For our last reveal of the year, members came through with so many beautiful quilts.  The challenge topics were obviously very inspiring.  

Birds

Penelope, the Perennial Pageant Contestant
by Tracy Visher
17" x 34"

Artist Statement:  This is a whimsical take on a long-legged bird of rare breed.
Inspiration for quilt/Source of design: I was in the middle of a miserable, months long project, making a t-shirt/jersey quilt for my grandson. I hated every minute of it. I just wanted to be making things I enjoyed. Fun things. I took a break and in a couple of days crafted Penelope. She was so very much just for fun. I enjoyed her irreverence immensely!
Materials (fabrics, batting, threads, embellishments, etc.) Satin, batik, feather boa, Inktense pencils, little plastic “moths”, buttons, perle cotton, brocade fabric, jewels, velvet, glitter, cotton/poly thread and 80/20 cotton-wool batting
Description (may include creative opportunities, challenges overcome or any special comments, memories, or other quilt information you wish to include):
I had no serious objective, other than as a stress reliever. Her life, as I depicted it, reflected the exhaustion I felt about the t-shirt quilt. And yet, she continued to persevere. Been there, done that! Her jewels may have dulled and her boa be moth eaten, but the girl shows up, and I love her for that!

How Big They Think They Are
by Kathryn Madison
30" x 41"

Artist Statement:  The inspiration for the quilt is the hummers in my yard.  I used PFD cotton, polyester, raw silk, batting, a soldering iron, Aloe Vera gel, Tsukineko inks, Inktense blocks and pencils, sponges, Tyvek, perle cotton thread, machine embroidery poly thread, metallic embroidery thread, cotton thread and monofilament thread.  I've wanted to try to do a large hummer and thread paint her with metallic threads for a few years.  So when this challenge came up, it was time.  This entire quilt is hand painted.  the hummer was painted on polyester with inktense blocks, feather by feather, then free-motion thread painted with poly and metallic threads on the iridescent feathers.  Then I added batting under her and quilted each feather.  I painted the smaller hummers and the heliconia flower and appliqued them to the background, my imagined Costa Rica.  The large hummer was appliqued to the background and quilted a second time.  Last added was her branch, raw silk couched with perle cotton covered with painted Tyvek lichens and free-motion thread painted lichens and moss.  Of all my art quilts, this was my most technically challenging quilt so far.

Vanished
by Karle deProsse
42" x 24"

 Artist Statement:  This quilt honors the birds that have lost their habitat or lives to wildfires.  I kayak Solano Lake where Green Herons populated one of the tree-shaded streams feeding into the lake, until wildfire destroyed all the trees and their habitat. The beautiful little greenish birds have vanished from the area!  I used cotton fabrics & batiks, thread, netting, and feathers.  Cutting a hole in my quilt and inserting netting was a new scary yet exciting experience.  The feathers layered in the netting were stressed while I quilted the piece, resulting in feathers that looked more like the birds had not survived, which is what the hole represents.  Although I used the shape of the Green Heron, this is meant to represent all birds struggling with the wildfires in California and elsewhere.  

Not Today! They Got Away!
by Stephanie Bennett-Strauss
36" x 30"

Artist Statement:  The inspiration was a hawk video sent to me by my daughter Jessie, showing the Hawk's disappointment at the kitten getting away.  Both hawks and owls are predators of small animals and I wanted to make an owl missing his several targets.

Scottish Cow & His Hawaiian Bird
by Bonnie Ellering
30" x 24"

Artist Statement:  This started as a dog in Jane Haworth's collage class, but it wanted to be a cow.  The background was dyed in Michelle Peerson's class. The little Hawaiian cardinal was added based on one I'd seen while on vacation.

Evening Attire
by Julie Berry
26" x 23"

Artist Statement:  I have always been intrigued by Grey Crowned Cranes. Their plumage is spectacular. I have collected pictures of them for years.  This quilt is constructed with cotton, velvet, wool and tulle. I used cotton, rayon and metallic threads. I also used gold paint. It has Quilters Dream Bamboo batting.  I have wanted to try this crane for years and having the Bird Category motivated me to do it now. The tulle with metallic thread was particularly hard. I heavily quilted it which made it ripple. It still didn’t have enough gold so I used paint.  As a life-long birder I have loved having this category. It was really hard to choose one bird!

Summer Cottages
by Mary Stori
13" x 13" 

Artist Statement:  For my brother’s 70th birthday he received 3 bird houses which inspired me to create fabric cottages for the birds.  I used Mono printing, iced dyed, fused motifs, machine appliquéd, quilted, framed without glass.

Tweety
by Janene Powell

Artist Statement:  The inspiration was Halloween.  I used Silk, cutup dress, beads, dye & wax on pumpkins

Fantastic Fungi

Magical Mycelium
by Kathryn Madison
38" x 29"

Artist Statement:  This features underground mycelium and fungi (mushrooms).  The inspiration was Merlin Sheldrake’s book, “Entangled Lives” and Netflix documentary, “Fantastic Fungi”.  I used >PFD cotton, polyester, batting, soldering iron, Tsukineko inks, Intense blocks and pencils, rubbing alcohol, Hand embroidery floss, Perle floss, machine embroidery poly thread, cotton thread, metallic couching thread, monofilament. After reading the Sheldrake’s book I started sketching abstract tangled things and after 14 of them, I realized that my subconscious had been totally captivated by mycelium and all its forms and functions. So I chose one of my abstract fungi and enlarged it to be the centerpiece of this quilt, bordered by two trees with actual mushrooms. For the underground mycelium, I spray painted stretch velvet. Black poly velvet tree roots are joined by “mycelium” of sparkly couched threads. I covered the seam joining the top and bottom with various thread painted mosses.  I must’ve been on “magic mushrooms” when I designed this quilt. It’s way too busy and there’s far too much going on.

 

Bioluminescent Fungi World
by Robin Hart
27" x 28"

Artist Statement: I am fascinated by mushrooms and fungi.  They are so exotic and other-wordly.  When I saw this theme for MAQ, I googled exotic mushrooms and found several photos of bioluminescent ones.  Then in May, we had our first Northern Lights aurora in Nevada County in over 20 years.  Both of these inspired me to create an alien world with bioluminescent mushrooms and an aurora sky.  This is why the colors are so fantastic beyond our reality.  I did the painting in Photoshop and had it output at Real Graphics on Percale cloth.  I thoroughly enjoyed working on this art quilt.  Doing all the detail free motion thread painting made this quilt come to life. 

Orange Mountain Mushrooms
by Sandra Mollon
31" x 27"

Artist Statement:  The inspiration was a photo (copyright free) on Pixabay.  I used cottons both Hand dyed & commercial batiks. Bamboo batting. Various threads.  This represents the renewal of life.

Fungi No. 1
by Jane Haworth
23" x 29"

Artist Statement:  I purchased mushroom clipart from Etsy Shop Artist SVGIRLPLUS for personal & commercial use.  I used commercial cottons, silk and vintage fabrics.  This was my first quilt on this theme. I followed the pattern pretty closely. I wish to expand on the theme and create my own designs.

Sunrise/Sunset

Solstice Sunrise
by Tracy Visher
23" x 36"

Artist Statement:  This depicts the sunrise over a semi-frozen stream.  The inspiration came strictly from inside my head.   I had the sunrise on snow image come to me as soon as I read the category title.  I used liquid acrylic hand painted sky. Metallic and acrylic paints, shiva paint stick, Inktense pencils and blocks. Melted Lutradur, beads, metallic fabrics, hand painted silk fabric, perle cotton (bobbin work), metallic threads. Batting to stuff the tree trunks. Batik backing. My challenge was to create a piece of sufficient depth, where you felt you were inside it. A place where you could feel the quiet of an early morning, the cool temperature of the snow and air, and the burbling of the stream as it passed over rocks nearby. A place of solitude and peace. 

Answering the Call
by Jan Reed
37" x 26"

Artist Statement:  The small part of my Native American DNA urged me to eventually make an art quilt about their culture.  The photo of the man reaching extending his arm and the photo of the sunset that had a dark area that would work for a spirit's image were the beginning of the process.  All photos were found on Google and redrawn with pencils.  I used white pfd fabric for the sky.  Miscellaneous commercial batiks, one hand dyed tan fabric for his base garment, hands and face.  Beads and cotton string for details.  Diluted Tsukineko inks for the sky.  Heat set Prismacolor pencils for the spirit, the man's hands and face, and shading details in other areas.  Light and dark monofilament thread.  I viewed a youtube video on how to render a sunset with watercolors.  That took 3 tries and still wasn't perfect.  I researched Native American garment materials and construction.  I needed to create a different left hand.  The last step was drawing the spirit face and headdress, while knowing if it came out poorly, the whole piece was toast.  It was also a challenge deciding on a quilt motif for the sky.  I found a favorite new tool:  an electric eraser with a tiny head solved how to remove the chalk transfer markings needed to begin the spirit's face.

Flowers

Flowers and Horses Oh My!
by Maria E. Brower
30" x 32"

Artist Statement:  This quilt has a profusion of flowers from very tiny in the background to the focus flowers at the bottom of the quilt.  The inspiration was the fabric I used to cut out the flowers from.  I used all cotton fabrics and the rust dyed the fabric for the horses was created from a metal rusted outdoor ornamental piece I bought in Tucson.  The background is a batik I also bought in Tucson and I used a green batik for the cactus and added the flowers from my stash and part of a flowered print for the background hills.  The backing print has most of the colors on the front of the quilt.  The small binding was a challenge, but I didn't want to detract from the quilt with a larger binding.