New England Quilt Museum

The New England Quilt Museum

contacted me last spring to request one of my quilts for their exhibit, Animalia: the Animal Kingdom in Quilts and Textiles, this fall! I think that's a first for me, and I really like it! They wanted this one:

Plenty to Go Around / Scarcity

I just had one question, can you show both sides? And they said yes.  So, I said yes.  

I also wasn't sure of it's availability so I offered another of my deer quilts.  In the end they wanted both quilts. I'm delighted.  I love the Two Deer quilt so much, I rarely let it out to travel.  

Two Deer (or Too Dear)

The exhibit runs Sept 12 through Dec 30.  I was hoping to post some photos of the exhibit, but I am not going to be traveling there.  Hopefully, they will post some, or perhaps one of their visitors!

Austin Area Quilt Guild Biennial QuiltFest

Austin Area Quilt Guild Biennial QuiltFest

Sept 23 - 25, 2022

I meant to post about this last year, but I have gotten a bit lost in home repair projects that were not supposed to take so long. I am hoping to start posting more regularly again this year, as most of the projects and the related stress are now behind me. 

My entries, folded and stacked, waiting to be delivered in person to the show!

I submitted 3 quilts. The show is not juried, so if they have room, then all 3 will be shown.  I requested to have both sides shown of my two-sided quilts, hoping that they would have the space, but not expecting it.  I was incredibly pleased that they were able to honor my request! I mean over-the-moon happy about seeing both sides of my two-sided quilts displayed! Fantastic!!!

I was delighted to be able to attend the awards ceremony.  I did not help hang the quilts this year, as I was having some problems with my back, so I was anxious to see all the quilts. And after the awards ceremony, the show is open to members to get to see all the quilts before the crowds come in during normal show hours. Irresistable! 

I saw a lot of great quilts, very inspiring. And, I was planning to share them here, but I cannot for the life of me find them on my camera. Nuts!

seeing the show with friends: Andrea Brokenshire, Sherri McCauley, me, Pat Romohr

Even more surprising, I won a LOT of awards.  I never know what to expect of my quilts in this regard. Sometimes I look at them for so long, I get tired of them, and then I am surprised when someone else enjoys them. So, I am usually authentically surprised when a judge likes my quilts enough to select it for an award.

The following photos of the show were taken by Pat Romohr, and I am so grateful that she shared them with me. 

Plenty to Go Around/Scarcity won a 3rd place and the Quilt Show Chair's Award! Here I am with my super squinty smile, and in the second one, mouth open surprise, perhaps about the color of the ribbon both matching my quilt, and looking good with my outfit! Almost as if, it was made for me!

Plenty to Go Around

Scarcity (the other side)

A note about this quilt. It got extremely high marks on my judging sheet. I got one negative comment: "dark shadows show through light fabric".  It was intentional.  It needed to be that way to illustrate the contrast of the story of the two sides.  The quilt NEEDED some transparency, as it is about the relationship to white privilege and racism. Because the quilt is hanging at a quilt show, and has back lighting, you can see hints of the other side regardless of the side you are standing on. It was a conceptual choice that did not go over well with the judges, or perhaps was misunderstood? 

Another note: this quilt is currently on display at AQS Paducah.  It did not win any awards there and it will not be displayed with both sides showing. I was very content to have it juried into the show and have an opportunity for it to be seen. And though I have not been to that show, I suspect the competition is fierce. I had also planned to enter it into the Houston Quilt Show this year, but sadly it is now too old.  I missed my chance to enter it last year because I was a judge.  And so it goes...

 

Next up my quilt Caterpillars/Butterflies. It also won two awards! It got a 1st Place and a Design Award. The Design Award is extra special to me.  It is one of the things that I value most about a great quilt.

Caterpillars

The two awards, and a close up of my super dense matchstick quilting with every line sewn with a different color of thread.

Last up, my quilt Seeds/Bloom.  It did not win an award. Although, I have to laugh at myself because of my three entries, this one is perhaps my favorite.

Seeds

Bloom

Both Sides Now

International Quilt Festival Houston

Both Sides Now

photo by Sherri McCauley

photo by Karen Alexander

I am so proud and thrilled that my exhibit, Both Sides Now, was so well received in Houston this year! And it wouldn't have been possible without the support of Becky Navarro at International Quilt Festival and my sponsor Juki America. I did not go, but had asked for photos of the exhibit from friends. I was overwhelmed with the response I got!!  Christi Carew and Suzin Stern took photos of almost every side of all the quilts!  Becky Navarro, Sherri McCauley, Susan Tennison, Frances Ledenbach, Karen Alexander, Cheryl Dagan, Deborah Boschert, and Carol Jones Morrisey took photos of the exhibit, many of which were showing people looking at my quilts!  And Andrea Brokenshire and Sarah Ann Smith took videos of the exhibit so that I could see what it looked like if you were walking around! Sarah's video included her commentary of my work which was quite lovely and gave it a very professional vibe that I LOVED! I am overwhelmed and so thankful for all the kindnesses! A big thank you to all so that I could share photos here with you!! It was almost like being there!

You can see both sides of every quilt in the exhibit, along with artist statement for the quilts, and links to the quilts while I was making them, in the new tab at the top of my blog, Both Sides Now. 

Turn the Dial (left), Flow (right)
photo by Susan Tennison

Neurodiversity (left); His and Hers (right)
photo by Carol Jones Morrissey

Bloom (left), Butterflies (right)
photo by Karen Alexander

Caterpillars
Photo by Christi Carew

Diverging Distractions
photo by Suzin Stern

There were some unexpected surprises as well!  If you stood in the right place the lighting went through some of the quilts, showing both sides at the same time!  

Scarcity
photo by Deborah Boschert

The front side of Scarcity, Plenty to Go Around.

Plenty to Go Around
photo by Cheryl Dagan

Seeds
photo by Deborah Boschert

The Bloom side:

Bloom
photo by Suzin Stern

No Earth, slightly more subtle in the lighting effects, but also looks amazing from the back especially when you can see references of the front side.

No Earth
photo by Suzin Stern

The front side of One Earth:

One Earth
photo by Suzin Stern

I have been asked the following questions. So I thought I would answer that here.

Q: "Why make two-sided quilts?"

A: 1. I always wonder while I am working, WHAT am I going to put on the back of this quilt??? Sometimes my brain starts brainstorming ideas that relate to the work that I am currently making for the front.  It is like expanding an idea to include another perspective of it.  Like working in a series, albeit, a limited series of only two.

2.  I really enjoy designing quilts more than quilting them (now that I am older).  This gives me an opportunity to design TWO quilts for each quilt I have to quilt.

3. Storage space for my work is getting smaller and smaller the older I get and the longer I make quilts.  This is a somewhat futile attempt to have two quilts fit into the space in my closet of ONE quilt.

4. I love, love, love the challenge of making a two-sided quilt, where the meanings or stories connect with both sides.  Even better, is when the quilting motif ties the two together. 

Q: How do I line them up so well?

A: It is really difficult to line them up.  The back side gets smoothed and taped to the floor, front side down.  Then I put a layer of batting on top of that.  Now I can't see anything of the back side, and I have to lay the front side on top of all of these, top side up.  

1. Sometimes you can fold the quilts into quarters and put a safety pin on the folds at the very edges.  Then you have 4 points you can line up.  

2. I also found that you can FEEL the seams of the back side of the quilt through the quilt sandwich and make subtle adjustments to line up the front with the way that the seam feels. 

3. Sometimes the actual design of the two sides does not have to line up perfectly for it to work.

4. For the quilt, Turn the Dial, I used the same pattern for the front as the back, and tried to sew accurately.  That one got off about 1/2" in some places, but it is not noticeable. 

If you have more questions, please ask in the comments section.  I will be happy to try answer your questions.  I am not sure if the Blogger platform will notify you that I have posted a response, but I try to answer every comment I receive, so check back!

Two Halves
photo by Suzin Stern

the other side:

Overlap
photo by Suzin Stern

I also had a few comments about the hanging tubes.  Those were dreamed up for each quilt, BEFORE the backs were made.  Especially in the quilt above, I had to make sure when I was batiking the two panels that were sewn together to make Overlap (above) that I made enough to include an extra piece with the correctly spaced and dyed stripes to add the hanging tube! And it worked!!

I don't think anyone commented about my labels....

I sewed those INSIDE the hanging sleeves, as per request from the exhibit curator and coordinator, Becky Navarro at IQF.  The labels usually go on the back side of a quilt.  If these were indeed two-sided quilts, with no front or back, then the label would need to be hidden from view.  Done!

Last, there is a giveaway on my Facebook page for free two-sided postcards from the exhibit.  I was planning to hand most of these out at the festival, but then didn't go.  I will send them internationally too, so if you want one, sign up there.  Posting has been delayed, because I have run out of envelopes.  They have been re-ordered and I am hoping a Nov 15 post date. 

Thank you for stopping by!

Plenty to Go Around

Plenty to Go Around
81" x 83"

Here's the back:

I am finally finished! I knew this day would eventually come, but I didn't know it would be so late! I am slow, but I do finally get there.  This piece was started when the refugees began showing up at our southern border in increasing large numbers.  Our response to them was less than honorable and the daily onslaught of the atrocities there haunted me.  Especially troubling was the separation of children from their parents, and then losing track of where the children were. Now, I have finally finished and the nation has forgotten about them and moved on to other equally heinous atrocities. I made this piece because I wanted to call attention to the systemic nature of racism.  Yes, there are certainly bad actors causing trouble.  But the problem is bigger than that. It is an entire system of racism that is defiantly overt and also lurks subconsciously.  The entire system needs change.  When I feel the discomfort, it is important to lean into it.

There have been so many posts about the process of making this quilt.  Thank you for being patient and following along with me!
Beginning the drawing: here
The batik of the chickadees: here
The batik of the center flower and the fawns: here
The batik of 4 different flowers: here
Beginning the applique, hummingbird, and batik of orange poppies, irises: here
Appliqueing of the flower stems: here
Appliqueing of the chickadees and orange poppies: here
Drawing and batik of the fawn group on the back: here
Drawing and batik of the wall on the back: here
Batik of the whole cloth flower panel on the back: here
Batik of spiral flowers and the hills panel on the back: here
Hand quilting, thimbles and needles: here
Marking concentric circles for hand quilting: here

I am exceptionally pleased with how this quilt speaks to me. The sharp contrast of the imagery with the softness of the fabric is compelling. I love how the quilting ties together the two images both conceptually and literally. On the front, the quilting lines are perfect for showing a world of beauty and generational prosperity.  And on the back, the same concentric quilting lines show how the vulnerable and darker blue fawns, living in a land of scarcity, are targets. The story is made richer by seeing both sides.

Here are some detail shots (front):

And some from the other side (back):

Plenty to Go Around: concentric quilting

Plenty to Go Around
80" x 80"
Marking Concentric Circles for Quilting

I decided early in the planning stages that I wanted to quilt this with concentric circles.  And, though I love the loose and organic and uneven concentric circles, that is not what I wanted for this quilt.  As part of WHO this quilt is, the lines need to be exact, or look exact.  It's part of the story.   

I wanted to avoid drawing on the quilt all together, I thought that 1/4" masking tape would be perfect.  It is easy to apply, and easy to pull up if you don't like how it is applied.  It stays stuck pretty well, but does not leave a residue on the fabric.  It is so narrow, that it bends easily around gentle curves.  It does not do that for tight curves, like the first couple of small circles in the center of the quilt.  So, I started with this:

I drew circles with a compass and pencil on the freezer paper, and then cut out the circles with scissors. Next, I ironed the freezer paper circles and hand stitched around the edge.  These are super easy to peel up too! However, once the circle size gets too big, it becomes too stiff and cumbersome, especially if using a hoop.  And, you will know that size when you get to it!! Ha!

For the bigger (and getting increasingly bigger) circles, I decided to measure from the center, using the concept of the circle's mighty radius! Cha ching! I measured, and marked with pins, marking several lines at a time.  It looks like this:

Then I started applying the masking tape, gently curving it as I went around the circle.  I started with the innermost circle, using the pins as suggestions of where the tape should land once it gets there.  It is really good as a suggestion, but more important is the shape of the line as it curves around. Even if not perfect, it needs to resemble the shape of a circle.  Sometimes it will get off the line just a bit, but that inaccuracy can be averaged out with the next rounds of circles. 

After applying the tape, I remove the pins. And then I apply the next round of tape.

Here's an overall view of the pins.  I use a lot of pins, spaced closely.  I suspect that with more experience, I could rely on less pins that are placed further apart.

This pinning and marking takes time, but for me, it makes a significant difference.  If you just follow the previous quilting line with a similar spacing, you can easily get through the entire quilt.  However, if there is a small error in spacing, that error will be compounded and multiplied as you work outwards.  A skilled and experienced quilter will see those errors and gently correct them with each line.  There is also the option of removing lines of quilting to get back to the section where the error starts.  That is frustrating and can be a significant delay to progress.  I am hoping that by marking the circles, I can avoid that.

One further note: when quilting by machine, instead of by hand, it is entirely possible to avoid marking the circles at all because you can use the machine's foot as a guide while you sew.  Disclaimer: I struggle getting those circles even too!

Here's an overall view of my progress so far.  The circles are getting bigger and starting to "outgrow" my rotary cutting rulers.  I have moved up to yardsticks now! And I am pleased that as the circles get larger, they still look like circles! I foresee a point in my near future where my table will be too small and this work will move to the floor.  Perhaps I can get some quilt yoga in as I stretch, bend, and squat to mark these lovely circles!

Plenty to Go Around: hand quilting

Plenty to Go Around
80" x 80"
Hand Quilting

I love the way hand quilting looks.  I love the process of hand quilting.  It is meditative, slow, and calming to the soul. It also gives the quilt a very nice softness of texture.  And, I love that it looks somewhat organic compared to the perfect computer drawn quilting lines of newer technology.

I have been quilting since 1980.  The first quilt took about 15-20 years to complete.  It was all hand quilted, before I knew how to hand quilt.  Basically, stick the needle in from the top, grab in on the bottom side with the other hand, turn the needle around and stick it back up to the surface.  This is called stab and grab.  It works, so that's what I did.  It is not the reason the first quilt took so long to complete!

One year, I was at the International Quilt Festival, winding my way through the vendor booths, and I ran across someone selling these little gadgets for hand quilting.  In five minutes, I had a thorough lesson in how to hand quilt.  It was fabulous!  The tool was good too, but I don't use it anymore.  I prefer using my hands and a few other tools.

Above is a self portrait of my hands.  I can now quilt for hours on end, but afterwards, my hands feel kind of dead! Ha!  (Also, my back and shoulders for sitting too long!).  Meanwhile, what you see here is the wonderful Clover leather thimble with a metal coin.  The coin part is dimpled and allows me to set the needle without it slipping.  The leather part is super comfortable and soft.  I had worn out two of these fantastic little thimbles and so started this project with a normal full metal thimble.  Sadly it didn't fit and gave me a cut and giant blister on my finger. Nuts! It was totally worth driving to a nearby city for a new leather thimble that was in stock on the only night it snowed in Austin! Yes, I am dedicated to my craft!

You may have noticed the blue spots on my fingers? It is blue painter's tape.  Quilting without them leaves my fingers feeling like they have been needle felted, or tattooed without ink.  A bit painful and unnecessary.  I cut new little pieces of tape for each quilting session.  If you press on them for about 20 seconds, they will stick pretty well.  They also work to build up layers if one isn't thick enough.

Which brings me to the needles.  I use a LOT of needles, because I tend to bend and break them.  I have yet to find the perfect needles, but these Bohin needles come pretty close.  I used to think it was the needle (and inferior needles are problematic), but I have come to find out that there is a minor flaw in my quilting technique, and if I am not paying attention, I will bend the needle, making it pretty useless, and I am on to another one. I have tried lots of styles, but the Betweens and Sharps seem to be the best for me.

The quilting technique.

I like to load the needle with a lot of stitches at one time. I think this one has about 6 stitches.  I am never sure how to count those?? Meanwhile, really excellent hand quilters can get 10 stitches per inch.  I am not there, but also, I find that I prefer to see the little stitches, so I will aim for the size that is visually appealing.  The bending of needles comes when I push too hard on a needle that has lots of stitches.  It works better to use the thimble to push and load the needle with stitches, and then use some locking forceps to pull the needle through.

Last, I use a hoop.  It helps get the tension right and seems to work for me.  I have seen other quilters NOT use a hoop.  I don't know how they do it.  Magic!

And for this quilt, the Plenty to Go Around quilt, hand quilting is the perfect compliment for a quilt that has been hand appliqued, and all hand batiked elements. I love the way it looks in the concentric circles, which is also paired rather nicely with the symmetry on the front. The same lines add a different element to the story on the back.

Plenty to Go Around: batiking the back panels Part 4

Plenty to Go Around, the back side, Part 4, project
80" x 80"

The top two panels have a few flowers, hills, and sky. Here are some of the spiral flowers.  The waxed over flowers at the bottom is the part that overlaps with the panel below, they will not be needed, and the pencil markings will come out during the boiling stage.  It is also very likely that part of this section will be trimmed off as the panels are sewn together.

This photo shows the flowers with the fence.

Here it is hanging on the clothes line, complete and nearly dry.  I like the way in undulates in the wind, kind of like the hills undulate on the panel.

The other top panel was so quick in comparison!  Just a few lines for the hills:

It was such a great feeling of relief for being so close to the finish line!  

Here is the final image of the back.  The panels have all been hand appliqued together.  This part could have been done with a sewing machine, however, my panels did not line up as well as I had hoped.  By stretching each piece of fabric individually on the frame, they stretched slightly, and not completely evenly, so that in the end, they did not line up well enough to just chop and sew.  But by carefully placing and turning under the edges of the panels as I went, with hand sewing, I was able to get the final image well enough, and keep the entire piece flat and square.  

I love the final design.  It is both simple and complex.  The colors are rich and hopefully the message is clear, or at least asks you to think about a very complex subject.  Next up the quilting.  I will be hand quilting this one, so it will take a while.  Hope to update you on the progress in about 4 to 5 months.