Craftsy Quilt Designer Fellowship Finalist!

Posted on March 19, 2018March 19, 2018 by thenotsodramaticlifeadmin / Posted in Quilting Community / Leave a comment

The finalists for this year’s Craftsy Quilt Designer Fellowship were announced today, and I am thrilled to be one of the top ten! The second round is public voting, so I hope you check out all the entries and vote on the Craftsy Quilt Blog. All of the finalists make fabulous work and represent a wide range of styles, so it is definitely worth checking out!

Each finalist has three of their submitted photographs and an excerpt of their statement included in the voting. The original statements were up to 400 words, so this is definitely a good choice for voting, but if you would like to see all of the quilt photos I submitted and my full statement, you can keep reading!

I submitted six quilt photos:

Infused Plaid

iSpy

Columbus Block of the Month 2017 with 12 blocks representing specific locations in an abstract way

Raise the Roof

Lateral Ascension

Overlay

And here is my full statement:

My goal as a designer is to elevate the ordinary. I seek inspiration in both the unusual and the mundane. My training as a theatrical scenic and costume designer influences my approach to quilt design, and allows me to reinterpret the patterns and rhythms of the world around me. When designing, I locate and isolate specific aspects of an environment, then combine them in unexpected ways. This process creates a strong abstraction of the original inspiration without being a direct representation.

I am currently a longarm quilter, designer, blogger, and local quilting teacher. My quilts have been juried into numerous internationally recognized shows, and several have won awards at major shows. These awards include the first place award in the Modern Category at AQS-Paducah in 2016 and 2017, a first place at QuiltCon 2017, and a third at QuiltCon 2018. One of my quilts, Pivoted Plaid, will be traveling with the Best of QuiltCon exhibit this year. Another quilt, Infused Plaid, was included in the book, Modern Quilts: Designs of the New Century.

I have designed fourteen patterns for a local quilt shop which are inspired by local landmarks, and have had several projects published in magazines, including a quilt that is currently on the cover of Modern Patchwork.

Patterns can function as a stand alone project, but they can also be a tool to teach and empower the maker. Many of my patterns are written as skill builder patterns which are intended to walk the maker through a new technique step by step and help them develop confidence that increases as they move on to other patterns using the same technique.

Skill Builder Patterns may incorporate techniques for:

Accurate machine piecing and pressing to enhance the quilt
Foundation paper piecing
Applique
Using quilting to enhance the design of a quilt

Producing printed patterns with a wider distribution is a major goal that this fellowship would assist with. I look forward to sharing my work and inspiring makers across the quilting community!

One of my major goals was to apply for everyone I want this year, and this application was a part of this goal. It is a definite honor to have my work side by side with so many talented individuals!

QuiltCon Judging Comments

Posted on March 5, 2018 by thenotsodramaticlifeadmin / Posted in Quilt Shows / 2 Comments

One of the best parts of entering major quilt shows is receiving written comments on your quilts. There are usually a mix of positive and negative remarks, and frequently quilts resonate differently with different people. The comment sheets from QuiltCon are no exception, and I thought it may be interesting to share them here. I can only imagine how challenging it is to judge a quilt show like this, and I really appreciate all of the work that goes into the process.

When your box of quilts is returned, they are wrapped in clear plastic bags to protect them during shipping, and a packing slip is toward the top of the package. This year, only three of my four quilts were returned immediately, since Pivoted Plaid will be traveling.

The cards which hang next to each quilt are also included in the package.

Complementary Composition

Pivoted Plaid

This one has a judges comment sheet, but the quilt and description card are traveling this year.

Overlay

Lateral Ascension

This quilt had an extra special bonus- a hand crafted ribbon!

QuiltCon Highlights

Posted on February 27, 2018 by thenotsodramaticlifeadmin / Posted in Quilt Shows, Quilting Community / 4 Comments

QuiltCon 2018 ended on Sunday, and I wish that I had been able to attend to see so many of my quilt-y friends. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing all of the photos and videos which were posted during the week, and it was wonderful to be able to see most of the show virtually. Thank you so much to everyone who took the time to post during the show! If you haven’t seen many photos of the show, I suggest looking at the Instagram hashtags #quiltcon2018 and #quiltcon to see most of the quilts on display. Since I wasn’t there, my personal highlights will be pretty short.

1. Even though I wasn’t there, four of my quilts were able to attend in my place!

2. Lateral Ascension received a third place award in the minimalism category! I have a tendency to struggle with minimalism, so this was a big accomplishment on a personal level.

3. Pivoted Plaid is going to be included in the Best of QuiltCon 2018 Traveling Exhibit! It is thrilling that this quilt will be shared around the country in the coming year!

So who’s ready for QuiltCon 2019? Nashville is an easy drive from here, so I will definitely be there next year, along with a lot of my local Modern Quilt Guild!

Raise the Roof

Posted on February 19, 2018February 19, 2018 by thenotsodramaticlifeadmin / Posted in Finished Quilts, Publication, Quilting / 1 Comment

I made a pretty quilt! I very rarely make a quilt that I would call “pretty”- typically I describe my work with terms like graphic, clean, dynamic, or vivid. Raise the Roof is an exception to this trend.

Inspiration for Raise the Roof came from the architecture of the Horticulture Building on the grounds of the Ohio State Fair. The low volume background of the blocks echos the design of the rafters of the building, and the central stars are an abstract representation of the over-sized ceiling fans.

The pink, violet, and orange blocks appear to spin around the focal blocks in blue and orange.

Value plays a huge role in the design of the quilt blocks. The colors in the low volume background triangles have the same placement in each block segment, but the brightly colored star tips change depending on the block placement. Intentional placement of a dark and light version of each color on every point creates a three dimensional look.

After creating a few sample blocks, I decided to submit the design to Modern Patchwork. I was thrilled to have it accepted, and quickly finished the top. For the quilting design, I chose an all-over organic free motion design with a botanical flavor.

The juxtaposition of the organic quilting lines on the regimented, foundation paper pieced quilt top reminds me of the relationship between the beautiful floral displays against the architecture of the building. To make the quilting stand out even more, I used double batting for the first time. The top layer is a yummy Hobbs Tuscany Wool, and the bottom layer is Hobbs 80/20.

To top it all off, this quilt made the cover of the magazine! This is a first for me, and I am over the moon!

You can get your very own copy of the March/April Modern patchwork here!

Quilt Stats

Title: Raise the Roof

Size: 59″ x 59″

Techniques: Foundation Paper Piecing, Traditional Piecing

Quilting: Hand guided, mixed motif free motion quilting done on an A-1 Elite Longarm

Fabric: Assorted quilt shop quality, 100% cotton fabrics, and backing of wide-back Kona Cotton

Batting: Hobbs Tuscany Wool and Hobbs 80/20

Thread: Pieced using light grey Gutermann Mara 100, Quilted with 50wt cotton Aurifil

Binding: Cotton and Steel grey and silver dot bias binding, machine stitched to the front, hand finished on the back.

National Backwards Day!

Posted on January 31, 2018 by thenotsodramaticlifeadmin / Posted in Finished Quilts, Quilting, Works In Progress (WIP) / 3 Comments

Today, January 31 is National Backwards Day! I decided to celebrate by taking a closer look at the back of some quilts and quilt tops.

The backs of quilt tops hardly ever get the glory that they deserve. Here are some hand appliquéd circles . . .

And some machine pieced circles . . .

I love when the quilting transfers the design of the quilt to the back of the project.

Sometimes the design isn’t completely transferred to the back of the quilt, but you can get a general idea of the quilt front.

Occasionally I do simple, light quilting . . .

But more often it’s heavy quilting that shows on the back of my quilts . . . (these two mini quilts are the same design)

Recently I even tried out using doubled batting, which really made the quilting design pop on the back of the quilt (as well as the front).

I frequently love the backs of quilts as much as the front!