Kristin Shields Quiltmaker

QuiltCon :: The Epilogue

While thinking about what to blog about after all the QuiltCon posts, today I received my quilts back from QuiltCon.  So here's the epilogue with judges' notes.  I've only seen one other blogger's post about their judges' comments, but I found it very interesting so I hope more people will share.  If you know of any out there, post a link in the comments.

Firstly, the quilts were very nicely packed and included the commemorative program from the International Quilt Festival in Houston.  Las Ventanas went straight from Houston to Austin, so this is the first I've seen of the program. It's really lovely to see your name there!

Secondly, they arrived with the information cards they were displayed with.  Nice to keep in my files.  There was also a note about future calls for quilts.  Quilts juried into the Modern Quilt Guild Showcase at Houston this year will also be automatically juried into next year's QuiltCon (just as last year).  Also, entries for QuiltCon Pasadena next year will open July1st and they will likely be adding some new categories and based on feedback, tweaking parts of the judging process.

So, what about the judges' comments?  I was interested to read them.  They were very constructive, but also encouraging and detailed.  I think this was the most useful feedback I've ever gotten and spot on except for one thing which I'll mention below.  I"ll show the photos that were used for quilt submission along with the comments.

Here are the Judging Considerations (straight from the comment sheet):

Design

• elements of modern aesthetic
• visual impact
• use of balance
• use of color
• use of contrast/value
• fabric choices
• innovation/creativity

Workmanship:

• overall construction
• piecing
• binding

Quilting:

• execution
• thread choice
• complements the piecing/applique design

Category Specific- Use of Negative Space:

• innovation/creativity

Category Specific- Improvisation:

• innovation/creativity
• execution

Love in the Digital Age
Category:  Use of Negative Space- Quilt design incorporates a creative or significant use of negative space which is integrated into and/or organizes the composition of the quilt.

Comments:

• wide variety of white and beige fabrics give texture to background
• good use of negative space
• nice variety in red tones, well placed
• well-titled piece (This is my favorite comment.  Chloe would love that since she came up with the title!)

The Power of Three
Category:  Piecing- Quilts that are machine pieced and reflect a particularly strong or innovative use of piecing.

Comments:

• great graphic design that makes use of variety of character and shape as well as play on scale and texture
• direction of points lead eye through the quilt in a fun way
• excellent binding choice
• design decision for how to quilt relates to and supports pieced design, however, it could have been executed better with lighter thread choices and better travel (I totally agree)
• shadowing of red fabric is distracting (also agree on this- and guess what, I now press most of my seams open for this very reason)

 

Las Ventanas
Category:  Improvisation- Quilt is pieced improvisationally (without the use of a defined pattern or templates)

Comments:

• fabrics are very interesting
• good use of color
• good exploration of a theme
• quilting design is effective
• thread color is distracting (This is the one I find curious, as I've had numerous people tell me that they liked the variety in thread for the quilting.  I have a feeling this is pretty subjective.)

Well, that's it for now.  New work coming up soon!

QuiltCon :: 7

This is the last QuiltCon post.  It's all about the one class that I took on the last day of the conference:  15 Minutes of Play with Victoria Findlay Wolfe.  Lastly are some shots out and about in Austin.  Enjoy!

15 Minutes of Play with Victoria Findlay Wolfe

 Victoria's class was lots of fun and it was very nice to finally meet her!  She did a mini trunk show to start, including this polyester patchwork vest.

 Double Edged Love
Best in Show, QuiltCon 2013

 Most of these quilts are in Victoria's second book, Double Wedding Rings: Traditions Made Modern

She did several demos.  The fabric was flying!

I went to class with no clear idea of what I'd do, but as soon as she showed how to use the Dresden Plate template I got an idea.  I "made" some fabric.

Then I cut it with the template and did the fancy (actually super easy) trick to make the points.

I got half the wedges sewn together in class, but I have a plan for the rest.  Will show it when I get a chance to try out my plan!

Out and About in Austin
Instagramming about Town!

It was good to get back home to blue skies and beautiful mountains!  I had a fantastic trip to Austin for QuiltCon and I hope I'll do it again someday.  In the meantime, I have my hotel reserved for Pasadena next year!

QuiltCon 2015 :: 6

On Friday of QuiltCon I was in Bill Volckening's tour of the special exhibits.  It was nice to get Bill's perspective about these quilts and also his personal stories.  Bill is a quilt collector and maker from Portland, OR.  He is also known as a Quilt Magnet and Sniper.  Don't try to compete against him in an eBay auction!  His exhibit of 1970's quilts was quite stunning!

First up is the Gee's Bend exhibit, then the Modern Materials exhibit.  Remember, these are all clickable to see more detail.  Also, remember this is my take on the show and I don't have photos of every quilt.  Please alert me if you notice that I've made a mistake on the attributions.  Enjoy!

Gee's Bend Quilt Exhibit

Railroad Crossing
China Pettway

 Railroad Crossing detail

Devil's Walking Stick
Mary Margret Pettway

Housetop with Center Stripes
Lola Pettway

Lazy Gal Bars
Lucy Lee Pettway-Witherspoon

Corduroy Mix #02
Qunnie Pettway

Brick Layer Corduroy
Nancy Pettway

Housetop Variation
Nancy Pettway

Royal Stack
Mary Margret Pettway

Untitled
Unknown Maker

Housetop Red and Turquoise
Ruth Kennedy

 The Gee's Bend exhibit was beautifully laid out with this viewing area for the Why Quilts Matter episode on the Gee's Bend Quilters.  

Gee's Bend Keynote

The Keynote was on Saturday and was as inspirational as you can imagine.  The four Gee's Bend quilters on the panel are Mary Ann Pettway, Lucy Witherspoon, China Pettway, and Gloria Hoppins.  They sang for us and spoke about their experiences in Gee's Bend, before and after being "discovered" by the greater art world.  They also spoke about the Gee's Bend Collective.  Mary Ann showed some new work that is pretty exciting.  I am looking forward to seeing some of these ladies again in July at the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show!

PS- I can't find any evidence of a Gee's Bend Collective website, but did find this charming blog post by Kate Spain who visited there in 2013.

 

 Modern Materials: Quilts of the 1970's
From the Collection of Bill Volckening

Grandmother's Fans
Polyester
Unknown Maker, Texas

Bill's tour was insightful and full of interesting stories.  His collection of 1970's quilts is colorful, sometimes wacky, sometimes elegant and always entertaining.  If you have a chance to see these quilts, don't miss them!  Many are made with double knit polyester, some are made from cotton.

Pinwheels
Polyester
Unknown Maker, Texas

On right: Snowball Variant
Polyester
Unknown Maker, Ohio

 

Crazy Quilt (aka The Roswell Quilt)
Polyester
Unknown Maker, New Mexico

Woven Pattern
Polyester
Unknown Maker, Georgia

 

Over the Rainbow
Cotton
Unknown Maker
United States

Log Cabin Medallion
Cotton
Unknown Maker
Washington

Continental United States Map
Polyester
Unknown Maker
United States

 

Tile Blocks
Polyester
Unknown Maker
Louisiana

Hexagon Diamonds
Polyester
Unknown Maker
Oregon

Thirty-Six Patch
Polyester
Unknown Maker
Texas

QuiltCon 2015 :: 5

Today's post is all about Improv!  Hurray, my favorite category in the whole show deserves a post all to itself.  There were lots of improv quilts in the other categories, but this was the highlight for me.  For those who don't know, the categories were decided by the QuiltCon folks.  So, one would submit quilts and not know what category they'd end up in.  It made it a bit like a treasure hunt to go looking for your quilt.

Remember, these are all clickable to see more detail.  Also, remember this is my take on the show and I don't have photos of every quilt.  Please alert me if you notice that I've made a mistake on the attributions.  Enjoy!

Improvisation

The Rabbit Hole
Nydia Kehnle
Individual Member, New York
1st Place Improvisation

The Rabbit Hole detailThe Rabbit Hole detail

For Tanya
Emily Coffey
Asheville MQG (North Carolina)
Judge's Choice

 Face #1
Melissa Averinos
Individual Member, Massachusetts
Judge's Choice

Fade Into Gray
Stephanie Ruyle
Individual Member, Colorado

Tuning Fork #13
Heather Pregger
Fort Worth MQG

Rainbow Remix
Rebecca Bryan
Houston MQG

Primary
Elisa Albury
Salt Lake MQG

Abyuna Al Minya
Patricia Lutteral
Individual Member, Argentina

Las Ventanas
Kristin Shields
Central Oregon MQG

Wild Geese
Penny Gold

In Anniston
Chawne Kimber
Individual Member, Pennsylvannia

In Anniston detail (teeny tiny red square!)

Entropy
Elisa Albury
Salt Lake MQG

Lite Brite
Maria Shell
Individual Member, Alaska

Shifting Impressions
Marianne Haak
Edmonton MQG

Score for Modern Block Improv: Flying Geese
Sherri Lynn Wood
Individual Member, California

Score for Modern Block Improv: Flying Geese detail

Score for Modern Block Improv: Flying Geese detail

Bird's Eye View
Nathalie Bearden
Individual Member, Texas

QuiltCon 2015 :: 4

Today's post concentrates on two categories:  Use of Negative Space and Piecing.  Remember, these are all clickable to see more detail.  Also, remember this is my take on the show and I don't have photos of every quilt.  Please alert me if you notice that I've made a mistake on the attributions.  Enjoy!

Use of Negative Space

Letting Go
Andrew Steinbrecher
Individual Member, Ohio

Read Between the Lines
Stephanie Ruyle
Individual Member, Colorado
3rd Place Use of Negative Space

 

Read Between the Lines detail

Cycles 2
Leanne Chahley
Edmonton MQG

 

Peek
Melanie Tuazon
North Jersey MQG

The Definition of Stitch
Sarah Fielke
Australia

 

My Way
Pamela Rocco
South Bay Area MQG (California)

Tuning Fork #12
Heather Pregger
Fort Worth MQG

Smithereens
Emily Cier
Seattle MQG

Score for Strings: City
Sherri Lynn Wood
Individual Member, California

 

Quilt for Our Bed
Laura Hartrich
Chicago MQG
People's Choice Award

Love in the Digital Age
Kristin Shields
Central Oregon MQG

PIecing

Holy Sh*t Sherlock
Kristy Daum
St Louis MQG

Fractal Kaleidoscope
Katie Larson
Kansas City MQG

 

 Off Kilter
Melissa Corry
Individual Member, Utah

City Center
Angie Henderson
St Louis MQG

Annie Albers' Orange Chair
Martha Peterson
Seattle MQG

Triangles Quilt
Tara Faughnan
Individual Member, California

 

Cascade Quilt
Kristi Schroeder
Individual Member, Texas

 

Welcome to Colorful Colorado
Katie Larson
Kansas City MQG

 

Flight Path
Mary Menzer
Virginia Beach MQG

The Power of Three
Kristin Shields
Central Oregon MQG

QuiltCon 2015 :: 3

Hello!  Today's post includes quilts from four categories:  Handwork, Small Quilts, Group or Bee Quilts, and Minimalist Design.  Remember, these are all clickable to see more detail.  Also, remember this is my take on the show and I don't have photos of every quilt.  Please alert me if you notice that I've made a mistake on the attributions.  Enjoy!

Handwork

Bias Petal Play
Marion Shimoda
Portland MQG

As I said in the last post, Marion was my traveling partner.  This quilt was made as a test sample for The Improv Handbook for Modern Quilters by Sherri Lynn Wood.  Marion's quilt made it into the book too!  It was listed as not for sale at QuiltCon, but someone really wanted it and Marion did end up selling it.  Congratulations Marion!

Sunset Waves
Laura Hartrich
Chicago MQG

Sunset Waves detail

Syncopation Quilt
Jean Cockburn
Individual Member, British Columbia

Improv Log Cabin
Tara Faughnan
Individual Member, Oakland, California

Small Quilts

What's the Frequency, Love?
Sheri Cifaldi-Morrill
Southern Connecticut MQG
1st Place Small Quilts

In Wedowee
Chawne Kimber
Individual Member, Pennsylvannia
2nd Place Small Quilts

In Wedowee was a quilt that I couldn't wait to see in person.  I've been following Chawne's blog and Instagram for quite a while.  I was also hoping to meet her in person, but was so sad when she was too sick to make the trip.  This quilt got my vote for People's Choice.  Of course, I love the improv piecing, but it's even more special for the incredible hand quilting!  Congratulations Chawne!

 

In Wedowee detail

In Wedowee detail

Curious
Amy Friend
Seacoast MQG (Massachusetts)
3rd Place Small Quilts

One Third Street Neighborhood
Amy Stevenson
Ann Arbor MQG

I Like BIG Blocks and I Cannot Lie
Allison Chambers
San Antonio MQG

Group or Bee Quilts

Playing with Little Bits
Rose Daley, Anna Levengood, Jill Stafford, Jessica Skultety, Jessica Levitt, Robin Tillsworth, Rachel Singh, and Elizabeth Timmons
Participants of Mid-Atlantic MQG 2014
1st Place Group or Bee Quilts

  Churn Dash 2: Complementary
Martha Peterson, Deborah Ferguson, and Chandra Wu
Seattle MQG
Second place Group or Bee Quilts

  Lowcountry
Phoebe Harrell, Alice Anthony, Catherine Beemer, Geri Smith, Jackie Boyd, Kelly Biskopink, Keri Davidson, Kim McPeake, Linda Ambrose, Lynn Crymes, Tamie Herin, Whitner Kane, and Sandy Goodwin
Charleston MQG

Minimalist Design

 Stereo
Season Evans
Seattle MQG

 

Breathe
Leanne Chahley
Edmonton MQG
1st Place Minimalist Design

QuiltCon 2015 :: 2

Today's post goes onto the quilt show floor at QuiltCon 2015.  I'll start with the major winners (Congratulations to all!), then show some scenes around the show, then onto the categories: Spring Cotton Couture Fabric Challenge, Modern Traditionalism, Applique, and the Bias Tape Quilting Challenge.  Remember, these are all clickable to see more detail.  Also, remember this is my take on the show and I don't have photos of every quilt.  Please alert me if you notice that I've made a mistake on the attributions.  Enjoy!

The Winners

i Quilt (front)
Kathy York
Austin MQG
Best in Show

i Quilt (back)
Kathy York
Austin MQG
Best in Show

Coral Reef
Marla Varner
Bainbridge Island MQG (Washington)
Quilting Excellence Award

Diving Geese
Pieced by Katie Pedeson, Quilted by Krista Withers
Seattle MQG
Best Machine Quilting

Eames Blocks
Designed by Lorena Maranon, Individual Member, 
Pieced by Jen Carlton Bailly, Portland MQG
Quilted by Gina Pina, Austin MQG
Giveaway Quilt (raffled off)

The Show Floor

Upon entering the show floor, there was the Modern Quilt Guild information table, then around the back of it, there was this wall that anyone could write on.  By the end it was pretty well covered.

Below are scenes from the show floor.  The show was very nicely hung, with plenty of space even for the busiest day which was Saturday.  I never had trouble getting a clear shot of a quilt even though I didn't have my wide angle lens.  Sometimes you had to wait a minute or two, but that was about it.  

My only complaint about the way the quilts were hung was that if there were 2 or more quilts on a panel, the signs for each were clumped together in no particular order. You had to read very carefully to figure out which sign went with which quilt.  I would prefer to have the signs to the side of each quilt.  I talked to others who felt the same.

Spring Cotton Couture Fabric Challenge
This is the Michael Miller Fabric Challenge where participants could use mainly solids from the Spring Cotton Couture Pastel line.

The New New
Amy Anderson
Asheville, MQG (North Carolina)

Lucky Day
Cynthia Frenette
Fraser Valley MQG (British Columbia)

Modern Traditionalism

Sunset
Corinne Sovey
Austin MQG

Grand Pineapple- Dichotomy
Allison Lee
Triangle MQG (North Carolina)

Half Square Triangles
Tara Faughnan
Individual Member, Oakland, California

Applique

Bowls and Balls #2
Rachel Kerley
Portland MQG

Hometown Quilt
Gina Pina
Austin MQG

Such a clever quilt!  Here are a couple of detail shots.

Self Study #4 (The One for T)

Chawne Kimber
Individual Member, Pennsylvannia

Bias Tape Quilting Challenge

CPU
Katherine Jones
Tasmania MQG (Australia)
1st Place Bias Tape Quilting Challenge

Friends

I didn't do a great job of getting people shots, except for the photo with my Central Oregon peeps and these two with Marion Shimoda (above), my traveling buddy and Maria Shell (below).  I've been following Maria's blog for a while now.  They each had a quilt in the show and I'll show those when I get to the pertinent category.  Marion and I are great traveling companions and it was all due to her that I even decided to go.  I'm so happy I did!  

I had planned to have lunch with Maria on Thursday, but we kept bumping into her, so spent time with her every day and even discovered my seat on the plane back to Seattle was right across the aisle from her.  Isn't it great to finally meet someone that you've only known online and find out you click in real life too?

Seen in the vendor hall.

It turns out it takes quite a bit of time to put together these posts.  I'll be doing more soon, but I'm also prepping a Powerpoint presentation for my guild on the 9th and have some other deadlines coming up.  I will try to get to these posts soon.  In the meantime, there are loads of other bloggers posting about QuiltCon, including Maria (Tales of a Stitcher).

QuiltCon 2015 :: 1

QuiltCon 2015 in Austin, Texas was a blast!  It was a very busy 4 days for the show and one extra day of shopping in Austin.  My plan for reporting on this trip is to go in mostly chronological order and grouping photos in a way that makes sense to me.  All of the photos for these posts will be clickable if you want to see more detail.  Also, my photos don't represent the whole show (how could they?), but they are a taste of what appealed to me at the time.  

Above is my official PDX selfie.  I'm glad I got there before the carpet disappears.  I left Bend on Wednesday morning and flew through Portland and Seattle to Austin.  Along the way I met up with my travel buddy, Marion.  There were also 5 others from the Central Oregon Modern Quilt Guild who traveled to Austin. Thursday morning dawned beautifully. Unfortunately, this was the last we saw of the sun.  The rest of the days in Austin were very grey.  Our hotel room (Hyatt Place) looked out over the convention center and faced east to the rising sun.

We got to our hotel at 7 pm on Wednesday night, too late to register.  So on Thursday morning we waited in a rather long line while some computer issues were worked out.  We got our name tags and a huge goody bag!

The first event on our schedule was the MQG Awards Ceremony.  The ballroom was surrounded by many of the QuiltCon charity quilts, made from MQG's around the world.  There were more in the other ballroom too.

Unfortunately, the convention center did not have the lecture set up finished and the ceremony started about 45 minutes late.  When it did start, Jacquie Gering had no sound system and the power point didn't start working until nearly the end.  That was very disappointing, but I mostly felt bad for the winners who really didn't get their due.  Below, Jacquie shows everyone how to do the "matchstick quilting" dance.

This is our Central Oregon Modern Quilt Guild charity quilt.  We did liberated houses in this alternate grid format.  All the COMQG peeps who made it to the show are in the photo above: Susan, Kayla, Christy, Lindsey, me and Erin!The charity quilts were really wonderful.  Unfortunately, they weren't labeled with the guild name, so I don't know which guilds made which.  Next time I'll be showing quilts from the Quilt Show floor!  Enjoy!

The Wayward Jungle Crow

The Wayward Jungle Crow
2015
23 x 27
Hand dyed fabric and thread, commercial fabric, vintage linens, old wool shirt, machine pieced, hand appliqued, hand embroidered, hand and machine quilted.
Inspired by A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki.

I've posted lots of closeups so you can see the stitching.  My hand embroidery includes a lot of backstitching.  I did fly stitch on the tail.  

The bird includes and is surrounded by spirals.  The spirals represent the Pacific gyres that are talked about quite a bit in the book, plus they are fun to do!

The fabrics include several vintage linens, including the edge of a fine linen tablecloth (above) that was overdyed in indigo and walnut.  I laid the whole piece over the darker blue you can see below, and tacked the whole edge down.  I employed Jude Hill's invisible basting stitch quite a bit on this piece, so occasionally you'll see tiny stitches that show through.  On the right is the piece of a heavy linen table cloth that was overdyed in indigo.  I left the fringe hanging down.

The top piece is from an old Pendleton wool shirt gifted to me by a friend.  I machine quilted spirals and stars into it, then went over the stars with some embroidery thread and a backstitch to create the white star outlines.

The stars in the middle are created with liberated piecing.  I tried a lot of stitching here that I learned from Jude Hill.  The satin stitched points, satin stitched star and black and white star tails are all ideas from Jude.  

This piece was really fun to do.  I decided to bite the bullet and machine quilt it last weekend.  Good choice, actually, cause I had no idea I'd have the flu by Tuesday.  I've been very sick all week.  Both of the guys caught it too, so we've laid low all week and I haven't done any sewing at all.  I am resting a lot and trying to get healthy before I leave for QuiltCon on Wednesday.  I'm a whole lot better, but still get pretty tired.  I am glad this one is done though.  I have a few more finishes to show (small things), but don't know if I'll get to them before I leave.  In the meantime, I have started something for another challenge.  You can see photos of that in my Instagram feed.

If you are also traveling to QuiltCon say hello!  I will be Instagramming while I'm in Austin, but won't do blog posts until I get back.  I am taking my big camera though, so I hope to get some great photos to share!

Celia's Raven

Celia's Raven
2015
43 x 46
Inspired by The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

Celia's Raven is done over 6 months early!  I am so excited about that.  No more sweating the summer over a book quilt.  Anyway, I love how the raven came out though it's hard to see the stitching unless you are in the right light.

I chose to keep the machine quilting fairly simple.  I added some lines of stitch to represent the face, but didn't try to add anything for an eye, for instance.The other quilting really doesn't show too much with so much pattern going on.  

The back is also simple, but I followed my rule about making the back fun and indicative of what's on the front.  I bought that circus tent fabric just especially for the back of this quilt and I was pleasantly surprised to find the raven fabric in the stash.  

I don't normally show my labels, but I did here because I wanted to show the book quote that inspired this quilt.  "In the blink of an eye folds of silk are glossy black feathers, and it is impossible to pinpoint the moment when it is fully raven and no longer cloth".