Actors Theatre Exhibit (LAFTA)

A group to which I belong is having their annual juried exhibition at the Actors Theatre in Louisville, KY. LAFTA (Louisville Area Fiber and Textile Artists) has fiber and textile pieces on exhibit during September and October located in the Sara Shallenberger Brown Lobby, the Mezzanine Lobby, and the Victor Jory Lobby Spaces at the theatre located at 316 West Main Street in Louisville, Kentucky.

The times of the exhibit are: Tuesday – Friday: 5 p.m. – 10 p.m. and Saturday-Sunday: 1 p.m. – 10 p.m. (all times listed are Eastern time) The theatre is closed on Mondays and non-performance days, however exhibits are available for viewing by appointment at 502.584.1265 Ext. 3145.

The following artists have pieces in the exhibit. (Some have more than one piece included.)

Lisa Austin, Karen Buckingham, Pat DeReamer, Gweneth Dunleavy, Judy Goodwin, Susan Grant, Sandy Gudorf, Linda Witte Henke, Marliese Johnson, Trish Korte, Sally Lackner, Deborah Levine, Kathleen Loomis, Sallie Manassah, Sue Marshal, Alyce McDonald, Luci Mistratov, Marti Plager, Felice Sachs, Beth Schnellenberger, Kevin Rose Schultz, Debbie Shannon, Barrett Shaw, Pat Sturtzel, Joanne Weis, and Vickie Wheatley

You can find more information about the exhibit here.

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In the Show

I have some art pieces that are out and about and thought I'd let you know where you might see them (should you choose to do so). I just got a

two of your pieces (Remembrance and Metamorphosis I) have been juried into the annual LAFTA (Louisville Fiber and Textile Artists) show at the Actors Theatre in Louisville. The show will take place from September 1 - October 31, 2016.

This is "Remembrance"--the piece that did not get chosen for the Marie Webster exhibition in Indianapolis. I still love the piece and knew it would find its place. I'm hoping to get it into other shows as well. I have to get a sleeve on it yet. I haven't done that, because I always dread that part of the finishing.

Thankfully, "Metamorphosis I" has been fairly successful getting into exhibitions. I really think part of that has to do with the fact that it is framed--galleries and museums seem to be more familiar with that format rather than dealing with hanging a "quilt."

"Then We Pray" was juried into the Jasper Community Arts 23rd Annual Juried Art Exhibition at Krempp Gallery, 951 College Avenue, Jasper, Indiana. The exhibition will be held from September 2nd through September 30th, 2016. The reception will be held Thursday, September 8th from 5-7 pm. That is a free event with refreshments and a cash bar. The gallery is open Monday-Friday-8:30 am-5:00 pm, Thursday's- 8:30 am-7:00 pm, and Sunday's-Noon-3:00 pm.

This piece is hand quilted, has a handwritten background, and has lots of extreme embroidery (the caskets in front). I'm always excited when I get juried into ANY exhibit, but I am particularly excited when a piece is juried into a show that isn't totally a fiber arts show. Sometimes quilt artists struggle to have our work recognized as "fine art" and not utilitarian craft. In this exhibit, my fiber piece will be shown with paintings, sculpture, woodwork, photography, and other mixed media.

The piece I did about my Mom and my struggle with her Alzheimer's is still touring with the traveling Sacred Threads exhibit. It will be out until sometime next year. You can take a look at the traveling exhibit flip book here. You will see my quilt and the story of my quilt by flipping six pages into the "book." You can take a "gallery walk" through the full 2015 Sacred Threads exhibit here.

This quilt, along with the others in the traveling exhibit, will be displayed at these locations.

• November - December 2016--The Rectory, 17 College Street, Norcross GA 30072, Cultural Arts Center 678.421.2025, www.norcrossga.net
  
• January-March 2017--Texas Quilt Museum, 140 W. Colorado Street, La Grange TX, 979.968.3104, www.texasquiltmuseum.org
  
• April 2017--Best of the Valley Quilt Show, McDermont Field House, 365 N. Sweet Brier Street, Lindsay CA, , 559.625.5430, botvquilts.com
  

If you get a chance to see this traveling exhibit, (or other fiber art exhibits) let me know.

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What's In a Name?

I have made some progress on my new piece. The applique is done, the stitching is done on the top, and the piece has been appliquéd to the background. All that has gone (albeit slowly) fairly smoothly. Here's the latest photo; it is what I envisioned.

It is the largest art piece I have ever made coming in at approximately 75" wide and 25" high. That made it a REAL pain to baste (and I'm sure the quilting won't be any more fun since I'll have to deal with all that bulk in my machine). I started (and finished) the basting yesterday.

Here is the real tricky part for me. I have to give it a name. I can't just keep calling it "my new piece." I'm just terrible at coming up with names for my pieces. I think it sort of looks like a dry creek bed or the bottom of a canyon. As I was working on it, I kept thinking of dry ground and the swirling fires that result from the lack of water--drought, parched, canyon, arid, etc. What would you name it? I'd LOVE to hear any and ALL suggestions.

 

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August--Nashville (Indiana) Retreat 2016

I just got back from my latest retreat in Nashville, Indiana. We get to stay at a great place called The Cornerstone Inn. I only get to see these ladies twice a year and really enjoy our time together. The girls at this retreat come from all over--Minnesota, Tennessee, Indiana, Illinois, and others. This retreat is less about work for me than pleasure. I only do handwork (primarily because the space is SO limited), spend time visiting, and spend time shopping. Nashville has some great little shops and some really good restaurants.

I finished the stitching and cutting out of my extreme embroidery piece. I still haven't decided how I will be displaying or finishing the piece. I also worked on some extreme embroidery pins, my "forever" hexagon quilt, and the hand quilting on my "Bouquets for a New Day" quilt.

Here are some pics of what other people worked on. Several people were working on blocks and didn't show their pieces. Robin worked on a child's quilt. How cute are these!

She finished this round robin quilt by putting on the buttons and yoyos.

She got the binding sewn onto this quilt and one other quilt she brought with her.

Rita finished this 3-D looking quilt top.

Debby was working on blocks from "The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt" book. (Love those oranges!)

Karen worked on the embroidery for this miniature.

Nancy finished this baby quilt top.

She also finished this "Bionic Bag." I LOVED this bag--it has LOTS of zippers and compartments. She used an adorable sewing-themed line of fabric from Moda.

I bought this little piece of pottery and the "rug" it is on from a great shop in Nashville. There is a "frog" inside the pottery to hold flowers and leaves or whatever you might want to showcase. Having this little flower at my "work" station during the retreat made me smile. I'm thinking I'll be taking it to retreats from now on.

 

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Retreat with Friends

I just got home from a retreat with some friends. We had four days of uninterrupted time to work on our various projects. I spent time on my 365 Challenge. Since I have been gone so much lately, I haven't had time to keep up with that block a day stuff. (As a matter of fact, I have only been caught up one time since the challenge started!) I got 27 more blocks completed during this retreat.

The light blocks measure 6" finished. The top left light block contains 109 pieces! The dark blocks finish at 3". If you zoom in, you can see that they also contain lots of pieces for such small blocks.

I finished a charity quilt top (above); I LOVE the bright colors. I also got another 12 blocks made for my next charity quilt.

Lora Nale (who owns the retreat center) showed us a couple of her quilts. This is her "Farm Girl" quilt from the "Farm Girl Vintage" book by Lori Holt. This exact quilt isn't in there; she designed her own version adding some blocks that were not in the book.

This is her Jacqueline de Jong quilt. Jacqueline comes and teaches at Lora's place and will be back in 2017.

She also showed us two Judy Niemeyer quilts pieced by Rosie Lysinger. Laura quilted each of them.

Robin finished up "tons" of UFOs--table toppers, small quilts, and table runners.

Debbie and Jane made quilts with similar colors.

Jane finished a table runner and got a wall hanging pieced.

Vicky finished a t-shirt quilt, a pieced quilt top, and a wall hanging.

Neva worked on a baby/toddler quilt and a jacket.

I don't have pictures of Janet's work, but she made GREAT progress on a BIG quilt. I think she got all her blocks made and started putting the rows together.

The retreat was great fun, and I'm SO happy I had a chance to work on my blocks. (I'm STILL behind, though.) I have two days to regroup and head to another retreat. I'm a lucky gal!

 

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Making Progress on New Piece/Help Me

First, I'll ask for the help I need from you all. I have a piece in a "contest" on the Dick Blick website. My piece "Brain Freeze" (I call her Spike.) is my entry. I need you all to cast votes for the piece from now through August 7. You can vote on every device you have and vote multiple times--one vote on each device every 24 hours. I'd REALLY appreciate it. If you choose to vote (and vote, and vote, and vote, etc.), you will be asked for your name and email. You DO NOT have to give that (unless you want to) and your vote will still count. After you have voted, it asks for your info. Just go to the bottom of the form and click on "Skip this, and don't submit." You are still submitting a vote but NOT submitting your personal info. Come back to this blog post to get the website address (here) each time.

I have been working steadily on my latest piece until we went on vacation. (Vacations are REALLY cutting into my working time!) I DO have two quilting retreats coming up, though. I'm hoping to make some more progress on it at the first of those. Here is what I have done so far.

The black and white around the very outside edge (the background) of the piece is my design wall (the white) and felt (the black). (I didn't have a hunk of black felt large enough to put behind the whole piece and to cover the white of my design wall.) The white outline around the whole piece will be cut away when it is finished so the colors will rest directly against the black. You can't easily tell, but it is in two big pieces that have yet to be joined. I also have to finish stitching around each of the pieces. (I'm finished with about half of that.) The color portion of the piece measures approximately 75" in width and 25" in height. It is one of the bigger pieces I've ever done. It will have a solid black background when it is finished. I want a REALLY black black piece of fabric for the background, so I have ordered a couple of different blacks to see which is the darkest "purest" black. I think it will make the colors pop.

Of course, while I'm on vacation I always try to scope out the local quilt shops. I went to Little Blessings Quilt Shop in Crossville, TN, and bought a BEAUTIFUL stiletto/seam ripper hand made by the shop's owner. It is not only gorgeous, but it is VERY useful. I really love the heft of it; it has a great feeling in my hand. I sure hope I use the stiletto end more than the seam ripper end!

I found out that, while I'm here in Tennessee, I'm going to be fairly close to the home of one of my fellow blogging friends. Susan (from the DesertSky Quilting blog) and I corresponded back and forth and figured out a time we could get together. We are meeting for lunch tomorrow! I'm excited.

 

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