Weeks Dye Works

Let me introduce you to a great North Carolina company, Weeks Dye Works. If you embellish quilts, embroider, needlepoint, punchneedle, rug hook, or make wool appliqué projects or penny rugs, you are going to want to know them.

I met Miranda Weeks McGahey (below) and her husband John at Fall Quilt Market in Houston, where I was drooling over their spectacular varigated embroidery threads and perle cottons. (Some of the ones that came home with me are shown above, and now I want more! more! more!) must... have... more...



Miranda started dyeing fabric and thread in her apartment bathtub in 1992, after graduating from the School of Design at North Carolina State University. Today, her company has 10 full time and 9 part time employees. They have a 6,000-square-foot facility in Garner, N.C., and do 13,000 dye baths a day!

Weeks makes a bunch of wonderful products: over-dyed, 6-stranded cotton embroidery floss; hand-dyed wool fabric; size 40 sewing thread; and perle cotton (sizes #3, #5 and #8). And as you can see from my photo at the top, the colors are rich, with subtle color variations. I’ve used them in some recent free-style embroidery work, and in punch-needle embroidery, and I absolutely love them!

Weeks does not sell to individual customers on their website; they only sell wholesale. But you can find retailers across the U.S. and around the world on their “Find a Retailer” webpage. If you go to some of the bigger quilt shows, you can often find their products in booths selling punch-needle or embroidery designs and threads.

Another chance to win my book!

Here’s an opportunity to get a copy of my new book, Applique Petal Party, for free! Appliqué artist extraordinaire Kay Mackenzie is giving away an autographed copy to one lucky person who leaves a comment on her blog post before the ghouls come out to play on Halloween evening.

If you’ve never visited Kay’s blog, All About Appliqué, you are in for a treat. Great tips for appliqué; beautiful quilts; and links to quilt organizations, appliqué designers and pattern companies. Kay is the author of a bunch of books (most recently, Easy Appliqué Blocks by That Patchwork Place/Martingale) and produces patterns through her company, Quilt Puppy.

And she is a very sweet person to boot!

Judging day for the Lake Norman Quilters’ show

Today was judging day for the Lake Norman Quilters’ show, which is this Friday and Saturday in Mooresville, NC. It is going to be a beautiful show, with more than 230 quilts. If you are in the area, I do hope you’ll come!



Friday, Oct. 30 and Saturday, Oct. 31
9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
East Mooresville Intermediate School
1711 Landis Highway, Mooresville NC 28115

If you’ve never participated in the judging process, here’s a little peek at what goes on. First, all the quilts are grouped together by category (with all the large pieced bed-size quilts in one pile, the appliquéd wall hangings in another pile, etc.). They all have little tags on them with their numbers:


Each pile is placed on a large table in front of the judge, with each quilt opened out flat. Each is held up for the judge (here’s my friend DeLane holding one up) so he or she can get an overall look at the design:


The quilts, sorted by category, were stacked on tables at the edge of the room:


They ranged in style from contemporary to traditional:


The judges carefully consider the overall design, use of color and fabrics, techniques, quilting, finishing and binding, and give each a score, which typically ranges from a check minus (meaning it needs work) to a plus-plus (exceptional). Here, certified quilt judge Carol Larimer examines the back of a pieced quilt:




A scribe (someone from the quilting group) records the scores on a special form, and also writes down the judge’s comments. Here, certified quilt judge Scott Murkin (left) judges a quilt while Jean Newman scribes. It looks like Scott’s just said something funny (which he does a lot):


Scott pinches the binding to see that it is filled with batting, neatly stitched, and firmly attached to the quilt:


The judge then either releases a quilt (meaning that it is not in the running for a ribbon) or asks that the quilt be held. After judging all the quilts in the category, the held quilts are examined one more time, and the judge names the first, second, third places and honorable mention. He or she may also ask that a quilt be set aside for one of the special ribbons (Best of Show, Best Use of Color, Best Hand Quilting, Judge’s Choice, etc.) that the quilt group has decided to issue.

At the very end, the judges work together to assess quilts set aside for consideration for special ribbons and decide the winners:


It was a fun day. Here are some of the people left at the very end of the judging (from left:) Grace Howes, DeLane Rosenau, Joyce Mullis, Susan Dunne-Lederhaas, Cindy Magee, Cheryl Campbell, Barbara Barrier, Michele Sheets. There were a lot more people who volunteered for the day, but I only got photos of this group. It takes a lot of people to produce a quilt show!


If you need directions to the show or want more information, please go to the webpage for our group. It contains a down-loadable PDF with a map and general information.

ATCs from International Quilt Festival

As promised, here is a shot showing all the ATCs I traded for at International Quilt Festival a few weeks ago. What fun! The swap was hosted by Quilting Arts and Cloth Paper Scissors magazines, and took place in the Make It University/Open Studios area on the convention center floor.

In this shot, Michele Muska talks about her work as part of Open Studios, and you can see the ATC trade wall in the background:


Lots of the cards I traded for came from people in Texas, but a few came from farther away. This is the first time I’ve ever participated in an ATC swap. I only met a handful of the people whose cards came home with me. Here’s some of the information on the back of the cards about the artists:

First column (far left):
1. Stalker by Ruth Steinhagen
2. Yellow Flower by Linn Shimek
3. Go raibh maith agat by Colette in the UK (Gaelic for thank you)
4. Secret Agent by Kim DeCosto

Second column:
1. "Wishing for Fall Foliage" by Lou Castaneda of Austin, Texas
2. Love flower by Katie of Flying Woman Studio, Austin, Texas
3. "Paris for Jesse" (7 of 36) by Colleen Bouchard
4. "Vintage Garden" by Ann Mays

Third column:
1. Cake by Kaye Martindale
2. Moth by Jennifer L of Waller, Texas
3. Yellow flower by Katie of Flying Woman Studio, Austin, Texas
4. Green by Lyric Kinard of Raleigh, NC

Fourth column:
1. Fish by Madalyn Sibley, 10 years old ("I love art!")
2. "Cassy Zinnia" by Lynn Shimek of Sebring, Florida
3. Green by Ann Buzzalino of Calgary, Alberta, Canada
4. Red and gold by Nicole Rivera of Fresno, Texas
5. Witch by Deb Morley of Hockley, Texas
6. "35 and Counting" by Dorothy Cochran of Lufkin, Texas

Fifth column:
1. Men on moon by Ruth Swinhagen
2. 35 Years at the Big Dance" by Sherry BOram
3. Bee by Lori Bedo of Jacksonville, Florida
4. Butterfly by Lori Bedo of Jacksonville, Florida
5. Gold on gold by Nicole Rivera of Fresno, Texas
6. Boo by Lynn Shimek of Sebring, Florida

Sixth column:
1. "Paris for Jesse" (28 of 36) by Colleen Bouchard
2. Black stalks by Kate Kline of Tulsa, Oklahoma
3. Yukon Sam by Ruth Swinhagen
4. Space girl by Sharon of Houston, Texas

Here are the cards I made and traded:


Sharon, the artist who created the last card on my list, got one of my ATCs, and posted about it on her blog, E14Studio. Cool.

Citra Solv photo transfer

Today I experimented with a photo transfer process I'd heard about that uses Citra Solv, a citrus-based cleaning solvent. The Citra Solv website has information about this and several other applications for artists here. I had trouble finding this product in my local grocery stores, but finally located it in an upscale Harris Teeter supermarket near me.

Let me walk you through what I did. First, I took this old 1940s photo of my dad (on the right) and my uncle, and flipped it horizontally (mirror image) in Photoshop, and printed it out about 4" wide on my laser printer.



Then I photocopied this image, using a photocopier with toner (inkjet and laser don't work) on the “photo” setting. I pinned it face down to some Pimatex (tightly woven 100% cotton fabric by Robert Kaufman), and then placed it on top of a fairly thick layer of old newspaper:


I brushed on the Citra Solv. The image starts to appear on the wrong side of the paper because the solvent makes it more translucent:


Once it was saturated, I burnished it with a spoon to transfer the toner (made liquid by the Citra Solv) onto the fabric. The newspapers are a good surface because they are not too firm, so the spoon can sink in a bit as you rub:


Here’s the finished result. It’s a bit light. Perhaps I didn’t burnish it enough? Or use enough solvent?


Hmmm.... let’s try again. I started with a photo that has lots more dark areas (yep, that’s me, younger and wrinkle-free!). This photo was taken by Patrick Schneider (the same photographer who took the fun photos of me wrapped up in my quilts):


I did the same thing as before, but applied more solvent and burnished harder and longer. Much better results!


After this, you are supposed to iron the piece. The directions in the link from the Citra Solv website say that it is then machine washable (and won’t even come off with bleach).

Leaves … and a poem

I’ve been obsessing a bit about leaves lately. I'm planning a series of pieces all based on extreme closeups of leaves, so I’ve been aiming my camera at every leaf I can find. This morning I swooned over these beauties on my doorstep after a hard rain last night. They made me think of this poem, one of my favorites by Robert Frost. It seems to perfectly capture the melancholy nature of the season:

Nothing Gold Can Stay
by Robert Frost

Nature’s first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf’s a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.

A chance to win my new book!

C&T Publishing is giving away a copy of my book, Appliqué Petal Party, on their blog. Leave a comment at the end of the post, and you might win! You must leave your comment before 9 a.m. Pacific Standard time on Monday, Oct. 26 to be eligible for the drawing.

http://www.ctpubblog.com/2009/10/20/applique-petal-party-giveaway

The post also includes a little interview of me (or as C&T calls it “ the low-down on [Susan] and her new release.”)

This is “Pink Petal Party,” the quilt featured in the book:

My favorite season

Fall is my favorite time of year, and Halloween is my favorite day (it’s also my birthday, which is probably part of the reason why). Today I went out in search of autumn color and texture at my local farm stand, Carrigan Farms in Mooresville, NC.

Vivid oranges, blues, yellows, purples and reds in pumpkins and gourds to make your soul sing:





I take a lot of photos year round. These photo shoots provide fodder for my work. A shot of mini-pumpkins I took several years ago was the idea behind this piece, “Autumn’s Bounty,” which won a spot in the 2010 Quilting Arts Calendar (they used it for October, of course!):


And this piece, “Indian Corn,” is also based on a photo:


Now’s the perfect time to shoot pumpkins, jack-o-lanterns, gourds, leaves, cute kids in Halloween costumes, and fall foliage, so don’t miss this opportunity to snap photos to inspire projects in the months ahead!

Upcoming events at The Mint Museum locations

If you live in the Charlotte area, don't miss these upcoming events listed below. They are being held in conjunction with American Quilt Classics, 1800-1980: The Bresler Collection, showing at The Mint Museum of Craft + Design now through February 6, 2010. The collection includes spectacular examples of Baltimore Album quilts, crazy quilts, Chintz pictorial quilts, Amish quilts and log cabin quilts.


Quilting Demonstration
Local quilt artists Claudia Reynolds (pictured above), Patti Cline and Cindy Page will demonstrate various techniques found in the extraordinary examples in American Quilt Classics, 1800-1980: The Bresler Collection.
Tuesday, October 27, 12:00–1:30 pm
at The Mint Museum of Craft + Design (uptown Charlotte)
FREE!



Curator’s Tours with Annie Carlano, Director of Craft + Design, Allie Farlowe, Assistant Curator of Craft + Design, and Michelle Mickey, Curatorial Assistant of Craft + Design
Space is limited, registration requested with Karen Vidamo 704-337-2098 or Karen.vidamo@mintmuseum.org
Free for Mint members, or after admission
at The Mint Museum of Craft + Design (uptown Charlotte)
Select Thursdays, 2:00-2:45 pm, and November 5

Artists’ Forum: Susan Brubaker Knapp and Janet A. Lasher
Artists’ Forums are designed to give area artists a platform to discuss their work as well as current issues and activities in their artistic fields.
Tuesday, Dec. 1
7 to 8:30 p.m.
at The Mint Museum of Art
2730 Randolph Road, Charlotte NC
FREE!

My door organizer featured in Quilt Scene magazine

International Quilt Festival Quilt Scene magazine came out last Tuesday. This magazine is a collaboration between Pokey Bolton, editor of Quilting Arts magazine, and Karey Bresenhan, director and founder of International Quilt Festival and president of Quilts, Inc. It is a special commemorative issue to celebrate 35 years of International Quilt Festival.

Karey tells how she started the festival, and how its popularity expanded to include a summer show in Long Beach, Cal., and a spring show in Chicago, Ill. Pokey shares how she changed course from teaching and attending graduate school to start a fledgling publication for art quilters.

It is packed full of wonderful photos of the history of Quilt Festival, profiles and photos of this year's top award-winning quilters and their quilts, a bunch of patchwork and stitched projects you can make, and articles from top quilters offering tips and techniques on setting up your studio and learning to be a better free-motion quilter. You can order a copy for $14.99 on the Interweave website.

My project included in the magazine is this nifty door organizer you can use to organize your stuff and leave it on the door so you won’t forget it on the way out:

There are pockets to hold your phone, keys, mail, pens, sunglasses, iPod … anything you don't want to forget on your way out the door. I think it would be a great organizer for a teenager. Or pack it with crayons, paper and colored pencils, and tie it to the back of your headrest on your car’s seat, to keep a kid happy on a long car ride.


It stitches up in a jiffy, and would also make a great holiday gift for someone special.

I’m in an internet slideshow on The Quilt Show’s blog!

I got a note from a friend who had noticed this... I am in a photo in a slideshow on Alex Anderson and Ricky Tims' Daily Blog. It’s on the website for their internet web television program, The Quilt Show. How cool! Looks like they were shooting while I was autographing books in the C&T booth during Quilt Market. I'm in photo number 36 out of 49. You can see lots more shots of Market and Festival in their Smilebox slideshows posted this past week.

Quilt Festival, Part IV

It was really fun to meet people (including lots of Facebook friends that stopped by) during the Open Studios at Make it University. I had planned to demo thread-sketching, free-motion machine quilting and painting on fabric, but there were so many people and I got so many questions that I spent most of the time just talking.







Many thanks to Liz Kettle and Melanie Testa for taking photos of me to show here. Here’s Liz demonstrating needle felting in Open Studios:


After my Open Studios gig, I was lucky to win a spot in one of the Make it University sessions taught by Jamie Fingal.

The family sitting in front of me at Make It University was so cute! They were working hard on their project. It was nice to see some young children looking at the stuff in the vendors' booths and at the quilts in the exhibits.


This is the project we made in Jamie’s class. It is a little art gallery in a box. The outside is an Altoids mint box decorated with paper and coated with gel medium. An accordion-folded paper inside can hold photos of your art. A very fun way to spend an hour (and to get off your feet for a bit!)


While shopping, I saw Maggie Winfield, and had to go up and talk with her. She is an absolute sweetheart and pure creativity in human form. Much of her ensemble was created with recycled thrift-shop finds. Hat? Glittered. Shoes? Painted. Glasses? Rhinestone glitzed.


Here’s a closeup so you can see some of the details on Maggie’s hat, glasses, vest and necklace. And the pure joy in her face that comes from just being herself.


Just before I sped off to meet the shuttlebus for the airport, I snapped this shot with Pokey Bolton, editor of Quilting Arts magazine, on the floor of Make It University.

Here are a few more of the hundreds of spectacular quilts at International Quilt Festival:

“The Endless World II” by Noriko Kido is made from thousands of tiny hexagons. It won an Honorable Mention award in the Handmade category.


“White Dew” by Tsuneko Shimura won first place in the Handmade category.


Detail of “White Dew” by Tsuneko Shimura.


Sue Reno’s “Prickly Sow Thistle.”


Detail from Sue Reno’s “Prickly Sow Thistle.”


“Nuance” by Pat Lapierre features 180 different decorative stitches on Japanese fabrics. It won a second place ribbon in the Art-Abstract, Small category.


Detail of “Nuance” by Pat Lapierre.


“Building Up” by Kathy York won first place in the Small Abstract Art Quilt category. Another of her quilts, “Falling through the Cracks,” won third place in the Embellished category.


“Pup Art” by Nancy Brown won third place in the Art-Whimsical category. Nancy does a lot of quilts about pets and wild animals. This one gives a pop art spin to dog portraits.


“Heart’s Desire” by Deborah Kemball won second place in the Traditional Appliqué category.


“Cinnabar and Indigo” by Judy Mathieson won first place in the Innovative Pieced category. Judy is famous for her Mariner’s Compass quilt designs, and has written several books about them.


Detail from “Cinnabar and Indigo.”


“Zodiak” by Martha Brown features the 12 signs of the Zodiak in the circle, the planets in the center, and the four elements around the outside.


Here’s a detail shot of my sign (Scorpio) and a bit of Libra in “Zodiak” by Martha Brown.


“The Calm After the Storm” by Inge Mardal and Steen Hougs won second place in the Art-People, Portraits and Figures category. This team produces exquisite work with photographic detail year after year.