Amish: The Modern Muse

Awhile back, I mentioned that I had submitted a couple of quilts to an upcoming show at the San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles.  Well, they were both accepted!  So many wonderful quilts were entered that the museum has split the show into two parts.  Part I of the show opens on November 15th in conjunction with the opening of the exhibition, Antique Ohio Amish Quilts from the Darwin D. Bearley Collection, the quilts that were the inspiration for our show.  Part II of the show will open on January 10th.

If you live in the Bay Area, I highly recommend you make it over to check out the museum.  I've only had a tiny sneak peak at the quilts in the Modern Muse show, but I know they're going to be wonderful, not to mention the stunning antique quilts that will be on display!

Inspired by Amish Quilts? Um, YEAHH!

Recently, the modern quilt guilds of the SF Bay area were approached for an exciting new project.  The San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles will be showing Ohio Amish quilts from the collection of Darwin D. Bearley and guilds were invited to submit Amish inspired quilts of our own for a simultaneous show, called Amish: The Modern Muse, curated by Joe Cunningham.

Wow!  I didn't even know where to start designing because there's so much inspiration to choose from!  Well, I finally narrowed it down to wanting to work with triangles, so I chose the traditional Railroad Crossing pattern to work with.  I decided that I wanted to incorporate scraps and pieces of up-cycled fabric, so I visited SCRAP, a great re-use store in San Francisco that carries a huge variety of donated fabrics, and picked up a lot of small pieces of black fabric scraps.  As much as I love the wonderful prints of new fabric designs, I really enjoy the process of making quilts the way they were originally made - patchworked with small bits and pieces left over from other things that were too small for making clothes, but too dear to throw away.

Once I'd but the quilt top together, I decided to use a wool batting, as I've been a bit obsessed with Welsh quilts lately, as well as Amish.  The wool batting gives the quilt some loft, so that when I quilted the borders, the design really shows through.  This is important on Welsh quilts, because they are often wholecloth, so the entire design comes from the quilting alone, plus, they have a lot of wool there!  Welsh quilting is AMAZING - kind of a bit chunky and archaic looking and so much fun! If you are on Facebook, follow Jen Jones' Welsh Quilt Centre as she occasionally posts photos of her collection.  Drool!

So anyway, enough chatter about my quilt.  Here's what it looks like!

X Quilt

X Quilt, back

X Quilt, quilting detail

The Modern Muse show is curated, so it's possible that my quilt won't make the cut, but I've seen some of the other East Bay Modern guild member's entries, and I know it's going to be amazing!  If you want to check it out, the Amish show opens on November 15th and runs until March 1st.  If you can't make it to San Jose, you might want to get a copy of Darwin Bearley's book, Antique Ohio Amish Quilts.  He sells it personally through his E-bay site, so you could even ask for a signed copy.  That's what I did!  It's a beautiful book!

In wrapping up, I'm excited to announce the winner of the Kim Andersson's Tidal Lace fat quarter collection is Nancy! Kim was on the Modern Sewciety podcast a few weeks ago talking about her design inspirations and you can really get to know her a little bit just by listening!

Stitch Modern!

I've been having so much fun organizing all of the events for Stitch Modern that I forgot to drop in here and tell you about them! 

We had our Opening Reception last Saturday at the beautiful Piedmont Center for the Arts and I had a great time!  There were people who drove up all the way from Santa Cruz and ladies who left a quilt retreat in Napa, just to drive down and attend the show - not to mention all of the families, friends, and members of the community who came by!

Stitch Modern opening reception

That's me on the left and a quilt by the amazing Dan Rouse in the background

The food was amazing, visiting with friends was really fun, and I won't even tell you how many bottles of wine were emptied!

Here's my quilt, Happiness

 Okay, the opening was exciting, but the best parts of the show are still to come!  We have a bunch of different events planned that will take place while the show is up.  If you live in the SF Bay Area - COME!

Feb 5 (TONIGHT!): Lecture: Modern Improv Quilting and Process by Sherri Lynn Wood 7-8:30, Piedmont Center for the Arts, $5 entry fee. There will be door prizes!

 Feb 9: Textile Design Panel Discussion and Q&A, featuring Ellen Heck, Pati Fried, Sandy Klop, Jennifer Moore, Carol Van Zandt and moderated by Kim Andersson 12:30-1:30, Piedmont Center for the Arts

 Feb 10: Family Activity Day including quilting and design demos 12:00-2:30, Piedmont Center for the Arts

 Feb 13: Lecture: Threads of Transition, Patterns of Change: Rabari Appliquéd Textiles of India a lecture by Kristine Vejar 7-8:30, **To be held at A Verb for Keeping Warm**

 Feb 16: Sew SaturDay with East Bay Modern Quilt Guild 12-3, Piedmont Center for the Arts

If you can't make it out to see the show in person, you can see some pictures on the Stitch Modern Flickr group.

Stitch Modern - The Opening Night Extravaganza!

What makes Stitch Modern a better quilt show than any you've ever been to before?  We served wine!  Oh, and all the awesome people who helped make this show possible and the amazing quilts they put in it!

Food as Craft (thanks to Kristen Takakuwa!)

For those in the SF Bay area, the show will be up until the end of February.  Catch it Wed, Friday, and Sunday from 12-3 at the Piedmont Center for the Arts.  I'll be there this coming Wednesday night (February 8, 6:oo pm) helping to lead a public conversation exploring the topic of Modern Quilting.  There will be door prizes!

For those not in the area, you can catch the photos on Flickr.  I'm working on making a full gallery tour available online, but that hasn't happened yet, so stay tuned!

Stitch Modern

Me and my quilting compadres have been busy this week.  We have been installing our first group quilt show, Stitch Modern!

I admit, I was quite intimidated by the daunting task of arranging, hanging and promoting a show, but thanks to some very talented and visionary people,* it came out splendidly!

Planning.

Hanging.

Perfect!

*Birgit, Kim, Sharona, and everyone who put up with long strings of rambling e-mails and helped hang the quilts late into the night - THANK YOU!!!  And, none of this would have happened if it hadn't been for Birgit!

If you live in the San Francisco Bay Area, the show will be hanging through the end of February (You heard it here first: The show has been extended!) at the Piedmont Center for the Arts.   As well as visiting during gallery hours, we've planned some fun events.  Hope to see you there!

• Feb 4: 6:30pm-8:30pm  Saturday Opening Reception
• Feb 8: 6pm  What is Modern Quilting? Public Conversation (I'll be on the panel!)
• Feb 12: 12:30pm-2:30pm  Family Event: Make Your Own Quilt Square Ages 4+

And here's a little sneak peak!