Holy Moley Exhibition and Celebration

And the winners are.....

Pat Pauly, challenge organizer extraordinaire, arranged for the participants to have a catered dinner with a private viewing of all the mola quilts and the announcements of the awards.

Pat talked about her quilt, which won the Viewer's Choice vote and was given a beautiful mola donated by Priscilla.

My quilt to the left was the "Winning Mola" (!!) and I won a free dinner.


Bev Kondolf talked about her quilt. Priscilla's quilt is to the left, and Ren's is to the right.












Liz Coccuzi described making her blue mola quilt. Linda Bachman's quilt is to the left, and Pat Berardi's is to the right. Pat's quilt won an Honorable Mention.












My apologies to Jeanne Simpson for her blurry picture. The quilts behind her (from the left) were made by Val Schultz, Beth Brandkamp (who also won an Honorable Mention), Jeanne Simpson, and Barb Seils.

For pictures of each quilt, see Priscilla's blog http://www.priscillakibbee.blogspot.com/

Holy Moley Mola Challenge

Pat Pauly issued a mola challenge over the summer and 19 of us signed up. The rules specified that we design a quilt that was inspired by a mola that we had purchased from Priscilla. The mola could not be used as part of the quilt and had to be kept so it could be shown with the quilt.



Nancy Kelly, who was manager of the Memorial Art Gallery's Gallery Store for more than 25 years, was charged with the task of selecting the quilt that best reflected using a mola for inspiration in a contemporary fiber art work.



Here's the progression of the building of my quilt, starting with the mola I selected.

I decided to concentrate on the "U" or "C" shapes and to make the shapes in different colors and sizes.




I wanted the quilt to have ascending and descending columns and some additional spots of color on the sides.











And here's the finished quilt. It was machine quilted with invisible thread in a "burst" pattern.

Update on Compositional Conversations

Three more stages of the Compositional Conversations project have been completed, and it's fascinating to see each artist's voice expressed in the piece, as well as to read about their processes.

See Terry's blog for the details on the construction of each piece www.studio24-7.blogspot.com .

This is Stage 11 by Valerie Goodwin. Note that the piece told Valerie that her name was Mary.

Stage 12 by Kathy Loomis

Stage 13 by Leslie Joan Riley

Good Bye Florida

We are selling our Miami townhouse. Marcia and sister-in-law, Doreen (pictured), flew down last weekend to close up and make necessary arrangements, requiring phone calls and personal contacts. Doreen is the serious sun-lover, so of course, would be on the phone outside!









The two-bedroom, two-bath unit is in a retirement community, where all the single-story buildings contain 4 apartments and are surrounded by a lot of green space. It is 15 miles south of the city, and we started using it in 1979.

Doreen and brother Jim created the attractive flower garden in front of the sun porch windows.







Some items were selected to be sent North, including "Grandpa's bike" which will be passed on to Doreen's son for its sentimental value.












Other items were boxed and placed together for pickup and shipping by a transit company. Some interior furnishings were gifted to a neighbor, and our realtor took some things for distribution to area needy families. If you are in the market for a warm weather condo, give us a call!

Quilt Club Meeting

The November meeting of the Genesee Valley Quilt Club had its usual great Show and Tell of member quilts.

I'm sorry I didn't record the names of all the quilt makers, but here are a few pictures:

This is a raffle quilt being offered by Compeer.

This is a new quilt by Julie Brandon.

The pattern for this quilt is by Nancy Murty.

Quilt Club Speaker

Our guest speaker for the November meeting was Paula Schultz, who owns a fabric store in the central part of NY near Oneida, "Cottons, Etc." Paula is a wearables artist, and she showed us several of her garments.

Our large meeting room was filled with members, so volunteers brought the outfits through the audience so we could get an up-close view.






This is our friend, Nancy Hicks, modeling Paula's coat and showing the matching vest.




Nancy showing the back of the coat.













Diane Jessop modeling one of Paula's vests.

Jacket Days - 3

In addition to jacket making, there was some final work being done on our "mola" quilts. We're involved in a "mola challenge" that is due by November 15. The dinner and awards ceremony is November 20, so there will be a report following that event.





Since I had a lot to do to finish my mola quilt, I concentrated on that and didn't get to start a new jacket.

I can at least show you the mola I chose as my inspiration piece for my mola quilt.







Priscilla and Genie are consulting on Genie's work.









I'm not sure if Beth and Priscilla were considering the progress of their work on their design walls or taking a break!

Jacket Days - 2

Beth is putting together her turquoise fabrics for her jacket.

On the right you can see Genie Barnes, who joined us for jacket making. She's working on the butterfly vest pattern.












Genie brought several ethnic fabrics with her that she got from Priscilla, and started putting some of them together to create fabric for the back of her vest.










Beth got a lot done for the back of her jacket, including a nice strip of seminole piecing. It sure looks like she'll be the first one to complete the current "turquoise" challenge!














Priscilla worked on creating fabrics for a new jacket that she started at a recent retreat. While it includes some turquoise fabric, we're don't think it qualifies for the turquoise challenge....

Jacket Days - 1

Priscilla and Beth and I got together with the plan that we would work on more jackets -- specifically, our "orange" jackets were to be completed and a new challenge for "turquoise" jackets was issued.












Beth showed us the piece she has been working hard on, and that's almost done, that features her lillies. It includes several of her hand-dyed fabrics, along with some commercial cottons.





Priscilla brought her completed orange jacket that I got to model for her. It includes lots of wonderful fabrics that she has striped and pieced, as well as bands of seminole piecing.












The back of her jacket features a beautiful embroidered Chinese flower collar.

Around the farm

Our friend, Monica, stopped by to pick up some hay. She and her partner, Mark, raise beef cattle and are getting several of their stock ready for market.








We currently have no resident horses, and the hay is better used for current needs than sitting in our empty horse barn. The pickup truck nicely carries the 25+ bales for transport.









Inspector Suki is adjusting to her cool weather routines. The wool shelf rests on a window ledge and sits above a heat run -- it's a favorite spot for winter naps!















The old faithful Christmas cactus plants welcome the holiday season. Like merchandising advertising, these plants seem to blossom earlier every year.

More from Schweinfurth

Another picture from the Quilts=Art=Quilts exhibit at the Schweinfurth Memorial Art Center:

I'm pleased that my quilt (on the right) is hanging next to the quilt that won the First Prize Award.

This is "Chutes & Ladders" by our friend, Leslie Riley, from Skoki, IL, and is made from hand-dyed and commercial cotton fabrics.

Quilts=Art=Quilts

Schweinfurth Memorial Art Center's 29th annual juried quilt exhibit opened October 31st and will run through January 10, 2010. The Center is in Auburn, NY, which is close by, so several of us from this area attended the opening.

Photography is not allowed, but I did get to have my picture taken with my quilt that is in the exhibit. (And I got to wear my shaman's coat that Priscilla brought back from her trip to South Asia.)







This quilt was submitted by our friend, Terry Jarrad Dimond -- "Wrestling Jacob's Angel." It is the winner of the Schweinfurth Award for Design Excellence.

To see several views of the exhibit, use the following link:

http://www.schweinfurthartcenter.org/exhibits/current.html