Art Quilt activities and the Indiana Heritage Quilt Show

Ok...while I have been doing a lot of quilty things, somehow life has interfered with me putting them up. At left is a little piece which I have been trying to work on.


It is designed in response to a "homework" challenge from the Miami Valley Art Quilt Network. Every two months or so, we pull a slip of paper from a box. On the slip is written a word or a technique and we're supposed to interpret that into a small quilt piece.

The point is that we hope to push us to work in areas we may not have thought of before, or push the envelop of our creativity in other ways. The side effect of this is that we then have a body of work which, although done by our different members who work in different styles and techniques, will hang together with a common theme.

The theme for this piece was "southwest." These pieces are made of painted batting which I then beaded. I've never beaded anything other than to repair my wedding gown which was a little shopworn. The design is based on petroglyphs from the Great Gallery in Utah and I call them "sky people." I'm working on them in two colorways....and using different techniques.

The process made me realize that I knew nothing about beading....It's more than just sewing beads on. When I looked at the list of workshops offered at the Indiana Heritage Quilt Show (don't mess up those initials or you'll end up where you don't want to be), I saw that Mary Stori was giving several classes in beading. I thought, "hey, anyone who makes a quilt called Tropical Fish Sticks" is my kind of woman.

The Indiana Heritage Quilt show is wonderful. I've been two or three times, and I have been impressed by the quilts and pleased by the class offerings and prices, although I had never taken any there.

At right is my friend Susan Schaller's entry. Susan won in her division in 2007 and 2008 and so had to enter in the professional division this year. This piece is called "Flight among the Ginkgo's" and is made with Lutradur and Shiva paint sticks.

Susan is also a member of the Miami Valley Art Quilt Network

We call Susan "the golden girl" because she loves to embellish, particularly with gold, and glittery things like hot-fix crystals.

The show did not fail to impress this year. I had a hard time trying to decide what quilt I liked the best....I don't think I ever did! The quilts, in both professional and amatuer divisions were really spectacular. I loved a piece Diane Becka did. The piece is called "Transitions" and is part of a traveling show based on "Living Colour." Diane is from North Bend, Washington, and the piece was swirls of color gradations, with black.

Diane Becka's work, detail.

Another piece I really loved was Carol Taylor's "Foliage in Transition." Carol is from Pittsfield, NY and is in the professional division. The leaves were outlined in satin stitch, which was fluffy, as if cording was put beneath.

This photo doesn't really do the work justice. Photos are difficult in this space as they are hung fairly closely and it is difficult to stand off.

Here, you can sort of see the cording effect.

In the past, people have complained about it being crowded, and this year they moved some of the vendors to a building next door to the main show. I'm not sure if they were getting all the traffic they should get, but it was a masterful stroke to allow people to see without getting stuck in bottlenecks.

So, how was Mary Stori's class? Wonderful. She's a superb teacher and I learned a lot, even though my right brain makes me have difficulty understanding.

Lest you think that there were only art quilts at the show, here are a couple which were quite impressive, but more in the traditional vein. There were tons others, but I really wanted to get permission from the artist to show them here. I'm having difficulty doing so, so I am putting these up with full attribution.


This was a very nice piece by Barbara Brockett, of Portage, Indiana entitled Christine's Quilt of Dreams.

This piece won third place in the Amateur applique division.

Again, I tried to get a good shot to show her technique, but I'm afraid it got a little lost in the compression for making it to the blog.

The source of the pattern is Affairs of the heart by Aie Rossmann. Barbara made this quilt for her daughter to celebrate her graduation for her Phd. in pharmacy.

To the right is Carolyn Tully's quilt. Carolyn is from Osgood, Indiana and the quilt is called "Robert's Roses."

Faye Labanaris' Applique Rose Garden was her design source, and Carolyn's husband, Robert, chose the pattern. Carolyn said that he particularly likes intricate applique designs. Carolyn took first place in the amateur applique division. The quilting, as well as the applique was absolutely superb.

I could go on and on...but I won't because you're probably snoring already.