Iowa Trip Part 1

 

The trip to the AQS Des Moines QuiltWeek started early & dark but by the time I crossed the Mississippi, the day was bright & warming up.  And just in case I thought I was lost in the fog, this rest stop confirmed my location.

The downtown part of Des Moines where the show was had some great scenery though I didn't have a lot of time to explore.  That's the capitol in the distance.

And a look at a nearby bridge over the Des Moines River

 Love this sculpted fountain.

The show was at HyVee Hall at the Iowa Event Center located in the heart of downtown Des Moines, which was decked out, welcoming quilters to the city.

 

 

The facility is good but not quite as nice and open and light as the DeVos center in Grand Rapids.  However, the show sprawled on and on as over 1600 quilts were on exhibit.

 

Shameless plug - one of those quilts was mine.  Quietude was juried into the first ever Modern Quilt Challenge. And while it didn't win a prize, seeing it hung was a total rush!

 

There was so much to see and not a lot of time to see it all. Since I was in hyper-viewing mode, shopping was not a priority at this show - which goes against every fiber of my shopping maven being.  There's more to come so stay tuned!

 

Barn-ette Quilt Revisited and Here I Go Again

I have realized that all this road tripping is cutting into my quilting time - not that I am going to stop my mini trips anytime soon. Just an observation. I wonder if I can reallocate some cleaning time to quilting time...

 

Looking back over my recent posts, I discovered I never shared the barn-ette quilt installed in it's new home after the road trip to deliver it.  So I shamelessly borrowed the picture from Martha's site  Thistle Rose Weaving (check it out - her weaving is awesome) so I could post it here.

 

 

Copyright Thistle Rose Weaving 2013

Martha's Irish Chain variation barn-ette quilt

 

I think it looks good against the barn red barn, but I may be a tiny bit biased.  I still have to design & paint the one for the Michigan shed.  I do have a few ideas percolating on that one, just nothing on paper yet.

 

And YES, I am going on another whirlwind Road Trip this week.

 

I will be trekking west, over the Mississippi River, across the plains of Iowa to......Des Moines!!   I am fortunate to be able to head out to the AQS QuiltWeek in Des Moines to see my quilt hanging with 111 others in the first Modern Quilt Challenge.  I already packed spare camera batteries.

 

Departure is set for T minus 21 hours. 

 

YIKES!  I better go pack something!

 

SQUEEEE!!!! It's in...

My entry for the AQS Modern Quilt Challenge has been juried in!!! 

 

 I got the official notification letter via email yesterday.  My quilt will be joining 112 others hanging at AQS QuiltWeek Des Moines, October 2-5, 2013.  Not only will they be judged, a number of them will be selected to travel as an exhibit for a year.  I'm excited that I even made the cut!!

 

Why, you might ask  - not because I'm that good but because this was my first concentrated effort to do a 'Modern' on purpose. 

 

I'm a quilter, I do a wide range of styles.  I don't usually define myself with a particular group or trend.  I do traditional, traditional with a twist, art, contemporary, modern, pieced, applique, mixed, etc.  I use batiks, novelty prints, hand dyes, classical prints, civil war reproductions (this one is very new to me as part of a challenge), solids, florals, etc.  I design on graph paper with colored pencils.  I don't follow patterns as they can make me twitchy.  I have to do it 'my way' or 'make it better/me'. 

 

Oh now wait, I'm not saying that my way is better, as on occasion as a result of my decisions, I have ended up:

1. trying to re-invent the wheel which we all know is stupid, or

2. short of an impossible to find, out of print, desperately needed to finish this design fabric, or

3. tearing my hair out, muttering unprintable words causing DH, dogs and cats to nervously tiptoe around the house.

 

It's just the way my mind works. And believe me, it's pretty scary in there! Like right now, the design wall is blank,

 

 the 'Summer Stripes' blocks are hanging out in piles (and messy ones at that) on the cutting table. 

 

 Because I am struggling to get a layout that I like, because I couldn't just follow the inspiration quilt & I *had* to make over 200 blocks to do it my way.

 

I need to get back to the design wall later today.  I got myself into this mess and I'll have to arrange myself out of the mess and on to a quilt I like.

And I'm rambling, because it's Juried In and I can't help myself, so I think I'll go touch some fabric and try to calm down.
Besides, I need to make a hanging sleeve...

Home from AQS Grand Rapids

Made it home from Michigan okay - still not totally unpacked or decompressed yet. I attended the show on Wednesday & part of Thursday, as I needed to be back home by Friday late afternoon to meet obligations for the whole weekend (sit still? NEVER!!). The drive home had a few detours along the way - but that's another post.

 

The show was amazing!!  Go to the AQS website to view the winning quilts and check out AQS on Facebook for multiple show related posts including the Zumba flash mob.

 

While there were many things to do & see at the show (and don't forget it was also Restaurant Week in Grand Rapids), my most favorite thing was seeing the Egyptian Tentmakers return again in person.  Watching Tarek & Hosam stitch is simply mesmerizing!  These two men are warm & gracious, quite comfortable at being stared at for hours on end, for several days running.  And the exhibit of the Tentmakers work (Khayamiya) was beautiful.  I am grateful to the AQS for bringing their work to America.  The true highlight of seeing the Tentamkers was my opportunity to sit and actually stitch on Hosam's piece as he watched.  He said my stitches were good but, of course I couldn't even come close to matching his speed!

AQS is the exclusive representative of the Tentmakers work here in the United States and has a beautiful selection of their work available for purchase on their website.  They also have 2 books and a DVD available.

 

 

 

QuiltWeek in Grand Rapids is a great show to attend. They offer a wide range of classes and lectures, as well as hundreds of vendors of every size, shape & products. The DeVos Convention Center is conveniently located a few blocks off Interstate 196, with parking right underground. The facility is large, well laid out, bright and has numerous restrooms (that were constantly attended to & spotless). The AQS hangs a variety of quilt exhibits, not just the competition quilts.  This year they had exhibits of  the Miniature Collection from the National Quilt Museum, Applique Artistry by Patricia Campbell, The Silk Road Tour Exhibit, and AQS Authors' Exhibit, to name just a few.  The entire show was very inspiring.  Next year, AQS QuiltWeek - Grand Rapids will be held August 20-23, 2014.

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the Road to AQS Quilt Week Grand Rapids!

Yesterday was departure day for my trip to American Quilt Society's Quilt Week in Grand Rapids, Michigan.  A total of 227 miles to Grand Rapids, 121 miles down - 106 miles to go. And that will make it a very early morning tomorrow if I want to get there before the 9 am opening, which of course I do!

Today, in exchange for my overnight way stop I have some lawn mowing & yard work to do. And then there's some quilt designing, a book to read, a glass of wine, some hand piecing I brought along and a dvd or two to keep me company.  The hand piecing project has been ongoing, or more accurately off and on-going for a few years. It's a project I started while my husband was hospitalized for hip surgery. That turned in to 6 surgeries in 26 months time. I would carry it along to hosopital, dr. appts., therapies sessions & occasional car rides.  Wil made the leather pouch that I carry it in, which protects the sharp pointy bits and fits into my backpack.

The fabric came from a five fabric fat quarter bundle of the blues & fairy frost white  - I added the purple for a bit of spark - from Emmatown Fabrics in Emma, Indiana. It's a neat little Amish general store that carries a bit of everything from clocks to thread.  They have a large selection of polyester fabrics for clothing and a nice selection of cottons for quilting.  I've since purchased more yardage of the fabrics as I wasn't orginally sure what it was going to be.  I decided - what the heck, let's make a full size quilt out of only 5 (then 6) fabrics, hand piece & hand quilt it and make it out of 2" cut squares so they finish out at an inch and a half.  It alternately goes fast and slow and sometimes grinds to a halt for a bit. I'm only carrying some of the project with me - there is a stack of 16 patches at home.

I also need to do some color matching for my next barn quilt - well, really a shed quilt. Once I match the current shed color to a paint sample I can build my palette. Here's the shed - just standing there waiting for some embellishment.

In between projects...

Well, here I am - in between projects and so I decided it was a fine time to start a blog. We'll see.

It has been a rather hectic 2 week stretch. The deadline for the AQS Modern Quilt Challenge was yesterday, August 2nd, I think by 5 p.m. Central Time.  I made it with about 4 hours to spare.

Nothing like seeing the challenge notice, hemming and hawing about it, finding perfect fabric at the IQF at Rosemont in late June, thinking about it, doodling around with the colored pencils and graph paper, thinking some more about it, finalizing the design, and then realizing I had 2 weeks to piece and quilt it. Oh and it turned out that my final design required more background fabric than I had and of course, it's hand dyed fabric and  just to prove I can be stubborn, I refused to resize the quilt smaller to make it work. AAACCKKK!!!

But with some luck (Thanks to Cherrywood Fabrics for some excellent customer service and fast shipping) and a very understanding husband, Quietude was completed and entered.  I'm please with it but of course there are a few things I would do differently - usually are - but overall it's okay.  The new background fabric is a few shades darker but the placement worked with the design. This is technically my first attempt at a 'Modern Quilt'.  For my next attempt I will be buying at least three yards of the neutral fabric...maybe four yards.