i Quilt - Best in Show!!!

i Quilt - Best in Show!!!

The judges selected my quilt for Best in Show!  I still can hardly believe it.  With tears in my eyes, and a knot the size of Mt. Olympus in my stomach, I approached the stage on wobbly legs to shake Jacquie Gering's hand, get a big hug and accept the award!  What a tremendous honor!!

It's like going from zero to 80 in a nanosecond....or as the little pig says, "Pure Adrenaline"! Ha!
It is a bit overwhelming, but in a very good way.

I met the sponsors of the prize, Gammill Quilting Machines, to whom I owe a great thanks!  And, truthfully, I am still floating on air.

My quilt was also featured in an interview about QuiltCon on Houzz.com, which showed many of the quilts, a fantastic story!  It is an honor to be included in such an esteemed group of quilt makers!

One of my favorite photos of the experience:

photo by Rebecca Maples

Thanks for stopping by!

Big Blue

Big Blue
83" x 83"

Should I make it bigger?  It already feels rather largish!! Here's a drawing for scale.

...and especially when I consider having to quilt it?  Imagine pushing this little gem under your home sewing machine...Happy, happy!

Meanwhile, though I LOVE how this looks, I am disappointed that it used so little of my stash.  This is the after picture.

This box is crammed packed on the right side.  (Scroll down to see the before picture or click here). The left over cut strips are on the left side.  I used less than half the box to make this quilt.  On the bright side, at least there will be enough fabric to make a back for it!  I really look forward to that part of it.  I love making design decisions and just letting the creativity flow!!

Now if I multiply this project by the number of boxes of fabric I have, and then consider the time it took to make this top, I see at least a year of work, without the quilting part thrown in.  True confessions of a quilter....

Blue

Blue
45" and growing...

I have decided to do some stash busting!  I have been collecting fabric for over 20 years, and it is time to do some cleaning out again.  I have given fabric away before, but this time I decided to use it up in the form of making quick quilts to either sell or donate....not sure about that part yet.  All I know is that I am currently interested in learning more about modern quilts and design, so hopefully this could be quite the interesting little project and also useful to me to clean out the studio, and potentially useful to the person or persons who acquire these quilts! 

I have about 14 containers like this from the Container store.  They are packed to the gills.  It partly explains why I typically buy fat quarters, because they fit in my boxes more easily!  And though it looks like an overwhelming amount of fabric, I would just like to say that for the most part, each piece was purchased with a specific project in mind.  I rarely shop for fabric just to own it and cherish it.  Not that there is anything wrong with that!
Meanwhile, this fabric could be having a useful life, instead of being locked away in these boxes waiting for an audition that may never come....
Strip piecing seemed like it would level the playing field and let all the fabrics come together.  Here was my work session at the beginning of the week.

It begins with the cutting.  I selected 5 arbitrary widths and then just started cutting one piece at a time.  Whatever didn't fit into a strip got tossed away. I am planning largish sized quilts, so this one isn't quite done yet.  It is currently at 65" x 65" after just 4 days of sewing.  I am amazed at how quickly it comes together.  Obviously it may be a different story when it comes to finishing it up.  And, I don't have a stash of large fabric for the back, so I may end up just putting two tops together.  Wish me luck!

Earth Stories

Earth Stories

The Studio Art Quilt Associates show, Earth Stories, opens today at the University of Central Missouri Gallery of Art and Design, Warrensburg, Missouri, January 19 - February 28, 2015. There are many stories of hope across the globe. Both individuals and small groups are working on projects that, when added together, make a positive impact on increasing the quality of life on this planet. Earth Stories celebrates the stories of people or projects that enhance the planet, make a significant difference in restoring and/or protecting the environment, increase sustainability and otherwise improve the earth we all occupy.

Crowded House

 Inspired by Annie Lennox at The Story of Stuff, I created my pieces for the exhibit to start a dialogue about over-consumerism. On a personal level, I have too much stuff.  I am in conflict because I value a simple lifestyle, so I decided to count all the objects in my house. It took me 6 months. The larger piece is called Crowded House, and is a testimony to too much stuff, as it spills out of the confines of the edges of my house. And it has the Number...the ginormous number of objects in my house.

Crowded House - detail

The second piece is called Manufactured Demand.  The smaller piece is a tribute to a few of the many brands of bottled water and the trash resulting from it.   And as the title implies, advertising has convinced us that we need bottled water...in order to make a profit, at the expense of wasting huge amounts of petroleum, both in making the bottles for the water and transporting it to all the grocery stores, often for a resource that comes to us mostly free right out of our taps.

Manufactured Demand

To see more of my project, use the link "Earth Stories" in the sidebar under "Labels", or go here.

Cat Hats

Cat Hats

My daughter and I have been playing a "game" involving her toys and specifically these 4 beanie baby cats.  It involves secretly placing the cats rather life-like positions and waiting until the other person finds them....and then laughs hysterically.  My favorite was this one of the cats left in the refrigerator sniffing my salmon!  Too funny!

Or maybe this one?  of the cat sleeping upside down on one of our cat shelves?

These two poses were her gifts to me.  This is one of mine to her....climbing the tulips kitty....

For Christmas, my daughter let me know that she was expecting something interesting for the cats.  Drats!  I hadn't even thought that far ahead! I finally came up with this at the last minute.  I knitted scarfs for each cat and made them little hats.  I had intended to make red and white Santa hats, but I didn't have any red felt, so I improvised.  I actually like the individualized colors better.  It looks so cute!  And it was fun to have a little secret project to surprise the young teenager!

What I learned:  if you knit tiny scarfs for cat toys with tiny knitting needles, it still takes an unreasonably long time to do it!!  Must use larger knitting needles!

 

First day back to school, the kitties sit by the window....waiting....

Kitties "play" the guitar, or play on the guitar?

If you are following me on Instagram, you may have seen how the beanie baby game has changed slightly to the sharky game.  Stay tuned, I will post those photos here too!  Or you can follow me on Instagram at kakiyork.

Charity Quilt by Austin Modern Quilt Guild

Charity Quilt by Austin Modern Quilt Guild

The Austin Modern Quilt Guild is participating in the QuiltCon Charity Quilt Challenge.  Participating guilds use a predetermined color palette and collaboratively make a quilt.  The quilts will be on display at QuiltCon Feb 19-21, and then donated to a charity for children.  

This project was perfect for me and I was so glad that our guild decided to participate. It was a fun and easy project!  This one came as a small kit with the fabric and instructions in little ziploc baggies that our guild members cut and assembled.  I picked up 2 sets to make a few blocks for our charity quilt organized by Amanda Hohnstreiter.   Meanwhile, it was fun to learn something new!!  I mailed the blocks and some of our guild members magically transformed the collection into this WONDERFUL quilt!!

I love it!!  And, I look forward to seeing all the charity quilts hanging together at QuiltCon. 

The Pi Project

The Pi Project
aka, playing with numbers!

This next year Pi Day will fall on 3.14.15!  A very cool combination!  In celebration The Pi Project plans to make a very long ribbon of fabric numbers, all sewn together, with the correct sequence of pi.  The public is being encouraged to participate by donating 9.5" x 9.5" numbers.  Details can be found here.  I decided this might be a fun project, so I spent the day making numbers!  And if you are curious, I didn't make them in order, nor did I intend to make this many!  I planned to make just a few, maybe three?  But then I started having too much fun!!

Fusible applique on commercial cottons

Made from individually cut batiked squares and fused to the background.

some of my batiked flowers, individually cut, and fused together, then cut in the shape of a 2 and fused to the background.

some fabric from my Urban Landscapes fused to the checkered background.

Fusible applique on some fun commercial cottons.

Individually cut batik circles fused to the background and top-stitched

both 8's use some of my hand made batiks, the first has hand-stitching, the second machine stitching.  I liked them both, so decided to send both!

Playing with them now!  Don't they look cute in this hopscotch layout!  Might be fun to make a quilt like this!

i Quilt

i Quilt
64.5" x 62.5"

At times I feel alone, but I am not. I am supported by many friends and family. These are the little "i" blocks that make up the big central "i". The other "i" blocks in the field are for all the people I have never met that support my life.

I am super pleased to tell you that my quilt has been juried into QuiltCon 2015!  Yay! I feel like a complete novice in this modern quilt movement, and so I am really happy that my work is considered worthy of showing with all wonderful and talented modern sewists!

Meanwhile, behind the scenes, I will share with you the little story of this quilt.  I had a lot of scraps leftover from making the Feral Cat quilt for my daughter.  I was also inspired (and continued to be) by the work of Heather Blair Pregger.  Her tuning fork quilts knock my socks off!  So I thought I would take a shape, the letter "i", and make it into a repeating block in a random sort of way...maybe like a floating grid?  Oddly, my daughter did not like the "i" blocks, so I set them to the side while I let her help make up a different back for her Feral Cat quilt.

After I finished her quilt, I got the "i" blocks back out and started making some more.  I wanted lots of varied sizes and varied fabrics.  I even incorporated some of my own hand made batiks and was pleasantly surprised at how well they fit in with the commercial fabrics!

Lime with grey rings and aqua dots

Aqua stripes with grey dotted bricks

But, I was struggling with the overall arrangement, and the difficulties of how to sew all this together.  Construction was not easy! It was after I started making the blocks that I decided to organize them with the central "i" made by the white blocks.  Sometimes, good ideas take a while to percolate!  I must respect the process, even if it is slow.

Eventually, I just placed the blocks I had where I wanted them, and then individually auditioned and made the rest of the blocks to fit the empty spaces.  This worked quite well, but was very time consuming.  I actually had visions of fabric flying, rotary cutters rolling, and blocks being sewn to fit with nary a thought in my head, all just improvisational pieced on a whim. My experience was really much more like an extended headache.  It took me a while to get the hang of making the other blocks to fit the spaces.

Then when I finished, I had the same problem I had with my daughter's quilt.  This one also needed a back!  What's up with that!!  I wanted this quilt to be my new studio lap quilt.  My old one is so battered and well used that it is falling apart.  And, with that in mind, I thought it would be fun to have something different on the back to suit my changing mood for the day.  I chose this, and added the extra fun of varying the size of the blocks again.  AND, I just LOVE the way this came together too!  AND, though it was a lot of effort to make all the blocks, they were super easy and did not tax my brain at all.  ALL GOOD!

Machine quilting and putting the bright pink binding on finished it up.  Now that it is going to QuiltCon, I will need to add a hanging sleeve.  Perhaps I can disguise it so that it does not interfere with the back?  Yes!! See below and see if you can see where the hanging sleeve starts!

Canoe

Canoe
8" x 10" x 2.5"

This is my contribution to The 100, Fiberart for a Cause, fundraiser for the American Cancer Society.  You will have a chance to get this fabulous little piece on Feb 4, 2015 (apologies for getting the date wrong in the previous post, oops!).

Anyway, I just LOVE this little piece.  It was made from leftovers from this quilt, which you may recognize!  This one reminds me of Austin, TX, my home!  We have a fabulous river running through the center of town, surrounded by a lot of development, but with a lot of park space preserved too!  There are several places along the river to rent canoes, kayaks, sailboats and rowing boats (those long thin ones!).  It is one of my favorite activities in Austin!  Getting back to nature without having to travel very far, and some great exercise.  I have seen many interesting animals along the sides of the river, from dogs playing with their humans, to coyotes, racoons, turtles, many, many types of birds, and occasionally fish.  

For this, I wanted to try folding the fabric like a little newspaper origami boat from my childhood, but I couldn't remember how! Thank goodness for the internet!  In no time at all I was busy re-learning how to do this.  AND it also works with fabric, though my original attempts were too large for this little project.  I was finally able to scale it down enough to slip in the little Guatemalan worry doll!  Do you think I should fashion her an oar?

Fiberart For A Cause

Fiberart For A Cause
to benefit the American Cancer Society

I am honored to be an invited artist for "The 100" to be held on February 4, 2015.  The goal for this fundraiser is to raise $10,000 in one day!!  How?  Check out the details here.

I'm sure you will want to be one of the very exclusive 100 patrons who will be randomly assigned artwork from an extraordinary line-up of international fiber artists!  Fiberart For A Cause has already raised $240,000 thanks the amazing Virginia Spiegel and the generosity of fiber artists and patrons.

Check back in to see what I will be donating.  I am so excited to be contributing to this great event!