Joy of Quilts show - a few favorites

 The Quilt Guild of Greater Houston held their bi-annual quiltshow "Joy of Quilts" recently.  Here are some of my favorite award-winners ... not all of them, just a few of my favorites.  Let's start with this view of the Winner's Circle:

These are some of the first place ribbon winning quilts on display at the front of the gallery, as one enters the show!

The quilts are (left to right):  Welsh Beauty by Carolyn Butler, Best in Hand Quilting category;   
Tuscan Dream by Jackie Hillman, quilted by Mary Jo Yackley, Best in Pieced Wall Hanging Large;
B'nai Mitzvah by yours truly - me!, quilted by Pam Biswas, Best in Modern Quilt;
Passing Fancy by Fran Urquhart, quilted by Mary Jo Yackley, Best in Mixed Technique; and
Red Delight by the Golden Triangle Quilt Guild (it is their 2016 raffle quilt), submitted by Dot Collins and quilted by Martha Vincent, Best in Group Quilt category.

Dannemiller B'nai Mitzvah by Cathy Winter, quilted by Pam Biswas (pictured above)

Imagine receiving an email while on a cross-country summer road trip with family that states you are in the Winner's Circle and can you be at the show at 9:00 am before it opens on Friday?  This is how I learned that I had at least one award winning quilt in the show and sadly my family and I were far away on the east coast.  Since I could not attend, I sent my friend Pam Biswas to stand in my place! After all she quilted all of my entries in the show and I had no idea which quilt won nor did I realize that the Winner's Circle specifically included only the first place ribbon winners.  Here is Pam standing by our quilt Dannemiller B'nai Mitzvah wearing her blue ribbon.  It is almost as if I were there too, standing beside her.

Passing Fancy by Fran Urquhart, quilted by Mary Jo Yackley

In the Winner's Circle, hanging next to my quilt, is this lovely quilt, Passing Fancy, made by my friend Fran Urquhart.  It won first place in the Mixed Technique category.  Examine this close-up to see the quilting, piecing and applique, as well as the award-ribbon.  The pattern can be found in Kim Diehl's book Simple Techniques.

Let it Snow! by Rhonda Dort

This fun quilt earned a 2nd place ribbon in the Machine Embroidery category.  It is one of many made by Rhonda Dort, who won four separate 1st place ribbons as well as the Best in Show.

Aunt Bea's Parlor by Rhonda Dort

Aunt Bea's Parlor features machine embroidered blocks, a pattern by Black Cat Creations and is also made by Rhonda Dort.  I must make a blue-n-white quilt this year, for they are as striking as the classic red-n-white quilts.

Little Red School Houses by Carolyn Hurst

Carolyn Hurst was inspired to make Little Red School Houses, after her bee made a school house quilt for an auction.  I love how she has used fabrics that "read" as a "red fabric" even if they have sprinklings of other colors in the prints.  These bits of other 'non-red' colors add a special sparkle to this traditional red-n-white school house quilt.  I have a new passion for red-n-white quilts that continues to grow.

Red, White and Beautiful by Members of the Late Bloomers Bee, quilted by Marilyn Boismier

The Late Bloomers Bee of QGGH made this quilt, Red, White and Beautiful, for the auction that happened at the end of the show.  It is simple, classic and beautiful.  I must make one of my own to add to my personal quilt collection. 

Fields of Blue by Cathy Winter, quilted by Pam Biswas

Since I am showcasing red quilts, blue quilts and red-n-blue quilts, here is another one by yours truly, me.  Fields of Blue is another award winning quilt, it won an Honorable Mention in the Modern Quilts category (where I won first place also).  It was made for my son after he selected the pattern and the blue fabrics (I only overruled a few - needing more light-lights).  This quilt stitches together quickly which is good as I must make a second one for my older son....one of these days.

American Pie by Jo Sweet

While looking at red, white and blue quilts that were in the show, I must include this one by my friend Jo Sweet.  So classically American, Jo states: "This quilt reminds her of old-fashioned summers: Fourth of July parades, church picnics, family reunions with potluck suppers.  It brings to mind simpler times and small town joys."  Don't you agree?  Such a sweet quilt featuring slices of apple pie in patriotic colors.

Dannemiller B'nai Mitzvah by Cathy Winter, quilted by Pam Biswas

This is my first quilt to win a First Place ribbon - ever - so please forgive me for showing it again.  Click here to learn a little more about the making of this quilt.  I hope to win more ribbons at other shows .... or at least to defend my title at the next quilt show put on by my traditional guild, the Quilt Guild of Greater Houston.

circles

Here is a close-up view of the finished Circle quilt, blocks made by Beyond the Sunset (BTS) members, which I blogged about previously (click here to see my blocks).

Once the blocks were collected, Liz Broussard took over the piecing together the variety of circle blocks.  We had given her some of the scraps from making our blocks which she put to good use in the sashing.  Once the top was pieced, Liz quilted it.

Time to play "I Spy" and see if you can identify my block(s) in the finished quilt.  How many of mine were used?  This quilt raised money for our guild, the Quilt Guild of Greater Houston (QGGH), when it was sold during our QGGH Quilt Show and Auction this past summer.  One of our own Beyond the Sunset members had the winning bid!  Susanne, if you ever tire of owning this quilt, just let me know, as I'm positive it will find a happy home with me!
 

Stay tuned for photos of what Pat Marek did with the many unused Circle blocks.  Apparently, we were quite an ambitious group and turned in far more than Liz could use in a single quilt, which is a good thing, don't you think?

Circle blocks

My Beyond the Sunset art quilt bee had another challenge as well.  This one was to piece circle in solid colors onto white backgrounds.  Here are three of my circle blocks:

 Circle study #1

 Circle study #2

Circle study #3

Granted the photography is horrid (did you notice?), the colors are way off (the background is a white on white print), but I had to show my work, because I hand appliqued all my circles (the full, the open and the pieced arcs).

The finished quilt turned out fabulous (Thank-you Liz) and sold in our Quilt Guild's auction at our  quilt show this summer.

Crazy for Quilts

Alliance for American Quilts is focused on tracking our quilting heritage. This year's contest, "Crazy for Quilts", encouraged participants to make a 16" square crazy quilt. A special exhibit at the International Quilt Festival featured all the quilts. They are a delightful collection, as evident by this First Place winner:

"Crazy Cow Polarity"

by Kathryn Wagar Wright of Highlands Ranch, Colorado
First place, Ages Over 30

All 85 entries are being auctioned off on eBay over a three week period as an annual fundraiser for the Alliance for American Quilts. "Crazy Cow Polarity" was one of the quilts offered in the first week of the eBay auction (which I was outbid on). I did successfully bid on this quilt:

"A Little Fairy Tale"

by Lisa Ann DuCoing, from Carson City, Nevada

Lisa's artist statement: Fairies are 1920's postcards printed to fabric and embellished with wings to make fairies. The wings are all freehand. These are my wayward fairies. This is my way of honoring women who have been forced into an unpleasant life, throughout the world, just because they happened to be born female.

The second week is currently underway with many quilts available, including this fun one:

"Crazy for Ewes"
by Sheila Rauen of Knoxville, Tennessee
Honorable Mention Winner

Classic crazy quilts are also featured, such as this lovely one by Ruth Ann Mundy.

"Victorian Rose"
by Ruth Ann Mundy of Elkton, Michigan

Join the fun of eBay bidding and support the Alliance for American Quilts at the same time (but don't bid against me!)

"One Crazy Hot Mama"
by Pamela Allen of Kingston, Ontario, Canada

Fear not as many great quilts will be 'up for grabs' in the last week of the eBay auction too (on eBay, search for "Alliance for American Quilts fundraiser"). The following will be on the auction block next week:

"Rose Song"
by Betty Pillsbury of Middleburgh, New York



"Whoooo's There?"
by Christie Eckardt of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emerates



"Folly Flash"
by Yvonne Porcella of Modesto, California

Click here to access the lists of each week's featured quilts, then bid on one -- help raise money for the Alliance of American Quilts.
In their official words: The Alliance for American Quilts, a national nonprofit organization founded in 1993, supports and develops projects to document, preserve, and share the history of quilts and quiltmakers. The AAQ brings together groups and individuals from the creative, scholarly and business worlds of quiltmaking to advance the recognition of quilts and their makers in American culture.

Visit www.AllianceforAmericanQuilts.org for more information.

a West U quilt

Welcome to my post for the fall Blogger's Quilt Festival hosted by Amy of Park City Girl. The quilt I wish to feature is one that was made especially for the 80th anniversary of ...

West University Elementary School.

This is a T-shirt quilt featuring t-shirts from school spirit shirts as well as many school activities (book fair, auction, carnival, etc.) My challenging task was to assemble this diverse collection into one cohesive quilt, and finish it in time for the PTO's fundraising auction (nothing like a firm deadline to crunch then rush one's creative energy).


After much struggling with a uniform block size, I chose to trim each item, leaving a 1" - 2" border framing the individual logos. Next stumbling block was to add borders to these trimmed blocks. Could I find one fabric to use for all the blocks, uniting the quilt? No. Instead I opted to frame each logo with a themed print in colors to match. This required shopping for fabrics such as hot-air balloon, jungle, & golf prints (a delightful task). With school colors of red, white and blue, the spirit shirts were the easiest to frame. As I pieced the fabrics around the t-shirt logos, the blocks grew larger, still keeping their different sizes and shapes. Sewing the blocks together into one quilt top required more puzzling and thinking. Look closely to spy the spacer bars of school-themed prints I added to fill in gaps. The final outer border, an alphabet print, unified the diverse blocks into one quilt.

Curious note: Some of the blocks are not t-shirts. They are scanned and printed images from an original item loaned for this copying purpose. One logo was actually cut-out from a baseball cap ... can you guess which one that is?

I must extend special Thank you's to:
Kay for printing the computer transfers;
Carrell for donating many of her own t-shirts;
Avril and Catherine who worked tirelessly remembering which events were missing and hunting down someone with the logo to share.
and last but not least, Thank you to Mike Walton of Astro Quilting Systems (713-522-7876) for the custom machine quilting that finishes this school quilt.

For all my friends and acquaintances .... no, I do not make t-shirt quilts, but fear not ... I have not one, but two friends that do. If you are interested in turning your child's keepsake t-shirts into a one-of-a-kind memory quilt please contact either of these friends:

Sharon Dixon's Katy T-shirt Quilts
and
Betty Baker's T-Shirt Quilts of Texas

Last note: the quilt was not complete at the time of the school auction (Hurricane Katrina and a broken arm interrupted the progress that fall). Nevertheless, the quilt-top was a hot item at the auction that attracted many, until the bidders united to purchase the quilt and donate it back to the school! I could not be more pleased! My quilt now hangs in the front entry of West University Elementary School.

West U Art-Night Quilt

One of the best things about our elementary school are the Extra-Curricular Nights sponsored by our PTO. I jumped in our Kindergarten year to help with Art Night (There is also International, Math, & Science Nights). Art Night is geared specifically toward our Kindergarten, 1st and 2nd graders and features both demonstrations and make-n-take projects.

The theme that year, 2004, focused on artists & craftsmen. A Potter was throwing clay on a wheel and children received their own lump of clay to mold and shape. A Jewelry artist had a display of her creations and assisted the kids in making their own beaded bracelets. A local Portrait Painter taught children how to draw a person or a dog (most chose to draw the dog, naturally). There were several others as well (but they've slipped from my memory). I was the Quilter and brought several of my quilts to share. My station had not one but two quilt-design related activities.

My first activity was for the children to experience the joy of designing a quilt block using two basic shapes. These new quilters had a large variety of fabric squares and triangles (all pre-cut from my stash) and a few sample "classic" nine-patch blocks to get them started. To keep it a short-easy-to-do project, they simply used glue stick to fasten their design onto a piece of cardstock. It was fun to watch the kids (& the non-quiting parents) agonize over color options, block arrangement &/or basic design. While many made one block and moved on to the next activity quickly, a large number asked to make two lingering long past the allotted time.

My second project was not a make-n-take one, but rather to make a block to be used in a quilt for the next school auction. The children were to draw something colorful on the prepared blocks. My idea had been to make three separate quilts for the next year's school auction, one for each of the grade levels attending Art Night. In actuality, three quilts were not made for two reasons: many wanted to keep their colorfully drawn designs and those leaving theirs as instructed forgot to sign their name &/or grade on the freezer paper back. I did have enough to make a nice twin size quilt. Here are a few photos of the top before it was quilted.

This is the top left corner. Sharpies of all colors were the tools provided. Word of caution: be sure to be in a well-ventilated room when working with this many participants as multiple Sharpies open at once is quite fragrant!

This is the top right corner. I love the colorful kid-face-print fabric used for the borders. It has all the colors of the Sharpies and fabrics used in the quilt blocks and sashings.

Here are six blocks from the center of the quilt. Each block was bordered on two sides (right and lower sides) with different bright fabrics that coordinated with the block itself and with the border print. An additional row along the top and left sides completed the framed-block sashing look.

Here is the finished quilt before going to Mike Walton of Astro Quilting for his masterful work (oh to have time, money and space to be my own long-armer! maybe one day ....)

This is the lower right corner. The label appears on the front to finish the quilt to be 10 rows of 7 blocks apiece. Isn't it nice when the math works out so easily?

The quilt was sold in the school auction, bringing in a hefty amount for the PTO coffers that year. I will have to get a photo of the finished quilt to add to this post .... one day. Two years later I became the Chair of Art Night -- but that's a story to tell another day ....