“Home” exhibit at Bainbridge Island Museum of Art (1)

“Home” is a group exhibition featuring twenty-five artists from the Puget Sound Region. A few weeks ago I posted twice about this exhibit opening at Olympic College in Bremerton, and showed some of the work of the other artists. Now the exhibit has moved to the Bainbridge Island Museum of Art, where it will remain until June this year. The “Home” group exhibit was organized by a partnership between Olympic College, Bainbridge Island Museum of Art (BIMA) and Bainbridge Artisan Resource Network (BARN).

I feel honoured to be a participant. As a previous exhibitor at BIMA, I was invited to submit any works pertaining to the theme of “Home”. Interpretation of the theme could be very loose. Two quilts were selected for BIMA. I offered two bed quilts, one contemporary and one traditional: every home needs at least one bed with a quilt! The contemporary one hung in the Bremerton show and BIMA selected this traditional one, Trip Around the Garden, which I designed and pieced. My good friend Wanda Rains machine quilted it beautifully on her long-arm machine. This quilt is featured in my book, Traditional Quilts with a Twist.

 

As for the Bremerton show, my other piece on exhibit is Toto’s Garden, a decorative wall hanging for a child’s bedroom. Toto’s Garden, was made by me to be featured in a special exhibit, Quilts for the Young at Heart, at the Houston International Quilt Festival several years ago. The exhibit was sponsored by David Textiles Inc., who produced a Wizard of Oz line of fabrics and invited various quilters to use these to make Wizard of Oz themed quilts. I was invited by merit of my work teaching children to quilt and several kids made patchwork pillows and one made a lap quilt under my supervision. These all appeared, along with my offering, in the exhibit. Look closely to see the Cowardly Lion’s tail, the Scarecrow’s hat, Dorothy’s shoe, the Tin-man’s axe and the quilted tornado. This whimsical quilt was fun to make and rather atypical of my quilts which are not usually pictorial or applique. I like the way this quilt is paired with colorful glass fused bird houses in this exhibit.

Kitsap Quilters’ Guild Show (5) – Maggie’s small selection

At our recent Kitsap Quilters’ Guild show, over 200 quilts were exhibited displaying the wide range of talent in our guild and a large variety of techniques used. In previous blogs, I’ve already shared pictures from our featured artist, some Round Robins and some animal quilts. This collection shows just some of the many quilts that appealed to me for a variety of reasons. I like quilts with strong designs and those in which the use of color and value enhance the patterns. The use of black in first two makes stunning backgrounds to intensify the scrappy colors.

Linda Eakin-Johnson made this striking Curved Log Cabin quilt, quilted by Linda Moran, after taking a class from Ann Trujullo at Quilted Strait. She had a collection of Asian fabrics and used all 1,500 pieces! I love how the black fabric makes curved ribbons between the medley of scrappy logs. Checkerboard Garden, was made by Carol Kunold and quilted by Mirium Gill. The pattern is by Jason Yenter and I like how effective this very simple idea of a strippy quilt with assorted small squares and a fussy-cut large scale print with a black background works.

These two are very intricate with foundation paper-pieced triangles. On the left, Tumble, was pieced and quilted by Pam Knight. The pattern for this stunning quilt is Fire Island Costa by Judy Niemeyer. Pam dug into her stash of French General fabrics to create her own look. Her machine-quilting is exquisite and really enhances the quilt. Something Blue was made by Becky Rico and quilted by Teresa Silva, using a pattern by Jacqueline De Jonge. I have a soft spot for classic blue and white quilts. The next ones have a more modern feel.

Marj Deupree made this Prism quilt which is so bright and dimensional, and the Fruit Slices, a variation on the Courthouse Steps Log Cabin, (pattern by Monique Jacobs). The use of color in these two quilts really makes them pop.

On the left, a-MAZE-ing, was made by Mary Ann Hooker and quilted by Linda Moran. Mary Ann used the Antelope Canyon and Garden Delights pattern by Laurie Shifrin. Her persistence with ripping and re-sewing after discovering mistakes in three out of the four blocks, paid off and the finished quilt is beautiful. Becky Rico made Hexie Hexies, (quilted by Linda Moran), after being inspired by an antique quilt of a similar design. She enjoyed updating this pattern with more contemporary fabrics and the white background makes it look fresh and modern.

 

 

 

Kitsap Quilter’s Guild Show (4) – Animal Quilts

At our recent Kitsap Quilters’ Guild show, these wonderful animal quilts made me smile and I wanted to share them with you. We’ll begin with the birds. The Rooster, was made by Terry Loy using a fusible applique pattern by Laura Heine. Most of the fabrics are Kaffe Fassett with additional pieces from Terry’s collection to create different textures. I love this vibrant, colorful bird. Anne Trujillo made the Dancing with the stars bird quilt using Sue Spargo’s book, Bird Dance, for inspiration. The vintage lace came from Anne’s mother and vintage buttons were donated by Dorothy Thompson. Each bird has dupini silk beaded collar and a piece of Kaffe Fassett material. Check out the details on the close up pictures.

The detail on this cat quilt, Brownie, by Debi Snyder is amazing. This is Debi’s original design copied from a photo, using raw-edge applique enhanced with heavy thread work in the quilting. Brownie was hiding in the Christmas tree and Debi snapped a photo.

This playful fox quilt, Quilt for Kaci, was made by Sharon Broom from the pattern Kits ‘n’ Caboodle in Animal Parade, and quilted by Wanda Rains. Sharon used her own flowers and humming bird to improvise on the pattern. Jaxine Anderson made Giraffe using the fusible applique pattern Potpourri by Laura Heine. Jaxine loves giraffes and was captivated by this pattern. She collected the fabrics during a road trip to Chicago.

If I was in Charge, this rainbow of zebras, is an original design by Carol Bracher. Carol says “If I was in charge, zebras would be colorful!” She hand appliqued all the zebras’ stripes and made fuzzy yarn tails for them.

 

 

Kitsap Quilters’ Guild Show (3) – Round Robin Quilts

At our recent Kitsap Quilters’ Guild show, there were four round robin quilts made by a small group of quilters, The Sew What’s. The quilters, Nancy Mathisrud, Deana Cherry, Marj Deupree, and Cheri Searles, all began with the same central motif, then passed it on to one of the others for the next border. This continued so that all four quilters contributed to each quilt. They were challenged to design different borders and piece patterns that they hadn’t previously made.

Top left – Nancy Mathisrud, top right  –  Marj Deupree, bottom left -Cheri Searles and quilted by Nancy, and bottom right – Deana Cherry. Nancy, Marj and Deana all quilted their own quilts. I love how these quilts have developed with the addition of each border and how differently they turned out with each quilter setting their color palette of choice. This is so much fun and very inspiring.