Arcus for AQS Grand Rapids

"CONGRATULATIONS! The jury has accepted your quilt, see attached, for further
consideration in the 2014 AQS QuiltWeek® Contest in Grand Rapids, Michigan" begins the email I received today.  

It is great to be able to be in your AQS show in the area you live.  For one thing, you get to go-- and they put a little ribbon indicating your participation on your name bade and then all the vendors are extra lovely to you.  It is a bit like having a "please congratulate me" sign on :) 

The quilt is called Arcus and is machine pieced.  No applique or fusing is involved in the construction of the arcs which I free-cut.  In other words, you "have at" a yard of fabric with the rotary cutter--which takes some getting used to.  This one is machine quilted primarily in long arcing lines, but also some busier patterns inside the black  and brown sections.

Wonderful Time at the Macomb County Quilt Guild

Hats off to the members of the Macomb County Quilt Guild near Detroit, Michigan!

 I was delighted to be the lecture-and-trunk-show guest last night at this vibrant guild.  The officers and general members provided a warm welcome and were a great audience for my first ever guild talk.  We had a lot of laughs and I was lucky enough to be at the meeting just after their bi-annual show--so I got to see some of the winning quilts during Show and Tell.

The black and white image above is tipped over (the left side is actually the bottom).  That technical difficulty aside, these two works have been accepted for display at Fiber 577 in Perrysburg, OH June 7 - 8, 2014.

The top image is a 40cm x 100cm quilt called Aubergine & Avocado Salad for Charles Rennie MacIntosh.  The second is 24 inches x 56 inches and is called Midnight at Reeds Lake.  Both are my original designs.

Just entered quilts so now on to the next thing

Today I entered two quilts to be considered in an curated traveling exhibition.  That means I worked rather intensively on those two for some time and then worked to get the photos right for a couple days.  A make-shift photo studio in our sunroom worked out much better than trying to take the photos in my small studio.  I also treated myself to a new camera that has a better lens-- truly enjoyable to use.

Now is the real test.  That is, not to spend the next two weeks in a state of "phew!" but instead to get a large project back up on the design wall and progressing after a couple months' hiatus.  I've been reading Lisa Call's list of goals and she'll shame you right into a better work ethic.  I stop into her blog from time to time for just that sort of kick.

New website

I'm happy to report that my website is now live at monicajohnstone.com

I'd recommend my friend and web designer Brenda Gael Smith to anyone interested in taking this step. 

From Paper to Cloth

I'm currently working on a series of pieces based on this piece I produced in Coloraid paper.  I've enjoyed collecting and dyeing linen, coton, and silk in this palette.

Always Something... Regional SDA show will contain two of my quilts

Arctic Melt and Hawaiian Women's Petition of 1897 were both selected for inclusion in an upcoming regional SDA show called Always Something...  The exhibition will be held at The Vogt Visual Arts Center (http://www.tinleyparkdistrict.org/Parks-Facilities/vogt-visual-arts-center.htm) in Tinley Park, IL September 3rd through the 26th.