Sometimes You are Pleasantly Surprised.

Things have been REALLY nuts around Casa Quintana lately....things like flying to Atlanta for a training session 2/7; coming home late afternoon 2/9, going to Erie, PA for something for my husband, coming home, taking care of things (and recuperating  and going for a weekend quilt retreat on 2/15.  Add in there working on Taxes and my daughter's FAFSA report.....and things have just been a tiny bit nuts.

On Thursday of last week, I got a note from a friend telling me about an exhibition to benefit a cancer clinic.  I'm always up for doing things like that..even if I was leaving for the retreat the next day...and that was the deadline for the show.  Add in that they were looking for things which were bright and cheerful....and well...I had to think a little bit.

This particular piece is one I did in 2007 as part of the Kaufman "Life, Love and Hope" challenge which Luana Rubin of eQuilter put together.  This is my submission..and I suppose it is close to being part of a series as it is based on a poster by Alfonse Mucha, just like "In Orchid Paradise."  The title is, "Life, Love and Hope."  When I look at it now, it seems to me to be a bit...simple.  Too simple.  I can't  pull up a closeup of the faces right now, but I think they are a bit pallid....and of course, I don't like the idea that I pulled so strongly from Mucha.  I'd do it differently now.

They were asking for pieces in particular which would be offered for sale....and I thought I would be happy to part with this one...but something in the back of my head said I should check with my daughter to see if there were any of my quilts she was particularly fond of,  as she has never said much about any of my quilts.

Much to my surprise, she said that this was one of  her favorites....Maybe because I had her pose a couple of times so I could get the arm/hand placement correct...something I often have her do. (At first she would balk, but after a while, I think she began to understand what I was doing and was a more compliant model.)

So....I then asked her about the other I sent them....the Sun Fish I showed earlier this month...and to my surprise, she wanted that one too.  The one which she suggested I offer them was my "Voice of the People"  The frog done in the North West Tribal tradition of Button Robes, or robes of power.  Why? It scares her.

So, I hope to get back to working on new pieces....I have many running around in my head..and fabric and pieces gathered....but this weekend was spend working on a traditional bed quilt for my niece who requested this of me....I'm going to have to institute a new schedule!

Indicating a spotlight in a quilt

On the Quilt Art message list, Madeline recently asked how to indicate a spotlight. This is what I did to indicate a spotlight in this piece called "El Ritmo Flamenco (The Flamenco Rhythm)" in 2004.

It seems a little simplistic now, but I did this piece for the Robert Kaufman QuiltQuest Challenge. You were to use the Color Rhythm fabrics, and I am happy to say, that except for the netting, the shiny stuff and the cording I used on the "curtains", all of the fabric was from this line. Nothing else was used.


To show the spotlight, I wanted something see through, yet glowing. I found the shiny crinkle iridescent lame in the fancy dress goods section at JoAnn's. However, it was a tad too bright. I needed something to break up the reflective quality.

After trying a whole bunch of sheer fabrics, from georgette, to chiffon, I finally settled on plain, old black netting. Illusion netting was just too dense. The open hole structure of the black net allowed the shiny stuff to show through but knocked it back a bit.

The flamenco dancer was inspired by a press photo of Teresa Torkonowsky, a famous flamenco dancer, teacher and purveyor of dance accessories. Ms. Torkonowsky was kind enough to give me a copy of her 1950s black and white press photo and the permission to use it in this piece.

What doesn't really show up in these photos is that the dress is three dimensional. Each of the layers is gathered and stands out from the background. Her "flower" in her hair is made of gathered lace and her earring is the catch part of a hook and loop closure for a necklace.

This piece was part of the traveling show for the Kaufman Quilt Quest that year. One of the funny things, or maybe not so funny, is that it was almost lost. After entering the show and sending the piece off, I discovered I would be moving from Connecticut to Ohio. I dutifully sent off the change of address to Kaufman, which they acknowledged. About two weeks after the quilt was supposed to be returned, I frantically got in touch with Kaufman. It appears that they had had a computer crash and lost my current address, so sent it to the old address. Fortunately, the new owners of our old house were on good terms with us and they over-nighted it to me.....too bad I had to pay those fees and have the heart attack, but at least I got the quilt back safe and sound.

Fallen Behind

What a mess! I'm really behind...this time of year usually has me scrambling. The garden calls me to weed, divide and move.

My daughter calls me to pick her up from track,
church, whatever.

Saturday, the cat ran away and four days later, right after I put an ad in the paper, he returned....doctors appointments....I think that spring means that everything is springing on me at once and I'm coming a bit unraveled.

I wanted to get some of my other quilt projects up, especially since I've been doing most of this on the garden. Right now, I'm trying to get a Blue Heron done for a show at an Audubon Society near here. I hope I make it...but I'm really going to have to push it to get it done in time.

These three shots are of a piece I made for the Robert Kaufman Quilt Quest Challenge for 2007. I designed it after a brass rubbing I did from a reproduction brass at Westminster Abbey in 1979. The original grave brass is of Lady (Margaret, but there are other names given for her) Bellingham. I think the original is in Kendall, but I can't remember off the top of my head.

A quilt challenge is a contest which is based on a set of rules. The rules usually require you to use a particular fabric (in this case the line by Robert Kaufman called Tuscan Wildflowers---I think) and to make your own design within a specified size limit.


I'm often quilting and completing the piece right up until the last minute. I don't like to work that way, but I always under-estimate the time it will take and under-estimate the other requirements that being a mom and wife and whatever other hat I happen to wear at the time.

Anyway, I've managed to distort these as I try to move them around, but I think you get the picture. I did the face with crayons and micron pens. the "Greenman" mask at the top is sort of cool...I had to photocopy the print of the fabric in reverse onto a special fabric as I needed the leaves to point the opposite direction. In the original fabric print, all the leaves and flowers pointed the same way, but I needed mirrored images. I couldn't figure out how I was going to do this until Lyn Mosher, one of the women I quilt with every week told me that I could do it this way. The only hang up was that the fabric had a metallic finish on it which didn't translate. I ended up using gel pens in order to get the gilt back on the piece.

The quilt was accepted into the traveling show, along with 27 other pieces drawn from work submitted by an international group of quilters. I was very happy to get this piece in. It was the second Quilt Quest traveling exhibition piece I made and the third Robert Kaufman contest piece.