Making the cut or not

I have an unusual opportunity to share some of the quilts which were submitted to the Aullwood show, but were not chosen. I am friends with two quilters, Chris Landis and Fran LaSalle who are very talented quilters.

Both of them submitted works for consideration. Fran had her Forest Fantasy accepted, but two other of her pieces did not make it in.



Chris submitted this one. At the time we took the photograph, it wasn't quite finished...the binding had to be finished. Chris was trying something different. While this piece is made of three separate panels, the birch branches cross over into the other frame and are finished on both side as the reach across the opening.

This caused Chris to do some real head scratching in order to figure out how to do this. She also struggled over what color to make the binding. My instinct was to knife edge or face them so there wouldn't be the bar between them, but your eye would go across. Chris wanted to use the darker color (we were trying to figure out then whether to use black or a dark brown) in order to frame it and play up the fact that there was an edge there. Personal preference.

Here you can see the Cardinal she did in this detail shot. His beak is really wonderful and I love the work she did on the branches. The background was snippets of fabrics which were then trapped under tulle in order to make a forest floor. Her work is quite innovative. It's hard to believe that Chris has only been a member of the Miami Valley Art Quilt Network for just a year.

Chris lives in New Lebanon, Ohio and does professional long arm quilting. She has been quilting for quite a while and does a lot of her own patterns, but also enjoys doing traditional pieces.


Fran LaSalle is also a member of the Miami Valley Art Quilt Network...and I should also say that both Fran and Chris belong to the Miami Valley Quilters Guild in addition to other guilds (I just happen to be in both of these groups with them). Fran has a background in biology and plant science.

She likes to do applique and much of her work is done by hand. This particular piece is called Resting Parrot. It also was submitted but not chosen.

This last one Fran did especially for the Aullwood show, but it wasn't accepted either...perhaps there were too many crows, blackbirds and ravens submitted! I find this to be a humorous piece. It's called Corn Watchers.


All three of these pieces have merit. Perhaps when you look at them you might think they should have gotten in with the rest of the pieces I have shown you.

The Aullwood show is quite small. Space restrictions make them limit the number of pieces which are selected. In addition, the Director of Aullwood, who is also a quilter, and the guest Judge make the decisions.

Selecting pieces is always subjective. The judges (or in this case judge) have criteria that they are looking for. Sometimes it is just down to personal choice.

Therefore, if you don't make it into one show, try again someplace else. Sometimes you won't make it in one year but you'll try the same piece another year and get in.

All work, however, should be of the highest quality when you enter shows. To me, hanging straight, whether an art quilt or not, should be important, unless, of course, in the case of the art quilt is isn't MEANT to hang straight.

Give yourself plenty of time to get it done. Don't rush yourself. Make sure it fits the theme as well as the criteria (in other words, don't ignore the rules).

Now, if only I could pay attention to my own advice!