Portland Public Library

'Inspiration-Transformation', the collection of quilts created by members of Art Quilts Maine in response to 2011's challenge, are on display at Portland Public Library, in the children's area, through the end of February. The challenge, taken up by 15 guild members, was to create a quilt inspired by your favorite children's book. Books selected ranged from Miss Rumphius to Go Dog Go. While some artists chose the same book as their favorite, the resulting quilts could not be more different. The renovated Library is wonderful, and the children's section lends itself beautifully to art, with wall space above the book shelves and plenty of  natural light. If you are in Portland, you must really try to stop in!

Quilt gallery and quilts for sale at: http://community.webshots.com/user/roconnorquilts

Photo from the Show

File Under Fiber's blog post from Nov. 6 includes a photo of Mom and Auntie Jean play Gin at the Nashua, NH show, A Quilter's Gathering. The quilt took second in the category, "Reflection of Theme." What theme? Sisterhood Swirls. I was talking to Mom yesterday and she said she and Jean had played the same game since way back when our families used to vacation together at the Caspian. Although she said is wasn't really Gin Rummy, they called it Crazy Rummy. Go figure. Got some great comments from the judges as well. "Fascinating to explore this beautiful piece: and "So much attention to detail is appreciated" were two comments that made me happy. Hope to hang this one back up in Mom's apartment before long.  

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News from New Hampshire!

A friend just called to say that her sister went to The Quilter's Gathering show in New Hampshire this weekend and 'Mom and Aunti Jean play Gin' had a ribbon attached! Very awesome. She says I won "Best interpretation of the theme" which was Sisterhood Swirls. Can't wait to get the 'official' notification. I had two quilts in the show, this one and 'Bali Bloom', the big pink flower with beading. You can see it in the slideshow on my sidebar. Made my week!
Quilt gallery and quilts for sale at: http://community.webshots.com/user/roconnorquilts

It's Official!

 On a lark I suggested to a friend that we offer to teach a class this fall. Well, a conversation or two later, and here we are! The blurb below is from the Sew Portland site, where we will be teaching. Wow!

Not Your Grandmother's Sampler Quilt! ( 6 to 8:30 )

Beginners will learn to select fabrics, piece a variety of blocks, and assemble a quilt with Rana O'Connor and Linda Morrisette in this 6 session class. Class begins Tuesday October 11 at 6 to 8:30 and continues through November. $60 plus materials; no book or pattern purchase required. More than a beginner? You can benefit from Rana and Linda's expertise and "outside the box" approach.
Event Location: Portand


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Three Wishes

I took a class this summer with a quilter I have long admired, Katie Pasquini Masopust, called Ghost Layers and Colorwashes. We worked on a practice piece, learning to draw the elements, then add floating 'ghost' layers and set brush strokes of colorwash behind the piece. We also brought in photos and began drawing the pattern for a quilt of our own based on the techniques learned in class. I finally finished the practice piece. It's called "Three Wishes" and has three leafy shapes floating on the purple and yellow strokes of color. Katie PM gave each of us a piece of wool batting to use with our practice pieces. I had never quilted with wool batting before. It has some great qualities--very light, and the quilting shows because any areas not quilted down kind of puff up. I totally did not expect the thread-painted leaves to be quite so puffy--my usual batts would not have created such pillow-like effects! The brush strokes of color seemed to need some connection to the quilt so I added a few beads. Next stop: finish my pattern and get started on a bigger piece using this technique--I am thinking of calling it "Lightning Bug Light". You'll see.

Quilt gallery and quilts for sale at: http://community.webshots.com/user/roconnorquilts

Publisher's Weekly

The touring show, "Inspiration Transformation", the series of quilts based on favorite children's books, is on display at Devaney Doak & Garrett Booksellers in Farmington this month. Judith Rosen of Publishers Weekly took notice and wrote a great article about the exhbit. Click here to read all about it!

Quilt gallery and quilts for sale at: http://community.webshots.com/user/roconnorquilts

VOTE Online for Bali Bloom

I entered an online quilt contest! The theme this week is quilts with flowers. Of course I thought of Bali Bloom, with that one big pink hibiscus flower and sparkly beads. Take a minute between Friday morning and midnite Sunday to head over to the Quilting Gallery and vote for your favorite flower quilt. It is all in fun.

On another front, the Art Quilts Maine travelling quilt show, Inspiration Transformation opened at Devanny Doak and Garrett Booksellers this week with some great publicity. There were stories in the Sun Journal and the Daily Bulldog, and an article is in the works for Publishers Weekly Children's Bookshelf, an online newsletter about the children's book business. You may recall the 16 quilts in this travelling show were inspired by favorite children's books. It is awesome to be a part of this talented group of artists.   

Quilt gallery and quilts for sale at: http://community.webshots.com/user/roconnorquilts

AQM Travelling Show

I don't think it was the intention when the Art Quilts Maine guild chose this year's challenge that we would create a travelling show, but as it turns out, the theme is a natural fit with bookstores and libraries, so why not? The 15 quilts were inspired by our favorite children's books. They debuted at the Maine Quilt Show in Augusta and will open this week at DDG Booksellers in Farmington. From there, the quilts will be at the Saco library for two months this fall, and finally at the Portland Public Library (in the children's section) for early 2012. Mine is based on The Secret Garden and is called, "Being Alive is the Magic," a quote from the book. Maybe you will have the chance to see this collection of quilts and see if you can guess what book each is based on!

Quilt gallery and quilts for sale at: http://community.webshots.com/user/roconnorquilts

Happy Dance!

Today's mail arrived with a self-addressed envelope. That could only be good news! And it was. The quilt, "Mom and Aunti Jean play Gin" will be headed to New Hampshire immediately after the Maine Quilt show for World Quilt Show New England. It is pretty exciting to get in to this juried event. Just to remind you, here is a photo of the finished quilt. I am so glad it will finally be out in the world.

Quilt gallery and quilts for sale at: http://community.webshots.com/user/roconnorquilts

Fiber Arts Tour Weekend

46 fiber art studios and farms statewide will open their doors and offer special demonstrations for the Fiber Arts Tour Weekend, August 5, 6, 7 from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Weaving studios, cashmere farms, yarn spinneries, galleries and supply shops will offer craft demonstrations, hands-on workshops, farm tours, and crafts for children. Activities are detailed online at http://www.mainefiberarts.org/ or in a printed 2011 Fiber Arts Tour Weekend brochure. The event is part of the ongoing Maine Fiberarts Tour Map listing 134 sites to visit all year long. Free maps and brochures are available by visiting Maine Fiberarts, 13 Main Street, Topsham, ME 04086, 207-721-0678, fiberarts@gwi.net.

See a selection of 2011 Weekend images at:

http://gallery.me.com/fiberarts#100024&view=mosaic&sel=0

See a list of destinations open for the Fiber Arts Tour Weekend at:

http://www.mainefiberarts.org/

Quilt gallery and quilts for sale at: http://community.webshots.com/user/roconnorquilts

Deadline Looming

Working on a piece that is due next Saturday. I decided to join a challenge, knowing it would put me under a deadline and that I would stress about getting it done in time. The top is complete, though. With the quilting left to do, I may have a shot. Especially if I don't get too detailed with the quilting. Can't reveal much until after we show them to the group, but I can say it is a quilt based on my favorite children's book, "A Secret Garden." The design process was really fun. I made a list of items, phrases, images from the book, then narrowed the list down to 5--although now that it's done, I think I ended up with 7. It's a little cluttered, like an English country style living room. I had just enough beautiful green dupioni silk to complete the border. Photo to follow, soon!

Quilt gallery and quilts for sale at: http://community.webshots.com/user/roconnorquilts

At the Seashore

Completed a wallhanging today commissioned by a friend. She is off to meet her new grandson soon and rather than a quilt, which I made for her other grandkids, decided on a wallhanging. The nursery has a sailboat theme, so the boats were the inspiration. A lighthouse for Maine seemed appropriate; the whale and starfish were my friend's idea. Fun touches included tiny buttons edging the starfish arms and a few sequins to make the whale spout sparkle.

Quilt gallery and quilts for sale at: http://community.webshots.com/user/roconnorquilts

Food Wine and Beer

The quilt for Tara and Missy is done! I tried out a curved edge and bias binding, and finished it by machine, which saved mucho time, and for a quilt that will not be hung in a show, turns out to be a fine option. It was fun making the food and wine blocks and adding the bubbling circles. The quilting, done in bright variegated thread, turned circles into flowers and suns, with feathers wandering across blocks of oranges, beer steins or mushrooms, and a dark blue thread filling in the background. A thank you to Heather for the idea of a curvy edge which not only harmonized with the circles, but pulled the quilt together in a whimsical way.

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Top Pieced and Ready

The Foodie Quilt top is completed--except for the border, that is. Here's a shot so you can see the various sized appliqued circles. I've pieced a back as well, and there is almost No fabric left--had to dig out a few other pieces to make a big enough back--I'll post a shot of that as well. The blue/white fabric on the back is covered in foodie words, "wine, pasta, poach, crab, fry, daily special."  The plan is to make a scalloped border, which will be a bit of a challenge. I've never tried the whole bias binding bit. The girls got to see it tonight when they came by to make us dinner--LOVE it when they cook for us. Tonight was fish two ways, roast potatoes, salad--you would think, oh that's a simple meal, but you would be wrong.

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This one's for T

My daughter and her girlfriend moved into a new apartment this fall. Nice place, old victorian building intown. Those lovely old windows don't do much to keep out the cold, though. They asked for a new quilt please. Since they both work in the restaurant business, a foodie quilt seemed like a natural choice. I lucked into several fat quarters of Farmer's Market fruits and vegetables, and the quilt evolved from there. Spent the weekend piecing, so I wanted to share it with you so far. There is a little nest of thread on the rather electric blue background--just testing out a multicolored variegated quilting possibility--meant to brush it off before I photographed, sorry!

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Quilting Details

It took a few days, but here is a shot of some of the quilting on the 'Best Friends' quilt. Still not quite sure what I am going to call this piece, but 'Best Friends' works for now. In this shot you can see the tablecloth, with sheer organza over the part that is in the direct path of the overhead light. The wine glasses got a wash of paint, a hint of glitter, then a layer of tulle. The cards are drawn with pigma pens on muslin, then pressed to set the markers. Where the tablecloth drops, you can see a thick band of thread paint to delineate the edge of the table top. Finally, the hands and arms are raw-edge applique with thread painted details. See the shadow of the arm? That is a piece of fabric under the organza--it added just the right quality. I hope to have the embellishments done and the piece ready for exhibit soon. I definitely plan to have it at Maine Quilts this summer--maybe other venues if something looks promising.

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New Quilt

Here is a sneak peak at the new quilt I am laying out. The next two quilts up are both bed quilts. This one is to replace the king size quilt on our bed, which has totally frayed. In the planning stages is a bed quilt for my eldest, who wants an upgrade from old and faded twin to a new queen size. This design took shape when I bid on and won a packet of dupioni silks at the guild meeting. Beautiful jewel tones--what to do with them? I pulled lots of batiks, and came up with the idea--intially of all little squares, randomly laid out, but as it has developed, there are 5 blocks--at this point still randomly scattered. The size of the basic unit was determined by a collection of batik strips I bought at the quilt show we went to in New Hampshire this fall. Since the strips are 2 1/2 inches wide, I went with blocks that finish out to 8 inches square. The 5 blocks are an Ohio Star, 4-patch, Double 4-Patch, Puss in the Corner, and 16-patch. Can you find them? With just over half the blocks pieced, I am loving the rich, warm tones in this top!

Quilt gallery and quilts for sale at: http://community.webshots.com/user/roconnorquilts