Upstatelisa: Quilt Alliance

Showing posts with label Quilt Alliance. Show all posts

Showing posts with label Quilt Alliance. Show all posts

Wednesday, December 16, 2015

Sharing our stories...

I joined the Quilt Alliance a couple of years ago

when I thought it would be fun to head to Quilters Take Manhattan

Since that time,

I have met lots (!!!) of wonderful people,

made some great friends...

learned a lot about the quilting world

and

I even entered a little quilt in their contest!

To top it off,

they have a really great mission too!!!

Check out their video...

(if you watch it all, you may spot me helping out!)

and so...

I will keep creating and telling my stories

(my latest project is well underway!!!)

Monday, November 16, 2015

Just about time...

..to get in some last minute bidding on the first round of quilts being auctioned off

by Quilt Alliance on eBay!!!!

But

there are still a few hours left to bid on my quilt!!!

As she gets ready to head to her new home,

I will probably not see "Olive. Olive You." again ....

but I still enjoy Olive in real life...

often enjoying some breakfast together...

and now that it is mid November,

it is just about time to start some holiday projects

that probably could have been started months ago...

and when I am not rushing to get these done,

I am always working on something else...

in black and white, of course!

Monday, November 9, 2015

Start the bidding....

Do I hear..???

Yes,

Olive. Olive you

is going home with one lucky winner some time in the next week or so....

The quilt, along with the many other "Animals We Love" quilts

are being auctioned off on eBay

(check out the Quilt Alliance website- she's the cover girl today!) over the next few weeks...

But the real Olive

continues to entertain us at home

with her cuteness...

her studiousness....

her squeaky voice...

and her cuddly, lovable disposition.....

In the meantime,

while you all are bidding on the quilts,

we are enjoying a little cheesecake

(all one-million calories or so.... I mean, 2 lbs of cream cheese, for goodness sake!)

courtesy of Nature Boy....

and I am putting the finishing touches on my latest project...

that is getting ready to be packed up

along with the quilts of the fiber art group I belong to

on a journey around the USA with Mancuso Quilt Fest

Stay tuned.....

.

Monday, October 26, 2015

Yep, I am....

back in the saddle

doing something you stopped doing for a period of time; Friedman's career seemed to be finished a month ago, but he's back in the saddle and playing for Houston.

-from The Free Dictionary

Yeeeeeeeeha!!!!

This weekend, I put on my cowboy boots and ten gallon hat

and ...

Okay, I don't own either

but

It seems that I am beginning to find my groove again!!

I spent some time at the sewing machine,

working on a project that has taken many pauses over the past year

and still has a way to go!!!

This is the now very famous Olive with her late companion, Tinkerbelle.

Originally, this photo taken by my youngest child, "Sugarbaby",

was supposed to be a small quilt

destined for the Quilt Alliance "Animals We Love" Contest

but the project outgrew the dimensional limitations (16"x16")

(as well as the innocence of the original photo!!!)

and so we all know what happened to that contest..

(a refresher just in case you forgot!!!)

Now the project

needs a lot more thread and perhaps some added dimension.

And eventually, a title....

Thelma and Louise?

Girls on the Lam?

Stay tuned...

I attended a lecture at our local art museum

entitled "Art is a Feminist Issue"

in conjunction with a current exhibit,

Audrey Flack: Heroines.

An octogenarian, Ms Flack

created an exhibit of mixed media drawings and prints to

highlight women neglected or demonized by history.

The pieces in this exhibit were all completed within the past few years...

So maybe my best work is yet to come!!

I also began some hand stitching

which I find particularly relaxing ...

This project has a deadline so I may have to speed up my relaxation!!!

Not to be confined to the sewing needle,

I dabbled a bit in the kitchen...

and even donned the ol' running shoes...

Life is full of surprises!!!

Tuesday, October 20, 2015

blogus interruptus or Quilters Take Manhattan take 3

Yikes!!!

Right after I made a come back to the blogging world

I disappeared again!!!

I kept thinking about blogging

but life got in the way and

the days kept rolling by...

As Albert Einstein once said...

"Life is like riding a bicycle,

to keep your balance, you must keep moving."

so, I am moving on...

(from a recent Color Me Rad race)

trying not to choke in the process...

(just didn't want to eat the colored powder they were throwing our way!)

and somewhere I will find balance!!!

In the meantime,

back to...

Day 3 of Quilters Take Manhattan...

which started with a talk by Alex Veronelli of Aurifil Threads

He entertained us with a running commentary and video

on how they make their threads.

Very interesting!!!

and we each got a package of threads of the various weights!!!

He shared with us

which needles to use with the various weights of thread

as well as what kind of bobbin thread to use.

Then we got to see a few samples of the various threads at work

including this piece that I had seen on Facebook

by Shruti Rohit Dandekar of 13 Woodhouse Road

and a close up...

Of course,

what is a blog post about NYC without a few photos of the colors of the city???

and some doors...

and some of the beautiful architecture of the city...

I finished the weekend with a workshop with Earamicha Brown

on embellishments...

The original workshop was supposed to be led by Frances Holliday Alford

but Frances was recovering from surgery

and sent trays and trays of goodies to use in our projects..

These days,

I have warmed up from a weekend in the Hudson Valley

at the Rhinebeck Sheep and Wool Festival

which featured

small, cozy cabins for 4..

some good food

majestic fall trees

and dare I say,

snowflakes???!!!

cute animals...

and some yarn, of course!!!

Now..

I am back in the studio

creating a series (at least, I think it will be a series)

with some

and

Stay tuned....

Wednesday, September 30, 2015

Quilters Take Manhattan, take 2...

So...

while most quilters were still tucked snugly under a heap of quilts

in slumber,

I was up at the crack of dawn (which was about 6:30 AM EST)

helping set up for the main event

at FIT (Fashion Institute of Technology)...

As you can see many of the volunteers and board members

donned handmade clothing using fabric with the

Quilters Take Manhattan logo

which is available at Spoonflower.

If you check this link to the QTM2015 facebook page

or the Quilt Alliance facebook page,

you can see us modeling our handmade duds.

At about 9 AM,

doors opened and in poured the quilters....

(this is my vantage point from the raffle ticket table...

from which I did NOT ultimately win any of the goodies,

but I did win a door prize which I shared with a couple friends)

Up in the auditorium,

Ricky Tims was our keynote speaker...

He related his quilter story to us

complete with a view of his first business credit card

which read "Ricky Tims Quilt Stud"

(I guess Visa couldn't make room for the 'io' in studio!)

He asked us to be honest with ourselves

explore our path in the quilting world...

He encouraged us all to take risks

and had us all recite aloud this creative credo...

By this time,

I could've used a quilt or two to warm up

(geez the auditorium was chilly)

and my lack of sleep and early rising was catching up with me!!!

Ricky was followed by

Victoria Findlay Wolfe...

who described her creative journey into the quilting world,,,

from the farm in Minnesota...

(and the inspiration she took from the farm

and her grandmother's work mostly in double knit fabrics)

to New York City

and her accomplishments in the world of quilting...

peppered with lots of humor

and

even a look at one of her double knit jackets...

Since the mission of Quilt Alliance is to tell our stories,

through documentation, preservation and sharing our American quilt heritage,

the program continued with some interviews of quilters

including Edyta Sitar...

members of a local quilt guild....

and Mary Koval telling her story of an antique quilt.

I attended a short quilt show of Yvonne Porcella's work

led by Meg Cox..

and then watched the Quilt Match Manhattan in which

Karla Overland, Laurie Russman, and Edyta Sitar

competed for the coveted embellished quilt belt ...

Karla of Cherrywood Fabrics

created this masterpiece complete with the pope...

Laurie "Neon Kitty" created this work of art...

and Edyta created this beautiful collage

and took home the belt!!!

I attended the evening cocktail party but left my camera in my bag

except to catch this photo of NYC at night...

I was pretty pooped by this time

and had a great night's sleep

before the last day of QTM2015

which I will tell you about in another post....

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