SAQA Auction Part 3

"Midsummer Moon Dance" by Mary Vinovskis is my most recent purchase in the SAQA on-line auction of 12" x 12" pieces.

Here is what Mary shares about her piece: "I'm just starting to make art quilts. In this little piece I wanted to use unusual (for me anyway) fabrics to create my imaginary garden scene. I pictured an adobe wall with some sky above it, strong shadows on it and plants in front of it. At the same time I was focusing on the composition: trying to balance color placement, value, etc. The butterflies were the only way I could see to get some blue into the center of the design. The small scale was also a challenge, especially in deciding how to finish the edge -- my usual 1/4 inch binding cut off too much of the picture so I tried my first couched yarn finish."

I am thrilled with my newest piece.

SAQA Auction Part 2

This wonderful piece is the newest in my growing collection of small works. I puchased it from the SAQA on-line auction. Part 3 started today. Check out the auction at www.saqa.com.

This piece is called Beautiful Garden by Terri Stegmiller. She has many delightful pieces for sale. Check out Terri's website by clicking here. Be sure to visit her gallery, blog and see what is for sale.

This picture is posted with her permission.

Studio Art Quilt Associates Auction Success

Memoirs of a Geisha, made by one of my heroes Louisa L. Smith, now belongs to me. I purchased this beautiful piece in the on-line auction to raise money to support the mission of Studio Art Quilt Associates (SAQA).

And here's an update on the November Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative on-line auction. My piece Blessed Are the Caregivers, shown in my previous post, was sold to SusieQ. SusieQ has informed me that she will donate my piece to the Alzheimer's center where her step dad is currently living and receiving care. I can't think of a better place for it to be displayed. I huge thanks to SusieQ for bidding on my piece.

Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative November Auction

Today begins the November Auction for the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative Priority Quilts. This month is a special auction for pieces that relate to Alzheimer's.

My piece, Blessed Are the Caregivers, is #2391.

Please help make a difference in fighting this devasting disease and get involved by bidding on one of these pieces.

Click HERE to go to the auction page to see all the quilts.

Braving the Elements

I belong to an on-line quilt group called Quilt Art. It's an amazing resource for quilt artists. Thanks to the efforts of Linda Teddlie Minton and G. Armour Van Horn we have an exhibit of the Journal Quilts that were not selected for the Houston IQF show. This on-line exhibit is called Braving the Elements.

My Journal Quilt called Fire Dance is included.

It is worth the time to see this breathtaking virtual exhibit. Enjoy!

Healing Quilts For Unversity of Michigan

Last week I traveled to Ann Arbor to deliver seventeen art quilts to the University of Michigan. Twelve in the collection are for the cancer wing and will be hung for patients and their families to enjoy. The subjects are plants and animals used in chemotherapies. To see all the quilts, check out our website at http://www.fiberartists-looseends.com/.

Two of the quilts are based on images from U of M scientists who share their interesting work through an innovative art form called Bio-Artography. Artists Annabel Ebersole and Judy Busby made these two pieces.


Bio-artography Image by Rebecca Bernados


Bio-artography Image by Maria Morell

I want to thank all the Fiber Artists who helped created this wonderful collection of healing quilts. It was an honor and privilege to deliver them to the University of Michigan Health Care Gifts of Art program.

World's Alzheimer's Day

September 21st is World's Alzheimer's Day.

The Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative is sponsoring the Purple Patch to honor and remember those that have this devastating disease. Learn more about how you can help by visiting http://www.alzquilts.org/.

My purple patch is in honor of my sister-in-law Susan's step father. Susan travels frequently from her home in Colorado to help her mom in Florida.

Vintage Revisited - Block Six: Mary's Heroes

I completed my last of the Vintage Revisited block challenges. This one was based on a grandmother's flower garden block. I used all the left over pieces to make the border trim. Mary Kerr is the creator, visionary and curator of this amazing project. I wanted to thank her in some way for inviting me to participate so I made this last piece for her. These photos are some of her favorite people. You can check out this inspiring project by visiting the Vintage Revisited page on Mary's website.

Journal Quilt Project II: Elements

I submitted this piece called Fire Dance to the Quilt Art Journal Project II: Elements (Earth, Water, Air, Fire) exhibit. It was not selected to travel with the exhibit. This piece is special to me because I made it while visiting Vikki Pignatelli for 4 wonderful days last July. I was learning and experimenting with her techniques for improvisational design and curved piecing. The border/binding is pleated and has little contrasting flaps sewn in. It has a lot of texture and is 3-D.

My intepretation of the Elements theme: Fire Dance shows the spirit of God in waves of energy, moving over the earth during creation. In the earth’s initial stages, God’s spirit, represented by fire (coral), the waters and air (teal), and the earth (black) are all inter-mingled while the spirit creates their form and they become distinct entities.

Teaching in California

While I was in California I had the opportunity to teach a Praise Quilt Workshop. Fourteen women from different churches in the Morro Bay area attended. I taught an abbreviated version of my Lazy Landscape class and demonstrated how I do Thread Paint Lettering and raw-edge applique. I thoroughly enjoyed connecting with women whom all share a calling to make banners for their churches. Here are two pieces.

The first piece is by Donna Ross and was made for Pentecost.

This next piece is by Judie Kirkhart and is a gift for a family member.

Thank you to Loisann Cass for thinking of this workshop and organizing it. And thank you to the Calvary Luthern Church for hosting the event.

Hoffman Challenge 2008

I learned from my friend Suzanne Kistler that my Hoffman Challenge quilt "Global Balance" was selected for the traveling show in collection QC-A. I am thrilled that it was selected. It's my first time entry.

I am also happy to be back home in Virginia. We enjoyed six wonderful weeks at our summer house in California. However, the only contact to the outside world is through a dial-up connection. While it is nice to have no TV, no cell phone, etc., I do miss my computer and high speed Internet. Mostly, it's wonderful to be so remote. The evenings are spent playing games and talking. My favorite evening was when the guys had a BBQ cook-off and the kids put on a talent show called "International Idol".

Brehm Coalition Quilt

I have completed this new quilt called Connecting the Dots of Type I Diabetes Research. It will be donated to the University of Michigan Brehm Center for Type I Diabetes Research and Analysis. The piece shows funky dotted portraits of ten top scientists from around the country that are a part of the Brehm Coalition and are committed to collaboration on finding a cure for the devastating disease. Also shown in this quilt are Bill and Dee Brehm who created the vision for this initiative. And a guest appearance in the quilt is Paul Lichter who heads the Kellogg Eye Center and co-houses the Brehm Center at the University of Michigan. Can you figure out who is who?

Canna Flower

This is my newest quilt called Canna. I tried a new technique using Photoshop to manipulate the photo and then printed it on fabric.
The inspiration photo was taken by Craig Cramer and was used with his permission. You can check out his blog at www.remarc.com/craig/. During the course of our discussion, he posted a blog about my work. You can read his entry by clicking here.

This quilt will be donated to the University of Michigan Hospital cancer wing. For you alert readers you will notice that I abandoned my project from Asilomar. I was not happy with the applique.

April Trip to California

I am home from a wonderful trip to California. I visited our lovely summer home and was amazed by all the wild flowers in bloom on our property. Here you can see the poppies in the background. Also in bloom was the ice plant.

While in California I attended the Empty Spools Seminar at Asilomar. I took a class with Jan Krentz and worked on my canna flower quilt for the University of Michigan Hospital cancer wing.

Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival

I have returned from my trip to Hampton to attend the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival. I had two quilts: San Diego and Follow Me in the juried show. It was quite a thrill and I was happy they were hung side-by-side. Also Mary Kerr's Vintage Revisted challenge debuted. It was very well received by the public. I had four pieces in this exhibit. Visit Mary's website to learn more about Vintage Revisited and to see pictures of the show.

Identity Crisis

My Fiber Artists group has created an exhibit called Identity Crisis which will debut at the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival in Hampton, VA, Feb 21-24, 2008. Each quilt measures 18" x 60" and has an accompanying artist statement that explains the crisis.

My quilt is called Googlegänger (Portrait of Lisa Ellis of LisaEllisMusic.com)

My Artist Statement: I am a computer geek and I spend lots of time on the Internet. I obsess over tweaking my website and those websites that I manage. My goal is to get my sites to the top of Google results without paying for keywords. And like most Internet junkies I Google my own name. It’s sometimes called ‘ego surfing’. Well, I like to think it’s more like business research rather than vanity. So anyway, I have a fairly common name. Lisa Ellis. When it’s Googled, Lisa Ellis generates 1,810,000 hits. A Googlegänger is someone that shares your name that you find in Google. So what’s my identity crisis? I want my website to be at the top!

Who is at the top of Google results? The Lisa Ellis from lisaellismusic.com. So this quilt is of her. (She gave me permission to use her portrait for this project). It was fun talking to her. She is quite the rocker and totally different from me. She’s cool; I am not. And, she has the number one spot on Google.

Praise Wall Update

Since the installation of the Praise Wall at my church in October 2007, dozens of heartful praises have been offered. Here is an updated picture of how the Praise Wall reminds us to enter His gates with Thanksgiving as we prepare our hearts for worship in the sanctuary.

Epiphany's Mission

I belong to a wonderful church called Church of the Epiphany in Herndon, VA. We live by our mission statement which is:

"To stand for Jesus Christ, grow together as God's family and make Him known through the power of the Holy Spirit."

I made this new quilt to hang somewhere in our building. My hope is that it will help us to remember and inscribe on our hearts and minds what we are called to do within the body of our church.