the quilts. This is an opportunity to display the best needlework of many of our local quilters.

I’m starting with ten of the most elaborate ones. The quality of the pictures is limited by both the lighting in the hall and the arrangement of quilts in 3-sided cul-de-sacs, the way it is done at AQS as well. However, it is obvious that a lot of work went into these!

Smoky Mountain Quilt Guild, Sandra Sneed

I’ve always meant to make one of these!

Smoky Mountain Quilt Guild show, Karen Burney

Though it is traditional, this is one of my favorites!

Love the houses and trees!

I’ll have more pictures from this show at a later date 🙂

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12 Favorites: Chattanooga Quilt Week

Posted on October 2, 2016 by zippyquilts

I was lucky enough to attend the AQS show in Chattanooga last week, so I’m sharing some of my favorites with you. These are not meant to be representative of the show and they certainly do not represent the award-winners much. They are my personal choices.

But first, I must tell you that before I even went to the show I stopped at Spool, a great quilt shop in Chattanooga, to get my “Where’s the Penis?” button to wear to the show. This is to protest recent AQS censorship. I won’t repeat the ridiculous tale; if you don’t know about it you can read about it here, and read an even better analysis of the situation here.

The show was in the Chattanooga Trade Center, a nice facility with a carpet that would have been a good quilt design. Click on the photos to see bigger images.

In the show itself, I was struck by the dearth of truly traditional quilts. This traditional design was one of my favorites, but it is a small art quilt done as part of a challenge to make something in the spirit of the artist Grandma Moses.

Quilt by Yuko Miyashita of Japan, in response to a challenge to represent Grandma Moses

Quilt by Yuko Miyashita of Japan, in response to a challenge to represent the work of Grandma Moses

The great majority of the quilts were what I would classify as “art quilts” in that they had almost no possible function beyond the decorative. Sure, you COULD use that 18 inch square quilt as a table topper, but it seems unlikely.

The SAQA (Studio Art Quilt Association) had an exhibit, as usual, and I admired many of their quilts, including this one:

Towers of Babble, by Pam RuBert

Another exhibit of art quilts included this one by Laura Wasilowski, whose work I admire:

Lacking Gravity, by Laura Wasilowski

This quilt, from the same display of art quilts, also caught my eye:

Hot Flash 2 by Nancy Woods

There were a number of fun quilts displayed as the result of a challenge to use nontraditional materials, but this was my favorite.

Noth your Grandmother's Drunkard's Path, by Barbara Barber

Not your Grandmother’s Drunkard’s Path, by Barbara Barber

Note how she has used tufts of batting to represent foam:

Detail of Not Your Grandmother’s Drunkard’s Path by Barbara Barber

Here are some of my favorites from various categories in the main contest.

Between the Lines by Wilma Moss

Detail of Between the Lines by Wilma Moss

Modern Wedding Rings by Gabrielle Paquin (of France)

Mid-Century Modern by Jerriann Massey

Rockslide by Karen Duling

Autumn Gold by Lori Schloesser

Carpathian Mountain Sunset by Cathy Geier

And finally, a quilt that was so popular at the Vermont Quilt Festival that I had trouble getting a picture of it. It is still spectacular, but didn’t even get an Honorable Mention in Chattanooga.

Judgment of Osiris by Georgia Spalding Pierce

This last quilt is bed size, though not especially traditional. So where were the traditional quilts?

There were a few beautifully done whole cloth quilts, but otherwise I though even the bed-sized quilts often showed the influence of the modern aesthetic. I know very well that there are many fine traditional quilters still working, but I suspect they have given up on AQS shows. What do you think? Do you ever enter AQS shows?

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Where Did You Wear It?

Posted on September 25, 2016 by zippyquilts

A couple of years ago I made a quilt based on the little triangle codes found on plants at my local nursery. It sank without a trace when I entered it in a show.

But the idea stayed with me, and earlier this year, when I wanted to make a quilt with social significance, I decided on a QR code.

Since my “day job” involves a lot of treating conditions that condoms might have prevented, I wanted to make a quilt to promote condom use. It’s what we like to call “safer sex”. Now don’t get all huffy on me; sex is a fact of life.

When I went looking for a condom-related QR code, I found this one developed by Planned Parenthood of the Great Northwest and the Hawaiian Islands.

The folks at Planned Parenthood of the Great Northwest and Hawaiian Islands were gracious enough to allow me to use their QR code

Back in 2012 they put this QR code on all their condoms in a campaign called “Where Did You Wear It?”. Those who scan the code are taken to a website where they can put a pin in a map to show their geographic location–where they wore the condom!

The site also gives some important facts about condom use. The point of their campaign, and my point in making this quilt for show, is to normalize, encourage, and promote the use of condoms when needed.

It turns out QR codes are robust little devils, so I was able to re-color it and develop a lively quilt design with the use of my trusty Electric Quilt program:

Quilt Design from the “Where Did You Wear It?” QR code

Making this was quite a challenge! At each step I kept scanning it to be sure it took me to the “Where Did You Wear It?” site. (You can download any of several QR code scanners to your smart phone or iPad. I used QMark.)

The QR Code quilt, ready for its first show. It will the in the Asheville Quilt Show soon!

When I discussed the project with my wonderful son-in-law, he helped me turn my blog address into a QR code, too! That’s this blog address you see in the TINY QR code making up one block toward the bottom right of the quilt. Scanning it brings you to this post.

Please help me to encourage condom use when appropriate by sharing this post.

Tuesday Quilters’ Show

Posted on August 21, 2016 by zippyquilts

One of my quilt groups (which I seldom attend because it meets during the day and I work full time) is having a little show at the church where they meet, so I stopped by to take some pictures. Most of these ladies are traditional quilters, and many are quite accomplished.

The purple diamonds near the center feature geckos fussy-cut from a batik

One of the women has really gotten going on miniature quilts, so this next bunch are all by Maryann Budahl. They are under 12″ x 12″, and they are NOT as wonky as they seem in the pictures–some were hung too high for me to photograph them well.

Look at that quilting!

You can click on any of these little quilts to see it up close.

Here are a few of the other quilts on display:

This is a miniature by Susan Roper.

There were several Christmas quilts:

Several full size quilts were draped rather than hung, so I couldn’t get a complete picture of them.

And here are some medium-sized quilts:

A Bird, Several Houses, and More by Maryann Budahl

And finally, a quilt that looked pretty modern to me:

There is a fair amount of overlap between this group and the Smoky Mountain Quilters (of Franklin, NC) who will be having a show in September, so I look forward to seeing more quilts soon.

Pattern Review: Sweetpea Pods

Posted on July 24, 2016 by zippyquilts

Note: As always, I received NO compensation of any type for this review.

One of the many things I enjoy about attending a quilt show is the opportunity to visit the vendors. Since my nearest “local” quilt shop is about an hour away, I often see things online long before I get to examine them in person. Occasionally I do buy online, but there’s no substitute for looking something over personally before buying.

At the Vermont Quilt Festival, I came across this pattern that I had been considering online because it looked so darn cute. I talked to the vendor about it to be sure it included instructions for doing that tricky thing with the zipper and learned that it did. She also had the extra zipper pulls that are useful for this design, so I bought the pattern and the zipper pulls.

And here we go:

This pattern has VERY clear instructions. I read a fair number of patterns (and write my own), and this is one of the best-written patterns I have seen.

The little pods are easy to make, even with taking time to learn the zipper trick. The zipper trick actually is easy, and instructions for that are very clear as well. The pattern is set up so that you get two pods out of each set of instructions, so I cut them out with coordinated fabrics–outside fabric for one pouch was the lining for its mate! What fun!

This is so fast and fun that I made several of them. The instructions say to zig-zag finish the inside seams, but I used my serger for that, so it was even faster!

This was a great break from a rather tedious project I’ve been working on. I’m giving these to our daughter to use as teacher gifts, but I foresee another round of them for Christmas gifts coming right up!

You can order the pattern at several places online, or go right to the source at the Lazy Girl Designs website.

Vermont Quilt Festival–Favorite Quilts, Part 2

Posted on July 17, 2016 by zippyquilts

Here are the rest of the quilts that really caught my eye at VQF.

First, a couple of my favorites among the many fine landscape quilts:These next ones probably would be classified as art quilts. As you can see, my camera was askew on the first one, but it also had very irregular edges. The transparency effects were impressive.This next one had a nice sense of humor and, as you can see from the ribbons, was well executed also.The rest of these are what I would call modern, and I especially appreciated their graphic impact.There were SO MANY more great quilts, so consider attending next year to see the show in person!

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Vermont Quilt Festival–Favorite Quilts Part 1

Posted on July 10, 2016 by zippyquilts

Here are a few of my favorite quilts from the Vermont Quilt Festival. Please note that a few of these really are not square. Others do have straight sides with 90 degree corners, but the picture is off because I had the camera in one hand and a glass of champagne in the other 😀

First, this is one of the youth quilts, made by a 3-1/2 year old! Entrants in this category made the quilt top themselves, but may have had help with quilting. Janome is a big sponsor of the VQF, and each youth entrant was given a sewing machine! This tot had to get help to carry hers from the stage 🙂

As always at VQF, there was a wonderful exhibit of antique quilts. This next one was my favorite:The Instructors’ Showcase made me wish I’d taken some classes. This first one is by Augusta Cole, whose scrappy designs I admire and have used from time to time.And this one by instructor Katie Pasquini Masopust was very unusual. I would like to know more about her techniques.There were a number of other special exhibits and I didn’t take pictures of all of them, though they would have been worth it! This bargello quilt caught my husband’s eye:Here are a few more of the fairly traditional ones that I especially liked. Note that one got a purple ribbon for a very high score on the judging criteria I showed last week.Finally, here is an absolutely spectacular applique quilt. Everyone stood in front of it admiringly, so I had to wait my turn to take a picture:Next week I’ll show you the more modern quilts that caught my eye.

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Vermont Quilt Festival, Part I

Posted on July 3, 2016 by zippyquilts

I love the Vermont Quilt Festival (VQF) for several reasons: Vermont in June, great exhibits, and the opening reception with champagne and chocolate!!! (I’m showing a few of the beautiful quilts today, and I’ll have more later.)

However, my very favorite part is that each quilt is judged on its own merits. Every quilt is rated with published criteria and may (or may not) be awarded a ribbon, based on its score. I love this idea because, as I’ve said elsewhere, the idea of “competitive quilting” doesn’t compute for me. With the VQF system, your primary competition is yourself. Then, if you just have to try to beat other people in a given category, they do have the usual “best machine quilting”, etc.

This quilt involved extensive work and I think it is very “artistic”. It got a 3rd place for workmanship, but it also got the Best Modern Quilt award.

Here is the way quilts are judged, taken from the VQF website:

Each judge evaluates all entries, scores the quilts using the point system below, and provides a brief written critique. The final score for each entry is the average of the three judges’ scores. Score sheets and critiques are returned to contestants with their quilts.

POINT SYSTEM (100 points total)

Visual Impact: 15 points maximum
Design: 40 points maximum
20 points: use of pattern and design
10 points: effectiveness of color in overall design
5 points: suitability of materials
5 points: border treatment
Workmanship: 45 points maximum
20 points: precision of work, top and back
20 points: quality of quilting and/or needlework
5 points: binding and edges

RIBBON CATEGORIES

Exceptional Merit (purple): 98 -100 points
First (blue): 95-97 points
Second (red): 92-94points
Third (yellow): 88-91point

Modern quilt from Vermont Quilt Festival

Here is a modern sampler that I enjoyed. It got a 3rd place ribbon.

Although I didn’t win any of the “big” categories, I did get a (3rd place) ribbon at VQF this year. As you can see, that amounts to a “B” grade, so I’m pretty happy. The comments were useful, as well, so I know what to do the same and what to do differently next time.

This quilt, made from a pattern, got a 3rd place ribbon as well. The circle is on a black background, so the quilt is square.

I certainly wish other shows would adopt a similar system! I’m sure it is expensive, since VQF has 3 judges for each quilt and they have to make comments and take time to score each one, not just look at it once and move on. But for me, as a quilter, it makes the VQF show much more worth the effort of entering. Here’s my quilt:

Happy Squares, designed and made by me.

Does anyone know of other shows with a similar system? I’d like to consider them when planning next year’s entries!

2014 Projects, Part 2

Posted on June 26, 2016 by zippyquilts

To continue a review of projects from 2014, the point of this exercise is to get together a gallery page for each year I’ve done this blog.

I made “Drunk in the Garden” both to use this beautiful floral fabric that reminded me of Texas and to practice cutting and piecing gentle curves.

Drunk in the Garden, the original quilt

Despite the beautiful fabric, the overall design never looked right to me, primarily because the gold fabrics varied too much in value. I eventually cut this quilt up and made some place mats, which were much more successful. You can see them here, if you like.

I designed a quilt for the Michael Miller challenge and, though it sank without a trace in the challenge, I liked it. The design was improvised based on the little scan codes made up of triangles at my local garden center:

Packet of Posy Seeds

Also in 2014, I designed a quilt and pillow for Modern Quilts Unlimited magazine. Here is the picture from the magazine:

Zippy Star Quilt and Pillow as shown in Modern Quilts Unlimited, Summer 2014

And here is the “practice” quilt I made first to work out the details:

Zippy Star I, which sold at the Asheville Quilt Show in September

As if one Michael Miller challenge weren’t enough, I made this quilt for another later in the year:

And finally, I finished this quilt, which I had been working on for years. Literally.

Spring Sun, a design by me, using blocks paper pieced from a totally different Judy Niemeyer pattern

And that was it for 2014! One thing that is obvious from reviewing some of these pictures is that I have improved my photography since 2014. For which I’m thankful.

Coming up next: a report from the 2016 Vermont Quilt Festival!

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Only as Good as Your Last Quilt?

Posted on April 10, 2016 by zippyquilts

There’s a cynical phrase, common in professional sports, that is used often in other arenas as well: You’re only as good as your last game. It’s a commentary on public opinion. Unfortunately, there’s a corollary in our everyday judgments of ourselves.

This little quilt, “Packet of Posy Seeds”, did NOT win anything.

One of the modern guilds I belong to had an interesting discussion last meeting about which quilts are selected for QuiltCon, and why. We pretty much all agreed that the show is used to further the MQG’s own definition of modern quilting rather than to reveal the depth and breadth of the modern quilt movement.

This little quilt was published, along with an article I wrote

So, am I a good quilter because my quilt was juried into an AQS show? Or a poor quilter because SEVERAL quilts were rejected for a QuiltCon show? A good quilter because I’ve designed quilts that were published? Or a bad quilter because every magazine doesn’t love every one of my proposals? There’s a temptation to feel great when a quilt wins a prize and to feel a bit down when one is rejected. But does that make sense?

Happy Squares, designed and made by me. I love it, but nobody wants to publish the pattern.

Of course there are some “competitive quilters”, but most of us quilt because we enjoy it. My quilts are made to please myself, not to please other people. Even when I make a quilt for a challenge or show, I make it the way I want it, and I expect that is true for most people. I doubt that quilting is a road to fame and fortune for most of us, and that’s fine.

Zippy Star quilt for Modern Quilts Unlimited. I won a contest with this design.

So, if QuiltCon didn’t accept my quilt, it is NOT a personal judgment about me, it is a programmatic judgment about where the MQG folks want the definition of modern quilting to go. And if some of my quilts are published or win prizes, that’s dandy, but I still made them to suit myself.

“In Fairyland” has been in 2 shows but won no prizes.

So much of life involves following other people’s rules, sometimes for good reason and sometimes not. Although I’m a serious quilter, I want to do it by my own rules. I’ll still submit to shows because I like to see my quilts displayed. But really, the quilt is an end in itself.

I designed Spring Sun using blocks paper pieced from a totally different Judy Niemeyer pattern. It was juried into an AQS show.

My friend Melanie has written a couple of posts on why we quilt. You might enjoy them:

Make Good Art

Saturation Point

Zippy Quilts

Modern Quilts With A Twist

Category Archives: Quilt show

Smoky Mountain Quilt Guild Show 2016

12 Favorites: Chattanooga Quilt Week

Where Did You Wear It?

Tuesday Quilters’ Show

Pattern Review: Sweetpea Pods

Vermont Quilt Festival–Favorite Quilts, Part 2

Vermont Quilt Festival–Favorite Quilts Part 1

Vermont Quilt Festival, Part I

2014 Projects, Part 2

Only as Good as Your Last Quilt?

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