Thread Storage for my Superior Threads Shopping Spree

I was the lucky recipient of a $300 Superior Threads Shopping Spree for Thread Artistry in our recent fiber art and quilt show (for "When Worlds Collide"). What a neat problem to solve--where to store more of my favorite thread!!

This involved rearrangement in my homemade spool cabinet to get my treasures in a more usable, visible location nearer the sewing machine. I have another storage area for more thread, but Superior's Rainbows and Nature and Living polys and King Tut cottons are my favorites and deserved a better display. The black cabinet sits on a storage cabinet that extends across the wall (think of a window seat but no windows on this wall). I actually use this seat as my sewing chair and have the drawers easily accessible on my right.

Current threads for a project can sit on the seat beside me until they are replaced in their drawer. After unwrapping a new spool, I use strips of Hugo's Amazing Tape to keep the thread from unwinding. It grabs to itself without any stickiness and can be used over and over. I cut it from the roll with pinking shears, so the pointy ends make it easy to find on the tape roll and on the spool.

PBQ Show Results

When Worlds Collide, 18" x 36"

Finding My Way, 65" x 65"

In addition to my "VisitHattiesburg" piece winning the $250 purchase award in the Miss Hattie's hat challenge, "When Worlds Collide" was awarded the Thread Artistry $300 gift certificate sponsored by Superior Threads. "Finding My Way," the expanded mariner's compass quilt mentioned earlier in my blog, won first place in the pieced wall quilt category (prize was 8" Gingher shears). Three other pieces won ribbons--Pyrotechnics (pictured below), Fire, and Earth.

Pyrotechnics, 21" x 25"

Miss Hattie's Hat

Wow! What an honor to win the challenge and have my quilt win the $250 purchase award by Hattiesburg Convention and Visitors Bureau. There were 18 hat quilts submitted, and each 24" x 24" piece was an outstanding display of ingenuity and creativity. There were feathers, ribbons, bows, veils, fur, and flowers. All the pieces will be displayed in the Saenger Theatre in downtown Hattiesburg after the Pine Belt Quilters show is over this weekend. My piece, entitled "VisitHattiesburg" will remain the property of the bureau to be used in the visitors center.

We received about 475 quilts to hang for the show; Flavin Glover began the judging process today on small categories as we were hanging the larger ones--61 in the team-large-pieced, and 44 in the theme (two-color quilts) category. Lake Terrace will be quite a sight when the show opens Friday.

Finding My Way . . . and Showtime

Here it comes, ready or not! When I sew on one more label, I will have completed all my entries for the show. We are allowed only two per category, and I have entered eleven pieces in five categories. Whew! Glad to have everything finished. Well, almost everything--still need to turn in a piece for the silent auction. An interesting aspect of our show will be the Miss Hattie's Hat Challenge sponsored by the Hattiesburg Convention and Visitors Bureau. Below is their logo (which I have permission to use), but I will wait until after the show to post a picture of my challenge piece.

I pulled out from a closet a mariner's compass project I had started about 12 (?) years ago and finished it this summer. I had designed an expanded compass for the center in a Judy Spahn class years ago and added 8" compasses all around on a black sugar-dot background. It was hand-pieced, with a hand-pieced border around the octagon shape, squared off with four large corner blocks and more 8" compasses. My husband kept saying it was too beautiful to stop before full bed quilt size, so I kept trying to elongate the design without liking the results, hence the reason it lived in the closet for so long. Finally I saw that I needed to follow my own creative instincts and finish it in the way I was visualizing it. All this thinking brought about its real name--no longer just "the Mariner's Compass Quilt," but "Finding My Way." It's 65" square.

Center block is approximately 20" across; round blocks are 8".

We wanted to grow to a bigger show, and, working with the Hattiesburg Convention and Visitors Bureau (http://www.visithattie.com/) and the Hattiesburg Convention Commission, we will display almost 500 quilts on October 10-11-12 at Lake Terrace Convention Center at the intersection of I-59 and U.S. Hwy. 49.

In addition to the 480 judged show entries, we will have a silent auction of wall quilts plus a special exhibit of 12 of Vicksburg master quilter Martha Skelton's quilts. The new book, Martha Skelton: Master Quilter of Vicksburg (by Mary Elizabeth Johnson and MQA, through University Press of Mississippi), will be available during the show through Main Street Books.

Third Annual Juried Art Exhibit at William Carey University

The third annual Juried Members-Only Show by South Mississippi Art Association opened on Thursday night, August 28, at the Lucile Parker Gallery on the William Carey University campus for a two-week show. Three of my pieces were juried into the show: a Shiva/Angelina piece called "Neon Lights on Wet Streets," a framed quilted silk painting, "Angel Trumpet," and a framed fiber art piece, "Crystal Beach." Crystal Beach is part of an Elements series and won 2nd place in SMAA's April 2008 Focused show.
The Members-Only show features, in addition to my fiber art, oil, watercolor, acrylic, photography, and 3-D wood and clay sculpture.

Mississippi ArTEAst Festival at Simply TeaVine

Simply TeaVine hosted a delightful event last week--A Mississippi ArTEAst Festival. Dean Meador Smith, co-owner, celebrated past and present Mississippi artists by inviting 12 artists to display their works in this charming Victorian tearoom.

There were writers, potters, jewelry makers, photographers, stained glass artists, and I was honored to show my fiber art.

The menu featured favorites or special recipes such as:

Elvis Presley's Fried Peanut Butter and Banana Sandwich

Eudora Welty's Shrimp Eudora

Brett Favre's Chili

Morgan Freeman's Greens

Faith Hill's Cornbread

Oprah Winfrey's Berries

Tennessee Williams' Lemon Ice Box Pie

William Faulkner's Peach Cobbler

Elements Series completed - May 2008

I took Linda Schmidt's online class on Elements in Fabric through Quilt University. What fun it was to experiment with all those strange products. I burned fabric, bleached holes in fabric, melted cellophane and Tyvek, added several kinds of paints and Angelina and foil, all to make the four elements: Water, Air, Fire, and Earth. Each is a separate layered, quilted piece which I had framed. The Fire and Water pieces won 1st and 2nd place awards in the April 2008 SMAA Focused Art Show (see previous post). The other two elements, Air (15x15) and Earth (23x24) are complete and pictured above before framing.

April 2008 South Mississippi Art Association show

Fire won a blue ribbon and Water a red ribbon in the April 2008 SMAA Focused Show. Purple Mountains placed third. This focused show of limited categories featured Glasswork, 3-D, Fiber Art, and Mixed Media. Although my eight entries in Fiber Art were the entire category, I was still pleased about the sweep. There were some 50 Mixed Media entries, and 10-12 each in Glasswork and 3-D.
I recently learned how to incorporate some weird and unusual materials from Linda Schmidt of Dublin, CA, in a Quilt University online class, and the Fire and Water pieces are the beginning of a series of the four elements. Air is at the frame shop and Earth is still on my design wall. These pieces incorporate paint, puff paint, burned fabric edges, Angelina, organza, cellophane, ribbon, tulle, and Tyvek, in addition to the usual fabric, shiny threads, and machine stitches.
Fire (14x21) and Water (16x14) shown before framing. The finished/framed pieces are pictured at the art show.

Juried Exhibit at William Carey University

Chatham Meade, director of the Lucile Parker Gallery at William Carey University, selected 17 pieces made by Pine Belt Quilters for a month-long exhibit at the Gallery. The exhibit opened with a reception March 27 and closed on April 28.




My pieces "When Worlds Collide" (left), "Purple Fern Shadows" (below center), and "Return of the Trees" (below right) were part of the exhibit.

Springtime in South Mississippi

After our one snow day in January, springtime is bursting forth in riotous color. First hint is the redbuds with tiny lavender flowers, then the Japanese magnolias that often bloom so early they get nipped by a late frost, then yellow forsythia and wild vines of yellow flowers, plum and pear trees, and now the large Bradford pears trees covered in fluffy white blooms for a couple of weeks before their green leaves take over. By mid-March the dogwood and azaleas are in full bloom and wisteria vines climb to the tops of pines trees. Our Lady Banksia rose bush climbs and cascades from a dogwood tree as tall as the neighbor's house. Oh, how blessed we are to enjoy these God's gifts to us!

Quick Draw

No guns involved, just lots of paint with one sewing machine added. Fiber art can compete with oil and watercolor and acrylic!
The South Mississippi Art Association co-sponsored a Quick Draw fund raiser with the AIDS Services Coalition in Hattiesburg, MS. About 25 artists created their works in a variety of mediums during a one-hour session, with patrons and customers milling around watching. At the end of the hour, we had 15 minutes to frame or finish up the piece before the live auction.

In my case, I took my sewing machine, fabric, threads, batting, and a planned design of the landscape I thought I could create in an hour's time. Just to be sure, I did a trial run of another piece the day before, which I learned nearly all the others had done. We cleared over $3,000 after expenses, and other artwork sold for the artists at the silent auction.

It was a fun afternoon with food and drink and music by a steel drum artist and lots of visiting. This event was so well received that it is planned to be the first of many annual ones.