This was Mountain Art Quilters last reveal for 2014. The challenges were: "Texting" (use letters, words, or numbers in your design), "Express Yourself" (feelings/emotion--abstract or realistic), and "Three Shapes."

 Three Shapes

Ann Sanderson
"Getting in Shape"
20" x 23"

Lorna Tillar
"Circles, Square, Triangle"
25" x 22"

Pat Nelson
"Walk in the Wood"
19" x 31"

 Express Yourself

Ginny Lee
"Bright Ideas"
30" x 40"
Best Interpretation of Theme

Pat Gillings
Nostalgia aka "We will always have Paris"

Maureen Garrison
"Fear Revealed"
42" x 42"

Karla Rogers
SHAKESPEARE'S FROGGIE LAMENT: "To croak or not to croak, THAT is the question!"
29.5" x 28"
"A vortex of disturbed emotions is often dissipated by a sense of humor, and a hearty laugh." J. Donald Walter
Best use of Color

Margaret Vodicka
"Art wear"

Jeanne Ferguson
"O Holy Night"

Jeanne Ferguson
"Jolene"

Joan Dyer
"Which Way"
44" x 66"
Best Design

Lin Schiffner
"Hope is on the Horizon"
Viewers' Choice

 Texting

Trish Morris-Plise
"Umi"
42" x 44.5"

Edith Gregerson
"Great Art Speaks"
33" x 39"

Carol Walsh
"Some of my Favorite Four Letter Words"
54" x 40"

Linda Taylor
"Never"

Donna White
"Check it Out"
27" x 33.25"

September 2014 Show and Tell

Trish Morris-Plise
"Aquaria Fairy Princess Fish"
A whimsical fish!  She was sitting next to me hung on my reading light and a light bulb went off!  Fun character to reproduce.  I wanted to see what would happen with adding texture to material matrix.  I like!

Cathy Stone
Untitled
I started this in a Jamboree class years ago with Judy Cisneros. 

Ingrid Cattaneo
"Fire"
28 3/4" x 29"
When I think of fire, several things come to mind -- destruction (sadly), heat, passion, excitement and warm colors.  This piece reflects my passion for warm, intense vibrant colors. "Fire" was a challenge as it represents my first abstract piece (Rosalie Dace class).  I look forward to working in abstract as I thoroughly enjoyed the process. 

Lorna Tillar
"Leaves"
24" x 36"
Inspiration for this piece came from taking Carol Taylor's class.  The class was a technique using stabilizer, different threads and satin stitching. 

Jan Reed
"The Rest Stop"
24" x 30"
I wanted to experiment with what would happen if the entire background was out of focus and paler than things in the foreground.  I forgot I needed something mid-ground, so I added the barn.  All of the background is created with Tsukineko inks and is imaginary. 

Lynn Tubbe
"Low Tide--Worthing, England
30" x 30"

While staying with my English art quilt friend this summer, I tried my hand at making silk paper, which forms the base of this wall hanging.

Worthing is on the southern coast of England, which was enjoying its hottest and sunniest summer since 1976 while I was visiting.  Carol and I made an arrangement of various seaweeds while cooling off at the beach.  I came home and made this Memory Quilt.  

Other than the silk paper and ribbons from England, and the linen background fabric from Ben Franklin, the rest of this wall hanging uses items in my studio.  That includes some of my mom's yarns. 

I gathered the ribbons to simulate the ruffled look of the English seaweed.  Fusing/gluing held things in place, and then I stitched with mono-filament and 100 wt. threads. 

European quilters often mix free motion stitching and hand stitching for their quilting, so I gave it a try with two shades of perle cotton.

Mountain Art Quilters came through once again, show-casing their incredible artistic talent. The second challenge was a huge success - 15 beautiful art quilts varying in sizes were revealed 23 July 2014. The challenges were 'Things with Wings,' 'Focus on Design,' and 'Cheese Cloth Anyone?' Winners were selected in the following categories: Best Design, Best use of Color and/or Value, Best Interpretation of Theme, and Viewer's Choice. Congratulations to all the artists for a wonderful challenge reveal! The third and final challenge will be revealed on October 29, 2014.

Marianne (Nan) Curry
"Wings I & II"
7 1/2" x 21" and 10" x 21"

I hand painted and sun printed the fabric to make a dragonfly quilt.  The background fabric is silk.  The dragonflies are machine lace and hand embroidered.  Crystals and bugle beads were used.  I specifically sun printed the fabric to have reeds and with a curve type design.

Loretta White
"The Feather Hunt"
22" x 30"

Cotton, cotton blends, silk, muslin, denim, paper, feathers and vintage print cotton fabric were used.  I chose a palette from various fabrics that I thought felt like summer.  The top is a stacked shrine composition.  I free motion quilted the turkey just enough to bring the viewer in for a closer look.  I then quilted it using a geometric pattern to tie the pieces together.  The challenge for me was to cut the fabric layers and put in the washer & dryer to fray the quilt more. I added embroidery and feathers to invite the viewer in even more and “hunt for the feathers.”

Focus on Design

Carolyn Woods
Untitled
25" x 17 1/2"

Lines and shapes on a reconstructed nine-patch.  The challenge was to use a principle or element of design.  I chose to use "lines" in the context of a nine-patch.  The nine-patch (orange hand-dyed fabric) was boring, so I cut it up and rearranged the pieces-now, I also had “shapes.”  The color scheme is a secondary triad - orange, purple and green.

Kari Hannickel
Earth's Crust
25" x 48"

Rock and mineral formations are the raw materials of our Earth's crust.  The strata layers hide rare and precious gemstones, silver, copper, gold, turquoise, petrified wood and geodes in sedimentary layers.  Mono printed with a Gelli plate and hand dyed Kona cottons, Cherrywood solids, Marcia Desre prints and silk dupioni solids were used.  Inspired and begun in a Rosalie Dace class at Asilomar in April 2014.

Patricia Porter
"Look Around"
36 1/2" X 36 1/2"

Silk, hand dyed and commercial fabrics were used.  The beautiful colors of the hand dyed fabrics led me to my original design.  "Look Around" is all about design.  Design is the relationship between all the elements, such as Line, Shape, Color, Value, Texture and the balancing of all these elements.  It's how the elements tie together to make composition that can be beautiful or jarring.  The artist makes the choices. 

Linda Waddle
"Geraniums"
53" x 35"

Pieced left-overs from a previous quilt developed into a background for a geranium design.  The design originated as clip art but was enlarged and adjusted.  The ultra suede was fused.  The grass blades were free form stitched.  The quilt exhibits asymmetrical balance with texture as well as line.

Norma Keeley
"Design Lines"
31 1/2" 38 1'2"

Design is always a challenge for me so I wanted to try this challenge.  Originally, I made a pieced background and some fabric tubes to embellish it, but I wasn't happy with anything about it.  I had a pile of tubes and started to pin them up on my design wall —aha — my design element was to be lines!  I made another simple background and quilted it with pearl cotton in the bobbin sewing from the back.  I stuffed the tubes and attached them to the quilt by hand.  My main Element is Line, but there are also other design Principles - Repetition, Balance, and Texture. 

Sandra Bruce 
"Matteo 2014"
48" x 51"

Inspiration for this quilt was a photo of my son.
The element of design I focused on for this piece is emphasis through the use of value.  I wanted to explore doing a piece in my Matrix technique using only black, white and all the grays in between.  Doing this lays bare the work of value, as the distraction and "crutch" of color is unavailable.  However, I did run into issues of warm vs. cool grays.  I used cool grays when ever possible.  The back is backed with bicycle themed fabric for Matteo (his passion) and 15 bars of gradated fabric, one for each of his years. 

Marylee Drake
"Color Explosion"
37" x 43"

I have had these art quilt blocks on and off the design wall for over 3 years.  The inspiration would come and go and the fabric would end up in the bag again.  I finally decided that this time I would finish it.  Hand dyed fabric in jewel tones along with some beautifully dyed fabric by Judy Robertson kept calling my name.  I love the chaotic order of the piece. 

Gail Sims
"Four Square"

This began with a square and kept going round until it was about 40 inches and wonky.  Then I cut up and reworked each square so it would be 4 pieces of equal size and all but the center and ends were kept intact.  Then I discharged to give it a little more interest.  It is the first in a series.  Different squares next, then circles. 

Ruth Robinson
"Vienna"
19 1/2" x 26"

Art Design: three dimensional shape designing the background as if it were at a distance, the cording to look like rope around the horse.  The back and front were quilted separately then sandwiched together and quilted again.  The horse was appliquéd on the piece.

Cathy Stone
"Fabulous Feathered Fibonacci"
33" x 33"

A while ago, I purchased 1/3 yard cut of ombres on Christine Barnes website.  I've been checking out Caryl Bryer Fallert's website since I saw and enjoyed her display at Houston last year.  She has made a series of Fibonacci quilts that have always fascinated me.  On her site, she tells the width of cuts she makes as she gets to the end of her ombre bolts.  Based on Fibonacci's numerical sequence starting with 0, 1, the numbers following are the sum of the 2 previous numbers.  So: 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, etc. I cut strips 1-1/2", 2-1/2", 3-1/2" and 5-1/2" from each of my 1/3 yard cuts. Then I randomly sewed them together based on color contrast, cut same-size strips across the previously sewn strata, and alternated every other strip.  This is based on the scale/proportion element of design because things made with cuts from the Fibonacci sequence that are supposed to be aesthetically pleasing to the eye. 

Cheese Cloth Anyone?

Norma Keeley
Untitled
9" x 12"

I started by dying the cheese cloth with inks, attached it to the background with glue and mono filament threads, then embellished it with beads.  I made another background and hand quilted it, then attached the cheese cloth panel to it with big stitches. 

Trish Morris-Plise
"Aaaa Chooo!"
20" x 25"

This quilt popped into my head while on a walk.  A large tree in a neighbors yard caught my attention.  It was in full bloom with little white blossoms.  I learned about manipulating fabric and tested the limits of my sewing machine.  Quilting it without being able to drop the feed dogs and quilting on the soft and stable was a challenge.  The embroidery was fun, however the French knots were tedious.

Robin Hart
"Eye of the Cosmos-The Ring Nebula"
37" x 35"

I was inspired by a colorful deep space image taken by the Hubble telescope of the Ring Nebula.  The remnant of a star that has exploded and shed its gaseous envelope out into interstellar space.  I thought that the concentric colorful layers of gases would be perfect for the cheese cloth challenge.  I used a dyed cheese cloth and my own hand dyed fabric for the interior.  I layered the hand dyed fabric and the cheese cloth and free motion quilted the layers into place.  For the background, I used the grid method of squares rather than a whole cloth, because it gives more depth and design interest.  For the outer part of the nebula, I found fabric that had a stellar background and aurora borealis.  This was cut into squares and re-purposed to mimic the gas cloud dispersing into space.  I enhanced all of this with a lot of thread work and also to create stars shining through the nebula gases. 

Best Interpretation of Theme

June 2014 Show and Tell

Gail Sims
Canyonlands 3
36" x 36"

Joan Dyer
Jewel Boxes
20" x 48.5"

Joan Dyer
Exploring Circles #5: Bounce
21.5" x 23"

Pam Berry
The Flow
12" x 12"

The Mountain Art Quilters Special Exhibit was enjoyed by many visiting out-of-town enthusiastic quilters and artists. Our display in the lunchroom at the Pine Tree Quilt Guild Show was a huge success. Against the dark grey wall background, our pieces just glowed! There were many positive comments; Ardy's favorite was the following: "I saw a woman with heavy glasses, looking closely at our pieces for a l-o-n-g time. I approached her to thank her for coming and her reply was, 'I'm an artist, or I was, before macular degeneration took that away. I want you to know that I have been in many art galleries, all over the world, and have NEVER seen anything as wonderful as this!'"

Member Sandra Bruce

Sandra Bruce with her lovely wall hanging.

Curious visitor wondering "how did she make that!"

Member Jo Hathcock with her lovely wall hanging.

Sierra Wearable Art Group  (SWAG)