Quilt Exhibit at Sewing Expo

Today I attended the Original Sewing & Quilt Expo held in Fredericksburg, VA.  My friend Kathy accompanied me; she had not been to this particular show before, so it was interesting to have a "newbie's" perspective.  I usually go with Elizabeth, but she had another commitment today.  When you go to a show with someone who has similar interests, you tend to gravitate to the same vendors and perhaps overlook some others.  If your friend has somewhat different interests, you may discover new things, so there are advantages to both scenarios.  Kathy was surprised at the number of machine embroidery vendors at this show - there were quite a few.  Also, there were lots of machine vendors, both domestic/embroidery machines and long arms.  And the usual fabric, thread, and art quilt suppliers.

Over the years I have attended, this show has gradually been increasing the size of its quilt exhibit.  There were several traveling exhibits that make the rounds of Sew Expos in various locations around the US, and I thoroughly enjoyed them.  My favorite was an exhibit by Studio Art Quilt Associates, called "Deux", in which quilters shared their artistic point of view through 2 art quilts that were displayed side by side.  Here are 2 pieces by Frieda Anderson.

There was also a very interesting exhibit from the Chicago Modern Quilt Guild in which each artist selected a piece of artwork as inspiration, and then traded with another member of the group who made a quilt to interpret that person's inspirational art. 

The descriptions included a picture of the original inspiration artwork, so you could see what the maker used as inspiration.

Another group of quilts was donated to the Quilt Alliance and will be auctioned after touring, several by nationally known quilters.  The first below is by Jamie Fingal; the 3rd is by Lisa Ellis.  I didn't get a name on the middle one, but like the lively colors and movement.

This last is one of my favorites.  This was another group of SAQA quilts, from the Georgia/South Carolina region.

It was an enjoyable (though tiring) day viewing the quilts and shopping at the vendors.  Also chatted with quilting friends from other areas, so that was a nice bonus.

Customer Work - Screen Printing Pottery

This past Sunday I had an order for some custom screens - nothing unusual about that, but the intended use was something new.  Michelle Reents is a potter, and wanted to try a technique she had just seen on the web - using a thermofax screen to apply designs on ceramics.  I watched the video myself, just to have a better understanding of the process, and was intrigued.  Of course, I made the screens and sent them off to Michelle, along with some tips for prep and care of the screens that weren't  mentioned in the video.  She received the screens today, got right to work and sent me an email with a link to her blog post with pictures of the printed pottery!

You can read more on her Reents Pottery blog post here.  She has several more steps to get to the finished product, and I look forward to seeing them finished!  Thanks for sharing, Michelle.

So, there you have another surface that thermofax screens can be used on, in addition to fabric and paper.  Hmm....this may get me thinking about other possibilities!  Are there other surfaces you have tried printing on?  I would love to hear your comments!

Fall Special - PG Fiber2Art on Etsy!

Are you ready to do some printing?  Maybe work on some fall projects or something for the upcoming holidays? Now's the time to Fall into Printing with PG Fiber2Art!  Starting today, Oct. 1, for the month of October, I am running a special in the Etsy shop.  Buy any 2 screens, and you will get a 3rd small screen FREE!  In order to use the special, you will need to select your 3 screens and add them to your cart.  Use the coupon code OCTOBER at check out, and the $4.00 cost of the free small screen will be deducted from your total.  There are 12 small screens in the shop to choose from.  The other 2 screens can be any size screen of your choice, including custom screens.  As noted in Friday's post, 5 new screens were added to the shop last week.

And here's our new shop banner - isn't it cool?  Those are screen printed hand-dyed scarves in the background.

If you are in the Washington, DC/ Northern VA/ Maryland area and want to learn more about thermofax screen printing, Elizabeth & I will be teaching our Printing with Thermofax Screens class at Artistic Artifacts on Oct. 19, from 10 AM to 3:30 PM.  Join us to get some hands-on practice with printing under the guidance of experienced teachers.   You also will have plenty of time to print your own fabric - create small pieces or print yardage, or both!  The choice is yours.  We have lots of screens for you to use, more than are available in the Etsy shop.  Additionally, in November we will be teaching Turn Your Photos into Thermofax Screens, which teaches you to use Photoshop to turn your own original photos into black and white images that can be made into screens.  Make your quilts and art truly your own by using your own images.  Hope to see you soon!  Below are some pics from our class last spring.  Oh, and don't forget to like our page on Facebook!

Quilt Documentation at Virginia Historical Society

I spent Saturday in Richmond, VA at the Virginia Historical Society to help with a quilt documentation day, co-sponsored by the Virginia Consortium of Quilters and the Virginia Quilt Museum.  We are hosting documentation days around the state to gather information about quilts and their makers in the state of Virginia, and to build a database of that information which will be housed at the museum and available for future research on textile history, genealogy and material culture.

It was a very busy day!  Documentation began at 10 AM; it was scheduled to end at 4 PM, but people were still patiently waiting with their quilts so it was 6:00 by the time we finished.  I spent the first part of the day helping with photography - that was a great job because I got to see every quilt during that part of the day.

 

I didn't get to take many pictures, though, because the day was so busy.  Quilts ranged from pre-Civil War to late 20th century.  Quilt owners could bring up to 3 quilts.  These pictures show the documentation teams at work and the owners patiently waiting for their turn.

I spent the afternoon learning to look carefully at a quilt to document its fabrics, patterns, methods of construction, time period, batting, backing, quilting, and anything else you might think of to identify.  It was quite an educational and fascinating process!  And many of the quilts were spectacular, despite the effects of time and wear on the fabrics.

Above is one I helped document, notable for its "cheddar" yellow fabric that is typically 1850's time period.  I took 3 family quilts along to document, but didn't get a chance to do them.  There will be more dates in October, November, January and February.  I'll share some pictures in another post.  All in all, a tiring but very worthwhile day.

 

New Screens in PG Fiber2Art Etsy shop

Five new thermofax screens were recently added to the Etsy shop; 2 are flower sets which give you the same flower in 3 different sizes, the other 3 are graphic designs.  Here's one of the flower sets, and what it looks like printed:

 

This is called Autumn Mum, converted to a screen image from a photograph; the flowers are 3", 4" and 6".  Cool, huh?

One of the graphic designs is "ricing" elongated shapes that resemble grains of rice.  This design was hand drawn and then digitized.  Here it was used on a scarf in 3 different colors of paint and discharge product.

Head on over to the shop and check out these and the other designs.  If you haven't tried screen printing, Elizabeth & I will be teaching a thermofax printing class Oct. 19 at Artistic Artifacts in Alexandria. You can read all about it and register here.

Sacred Threads Quilts 2013

Back in July I was fortunate to visit a quilt exhibit held locally but with participants from all over the US.  Held every 2 years, the Sacred Threads exhibit features art quilts that seek to touch the viewer on a spiritual and personal level.   Quilts fit the themes of joy, spirituality, inspiration, grief, healing and peace/brotherhood.  The maze-like layout of the show with music quietly playing in the background make it easy to lose yourself in the spirituality, beauty and excellence of the quilts.  Here are a few of my favorites - just a very small sampling of the amazing work by incredible quilt artists.

Seneca Rocks and Blackwater Falls

Wow, I can't believe I actually have not posted since I came home from New Hampshire!   I have been a little busy, finishing up my last month of work before retirement, preparing for the VCQ meeting last weekend, and going on a few motorcycle rides with my husband.   Soon I'll be able to fit more consistent posts into the schedule - 10 more working days to go! In the meantime, here are a few pictures from our ride to West Virginia this weekend.

 Riding out 211 through Virginia on the way to cross the Blue Ridge.  We rode west past Luray to 340 south, took that to 33 west through Harrisonburg, and across the Alleghenies into West Virginia.

 The Alleghenies are some BIG mountains.  Beautiful scenery, some of the roads a little scary but I made it.  Of course, I'm riding on the back, not driving, so I can choose not to look if I want!  Above and below are taken at a roadside overlook of the Germany Valley along 33 in WVA.

 We followed Route 33 to Seneca Rocks and further on our way to Blackwater Falls State Park.

 Below is Seneca Rocks.

 We rode through the Canaan Valley to get to Blackwater Falls.  It's kind of funny to think of it as a valley - its really a high plateau - but I guess when you consider the mountains around it, its still a valley.

 Only 1 of our group went all the way down to the lowest viewing platform.

 Here's the group - minus me, of course.

Then we road along the crest of Mt. Storm, circling back around to spend the night in Moorefield. We were lucky enough to have good weather Saturday, it was really cool for August.  Of course the rain came overnight and we rode all the way back in rain, but fortunately the route back was much shorter and the rain steady but not drenching.  Rain suits kept us mostly dry.