Last week I received a request from International Quilt Festival asking me to allow them to keep my quilt for traveling in exhibitions through next May. I would have been happy to say yes, but I had already submitted the quilt to another show whose deadline has passed. I don’t want to be known as […]
Zigzag Pizzazz
I’ve been working on a book featuring the zigzag stitch. I presented the work I had done so far in June to the Tualatin Valley Quilters Guild in Sherwood, Oregon. Their program chair, LoisMarie liked it so much, she asked me to present to another guild she belongs to, the Westside Quilters of Hillsboro, Oregon. […]
Traveling Exhibitions!
I received my images back from photographer Kayley Hoddick for the World Heritage Sites Challenge so shipped the quilt off to Linda Steller in Eugene, OR, our American coordinator. Here’s a link to all of the world heritage sites, if you are interested. There are over 1000. I’ve probably been to a handful. It always […]
Northwest Quilting Expo Special Exhibits
Like many quilt shows, NW Quilting Expo features a variety of special exhibits. These are quilts are not judged and may come from a variety of sources. Here’s a sample from each special exhibit this year. Three well-known artists from the Pacific Northwest showed some of their best work. The first is Lisa Jenni. I […]
More Winners and Favorites from NW Quilting Expo
“Popcorn” was a blue ribbon winner and well deserved. You can feel the energy of a state or county fair in this composition. I absolutely love this quilt! This is another stand-out quilt. While I don’t know what the cat is thinking about, I know what he thinks about it! Great group quilt with […]
Fabulous Quilts at NW Quilting Expo
Last weekend I judged 178 quilts with Gerrie Thompson for the NW Quilting Expo which took place this past Thursday through Saturday in Portland, Oregon. The show began sixteen years ago, and I have judged it many times starting with the second year. The show as gotten better and better–noticeably, with entries now coming from […]
Quilt With Your Walking Foot a la Jacquie Gering
Yesterday I attended a daylong class with Jacquie who is known for her modern quilts. While she can free-motion quilt, she has seriously explored the possibilities of quilting with the walking foot, which she calls forward motion quilting. At the beginning of class and before we actually started quilting some of her designs, she had […]
A Big Whoo-hoo!
I was in the midst of Jacquie Gering’s workshop today when I checked my e-mail at lunchtime only to learn my piece “Z is for Zinnia, C is for Cosmos” received an Honorable Mention at IQA-Houston. How wonderful. I had a lot of high-fives from the other students, which I really appreciated. On November 1st, […]
Quilting, Quilting, and More Quilting
This week is all about quilting. This past weekend I taught the NACQJ Two-Day Judging Seminar to a group of seven students. Marilyn Bevan was one of them. By way of introduction, she said she was 90 years old, had just bought a new sewing machine and planned to learn how to use every feature […]
Oregon State Fair
A week ago Tuesday, I evaluated 107 quilts at the state fair along with my fellow certified judge, Elizabeth Spannring. A nice surprise in my pay envelope were two tickets to the fair. Mike and I drove down to Salem, Oregon’s state capital. Unfortunately, the drive was grueling with an hour drive taking one hour […]
Exhibition News: SPUN
I mentioned previously I had my piece Anasazi Roadways juried into a gallery exhibition in Connecticut. Here is the invitation, should you be local. Personally, after seeing the names of artists I’m exhibiting with, I would love to be able to go myself and see what I’m sure is wonderful work.
Finishing the Top
To finish the border, I appliquéd the red triangles with red rayon thread. Then I couched the blue triangles with a Kreinik Metallic Braid in size medium in a matching blue. I considered couching around the inner edge of the triangular border with metallic black but decided to use the same Kreinik blue. Here’s the […]
Quilt Building Doesn’t Always Go According to Plan
My next step was to construct the blocks in the four corners. I had my fabrics and needed to choose thread color and stitch. I matched the thread to the blue “four-leaf clover” under the fleur-de-lys. I know there must be a name for this motif, but I can’t seem to find it anywhere. I […]
How to Build a Quilt From the Ground Up–Part II
As promised, here is how my World Heritage Site quilt featuring Chartres Cathedral is progressing. The first step was sampling threads and stitches in order to embroider the cathedral. From my stash, I chose a six-strand floss in the same shade of blue to match my blue fabric. I have done a lot of embroidery […]
Morton Mansion Textiles and the NEST Art Factory
Caroline Joy Morton, born 1833 and died 1881 and the wife of J. Sterling Morton was an accomplished artist and musician. Many paintings hanging in her former home at the Arbor Lodge State Historical Park were done by her. I tried to take photos of them, but they are under glass, which reflected badly. Here […]
The Morton Mansion, Arbor Day Farm, and the Lied Lodge
The Grieser family reunion was held at the Lied Lodge in Nebraska City, a town of 7,500 located on the eastern border just across the Missouri River from Iowa. The location was the perfect place to spend a few days. The lodge itself while attractive on the outside has a stunning interior entry. As a […]
Nebraska Family Reunion
My aunt and dad grew up in the small farming town of Wisner, Nebraska, which is one hour 45 minutes northwest of Omaha. My Aunt Lee, her daughter Jacquee, and I flew to Nebraska a day early so we could drive to Wisner and see the house where my aunt lived until the age of […]
Quilt Auction
Last week I accompanied my Aunt Lee and cousin Jacquee to a family reunion in Nebraska. My grandmother, Kathryn Grieser Kerler was the 12th of 13th children born to a German Mennonite family. The Grieser family reunion has been ongoing every three years since 1967. None of us descended from my grandmother has ever attended […]
How to Build a Quilt From the Ground Up
As mentioned in a previous post, I’m participating in a new International Challenge. This time the subject is World Heritage Sites. Mine is Notre Dame Cathedral in Chartres. By the way, this Notre Dame is not to be confused with the more famous Notre Dame de Paris. I’ve been to Chartres twice, once during a […]
Of Horses, Cats, and Quilts
We went to see the spectacle Odysseo Friday night. It’s inspired by Cirque du Soleil but with horses as the stars of the show accompanied by acrobats and aerialists. Not surprisingly Quebecers have conceived this show, as well. The performances are exciting and ethereal with live music and surprising special effects. At the beginning of […]
So You Wanna’ Be a Judge
I’m offering the NACQJ Two-Day Seminar again this September. I had to turn away two people in April and had a number who weren’t able to attend for one reason or another, so I’ve found a venue and am hoping between six to twelve people sign up for a good mix of experience, knowledge and […]
