My Finds: A couple techniques you might want to try

I've been on the hunt for the new, unusual, or useful. You may or may not already enjoy the projects I discovered today and what I began working on. Both topics made me smile and made my fingers itch to get started. I hope you'll join in and share some of the projects you're working on along these lines.

First up is plarn. Love the word. Love the concept. It is, if I understand correctly, yarn made by recycling plastic bags.

Directions for making plarn can be found here at My Recycled Bags.com A great Earth Day project for all year around. I stumbled upon this site that has excellent directions for a purse crocheted out of VCR tapes and a basket crocheted out of plastic bags/plarn with a base that is a plastic microwave dinner tray. If you have other sites or projects to add to this, please do!

The second technique is the Disappearing 9-Patch quilt. It is a simple concept involving my beloved 9-patches. And made even simpler by starting with charm packages. Charm packs, in case you're confused, are what Moda calls a collection of 5-inch precut squares that you can purchase usually in packs of 40-50 for around $6-$8 dollars. It takes several packs to make a full size quilt of course. These packages of smaller cuts of fabric that are packaged together to introduce you to a whole collection are excellent ways to add to your stash.

The Disappearing 9-Patch begins with piecing together nine of the 5-inch squares together into a traditional nine-patch square. Make sure it is absolutely square, well pressed and starched or sized. Then cut this square down the center both horizontally and vertically. One person described it with a plus sign which is exactly how you cut this nine-patch square. +

For better directions and visual aids. Visit the blog "p.s. I quilt. This makes a quick and easy pattern for charity quilts or lap quilts for nursing homes or hospitals. Quick baby quilts, too.

Send me photos of your plarn and or Disappearing 9-Patch projects and I'll post them here. Send to my Subversive Stitchers email.

EMAILS:

Hi Dawn

Here are some pictures of the disappearing 9 patch I used for a comfort quilt.  I added some random rectangles in between the disappearing 9 patch blocks.  This project really goes fast when you start with large size blocks, like 10".  You can find more on my blog here.  --Karen

What a great idea for a comfort quilt. Love the words and messages.

It gives me ideas for the ALS quilt(s) I am making. Thanks so much!  -- Dawn

Diane of O'Quilts sent along a photo of her solid color Disappearing 9 patch quilt. She wrote: "This is fun....Here is mine :)"

You can view more of her quilts at her blog that features old, new and antique quilts.

Thanks Diane for letting us see your Disappearing 9-Patch quilt.

Karen McTavish featured in The Quilter Magazine

Just a little blatant self promotion here.

The article I wrote about Karen McTavish machine quilter extrordinaire is available now in The Quilter Magazine. It is in the July issue.

She is one of the most talented and giving people I've had the opportunity to interview. She does not censor her responses and totally trusts the interviewer to get it right. I certainly hope I did! And that the editor didn't make any drastic changes. I haven't seen the final copy, so I'm as anxious to see the article as everyone else.

Let me know if you've seen it!

Karen is truly a Subversive Stitcher. She's guest blogged here before. Check the column 'Guest Bloggers' to take you to her guest blog.

Jean M. Judd asks the controversial question: Art Quilt or Quilt Art?

Jean Judd, who is spending a few days in sunny Arizona for the Mesa Contemporary Art Exhibition, was amazed when I commented that I found it refreshing the way she uses traditional patterns in her art quilts. My words pressed on a sore spot, a point of controversy in that no man's land between art quilts and traditional quilts. For me, her quilts are the best of both worlds. Thank you Jean for guest blogging. You are definitely a Subversive Stitcher: Armed with Needles!

Pictured here are her Choir of Angels, Photo 2. Wyoming Valley #2, and Photo 3. International Harvester quilts -- Dawn

By Jean M. Judd, Textile Artist

Since 1991 I have been making textile artwork focusing on incorporating traditional quilt blocks and techniques, into quilts that really are quilt art according to viewers and collectors alike. Many of my pieces have been juried into both fine art exhibitions as well as traditional and art quilt shows.

In 1998, I read the book “Surprising Designs from Traditional Quilt Blocks” by Carole Fure. This is not a pattern book or technique book, but a way of looking at complex traditional quilt blocks and discovering the unlimited design possibilities using just one block in a quilt. It really was a turning point for me in how I looked at making my art quilts.


The first result of this discovery was Choir of Angels Tapestry Quilt (81”x81”). I started this piece in March of 1998 and didn’t complete it until 2005. The quilt was designed from the center, out to the final binding. The block that I used was the Wyoming Valley block originally designed for the Nancy Cabot series in the Chicago Tribune newspaper in the 1930s. The block had 65 pieces consisting of triangles and squares.

The quilt is heavily hand quilted and was juried into the 2006 Quilts=Art=Quilts exhibition at the Schweinfurth Memorial Art Center in Albany, New York. The quilt won the Catherine Hastedt Award for Hand Workmanship and was featured in some of their newspaper articles.

Other judged quilt shows that it has been entered in, have brought mixed results. At NQA’s show in Columbus, OH the same year, the judge’s comments were that it was in the wrong category as it wasn’t traditional. The World Quilt competition in 2007, the piece was entered in the Innovative/Contemporary category and the judge said it belonged in the Traditional category. This is where I started to decide that it was all subjective. Everyone has a different opinion on what is considered traditional quilts and what is an art quilt. Now I refer to all of my work as textile artwork and let the viewers’ decide.

Subsequent quilts made using the Wyoming Valley block, turned out very differently in design from the Choir of Angels Tapestry piece. Wyoming Valley #2 (108”x108”) was started in February of 2002 using commercial sports fabrics for the focus fabric. The center of the Wyoming Valley block was used as the focal point when designing this quilt.

This quilt, Wyoming Valley #4, was designed from the center out and uses a very unusual bright orange. Each section used a different sport fabric and the edges of each block were designed to make the background work as a receding border. This piece is also hand quilted and was finished in March of 2003. The Wyoming Valley block is used in a regular orientation here.

 

In Choir of Angels Tapestry, the block orientation is on point Wyoming Valley #4 (93”x81”) was started in 2003 and completed in 2006. The International Harvester emblem design was used with permission of the company. This time when using the Wyoming Valley block, I concentrated more on what happened at the block joining and made multiple borders appear. The center square of the block isn’t the focal point in this design.

Wyoming Valley #4 was juried into the AQS show in Nashville, TN in 2007, and the owner was amendable to letting me have the quilt back in order to send it to Nashville for display. This quilt is on the owners’ bed during the winter months, and then is displayed in the great room on the wall during the summer. It is a great way to be able to use a large quilt all year around, and for it to fulfill both its roles as bed quilt and artwork.

Many of my clients are looking for large quilts to fill huge wall spaces and they want them to still retain the aspects of a traditional quilt. They are very interested in the unique textures created by the hand quilting and the unusual designs I use in the hand stitching.

I have 2 more commissions for textile artworks using this quilt block. They will both be 101”x101”. The first one is already pieced and ready for hand quilting. This one, Wyoming Valley #6, looks nothing like the preceding quilts. It is always exciting to see what will come about in the design process. When it is completed, it will be featured on my web site. You can see detail images of the featured quilts there as well.

Thank you to Dawn for asking me to be a guest writer on her wonderful blog, Subversive Stitchers: Women Armed with Needles. There are some very talented trailblazers featured here and more to come, I’m sure. Continued Success, Dawn!

Making Faces: Ginny Greaves discusses fabric choices

I'm a sucker for a furry face and this fabric portrait by Ginny Greaves of her mother's faithful companion brought tears to my eyes. Yes, she chose the right title for this creation : Unconditional.

Ginny's  work is all about love, just like this little guy. Love of fabric, love of creating and love of her subject are just a few samples of her dedication to her art. Please welcome Virginia 'Ginny' Greaves to Subversive Stitchers. She has some important techniques to share about fabric choices. -- Dawn

When I was a little girl, I used to make faces behind my mother’s back. If I didn’t like what she had been telling me, I would stick out my tongue and scrunch up my mouth and eyes and throw a nasty look at her back. But one day she caught my reflection in the china cabinet – and I never made faces at her again!

My mom is an impressionist painter, and throughout my childhood, I watched her make oil landscapes. She would make large canvases from scratch that filled the entire studio because she couldn’t buy the size she needed. If she didn’t know how to do something, she worked until she found a way.

Mom was a great influence on me and I owe her a lot, but when my children were young and I was looking for an outlet of expression, I couldn’t paint. It felt too much like my mom’s work. Luckily, I was given a sewing machine at that time and I fell in love with fabric. I realized that I had found my medium.

Thankfully I inherited Mom’s eye for color and her problem solving ability. Now I spend my days making faces and working out problems – all of it in fabric.

I don’t really remember what led me to make my first quilt from a photograph – but an old photograph of the dalmatians from my childhood surfaced in an antique secretary, so I gathered my fabrics and started.

Dalmatian Downs
(See photo)

It is always easier to look at value in black and white, and starting with black and white dogs gave me a gift I didn’t understand for some time. The understanding of value and then color are the basics of creating realism in any media – and it is as achievable in fabric as it is in any other media. We typically envision paintings when we think of illustrative work, but I’ve seen portraits made from trash artfully poised and photographed aerially from a crane. Anything that you can dream you can achieve.

There are many ways to construct the face, but over many mistakes, I have found that the hardest part isn’t the construction or even developing the initial pattern – it is choosing the right fabrics. Not only do you have to have value change between fabrics, but they have to be good jumps. Subtlety isn’t good enough. The good news is that you can remove many of your worries about pattern. I have used hand-dyed fabric, but it really isn’t necessary. You do have to look at fabric differently however.

Faces in Cloth IV

I’d like to say that I magically pick the right fabrics but the truth of the matter is that I use my camera. I line up the fabrics in value order that I think will work and look at them in black and white, either on my camera or on my computer. There are always fabrics that don’t work that I think should. Sometimes a subtle pattern like a batik will throw a fabric from one value into another. I used to trust my eyes and make adjustments when the piece was all fused together – but as much as I love the cutting and fusing, I don’t do anything now until I have the fabrics right – and I know if I have them right or not by looking at the value of the fabrics in black and white.

Interestingly, just like the pattern in the batik that shifted the value unexpectedly, I’ve found that some types of pattern can shift value in the direction I’m looking for. A black or blue pattern on top of the color I need can give the illusion of a value change.

I’ve also learned to look in unexpected places. I have bins where I store fabric by color, but I’ve learned to look beyond how I’ve organized – and if I need a particular color, to look in the complementary color bins for possible matches. Although a fabric may come home from the store as one color, it can look different when placed against other colors.

Chameleon 

This is best explained by my quilt Chameleon – which is essentially a color study. It is one simple profile shot with four values reproduced in six primary colors. These profiles are then mixed with each other so that the mixed profiles have two values of light from one color and two values of dark from another color. For the most part, the same fabrics used in the primary profiles could be repeated for the lightest and the darkest values of the mixed profiles, but the two middle values required adjustment and better understanding of how the values changed with the introduction of new fabrics.

But color matters some, right? My early portraits are monochromatic, but lately I’ve been making more realistic color choices.

Chameleon taught me that color is less important than value, but my latest series of faces has taught me that understanding of value within color families can contribute significantly to realistic portrayal.

The trick is to step back from your work and evaluate its impact before you invest too much time in it. It is easy to fix mistakes in the planning stages and much more complicated during construction. We work so close to our work – sometimes we need to step out onto the crane to see it properly (or use a reducing glass or even the computer).
Photo: Adelpho, a portrait of another Ginny.

BIO

Virginia a.k.a. Ginny lives with her husband and two children in Atlanta, GA. She is most often working in her studio but can be found occasionally roaming fabric stores. She is easily distracted by shiny objects, refuses to listen to the naysayers of fusibles, and sometimes runs with scissors. Her work can be seen on her website  and her in progress adventures are documented on her blog.

And here's Ginny's self-portrait monochromatic in purple.

Kay Mackenzie: Armed with Needles Stitches Up Applique and a Business

Kay Mackenzie's quirky quilt, Shopping Bags, size 40-inch x 40-inch, caught my eye when I was checking out quilts at the Blogger Quilt Show. I was glad when Kay agreed to share her work and a bit of herself with all of us.

Her quilts and designs look like they flow from a happy, lets-have-fun spirit. Kay also demonstrates another aspect of quilting/fabric as a business selling her books, designs and sewing products via her online site. She also introduced me to Martingale and Company publishing through her book. And her innovative applique method makes my fingers itch to give it a try. Please Welcome Kay Mackenzie. -- Dawn

Kay in her own words --

I was so pleased when Dawn extended the invitation to be a guest on the blog. I can't claim to be very subversive, though I do admire the spirit. However, I am definitely armed with needles!

There are three main needles in my life.

Size 10 milliner/straw needles (same thing), Size 7 cotton darners, and sharp-tipped sewing machine needles, size 70/10 (shown above).

My nature as a quilter is as an appliquér. 

The straw needles are long and skinny. I can get a good grip on them and they glide through fabric easily without resistance. I use 10s instead of 11s because I bend the 11s like the wind! The 10s last until the finish wears off. Here's a quilt I made when I used to use the freezer-paper-on-top method.

(Photo) Sixteen Baskets by Kay Mackenzie, 38 x 38. This is the cover quilt for my book Baskets to Applique .

Now I've become a convert to the back-basting method, where no templates are required. The large cotton darners are perfect for the basting step when you want a thick needle. Here's a quilt that I made using back-basting hand applique.

 

(Photo) Blooms in Red and Yellow by Kay Mackenzie, 32 x 32.

This is a sampler of some of the flower blocks in my recent book from That Patchwork Place Martingale and Company publishing, Easy Blocks: 50 Designs in 5 Sizes. I'm so excited about this book because it comes with &;CD that enables you to print any of the 50 blocks at home, in five different sizes, or in reverse when you need a flipped pattern. Such a convenience!

When I became a professional I learned to machine appliqué so that I could get additional samples done more quickly. The Microtex needles (or other similar needles) are just right for raw-edge fusible machine appliqué with the blanket stitch on my Bernina. I also use them for machine quilting, another thing I had to learn along the way. Here's one of my machine-appliquéd quilts.

Delicious Tea by Kay Mackenzie, 24 x 10.

The apple teapot design is from my Teapots 2 to Applique.


Okay now I'll show you the closest I've come, in my estimation, to making an art quilt.

Free Flowers by Kay Mackenzie, 27 x 21.

This was a personal challenge that I issued to myself, to use no templates and to finish no edges. I pre-fused the fabrics and free-hand scissor-cut all the shapes, placing them improvisationally as I went. I kept going until I felt it was packed enough, then fused everything down. I quilted close to the edges of all the motifs. I love this one! It's so not me!

My company is By Kay Mackenzie. All of my books and patterns are available there. I also offer a few notions for appliquérs, and a back-basting intro kit that has everything you need to become acquainted with this very cool method. I write a blog called&;All About Appliqué, which is how Dawn contacted me. It's devoted to appliqué - any kind! There's lots of great information there. If you click on the category "Back Basting" it'll bring up a photo tutorial.

I grew up in North Carolina, went to school in Colorado, then lived in Los Angeles for a number of years. During all that time I had not one stitch of quilting heritage. I started in a beginning quilting class about 17 years ago after I got married and we were living in central Ohio. When I told my instructor that I enjoyed the Dresden Plate the most out of all the blocks in the sampler, she told me, “You just might be an appliqué person.” I still wonder whether that observation shaped my destiny, because it turned out to be so true!

From that class on I was gripped with the quilt pox. For a long time I made quilts from patterns or pictures. Then I began to branch out, modifying designs in some way. We moved to Santa Cruz, California, and I got my own computer. When I learned some skills in illustrating, I finally broke through to creating original appliqué designs of my own. I can’t draw at all with my hands, but the computer gave me the tool I needed. I was taking some classes in digital media at my local community college, and just loved the information on typography and page layout that was presented in addition to learning the drawing programs.

And so it happened that a peculiar combinations of interests in my strange brain led me to become a publisher of books for quilters… quilting, computer illustration, writing, editing, typography, and page layout all combined!  My company By Kay Mackenzie has six titles in print now. 


My most famous books are Baskets to Appliqué and Teapots 2 to Appliqué.;

I fill every position in my company I’m the quilt designer, quiltmaker, writer, illustrator, book designer, and publisher. I’m accounts receivable, accounts payable, marketing manager, and the fulfillment department. (I’ve become an experienced bubble wrap wrangler.) I love it all.

I never thought I’d say this, but I’m also the webmistress. It’s amazing what you can learn when you’re interested and you roll  up your sleeves. While you’re admiring my ‘coding skills’ over at By Kay Makenzie be sure to check out my Giveaway For Kids.

Thanks so much for the opportunity to show you what I do when armed with needles!

Christmas is Coming -- Hurry and Make That Special Christmas Quilt!

Christmas is heading our way.  I can hear its footsteps on the path. So, while the holidays approach, here are a few ideas I gathered together for inspiration, patterns or information – or, just for fun.


Ann Fahl has a fun line of patterns. I particularly like her Color Mews cat pattern. But for the holidays, nothing says Christmas like Ginko! This is a super quick pattern using fused applique and some stylized cloth or a little fabric paint.

Ever since seeing my first arpillera quilt, I've been fascinated by the expertise and patience and imagination they incorporate.

Anytime of year is the right time for  arpillera art, but especially appropriate during these magical holidays. It has such a fantastic history as well as appeal. Here’s one design specifically to celebrate the holiness of Christmas.

Penny Halpern offers some suggestions for making a Christmas or holiday art quilt. She suggests photo transfer, appliqué, or geometric representational shapes (triangle for evergreen tree and small square or rectangle for the trunk) on either one large square or smaller squares incorporated into one larger quilt.

Her suggestions brought to mind a wallhanging I made wayyyyy back in the day when wall stenciling was the rave in home decorating. I found some of those stencils people used when decorating windows with decorative snow and used them to apply stencil paints, probably acrylics or maybe leftover paint-by-number paints to muslin squares. I then divided the squares with a border and it looked like a window. I should have added a bit of snow and maybe a scene behind it with a cardinal in the background. I’ll have to work with an update on that project. It was fun and fast and – hey, come to think of it – that was my first ‘playing with paint’ experience! It's been in my blood all this time and I didn’t realize it.

The idea of a Christmas Hawaiian quilt surprised me – in a good way – but I think that says more about my lack of imagination than anything. This collection of smaller blocks – poho poho – which means ‘patched’ offers some holiday images, but truthfully any of the Hawaiian motifs done in Christmas fabrics or colors would work fine for me. I particularly like the red star motif pictured here. And using fused applique makes this a quick project.

Another thought! I have this marvelous book “Grandma’s Magic Scissors” that has some of the most delightful patterns and ideas for paper cutting. Those would also make excellent stencils or Hawaiian style motifs for a poho poho wall hanging. Or perhaps do some freehand snowflakes in varying sizes and applique them to background, not necessarily in blocks, but randomly -- like a snow storm.

Leaping from the islands into child's play -- remember those viewers we could peek inside and turn it and we'd get the most amazing colorful designs? Why not make it into a quilt with a Christmas or holiday theme?  Kaleidoscope squares. They are fascinating to view and even more fun to make! This one I found on the site Hand Dyed by Lori.

Of course Christmas colors can vary. Red and green may be traditional but blues and grays shout ‘Winter!’ Nothing cooler and more inviting than this lovely Bloom Creek design, Indigo Star, from Connecting Threads.

And check out the logo for the Inchie Swap in the column to the right of this blog entry. Deadline has been moved to November, so there's still time to join the swap. Nadine Ruggles has provided an easy to follow tutorial for making inchie ornament. Click on the logo to go to the guidelines and tutorial. It looks like a quick, creative project that you can make in plenty of time for Christmas!

Yep, even in October, Christmas is in the air. In my hot little house in Florida where we see palm tree Christmas trees decorated with lighted flamingos, and Santa wears a Hawaiian shirt and drinks fro-fro drinks with umbrellas stuck in them. Whatever your impression of the holidays -- make it in fabric! Happy stitching. -- Dawn

Downunder designs and global gift swap brought together by Fiona Marie Clark

We've had some discussion about using commercial patterns. Fiona Marie Clark gives several excellent reasons for investing in patterns and receiving more than you ever expected from them.

She also gives us a peek at what some patchwork designers are doing. Such delight and whimsey, you can't help but smile and feel your creative urges slide into a more light hearted frame of mind.

I hope you'll warmly welcome Fiona Marie to Subversive Stitchers and check out her web site. Fiona Marie has her own story, so read to the end. -- Dawn

Fiona Clark in her own words:

On my side of the world, commonly referred to as ‘Downunder’, we are fortunate to be home to a growing number of patchwork quilting designers.

The predominant trend in their work is the merging of simple stitchery designs within a traditional patchwork setting. The stitchery designs are generally set in a randomised layout, and often overlap onto the pieced block giving the quilt an unstructured, organic look. (Photo 1: Journey of a Quilter Block – Leanne’s House)

Bronwyn Hayes, an Australian designer, is one of my most popular designers whose work follows these principles. She is slowly becoming better known throughout the world especially in Europe. Her latest design and one I am working on myself is a quilt featuring the Gingham Girls called ‘My Favourite Things’

Like the Red Hat Ladies before them, the Gingham Girls are enormously popular with quilters, embodying the spirit and philosophy this demographic strongly identifies with.
(Photo 2: Gingham Girls Quilt Block by Bronwyn Hayes.)

For me personally working on this quilt is a holistic patchwork experience and its stitches will be the threads weaving together my memories of 2009.

When you start the quilt you are given the opportunity to join a cyber group in flickr called ‘The Gingham Girls’ where questions can be asked and photos are posted of blocks throughout the quilt makers journey. Purchasing this pattern set has now become an interactive quilt making experience you can share with others along the way.


Photo 3: Butterfly Garden Block – Leanne’s House

Australian designer Leanne Beasley who produces patterns under the Leanne’s House label has three beautiful heirloom proportioned quilts in this style, ‘May your Heart make you Grateful, ‘Journey of a Quilter’, and her latest release ‘Butterfly Garden’. All these quilts can be viewed in their entirety at this link.

Leanne’s quilts again follow the theme of incorporating beautifully worked stitchery panels into a pieced patchwork layout.

Many other Australian designers including Cinderberry Stitches, Rosalie Quinlan Designs, Hugs n’ Kisses, The Birdhouse and Lynette Anderson Designs, are also producing patterns in this style or a close variation to it.

Photo 4: Little Patchwork Village – Rosalie Quinlan Designs

Another popular pattern trend is the increase in smaller projects being designed with a practical everyday use. This trend I am sure is influenced by the high proportion of designers who are working mothers and understand there are many women who simply lack the time, means, and energy to justify embarking on large projects without a practical use.

Photo 5: Birdhouse Bag – Lynette Anderson Designs

I am fortunate to own a business in the patchwork quilting industry, which means I can justify spending an hour of my quiet work time each day stitching!

I stitched my first little quilt in the Spring of 1995 while awaiting the birth of my first child, now fourteen. Encouraged by my Mother I used fabric from her stash and purchased a pattern from a local quilt shop by American designers ‘Little Quilts’.

At this time the naïve design, soft country colours, simple buttonhole appliqué, and small project size that characterise ‘Little Quilts’ designs appealed to me and were perfectly matched to my skill level. It was when stitching this first wall hanging my love affair with patchwork quilting began and since then I have gradually immersed myself in the craft both in my leisure time and in a commercial venture through my online pattern store fionamarie.com.

In 2007 my youngest daughter at age six was diagnosed with an aggressive form of Leukemia. She is now in remission and thriving. I mention this not to solicit sympathy but to identify the catalyst that played a large part in moulding my outlook on life in recent years and how this experience has influenced my patchwork quilting.

Today, I take a more holistic approach to the craft, I have become more traditional in my tastes, I prefer to work by hand rather than machine, and I’m no longer scared off by large projects.

I am spoilt for choice running a pattern store and it is often overwhelming deciding what to make next, but every time I pick up a pattern and begin a project I see myself as having started a new journey.

I am never quite sure where it will take me, who I will connect with along the way, what emotions I will experience, but when I have a needle between my fingers I am confident I’m headed in the right direction.

Have your own holistic patchwork quilting experience by joining the 2009 Great Global Christmas Swap and make the acquaintance of a stitcher from another country, in the spirit of friendship, who shares your passion for this craft.

Ami Simms 2008 Favorite Quilting Philanthropist and loving daughter

Is there anyone in the universe who doesn't know Ami Simms?

She (right after Mom and Grandma) influenced my love of quilts and all things fabric. She demonstrates that a quilt is first about love.

Her "Underlying Current" quilt (shown here) gave me goosebumps when I began reading the various blocks. They describe the behaviors that the Alzheimer's Disease brought about in Ami's mother, Beebe Moss. Like many who have seen this quilt, it brought back memories of a loved one. For me, I think of my father, Ben Stump, who battled Alzheimer's for more than ten years.

When it comes to quilting, Ami encouraged alot of us to make our first quilts and her 'Worst Quilt in the World" contest gives us someplace to show them!

Ami provides the answers to questions posted below. And she lets us get to know her and her mother and the charity that grew out of her mother's battle against Alzheimer's Disease. Like Ami's quilts, her fight to find a cure for Alzheimer's Disease is all about love.

Get your coffee, kick back, and give a warm welcome to Ami Simms. --Dawn

First introduced to quiltmaking in 1975 while conducting research among the Old Order Amish, Ami is the author of nine quilting books, numerous patterns, and is the creator of the infamous Worst Quilt In The World Contest®. Ami has designed two fabric lines, appeared on five different television shows, and was invited to the White House in 2004 along with other artists who participated in the Art in Embassies program.

Ami is the founder and Executive Director of the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative and the curator of "Alzheimer's: Forgetting Piece by Piece." Ami was named Favorite Quilting Philanthropist by Quilters Newsletter in 2008. She blogs and writes a free monthly e-newsletter read by more than 16,000 subscribers. She is the creator of FindAQuiltTeacher.com.

1. What was your mother like or who was she before the disease?

My mom was one of the most creative women I ever met. She was a potter when I was a kid. We had a kickwheel and a kiln, and she sold her bowls at small art fairs in the Detroit area for several years. She gardened like no other. Her whole hand was green, not just her thumb. She was into orchids big time, and after she retired she traveled all over the world with other "orchid nuts" attending conferences and collecting the plants in the wild. She had a greenhouse and used to rent blooming orchids (they do that infrequently and they look pretty boring the rest of the time) to people whom she couldn't convince to grow their own.

Mom had a loom, she made all her own clothes and most of mine too. She could knit and crochet, loved to read, volunteered with the Art To The Schools program at the Detroit Institute of Arts, and went back to school when she was in her 70's. She went to Clown College---so she could entertain the old people. She designed a line of quilting fabric for Marcus Brothers after that. [See photo of Beebe and some of the images she created for her quilting fabric line below.]

Mom was my best friend. We lived overseas for 3 years, spread out over my growing up years, and as an only kid I was very close to my parents. I hung out with adults a lot. Until my teen years I was probably more comfortable with people four times my own age than I was with my age mates.

Back in the States we were very close with my Mom's side of the family, and for a time my great grand mother lived with us. She and I shared a bedroom. My father passed away in 1984 and when Mom got tired of living by herself the plan had always been that she would move in with Steve and I. Together we had added on an "apartment" for her, but she wanted her independence and refused to move in! Her diagnoses with Alzheimer's in 2001 pushed the issue and she moved in with us later that year.

Mom lived with us for almost four and a half year before I had to move her to an assisted living facility. It was during the last six months or so that the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative was born. Her constant, unrelenting decline was death in slow motion. I had to do something. My skill set being what it was, I did what I knew how to do.

She never grasped what I was doing, but for a time I used to bring the Priority: Alzheimer's Quilts to her at the assisted living place for her to unwrap. She thought they were all beautiful, even when she closely examined the wrong side or the paper they were wrapped in. She loved anything I ever did, no matter what it was and that stayed with her almost up until the end. She was my biggest cheerleader and that is one of the things I miss most about losing her. She was never objective, and that bugged me from time to time; but she loved me to pieces. She passed away in November of 2008 for the most part having forgotten who I was.

2. What quilts have you made for the initiative?

I made my exhibit quilt, "Underlying Current," which I started the day I moved Mom into the assisted living facility. Mine was the last one done, way beyond the deadline and into the "I May Not Make It In Time" zone. As curator, it was very intimidating to see the other quilts before completing mine. I remember that every single thing that could go wrong with my quilt did. I also made 23 Priority: Alzheimer's Quilts and Little Treasures Quilts, but that was mostly at the very beginning of the Initiative. I have very little time for my own quilts as the AAQI takes up an inordinate amount of time. It's the best work I've ever done, but it is work, and there is a lot of it. It seems to never end.

3. Does the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative help you cope with your mother’s and your situation?

Yes, it does. It feels good to know that hundreds of thousands of people have seen the traveling exhibit ("Alzheimer's: Forgetting Piece by Piece") and been moved by it. It helps to know that quilters all over the country are threading their needles and becoming quilting philanthropists. It helps to know that we are supporting research that some day, hopefully, will end this vile disease.

4. Do you have any high points, exalted moments where you can say, “my quilts made a difference”?

I don't often get to travel with the exhibit, but it does work out some times. I have watched people read my quilts (the background is a chronology of Mom's disease direct printed on fabric) and weep. I have seen them laugh through their tears too. As an artist, seeing someone react to my work as I hoped they would is tremendously gratifying. Multiply that by 51 other quilts in the exhibit and you can understand why I feel drawn to it like a moth to a flame. These quilts are so emotionally painful to look and yet because they make their point directly to the heart, people understand what Alzheimer's is all about when they look at them. For those that don't know about this disease it's a way to appreciate why we're working so hard to end it. Those who are walking this journey with someone they love understand that they are not alone. Seeing the quilts can be cathartic, a vehicle to share their story with their friend, with me, with one of our white glovers. We ask that venues provide tissue. Some don't understand why until they need to give it to someone sobbing in front of a quilt.

5. Do you worry about becoming your mother (I think I can answer that one having watched my father disappear before my eyes and wonder if I was looking at my future).

Of course. It's only natural. If you are actively involved in caring for a relative, or even a friend, with a terminal disease it's not a big step to put yourselves in their shoes. You do that as a good caregiver all day long, trying to anticipate their needs from their point of view. Because we know that Alzheimer's probably has a genetic component, I think it's a given that anyone with a parent or sibling with his disease wonders if they're next. Like many people, as I age I have "become my mother!" Will I get Alzheimer's too? Every misspoken word, every time I forget where I put my purse, I used to wonder. Now that Mom's gone, I wonder a little less because I'm not dealing with her disease every moment. Running the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative is, to a great extent, like any other work. It's when I step back and remind myself of the reason behind the work that the fear comes back.

7. Who have become special friends or Samaritans or beloved friends through this effort.

Because of the AAQI I have had a chance to interact with thousands of people touched by this disease who have taken my struggle and made it their own. I have witnessed selflessness and generosity in our supporters which inspires me every single day. My life has become so much richer for knowing them. And, yes, there are some incredibly special people who, through this project, have become confidants, and friends. That is pure bliss.

8. What kind of quilts do you need?

We always need Priority: Alzheimer's Quilts.

These little 9" x 12" quilts account for more than half of the $300,000 we have raised so far. From the quilts we receive (more than 4,000 have been donated) I select those that I think will bring in the most money and auction them during the first 10 days of every month. We only have room for 26 quilts each month, so the rest are priced and offered for sale at quilting venues, most importantly at Houston's International Quilt Festival each October.

The Priority: Alzheimer's Quilts are also the pool of quilts from which the quilts for the next traveling exhibit will be selected.

9. How can one participate?
Visit our web site and read the "rules" to make a Priority: Alzheimer's Quilt.

Sign up for the AAQI Update and help (as much or as little as you want) with other things like printing flyers, and sharing information with your friends.

10. How’s the traveling exhibit doing? Where is it now, where is it headed?

"Alzheimer's: Forgetting Piece by Piece will be hosted by the Mountain Top Quilters at their show in Prescott, Arizona on August 14 and 15. I'll be there for a lecture on the 15th which is open to the public. Check out the traveling schedule.

The quilts will stop traveling at the end of 2010, but there are still a few openings to book the exhibit early in 2010. Most of the quilts will be returned to their makers; however several have asked that I auction their quilts to raise more money for research. Our new exhibit, "Alzheimer's Illustrated: From Heartbreak to Hope" will begin traveling in January of 2011.

11. And what are you quilting right now? What do you do when not involved with AAQI?

My quilting time is pathetically non-existent, however I am trying to find time to work on a new pattern called Dancing Spools. When I'm not involved with the AAQI I basically eat and sleep. My life right now is terribly out of balance. As soon as I get some time, I'm going to try and fix that. Yeah, right.

Note: Ami has also made more than 200 quilts, and perhaps unrelated, has a quirky sense of humor that always makes me smile. Check out her blog for a laugh and maybe even a tear, but always a surprise. And if you aren't familiar with her 'rag fur', it too is worth a look!

[Copyright 2009. All materials on this blog are copyrighted.]

Some Thoughts on Entering Juried Exhibitions: A View from the other side of the Projector by Gayle Pritchard

Gayle Pritchard in her own words:

Back in the 1970s, when the field of Fiber Art began to sweep the country, there were very few exhibition opportunities. In those days, “fiber” generally meant only weaving, and quilts as an art form were just beginning to be recognized by the museum and gallery establishment. Today, just a few short decades later, because of all the work done by the pioneers in our field, there are more opportunities than ever before. I’m sure it must be almost be overwhelming for those of you who may just be starting out. As an artist and writer in the field for over two and half decades, I have stood where you are. As an exhibition juror and curator, I also have a view from the other side of the projector. Let me give you some tips, as you decide how to dip your toes in the water.

(Photo: Above: Fabric Artist Susan Shie (Susie) and Gayle Pritchard at Kenyon College where they were both asked to lecture. Gayle also did a book-signing. Below: 'Kenyon Me,' her artwork at an invitational exhibition at Kenyon College, Innovation and Tradition: Contemporary Art Quilting in Ohio and Gayle Pritchard)

Are you really ready to enter an art exhibition?

This is a question only you can answer, and there is no right answer. Creating artwork for the sheer pleasure of it is perfectly fine. So, what are you hoping to accomplish by exhibiting your work? What are your personal goals? Do you want to build a professional resume, lecture or teach? Do you want to sell your work, or compete for artist grants or commissions? Are you prepared to compete in the art world? If so, at what level?

When I first began to exhibit my work several decades ago, I had already been working and teaching quilt classes locally for a number of years. I enjoyed it, and knew I wanted to teach more, but I also wanted to exhibit, so that my work could be seen by a larger audience. I knew that would never happen if I didn’t put my work out there.

If you want to compete in the jury process with other artists, it is important to do a thorough self-critique. Most crucially, ask yourself this: Have I developed my own style? Nowadays, everyone and her sister take a workshop or class and pronounce to the world that they are now an Artist…with a capital “A.” I am all for studying, learning techniques, and being mentored. That is not the same thing, however, as years of study, training and practice. If you aren’t quite there yet, that is alright. Keep working on it.

It is my firm belief that you should not be exhibiting your work professionally until you have figured out who you are as an artist, and what you have to say. Almost every artist has been influenced by someone else. Developing your own style simply entails working through that stage until you emerge with your own voice, something new to say on the subject. Settle down, focus, and look through all of the artwork you have created to date. Pick one idea from your existing body of work that interests you, then spend the next year working at it. See where it takes you. You will be amazed at the strides you will make in the process.

What type of exhibit do you want to enter? When you are starting out, local and regional exhibitions are a good place to begin. Just remember, if you made a piece in a workshop or as a result of a workshop, you need to credit your instructor. In addition to local, regional, national, or international opportunities, there are types of exhibitions, often categorized by the range of art media the organizers plan to exhibit.

The type of exhibition you want to consider will often determine where you will find listings of opportunities. Are you planning to enter only juried art quilt exhibitions, or do you also want your work shown alongside other media, such as painting, sculpture and photography? If so, you are competing against all genres of art during the jury process. Your work must stand up to all media in terms of technique, composition, use of color, etc.

Part of deciding the type of exhibitions to show in will depend, in part, on what goals you have for yourself, and how difficult it is to transport the artwork you create. I’ll give you several examples to explain what I mean.

In my case, when I began exhibiting my work, I started in my region, gained confidence through acceptance into those juried shows, and then began to enter national and international shows. After a period of years, with much success and so many opportunities available, I began to be more selective, focusing on invitational exhibitions along with juried exhibitions that included some sort of benefit: a catalog or an award of some sort.

My path, however, is not the only one you can choose. John Lefelhocz lives in Athens, Ohio, and decided to go see a Quilt National exhibition. He was so inspired by the artwork he saw that he was determined to create an entry for the next exhibit. Did I say he had never made a quilt before? His style is so engaging and unique that his work was, indeed, juried into the next Quilt National, and has been several times since.

(Photos: Gayle hanging an entry at Artist as Quilt Maker (AQM) XII; and Gayle lecturing at AQM 2006)

Some artists create work that is difficult and very expensive to ship. Linda Fowler, co-founder of the Quilt Surface Design Symposium in Columbus, is one of the early pioneers in our field. She has created very large, shaped work since the very beginning of her career. Early on, with the help of an artist friend, she figured out how to create a hanging system to support the large, heavy shaped tops of her quilts. Since her work is very difficult and expensive to ship, she decided very early on to limit the geographic region of where she exhibits her work.

Finding Calls to Entry and Preparing Your Entry

Many of the publications you already read probably have a Call to Entry section, both in the magazine and on the web. Often the website listings are more comprehensive and more current, so remember to check both. Here are just a few of the websites that have regular postings:
Fiber Art Calls
Fiber Arts
American Craft Magazine
Art Calendar
Crafts Report
Artist Help Network
Art Marketing

Before you submit your entry, there are a couple of things you will need to do. Most importantly, get good photographs of your work. When the exhibition postcard is printed, and publications request PR material from the curator, you will want to make it easy for your work to be selected. If you are not a photographer, or do not have a professional-grade camera, ask around for referrals for good photographers in your area. Nowadays, most entries have gone digital, and slides have gone the way of 8-track recordings. You will need an overall view of your artwork on a neutral background (no fences, painted walls, garage doors, etc.), well cropped. You will also need at least one detail shot representing approximately 6” square. Some exhibitions allow you to submit more than one detail. If you have several detail images, you can select the one you like best.

Secondly, if you are planning to enter shows frequently, it’s time to start a calendar to keep track of which shows you want to enter, when the deadlines are, and so forth. Keep track of which artwork you are entering where, and make sure the deadlines and exhibit dates do not overlap. Let me give you an example of what can happen when you do not keep track of which artworks are where.

For over a decade, I have curated The Artist as Quiltmaker exhibition, one of the oldest, continuously-running art quilt exhibitions in the world. For the first time during the jury process for the 2008 exhibition, I encountered difficulties with the availability of artwork submitted at several key times. Two artists whose work survived the initial image jury did not have their work available for the onsite object jury and award selection. One of the artists pulled her work after it was accepted. The other had entered three artworks, which had been selected by the juror as a grouping. The artist, however, had sold two of the pieces she had entered, and had not made arrangements with the purchaser to have them available for the exhibition.

Why does this matter? Exhibition spaces are limited in size. When a juror is viewing entries for an exhibition, they are selecting work based on quality, yes, but also in consideration of the available exhibition space. So, the artist who was juried in, but then pulled her work prior to the exhibition, robbed another artist of an opportunity to show work in the exhibition.

When May 2008 rolled around, and it was time to hang the show, four other artists failed to send work that had been selected. In two cases, the artists had again sold their work, and had not made arrangements for hanging it in the exhibition. In two other cases, the artists had entered the same piece in two different shows which had overlapping time frames.

(Photos: Artist and gallery volunteer Kathleen Van Meter and Gayle (above) and both with gallery director Kyle Michalak hanging exhibit entries.)

Read Carefully and Be Prepared For Success

When you prepare your entry, follow the rules specified in the Call to Entry form. Are there age guidelines? Don’t fudge and say your work was made later just to beat the deadline. Does the form indicate that no copies of other work, or work made in a classroom are eligible? Is there a limit to how large the artwork can be, or does it have to be of a certain size? Are entries required to be available for sale? Read the entry form carefully, and make sure you provide all the information it asks for. If you have questions, call the curator for clarification.

Be professional, and be prepared. Put your best foot forward by submitting only excellent images, in the format required. The best artwork poorly photographed will pale on screen when it is viewed against hundreds of other, well photographed entries. Remember, all the juror has to go by are the images you submit.

Don’t ask for exceptions to the rules, or special favors. Most of all, try not to be dejected if your work is not accepted for the exhibition. In all of the arts, not being chosen is part of the territory. Yes, it’s true that your work may not have stood up to the other entries. That is not always the case, however. Sometimes, there are so many great entries, there simply is not enough space to show them all. Sometimes, after the first ten or so pieces are selected by the juror, the exhibition begins to take on a theme of its own, and the subsequent pieces selected seem to fit with the tone set by the strongest pieces.

All of us have had this experience. Friend and fellow artist David Walker wrote a wonderful article years ago about rejection. You can read the article on his website.

If you ever have the opportunity, volunteer to assist during an exhibition jury. You will gain tremendous insight into how the process works.

Finally, be prepared for success, the day the letter comes in the mail to tell you your work was selected. Maybe you even won an award! Congratulations! Immediately mark the dates you need to remember on your calendar, and gather your professional materials. Find out if the exhibition sends out press releases related to the show. If not, send your own.

In your acceptance letter, the curator may have requested Viewbook materials. If so, you will have another opportunity to present your work. A Viewbook in the gallery is usually a notebook containing more information about the artists and the artwork. These materials are also used to provide additional information about the exhibitors when requested by magazines and newspapers for publicity purposes. Make your information easy to include by providing it in advance.

For your Viewbook pages, send your artist biography, a short resume, an artist statement, and a statement about the artwork you will be showing. If you have important reviews or press clippings, send copies of those, as well. Make sure everything you send has been carefully proofread.

These and many more challenges await the professional artist. There are also many rewards for your bravery and dedication to your work. The public awaits! Now, go into your studio and get busy. It’s show season.

Gayle Pritchard made her first quilt in 1973. In addition to her numerous magazine articles, she is the author of Uncommon Threads: Ohio’s Art Quilt Revolution, which was featured on NPR’s The Diane Rehm show. The interview is available as a podcast. She is currently finishing a biography of artist Susan Shie. Visit her blog or Etsy site.

NOTE: Other current articles about entering juried exhibitions: SAQA Journal, Spring 2007; The Professional Quilter, Winter 2009.