Scottish Thistle

Scottish Thistle

This is the revised edition of "Scottish Thistle". It hung in the Chandler Art Quilts XIV last fall and when I looked at it in the gallery, I felt the composition wasn't strong enough so I added more paint and more mulberry paper to it. This is the piece that is going to Quilts=Art=Quilts at the Schweinfurth Memorial Art Center in Auburn, NY.

I'm going to the show and will be taking a class from Terry Jarrard-Dimond the 3 days surrounding the opening. It's going to be a great experience. I've appreciated her strong compositions and great use of color since I saw her "The Big Red Dog". You can learn about her on her wonderful blog "Terry Jarrard-Dimond Studio 24/7".

More later…

Well, I haven't posted anything since last year when my techie Granddaughter helped me set up my blog. I'm anxious to start sharing struggles, successes and new quilting experiences with anyone interested… I've had an amazing month entering quilt shows and getting back my accept/decline letters. I entered 5 pieces in 4 shows and have received 4 "accept" letters. I'm still waiting for one to come back. It's a BIG one so don't have expectations of good news, but you never know.

Entering shows is a way of pushing myself to do as well on a piece as I can. If I'm going to enter a piece in a show it has to meet my own criteria first, and then I hope the judge's as well. The information coming back from the show is really helpful. The judges at quilt shows write short critiques, stating good things and bad things about the piece. They are usually trained in judging, although some of the shows use the teachers as judges. Whichever is the case, the information can be helpful. One piece I entered came back with a common "thread issues on the back" comment. They were right. I may have had some thread incompatability and the top tension may have been a little off. Unfortunately, you can't see what Is happening as you are stitching! I always do a test piece of the exact fabric/batting sandwich and thread, quilting as I will on the piece. It's a great way to get the free motion part of my brain activated and ready to play. If the tension is okay I proceed with quilting. If not I make adjustments to the top tension until it is right. Well, in the case of the one that came back with the "tension issues" comment, I planned to enter it in another show so I painted the back with acrylic paint! No more thread issues and it won my first national ribbon!

I'm going to make a small quilt in the next couple of days to send to the Quilts=Art=Quilts Small Quilts Raffle to be held in conjunction with the show Oct. 30 thru Jan.9 in Auburn NY. One of my "accept" letters informed me my piece "Scottish Thistle" is being included in the show. I can't tell you how excited I was to get that letter! I'll show you my progress on the small piece and the final piece before I send it out next week.

I'm off to teach Jigsaw Puzzle Landscape this afternoon…

More later.