Bitterroot Quilter's Guild Show, etc...

Finally summer has arrived here in Montana. We had a very wet spring and there is still lots of snow in the mountains. Now it is melting off and causing streams and rivers to run very swift and high. My husband and son are backpacking this weekend near one of these swollen streams so I'm hoping they are staying safe and dry. I have been busy helping with the Bitterroot Quilters' Guild Quilt Show in Hamilton. I helped hang the postcard challenge yesterday and then counted viewer's choice ballots today. Tomorrow I will help man the Silent Auction area. I donated three pieces to the auction and hope that whoever gets them will enjoy them. It is one way that those who can't usually afford my pieces can get them for a reasonable price---not that my prices aren't "reasonable"!!

I stopped by the Art City Gallery to see how my solo show was doing and saw that one more piece has sold so I was very happy about that. The gentleman manning the gallery this afternoon said that a woman who was just in was admiring one particular piece and hoping her husband might buy it for her for her birthday or something. Those comments rarely come to fruition, but at least there are people interested in the work and enjoying it. I hope to sell at least a couple more pieces before the show ends July 31.

I heard today that the Missoulian newspaper hopes to do a story in the July First Friday arts and entertainment section about our Trunk Show at Montana Art and Framing. That will be great publicity for us and maybe we'll get a good crowd at the First Friday reception that month. I was really hoping that the newspaper would discover the show and write up something about it. I hope they get some good photos. Can't wait to see the story!

Two of my pieces were just accepted to the Pacific West Quilt Show in Tacoma, Washington which is 8/26-28. I also had a piece just accepted to the Northern National Quilt Competition in Wisconsin which is a fine art show--my first. I guess this area of Wisconsin has lots of cottages where people from Chicago and Milwaukee go to vacation. This is the 24th show so it is well established and hopefully well attended. They have some cash prizes, but I would like to sell my piece and I haven't really heard how well they sell from this show. It gets to be very costly entering all these shows, so winning or selling something and getting a cash award is very helpful.

As soon as the quilt show is over tomorrow I'll be getting started on a new piece. I have some fabrics up on the design wall but I'm not feeling very excited about them so might move to something else. I have a lovely piece of hand-dyed fabric with a manipulated digital image that I transferred onto it using TAP (Transfer Artist Paper) and it is very interesting. I have already chosen some fabrics and been pondering how to proceed with this piece. There is a great deal of detail in the photo image and I'm thinking that threadwork might distract from the wonderful image so I might end up doing some simplistic stitching in that area with monofilament or at least a thread that really blends with the background. Haven't figured out anything as far as the design yet, but I'm thinking that as soon as the quilt show is done my head will be freed up for some more creative thinking!

Speaking of the quilt show, it is a wonderful one. There are extremely talented and skilled quilters in the Bitterroot Valley of all types from traditional to innovative to art quilters. Our featured quilter is Jeanne Doyle who is 86 and does beautiful traditional and innovative pieces with great skill and wonderful color sense. I probably enjoyed her exhibit more than any other featured quilter I have ever seen. Wonderful work. There are also many other great quilts in the show and voting was a real challenge---for me and many others. It is a privilege to be a part of this guild.

I just looked out to the south west and the sky is blue, purple, pink and slightly orange with streaks of clouds. Then out the other window is my garden bursting with huge orange poppies in full bloom. I love living where we do and being able to enjoy the Rocky Mountains out my front window and the beautiful Montana skies and landscapes out every other window in my house. I don't get out into the woods as much as I should these days but I think I will try to go more in the next few months. It is inspirational to walk among wildflowers, Ponderosa Pine trees, and huckleberry bushes and enjoy the sounds of birds in the trees. Getting some exercise would be a good thing too! Having a passion that is basically sedentary doesn't do much for the figure. And I have a 30th reunion coming up soon so I guess I better get started now!!

Belated Quilt Show Pictures

Earlier this summer I had promised some pictures from our quilt show at the end of June and I finally remembered and got some of them formatted to show here. These are all from the Art Quilt and Landscape/Pictorial Quilt categories at the Bitterroot Quilter's Guild show. We had a wonderful display of art quilts in both categories and I was impressed with the quality and variety of these pieces. I was honored to received the first place ribbon in the Art Quilts and 3rd in the Landscape/Pictorial category. I apologize for the quality of the pictures as my digital camera isn't the best, but you can get an idea of the wonderful display we had. Enjoy!



Great Blue Heron piece is done by Mickey Frissell, my mom.



Geisha is hand appliqued onto the background by Jaime Grant. Color in my picture does not do it justice---it is a beautiful background and wonderful workmanship as is the norm for Jaime!

Quilt Show in Progress...

We are in the midst of the Bitterroot Quilter's Guild's show and what a wonderful display of quilts it is.  I was really pleased to see how many people entered art quilts in the show this year.  They are having a silent auction and I donated two wall hangings for that:

Hopefully the guild will make some money with the auction since everything is donated. The bidding quite often gets interesting at the end of the show so I'll be keeping an eye on it tomorrow afternoon!

I worked at the show all day today and will be working tomorrow for most of the show and then meeting a friend to walk around and view it a bit. Ribbons for Viewer's Choice and the Challenge quilt winners will be posted so I look forward to seeing who the winners are. There are some wonderful vendors to visit and I already bought some fabric and, of course, some beads! This is always one of the best shows in the area (this year is no exception!) and I'm proud to be part of it.

I have to get the picture of my challenge quilt from my dad so I can post it here for you. Will try to get that up in the next couple of days. They indicated that it one a ribbon but I don't know quite what yet. I don't know exactly how they judged them but I think there are several ribbons being awarded. It was a very fun challenge to participate in. Some of the other pieces are really wonderful and I'll try to get some pictures of them tomorrow to post here with permission!

Have to get some rest now so I'm ready to go for a long shift at the show tomorrow. Come back soon for more pics!

Bank Exhibit Ending/Bitterroot Quilt Show Ahead

This is the final week of my exhibit at the Rocky Mountain Bank here in Stevensville. On Monday morning I will take my pieces down and the Stevensville Art & Sculpture Society (SASS) will hang a show that includes pieces from numerous local artists that belong to SASS. I will be dropping off two small pieces for them to hang which have not been shown previously. I encourage anyone in the area to stop by and take a look at my exhibit, as well as the new exhibit which will hang for the months of June and July. There will be an artist's reception on First Friday, June 5. I don't know the exact times for that yet, but I believe it is rather early in the evening. There will likely be an interesting mix of art mediums for this exhibit.

I have been working on the monochromatic challenge piece I have to get done for the Bitterroot Quilter's Guild show the last weekend in June. The pieces have to be a maximum of 144 square inches so they will be rather small. I was lucky to choose a color that I find motivating and easy to work with, and of course I have a substantial amount of it in my stash to choose from. People tell me that they can spot my quilts now as I seem to have developed a certain style, although I don't know if I or anyone else can quite define it. Hopefully there will be other art quilters/embellishers who do the challenge so that my piece won't stick out too much like a sore thumb! It is always fun to see what other people do when all are given the same parameters to make a quilt. I'm always excited to see the display and amazed at the variety and imagination of quilters.

I'm also hoping to get another quilt done for the show in June. I am quilting it right now and then will likely do some beading on it. Due to the colors and the mood they create, I have named this piece "Twilight". I think it will be a beautiful piece when it is done. Hopefully I can get there...!

I have sent in my entry for the Houston quilt show (International Quilt Festival) which is a juried show. I won't hear for at least a month and the show isn't until this fall. I sent in digital images of two of my quilts. I'm working on entries for three other shows which have deadlines fast approaching. We'll see if I get those done and sent in time! One of them is a Studio Art Quilts Associates (SAQA) sponsored show called "Fibrations" and I really would like to be in one of their shows. They travel around to various venues including galleries and national quilt shows so the pieces are gone for quite some time. It would be really good exposure to get into one of those shows. They seem to sponsor several shows a year so I will start entering them as they come up. Many of them have specific themes which I find a difficult thing to do as my art just seems to evolve and I have a hard time making myself do something that I'm not necessarily inspired to do.

School will be out here in Stevensville on Friday, June 5, so my son will be home and my life will change a bit for the next few months. Hopefully he and I will get along and have a good time, but I know there will be lots of time outs and occasional yelling. He's a good kid but he's in a phase where he thinks he can ignore me when I tell him to do something, or even tell me "no"! That will change. I know he doesn't want to spend the summer sitting in the corner. Our challenge is to try not to watch too much TV every day. When I want/need to quilt, he usually turns on the TV to keep him company which I completely understand. Unfortunately, he will watch too much and sit there all day if I let him. We'll have to come up with a schedule I guess. It will be as hard for me as it is for him!!

We're taking care of my parents Springer Spaniel, Maggie (she's the color of a magpie), and she is doing very well. She is used to having a dog door and all the freedom that goes with it, but she has adapted well to this situation. She just loves having a six year old boy to play with. I think they are about the same mental age so it works out great!