Today's Show and Tell

Yvette Howard's triplet grandchildren have created two baby quilts this week for their former nanny's expected twins.  The two tops are colorful, original and SO happy.  What a wonderful gift...for both receivers and makers.  Well done!

Another Opening...another Show

Tuneful, no?  We are celebrating our final exhibit of our packaged exhibit, Double Take.  It has been on the road for three years now, primarily along the CT shoreline.  Yesterday, however, it made it out of state to Easthampton MA where member Gail Kotowski secured a venue at the Williston Northampton School's Grubb Gallery.

Check out the other photos at www.dianewrightquilts.blogspot.com.

Yvette Howard's piece with inspiration photo by Rosemary DeLucco Alpert

Janine Anderson-Bays' and Debbie Bento's pieces with inspiration photos by Rosemary DeLucco Alpert

Evelyn Judson's  and Diane Wright's pieces with inspiration photos by Rosemary DeLucco Alpert

Gail Kotowski's and Diane Wright & Linda Zimmerman's pieces with inspiration photos by Rosemary DeLucco Alpert

Barb Adams' , Robin Wolek's and Marie Shepherd's pieces with inspiration photos by Rosemary DeLucco Alpert

Vivika's Largess

Janine, friend Claire, Marie and Debbie on all fours

Our fellow Sister Vivika decided to clear out her fabric stash.  I just love when this happens….there are SO many smiling faces digging into the bins.  It's not like any of us 'need' any more fabric.   Heck, 'need' hardly ever plays a part in our love of fabric.

Marie and the usually very restrained Carol

Happy Campers.  Fortunately I convinced everyone I was THE photographer, thus shielding evidence of my plunder

Thank you, Vivika!!  You know we will put it all to good use…and/or admire your beautiful contributions to our stashes.

Preview of SAQA/CT's "Local Color"

Our group was over the moon when the acceptances of SAQA/CT's were released by the jurors for Local Color!  Eight of us received the 'fat envelope'!!

Gail Kotowski's Metropolis

I have images of four:  

My Town Green

Barb Adams' Winter Marsh

This group entry (Diane Wright, Gail Kotowski, Barb Adams, Linda Zimmerman, Yvette Howard and Robin Wolek) was especially fun for us.  We love working on group projects: Whoever can, participates.  We always know that life gets in the way for us all, so it's usually 6-8 members who are available at any one time.  This time it was 6.

Hartford's Colt Dome

We had decided that we wanted to find a 'ultra' iconic image.  After not hearing from the Colt Dome Trustees for permission to use their online image, I decided to do the Little Red Hen thing and do it myself.  Well, myself with my husband David, the designated photographer.  While I was the designated driver, and he the photographer, we picked a clear day and made many 'passes' on I91 to capture images of the Hartford skyline that included the Colt Dome.  It was at times like this that you wish you had a helicopter.

Carol Ludington, and Ruth Anne Olson  also had entries accepted.  What fun!

Busy Week

Robin Wolek with her two

Instead of our usual meeting, today a few of us decided to drive into New Haven to see our Indigo exhibit at 300 George Street.  The walls are a perfect fit for our collection.  The lighting is wonderful.  There is a lot of foot traffic. All in all a wonderful place to be.

Marie Shepherd admiring Janine Anderson-Bayes' Bunny Tales

Yvette Howard next to hers (and in front of Diane's)

This last photo is courtesy of Margaret Sheehan, the SAQA NH and VT co-rep.  Last Saturday we all came from all over New England to hear Martha Sielman's (second from L seated) very informative talk about the Masters 2 Art Quilt exhibition now on display at the New England Quilt Museum in Lowell, MA.  'Sister' Barb Adams and I drove up (two seated on R) with Kate Themel (directly behind us).  What a wonderful day it was!

Conn Text: Word(s) Challenge Revealed

“Conn Text” Challenge

We created a challenge open to all current and former members of Sisters in Cloth, aka Gone to Pieces, or aka Newcomer’s Quilting.

Parameters:

Our challenge is “word”. It can be interpreted to be a word, text; it can be inspiration drawn from a poem, literature, whatever inspires you by the word “word”.

1. Each piece will be three attached layers, 20” in width and up to, but no larger than, 48” in height.

2. Each piece will be faced (not bound).

3. Each participant is responsible for affixing her piece to black stretcher bars.

4. Each piece will contain at least one letter or character.

5. The work may be of mixed media, but should contain fabric.

6. Drop dead deadline is June 11, 2010

These were the instructions and yesterday was the reveal day which didn't start out all that

auspicious. I had a power failure at my house and, at the last minute, had to find another meeting place. We all congregated at a local tea shop.

The top photo is Yvette's Connections, a playful work using Jean Ray Laurie's color-form figures.

Next is Ruth Anne's sublime sunset with her quote embroidered on the top. fiberartbyruthanne.blogspot.com

Third, in an almost completed state, is Linda Z's (and I should have written down her quote...duh) zimmermandezigns.blogspot.com

These three are

followed by pieces in a decidedly more serious tone.

Barb's (not quite finished) piece is a scene from her daily walks from her house to the nearby beach where many of the residences have no trespassing signs of various types.

The signs are yet to be attached.

Gail's Justice is a montage of the men in her family (and herself) who served The Law along with photographs of landmark decisions. Her grandfather was a well known defense attorney, her brother a forensic scientist, and her father a court officer. (Gail is also an attorney). artandfiber.com

For some reason unknown to me I can only post six photos...the others disappear. SOOoooo...I will post Martha's and Evelyn's on the next post. Stay tuned. They are among the "heavily meaningful".

Art Quilts Off The Wall

There we were, right there on the first page of Front Porch News section in the Record-Journal, Sunday, May 23. Sisters in Cloth had been asked by Program Chair Sandy Parsons to provide the evening's event...it's what we humorously call our Dog and Pony Show...for the Heritage Quilt Guild.

This was the third time regional quilt guilds have asked us to come and show them the what's and why's of "art" quilts. And we are ever so happy to have the opportunity!

In a happy coincidence the evening was also their celebration of their 25th anniversary and the revealing of their Twenty five years/Twenty five pieces Challenge. As we knew they would be focusing on their challenge we brought some of ours, specifically the Photo Challenge that was exhibited last year at the Guilford Art Center and later at the Guilford Library.

We started the talk with one of our first challenges. Inspired by a gorgeous quilt hanging in Yvette Howard's entry Hidden Wells, we all made one...or many...Hidden Wells, a Mary Ellen Hopkin's specialty some time ago.

I don't know the names of their makers but here are two good examples of the MANY members who participated in their Challenge. It was just wonderful that such a huge percentage of their membership joined in!

This woman had designed this "25" VERY effectively.

Barb Adams was the only other Sister who could attend the evening with me. She, naturally, was a big hit...she is very comfortable in front of a crowd and they loved her. She brought her beautiful journals that she makes for her trips....and her new stash of them that she has made for her church fundraiser.

Birthday Traditions

Yvette Howard shared her lovely handmade gifts with the Sisters at our last meeting. We had started a tradition of each giving the "birthday girl" a fat quarter of fabric on her special day, but this year we decided that the birthday girl should do the giving. So far we have had lovely pins, cards, beautiful fabric, and fun trims. Yvette has now raised the bar with her amazing packaging she made using a die cutting machine and lots of imagination. We love our butterflies and posies so much, and the packaging is out of this world!

Spot the Sisters

Linda Zimmerman, Yvette Howard, Diane Wright and Debbie Bento all attended my opening at Chroma Gallery in Guilford, CT last Thursday night. It was an exciting evening with about 200 guests enjoying the fused glass, woven rugs and lovely quilts made by three Guilford artists who all belong to the Shoreline Arts Trail. After a few hours of lively conversation and a glass or two of wine, I started taking photos of the attendees... Using the rules of "Where's Waldo", see if you can spot Diane, Yvette and Debbie... Thankfully I was behind the lens and not in front of it!

Excitement is Mounting

The Sisters in Cloth are getting ready for their unveling of a new show in May at the Guilford Art Center. Fifteen photos will be transferred to cloth, resulting in 75 small quilts. April 24 was the "Drop Dead Day" to complete the quilts and ready them for photography. MOST are done, some are in progress, but we can't wait to share the final results! Here are two members, Barbara Coleman Adams and Yvette Howard, admiring a few of the little gems.