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Hawaiian Cruise Update

Before I get to this week’s topic, I’d like to answer a question about Shore Excursions during our upcoming quilter’s cruise to Hawaii in January of 2019.

The price of our adventure includes a group excursion in each port on the cruise. Our number one priority in choosing these excursions is to make sure we see everything Hawaii has to offer! We plan to also include some stops especially of interest to quilters, when it won’t interfere with the exploration of our destination. We’ll have all the details available in mid-summer. At that time our travelers may choose to opt out of our shore excursion package, if they so desire, and the cost of their trip will be adjusted to reflect this. I hope this is helpful. We still have a few cabins available and you can read all the details, and sign up, by clicking on:

And now – a topic to crow about  😀 !

Last Fall Sue Schlobohm, a student in my Open Lab class, told me she wanted to make a quilt for a challenge at a local craft/quilt shop. She had purchased the packet of fabrics to be used in the challenge and had decided she wanted to make a quilted portrait of a well embellished rooster. To accomplish this she was wondering if I knew of anywhere to get “chicken wire” fabric for the background. Well, you might remember that in the Summer of 2016 I tried my hand at rust dyeing and created a piece of fabric with a very rusty hunk of chicken wire fencing (to read all about it click here).

I had folded 1 yard of fabric around a “1/2 yard” piece of fencing (that’s why the side on the right is a lighter version of the one on the left).

I immediately felt the need to share half of the fabric with Sue :-). And – Wow – did she put it to good use! Here is her wonderful quilt.

Sue makes decorator pillows professionally and deals with a lot of home dec fabric. Some of those scraps found their way into this regal rooster’s tail, along with her lovely hand stitching.

Her label is well done also:

The words in the picture are a bit difficult to read, so here’s what it says:

“The Funky Chicken

Was appliquéd, machine stitched, hand embroidered and quilted by Susan Jones Schlobohm for the Ben Franklin Quilt Challenge, Oconomowoc, WI – 2017

The theme was animals, and you had to include the 3 fabrics seen to the right. The background fabric was rust dyed by Chris Lynn Kirsch, teacher and inspiration.

The quilt is dedicated to all my friends at the WCTC Open Quilting Lab”

I was thrilled to be acknowledged by this talented lady and I hope all of her friends in Open Lab read that last part  😀 !

Thank you Sue, for letting me share the story of your delightful quilt. Congratulations on a job well done!

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And, since this post spoke of both a rooster and Hawaii, I thought you might find this interesting:

A few years ago Mike and I vacationed in Hawaii, on the island of Kauai, and we were fascinated by the plethora of wild chickens and roosters running all over the island. Here’s the story:

“Most locals agree that wild chickens proliferated after Hurricane Iniki ripped across Kauai in 1992, destroying chicken coops and releasing domesticated hens, as well as roosters being bred for cockfighting. Now these brilliantly feathered fowl inhabit every part of this tropical paradise, crowing at all hours of the day and night to the delight or dismay of tourists and locals alike.”

Before I get to today’s topic I’d like to apologize for last week’s email link error which affected quite a few of you. If you would like information on our Sew We Go cruise to Hawaii in January 2019 – please click on this link: https://www.chrisquilts.net/trips/

 

 

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And now for my “Topic of the Week”:

I’m very pleased to announce that Threadbenders, a new fiber art group I belong to, has an exhibit of challenge quilts hanging at Sew Much More in Waukesha, Wisconsin!

(formerly known as Frank’s Sewing Center – 2140 W Saint Paul Avenue).

I belong to two art quilt groups and in 2017 they both held Anything Goes Round Robin challenges. I’ve participated in these before and it’s a great learning experience. In essence each member puts something in a bag, passes it to someone else and does anything they want to what’s inside the new bag they get. After 4 or 5 rounds the originator gets their bag back and the only rule is “you can’t be upset over what you get back”. The originator then is encouraged to finish theirs.

Many participants in our Threadbenders challenge did finish theirs and the results are quite interesting. Those results are what is hanging at Sew Much More (here are two pics of the exhibit, but they really are much more interesting “in the cloth”).

We took pictures each step of the way and have posted them on our blog. To see all of the finished quilts and all of the step-by-step pictures go to: https://threadbendersblog.wordpress.com/2016/11/27/threadbenders-blog/

Here are the pictures of my challenge piece’s transformation. Laura got my bag first. It contained an unfinished class sample from my silhouette appliqué workshop.

I was a little befuddled about what to do with what I got back. After staring at it for a while I decided it might be fun to use it as the focal point of a “Modern Quilt”, using the shapes in the challenge piece to inspire my quilting designs. I was pleased with the results (red – I know – who would have thought it???).

If you didn’t link to the Threadbender’s blog above, to see all of the Anything Goes quilts, please do so now at:  https://threadbendersblog.wordpress.com/2016/11/27/threadbenders-blog/

And to see the finished projects – go to Sew Much More! It’s a great store and you won’t be disappointed!

Have you ever entered a quilt into a contest in which it traveled for a period of time?

In 2015 I entered the Madison Quilt Expo’s “Fall Leaves” quilt challenge. Part of the entry agreement was the quilt would travel with the exhibit for two years. That’s a long time!

My quilt “Which Way Does the Wind Blow” arrived back on my doorstep this past week. What a joy to have it back and hang it up for Autumn!

This was the card that traveled with it.

The quilt got it’s name because I challenged myself to draft some of the leaves as oddly shaped mariner’s compasses using my “Compass Capers” technique (you can purchase a copy of my book at: https://www.chrisquilts.net/books/). Piecing the leaves was not difficult, but finishing the leafy edge took a bit of perseverance.

I lined the back of each leaf and stitched them to the quilt on the leaf veins (compass seams) resulting in a 3D effect. I liked the image of the windblown tree so much, I made a second quilt entitled “Autumn Dusk”.

This time the interesting effect was achieved by using an orange/black Pointillism fabric for the sky and water. This may not be the last time I make a quilt with this tree – perhaps there’ll be a series. Stay tuned :-).

Have you had a quilt travel? Please comment to this post and let us know!

Aren’t they beautiful? I especially like the puzzle pieces. The Divas are located in Fort Collins, CO and, in order to give credit where credit is due, here are the names of the Divas who participated in this challenge: Charlotte Jackson, Judy Donaldson, Julie Bortz Wilson, Nola Stone, Pam Peterson, Lesli Singer, Judy Beach, Becky Judson, Cecilia Milano, Michelle Cerise, and Kimberley Shootman

Thank you ladies, for sharing your lovely quilts with us.

I hope you enjoyed last week’s post about Rumi O’Brien and her quilts (to read that story click here). I also hope you’re looking forward to the rest of the story!

While going through my photo album I was so pleased to find how well I had documented the “sister city” challenge – between quilters in Madison, WI; Freiberg, Germany; and Berne, Switzerland. This is a picture of my album with a photo of the challenge poster, the fabric scraps opened across the top, and me standing next to my quilt. Don’t you love the 80’s hair?

One of the newspaper clippings I saved, reported a part of the story I had forgotten:

The German and Swiss quilts were lost in shipping! Georgellen enlisted the help of Swiss, German and U.S. embassies, then Sen. Herb Kohl, and the Postal Service, to help find the quilts. We hung the American quilts so the exhibit could open on schedule, and the European quilts finally arrived the morning of the opening reception! Talk about excitement!

I won’t be able to show you all of the quilts, but I chose a few of the ones I found most interesting. The pictures you see here were taken of photographs, so the quality is not perfect. The American quilts have their makers in the pictures. The European ones don’t. I apologize for not having the quilter’s names with their quilts. That was one part of the documentation I neglected to include 😥 . I’ll share a slick trick about my  quilt at the end of the line up!

I found it interesting that most of the American quilts were traditional in design, while many of the European quilts were quite “artsy”.

The quilt I made for the challenge is named “Floral Lights”. I chose to add a burgundy, a blue, and a pink fabric to the challenge fabrics; and pieced them into basket weave blocks. These became the background for a floral silhouette.

Isn’t the floral design lovely? I’ll let you in on my secret. The white fabric was a “white-on-white” print, so the design was already on the fabric. I drew around it with a washout marker, quilted on the line, and trimmed away all the non-floral areas of the white fabric, so the piecing showed through. I then machine satin stitched the flowers and hand-quilted the same design in the border areas.

I’m quite sure this was the first challenge I ever participated in, and it was a great experience!

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A Sew We Go from Quebec to Boston update!

Wendy and I are working on the projects and extra special plans for our upcoming cruise from Quebec to Boston this Fall. One of the quilters who signed up early has had to cancel due to a family circumstance. Her roommate is still planning on going and is looking for a travel partner. If you think you might be interested in coming along, please email me at , or contact Kristi at (262)786-6763/. For more information on the cruise, please go to: https://www.chrisquilts.net/trips/

This week I received an envelope from my first quilting teacher, and very dear friend, Sharon Grieve Grinyer. In it was a newspaper clipping from the Wisconsin State Journal that took me back to 1989. The article was entitled:

And begins with:

“There’s a good story behind Rumi O’Brien’s quilt called “Hiding Under Shrubs – I’m Too Famous.” There’s a story, in fact, behind every Rumi O’Brien quilt.” Made from tiny scraps of cloth and laced with thousands of minute stitches, O’Brien’s handiwork is consistently clever, always unexpected, and often very funny.”

To read the entire article, go to:  http://host.madison.com/wsj/entertainment/arts-and-theatre/the-whimsy-of-rumi/article_c9885798-72cb-5f90-8825-b43b25ea9c6b.html

Rumi is a quilter I met early in my quilt journey, while taking part in my first quilt challenge. This all brought to mind a story I think you’ll find quite interesting and I’d like to present it in two parts.

Part 1 begins with a multi-country quilt challenge. I still have a photo of the original challenge exhibit sign and this is what it said:

“In early Autumn, 1989, Georgellen Mikkelson was contacted about orgainizing the Madison, WI, end of a quilt challenge between quilters in Freiberg, Germany (Madison’s Sister City), Berne, Switzerland, and Madison, WI. She gathered a varied group of 21 quilters, and anxiously awaited the arrival of the “Challenge Fabric” from West Germany.

The participating quilters were each given a 12″ square of each of the fabrics. Five additional fabrics of the quilter’s choice could be used. The finished quilts were to be no larger than 24″ x 24″.

In January of 1990, the Madison quilts were shipped to Europe. They were on display, along with the Freiburg and Berne quilts, in both European cities. The entire group of quilts – all 65 of them – will be on display here in the Madison Civic Center until July 1990.”

I enjoyed making my challenge quilt (to see it, you’ll need to read next week’s post for part 2 🙂 ).

When it was time to get together and see all the Madison quilts, there was one that really caught my attention. It was Rumi’s. Her quilt told the story of the challenge in hand appliqué!

Amazing! And hand quilted too. I was so impressed, I signed up to take a class from her at a local quilt shop. The class was called “Making Babies” and we made 2 little dolls. Rumi was a wonderful teacher and the stories she shared of her life in Japan were delightful. I lost touch with her after that class.

A few weeks ago Sommer found those dolls in a toy bin and began playing with them in her doll house.

After reading the article about Rumi in the paper, I had to dig out the old photo album and revisit my memories of the challenge and Rumi.

I can’t wait to make the trip to Madison and see the exhibit of her quilts. The exhibit is entitled: “Crossing Mountains and Other Adventures – Story Quilts by Rumi O’Brien”. For all the information go to:  https://sohe.wisc.edu/research-development/design-gallery/2016-17/crossing-mountains-and-other-adventures-story-quilts-by-rumi-obrien/.

Next week: part 2 of the Sister City Challenge!

 

Over the years I’ve participated in many Round Robin exchanges in the guilds I’ve belonged to: “Add a Border”, “Row by Row”, and “Around the Square”, just to name a few. Probably the most unique one was held by the Milwaukee Art Quilters and it was called “Anything Goes”. I did a post about it way back in 2010, but I’ll be participating in a new Anything Goes challenge in a new Fiber Arts guild (more info to come 😉  ), and thought it was a good time to revisit this fun idea.

So, here are the rules: there are none! Each participant chooses a block, a hunk of fabric, a small failed project, a piece of fabric they’ve dyed or painted – anything goes. This item is placed in a paper bag with some symbol recognizable only to the owner (the owner is not revealed until the end of the rounds), and they are all thrown in a pile on the floor. Everyone picks a new bag, opens it, and pictures are taken for future reference. This works best if there are 4 or 5 in each group, so if you have more participants, divide into groups first.

Oh – I forgot to mention, there is one rule – you can’t be upset by what you get back  😀 !

I began with 3 large, hexagon log cabin blocks from a failed 1995 workshop where the teacher discovered half way through that the blocks wouldn’t fit together and the class ended.

The fabrics were dated, and I had no idea what else to do with the blocks, so in the bag they went. The first person chopped up two of the blocks and sewed them back together into long strips (the next few pictures were made using Photoshop, because back then we didn’t take step-by-step pictures – they may not be perfect, but you get the idea).

The second person thread painted a peacock feather on a new piece of fabric, and bordered it with the pieced unit strip.

The third didn’t like it at all, so she chopped everything up again and added a bunch of stuff from her scrap bag. She then cut this new “fabric” into jigsaw puzzle shaped pieces and pinned them onto a piece of black fabric.

The fourth artist said she was at a loss for the first 29 days of the month. The last day she stared at it, and was so frustrated, she went out for ice cream. When she returned, she was inspired. She removed a few of the pieces and put a cherry on top!

This is how it was returned to me, so I put it in a dish and added the spoon.

The handle of the spoon sticks off the quilt and is supported by a dowel in a sleeve. The shape of the dish is the shape of the lower half of the quilt. I was very pleased and named it “Puzzling Spumoni”! All but one of the other pieces in the challenge turned out great. We each tried new techniques and grew as artists while having fun.

I highly recommend trying an Anything Goes challenge with your friends.

If you’d like to get in on the Anything Goes challenge I’m participating in, our new Milwaukee area fiber art group is called Thread Benders and we will be meeting the third Wednesday in September in Brookfield. Email me for more information!