Day 4: FB Art Challenge

This is my 4th Day of the Art Challenge currently circulating on FaceBook. 

I was nominated by Pam Biswas.   Thank you Pam!  For this fourth day of the 5-day challenge, I am sharing more of my favorite quilts and mixed media/fiber art pieces.  I hope you enjoy them.

This first piece tells the Legend of the Bluebonnet.  A quick summary is:  In days long long ago, during a severe drought, a young girl sacrificed her most prized possession, her doll, to the tribe's fire, following their leader's request.  The gods were happy and sent rain that night.  The next morning, when the little girl and her people woke up, they discovered the fields were covered with blue flowers, the same blue of the doll's dress.  These were the first bluebonnets and they return every spring, remembering the little girl's love that was so pure.

This story quilt was fun to make.  I explored a variety of mixed media/fiber art techniques including: painted hot glue squiggles (the bluebonnets), overlayed sheers (the sun and the rain), torched and painted tyvek (flames of fire), new fabric made from stitched threads and fibers (the doll's dress - both the tiny doll in the girl's hands and the center doll burning in the fire), and couched fibers (fields of bluebonnets). 

This piece was my entry in the 2008 Journal Quilt Project at Houston's annual International Quilt Festival.  That year, quilt artists were asked to make a quilt portraying the four elements (earth, wind, rain and fire).  Most chose to focus on one element however I decided to touch on all four elements in this little story quilt.  Sadly, my quilt was rejected from the actual exhibit, though it was in an virtual online show (with several other rejected quilts).  Click here to see "Braving the Elements".  Thank you Linda Teddie Minton for coordinating this special show.  Click here to see my entry in "Braving the Elements" which includes the poem of the legend of the bluebonnet.


This next quilt is called "American All-Stars" and is my first quilt to travel in a national exhibit and is my first entry in the annual Hoffman Challenge, specifically the 1996 challenge which featured "Old Glory".  My quilt did not travel to Houston during its year on the road.  However it was on display during the big Paducah quilt show in the spring of 1997.  I cancelled my plans to see my quilt in Paducah, as I was expecting twins.  In the photo below, my children are one year old wearing special outfits made with the "Old Glory" Hoffman challenge fabric to celebrate both the return home of my traveling quilt and the July 3rd wedding of their Uncle and Aunt.  Aren't they precious?

 My next quilt is my current all-time favorite quilt and is hanging on my living room wall.

"Red Summer Baskets" is a quilt that was a gift to me -- well, the pattern and many of the fabrics were given to me by Mary Beth Hayes, my friend and founder of Thangles.  She gave this cute pattern to me in the summer of 2012 during my visit to Wisconsin and her studio.  Click here and here to learn more about this quilt.

 

My artist nominee today happens to be Mary's sister, Wanda Eichler!  I met both sisters years ago when Mary and I were in an internet round robin group, and both traveled to Market in Houston.  We met for lunch and kept talking for three hours that afternoon.  I look forward to Mary and her husband Pat coming to Market and Festival every year.  Wanda came a few times as well.   

When I was helping Wanda with her booth, Graywood Designs, in 2010, we were delighted to see how close we were to the Make It University area.  We had fun taking turns participating in the one-hour classes they offered.  I made the four ATCs (Artist Trading Cards) that you see below.

I nominate Wanda Eichler to join this 5-day Art Challenge by posting three photos a day of her artwork, and nominating another artist to carry the challenge ever forward.  Wanda, I look forward to seeing your lovely art!

Hoffman favorites

One thing I always enjoy at the annual International Quilt Festival here in Houston is seeing the latest exhibit of quilts and dolls from the Hoffman Challenge.

This year's exhibit was delightful, just as I had expected.  My favorite quilt has a theme which I have often thought of doing too -- it is titled "20+ Years of Hoffman Challenge"

Each of the 16 star blocks feature one Hoffman fabric which had been a Hoffman Challenge fabric.  The four corner blocks each use two Hoffman fabrics.  I love this quilt!  Perhaps because I recognize fabrics which I have also purchased with the intent of entering the challenge that year.  I have entered a few times, and the first time my quilt traveled for the year! 

Kudos to you, Janet Tranbarger from Riverside, CA for your clever quilt!

My favorite doll from the doll exhibit is this one:

Melissa Lewis of Weaverville, NC made this clever doll. She titled it "Cat Ladies Can't Eat Tuna".  Don't you love the expression of her cat-lady-doll as her kittens strive to reach her can of tuna?  Melissa won a first place ribbon in "Most Humours Dolls? for her clever cat lady and cats.

Here are a few more of the dolls (above) and a couple other quilts (below).

Simple and luscious.

 The magical call from the Pied Piper!

Owls still reign in popularity.  I saw them everywhere (in quilts, on fabric, patterns, etc etc etc).  In fact, I did purchase an owl-doll pattern (shall I make these owls for my classroom of Toddlers or for my Terrier pound puppy?)


Sneak preview of the new 2014 Hoffman Challenge fabric:

The rules are simple and the challenge is fun, especially if your quilt is selected to tour for the year!  For more information on next year's challenge click here:  www.hoffmanchallenge.com

Or to see more of this year's quilts (or previous years too), click here

Hoffman Dolls

Every year, Hoffman Fabric Company holds a contest open to quilters, doll-makers, and garment makers. It is called the Hoffman Challenge and began (over 20 years ago!) when one booth vendor at a quilt show challenged another to make a quilt out of that "awful fabric." Word spread and quilters from all over joined in on the fun. The rules were simple: Use no more than two yards of the specified fabric (identified as the Hoffman Challenge fabric), keep the quilt within a specific size range and submit it by a stated deadline.

Since those humble beginnings, the Challenge is now run by the Hoffman Fabric Company and includes dolls, garments, and quilts (pieced, applique, mixed). I was entranced by this year's doll entries featured in an exhibit during the recent International Quilt Festival.

Princess Padideh's Flying Carpet
by Doris Moore of Granbury, Texas, USA
Winner of the Curator's Choice in the Doll Division

Bella by Deanna L. Hogan of Astoria, Oregon, USA
2nd Place Winner in the Dolls category

The quilt is Dragonflight by Kathy Goetz of Willamina, Oregon, USA

This collection of Hoffman dolls includes Simplicity by Daria Cash of Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA (far left) and The Paisley Pasha by Mary Kaplan of Atwater, California, USA (far right). The lovely quilt Paisley Fantasia is by Frances Alford of Grafton, Vermont, USA. Note: If you can help me identify the other two dolls, please email or leave a note in the comments below.

My favorite is the frolicking dancers, Let's Dance Together Forever by Priscilla McDonald Duffy, of AC Australia, and the pineapple Hoffman quilt, Old-Fashioned Rose by Patti Kupferer of Mesa, Arizona, USA. I especially admire the intricate and minuscule piecing!

The new Challenge fabric for the 2010 competition has already been selected, and featured on placards in the Hoffman Challenge exhibit area at IQF. See it below and watch for it to appear in your local quilt shop soon.
Click here for more information on the current challenge or click here to see photos of the winning entries for this year, and past years.


Speaking of years ago.... Once upon a time, I made a Hoffman Challenge quilt that spent a year traveling in one of the Hoffman exhibits. It did not come to the Quilt Festival in Houston, but instead it traveled to Paducah and to the national Sewing Expo where an internet friend took her photo in front of my quilt and sent the photo to me .... hmmm, I wonder where that photo is .... Can't find it at the moment, so I will share this one instead ...

The quilt you see is American All-Stars, my first Hoffman Challenge quilt, home after a year of traveling. Leftover fabric was used to make the outfits for my boys to wear to their first wedding on July 3rd. The patriotic flavor of the Hoffman fabric was perfect for their wedding attire.