What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

This challenge got underway at our February Meeting. If you missed out and still want to participate Contact Sharon.

This first thing to know is that there are very few rules!  This is all about being creative, having fun, and getting to collaborate with other AQuA Members. The framework is as follows:

• Bring a 16” X 20” (ish) piece of fabric that you have altered in some way. 
  • Anything will work but the abstracts gave more freedom to play. 
• The fabric will be exchanged 3 times among your randomly selected group of 4.
  • Each person gets to add whatever they ...

This page is to highlight the art of our AQuA members getting out and into the world. Whether in publications, juried or open invite showings, near and far, it is in this space that we will give applause to our members accomplishments. Hip Hip Hooray!

There are so many kudos to highlight, I fear I have missed one or two or four…..Please speak up! Congrats all!

Gay Young has her masterpiece “Mesa Verda” headed to the NQM Fiber Art Fiesta.

Kim Keller has a piece in the Colorado National Monument art calendar and it is being used to advertise ...

The annual AQuA retreat is just around the corner, February 23-24, 2024.  We will be at the Chipeta Golf Course Club House, 222 29 Road in Grand Junction. 

The event is open from 9:00-5:00 each day but is completely a come and go as you please.  Registration is $10 PER DAY, payable at the retreat.  There is no limit to the number of attendees, but a rough head count is appreciated.  Our delightful retreat coordinator is Jacque W, so contact her if you are planning to attend  or have questions. 

Bring your  lunch on Friday, and a pot ...

2023 has been a little bit of a whirlwind, from quitting my job to focusing on being an emerging artist, to turning 50, and then to top off the milestones celebrating 10 years of sewing and quilting. I am so thankful for the opportunities and the people I have met and supported me on this journey.

In 2023, I was focused on engaging and learn about the local art communities. It was a year of firsts:

• I was accepted for my first artist in residence and then was offered a 6 month one with the Durham Art Guild.
• Had my ...

Wild and Wacky

As an antidote to the solemnity of recent years, AQuA members have gone Wild and Wacky. Oh my, colors that clash! Stripes and plaids. Visions of aliens, animals with two heads, and nature gone bonkers. Pink poodles, purple complexions, and clown cars on parade. The carnival is in town, nothing is off limits, and all peculiarities are welcome here.

Mancuso Invite: Pacific International Quilt Festival (PIQF)l, Santa Clara, CA

•  Show dates are July 24-27,2024
•  Turn in date is May 16, 2024

For all the details see here  http://theartquiltassociation.com/home/member-information/call-for-entries/piqf/ 

Light ...

Reminder that we do not meet in December. See you in January and Happy Holidays to You and Yours!

Happy Saturday Friends! If you follow Tracy here then you know last Friday (10/13/2023) she finished working with Golden Peak Media as Editor of Quilt Maker and Quick & Easy Quilts, also working on Quilty and McCalls Quilting for periods of time. I loved contributing to these pages. As much as I love Orange you… Continue reading Congratulations Tracy Mooney!

 Confluence Gallery  at 660 White Ave (corner of White & 7th) has a fiber show called Uncommon Threads with the opening night for First Friday on September 1. The show will hang until 9/29. Sure to be plenty of AQuA members in the show, and much to love.  Since AQuA  has a group membership to this gallery there will be several  AQuA members with fiber pieces in the show, including Susan Strickland, Daniela Schupp, Mary Grande, Marla Ferguson-Leak, Sherida Werner, Gay Young and others.

Gay’s work was used for the advertisement!

Member Julia Crocetto has an exhibit opening also ...

IMPRESSIVE work ladies. For those of you who missed it, there was a record-for-recent-years turn in of TWENTY FIVE quilts. Nicely done. We voted for ONE (which was tortuous) quilt for “Members Choice” and the honor went to Susan Sanmann’s  inventively named quilt. 

Members’ Choice: “Gene, I Found Your Umbrella”                  Susan Sanmann

Lisa Walton, juror, Comments about the exhibition

The “Seeing Red” Exhibition offered a fascinating array of interpretations, with artists infusing their own flair into the theme. The skilled use of colors added a captivating dimension to the showcased pieces, drawing viewers in. As a whole, the exhibition ...

AQuA hit the workshop jackpot by securing Sandra Mollon  for a  three day workshop on Fused Art Quilts from Photos.. Sandra was an excellent and gracious instructor, knowledgeable and personable, and an extremely talented artist. She did group instruction, videos, shared photos of works in progress, lessons on other art media and tools to enhance our pieces, and did an incredible amount of one-on-one assistance (she never sat down!).  Am I raving…..yes! Sandra sells out her workshops worldwide so we were very fortunate (THANK YOU coordinator extraordinaire Beverly) to have her all to ourselves for three days. Winners! The ...

Our website had to be updated and our calendar posting procedure has changed with a link below and at the top website menu.

Access full calendar here.

At the June  2021 meeting members voted that we have a budget for 3 yearly zoom lectures. These lectures will be held during regular meetings with short business meeting prior and membership discussions following the lecture.

• Next up: November 12th with Debra Boschert
  • There will be 3 hour Zoom workshop, after our November meeting.  ‘Head, Heart, and Hands: Developing Your Creative Voice.’  From Deborah Boschert  website– “Not a project or technique  workshop- just notes and exercises with pen and paper, plus lots of interaction, discussion, and ideas
  • This workshop is free to members and will be held from 1-4 pm ...

An Abandoned Dreams by Jacque Weimer, Members Choice and Juror Pick #3

14 quilts were turned in on Saturday, July 16 for this theme. Thanks to all who participated, we think you are all winners for taking this challenge. 

Ricky Tims has completed his jurying and his picks are as follows:

1. “Only Love” by Shari Keveit, her first entry
2.  “No Safe Place” by Bev Hart
3. “An Abandoned Dream” by Jacque Weimer, also Members Choice
4.  “Losing the Thread by Mary Grande
5.  “Il Mio Bel Sogno” by Susan Sanmann

These quilts are posted here but are large images and load slow. They ...

I’ve had four different nudges to get back into teaching over the past two weeks. Three are for shows/organizations I’ve worked with before, and one is from a friend who knows my work. I responded to the three with my usual “I’m working on it, will send info soon” response as I dodged the professional responsibility to be punctual, thoughtful, and organized.

It’s the last one that got to me. My friend Judy mentioned I might get in touch with SFSNAD and see if they’d have me. She teaches there and has heard students ...

Member Gay Young is going to do a member’s workshop  “Introduction to Thread Painting” to after our May 21st meeting at the Masonic Center. The class will be held at Quilters Inspiration from 1 -4 pm and is limited to 16 students; each will have their own table.

Contact Bonnie Stenger to signup and pay the workshop fee so that she can keep track of the number of participants.

Thread Painting Supply List:

•    Please bring your sewing machine, freshly cleaned and oiled, fitted with a new #90 needle.
•     You do not need fancy stitches, but need to be able ...

If you were at the January 2022 meeting you heard member Janet Wheeler tell all about the preparations and process for the Sunset Slope Quilters (SSQ) huge Mesas to Monuments quilt show at the Grand Junction Convention Center on April 8-9, 2022. We all want to support this group’s hard work to exhibit the tremendous fiber art talent in our valley. 

There will be a section of the show devoted to art quilts, but it won’t be exclusive to only AQuA. Only SSQ members (who may also be AQuA members) can hang quilts, but we have a committee ...

Eldrid Schafer Morning Feeding 1922, Juror Selection #1

On Saturday, September 18 we had the big reveal of the eleven quilts turned in, intended for the November Mancuso show in New Jersey. Although the quilts were small in number, they were mighty in artistry. Many love notes to Colorado, to fallen leaves, ranch life, the beautiful Monument scenery in our back yard, columbines, colorful abstractions, and postcards of the western slope. So much to be love about our members submissions. Now they are off to be photographed and then juried by David Owen Hastings. A shocked Mary Grande received the ...

Mary is hosting a members only workshop at her home after the September 18th turn in meeting from 1-4 pm. There is room for 20 people, 8 slots are left by. Please email her with your intent to participate,  and she will email location and details to the participants.

Agenda:

• Stencils versus masks
• The magic of freezer paper, and other materials
• All about paints and applicators: What works and why
• How to pick the right image for your project
• How to layer images
• Sun printing with stencils
• Experiment and explore

Materials Supplied by AQuA for the participants::

• Freezer paper to ...

Mark your calendars for a super-creative and very fun lecture with Marty Ornish. She is a fiber artist who upcycles items, including quilts,  into garments. This is certain to be a presentation that you will not want to miss. Check out her  Marty-O creations at  http://www.marty-o.com/ 

We had planned to join this Zoom lecture in person at the Masonic Center with discussion afterwards,. But sadly, no room is available that day as they are having a big gathering. So, we will be meeting remotely, and the Zoom coordinates will be emailed out the week of August 15 ...