In Stitches

It's always wonderful to share art with a buddy and high school friend Chris appreciates an artist's labor and love of craft as much as I.

We wisely used our Saturday afternoon to attend the 46th Annual NQA Quilt Show 2015 down by the riverside in Statehouse Convention Center in Little Rock, Arkansas. And boy did we get our money's worth in eye candy!

A rainbow of colors filled the once boring hall space. There were all sizes of quilts- large, medium and small in categories of Pieced, Appliquéd, Mixed Technique, Duet, Pictorial, Naturescape, Art/ Innovative, Scrap, Group, Chapter Row, Modern and Other.

Four special exhibits were our first stop. 





The Hoffman Challenge: A  U.S. traveling exhibit to shows, seminars, and quilt shops. Hundreds of participants rise to this challenge.





Route 66: 56 quilts of famous landmarks along the 8 state highway.  Picture below are a couple of my favorites.

50 Shades of Gray: Neutral grays were used in the quilt's design  

Rainbow's Edge: Gold Coast quilters Guild challenged the utili-zation12"x12" squares were on a black panel using 2/5 assigned colors with different techniques.

There were so many gorgeous labor intensive quilts in this juried art show. I have included some of my favorites below:

One Cake , Two Cake, Red Cake , Blue Cake
 450 knotted loops added to binding for a festive effect

Digitally enhanced sunflower

Authentic Turkish designs

Hanging Gardens, 4 quilt shops in 4 states gave participants
4- 2 1/2" strips for their quilts

"My Version of a Persian," entirely hand made and of silk

'Cat Crazy,' hand dyed wool as well as commercial wool

miniature

Spool inspired design after visit to a quilt shop

Personally I'd take any of these... hey, it matches my skorts..

I didn't go home empty handed as the little star quilt below will go back with me to the End of the Rainbow Valley. Both Chris and I 'won' 12"X12" quilted squares in the silent auction which will always remind us of the special afternoon we spent enjoying beautiful quilts...

The Patchwork of Our Lives

Sometimes ideas take a while to come to fruition and so it was with a gift for my daughter that came to me as I was folding her gazillion t -shirts while I helped her unpack into her new home. All those t- shirts bonded her to her past which also made saying goodbye to them virtually impossible.  They took up a good 2 shelves of closet space. There was no way that she could ever wear them all. What to do, what to do?

Then I remembered hearing about people making t-shirt quilts and thought this would be one way for her to keep these  'cloth'  memories but to give them a new purpose... So she chose her favorite top 25 and they all got a new life as they were quilted into a queen size comforter the colors of her new home.

My intention was to give it to her in person at a family get together last month but that reunion didn't come to be so the quilt had to be entrusted to the mail. I was definitely a Nervous Nelly if it'd arrive even with insurance. AND how would I replace the t-shirts and the labor if it lost its way?

Well, it  did arrive and I felt really good to be able to witness its unveiling via SKYPE as it was opened and spread out across her living room over a 1000 miles away.




There amidst the design were memories of trips, camps, school years and her and her brother's bat/bar mitzvahs and post school adventures.

Included was a patch with her birthdate ... yes, this is a very special year for my first born-








AND 2 patches of

  all the places that she has lived...





Then she disappeared from the screen as she was on the floor  exploring the patches of her life and
all of a sudden she reappeared enveloped within the comforter ... What else could I do? I had to run get my camera to take a picture of my laptop screen...

 There before my eyes was a scene of long ago when I used to swaddle her as a baby... but now just a little older. Where did 30 years go?

May this labor of love keepsake give her 'comfort' and last a long, long time. For as the hand stitched patch in the middle of quilt says as we repeated many times over the years with each other :

Sending love from the End of the Rainbow Valley....