Reflections of Tao Ribbons at MQX East!

Yes, I have been away from blogging for a while — no better time to restart than with happy news to share!

My silver quilt ‘Reflections of Tao’ is at MQX East in Manchester, New Hampshire.  The show is open from Thursday 4/10 to Saturday 4/12, and there are hundreds of amazing quilts on display and lots of fantastic vendors — be sure to visit if you can.

I attended the awards ceremony and was excited to find out that Reflections of Tao won first place in the category of small wholecloth quilts.

I was stunned and thrilled when Reflections of Tao also won Best Machine Quilting of the ‘Sit Down’ quilted quilts.   This little quilt is 24″ square  – I think the signage and ribbons are almost as big as the quilt!

You have to see this quilt in person to appreciate the subtleties and shading created by the many different colors of silk thread I used.   I also used trapunto to create more dimension in the major motifs.

The wholecloth quilts are hanging in the Armory at the Radisson – you’ll see the Expo Center when you first arrive, but the Armory is the smaller, cozy exhibit and vendor hall on the other side of the hotel area.  I hope to see you there!

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Newsflash! Five Bar Blues is a Winner at the Houston International Quilt Festival!

The Awards ceremony was last night and my quilt Five Bar Blues won 2nd place in the Merit Machine Quilting category at the Houston International Quilt Festival!! I am honored and thrilled!

The show opens tonight and I am looking forward to seeing all the quilts and quilters visiting Houston. Please stop by to say hi if you are in Houston – I will be here through the end of the day Friday.

If you aren’t in Houston (or even if you are) pick up a copy of the newest issue of the International Quiltfestival Quit Scene Magazine.

There is a great photo on page 25 of Five Bar Blues!

I will post again as soon as I can. When I leave Houston I am traveling straight to Manchester, NH to A Quilters Gathering for Saturday and Sunday. I have two new quilts on display in the judged show at the Gathering. One is brand new, just finished Saturday night!

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Reflections of Tao – NEQM Silver Threads Entry

It has been too long since I have written!

I finished my silver silk wall hanging for the Lowell Quilt Festival in August.  I promised a photo of the finished quilt, so here it is…

I used many different colors of silk thread to make the silver silk sateen top look iridescent, especially in the densely quilted area outside the feather border.  I used trapunto in the center chinese character, ‘tao’ (meaning the path, or the way) and in the feather border.  I’ll post some more photos soon!

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Sewing on silver silk and the NEQM Silver Threads Quilt Challenge

I finally finished binding my feather plume sample from the February FMQ Challenge tutorial by Diane Gaudynski.  (I highly recommend you read through Diane’s tutorial at least once – it is packed with excellent instruction and advice on free motion quilting.) I call the sampler ‘Rogue Feathers’ –  my friend Jenny named the little feathers at the bottom ‘rogue feathers’, surrounding the circle.  I quilted the feathers there because I couldn’t bear echo quilting any more!  I am pleased with my little silver sampler.

One of the reasons I love this fabric is the way it subtly changes to the shade of the silk thread used for free motion quilting.  I’m having trouble showing this in photographs,  so here’s another view that shows the color changes in a different light.

(I haven’t stopped participating in SewCalGal‘s 2012 FMQ Challenge -just running late with my posts.  Look for a new blog entry before the end of the month with my July challenge entry! In case you haven’t followed SewCalGal’s blog recently, she generously featured my quilt Five Bar Blues earlier this month in a post about the Road to California quilt show.  )

2012 is the 25th anniversary of the New England Quilt Museum and in honor of this silver anniversary the Museum has issued a ‘Silver Threads Quilt Challenge’.  The challenge is to create a quilt inspired by the word ‘silver’, and I had a project in mind using this beautiful silver fabric before I discovered the challenge.

Here is a sneak peek at the wall hanging … not surprisingly, it has feathers…

I just finished machine quilting my silver-inspired quilt, so it is ready to be blocked, bound, and finished.   The bright blue is from the water soluble blue marker that I use to mark my quilts (the blue markings are already gone since the quilt’s first immersion today in clean, cool water.)  The quilts will be on display at a special exhibit at the 2012 Lowell Quilt Festival from August 9-11.

From another perspective you can see my signature as well as my favorite circle-spirals.

Want to see the finished quilt?  Mark your calendar to visit the Lowell Quilt Festival, Thursday August 9 – Saturday August 11.  Visit the Lowell Quilt Festival website for more information about activities, lectures, and exhibits.

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Five Bar Blues News! …. Houston … Paducah Show Catalog…

IQA notified the finalists selected for the 2012 “Quilts: A World of Beauty” judged show in Houston yesterday and Five Bar Blues is going to the Houston International Quilt Festival this year!  Although it’s always tough to pack and ship any quilt (it feels like I am giving my quilt away to the shipping company) — I’m always very excited to have the opportunity to show my quilts, especially outside of the New England area.

This is the second year the Houston Quilt Festival judged show will include one of my quilts in the exhibit.   Last year, my miniature quilt Square In Square I was a finalist in the IQA Houston show and won 3rd place in the miniature category!

Square in Square I has traveled to the 2012 spring and summer IQA venues as part of the IQA special exhibit “Quilts: A World of Beauty 2011“.  Next week is the last stop for this exhibit at the  International Quilt Festival in Long Beach, from July 27-29, 2012.  If you are going to the Long Beach show, check out this special exhibit and look for Square in Square I  (it is only 14″ square!).

More Five Bar Blues News…..
Did you see Five Bar Blues on the cover of the 2012 Paducah Show Catalog??

Since the AQS Paducah show was in April, I’m afraid this news is “better late than never”…

(In my defense….) I did not know in advance that the America Quilter’s Society planned to use a photograph of Five Bar Blues on the cover of the 2012 Paducah Show Catalog,  and  didn’t find out until a few weeks after the show was over.  When a dedicated fan and friend emailed to congratulate me after she saw that Five Bar Blues was ‘all over’ the Paducah catalog…. I had no idea what she was referring to!  I finally saw a copy of the catalog and understood her excitement.

In addition to the cover, images of Five Bar Blues are on every page in the catalog.   Yes – the AQS icon sits nicely centered inside one of the feathered wreaths from the border of Five Bar Blues.

The 2012 AQS Paducah catalog is available for sale from AQS here and (also, of course) has photographs of all the stunning quilts entered in the 2012 AQS Paducah quilt show.  Check it out!

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Machine Quilting workshops at A Quilters’ Sampler!

 I am working on the class sample for my new machine quilting workshop “Celtic Spirals, Circles, and Swirls”.   This is one of the four mini-workshops I will be teaching at A Quilters’ Sampler™, in  Nashua, NH on May 10 and 11.

I’m am offering four different machine quilting workshops at A Quilters Sampler™.  Each of these mini-workshops is an introduction to a different set of free motion quilting techniques — for your home sewing machine, of course!

Trapunto by Machine

Celtic Spirals, Circles, and Swirls

(NEW Workshop!!)

Elegant Quilted Backgrounds: Classic Designs for Your Quilt

Fabulous Free Motion Fills

You can register for more than one workshop – I’ll be teaching different techniques in each class, and you’ll have a more time to machine quilt!  I am not scheduling any more workshops this spring, so if you have asked about taking a class from me, I encourage you to sign up for one of my machine quilting workshops at A Quilters’ Sampler™.

The Eastcoast Quilters’ Alliance 3, LLC, the same folks who bring us The Quilters’ Gathering™ to New England every November, are sponsoring this quilting event.   A Quilters’ Sampler™ offers three-hour mini-classes, luncheon lectures, May Market for shopping, and a ticket to one of the local quilt guild shows or Museum exhibits.  Check it out – there is still time to register for classes!

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MQX East Awards Ceremony and Sneak Peek!

We drove down to Providence to attend the Awards Ceremony yesterday afternoon, and were able to take a ‘Sneak Peek’ at the show, special exhibits, and vendors.   What a great show – if you can get to Providence by Saturday April 14,  go to MQX East!

Five Bar Blues won 3rd place in the Large Wall Quilts – Traditional category!

I was thrilled my quilt was honored – this category is full of stunning quilts by talented quilters.

The exhibit was hung so that the backs of all the award-winning quilts – and many others, as well, were open and visible as we walked through the exhibit.  Sometimes you couldn’t tell the back from the front – and because of the remarkable machine quilting, many of the backs of the quilts were at least as beautiful as the front of the quilt.  I have not attended a quilt show hung this way before and it was a treat to be able to easily see both sides the quilts.

The full list of MQX East 2012 award winners is available on the MQX website.  For a sneak peek at the show, MQX also has live webcams on the MQX show floor!

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Returned from NQA: Two Quilts, Two Ribbons, Two Second Places!!

Each of my quilts returned from the NQA Show in Columbus with its own ribbon!  Square in Square I won second place in the Miniature category, and Five Bar Blues won second place in the “Small Quilt, Pieced” category.  The judges comments on my quilts – which I am always very interested in – were very thoughtful and comprehensive,  and they were even typed!

I am especially pleased that my miniature was honored with an award in this show.  It is the first award in a ‘Miniature’ category that Square in Square I has received.

(DH called “2 quilts, 2 ribbons, 2 2nds” a “triple double” …  a sports acronym … basketball?)

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Quilts on the road again… to the NQA show in Columbus

 

 

My quilts had barely returned home from Paducah before I packed them up again to send to the National Quilting Association (NQA) show which ran last week, from June 16 – June 18.  Both Five Bar Blues (small pieced) and Square in Square I (miniature) were on display at the show last week in Columbus, Ohio.

 

Did anyone see them on display at the NQA show?  I wasn’t able to travel to see the show.

 

 

I don’t think I am ever going to get used to shipping my quilts, but it was a little easier this time.

 

 

 

 

Now I’m looking forward to their return home!

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More of my favorite things … from the AQS Show in Paducah

I spent 40 very full hours in Paducah on Wednesday and Thursday, April 27 & 28.  I wish I could have stayed longer — there were so many places to visit, quilts to see, and wonderful quilters to meet.  I’m looking forward to returning for a more leisurely trip this fall.

I didn’t have very much time to shop while I was at the show.  Much to my husband’s dismay, I did manage to get not one, but two bags from Paducah (thank you RaNae!) with the AQS 2011 logo.  (He has been calling me a ‘bag lady’ for many years now and I suppose I do have plenty of bags… but … each one is unique, and bags from this show are really special!)

As I practically ran through the vendors, I noticed there were many vendors in Paducah that I have not seen at any of the New England shows.  I took a special trip to visit the Cherrywood booth to look at (and touch) their beautiful hand dyed fabric in person.  It was difficult to tear myself away, and I couldn’t decide what to buy so, very uncharacteristically, I bought nothing.  (I reassured myself that mail order is only a click away…)

One of my favorite finds was a lovely beaded badge holder (aka eyeglass holder) from Quilted in Clay.  Isn’t this a prettier way to wear your badge than wearing one of those grey elastic bands around your neck?  I really love it and am trying to figure out how I can wear it when I am not at a quilt show.



Of course, I picked up the show catalog and CD with photos of all the quilts.  Good thing, too, since I didn’t have a chance to see all the quilts … many too many quilts, all too beautiful and deserving of lingering at each…. and not enough time.  Unfortunately, I also got this at the show…

Yes, that’s my hand — my finger that had a run-in with the trunk of my rental car.  Lots of wonderful and skilled folks took care of me at the show as well as that evening before I returned home, and I was back on my feet within a short time.  When I saw my doctor on Friday, I discovered that the finger was fractured too.  Ouch!!  But no worries – it is expected to heal with no problems, and it is better now (10 days later).

So these are a few of my favorite things from the Paducah show this year:
Five Bar Blues with its ribbon for the Brother Wall Machine Workmanship Award
Scott Gramza from the Brother Corporation, AQS Sponsor of the award
Me with my new badge holder
Hiding my bandaged finger behind my back!

Scott Gramza, Brother Corp. AQS Sponsor, and Diane Loomis with her winning quilt Five Bar Blues

©2011 Diane Loomis All Rights Reserved

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