Blogger’s Quilt Festival :: Fall 2012

It's that time again, it's time for the Blogger's Quilt Festival!!!  It's a quilt festival online for showing off all our great quilts.  What a fun way to go to a quilt show, in your jammies if you want.  We all link to a post about our quilt on Amy's blog.  Our post is to tell the story behind the quilt.  There are prizes too, but to me it's being able to share my work with a broader range of quilters.  Here's my entry for this festival:  It is machine pieced, hand appliqued and hand quilted. It measures 52" x 52". I would feature it in either Wall Quilts or Art Quilts.

                                               "Mother's Day Off"

Several years ago I was attending a lecture given by a quilt curator from the local museum.  The lecturer was lecturing on what an art quilt was.  She made several references to applique quilts not being "Art".  As an applique artist I took offense to these remarks.  I vowed to make her eat her words.  Now, I don't know if she ever saw my work or ate her words.  I just feel good that I feel I accomplished my goal. 

"Mother's Day Off"  is the third in a series of art quilts based on mothers.  This quilt is 95% dyed and over dyed fabrics.  I was in the middle of designing this quilt when, Adriene Buffington, writer of "Hand Dyed Fabric Made Easy" called and asked me if I could rethink my quilt and use mostly hand dyed fabrics. We were both in a quilt group that traveled to each others studios and helped with works in progress.  They had just been to my studio and I had shared this quilt idea and plan with them.  Adriene was in the middle of writing her book and was looking for hand dyed fabrics made into quilts to fill her book. All quilts being featured in her book had to be 95% hand dyed. The funny part of this story is that I told her I didn't think I could do it.  After thinking it over I decided it would just add a new challenge.  I love challenges!!!!   This quilt did make the final cut and was featured in Adriene's book.  

The lady featured in the quilt is my interpretation of a photo I took in downtown Denver.  She was sitting in the park with a bottle of beer.  Somehow I left out the beer. This was not intentional.  At this time in my life I and my shutter bug friend went to downtown Denver almost every Saturday to take pictures of the characters  there.  After a few months we realized we had become two of those characters.  I now live in Arizona and there is not a great place like Denver for taking pictures of strangers.

This quilt was also featured in "Quilt Art Engagement Calendar '98".  One of the ladies that curates this calendar saw my quilt in a show and contacted me about featuring it in the calendar.  I jumped at the chance. 

Thank you for stopping by;

Marjory