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.

Auction Has Ended at AmiSimms.com

I am very pleased that my two little quilts made over $200 for Alzheimer's research. Thank you to "Swede" and "VQQuilter" for bidding on my two pieces.

Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative

My two pieces, Wild Fires and Garden, are now up for auction on the Ami Simms site to raise money for Alzheimer's. Please consider supporting this fund raiser by bidding on any of the wonderful quilts for sale. Check out all the quilts by visiting the Alzheimer's Priority Quilts. This auction runs until December 7th.

Grandma Emma (1907-2007)

My Grandma Emma Soderquist turned 100 on October 18, 2007.
Our family gathered together to celebrate. The picture above shows four generations with my daughters, my mom, Emma and me.


Then Emma slipped away from us and on November 14th, she joined my Grandpa in paradise.

Jesus answered him, "I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise." Luke 23:43

2007 Journal Quilt of Sue Pel-Or of Israel

A fellow quilt artist from Israel created this beautiful piece. I had captured a picture at the show in Houston and read on the QuiltArt List about her desire for a picture. I contacted her and we agreed that I should post it here for all to enjoy. Contact Sue.

A Page from My Book: Journal Quilts 2007
Journal Quilt Project

Susan Pel-Or
Netanya
Israel

Spare That Tree

Creative Quilting techniques used
Scanned, photocopied and printed (p.16); Using my own digital photos printed on cotton heavily freemotion embroidered (p.23); Use of overwhelming black background to bring forward smaller picture (p.130)

I was devastated by the topping of the tree outside my workroom which was authorized by someone in our building in spite of the fact that the owners had voted against it. This tree provided shade, beauty and privacy.

I had to find trees in bloom to photograph but in fact I never found a tree that was as beautiful as ours had been. I had to print a photograph which I then reversed and printed again (on Extravorganza) so that it would be lighter than the stump which I photographed and printed on cotton. I scanned an actual flower and printed it in several sizes. I printed the branch section again on cotton and cut out individual branches to scatter around the base. I then fused my composition onto black cotton and used a variety of threads to freemotion on the different areas.

Because my sewing machine decided to go on strike, I used hand stitching far more than I had originally planned, but I feel it was a fortunate accident.

The journal quilts have enabled me to work more freely and have “given me permission” to incorporate any technique that works.

Journal Quilt 2007

A Page from My Book:
Journal Quilts 2007 – Journal Quilt Project

The TO-BE List (the anti-TO DO list).

Creative Quilting techniques used: “bubble-quilted” background (p. 14); raw-edge mounted (p. 101); portrait line drawing (p. 194)

April. My first ideas for my journal quilt focus on techniques I want to try. I am camping with my son’s Boy Scout crew in the beautiful mountains of West Virginia, sitting by a peaceful pond and reading the Creative Quilting Book. The portrait line drawing technique sparks my imagination and gives me an idea for my theme. Hmmm. I decide I’ll do a portrait of myself and then add embellishments that describe who I am.

May. I want to make that cool bubble-quilted background and just play. I need a break from my projects with close deadlines. Just sewing circles will be fun

June. I have started collecting images of things that represent my life. So far I have a computer (I’m a geek), a sewing machine (quilter), fleur-de-lis (Boy Scout leader), and a cross (faith). I need to find a way to represent my family.

September. Yikes! I am totally overwhelmed! I have been gone all summer and now I have all the kids’ school paperwork, Boy Scout meetings to plan, seven weeks of emails to answer, and five websites to be updated. I am drowning in my TO-DO list! I realize I need to regroup. It’s time for the TO-BE list!

I am not defined by what I do or what I get done. What’s most important everyday is to be the person I was created to be.

Now I know what I want to do with my journal quilt. I do not want this quilt to communicate what I DO, but who I want to BE. And I will start with “Be Still and Know that I Am.” (Psalm 46:10).

Here is a picture of me at the Houston, International Quilt Festival standing next to my Journal Quilt. Notice I am standing in the same position as my portrait. The lines on the face and my bangs are in the same position. That was unplanned and kind of amusing! Click on this link to view other Journal Quilts.

San Diego Fires

Like all of us, I have been deeply touched by the horrendous wild fires of last week in Southern California. My thoughts and prayers have been with all of those who have lost their homes, their pets, precious memories and, worst of all loved ones. I made this quilt over the weekend to mark the time lest we forget this tragedy.