Flower Talk - Hoffman Quilt

Flower Talk (Pick Me I'm Cute) 29" x 29" 2010

My 2010 Hoffman Challenge quilt--flower talk. It was picked to be part of the Hoffman Challenge traveling collection (my sister Donna's feathered star is also part of the collection). The challenge fabric is the blue floral used in the 4 blocks without letters.

It is an original design, inspired by a field of purple coneflowers all asking to be picked ... flower humor. Part of my series of "word play" quilts--quilts that have something to say. A whimsical approach to quilting. Started for the 2009 challenge (brown paisley-see middle line of last E) --I kept the pink and brown centers and then reworked the next row adding blues and keeping the greens. I finished off with more pink and a funky dragonfly border. It was a design I really liked and it felt good to make it work.

Letters were paperpieced from my patterns. Machine pieced and then embroider/quilted in one step with Sulky thread. 2 batts- 80/20 cotton/polyester and 50/50 cotton/bamboo.

New From Old - Reproduction from my Antique Collection

"I've Got the Blues...But Things Are Looking Up"
May 2010 16 X 16"

My donation quilt for the Alliance for American Quilts 2010 New From Old Challenge. Voting is open from June 14 -June 20 for Alliance members, click here to see the quilts (my sister Donna also has a wonderful 1930's inspired quilt). I appreciate any and all votes and if you are reading this before June 20th, you can still join online and vote. I was honored last year to win an honorable mention award. All the quilts will be auctioned off on eBay this fall. This weekend they will be on display at the NQA show in Columbus, Ohio.

I was inspired by my antique c. 1890 blue/white 9 patch arrow/blue cross quilt that demands to be displayed with the arrows pointing due north. The title plays on the juxtaposition of the positive direction with the blue (aka sad) fabrics.

c. 1890 antique Blue & White Arrows, 9 Patch Quilt 72" X 92"

NEW and OLD TOGETHER
I used c. 1890 antique indigo and cadet blues in the 5 large arrows and then reproductions for the rest of the quilt. I'm impressed with how closely the reproductions match the antique fabrics as can be seen with this photo. My arrows were paperpieced from my pattern and the small white arrows centers are 1" finished. I machine quilted in the ditch and added 9 patches and arrows to the plain blocks. It was fun working small but hard to cut into the 120 year old fabric.

Bloggers Quilt Festival

I made this quilt this spring for the Riley Blake challenge-charity fundraiser for the 2010 Home Machine Quilting Show. It was quite a challenge to use all of the required fabrics since the fabrics initially didn't want to play well together especially the pinks and reds. But when I pulled out a reproduction antique cheddar solid, it really brought all the colors together. It still looks a bit wild but wait until you see it with my inspiration- an antique quilt in my collection. Here is a bit of the challenge quilt and the inspiration quilt together:

And finally here is the inspiration quilt-a circa 1890 variable star with double pink centers and cheddar orange sashing. Don't forget to click on the picture to see the sawtooth borders (only on 1 side and the bottom). Don't know if she ran out of steam or if it was made for a bed that went against a wall. I love being an Certified Quilt Appraiser and having a reason to collect antique quilts. I just did a couple of trunk shows and had an antique quilt exhibit at the Home Machine Quilting Show. In fact both of these quilts were part of my lecture Rising to the Challenge.

Go to my antique quilt blog to see another 1890 antique star quilt- double pink blazing star quilt.

Please click on the festival icon to see a lot of great quilts and meet many fun quilters.

New from Old 2010 Alliance Contest

Calling all creative quilters especially lovers of antique quilts and collectors of bits of old quilts. The Alliance for American Quilts has announced its 2010 contest New from Old "a broad theme that celebrates the past in the frame of the present". Very simple rules: a new 16" X 16" quilt inspired by something 'old' and sent by May 31, 2010. Old and New are up to you--put a new twist on a traditional pattern, recycle antique blocks or find some old ones in your UFO box. Contest quilts become a donation to AAQ. All entries will be auctioned on eBay with all proceeds supporting the AAQ and its projects.

There are great prizes involved due to generous sponsors and the quilts will be exhibited on The Alliance's website as well as national venues including the National Quilting Association's annual show in Columbus, Ohio, June 17-19, 2010 and the American Quilter's Society Show in Knoxville, Tennessee, July 14-17. The quilts will become part of quilt history as part of the Quilt Index. The quilts also get a lot of exposure on during the eBay auction.

Come join in the fun. Scroll down or click on the link to see my 2009 entry.

Alliance Crazy Quilts Auction on eBay

It is time for the first round of the Alliance auction. My Crazy quilt pictured above will be auctioned off this week. Click on the logo above for more details and to see all the quilts.

All contest quilts will be auctioned via eBay
Click on an auction week below to view or download an auction guide for that week.
Week One: Monday, Oct. 26 - Monday, Nov. 2
Week Two: Monday, Nov. 2 - Monday, Nov. 9
Week Three: Monday, Nov. 9 - Monday, Nov. 16
The bidding for each quilt will start at $50 and each 7-day auction week starts and ends at 9:00 pm Eastern.
All proceeds will support the AAQ and its projects.

Even more good news

My Mom Georgia Starley's patriotic log cabin quilt has won the Viewer's Choice award at the Springville Museum of Art Quilt show. This award is in addition to the flawless workmanship award. It's been a great show.

More great news

My mother Georgia was just awarded the "Flawless Workmanship" award at the 36th annual Springville Museum of Art Quilt Show. Her beautiful patriotic red, white and blue quilt is a log cabin star variation and machine pieced, hand appliqued and hand quilted with miles of rwb variegated thread. It is very large -- 100" square so I'm not kidding about the miles of thread. It has a piano key border with 1 inch strips and she quilted around each key. Sorry-- no photo yet, but it won't be hard to spot if you make it to the show.

I will update as soon as I get to see it in the show and snap a picture. If you are in the Salt Lake/Provo area this summer, make a point to go to the Springville Museum (just south of Provo) and see all the beautiful quilts on display there, the show runs until September 2nd, 2009. I have 2 small quilts in the show (a black and white and pink 4 block applique and a twins photo transfer log cabin). There are almost a 100 quilts on display.

My Quilt in the News and back story

9-8-9 Update -my quilt was one of the honorable mention winners in the challenge.

Exciting news: my quilt for the Alliance for American Quilts Crazy quilt Challenge is one of 4 quilts highlighted in their June newsletter. Here is the direct link. My sister called with the news the day before my birthday- what a fun surprise present. It is pictured above (from the back) I wanted to show off all the threadwork and I think it is interesting to see quilt backs which are often forgotten. To see the rest of the quilt, see the previous entries below and the link above. More than 70 quilts were made and donated to the Alliance for this challenge and they will be auctioned off on eBay in late October and early November to benefit this valuable quilt resource.

Still Crazy

Here is the crazy quilt, now with stitched swag border. I can't believe how much the swag has changed the quilt. It completes the quilt, pulls all the elements together and adds a funky sophistication.

I really like the black and pink polka dots binding. So much better than the fuchsia binding. Guess that means I have to tell my sister that she was right about the dark binding.

There is a lot of stitching on this quilt. I went through a whole spool of pink bobbin thread. Thanks for looking.

Crazy update

I've made quite a bit of progress in a week--on the home stretch and the deadline is looming. I've got to finish up tomorrow or really this afternoon. Now to figure out the border and binding and buttons-- oh my! By the way, the bottom border is a test strip of my proposed quilting design: a scallop swag border inspired by many antique quilts though those are done with applique instead of decorative stitching.

My sister could visualize on the phone that the quilt needed a black or almost black binding but I was sticking with the fuchsia until I did the above mock up. On camera the fuchsia disappears and is really blah. I think I'll use the black polka dots, it is more fun than either of the batiks. She's also thinking that the border would be better with just buttons and no decorative stitching but I think that I'll do the quilting. Of course, I'll do it a bit more evenly and with two lines of stitching to give it a 'real' swag look. Got to get quilting before I'm really in a bind-ugh. Hope this quilt doesn't make me completely crazy.

Crazy Quilt part 2

I'm made quite a bit of progress on my quilt for the Alliance for American Quilts Crazy quilt challenge (read more about it in my previous post). I've already used a 100 fabrics. I trust you can 'read' the quilt - it spells out crazy quilt. I'm taking the challenge literally.

Now to figure out the center 2 blocks and decide what fabric(s) to use for the small 2" border. Any suggestions are welcome.

C is for Crazy Quilt

What I'm working on --a crazy quilt for this year's Alliance for American Quilts challenge. They are currently accepting entries/donations of 'crazy quilts' which will be auctioned this fall on EBay to help with their mission of preserving American Quilts and quilt history. In honor of their 16th year, the quilts are 16 inches square and must be postmarked by June 1, 2009. If you are a quick worker, there is still time to join in, and anyone can buy a quilt on EBay to help support the Alliance. I'll post when it is time to vote for your favorite and again when it is time to starting bidding.

I'm taking the theme literally and spelling it out, as you can see in the sneak peek block. Drafting paper pieced letters in a log cabin, cq format with strong graphic appeal of black and white and hot pink/fuchsia. What a lot of fun for a great cause.
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Update on the last Fiberart For A Cause (FFAC), my donated raven postcard raised $50.00 for the American Cancer Society, thank you Donna. Virginia Spiegel with a lot of help from her friends has now raised almost $200,000.00 for ACS. What an amazing woman.

Favorite Quilt - Bloggers Quilt Festival

I live in the southwest (Utah) and love petroglyphs (ancient native american rock art). The quilt started with the shaman block (middle row, left). It sat around for awhile until an entry call for my Colorado art quilt group AQuA and their TEXT challenge. Perfect -petroglyphs are early text messages. Luckily, I was under a severe time crunch and so instead of obsessing over fabric choices (my usual m.o), I quickly choose fabrics using the shaman as a starting point. I barely made a dent in my petroglyph fabric collection and had a lot of fun, especially picking out another 5 designs. I had to use my favorite petro -the mountain lion (cat) from Petrified Forest N.P. (photo 3) and of course, Moab Man, the local icon (bottom row, left).

I used a mix of topstitch running stitch applique and traditional needleturn applique. I just taught the lion and sheep at Elaine's Quilt Block in Salt Lake and will be teaching them again at the Utah Quilt Guild fest in September (maybe Park City Girl will join me there).

This quilt, has traveled quite a bit and even been in a national magazine (Quilter's Newsletter Magazine) and in a booth at Quilt Market. But it is still a work in progress as I keep adding more hand quilting and keep finding more places to put more quilting. Guess I like it so much I want to keep on visiting with it.

I hope you have enjoyed my entry in the virtual Quilt Show, please leave a comment. To see more of the show click HERE Thanks for visiting. To see more of my favorite antique quilts (I'm a quilt collector and an AQS certified quilt appraiser) go to my antique quilt blog

Guest Blogger

I'm a guest blogger on quilting gallery and I've written about my quilt appraising and collecting and quilt history along with photos. I also discuss my own quilt history, my new quilts and classes plus a bit about me and my family. Click on guest blogger above or on the guest blogger logo block to the right.

There is also a give away on the gallery; two people who leave comments there will win one of my patterns so please go read and comment and then come right back. To see some of my designs click on PATTERNS. And don't forget to see my antique quilt/quilt history blog

Folk Art Applique

16 x 16 Hand Appliqued, Hand Quilted

Folk art -art made by us folks- doesn't have to follow stuffy rules like size or scale. It is okay to make a giant sunflower and a cat as big as a purple house. Sewn with a running/gather top stitch that adds a decorative detail to the appliques. It is relaxing to not worry about hiding stitches. I will be teaching this class on April 3rd at Elaine's Quilt Block in Salt Lake City, Utah. Click here to see another quilt using this technique--I'll be teaching both designs at Elaine's along with an antique quilt study class on the 4th. I'll also be doing quilt appraisals. Come join me.

1860's Quilt Extreme Makeover

I adapted the basket border from an 1860's red and green princess feather applique quilt, turned it into a four block design and gave it a color makeover. I think the woman who made it would be glad her design still works but would be a bit surprised with the black, white and hot pink color scheme.
Hand appliqued and hand quilted.

Quilt Art Raven Postcard Challenge

"Happy Bird-day, Mr. Poe" -- 4" x 6" 2009
Donated to the ACS fundraiser FFAC collage mania

This party bird card was made for the QuiltArt list challenge commemorating the 200th birthday of Edgar Allan Poe and also as a fundraiser for Fiberart for a Cause (FFAC) collage mania raising money for the fight against cancer. Click here to see all the great postcards and then buy one or two at FFAC collage mania or at Alzheimers Quilt Art Initiative. My card will be available to purchase through the collage mania sale May 5-7, 2009, I hope it finds its way to a good home.

I decided to try a new technique: painting with caran d'ache neocolor II wax pastel watercolor crayons directly onto the fusible fast2fuse postcard material. After the painting/coloring I then used a wet paintbrush to spread the color. Then I outlined with marking pen and machine stitching. Click here to see my journal quilt of my godtwins also painted with caran d'ache crayons.

Cyber Fyber exchange

The postcard I made for the Cyber Fyber art exchange and exhibition. The 3rd in my Moab Landscape series (click on landscape quilt on right to see the other two). It was interesting to develop a new technique (machine applique, no raw edges) to make this mini quilt. I attached the pieces with yarn and decorative trims, sewing over the folded seam allowances: piecing, quilting and embellishing all in one step. #1 in the series was all hand appliqued and hand quilted so this was quite a departure but definitely a technique I will use again.

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This is the ATC -artist trading card also made for Cyber Fyber, a couching/embellishing practice piece. Can you tell I like yarn embellishing? Click on art exchange to see the ATC and postcard I received from Susan Lenz who organized this huge international art exchange or scroll down.

Click here to view all the ATC and postcards (the online exhibition) and learn about the live exhibit currently showing in Columbia, South Carolina through January 20, 2009.

Peacock Incognito

Peacock Incognito 28 x 25 2008 Donna Starley

My sister Donna's 2008 Hoffman Challenge quilt which won 3rd place award in the pieced category- woo hoo. She paired small pieces of the giant peacock challenge fabric with metallic orientals in a flying geese drunkard's path variation (paper pieced). The hidden peacock parts inspired the title. This is her 2nd Hoffman entry. Congratulations from her very proud sister.

I have also entered the Hoffman Challenge twice (all four of our entries have been part of the traveling collections). And speaking of sisters click here to see my Quilting Sisters challenge quilt.

Wasilowski Plum Basket

This is the newest addition to my art quilt collection: Plum Basket by Laura Wasilowski 2008.

The back is also a work of art so I decided to show them side by side. I scanned them in rather than taking a photo so they are a bit cropped. (click on either for a larger pic) Laura taught at the Utah Quilt Guild annual quilt fest last month. Her classes were very inspirational, educational and a lot of fun. My sister and I each took a class from her and made wonderful quilts. Thank you Laura.

Update: Laura recently shared this quilt on her blog in an ode remembering summer.