Bernina Sewlebrity feature

http://www.berninausa.com/webautor-data/589/BERNINA-LindaTeufel-082011.pdf

This month I’m featured in the Bernina blog as a sewlebrity! (Don’t you love that word?)  They also reposted the blog article on making the Koos mobius spiral scarf if you missed it before.

I am fortunate to be a member of the Bernina Artisan group for the past 7 or so years.  They had meetings at their offices in Oklahoma City and Chicago areas where a group of us would learn about new things in the industry and work with Bernina products and it was always fun. I met many nice artists in this group too.

We also gave input into many aspects of marketing and especially into the design and features of the revolutionary 830 machine.  That entailed a free trip to Switzerland and their Steckborn headquarters which was wonderful!  They treated us like royalty, fed us well, put us up in a beautiful hotel by the lake, took us to a fashion museum, shopping, chocolate store and picked our brains! It was a trip of a lifetime!

Confetti Naturescapes class

Remember in April I wrote that Noriko Endo, author of Confetti Naturescapes was here to teach our guild her fabulous confetti class?

We had the finished ones on display at our local store, Quilt Trends for the high traffic months of June and July when everyone is in town for all the quilt shows and conventions.

The amazing thing about Noriko’s class is that everyone made a successful piece. How often can you say that? Her technique was easy to do and she guided us to make some great pieces. Of course it would take lots of practice to be as good as she is but it is fun to do and I’ll try it again.

Thought you’d like to see some of the finished work.

Noriko is teaching at Quilt Festival in Houston this November but you must sign up fast, the classes fill up so fast!

A Visit to Quilt National 2011

As I said before, it’s great to live in Ohio in the summer when all the quilt shows are going on in town!  Quilt National is every two years and is my favorite! It’s a juried show with 85 quilts accepted and shown in an old dairy barn in a cute rural town.  For me, it’s only a 1.5 hr drive from Columbus and so I go every year.  The town of Athens is the location of Ohio University and has many great little places to eat too…a quilter’s second favorite thing to do.

I just got back with my friend and we loved the show! So many beautiful quilts of wonderful color palettes and techniques. We quilters are looking closely at techniques and found many inspirational ideas so that was exciting. Looking at the quilts we are trying to memorize easy quilting patterns for the ‘free-motion impaired’ as well as color combinations that are particularly striking.  You can’t remember it all so the best thing to do is buy the book of the entire collection.

Lucky for me, and you, Kathleen Dawson, the director of the show sent us these photos of the gallery to share on the blog! They arrived at my IN box the moment I got home and sat down at my computer!  A big THANKS to Kathleen since you aren’t allowed to photograph the show and a blog without photos is not as interesting!

They ask you to vote for your favorite quilt and above is mine/the Dandelion one by Kate Themel. Close up you can see the stitching lines on white tulle that make the whispy part of the dandelion and gives it that lifelike effect.  Of course it was impossible to decide on a favorite and I changed my mind ten times but thought I would like to have this hanging in my house!

 

On the left is a piece by Elizabeth Brimelow from the UK in 3 long panels that go up, over the rod and down the other side. The piece on the right is the Best of Show by Bonnie Bucknam.

Many of these quilts are for sale but the ones I loved were already sold or optioned. The gift shop has many smaller quilts that are reasonably priced and nice samples of the artists’ work.

This is only a small peek into the show and nothing compares to seeing the quilts in person so try to visit if you can before it ends Sept.5. Check their website for times www.dairybarn.org.

And if you still can’t make it to the show, buy the hardcover book, Quilt National 2011.

NQA part 3/details

TO EVERYTHING THERE IS A SEASON BY NANCY SAYWARD

I took this photo of Nancy’s quilt for all the detail she has in it. Of course I love the Asian theme but  the three-dimensional flowers are what captivated me…as well as her use of color.

Years ago, I bought the Kumiko Sudo book Fabled Flowers which shows how to make many of these flowers but have never tried it aside from making flowers in her class.

WHITE TAIL MORNING BY DUSTY FERRELL

This quilt also had so much detail. What I liked it that it was mostly straight lines doing the shadowing and details….just MANY straight lines.

BLUE MOONS BY JUDY GIGNESI

From a distance it looks like a color study but up close the stitching detail is amazing.

This quilt, TEA AT TENBY, by Pat Holly and Sue Nickels (sisters) has these great wool ‘tabs’ along the outer edges of the quilts…and the machine quilting work is small with medallions and so complex! Photos can never show the stitching detail as well as putting your nose up to the quilt!

I hope these give you more inspiration when making your own works of art!

And now a little vacation time on a lake in New Hampshire for me. I will for sure visit Keepsake Quilting one day.  Will report if I see anything interesting to stitch!

SUMMER INSPIRATION-more from NQA show

Jump in! The water is lovely!  That’s what this quilt makes me think of…

GIRL WITH BALL QUILTED BY GINNY COOPER.

TUTTI FRUITTI FANFARE BY MARIBETH SCHMIT

Doesn’t this seem so summery and fresh? Love the way the blocks are put together!

MOOOVE OVER BY ZOE ENRIGHT

This reminds me that I have to go milk the cows! NOT! I love the whimsy and the cockeyed-ness.

BEGONIAS AT BUTCHART GARDENS BY PAT ROLLIE

I’ve been to the Butchart gardens on Vancouver Island and they are spectacular. If you are ever near there, it’s a MUST see if you like gardens, flowers, phenomenal landscapes.

SYMPHONY OF LILIES BY BARBARA CALDWELL

SPRINGTIME WOODLANDS BY CHARLOTTE HICKMAN

And this one reminds me of going to the woods in New Hampshire for vacation…where we are going this year!

Make a quilt with a summer theme for inspiration!

Contemporary Bojagi/Pojagi by Leonie Castelino

Leonie sent me this interesting information about a show with one of her pieces. Wish I could go to San Fran and see this show. www.leoniecastelino.com

‘HOMAGE TO KLEE’, A Work of Art in Contemporary Bojagi by Leonie Castelino, Fiber Artist, will be on display, at the Museum of Craft and Folk Art in San Francisco, California, from June 17 – October 23, 2011.  The international exhibition:  ‘Wrapping Traditions:  Korean Textiles Now’, has 60 works of fiber art from artists all over the world, 31 of them from Korea. For more information, visit www.mocfa.org or call (415) 227-4888.

This exhibition showcases traditional and contemporary Bogaji, or Pojagi, which is an ancient and dying Korean art-form that reached its zenith during the early Choson dynasty (1392-1910). Women of this period were strictly housebound, socially isolated and had no status. Their only expressive outlet was in creating a bojagi of beauty. Salvaged fabrics of silk, cotton or hemp  from clothing or household linen, was pieced together in a mosaic to construct square or rectangle cloths of beauty to wrap and carry household, ceremonial, ritual or treasured items - hence the name ‘wrapping cloth’.  The prevalent folklore was that ‘pok’ or good luck was preserved inside a bojagi.

When a bojagi was created to wrap an offering, a ceremonial document or a gift, infinite care was expended in creating an item of beauty that reflected the reverence of the creator, the respect bestowed on the recipient, and the item.  This contributed to the development of bojagi as an art form. A pieced bojagi is a ‘chogak po’, while an embroidered one is a ‘su po’. Half of all the surviving bojagis today are keepsakes handed down the generations. They have become significant acquisitions by museums around the world.

‘Homage to Klee’ by Leonie Castelino is a Contemporary Pieced Bojagi in layered silk organza with the distinctive bojagi elements of architecture, seams, transparency, color, composition and design.    It measures 24” x 63”. 

 

I think this piece is so beautiful and the layers are captivating!

And the Winners Are…

At the National Quilting Association show, all the quilts were winners but some got ribbons!

Our author, Barbara Olson, who wrote Journey of an Art Quilter had an honorable mention ribbon on this gorgeous quilt!

When I saw it, I whipped out my cell phone to call Barb and she didn’t know that she won so it was a joy to inform her!  As always the detail is incredible and doesn’t show in image.

Then many of you are familiar with my friend, new art quilter, Beth Schillig who seems to win in every show she enters!  This little piece called Mocha Dot was a Sew Batik challenge and she won the sponsor’s award, which made Beth very happy!

This has so much detail and different techniques/stitch work in it that when I first saw it, I kept tracing places with my finger…that’s a sure sign of interesting qualities. Congrats Beth!

Here is another big ribbon winner by Mark Sherman that is inspired by a Louis Comfort Tiffany window and was filled with so much detail…fabulous!

 

This one of a girl holding her chicken was so lifelike and one of my favorites.

 

Snapshot:Shannon’s Bantam by Denise Havlan.

Stay tuned for more of the NQA show in next post. Next year, make sure a stop in Columbus is on your calendar for this show!