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, 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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Projects from 2014

Posted on June 19, 2016 by zippyquilts

As part of my effort to develop galleries for this site, here is a review of my projects from the first half of 2014.

The design and tutorial for this zippered pouch came from Noodlehead.

I made a series of these little zippered pouches, and they have been useful.

These next two bags were made from a book entitled Ruby Star Wrapping. You can read my review of the book here, if you want.

I continued my interest in improvisational piecing in 2014, making this confetti block…

Confetti Block, 2014

…and this entry for the Quilt Alliance annual contest:

Whirlwind, my 2014 Quilt Alliance challenge quilt

I made this quilt for the Pantone Challenge. It looks better in person than in this picture, and now is used to decorate one of the rooms at our local free clinic:

Radiating Orchid, my mini-quilt for the Radiant Orchid Challenge

As always, I made a number of donation quilts for Ronald McDonald House. I used them to try out a variety of techniques and other experiments:

Nine Patch Quilt

Donation quilt top is the finish for June!

One of my quilts for Ronald McDonald House

I made this baby quilt because I loved the fabrics:

Baby Dots–Front

Baby Dots–back. I may like it even more than the front!

And I participated in several swaps, including one involving these blocks. Don’t even think about the 88 little pieces in the block on the left!!!

Swap Block–88 little squares!!!

Swap Block

I’ve reached my (self-imposed) length limit for a post, so the rest of the 2014 review will be coming up next week! Please come back 😉

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The Rest of the Story

Posted on June 5, 2016 by zippyquilts

Here are the other two quilts I made while doing the Gwen Marston class on iQuilt.

This first one is my version of one of her quilts, and again I made it 12″ x 12″. I faced it, which I don’t usually do, so that was a learning experience. I like the way it turned out.

This second one was made of scraps from the other quilts in the series, which makes me happy.

This started as a liberated Roman Stripe design, with a center of 4 larger blocks and a “border” of smaller blocks. The size of the blocks worked out fine, but the pieces got more and more “liberated” so that I’m not sure it looks much like a Roman Stripe any more. Which is fine, actually.

I quilted it using a pattern of wandering lines, all in one direction, and I like the result. After considering several threads, I used a thin medium grey polyester. I think it blended well so that the quilting didn’t obscure the design. Here’s my “trial” of several threads.

How do you choose your quilting thread for a project?

Refrigerator Quilt

Posted on May 15, 2016 by zippyquilts

A very artistic quilter in one of my guilds is making a series of “refrigerator quilts” as a challenge to herself. They are 12” x 12” and intended to be displayed on her refrigerator for one week, until she finishes the next one!
The guild took her idea as the challenge for May, so I’ve been making a little refrigerator quilt myself. I took my inspiration from Gwen Marston (again) and made a bunch of little freeform stars.

Refrigerator quilt inspired by Gwen Marston. Bev Manus came up with the idea for refrigerator quilts.

The best part is that, because it is small, it was made almost entirely from scraps. I had enough scraps to make all the stars different yellows and all the backgrounds different blues.
The back is a piece of fabric I dyed in a class many years ago.

Quilt back. This was dyed with Setacolor dyes

And I used it to practice my circular quilting.
Done!

Quilt Alliance Contest

Posted on May 1, 2016 by zippyquilts

Here’s my entry for the 2016 Quilt Alliance contest, “Playing Favorites “. The design is inspired by Gwen Marston’s work, and the piece is titled “Gwen Visits the Farm”. The black fabric has animal sounds printed on it: “peep” etc.

“Gwen Visits the Farm”

The “Playing Favorites” theme of the 2016 Quilt Alliance contest is intended to capture a picture of quilting in 2016 by asking contestants to make quilts using their favorite techniques. I love improvisational quilting, and Gwen Marston was doing it long before anyone thought of the “modern” quilt movement!

In addition to making the quilt in Gwen Marston’s improvisational style, I quilted it using decorative stitches. I’ve used several of the decorative stitches on my machine for quilting for a long time now. However, I recently took a Craftsy class in which Jackie Gehring suggested using even more of the decorative stitches. I think the stitching reflects the state of the art of quilting in 2016, as well.

I’ve been thinking for YEARS of doing a series of quilts in the styles of my favorite quilt designers, so this is the first in that series. Please stay tuned!

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

Projects 2013–Part I

Posted on February 21, 2016 by zippyquilts

For some time I’ve been meaning to add to my blog with a gallery of projects for each of the past several years. I’ve been held up in part by the variable quality of my photography over the years, but I’ve decided to just start anyway. Here are some projects from 2013.

I entered several national contests in 2013, the year I also started this blog. Here is the quilt I made for the Quilt Alliance TWENTY challenge and chose as the header for my blog:

Rising Star, made for the Quilt Alliance TWENTY contest in 2013

I made this quilt for the Michael Miller challenge in 2013:

Packet of Posey Seeds

And I made this little quilt for the Pantone Challenge:

Radiating Orchid mini-quilt for the Radiant Orchid Challenge

I attended some wonderful classes with Laura Wasilowski in 2013, and made this little art quilt:

Leaf, made in class with Laura Wasilowski

I did some “crafty” things in 2013, including chambray shirts decorated with orphan blocks and matching T shirts for a special baby and his special Dad:

A decorated chambray work shirt

Here’s another orphan block on a shirt

Here are a set of placemats and two table runners from 2013:

Table runner made from a strip of leftovers

Also in 2013, I made an apron for a special friend and a caddy for carrying my iron to classes and retreats:

2013 was also a good year to make pillows for friends and to use up orphan blocks:

Well! That’s it for special projects from 2013. The actual quilts from 2013 are up next–more to come!

Connie Brown, A North Carolina Quilter

Posted on February 14, 2016 by zippyquilts

Connie Brown

Connie Brown and I met at the Modern Quilt Guild of Asheville. She has been juried into membership in the Southern Highland Craft Guild, a prestigious organization promoting fine Southern Appalachian crafts. I thought you would enjoy meeting her.

Give us the quick tour of your quilting career. How did you get started?

My husband, son, and I moved to Asheville in 1989. I knew no one in the area, so I signed up for a quilting class at Asheville-Biltmore Technical College. The instructor, Mary Field, was the best. Along with quilting basics, she taught me many sewing skills and shared her knowledge and love of antique quilts and quilt history. By the end of the class she had encouraged me to join the Asheville Quilt Guild and a weekly bee. The first few meetings I attended featured presentations by quilt historians. I really enjoyed quilt history, so I started studying antique quilts.

When/how did you decide to “go pro” by studying quilt history and appraisal, judging shows, and joining the Southern Highland Craft Guild (SHCG)?

Connie demonstrates quilting at a Southern Highland Craft Guild event

After a few years of making quilts and entering them in both local and national shows, I put a couple in a gallery exhibit. To my surprise, one sold and visitors were interested in my other quilts. I knew about the SHCG, with its shops, marketing, and educational opportunities. After selling that quilt in the art gallery, I decided to apply for membership and was juried in during 2000. I have my quilts in their shops and participate in several of their events, including Fiber Day and Heritage Day (where I share my beekeeping), as well as others.

When people started calling me about the value of antique quilts, or what value to place on a quilt they were entering in a show, I saw a need for a local certified quilt appraiser. I put my years of studying quilt history and my knowledge of local quilt sales to use and focused on becoming a certified quilt appraiser. In 2009, I was certified by the AQS (American Quilters Society) as an Appraiser of Quilted Textiles.

What is your favorite of the quilts you have made?

I love making circles and Drunkard’s Path units! My 3 favorite quilts so far are:

Color Cascade

“Color Cascade aka Prints Charming” includes more than 500 scraps. The pattern for this quilt is in the September 2012 issue of American Quilter Magazine. This is machine pieced and machine quilted.

“V-Spot Target Attack” is also made entirely by machine.

Finally, “Tiffilippa” was inspired by a Tiffany lampshade. I couldn’t throw away the trimmed off “waste”, so I used it as a border.

How much time do you spend quilting? How do you have time to quilt, participate in guilds, keep bees, substitute teach, and still eat and sleep?

Every day I do something quilt related, whether it’s making quilts, studying, visiting an exhibit, or writing appraisals. I always carry something to work on in my down time when I substitute teach.

How far do you travel with your quilt activities? And what do you have coming up?

I’ll be at the Folk Art Center (on the Blue Ridge Parkway near Asheville) for National Quilting Day (March 19, 2016). I’ll be hosting a quilt sharing day with an exhibition of 4 or 5 antique quilts, and people are invited to bring older quilts they have questions about. I won’t be doing appraisals that day, but it’s a free event and a good opportunity for people who may have quilts they wonder about. It can help them decide whether the quilt needs a formal appraisal.

This year I will be offering appraisals at the AQS shows in Paducah and Chattanooga as well as in Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina during the Cobblestone Quilt Show. My fees for written appraisals are $75 per quilt, but during these events the charge is $50 per quilt. Each appraisal takes a minimum of 2 hours, including meeting with the client, travel, research and preparation, and typing the report.

To see more of Connie’s quilts, visit her webpage at southernhighlandguild.org/conniebrown

You may email Connie at mail2thebrowns@juno.com

Zippy Quilts

Modern Quilts With A Twist

Tag Archives: art quilt

Vermont Quilt Festival–Favorite Quilts, Part 2

Vermont Quilt Festival, Part I

2014 Projects, Part 2

Projects from 2014

The Rest of the Story

Refrigerator Quilt

Quilt Alliance Contest

Only as Good as Your Last Quilt?

Projects 2013–Part I

Connie Brown, A North Carolina Quilter

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