Back from the Nancy Crow Workshop

I had a blast at the Nancy Crow workshop recently offered in Muskegon.  5 days of concentrating on lines and shapes and circles without a ruler in sight.

Here's my line study which I'll tweak and then quilt.  I'm calling it Midnight at Reeds Lake.  I've purchased some black batting to see if I can get the white seamlines to show. 

In addition to seeing what I have to do to progress, I met some really wonderful quilters.  Some are even in my own local guild. 

Kiwi Really Goes Walkabout

It's no seceret that I was very excited to have my Kiwi's Nocturne art quilt accepted into the Beneath the Southern Sky Exhibit.  So many venues in three countries! Well, it recently got even better when we learned that our wonderful curator Brenda Gael Smith had added the UK and South Africa to the list.

Images of  the whole exhibit--mine is near the middle

West Michigan Quilters Guild Show 2012

My quilt Kieran's Compass was sporting two Special Award ribbons at last weekend's West Michigan Quilters Guild Show at the Deltaplex.  These are my first ribbons and therefore very exciting.  One was awarded by a judge who represents a local quilt shop and the other was the President of the Grand Rapids Public Museum.

The quilt is back on my son's bed now after its happy adventure in the world outside our house.

Most gorgeous dryer lint

I'm signed up for a Nancy Crow workshop to be held in Muskegon Dec. 10-14 so I'm acquiring and pre-washing many yards of fabric in a very wide range of solid colors.  It's fun to look at dry, it's fun to look at wet--and the related-color loads I'm putting through the dryer make the most wonderfully complex colors of dryer lint.  Ironing has been an on-going project--glad I made a good ironing station a while back.

I acquired several of Nancy's books and have been reading a lot about color lately.  Quite enjoyable and can't help but influence the work to come.

As for my recent experiments in lower contrast, last week was the opening of the Women's Center Art Show on the GVSU campus.  My piece was hung rather high which is an entirely different perspective on it.  People seem to like it, but it is hard to point out detail (up too high!).

Pinterest

Just discovered that my quilt in the Beneath the Southern Sky exhibition has shown up in at least a few spots on Pinterest. 
pinterest.com/erlindam/things-i-think-miss-ellen-would-like
pinterest.com/joyehawk/quilts-animal-art/
pinterest.com/ginihoward/design/
pinterest.com/erlindam/pins/

Fun!

AQS Grand Rapids 2012

The thick envelope arrived!!! My quilt "Laddie's Garden" was juried into the AQS Show in Grand Rapids August 22-25, 2012. Technically that makes me a "semifinalist" and the packet included a media release. I deal in media releases all the time at work but they don't have my name on them, so this was a kick. I don't breathe the rarified atmosphere of the quilters who will actually win, but I'm very excited to have been juried into this show which will have had entries from all over the country. http://aqsshows.com/AQSGrandRapids/

And the knowledge that the Beneath the Southern Sky exhibition is going to AQS shows in Lancaster Peducah in 2013 makes this a banner year. Brenda Gael Smith is a wonderful organizer.

Certainly Not Nobody!

I was going to write a post about how I have the blog no one sees when I realized I had a comment on my last post from none other than the vibrant textile artist and really lovely person Pamela Priday.  That'll show me not to generalize.

Next week is dedicated to learning even more about quilt photography from a real pro.  Very thankful to work at a place that has a photography program.  One of my recent quilts presents some real challenges due to my use of a lot of black, but also some shiny fabrics and 3D stuff and some sections with a lot of different colors. 

Meanwhile, I'm making baby steps progress on a quilt based on a a photo I took that will later be spliced with versions made by Erica Spinks and Stephanie Knudsen.