Houston International Quilt Festival 2016

For quite some time now I've been devoting all my blogging energy to the Machine Quilting Unlimited blog. I've posted lots of tips, video tutorials, and loads of eye candy, so be sure to check it out! I also posted on the BERNINA WeAllSew blog about double needle free motion quilting. It's a fun technique, so be sure to hop over there at some point as well.

That said, I'm still here! I just returned from a fabulous trip to the Houston International Quilt Festival. I had three quilts there, two in the International Quilt Association judged show, and one in the Dinner at Eight special exhibit "Patterns". Without further ado, photos!

I'm very pleased and honored that I won two ribbons in the Digital Imagery catalog. Below you can see me with my quilt "Paint the Town Red", which won second place. I'm delighted that my quilt was hanging right next to that of my friend, Suzan Cloud Engler, who won first place with her wonderful quilt "GMO?". My quilt is the same size as hers, but the space available to stand in led to a little bit of a skewed perspective here. Thanks to Lisa Brehm Ellis who took the photo despite her very busy schedule. Lisa also had two wonderful quilts in the show that she made using a special technique she developed to make cathedral windows.

Me with "Paint the Town Red", Suzan Cloud Engler with her first place winner "GMO?" photo credit Lisa Brehm Ellis

I also won an honorable mention with "Winter's Tarnish". Yeah!

As always, the best part of Quilt Festival is seeing friends and meeting new people. My lovely friend Sarah Anne Smith was kind enough to take this photo of me doing my best Vanna White impression by "Blossoming", my Dinner at Eight quilt. Sarah had a quilt in the judged show as well as one in the Dinner at Eight exhibit, and both are stunning.

"Blossoming" by Diane Rusin Doran, photo credit Sarah Anne Smith

All three of these quilts, as well as every other quilt I've made, were sewn on domestic BERNINA machines. "Blossoming" is the first quilt I've completed on my new 770 QE and I loved using it!

All in all it was a wonderful adventure. I'm not sure how many photos from the show I'll post here, but I'll definitely posting some on the Machine Quilting Unlimited blog later this week. Thanks for stopping by!

Poison!

My creative friend Misty Cole has designed an unusual and intriguing block of the month - poison bottles! She asked me to interpret two of them, so here they are.

The first bottle looks a lot like Misty's sample. I chose a brown background, and because of the word "poison" I couldn't stop thinking about poison ivy, so I added some. I thought it looked sort of like an old bottle you might find tucked in the back of a barn, and wouldn't it be ironic for it to be sitting in some poison ivy?

Pre-stitching

The background and bottle were created from fabrics I designed in photoshop, while the leaves are hand dyed.

I think it's kind of fun.

The next bottle Misty calls a "coffin" bottle. Well, it looked kind of like a vase to me, so I went with that. I went a little wild and carefree with this one, screen printing the flowers and using some fabric I designed for the vase.

Pre-stitching

After quilting.

I was going for sort of a retro cut glass look on the bottle.

I like the flowers, but feel that the white ones still need something - maybe a few lazy daisies in the centers and some French knots?

If you'd like to join in the fun head over to Misty's blog and download these free patterns.

Thanks for inviting me to play, Misty!

Happy "B" Day to Me!

I have some really big news that I've been remiss in not sharing earlier. To get right to the point, I'm a BERNINA Ambassador!!! What does this mean? I get the privilege of sewing on a fabulous new BERNINA 770 QE, and in return I'll be sharing some of my quilting and sewing expertise in a variety of ways for BERNINA. Here's a photo of my beautiful machine:

We've all read gushy blog posts using terms like "over the moon" and "beyond excited", but in this case those terms genuinely apply. I've been a "BERNINA girl" since about 1987, and never looked back. I truly feel at one with both my workhorse 1130 and this beauty due to the amazing responsiveness of the foot pedal. The electronics of their foot pedals give me perfect control when free motion quilting, which makes all the difference.

So, in order to get acquainted with my 770 QE I was given lessons at Bear's Paw Fabrics in Towson, Maryland. The staff was so kind, welcoming, and knowledgeable! Here's Judy Munro, the owner, and Noreen, one of my teachers, on the day I got my first lesson.

Judy Munro of Bear's Paw Fabrics in Towson, MD

My amazing teacher Noreen. She really knows her stuff, and her enthusiasm is contagious!

I'm working on a "top secret" project right now (shown folded to the left of the machine in the photo above), and it's going great. Some of the things I already love about the 770 QE include:

- The light, look at all of that light!
- The large harp.
- Can't live without a knee lift.
- The thread cutter and needle threader.
- The machine is sophisticated, yet quite user friendly.
- The touch screen provides loads of information about the settings with just the touch of a button.
- The huge bobbin.
- As always, the phenomenal stitch quality.

In short, I love it, and am honored to have this opportunity to use it.

************************************
In other news, as an extension of my editorial duties for Machine Quilting Unlimited I've been blogging for the magazine twice a week. Look for posts on Tuesdays and Thursdays at http://machinequilting.mqumag.com/category/blog/ . In my latest post (yesterday's) I share 10 of my best tips for free motion quilting success, so why not go check it out?

Thanks for stopping by!

Dinner at Eight - Affinity

Last year I once again had the pleasure of being juried into the invitational exhibit for the Dinner at Eight Artists. The theme was "Affinity", and I chose to represent my affinity for color (see blog name). I never really posted much about my quilt, but better late than never!

Paint the Town Red ©2015 Diane Rusin Doran

Detail Paint the Town Red ©2015 Diane Rusin Doran

Here's a link to a youtube video where I discuss the quilt for the Quilt Alliance Go Tell it at the Quilt Show! project.

As usual, I created a digital collage for my 40 x 40 inch piece. I began with a photo I took on my first iPhone about five years ago. It was a chance snapshot of a very bright door in Fort Worth, Texas. We were visiting my sister-in-law and had just finished eating breakfast at a local eatery. I took an antsy child to the car, and saw this beautiful doorway across the street. Here's the original photo with it's inspirational bright red door framed by an amazing tree:

And if you look very closely, my reflection is in the window pane to the left of the door. (I hadn't even noticed that reflection until today!)

Sacred Threads - A Little Bird Told Me

I've been remiss in blogging about this year's wonderful Sacred Threads exhibit. We were out of town for most of the duration of the show, but I was delighted to go Friday morning and record an interview for Quilter's SOS and, more importantly, look at the exhibit. I didn't expect to be as moved as I was; it was a remarkable experience.

As I wandered through the exhibit several other quilters were being filmed for their interviews. Hearing the stories of the quilts in their own words and voices was wonderful. There was also an audio tour, available by phone, and again hearing the voices of the artists made the exhibit even more meaningful.

I had two quilts in the exhibit, California Dreaming, which I've blogged about before, and a new quilt made expressly to enter in Sacred Threads. It's called A Little Bird Told Me.

A Little Bird Told Me copyright 2015 Diane Rusin Doran

Detail, A Little Bird Told Me copyright 2015 Diane Rusin Doran

Here's an approximation of what I recorded for the audio tour for this quilt:

We found out in August 2013 that my mother had malignant melanoma. After months of enduring surgery, infection, infusions, and many hospitalizations for a variety of serious side effects, we knew that most likely she was nearing the end. In May of 2014 I went to stay with her for the weekend, as my father was in the hospital and my mother could not care for herself. She had become more and more forgetful and depressed, but never complained. We finally took her off one of her medications, for cholesterol, and it seemed to really perk her up. She was still somewhat forgetful, but so pleasant to be around. That weekend, to my surprise, she took me up on my suggestion to go for a walk in the park behind her house. It was a stunningly beautiful, perfect spring day, glowing with light and new growth. As we walked, I realized that it almost seemed as if she were already in heaven, and I was visiting her there. It was a dreamlike experience, and I’m so grateful not only that I shared it with her, but also that when it happened I had the presence of mind to recognize the beauty of it. This piece represents the glow of that day. The two birds are my mother and I, both blue as that is the color we both wear so much. As a child, when I asked her how she knew something, she often said “a little bird told me”, so that’s why I chose the birds and the title. The buttercups are a melancholy touch, as she could not remember what kind of flower they were and asked me their name during the walk. 

Happy Things

A couple of fun and exciting things have happened recently.

- I went to the AQS show in Lancaster. It was wonderful to see so many lovely quilts.

- I won a Judge's Choice award at the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival for California Dreaming. Yeah!

California Dreaming copyright Diane Rusin Doran

- I'm so pleased to have two of my quilts (Winter's Tarnish and Return of the Grackle) featured in the April/May issue of Quilting Arts in Jane Davila's article on filler stitching, plus a full page ad for Craft Daily featuring Sunrise Serenade as the backdrop. (All these quilts are on my "Recent Quilts" page.)

- I finished a small quilt! When I find out if it was accepted to the exhibit I entered it in I'll share all the details.

I was so wishing spring would have arrived by now, but alas, this is how it looks in my neck of the woods today:

Here's hoping spring has already sprung for you.

NEW Work for FFAC 2015

I am very honored to be an invited artist for "The 100" to be held tomorrow, Wednesday, February 4, 2015 . The goal for this fiber fundraiser for the American Cancer Society is to raise $10,000 in one day.

How? All the details are here: http://www.virginiaspiegel.com/FFACThe100Fundraiser.html, but here are the basics: On February 4, the first 100 people to contact Virginia Spiegel (Virginia(at)VirginiaSpiegel.com) beginning at 10 a.m. Central will be given a link to donate $100 by credit card directly to the American Cancer Society through Fiberart For A Cause.  Each donor will receive an artwork from one of the 100 artists who have generously donated their work. Assignments of artwork will be made using a random number generator. 

I'm sure you will want to be one of the very exclusive 100 patrons who will be randomly assigned artwork from an extraordinary line-up of international fiber artists. 

Here is my contribution, Leaves/Reflections 1. 

Leaves/Reflections 1, © Diane Rusin Doran 2015
11.5 x 11.25 inches
Digital collage, Machine quilting

Fiberart For A Cause has already raised $240,000 through the generosity of fiber artists and patrons. I've been a participant several times before. This year I especially wanted to contribute, but at the same time it was very difficult for me. This is the first piece I've made since May of 2014.

Detail Leaves/Reflections 1 ©Diane Rusin Doran 2015

My mother was diagnosed with metastatic Melanoma in August of 2013. She had surgery that fall, and we rejoiced when it seemed that it was "only" stage 3. Unfortunately, in February of 2014 we learned that the disease had spread further. The months between then and her death on July 8 were a blur of doctor's appointments, infusions, and emergency room visits. My brother, sister and I tried to go to as many of these with our parents as we could, and we counted ourselves lucky to be able to do so.  

I've seen the impact of cancer on other family members, but this was truly overwhelming. I hope that by doing my small part I can help just a little to prevent someone else from going through something like this. I don't want anyone else to have to miss their mom the way that I miss mine, or watch her go through so much.

To preview some of the other artwork go to our Pinterest board, https://www.pinterest.com/d_boschert/the-100-fundraiser-to-fight-cancer/ .

Thank you!

Sue Reno's Printing Expertise

The first time I saw Sue Reno's work in person was in 2006 (see this blog post). I was struck by the graphic impact of her work, along with the skillful design of the piece. I was later lucky enough to meet Sue at the big quilt show in Houston (maybe in 2007?) and spend a little time with her, as well as at a show in Lancaster shortly after that.

"Fireball" copyright Sue Reno

You don't have to know Sue long to realize what an intelligent and thoughtful person she is, and these qualities are clearly reflected in her work. When I found out she was making an instructional DVD for Interweave I was very excited for her, and I couldn't wait to see it!

Well, the wait is over, and it's worth it. “Surface Design Essentials for the Printed Quilt”  is now available as both a DVD ($24.99) or a digital download ($19.99) from the Quilting Daily Shop. Sue covers four printing techniques as well as strategies for using the prints in compositions and quilting them to best advantage.

I love printing fabric using a variety of techniques, and have tried cyanotype, heliograph, collagraph and Thermofax printing with varying levels of success in the past. What I admire about Sue's presentation of these techniques is that she has perfected a process for each one that works for her. She demonstrates these four methods of printing in a straight forward, approachable, and yet very thorough manner. Following her instructions, I feel that most artists could create successful prints of their own in no time.

In addition to demonstrating these techniques, Sue discusses options for combining prints in a variety of different ways. I particularly appreciate the way she uses more than one variety of printing technique in a single art quilt and is able to create a cohesive composition.

Finally, Sue pulls her pieces together with well planned quilting. Her tips for ways to quilt the prints are great. In my experience I usually feel that my prints are "precious" and difficult to showcase, but Sue manages to do so with ease.

Bottom line, I love it! If you are ready to try your hand at printing I think this DVD would serve you well.

Several other friends of Sue's are also participating in this blog tour. Here's a schedule so you can stop by and see what they have to say:

11/5/14: Sue Reno http://suereno.blogspot.com/ 
11/6/14: Susan Brubaker Knapp http://wwwbluemoonriver.blogspot.com/ 
11/7/14: Allie Aller http://alliesinstitches.blogspot.com/ 
11/8/14: Diane Doran http://www.oohprettycolors.blogspot.com/ 
11/9/14: Vivien Zepf http://sevenpinesdesigns.blogspot.com/ 
11/10/14: Virginia Spiegel http://www.virginiaspiegel.com/blog/ 
11/11/14: Cynthia St. Charles http://cynthia-stcharles.blogspot.com/ 
11/12/14: Natalya Aikens http://artbynatalya.blogspot.com/ 
11/13/14: Lyric Kinard http://lyrickinard.com/blog/

Winter's Tarnish

As the trees begin to lose their leaves I realize that in the craziness of this past year I never shared one of the quilts I made. I created it specifically for an exhibit called "Tarnish" that was held at Visarts in Rockville, MD. Here's the description from the Visarts website:

"The Studio Art Quilt Associates present a juried exhibition of contemporary quilts from the Maryland, Washington, D.C., West Virginia, Virginia and North Carolina regions. Artists address the idea of “tarnish”- a patina that affects the outside surface but protects the underlying layers- with inventive quilts."

I've always been fascinated by the sculptural quality of deciduous trees in winter, as well as by the wide range of colors in the woods that routinely go unnoticed when overshadowed by the brighter colors of spring, summer, and fall. It occurred to me that many of the colors of the woods in winter resemble those of weathered or tarnished metal - verdigris, rust, browns and the like. This inspired me to combine and manipulate photos of trees and leaves to represent what I think of as the tarnish of winter.

Winter's Tarnish copyright 2014 Diane Rusin Doran

Detail Winter's Tarnish copyright 2014 Diane Rusin Doran

The exhibit and exhibition space were beautiful as you can see from this shot of myself, Misty Cole and Linda Strowbridge at the opening reception. I felt honored to be part of this wonderful exhibit!

Blog Hop Winners & Exhibition Opening Invite

Congratulations to Janie, who won the copy of Quilting Arts Gifts, and Stitchedbyme who will be entered into the grand prize drawing for Candy Glendenings bloghop for her new ebook!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On another note, I'm delighted to part of a group exhibit that's opening this Sunday. We'd love to have you stop by and say hi!

The Arts Council of Metropolitan Memorial UMC

          Presents an Afternoon of Art and Music

 Sunday, September 28, 2014 Concert

Chicago Piano Duo

3:00 pm in the Sanctuary

Pianists William Phemister and Brian Lee
Works by Schubert and Brahms

Exhibition Opening and Reception

4:30 pm in the Great Hall

Stitched Together: Art Quilts by SIG-SAC

Presenting artists include: Susan Callahan, Connie Condrell, Diane Doran, Ann Graham, Cathy Kleeman, Linda Strowbridge, and Susan Walen

Exhibition Dates:  September 28 – October 26
Exhibit hours: M-F 9 am-5 pm; Sundays 9 am-12:30 pm

Metropolitan Memorial United Methodist Church

3401 Nebraska Avenue NW / Washington, DC 20016

202.363.4900  http://www.nationalchurch.org

No admission charge, plentiful parking

Sew Much Fun

I'm so excited for my lovely friend Candy Glendening and pleased to be part of a blog hop to celebrate her latest achievement. She's a prolific designer and I'm sure you've seen her many clever projects in various Quilting Arts publications. Now 18 of them are available in an e-book: Create Handmade Gifts for All: 18 projects for everyone on your list.

Candy is a natural teacher, and I've always appreciated her clear and complete instructions. 

She has a knack for color and design that gives her projects a contemporary flair. I love that her mini bird quilts, pictured below, could be used in so many ways - as gift tags, Christmas ornaments, or wall decorations.

Ever since I saw these jester stockings they've been calling my name. I think this is the year to make them.

So if you're looking for quick and stylish projects for the holidays and beyond this e-book is just the ticket. 

To celebrate the release of her e-book Candy is having a lovely giveaway:

Leave a comment on this post. The drawing will close Wednesday, September 24 and I'll announce 2 winners Thursday morning. The first person will receive a hard copy of last year’s “Quilting Arts Gifts” magazine. The second person’s name goes into a drawing for the Grand Prize, the messenger bag Candy made that is featured on the cover of the e-book. Candy will announce the Grand Prize winner the following Monday on her blog. Make sure your comment is connected to an email so I can contact you. And check back on September 25 to see if you’ve won. Be sure to visit all the blogs below for more chances to win.

• Monday, 9/8 – Susan Brubaker Knapp of Blue Moon River
• Tuesday, 9/9 –  Vicki Welsh of  Field Trips in Fiber
• Wednesday, 9/10 - Deborah Boschert of Deborah's Journal
• Thursday, 9/11 – Amy Ellis of Amy’s Creative Side
• Monday, 9/15 – Sue Bleiweiss of Sue Bleiweiss
• Tuesday, 9/16 – Natalia Bonner of Piece N Quilt
• Wednesday, 9/17  – Diane Doran of Ooh! Pretty Colors
• Thursday, 9/18 – Vicki Christensen of Sew Inspired
• Friday, 9/19 - Candy of Candied Fabrics

Dinner at Eight Artists Exhibit 2014

I'm so excited! Yesterday the accepted artists were announced for this year's Dinner at Eight exhibit, and I'm in. Many thanks to Leslie Tucker Jenison and Jamie Fingal for all their work in creating and curating this exhibit. It looks like another great lineup of artists and I'm thrilled to be in their company.

The theme this year is reflections. I spent lots of time considering this, first thinking about literal interpretations as I have *many* photos of reflections in water and windows. Eventually, though, I felt better about doing something a little different. I wanted this quilt to reflect my techniques and styles, not be something in a totally new direction. Here is my piece, Intertwined.

Intertwined, ©2014 Diane Rusin Doran

Seahorses often have patterning (and sometimes coloring) that reflects the environment in which they live. By using transparency, I've made these seahorses do just that. Additionally, their appearance also reflects that of their kin.

Be sure to take a closer look at these detail shots. I threadpainted all of the green elements to add some depth and interest. Note to self: that amount of threadpainting takes way more time than you think it will.

If you've seen my Quilting Arts workshop on digital surface design you'll probably recognize how I created the digital collage. I started with a faux drip dyed background and worked forward from there. It was very fun to create.

I have another new piece of work to share very soon, so stay tuned. Thanks for stopping by!

DVD Winner!

And the winner of Candy's wonderful new DVD, plus a lovely fern sketch, is Andi! Congratulations Andi!

Free-Motion Machine Sketching Review and Giveaway

I'm delighted to be a part of the blog tour for my friend Candy Glendening's newest DVD, Free-Motion Machine Sketching. 

Candy is an enthusiastic instructor who obviously loves to teach!

In this DVD she shares her personal design inspirations. I particularly like her descriptions of how to look at something and break it down to create an artful stitched sketch so that you can develop sketches based on your inspirations too.

She also gives step-by-step instructions on how to create a variety of motifs and construct a cloth book of sketches for reference. This is a great way to test out various fabric and thread combinations! I love that these sketches can be used for art quilts as well as fun tote bags and other projects.

Her relaxed and encouraging approach will have you creating your own thread sketches in no time.

How would you like to have a chance to win a copy of the DVD and a botanical sketch from Candy? Each of the bloggers on the tour picked a botanical for Candy to sketch. The winner on my blog will receive a thread sketched fern. 

Comments are now closed, thanks for joining in the fun!

To enter just leave a comment on this post by March 26 and tell me if you've tried free-motion sketching before. Here's the whole tour schedule - be sure to visit all the blogs for more chances to win.

• Wednesday, 3/12 –  Vicki Welsh of  Field Trips in Fiber
• Friday, 3/14  – Diane Doran of Ooh! Pretty Colors
• Monday, 3/17 –  Victoria Gertenbach of The Silly BooDilly­
• Wednesday, 3/19 – Susan Brubaker Knapp of Blue Moon River
•  Friday, 3/21 – Beth & Kristen of Sew Mama Sew
• Monday 3/24 – Melody Johnson of Fibermania
• Wednesday, 3/26 – Candy Glendening

A Bit of Sunshine

on a cloudy day. My MAQF entry returned complete with ribbon and judges' comments.

"Sunrise Serenade"

You never know what you'll get with judges' comments. These are perhaps my all time favorites - "Charming", "Permeated with light" and "Love it!"  Well that certainly brightens up the day! I couldn't attend the show myself, but was so grateful that friends Kristin LaFlamme, Michelle May, and Lisa Ellis all took photos to share with me. I've been tiptoeing through the last few weeks due to a case of the shingles so this was a nice pick-me-up.

Stay tuned - I have something fun in store later this week.

Happy Valentine's Day!

After some extensive shoveling

I snipped this last night at about 10:00 from the Weather Channel website

I think my Valentines deserve a little treat.

Wishing all of you a very sweet Valentine's Day!

Ice, Ice Baby

So, along with masses of other folks, we had a big ice storm. You know me and the nature pics - just can't stop. Bear in mind that there was quite a bit of ice, so I didn't dare venture far from the shelter of the house and most of the photos were taken with lots of zoom. At least one of them was taken through a window. (This was a smart decision, as we had a very large tree fall into the middle of the driveway in the afternoon. I was in the side yard and could hear it *loudly* falling.) Enjoy!

The sun finally came out for a few shining moments at the end of the day.