Photo Ops with Alice

Beyond the Borders, my art quilt group, had our "Alice's Odyssey" in a Special Exhibit at the International Quilt Festival this fall.  It was our challenge piece that was started perhaps 2 years ago .... and we were thrilled to be sharing it with the quilting enthusiasts that flock to the largest quilt show around, especially since it will soon be dismantled with each individual puzzle piece being returned the its original maker.

We tried gathering everyone for a group photo ... finally agreeing that we were too many to coordinate the same one day and time.  So we scheduled two photo-ops with our Alice.

First is our Thursday gathering ...

 

From the left (seated) are Nancy B. Dickey, Linda Teddlie Minton, Ann Schaefer and standing are Cheryl Johnson and Jo Sweet.  I'm the one kneeling.

Then we gathered again on Saturday ...

 

Connie Fahrion, Hannah Mallon, Sara Sissenwein Norris, Elaine Connelly all joined me this time around.  

Missing from these photos are the Alice puzzle-piece makers Bethany Carter (the originator of this challenge), Susan Carter, Gloria Kohnen, Janice McKeehan, Susan Fletcher King and Liz Broussard. 

Our quilt as seen at the Quilt Festival (with protective barrier in place).

Alice's Odyssey

 and for the curious among you .... here is my piece.

I like to call it "Big Foot Alice" ....

a talk with Jo

In a recent email chat with my friend Jo, she reminded me that her Button Candy quilt (featured in the previous post) started as a single block -- one made in reply to a design challenge we had in our Beyond the Borders (BTB) art quilt group.  Nancy Dickey, our leader at the time, had us create something (a drawing or quilt) using buttons.  I managed to pencil sketches (which I may post, if I locate that sketch pad).

Jo stitched up her first button candy -- the bag of hard candies.  She told me that:
          "I had so much fun making the bag of candies that I dived into my button stash, found it wanting, and proceeded to look for "vintage" buttons or newer interesting ones.  Now I have collected enough buttons for several projects"

I like her quilt so much, I plan to stitch up my own version of Button Candy.

Alice's Odyssey

 Look at this!  It's the Best Of Show quilt from this summer's Quilt Show extravaganza held by the Quilt Guild of Greater Houston (QGGH).  See the names?  Mine is on that list !

"Alice's Odyssey"

This quilt, Alice's Odyssey, was made by members of Beyond the Borders art quilt group (BTB) - my fiber art friends.  It began a few years ago when we were dreaming up a new challenge to taunt everyone with.  Bethany suggested we do a puzzle quilt and off we ran ..... this quilt is a puzzle, made of separate smaller quilts shaped as puzzle pieces.  Each puzzle piece depicts some aspect of our many favorite stories and plots found in the classic "Alice in Wonderland" by Lewis Carroll.

We each "signed up" for a specific puzzle piece -- they vary in size -- and also selected which mini-story within the larger story we wished to illustrate.  Then we were off and running, tackling many problems as they arose, and forever pushing back our "must be complete by" deadline (beware of this phenomenon if you choose to participate in a group piece).

Perhaps the largest puzzle, err, challenge, was figuring out how in the world to put all the puzzle pieces together.  Or how to transport the final version of our quilt may have been a larger stumbling block.  Regardless of the many issues we hurdled together, this is our glorious end product.  I find it stunning, if I may be so bold to say so.

Good news:  Alice's Odyssey will be in a special exhibit at this year's annual International Quilt Festival and Quilt Market that start later this month.   As it is very true that photos simply do not do justice to fiber art  ... this is one quilt that has to be seen in person, so be sure to come to the International Quilt Festival this year!!!

Best of Show!

Back to Alice's Odyssey -- Above is simply another photo of our prize-winning group quilt.  Congratulations to all my friends in Beyond the Borders (BTB)!  We were quite pleased when our group quilt won "Best of Show" this summer in our local quilt show.  It is the highest place one of our BTB group quilts has every achieved!

Here it is ...

For my first blog ever....

I thought I would share "Hearts A'Flutter", a fiber art piece I created to fulfill the first two challenges with the Textile Challenges group:
1) Cut-back Applique in which layers of fabrics are cut-away to reveal further depths underneath, and
2) Altering the Surface using any technique to alter the fabric's surface (pleating, painting, beading, etc.).

I used a diversity of fabrics and threads: cotton, velour, rayon, tulle ultra-suede, artificial flower petals, vinyl (that looks like leather), eyelash yarn, Sulky rayon threads, cotton threads, ending with a sprinkle of sequins and beads.

While I would love to say that I finished this piece because I was eager to share it with my new friends in Textile Challenges, the truth is that I worked hard to get it ready for the first group show of Beyond the Borders, my local art quilt group. The show, held in February 2007 at the Copper Shade Tree Gallery in Round Top, Texas was so hugely successful for both the gallery and my BTB group that Gerald and Debbie Tobola, the gallery owners, invited us back for a second show this year, again held in February.

This time I submitted a few journal quilts, all variations of my first journal quilt "Happily Ever After" (inspired by a Sulky presentation to our Daytime Guild in May 2006 and not in this year's show). This piece reminds me of my small cottage home -- except this quilted home is in the open, rolling countryside while I live in the heart of Houston, surrounded by many homes & fences.

"Feeling Blue" is my first mono-chromatic quilt -- but if you look closely, you will see I couldn't resist putting in a field of bluebonnets, the state flower of Texas. Just like "Happily Ever After", this quilt has four rolling hills, two trees and the cozy cottage -- all of which are fused and machine appliqued.

When I began this journal series, my idea was to play with color within a single pattern, to examine how color choices impact the feel of a finished piece.

"Calico Cottage," the third quilt in this series, features vintage calicos from my fabric collection dating back to 1970s and earlier (leftover strips (1.5" wide) from an early strip quilt made for my sister Gretchen -- more on that another day). I affectionately call this one my wonky piece. In using the old pre-cut strips of calico, I had to piece backgrounds from which I freehand cut the sky and each hillside (the foreground is the only solid piece of fabric). The rooftop is pleated, the tree-tops are semi-ruched, and both tree trunks are pieced from two semi-coordinating strips. I also played with placement of color -- blue hillsides and ground, green tree-bark, and of course the tiny, white calico cottage!

I must showcase my Beyond the Borders art quilt group too. Here are a few of us at the close of our Opening Night at the Copper Shade Tree, February 1, 2008 -- our second gallery show!


In front: Gerald Tobola, Linda Minton, and myself, Cathy Winter.
Behind us are: Connie Fahrion, Debbie Tobola, Barbara Jensen, Susan King, Liz Broussard and Nancy Dickey.
Not pictured but also featured BTB artists that night are Mary Ann Littlejohn, Jo Sweet and Rex Watson.
We are in the front room of the gallery. Look closely at the walls behind us to spy art work by Connie, Susan, Mary Ann.....

This is an amazing group of fiber artists that I am thrilled to call my friends. I always look forward to seeing them at our regular meetings.


I cannot close until I include this link to the Copper Shade Tree so that you can see the Best little art gallery in Texas!!! (at least in my humble opinion)

http://www.coppershadetree.com//index.php