SAQA Trunk Show & Gallery Show

 There were 2 parts to this wonderful exhibit - the Mountain Art Quilters in the church street gallery and the SAQA traveling trunk show in the fellowship hall. Our (MAQ) exhibit featured beautiful quilts and talks from several members.

Kathie Briggs talked about her wonderful piece featuring many layers including a waterfall.

Tricia Tillett created Radiolaria in the Sea - an elaborate mineral skeleton. She has done a beautiful job recreating this phenomenon in fabric.

 This interesting and very colorful pieced art quilt was created by Lisa Heller

Agatha Van de Ven created the piece on the left and Susan Webb Lee created "Board Game" on the right - both such fun pieces to see with lots of wonderful surface design techniques.

 Lynn DellaPosta created this very "nature orientated" piece with some spontaneous piecing and unusual fabrics.

 Lynne Harrill created this lovely piece out of hand-dyed fabrics she made herself. (Bottom) Kathie Briggs created "Summer Pathways" on left and "Annie's Fall" on right. Both were wonderful but I was so taken with Annie's Fall and the amount of surface design techniques and fabrics used to create this very realistic and interesting piece.

  I love this piece by Lynda Sondles made from commercial and hand-painted fabric - such beautiful color movement.

  This wonderful use of black and white fabric - "Night Vision" was created by Jo-Ann Jensen.

 

 Julie Bagamary created the piece on the left and Shirley Schaeffer Parkin on the right. Both have some wonderful hand stitching on them.

 Paula Entin created "Field of Flowers" which will be part of a solo exhibition at the NC Arboretum coming soon...but more on that later.

 I love this piece by Jenny Perry and the title - "The Answer my Friend"....so clever....took a minute for it to click in my brain.

 This lovely piece - "Birches in the Moonlight" was created by Janine Anderson-Bays

  This piece by Mary Stori - "Woodland Ferns" utilizes Eco printed and discharged images created by Mary.

 

This piece - "Blessings" made by Deborah Gebbie utilizes many techniques and found materials.

This is my piece - "After the Rain". Sometimes a name will come easily ...one look and it reminded me of the woods right after a rainfall...kind of misty and gloomy but something very intriguing about it. I hand marbled, dye painted and used Shibori as some of the techniques. Silk organza which was stamped, painted, cut out and edges burned scatter on the top.

There were so many great pieces to see, I tried to represent at least one of each artist...

  

 Meanwhile in the Fellowship Hall, the SAQA Traveling Trunk show was going on.

 The hall was laid out beautifully with lots of room to view pieces and walk around.

 Kathie, Mary and Tricia...

 One of our guests had a fabulous coat which she knitted ...had to get a picture.

 Here's Jenny enjoying the show....

 You can see how big the room was...each piece being given their due plus a card with information on the piece.

 Our break center...

 Another lovely jacket made from batiks..

There were so many wonderful pieces to see, can't say I had a favorite but I really loved this one with all the hand stitching...It was a wonderful and very successful exhibit. Hats off to Linda for organizing it and all the hardworking members of Mountain Art Quilters for making it happen. Check out the latest happenings in the quilt world at Off the Wall Friday and Whoop Whoop Friday.

SAQA Pt. 2

 At our SAQA meeting, we also had our show and tell - always inspiring. Kathie Briggs showed us a piece (left) which was a corroboration with 8 people....everyone used Kathie's fabric to create a small section of the quilt below and then put together. Of course, everyone had the same chance of others in the group making a section for their piece...such a fun project. Kathie on right has also been making table runners and matching bowls. My bowl picture was blurry but it was a lovely piece and so functional.

Lynn DellaPosta created this piece out of a clean up cloth - they always make into the best pieces. She extended the lines of her scribbles into the border which made it so interesting.

I also love the way the piece is not perfectly centered on the border fabric...kinda of catti-wampus! Love it.

Mary and I are in a little group - Fiber Junkies where we learn different surface design techniques. We often work on small pieces and then what to do with them. Mary created these beautiful little book covers for small size books to carry in your purse. She actually created quite a few to bring as gifts to her family in California but you can also see them in her booth at Woolworth, downtown Asheville (booth 235 downstairs)

We had a guest artist - Ellen Lindner who is a fiber arts teacher and here visiting. I thought it was interesting how she did exercises on 5 x 8 cards...randomly and then used portions of it to create a larger piece. The piece on the right is part of the design on the card (on left)...very clever and fun way to work.

 

Ellen also showed us more of her dye experiments...

Shirley showed us a piece in the works created in a workshop with Gloria Loughman. It is beautiful in person and I can't wait to see it done...The "tile" background is all individual pieces - amazing! Such a wonderful group of gals and so much inspiration...I always go home fired up!

SAQA - Two for One

The Mountain Art Quilters - a regional pod of SAQA recently met for a private showing of the SAQA traveling show. SAQA (Studio Art Quilts Association) sponsors many shows each year for members, many of which travel. This particular show, because of its large amount of entries,  is dividied into sections. We received section A which had 58 wonderful pieces to drool over.

After our regular meeting of business and show and tell, we had the opportunity to go around to different tables to see each piece.

Linda, our group leader who started the ball rolling...

We were trying to decide the best way to showcase each piece. Since each one is mounted on black foamcore and then inserted and sealed into a plastic bag, we felt it safe to lay them on a table.

This way people could go round, pick up each piece and read the information on the back without having to worry about harming the piece.  This is a lovely way to present a piece; the clear bags did not inhibit the beauty and uniqueness of each piece and viewers were able to get really up close and personal. I have to say, I had my favorites but enjoyed seeing every one and the creativity behind each. We even had a few critique groups going on.

We also had a refreshment table which is always fun and a place for people to gather.

Some yummy homemade and purchased food items.

This is not a good picture of one of the pieces but thought I would try it. The plastic reflects too much but you can go to their website - www.SAQA.com to see them all....OR you can come downtown Asheville on March 29 to see them in person (info below)

Our group which grew from 3 members to many, many today. A great group of very talented, sharing and lovely ladies. They are fun and inspiring to be with.
Here is some information on the SAQA trunk show coming to Asheville on this Friday, March 29.

It is so worth seeing...and if that wasn't enough, our group has a show going on upstairs in the Church Street Gallery, you don't even have to leave the building - a two for one.

After you see the SAQA show, wander upstairs to see our "Seasons of Green" show...Another plus, refreshments will be served...So hope to see you there. Our whole group will be going and staying and making sure you're having fun!

PTA Retreat Pt. 2

 Some more wonderful things going on at our retreat...Leigh Anne brought a wall hanging made for her home in Florida (where she lives full time). How perfect the colors are. She wanted to add beads and Mary helped her out, giving her a lesson and also doing some beading on the piece. It added so much.

Here's the piece Barbara is working on...further along.

The black and white prints make such a wonderful background.

Kate finished her quilt #1 for the NC Hurricane Quilt project. Marene started another very colorful quilt to challenge herself in working with bright colors.

She had the blocks made already; she had to put them together and do the border.....

Mighty pretty....

And Leigh Anne's quilt even further along. I love the addition of gold fabric and maroon strips...sometimes the colors you think will never work together are dynamite.!

Barbara had also been working on a wonky log cabin. The fun thing about this quilt is that all size strips are going to work as long as the outside measurement of each block is the same. What a great scrap quilt.

Mary is also making a quilt for the NC Hurricane Quilt project. The blues are beautiful and will make a stunning quilt.

Georgia has started another Trip Around the World. I'm always intrigued in the way she plans her fabrics and then lays them out and stitches them in the order they will be used. It will be fun to see the finished piece...In closing, I must say, it was a great 3 days as always. These gals add so much to my life; I value their friendship and just enjoy being with them.