Asheville Quilt Guild Show

The Asheville Quilt Guild Show is still going on through today located at the fair grounds on airport road right across from the airport. There are some beautiful quilts to see and everything from traditional to art quilts to first quilts. Our picture taking was limiting to personal use so unfortunately I won't be able to share any of the wonderful pieces with you.

 The only exception to that rule was our exhibit by PTA - Professional Textile Artists. We've shown this exhibit in many venues but never in our home town so it felt kinda good.

 The exhibit was a challenge for each member to create an art quilt inspired by a 2-dimensional artist.

 Signage alongside each piece showed a work by the 2 dimensional artist and then our interpretation.

 I usually don't like challenges but this one I loved.  We tried to hang them so bright ones were together and so on.

 This exhibit will probably retire after today but it's had a good run and nice to end up where you started. Above is Cathy Neimans piece which was wonderful.

and the signage.  There's still time to see the exhibit and visit the wonderful vendors.

Charlottesville Quilt Guild

I just got home from teaching at the Charlottesville Quilt Guild in Virginia. What a great guild. My hubby came along - something he doesn't normally do, but he was a big help carrying all my stuff and being my chauffeur. He also got to visit Monticello and Michie's Tavern - a very old tavern only open for lunch. Lucky guy!! But meanwhile back at the ranch, I had a lot of fun teaching. The ladies were wonderful, supportive and so talented.

The teaching facilities were a joy with lots of room to spread out and 2 huge white boards. There was also a separate room for ironing and a genuine "goody" room.  I was too busy munching to get a picture of the enormous selection of yummies - all home made. The ladies told me they are "foodies" I'm so glad!

Here's one of the gals - Alda working on her project. Alda is a Macro-photographer and showed me some of her amazing photographs she hopes to interpret into fabric someday. She had a great start on her project and I wish I had taken more pictures later on in the day to show some further along - booo on me.

I wish I could remember who did what. The pieces were wonderful. There was silk screening, along with painting and creating imagery for the bottom layer and the top sheer layer.This is a favorite workshop of mine to teach; it's exciting to be around so much creative energy.

This piece was just the starting point and by the end of the day, it looked great. Notice the cute bugs on the tree and the dragonfly in the air - all screened on the bottom layer so the sheer tones it down a bit.

The starting point on this piece utilized all silks, many of them kimona silk and pieced together along with overlapping to get some great effects.  I love the mountains where they overlap and create a darker area

This piece was so clever - after the tree was silk screened, the top of the tree was then screened on the bottom to create an obvious root.  It's covered with a sheer so hard to see - really wonderful.

I loved this piece - just the beginning stages but the underneath layer was subtle and interesting with touches of blue, black, white and gray. I know there's to be some blue added to the top which will give it a sparkle.

Yvonne was very clever as she used the sampler from the day before's workshop on machine applique and added to it.  She actually used a mottled piece of tulle as an overlay instead of organza which was very effective. When I got home, I made a trip to JoAnne Fabrics where she got this tulle. I had to have some but our store didn't carry it.  It made quite a difference in the feel of the piece.

I know this was Kathie's piece - beginning stages as she went back and added a deeper cranberry on the top layer. I get so caught up in their creativity, I just plain forget to take pictures, but I must say that all the wonderful ladies in this workshop were working outside of their comfort zone and doing a great job. I've asked them to send me a picture of the finished piece, whenever that might be. Hopefully, I'll be able to post more on their work not too far in the distant future   (-:

Pisgah Inn

The Pisgah Inn which I've mentioned before in my blog is a nice little restaurant located on the Blue Ridge Parkway. The parkway itself is 2 lanes that meanders through the Blue Ridge Mountains. It is truly a national treasure and beautiful to drive on.  It is slow going but the views are incredible.

 The Pisgah Inn is near Pisgah mountain which is over 5,000 feet high so a tad bit colder than where I'm coming from.  A while back our PTA group got involved with hanging quilts in the inn.

 It was a win-win situation for everyone and has grown into something of a large ongoing "quilt show".

 Presently there are 23 quilts in the dining hall - all very visible to visitors to the restaurant but out of reach to those who might want to touch.

 We have a new batch of quilts on display now. The inn will close the end of October as the roads can get pretty treacherous once the cold weather sets in, but come March and we'll be having our quilts on display and for sale once again.

 The Pisgah Inn wanted to add more rods for hanging quilts in the dining area itself.

 It takes your breath away to walk in and see all this wonderful work.

 This is the view from the restaurant, doesn't get any better than this.

 and of course, any trip along the Blue Ridge Parkway wouldn't be complete without pictures of trees. This one was great.

 And a close-up of a butterfly loving this thistle. Nature is great.
I'm loving this time of year and try to remember to stop and smell the roses or the thistles - ouch!

New piece - Faces...done

When in doubt, I turn to faces or trees, sometimes at the same time.  I wanted to use a soft sheer on top of the busy fabric I chose but also wanted it to have some kind of image.

 My son who draws incredibly well, did a number of faces I turned into silk screens.

 I like how subtle it is and it even tones the blue down. this might work.

 I added a little bit of writing to the bottom layer

 and decided that a narrow band of black might work well to divide the fabric.

 The yellow fabric on the side was discharged with an image of writing.

 I then matted it in mat board with an 8 1/2 x 11 opening. I still have lots of scraps left though!

New piece in the works

I love doing these small pieces; I've been making a lot of them for the upcoming fair with the Southern Highland Crafts Guild. Pulling out all the scraps hoping to make a dent in my stash gets me fired up.

I'm pretty messy, leaving no surface untouched...

including my ironing board...

and design wall.

And what is it about cats and fabric.

and their need to sit smack in the middle of it.

My 3 studio assistants keeping watch over my fabric makes me laugh.

I had some sheers along with deconstructive screen printed fabric.

I tried many combinations; the blue in there is throwing me and I'm thinking of covering it with a sheer.

I loved this piece created with a sink mat (looking like rocks) and dyes, but it was too busy for the other fabrics.

I'm experimenting with using a softer sheer with some burned edges to lay on top; I know it needs more but will just have to play with it.

Remembering 911

While in New York this summer, we had the chance to visit Ground Zero in NY city.  We thought it would be crazy getting in, been many years since we've commuted to NY but it went as smooth as silk. We took the train to Penn Station and then a subway which brought us to within a block of the old World Trade Center. 

This beautiful church - St. Pauls Chapel was the first thing we saw and it was open to the public to walk through.

This bell linked London to New York and the many brave heros from both.

Walking along, there was a lot of construction still going on.

This beautiful wall along the street honors the NYPD during 911.

This was perhaps the most beautiful and majestic part of the memorial to 911 - the Freedom Tower which has a height of 1776 feet and 104 floors. It's absolutely breathtaking to see.

There were crowds and crowds of people, but you never felt them - not for a moment.

It's hard to put into words how it felt to be there; I quite honestly didn't know how I would react. It was a gamut of emotions - the solemnness, the dignity, the beauty along with the sadness.
Both towers were easy to walk around, to look and see the names and run your hands over them.

The skyline of New York along with buildings being reflected in other buildings were a beautiful back drop.

Many people put a flower on a person they knew.

My husband knew John P. O'Neill who had been with the FBI also.  He had just taken a job as head of security with the World Trade Center just one month before.

We were able to do a rubbing with some paper and crayon a security guard gave us.

There's still a lot of construction. We were told a small memorial is being built out of the some of the salvage from the old World Trade Center.

We wandered across the street and found this cute little pub to eat in, one that had been destroyed during 911 and completely rebuilt.  Inside, they had t-shirts and badges honoring every Fire Department and police precinct in the city. The whole day was moving and sad but a wonderful tribute to all those that lost their lives and those who gave their lives to help.