That Idaho Beauty Block

Clockwise from upper left: Idaho Beauty, Washington Star, Wisconsin, California Snowflake

A few posts back, Sylvia mentioned that she was not familiar with the Idaho Beauty block, and to be honest, I don't think that in the many years I've been using it as my signature block and part of my e-mail address I've run into a single quilter who had heard of it. Like many quilt blocks, this design goes by several names, sometimes dependent on fabric and/or value placement, and according to Barbara Brackman's Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns (which my mother-in-law gave me in 1993), six in this case. I'm guessing that Devil's Claws is the most familiar name for it, but I can thank Clara Stone's 1906 Practical Needlework: Quilt Patterns for adding Idaho Beauty as a name for this block.  This wasn't the only block with Idaho in its name but it was the one I liked the most. And I can thank Barbara's book for leading me to the other 3 state blocks that I incorporated into the above quilt called Personal Geography: States I Have Lived In.

Close-up of hand quilting boldly done with blue thread

I made this quilt for a contest in 1994 for a sampler quilt contest sponsored by the now defunct Northwest Fabrics & Crafts store. I'd moved to Wisconsin with no plans to go back into the workforce, but instead to devote my time to really learning how to make quilts and about the history behind them, and this hometown store provided my first quilting fabrics. Once I'd gained some confidence and perfected some skills, I scoured the ads in the several quilting magazines I subscribed to for information on contests I could enter, both block contests and quilt contests. Yes, this was before you could find this sort of information on the internet and also before digital cameras and learning the finer points of taking evenly lit and square-on photos to submit with entry forms. (Click on any photo for a larger view.)

This photo shows a little of how the border was pieced

To my disappointment, it didn't get accepted into that contest, nor into several others I tried being held in other parts of the country, but it did get into several including ones in Florida and Asheville NC that included judging sheets with the returned quilt. I got surprisingly good marks for such a novice, but one judge did ding me on my not so mitered corners on the binding. After successfully overcoming several how-do-I-construct-this-idea-I-have challenges of the sashing and border, I could not figure out how to turn those binding corners which ended up somewhat rounded with tiny gathers. I convinced myself that I liked that look and decided to bravely go with it, but no judges were fooled. I now know there IS a way to make rounded corners and bind them and that wasn't it!

This was also before the availability of quilting software for designing, and I worked out my setting and borders on graph paper probably colored with felt pens or markers, and drew full size templates for the sashing and border pieces on newsprint (I still often do this). The idea for the compass sashing came to me, like so many other quilting solutions, while I was trying to fall asleep. As you can see in the photo above, I "auditioned" a striped border as well as the one I eventually used which seemed to echo the lines of the center compass. My husband noted that "your quilt is exploding, little pieces scattering everywhere", and I picked up on that idea in the description I submitted with my entries, saying "The octagonal border accentuates the feeling that the design is expanding, just as my horizons expand with each move." Marketing, I swear, it's all about marketing! The finishing touch was to ink with permanent pen all the addresses where I'd lived on the back of the quilt, matching them with the proper state block.

How do I know all this after all these years? Is my memory that good? I know all this because of the documentation file I filled out and placed in a binder with the other quilt documentation files I'd been keeping. I'd been doing a little of this, mostly notes on the back of photos, but at some point someone in one of those magazines I'd been reading talked about the importance of documenting your quilts and had pre-printed manila envelopes covering all the pertinent information you should note and giving you a place to store additional information, photos, patterns, judging sheets. Well, I'd been a secretary for so long that this was right up my alley, an aid to organization and filing. I ordered up a set and I was off. I soon devised a revised version of this original one, changing some of the categories to reflect better the sort of information I felt important. I've especially appreciated added fabric swatches as often the camera doesn't get the colors quite right. I've faithfully filled out these documentation files to this very day and am so happy I've taken the time. Where I once thought I'd never forget the details of each quilt I made, I now sometimes struggle just to remember their names. But with these files, here is the entire history of each quilt along with my thought processes and feelings as I worked through each. You can click on the photo above and below and know pretty much the full details and history of this quilt.

I often continue writing on the back

Before you ask, I think I've used this block in only one other quilt, just a single big block with a wide border. I've made a stamp of it though, to use on the back of framed pieces along with my information, and it shows up on my business cards and as my avatar on some sites. However, once I did get some quilt designing software, I mocked up a full-size quilt with just this block, in white and teal, with teal sashing and borders and star block cornerstones. Even have fabric set aside, but I've never gotten around to making it. Perhaps still some day . . .

Cobban Bridge Slice Quilt Done!

Historic Cobban Bridge Slice Quilt

I got an update this week regarding the collaborative slice quilt project I contributed to earlier in the year. It is now quilted and bound and at its first outing this weekend as an entry in the Chippewa Valley Quilt Guild show. Mary, who organizes this, sent along pictures for all of us to see how it finished out, and I am still amazed at how we managed to do a dawn to dusk transition across the 4 slices while working independently from the same photo.

Mary added some additional information in her email to us - be sure to look for these features when you click on the photos for a larger view. "If you zoom in, you will see the beautiful quilting Pat did. She did the bridge reflections on Wanda's and mine, but it is very subtle. She made many thread color changes also, as seen on the back side. Alice, thank you for doing the binding. She added some puffy 3D rocks to hers." Mary is also the one who found that marvelous bridge fabric for the backing.

The label on the back includes a photo transferred to fabric of the historic marker at the bridge site. Unfortunately, I understand the efforts to save this bridge from demolition were not successful. But it lives on in our quilt!

Meeting the ArtWalk Deadline

My application for this year's ArtWalk is due on Friday, so the weekend found me not quite frantically putting the last of the garnet stitching in this eighth leaf cluster. Frankly, I thought it would go more quickly since there are 4 clusters stamped on this 15" square rather than just one as in the other cluster using this stitch. I filled the bobbin 3 times and killed off the spool of Aurifil Thread I like to use in the bottom. I'm undecided about how to frame this one up, though. It was meant to be another one wrapped over a 10 X 10 canvas and slipped in a floater frame but I rather like the look of the full clusters with their tails curving to the outside.

Possible finishing of Leaf Cluster VIII - Sheila Mahanke Barnes ©2018

Friend Meg always reminds me that I do not have to submit photos of new work or even work I plan to exhibit and I know that to be true. POAC just needs to get a feel for the media and typical size of an applicant's art to help them choose the best venue for it. But if I did not use this first deadline to get my pieces I plan to exhibit mostly done, I'd be in real trouble come hanging day. I just get enough done so that I can take a photo that can have the frame or binding photo-shopped in, as I have done in the photo above. I didn't even think of the orientation when I pinned the quilt up and shot the photo. I think it needs to be quarter turned to the left. But the quilting is visible and I very well may finish it off this way rather than essentially crop a couple of inches off all round.

Fracture - Sheila Mahanke Barnes ©2011

I haven't gotten to the binding yet on Sway so up on the wall it went too, getting a photo-shopped binding and not worrying that in the end it may sport leaves. I did choose an older piece to submit as my third example, one that would look good with these new pieces and hasn't been out on the circuit in awhile. When I looked in the entry folder of that exhibit it was in, thinking I could just copy that photo to my application stuff, I noted I'd done the trick on it too. Fracture seen above ended up having sheer leaves added to it, like I plan to do with Sway, but the entry photo was taken before that happened. Such is the world of entering exhibits here. I could not get away with that if I was entering juried exhibits and most big quilt shows.

So the photo thing was taken care of yesterday and today I reworked an Artist Statement to better match what I think I will be showing. Finally, I filled out the application pdf and emailed everything off to POAC. So pleased I've made this the priority at the beginning of the week rather than doing it at the end last minute. I'm taking a break and working on a little bookbinding challenge (it was for April and I wouldn't let myself start until I had this ArtWalk stuff taken care of - Silly me thinking I could do it in a few hours at the end of the month) which I will share when it is a little farther along. And then I'll get that binding attended to and some more quilting done.

Wrapping up the Week

Yes, I bought yet another sketchbook. It sat on my coffee table for a week while I thought about how I might use it. Then it came to me - the anything goes sketchbook.

And yes, I signed up for a Sketchbook Skool class. Right in the midst of deadlines, I added something else to my plate.

What was I thinking, you well may ask? Well, in my constant quest for the "perfect" sketchbook, the video demoing this one implied it could very well be it. It's not recommended for wet media, but I trust the gal at Joggles who produces these videos of the products they sell, and she said as long as you went lightly, the pages could take some paint and ink. This has been my struggle with the sketchbooks I've tried - if they take wet media, then they don't work as well with pencil, and if they are great for colored pencils and pens, they will buckle with the least bit of moisture added. Frustrating when I want to spark up the colors or do blending when using the Inktense pencils or water soluble graphite. There are other features like that elastic band to keep it closed, and the size looked close to what I prefer, but I will not lie; the fact that it came in my signature teal green sealed the deal.

As for the class, I've passed up several at Sketchbook Skool because of timing. I just knew I had too many things going to devote to a class and that the class would probably be offered again when I'd be less busy. I'd watched the promo for this one (Exploring) and thought that yes, I could probably get a lot out of it but really, running mid April through May when I have this early June ArtWalk deadline, I'd be silly to sign up for it. And then the marketing genius e-mail arrived just days before the class was to begin: Did we mention, we'll NOT be repeating this class? It's now or never! I reviewed the course description again and checked to see what would be involved. Ah, it's an at your own pace class, with pdf's you can download, videos to watch, and all the material is available to students FOREVER (or at least as long as Sketchbook Skool exists on the internet). And again, I succumbed to a pitch.

Pencil and Pen hatching practice

The class includes sections using both wet and dry media so it didn't take me long to decide the anything goes journal would be used for the class assignments where, as the title of the class states, we will be exploring, and supposedly learning "fresh directions" for our sketchbooks. The paper in this sketchbook is quite different from any of my other sketchbooks. It almost feels coated and is very smooth yet the ink from my fountain pen flowed perfectly over it, not sitting on top of it; a Pigma pen works equally well. And a graphite pencil also likes the paper. Haven't tried erasing yet. I do love the size.

So I knew I could ignore the class while I worked toward my first ArtWalk deadline last Friday, and could then take a break to start reading through the materials. I suspected that the first section on creativity might be a lot of things I've already discovered and worked through, and I was right. Still, I found the material a good review, and there was at least one suggestion that was helpful enough that I drew a simple stick figure sketch in my sketchbook as a reminder -"Build a wall with a door between two parts of yourself, the maker and the judge. Shut the door and make stuff. . . open the door to show the judge what you've got...worse case scenario it's all junk, in which case you can close the door and go back to playing." Even in play, I often forget to silence the inner critique, and when something's on the line, like my printing session, the critic (or as the teacher calls it, the judge) looms large!

The meat of this lesson though was hatching/cross hatching. I've only worked with hatching a little and usually gave up on it to revert to regular shading. I did a page of practice hatching (see photo a few paragraphs up) after watching the teacher use various kinds on a drawing of a teacup. I was not quite prepared for my visceral reaction to teacup as subject, but after a month of drawing the mugs in my cupboard back in October, I find I cannot face another cup to draw! It was interesting though to watch him pointing out many things that I discovered on my own while drawing all those mugs.  Best of all, I can see how this lesson can be applied to the thread sketching I hope to do soon. I've chosen a different subject for my "homework" sketch, and might get to it this weekend.

I'll have to look at the lessons for this week as well, different teacher, different medium. But first I have to finish up the quilting on Leaf Cluster III. I opted for the lighter thread with the green cast and am very pleased with how this is working up. I pretty much need to finish one quilt a week, plus do a little more printing, to have the options I'll want when making the final choices and framing for what I'll submit to the exhibit.

Not a Sketchbook Skool assignment, but I've been wanting to add something to my Comforts Sketchbook for quite awhile. Having succumbed to yet another marketing ploy - the pies were on sale at my grocery store - I'd been working on this cherry pie for over a week (eating it, not drawing it). Was about to polish it off so took the time to do this sketch with colored pencils. This is a good example of paper that does not match the medium. Meant for multi-media, wet and dry, it's a little too textured so I can't get that smooth solid coverage that I can on a smoother paper. It helped to go over most of this with a colorless blending pencil. The pie pan is a bit out of shape but otherwise, I'm pretty pleased with my cherry pie slice.

Speaking of slices, surprising news came in the mail this week along with this photo. That slice quilt I participated in has won it's 3rd award in as many shows! The other two were 2nd place in its category but look at this, a blue ribbon at the quilt show in Muckwonago, WI! 

Panhandle Piecemakers Festival of Quilts - Part II

I most commonly view a quilt show with a slow wander, taking in the quilt as a whole, then leaning in to scrutinize details and the quilting itself, then stepping back again and reading any signage. That's what I was doing with this quilt, admiring all those small half-square triangle units while admitting with a sigh to another viewer how I used to really go in for this kind of small intricate piecing but now don't seem to have the patience (or perhaps recognize as I age that I'm running out of time!), then leaning in and noticing the quilting. Look! It's my swirls from Sea and Sand, only I bet this quilter didn't have to mark hers.

And then I looked at the signage and saw a familiar name - Renee who follows my blog and who I was hoping to meet that day (which I did). It was such a pleasure to be admiring a quilt and discover it was by someone I knew (or sort of know - I'm sure we'll get to know each other better now that we've met). She has a mid-arm machine on a frame, I believe she said, that she used to quilt this and admitted to the same occasional veering off track I experienced even with my marking. You'd never know it.

Here's another one of Renee's that I was drawn to before realizing it was hers. That woman got lots of ribbons that weekend.

The Modern Quilt movement has not bypassed our area.

Many "modern" quilts are quilted with parallel vertical or horizontal lines. This quilter took advantage of those odd negative shapes to quilt hers a bit differently, which I liked.

This one struck me as influenced by the modern quilt movement too, even though it uses a very traditional block. Maybe it's that intense solid turquoise background (a color I really love - I might not have kept coming back to this quilt had the background been a different one). Wouldn't it look great in a home in the Southwest?

It was so intensely quilted but in a way sympathetic to the pieced design.

One corner of the exhibit was devoted to their featured quilter, Carol Beber. If you click on the picture, you can read the article.

I spent some time talking with her about this quilt which she made for her husband per his request, her technique for joining the tumbling blocks, the search for an elusive color for one of the diagonals (haven't we all been through this?) and of course, those mariner compass blocks in the corners. Like me, she too follows Judy Mathieson's methods for making these.

Finally, I leave you with this quilt (not shown in its entirety), simply because it amused me so, thinking of my experiences with raccoons in Wisconsin and at the first place I rented when I moved back to Idaho. 

Another thing I'm a bit out of the loop on is the many commercial prints on the market. Back in the 90's when I made my first pilgrimage to Paducah, KY for the American Quilt Society Show, I had the chance to shop at Hancock's of Paducah (no affiliation with Hancock Fabrics which has recently gone out of business). They had rows and rows and rows and rows of Hoffman prints, and I was told I could probably find anything I was looking for within their massive line. Butterflies, dogs, fruits and vegetables of every kind, ditto for flowers. Well, Hancocks and Hoffman failed me that day, as I was looking for something with horses on it and there was none to be found. Ever since then, though, I've sort of paid attention to the vast array of things that end up on fabric available to quilters. The raccoons I didn't know about and I think they are great.

Whether the quilter found the fabric first, then the intricate paper piecing pattern, or the other way around, I bet she thought she'd hit the jackpot! I'm sure she was excited to have these two come together in her life. I'm guessing her grandson just loves it.

Hope you enjoyed this slice of traditional quilt life in my local area. 

Panhandle Piecemakers Festival of Quilts - Part 1

I promised to share some of my favorites from the recent local quilt show put on by the Panhandle Piecemakers, and here they are. Please click on any photo for a larger view to fully enjoy the details in these quilts. Let me first say that it has been too long since I've attended a judged quilt show, so was immediately struck by all the ribbons! At the exhibits I'm involved in, no ribbons are given, the "red dot" indicating a sale our near equivalent perhaps.

This first quilt caught my eye because of those lovely quilted feathers. It took me awhile to realize that the quilts in this section were part of a guild challenge, one where the color palette and featured block would be determined by the quilter's initials. What a clever idea! What would your quilt look like if you took this challenge?

This is another one from the challenge. Several things about this appealed, from the central portion of the quilt being surrounded by an unusually large expanse of light solid fabric, to the colors in the blocks, to the way an oh so familiar traditional block was transformed into something quite modern in feel by the placement of those colors.

It shouldn't be a surprise that I liked this quilt. Mariner Compass quilts have always been a favorite and I've made my share of them. Love the colors and the pairing with the flying geese blocks. Many of the quilts in this show did use commercial patterns as their jumping off point, and there's no shame in that. I used to be quite familiar with what was out there and so could recognize how closely a quilter had adhered to the design and its suggested colors but I am no longer in that loop. So I can't tell who to credit for the palettes in many of these quilts, the maker or the designer. Regardless, one can see the work and expertise of the quilter in these, and this along with others brought a smile to my face. That's the important part in a show like this.

I thought this one quite lovely and then noticed where the idea came from - a painting, a postcard of it displayed as well for comparison. I think she did a fine job of rendering it in fabric.

I've not used this particular technique, although I am familiar with it. I think it was a great choice.

I am SO not a cat person, but how could I not be impressed with this beauty?

The hand painting topped off by exquisite quilting brought this cat alive.

And here's one for the dog lovers - another quilt that brought the biggest smile to my face. I know several Corgi owners who are so enthusiastic about the breed even as I sort of scratch my head at the love for these short-legged canines. 

Yet, I felt this quilter really captured that love in a beautiful tribute to her own Corgi.

As a fan of Celtic designs, I was quite taken with those additions to the quilt. And the fairies? Well, I did not know that bit of legend.

Ok then. After you spend time soaking in these quilts, stay tuned for more in the next post.