2012 Whisper Quilts Revealed

The Whisper Challenge for our Northern California/Nevada SAQA group had their big reveal meeting of the finished quilts today. It’s always fun to see the directions the various participants went in. You can see all of the quilts on our regions blog.

Here is the starting photo (By Deb Cashatt) that was used for our latest SAQA Whisper Challenge. It shows a busy street corner in Hong Kong. The arched structure is a pedestrian walkway above the street.


I wasn’t sure I would like doing an architectural piece, but I ended up liking how it turned out. With so much going on in the quilt, I needed to decide which details I would focus on and which I would edit out. I ended up piecing together of vertical rectangles to suggest a city, and then I painted the arches on top.

See what others have been up to this week on Nina Marie's Off the Wall Friday. 

"This is a Quilt!"

“Arrowhead Marsh II” is destined for the SAQA trunk show titled “This is a Quilt!” It will be traveling to various SAQA events through 2012.

I have given away four of the bookmarks as gifts. These two are left. Leave a comment on this post or the last one to be entered in the drawing in a week or so.

More Arrowhead Quilts

Two more quilts are in progress inspired by this photo from the trail at Arrowhead Marsh.

These are less about the marsh grasses, and more about light on the water.

This small square is quilted and ready for painting. It is intended for a travelling SAQA exhibit.

A larger piece inspired by the same photo is also in progress.

Whisper Quilts Revealed

I went to the regional SAQA meeting Saturday in Elk Grove. The main feature was the revealing of the Whisper Quilt Challenge. I forgot to hand my camera over to someone when I was holding up the group of quilts I was in, but managed to get this snapshot of the quilts stacked on the table afterwards. I will talk a bit about the quilts shown here. I believe better photos of all of the quilts will soon be up on our SAQA blog. I will link there when they are up.

Four different groups all started with the same photo of a desert garden, and all went in four different directions.

Marjorie Johnson’s quilt is shown on the top of the stack. You can see her full quilt on her website. She says she had a hard time trying to find cactus fabrics to add to her collaged desert landscape. And then she added some animals to put life into the quilt.

Cynthia Long did a value study of Marjorie’s quilt, and discharged a piece of silk to replicate the pattern of values she saw. She then added lots of wonderful detail with additional paint (or dye maybe?) and lots of wonderful hand stitching.

Carol Larson focused on some painted and stitched details from Cynthia’s quilt, and made it the main focus of her own quilt. She worked in similar colors as Cynthia. Just a hint of the original landscape is showing in the green hill-like shape at the bottom of her quilt.

Liz Berg did away altogether with the landscape idea. She continued with Carol’s circle motif, and added some long curvy shapes. Her full quilt is shown on her blog at the bottom of this post.

My first thought about Liz’s quilt was of sea kelp and bubbles, but I didn’t wasn’t real interested in doing kelp, and waited a couple of days to see if any other ideas would emerge. The colors and shapes in Liz’s quilt reminded me of a piece of fabric I had with random circles printed across it. And then the fabric reminded me of a lone allium plant with two straggly leaves growing down the street. I pulled out lots of coordinating polka dot prints, and added a drift of circles behind the main flower. Liz’s long curvy shapes became the stem and leaves of my allium.

Succulent VI

12 x 12
This is my piece for the One Foot Square SAQA Benefit Auction. I started with a piece of hand dyed fabric with blended turquoise, green and yellow.

I really should get some more photos to base my succulents on. I keep reusing the same favorites and doing them in different colors. Then again, why not repeat a good thing until I tire of it.

March Happenings

Last Friday I went to the opening reception of the “41st Annual Textile Exhibition” at the Olive Hyde Art Gallery in Fremont. I have my three painted succulent pieces in the show. Several other artists working in quilts were represented along with artists working in other fiber mediums. The show will continue through April 18. Details are on the Olive Hyde website: http://www.ci.fremont.ca.us/Art/OliveHydeArtGallery/default.htm

On Saturday, I went to the CQFA meeting in Santa Clara. One of our members invited Margaret Nivin, a painting instructor, to come talk with us about critiquing. We had our normal show and tell in a variety of techniques and styles, and Margaret guided us in critiquing the pieces. It was good to talk about each piece beyond the customary “oohs & ahhs” and the “how did you do that?” types of questions.

I’ve been trying to put together an interview outfit, and finding that the suit I have from 15 years ago (and the other one from 20 years ago) no longer fit. I found a jacket I liked, and made a plaid skirt to coordinate with it. Then Saturday night, I went to a clothing exchange at a Zocalo’s coffeehouse to find a good home for the old suits. I think there were no takers for my suits, so they will go to a local community service organization. I found a nice pair of slacks, a jacket, and a nice blouse for eveningwear.

I’ve started a twelve inch block for the SAQA auction, but I let my colors run together and become muddy. Now it reminds me more of an artichoke than a succulent plant, so I plan to start over.