Autumn is finally upon us. As we approach the end of a very creative year, Mountain Art Quilters had their third and final challenge reveal of 2013. All of the reveals are beautiful. The name of the final challenges were: Any Animal(s) of the Kingdom, Earth's Elements/Weather and Close-ups. There were four MAQ ribbons handed out in the following categories. Best Interpretation of Theme, Best use of Color, Viewer's Choice and Best Design (won by Linda Waddle who wished not to have her piece published on the web until further notice). Congratulations to all of the artists.

Any Animal(s) of the Kingdom

Ruth Robinson
"Tanzy"
14" x 23 1/4"
I was requested to do a memorial quilt of Tanzy by one of my dear friends, Grace Evens.  I used cotton fabric and batting, Aurifil threads, ink and acrylic paint.

Sandra Poteet
"Towhee in my Garden"

25" x 37"

Inspiration for this quilt came from the gorgeous regular visitors under my yard feeders.  I used scraps, cotton and synthetic fabrics and sheers.

It began as an experiment with the blossoms.  They are white satin, overlaid with black sheer and then covered in organza.  The remainder of the design is hand and machine appliqué, a challenge because I had forgotten how time consuming all that appliqué is!

Lorna Tiller
"Inquisitive Frolicking Zebras"
18 1/2" x 31"
Inspiration for this quilt:  Watching the newborn zebras in the pasture at a horse ranch as they learn to stand and walk on long skinny legs that don't fit their bodies.  To see or smell something on the ground, they have to spread their front legs so they nearly topple over, then suddenly they're running and jumping or stopping dead in their tracks to stare at something.  I can't help but laugh and enjoy the experience with them.  I tried to capture their joy at seeing and exploring their new world. 
I sketched the zebras, had them enlarged and then added detail to each one.  The background is a partial printed panel that I cropped, added borders, quilted and bound before I added the zebras to the surface.  I inked each zebra onto a heavy white cotton fabric but it wasn't heavy enough to be stiff, so I used Steam-A-Seam and fused the original drawing onto 3 layers of the same white fabric, then I cut them out and attached them over small pieces of batting to lift them off the surface.

Edith Gregersen
"Magic Buck Deer"
28 1/2" x 19"
Inspiration was a workshop at Jamboree.  I was assisted in weaving the background by the instructor.   Choosing the fabric for the background was a challenge.  The fabric had to be horizontal or vertical in a spread of color strips.  The wavy cut had to be opposite on each of the two fabrics.  Then the strips were woven (the fabric was backed with fusing material first).  The beautiful deer was fused and embellished with black thread.

Pat Gillings
"Mama Roo"
33" x 39"
I took a cruise to Australia and New Zealand last January and was able to get up close to a number of kangaroos in a reserve outside Melbourne.  It was awesome to see the Momma Roos and their babies and the huge males.  I took a class recently with Sandra Bruce and started a parrot in her class, but I decided I really wanted tackle my favorite picture from my trip--this kangaroo.
I used 2 1/2 inch squares of fabric, cotton batting and heavy free motion quilting.  The main challenge was to follow Sandra's technique to convert a photo to a pieced mosaic style quilt.  It was time consuming but I am pleased with the results.

Frances O'Brien
"Leafy Sea Dragon"
15" x 23"
Cotton batiks, cotton batting, rayon and cotton threads, Tsukineko Ink, Lumiere Paints and crystals were used to make this wall hanging.  
I have always loved sea dragons since spotting them at an aquarium years ago.  They like to "blend" and hang out in the grasses off the coast of Australia, total pacifists.

Maureen Garrison

"Pensive"

25" x 32"

Daniel Jean-Baptiste's silk art was the inspiration for this piece. Materials used were silk face Habotai, flannel batting, all cotton threads on the face, nylon thread on the back.  My first experience with silk painting (Jacquard Green label silk dyes) on habotai silk.  I used examples of silk painting seen on YouTube for reference.  I was especially impressed by Daniel Jean-Baptiste's art, very inspiring!  I was hoping for more variety with color - definitely something I hope to experiment with in the future.  This will not be my last endeavor with silk; I'm excited about doing more.

Linda Taylor

Earth's Elements/Weather

Kari Hannickel
"Through the Car Window"
This whole cloth seascape was made by the Arashi (storm) Shibori process with Golden fluid acrylic paints.  Rayon threads and colored pencils defined the subtle Shibori patterns for the "rainy" effect.  The car frame below the window was padded with 4 layers of quilt batting under black Kona.

Rita Stevens
"Earth's Elements"
20" x 60"
Original design.  I picked base fabric with colors of earth, water, fire and since wind has no real color, I picked bright pink for fun.  I used A LOT of metallic threads, Shiva paint sticks and acrylic paints.

Joan Dyer
"Exploring Circles #3: Tornado"
14 1/2" x 20"
Original design. Elin Noble background fabric.  My hand-dyed square with discharge paste design. 

Marylee Drake
"Rainy Days and Mondays"
34" x 34"
This was inspired by rainy days in the Pacific Northwest.  Commercial printed cotton fabrics, cotton batting were used.  Machine quilted with metallic Coats & Clark thread, sequins, beads and Lumiere paints.

Lin Schiffner
"Celebrating the Elements"
27" x 27"
Won Viewers' Choice

Original design.  Hand-painted fabric; Sulky rayon thread; cotton batting; batik background; heat-set crystals and seed beads; hand stitched metallic threads were used in this piece.  
This piece is about "oneness"~the beautiful interrelationship between each of the elements and their corresponding energy and essence.  The constellations of the Zodiac are in the background among the stars near the element of sign is represented by.  The foreground represents the 4 earth's elements in layers. 



Millie Ruffalo
"Remembering the U.K."
27" x 33"
Inspiration was a trip to the U. K. and a class with Darlynn Evans.  Fabric ink, cotton fabric, cotton batting, cotton thread and Madeira metallic threads were used.  Also Steam-A-Seam 2 and tulle overlay. 
From the Norfolk Boards of England-200 miles of island waterway.  It is a popular holiday center for boating enthusiasts from all over Britain.

Close-Up

Sandra Bruce
"Chuck Close, Close Up"
21" x 18"
Inspiration: Chuck Close, and wanting to try "drawing" with thread.  All cotton fabrics, Quilters Dream batting and Omni polyester thread were used.  
I've been wanting to try this process of drawing with thread for a long time.  I'd like to do more experimenting as I don't feel I hit the nail on the head with this one.  Both sides read, but both sides have different issues due to the difference in fabric.  Chuck has such an expressive face.

Donna White
"Yes Virginia, there is a Caterpillar"
18 1/4" x 13 1/2"
The Virginia Creeper vine covering my old garage was the inspiration for this piece.  I used various fabrics from my stash.  The threads are some cottons and some Madeira rayons.  Batting is Hobbs Heirloom blend.  Colored pencil was used.   I had decided to take some "close-up" photos of the Virginia creeper covering our garage because the colors are fabulous this time of year.  While picking some leaves to study their details, I discovered a velvety brown caterpillar!  I looked it up on-line and learned it is a Virginia Creeper Caterpillar.  It is about 2" long in real life, so I enlarged his size to go along with the size of the berries, which are actually about 1/2" in diameter.  I decided to hide him under the leaves, just like I found him.

Jo Hathcock
"In Flight #1"
22" x 22"
Butterflies were the inspiration for this.  All fabric is from scraps in my stash.  All machine sewn.  Original design.  This is one of a series.

Sandra Poteet
"Corduroy Cat"
16"x16"
Inspiration was a scrap of gray corduroy.  Also used were wool felt, inks, thread, upholstery scraps. An experiment in discharging a medium value corduroy- it didn't discharge to create strong values, so quite a bit of ink painting and thread was needed to make it interesting! The high value border helps.

Norma Keeley
"Helianthus"
18"x26"
Won Best Interpretation of Theme

My photo was the inspiration for this piece.  Commercial cotton fabric, yarn,  embroidery floss, beads, Inktense pencils were used.  I printed my photo, enlarged it then cropped it to get my "close-up" section of the sunflower.  I traced, enlarged and redrew the design to the finished quilt size.  The center of the flower is hand beaded with a band of French knots and another band that is hand knitted yarn.  The flower petals are faced and applied to the quilt by hand as are all of the other decorative elements.  I used Inktense pencils to shade the petals and attached tiny seed beads to further enhance the petals.

Ruth Robinson
"Mufasa"
22 1/2" x 26 1/4"
Douglas Van Howd was the inspiration for this piece.  I used cotton fabric, cotton batting, Aurifil and Superior threads, ink and acrylic paint.  I was inspired by Douglas Van Howd  working in brass at his sculpture and oil painting studio.  The biggest  challenge was to make this piece lay flat.  I was able to show Pattie Blair, my teacher this piece.  She told me that this is called a whole cloth painted quilt.  I was pleased to hear her comments.



Carolyn Woods

"Smoke Tree, Act 3"

23" x 32"

Won Best use of Color

My inspiration was a photograph of a smoke tree in full autumn color.  We have three smoke trees on our property and they are a delight in each of the four seasons.  Act 3 is Autumn. 

 The materials include cotton batiks, cotton batting and a hand-dyed backing.  Various colored threads were used.  The technique I used was raw-edge fused appliqué and stitching to suggest the veins in the leaves. 



Pat Nelson
"Aspen"
24" x 24 3/4"
I love the aspen grove near our cabin in Mt. Shasta.  Painting the leaf was a challenge for me.  Cotton fabric, paint, markers, rayon, polyester and cotton threads were used.  Solvy for thread lace.  Warm and Natural cotton batting.