QuiltFest of Jacksonville 2011

These are the 2 quilts I entered in QuiltFest this year. They were both made or finished in 2009. I am in a bit of a slump this year, creatively speaking. I do go through phases, sometimes I am on fire with ideas and can't make quilts fast enough and sometimes I feel stagnant. I think this is okay, maybe even normal.

Back to these 2 quilts:

I was quite happy with the judges remarks, receiving NO "Needs Improvement" marks for the first time ever! Of course my weakest areas were 'even consistent stitches, tension, straight edges, square corners and bindings', but even those areas were satisfactory. I got excellent marks for color and design,visual impact, scale and composition, construction quality and quilting design.

They were both HELD, which means upon seeing them the first time the judge liked them enough to consider them for an award. Neither one, however, received a ribbon. More on that later.

This one is called "Precious", her story is somewhere back there in my blog if you want to read more about her:  http://cheezdoodle.blogspot.com/2009/10/current-works-in-progress.html

I painted her on plain white muslin and quilted the background, leaving the pencil marks and the paint bleed there. The pattern is from a piece of cloth from Ethiopia. When I saw this quilt hanging in the show, I was disappointed that it was so wrinkled. It had been folded into a bag for about 2 weeks. Note to self; use the wrap around a noodle system next time.

This is what the judge had to say about her:

"Yes, she is Precious", "It took an artist to portray the life in this face." and "Stood up well against stiff competition in this category."

Nice comments.

"Road 9, Crandall Pasture" I shared with you earlier in this blog, here:

http://cheezdoodle.blogspot.com/2010/02/florida-museum-of-natural-history.html
Though I didn't really share it's story, you would have to come to my trunk show, A Florida Quilt collage, to hear how special this quilt is to me. Or just ask me.

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This quilt started with a piece of hand dyed fabric I got from Diane Smith. That shade of green seems to be very difficult to achieve, because I have not seen it since. I fell in love with it on the spot! Green and yellow and ethereal looking. I knew right then what I would be making with it, it was perfect! The quilt is raw edge applique with grey, white, pale yellow and bronze tulle overlays. This is how all that sunlight and shadow looks so real. Tulle is very difficult to quilt over, so I was not surprised to get only satisfactory remarks on the quilting workmanship. Here is what the Judge said about it: "Good use of value and design to create a very effective perspective into the woods."

My reward came during the show. I rounded a corner looking for my friends and was in a little bit of a hurry when I heard, "the sunlight on the brush is magnificent! Do you see the way..."

I slowed down.

"It just glimmers in the sun, it feels so real!"

I made a u-turn and came up behind the group of 5 women standing at the end of the isle, staring intently at my quilt.

"Look at the sunlight gleaming off the palmetto, I wonder did she do that on purpose" "This is the most beautiful quilt in the show!"

My head must have swelled noticeably, one of them turned around and looked at me. "Is that your quilt?" I spoke to them briefly and left to find my friends, having received the best reward ever!