Its in the details

This past weekend I spent a very stormy day helping judge the needlework section at the local fair. I was not judging quilts, and let me share with you an insight. No matter what the specific category, finishing details that are well attended to, and good presentation matter. No yarn or thread ends hanging loose, make joins or stops and starts as invisible as possible, and please be sure that there are no pins left in, pet hair, or odors. As a judge facing the need to choose a first place ribbon from a category of up to 20 or more entries, any of the things mentioned above can remove the piece from ribbon contention almost immediately, especially in a show that is weighted to the technical side of things. In an Art Show, a hanging thread on the back may not cause elimination if the aesthetic is strong, but at a traditional quilt show, or the fair, work those ends in and make them disappear.

Having said that, the work submitted was generally really stunning. If you can, go check it out at the fair, or after the fair, The Village Fabric Shoppe will have its annual "Get a Closer Look" show for anyone who had work entered and would like to display it. There is a viewers choice award this year, so check it all out.

Current projects

On the Quilt art list Jamie Fingal regularly asks, So what are you doing Art Quilt wise. I have a few things going. I am doing applique for the medallion on the Bicentennial 2012 Quilt for Red Hook. It is coming out nicely.

I am also working on a small landscape quilt based on photographs my sister took of Laguna Beach, while she was on her honeymoon. I was just going to use it as an example for the local landscapes workshop I am teaching, but in the process I found a totally perfect fabric that I had hand painted that IS sun on the water as in the photo so perfectly I can't believe it. Now I need to take this piece all the way to done. I will give it to my sister when it is done.

I am also designing a quilt called Beautiful Valley that will be the Block of the Month at the shop. It has a dozen motif blocks with images of flora and fauna that are significant to the Hudson Valley. They are based on my drawings, colored with Inktense pencils and enhanced with hand embroidery. They are separated by Mountain Star, a string pieced block that forms a wonderful framework that blends into the colorings of the swag border. I have done several of the drawings and written the instructions for the Mountain star block. I have also worked a few samples in the alternate colorway to be sure that my instructions make sense. The hardest part of this process is the writing. It is a hard balance between enough instruction to make it work well and so much instruction that it appears too complicated. I would dearly love to have the full quilt ready to show at the First Dutchess Quilt Show this Columbus Day weekend.

New quilt design

I have been busy with the Red Hook Bicentennial Quilt project and haven't been able to do much else. I am working on a repair job for a customer and that too has taken much time. The new design for the Black of the Month is coming along, I do have an even dozen natural resources or significant wildlife chosen now so I can begin to get the drawings done. Just finding the time to do them may be a challenge, but I have gotten re-inspired in the last few days so I hope it will move along now. I would love to have the top ready in my booth at the guild show in October. If I stop typing and get to it, it could happen.