We had our Summer Reveal yesterday and there were many beautiful quilts presented.

Challenge - In the Trees

"A Summer Night in the West" by Tracy Visher
21.5" x 28.25"

Artist Statement:  A reflection on summer in Reno in 2021 when we were surrounded by wildfire smoke and didn't see the sky for 6 weeks. Sadly this is our "new normal". We end up packing for potential evacuation at least once each year. Fire season here is now 12 months a year.  I used bleach sprayed on black Kona cotton for the background, to attain the rust colored "smoke". I melted organza and copper lame' fabric to create some of the distorted shiny bits that represented flames. I cut out compressed sponge in the shape of a tree and stamped the black trees at the bottom foreground. 

"Windsong in the Morning Mist" by Karle deProsse
31" x 18"

Artist Statement:  The birds in flight are weaving in and out of the trees.  I was hiking in the woods around where I live one morning when I disturbed a flock of birds out of a tree.  I heard the sound of their wings before I saw the birds in flight.  I wanted to capture that enchanting moment.  I used 31 shades of blues in batiks, hand dyed and commercial fabrics.  The 215 paper pieced birds took much longer than I expected.  (What was I thinking in designing them so small?).  I wanted to piece the bird strips, not applique them.  figuring how to weave the birds in and out of the fabric was a challenge, as I wanted to keep the integrity of the fabric rather than piecing it in sections.  It seemed my garment sewing skills were used as much as my knowledge of quilting.

"High Above" by Patty Blesso
17" x 23"

Artist Statement:  The large oak tree has many animals in it.  I love nature and enjoy seeing animals in the trees when I am out hiking and kayaking.  I used Cotton fabric, photo pictures of the deer and eagle that I put on fabric.  I enjoyed making the tree and placing the animals among the branches.

Challenge - Fractal or Fibonacci

"Exploded Fibonacci Sequence" by Sophia Day
34" x 21"

Artist Statement:  The blocks are made using the Fibonacci Sequence.  They are 1", 2", 3", 5" or 8".  Rather than keeping them all together, I "exploded" them to get a more improv version with a lot of negative space.  I used commercial fabric, warm & natural batting and Superior thread.  The straight-line quilting was with a ruler.  The rest was Free motion.  I was very pleased and then I had a series of unfortunate events with fabric bleeding and then fabric bleaching.  It's much less vivid now than originally, but I learned what not to do.

"The Big Bang, Reimagined" by Kathryn Madison
24" x 43"

Artist statement:  Fibonacci is a series of numbers that define many spirals in nature, among them galaxies and seashells.  The inspiration was the stunning photos from the Hubble Space telescope.  I used a soldering iron, freezer paper, organza, acrylic felt, cotton, batting, vilene, polyester thread, monofilament thread, Swarovski crystals & beads. For the shell and the nebulas (cat's Eye, Hourglass and Helix) I used a soldering iron to precisely cut and fuse layers of organza, then thread painted them for texture.  the hand was painted on 100% polyester, then cut with the soldering iron for clean edges, then appliqued to the shell.  for the two galaxies (M81 and the Milky Way), I drew them on vilene, hooped it with a layer of tulle, then thread painted them.  After rinsing away the vilene, I appliqued them in position and trimmed away the tulle.  Then I fused hundreds of crystal "stars" in place.

Challenge - From a Fairy Tale

"Blue Fairy" by Tracy Visher
14" x 15"

 

Artist Statement:  She is the blue fairy from the 1940's Disney's Pinnocchio animated movie. This quilt is made entirely from my husband's worn-out denim jeans. Her wing tips are the edge of the pockets. Her wand tip is the "button" from the pant's waistband. Her belt is from beltloops. I added paint, beads and inktense pencil. 

Challenge - Black & White & One Color

"Intersections" by Julie Berry
16" x 21"

Artist Statement:  I love the clean, crisp contrast of black and white and added just a little blue for accent.  I have been wanting to try an angular modern design and thought black and white would be perfect for this.  I usually do landscapes, birds or flowers, so this was a personal challenge.  Cotton, organza and ric rac are the body of the quilt.  Sandra Bruce's buttons are a design element.  Something I learned while finishing this quilt was never plan on just a little glue coming out.  the buttons wouldn't stay straight, so I thought a couple of dots of glue would take care of it.  The barely flowing glue tube erupted and then I had another problem.