QHC Acceptance

I received acceptance letters for the Quilter's Heritage Celebration today. This is my hometown show, and I've been attending it almost from the start, so it's been especially meaningful for me to have my work juried in the past several years. Pictured above is "November Pawpaw", which will be shown in the Pictorial category. I'm always pleased when this quilt gets some recognition, because it's not overtly showy; the design is relatively uncomplicated and the colors subdued. But I like to think I was successful in conveying the mood and beauty of a hike in the woods on a nice November day. The center panel is a cyanotype on silk made from the large and lovely autumn-tattered leaves of the pawpaw tree. The right panel was constructed with a piece of vintage crochet, probably originally a dresser scarf. Part of it was done in a ecru crochet thread, suggesting that the woman who made it was either very thrifty and made do with what she had when she ran out of white yarn, or that she was elderly and her eyesight was poor. The top panel is pieced from silks, some of them handpainted, and has handbeaded clouds. The bottom panel is richly textured wools and corduroys.

Here's a detail from "November Pawpaw":

My other quilt in the show will be "Skunk Cabbage and Possum", shown in the Wall category. Again, this is not a mainstream quilt, and I am happy for the opportunity to exhibit it. It features relics from an early spring hike, a skunk cabbage leaf and a possum skull, printed as cyanotypes on silk. The top panel was constructed from a vintage embroidered table runner that I painted, reconfigured, and beaded. I hope no one is put off the skull imagery--I meant this quilt as a celebration of the regeneration of life in the natural world: Here's a detail from "Skunk Cabbage and Possum":