A Twelve by Twelve Wordle

I created a Wordle for our blog. Looks like Karen was prominently featured, followed my Kirsty.

Two Twelves go to Washington

What does an Australian Twelve do when she finds herself in Washington DC?  She contacts her closest Twelve, Kristin in Charlottesville-VA, and plans are made for an art excursion.  We started out at the National Portrait Gallery with an introductory/highlights tour with a docent who also happened to be an artist.  Amongst other things, we learned about Gilbert Stuart's habit of not finishing paintings (although he did manage a handsome portrait of the first President); admired the energy of Elaine de Kooning's portrait of Kennedy; heard the reason why the portrait of George W Bush is cut off at the ankles; and marvelled at the shimmery grid treatment of Bill Clinton by Chuck Close.  

Then it was time to refuel at the Capitol Brewing Company before viewing the "Workt by Hand" exhibition of quilts at the National Museum of Women in the Arts which conveniently opened a day or two earlier.  We emerged with a new appreciation of the potential of satin, taffeta and silk brocades!  

Thank you Kristin for making the long journey to meet up with me, especially at such a busy time of the year.  I hope they saved some holiday tamales for you back home.  My Twelve count for 2013 is officially five (Kirsty, Terry, Gerrie, Karen and Kristin) but we toast all of the Twelves.

Colourplay at Carrefour Européen du Patchwork

Twelve by Twelve is happy to join Carrefour Européen du Patchwork in celebrating their 20th anniversary in 2014. Brenda and Françoise will meet up in Alsace, France and all 144 Colourplay works will be on display in from 18-21 September. In addition, Brenda is curating a special exhibit of Australian quilts and will be teaching two one-day classes - Serendipity Circles and Stacks of Improvisation. We look forward to meeting some of our European readers.

SAQA Benefit Auction 2013 at the International Quilt Festival

The 2013 SAQA Benefit Auction continues with the final tranche open for in-person bidding at the International Quilt Festival, Houston in Houston from 28 October to 3 November (with online bidding available on 28 and 29 October) . This is a great opportunity to purchase quality textile art and support SAQA’s exhibition programs. You can view the quilts in this tranche at page a and  page b of the SAQA website including these works donated by some of the Twelves in their distinctive styles.

Deborah's work Rocks, Rivers and Rooftops incorporates many of her favorite motifs and techniques: the houses, the hand embroidery, handwriting as surface design, a painted stenciled twig and the arch over the top of the suggested landscape.  You can read the surprising back story  to this piece on Deborah's blog and learn some of these techniques yourself in Deborah's new online workshop called Branches, Buds and Blossoms Fabric Collage.

In her work Awareness, Karen stitched a piece of fabric with wool felt underneath to shrink it up for texture.  After bleaching, she overdyed it a very pale blue, which took away the cream color.  Raised circles, created with buttons, adds extra interest.

Terri's Kitty Rides Back features a portait and two kitties in stencilled fabrics made from her very own stencil designs.

If you happen to be attending the International Quilt Festival, Houston in person, be sure to check out the following exhibits that also features works by some of the Twelves:

• An Exquisite Moment  features works by Deborah Boschert, Gerrie Congdon, Diane Perin Hock and Karen Rips.  There is also An Exquisite Moment Catalogue available for sale;
•  Tactile Architecture and What's for Dinner special exhibits feature works by Deborah Boschert..

Twelve by Twelve Bingo !

Today is an momentous day in Twelve by Twelve history.  Let the record show that on 19 October 2013 (New Zealand time), Karen completed a real life game of Twelve by Twelve in that she is the first Twelve to have met every other member of the group.  BINGO!

For her part, Kirsty doubled her Twelve count in just one day!  Here is the smiling duo in Christchurch, New Zealand:

Just this week, Kirsty relocated from Townsville, Australia to Christchurch to join her husband Peter who is working on earthquake reconstruction projects.   The timing was serendipitous as Karen and her husband Ted are currently exploring New Zealand.  Both Kirsty and Karen have limited internet access but, via Facebook, Kirsty reports:

We have had the BEST day with Karen and Ted! I adore them both. They are funny, loving and gracious.

We're feeling the love. Congratulations on making Twelve by Twelve history!

PS:  If you look carefully, you can see Peter and Ted (with the cap) reflected in the background of the photo.

At the Art Gallery

As part of our Saturday walkabout, we popped into the Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney. Karen and Ted returned a couple of days later and look what they discovered in the gallery book store!

Our book Twelve by Twelve: The International Art Quilt Challenge is available from a range of suppliers including Barnes & Noble and Amazon. Check out your favourite store.

2x12 in Sydney

 

A sparkling spring Sydney day. How wonderful to be able to show Karen and Ted a little of the city, or a lot.  (They might have sore feet after the walking tour through the city, the Botanic Gardens, the Rocks and the Harbour Bridge and back to the hotel.). Thank you for coming to visit.  Come back soon!

Deborah's Workshop

Hi, it's Deborah Boschert. Just a quick note to say that I'm offering a new online workshop called Branches, Buds and Blossoms Fabric Collage. The workshop sample includes all the techniques from the workshop... fabric selection, composition, surface design, stencil, hand embroidery, embellishments.... so much fun stuff!

You can read all the details and registration info here. 

Two of the quilts from my 12x12 collections also are good examples of the style and techniques covered in the workshop.

Here's Pink Pencil Experiment. It's so fun to look back at these quilts. I really love this one... maybe even more than I did when I first created it.

This is "In Light Of" from the gray challenge of the ColorPlay Series. The white bare tree shape was created with a freezer paper stencil. It's very similar to the tree from the workshop sample.

Colorplay is Coming to Europe in 2014!

The internet is a wonderful medium but viewing textiles in real life gives enhanced texture, colour and dimension. Thus one of our goals is to share our collaborative art quilt project in the cloth with the community of each Twelve.

So far the Colorplay Series has been exhibited in the United States, England, Australia and New Zealand and we are excited to announce that the exhibition continues on tour to Europe.  You can view all 144 Colorplay quilts at :

• Carrefour Européen du Patchwork, Alsace, France:18-21 September 2014; and
• Association Belge du Patchwork, Enghien, Belgium: 2-5 October 2014.

Colorplay at AQS Quilt Week Des Moines: 2-5 October 2013

AQS QuiltWeek® – Des Moines 2013 is the largest AQS event ever!  It will feature 1,674 quilts at the Iowa Events Center from 2-5 October and we are very honoured that 144 of the quilts are from our Colorplay Series.  This will be the last opportunity to view Colorplay in North America.  Come along!

2012 Series on TV

During the NW Quilting Expo, our 2012 Series had a star turn on TV.  How enthusiastic is that reporter?!

Stunning Quilts Up for Auction

The third round of the SAQA 2013 Benefit Auction begins on Monday! Four of the twelves are featured in this round. Check out these beautiful 12x12 art quilts!

Brenda's contribution is somewhat reminiscent of her quilt from our Color Play Series, Lorikeet theme, Lorikeet Circus. At least they are both inspired by birds! You can read more about the creation of this quilt on Brenda's blog post. I love Brenda's brilliant way of making a quilt seem both organized and spontaneous!

Helen's SAQA auction quilt is a small version of her spectacular Brick Lane quilt. There are several videos about the process of creating this quilt on Helen's PlanCreateSuceed blog. I just love all the elements in this quilt and how thoughtfully they are combined.

Kristin's contribution is part of her Villages and Rooted series. It's even got a chair on it! Maybe I shouldn't have included her quilt here. Now you'll all want to big against me! Kristin is a master at combining so many wonderful elements and giving meaning and context to each of them.

Gerrie's quilt is so wonderfully organic and textural. It's luminous too. You can even get a sense of the sheen of the discharged silk in the photo. That's saying a lot! I can only imagine how gorgeous it will be in person. You can read more about Gerrie's quilt here. 

For first dibs on any of these amazing quilts check out the SAQA auction site at 2 pm ET on Monday. Auction bids for the week are as follows. All the other pertinent info is on the SAQA site.

Section 3 - September 23 at 2:00 Eastern - $750
Section 3 - September 24 at 2:00 Eastern - $550
Section 3 - September 25 at 2:00 Eastern - $350
Section 3 - September 26 at 2:00 Eastern - $250
Section 3 - September 27 at 2:00 Eastern - $150
Section 3 - September 28 at 2:00 Eastern - $75

20 X 12 Debuts at NW Quilt Expo

Terry and I just finished hanging the quilts at Quilt Expo. They look so beautiful and are already getting rave revues from those setting up at the venue. The show does not open until Thursday, but we are very happy to have them hanging and ready for the opening. The above photo was taken before I added the signage. You can click it to see a larger view.

On the other side are Maverick and Sweet.

Terry and I will be around some on Thursday. On Friday, we will do a floor talk at 12 noon.

2012 Series Exhibition: NorthWest Quilting Expo 19-21 September 2013

Mark your diaries and plan an excursion!  The 2012 Series will be on exhibition at the Northwest Quilting Expo in Portland, Oregon from 19-21 September 2013.  There will also be an opportunity to meet with Portland Twelves, Gerrie and Terry, during the show.

If you can't make it to Portland, the rest of 2013 is jammed packed with all sorts of events and exhibitions featuring work by various Twelves.  Check out the Forthcoming Exhibitions listing on the website and blog sidebar.

Judge's Choice

A certain Twelve -- Helen Conway, to be precise -- is too modest to share her good news, so I will leap in to reveal her happy news.  Her original art quilt, "Brick Road," won a Judge's Choice award at the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham, UK last month.  Congratulations, Helen!

A Toast to the Twelves

This weekend marks the sixth anniversary of the formation of the Twelve by Twelve International Art Quilt Challenge.

On 2 September 2007, Diane sent out an e-mail head "NEW Small Quilt Challenge:Wanna Play?" and, within a couple of days, the first items started appearing on this blog..  We went on to share our project in hundreds of posts and to create 348 works for three series: the Theme series (2007-2009), Colourplay (2009-2011) and the 2012 Series.  Along the way, we wrote a book Twelve by Twelve: The International Art Quilt Challenge and staged an international exhibition tour that continues in 2013:

• see the 2012 series at Northwest Quilting Expo in Portland, USA 19-21 September 2013: and
• the Colorplay Series tours next to AQS Quilt Show, Des Moines, Iowa, USA 2 – 5 October 2013..  

We have met up in person and via Skype and forged enduring friendships. We also developed a heightened awareness of all things "twelve" so this New Zealand pinot noir jumped out at me. 

Here's looking at you Twelves!

The Army Wife in Charlottesville

Regular followers of Twelve by Twelve know that my life as an Army spouse comes through in much of my work. My small quilts for Identity, Twelve, Metamorphosis, Maps, and Maverick certainly reflect this. I am proud to announce that I will be having a solo show called The Army Wife in Charlottesville, VA during the month of September. Both Identity and Twelve pieces will most likely be part of it. For anyone in the area, I'd love it if you came for the opening reception, my artist talk, or just any time during the month that works for you.

Colourplay at Grand Rapids

Thanks to Monica of Michigan for sending through some photos from the Twelve by Twelve Colourplay exhibition at AQS Quilt Week at Grand Rapids.  The show continues until Saturday, 17 August.  

Invitation to Colorplay at AQS Quilt Week, Grand Rapids & Des Moines

Colorplay is back in the USA! You can view all 144 quilts in the Colorplay Series at:

• AQS Quilt Show, Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA 14 – 17 August 2013; and
• AQS Quilt Show, Des Moines, Iowa, USA 2 – 5 October 2013.

Beneath the Southern Sky: Final Exhibitions

The exhibition tour of Beneath the Southern Sky is drawing to a close. The final venues are:

• Festival of Quilts, Birmingham, UK: 8-11 August; and
• International Quilt Convention Africa: 6-8 September 2013.

Brenda is curating another travelling textile art exhibition in 2014/2015. See the Living Colour! website for more information.  Entries close on 31 January 2014.

Colourplay at Midsomer Quilting

Thank you to the all of the UK quilting enthusiasts who visited our exhibition at Midsomer Quilting. Here are a couple of photos:

Inspired by Twelve by Twelve, Midsomer Quilting has staged their own 12x12in challenge with their customers with a "Fruit" challenge in 2011 followed by "Book" in 2012.  Check out the virtual galleries on the Midsomer Quilting website. This year the challenge is "Film/Movie". Entries close on 2 November (see the rules).  It's fun to see other challenges.

By the way, Colourplay will next be on display in the United States at:

• AQS Quilt Show, Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA 14 – 17 August 2013; and
• AQS Quilt Show, Des Moines, Iowa, USA 2 – 5 October 2013.

Colourplay in the UK

Our one and only UK  Colourplay exhibition opens today at Midsomer Quilting at Chilcompton, near Bath. The exhibitions runs until Monday, 22 July. This is an opportunity to view all 144 quilts in the series and who doesn't love a well stocked quilt shop with friendly staff?!
In other Twelve news, check out the new August/September issue of Quilting Arts magazine that features an article by Terri about how she sketches and creates her whimsical story quilts with layers of colour and pattern.

Colourplay Arrives in the UK

It is always a little nerve wracking to ship quilts to the other side of the world.What a relief when the "Delivered" tracking message appears on screen.

Colourplay will be on exhibition at Midsomer Quilting, Chilcompton, near Bath, United Kingdom 18-22 July 2013.  Here is your invitation!

Living Colour! Call for Entries

Following the fantastic response to Beneath the Southern Sky, Brenda is curating another travelling textile art exhibition in 2014/2015 that will premiere at the Australasian Quilt Convention.  This is an invitation to all textile artists to submit an entry exploring the theme Living Colour! Each work will be in a 100x40cm (L x W) vertical format and up to 30 works may be selected. To submit an entry, please review the Conditions of Entry and complete the Online Entry Form. The closing date for entries is 31 January 2014. International entries are welcome.

Pièce de Résistance in Art Quilting Studio

Pièce de Résistance, my very first Twelve by Twelve challenge quilt,  is one of my karamatsu, circle stitched resist shibori works  featured in the magazine Art Quilting Studio Summer 2013 that goes on sale on 1 June. My contributor copy is still making its way across the Pacific, I can't wait to see the other articles inside!

Detailed tutorials for various shibori techniques are available on my FREE STUFF page.

Quilt National

I'm just back from Athens Ohio and Quilt National which you can read about on my blog http://www.fiberartmusings.blogspot.com

While there I was asked to participate on a panel discussion about how we came to this point in our artistic lives to enter Quilt National, and I want to quote a few things I said in my talk

"Backtracking for a moment, in 2007 I was asked to join an online group called Twelve by Twelve, The International Art Quilt Challenge , started by Diane Perin Hock."

 "Twelve by Twelve was one of those aha moments in my life.  I was able to focus on a small piece of work, try out new techniques, and even in a last minute panic, experiment with something purely on instinct."

"...the group was supportive in every way, like a nurturing mother.  I think that's just what I needed at the time to build confidence in my artwork"

So thank you Twelves, for helping me to this point in my artistic career.

A Sweet Update

Following Helen's completion of her quilt, here's an updated mosaic of the Sweet mosaic:

 

And here is an overview of Helen's 2012 Series:

Sweet reveal: Leave my Land Alone

You might recall that I for the special 12/12/12 reveal I managed to produce only an insipid, contrastless, unexciting map.  You can read the sorry tale here . Since than the map - which looked like this

 



has sat unloved on a corner of my work table. every now and agan I'd pick it up and mutter 'Sweet, sweet, sweet. Come on. Think. Sweet.' but no ideas came. I did not know whether to bin this and start again.(But I had no alternative ideas). Or to make this work. (But I didn't know how.) I hated it. I hoped everyone would forget that I never finished it. then I got news that the 20/12 quilts were wanted for exhibition. I had to finish it.

Then one day I was tidying up some boxes of scraps and bits and this sample Maasi warrior fell out onto the top of the sweet map.

 Ta-Dah! Of course.. it needed a man. That much should have been absolutely obvious from the outset. Mostly because the quilt is about the story of how the government are taking the land of the Omo tride in Southern Ethiopia to make sugar plantations. The maps shows their current land and how much will be affected by their forced relocation.(Read more here). For me the stories in my quilts are always about the people and their lives. Not the landscape. So, how I didn't think to add an Omo tribesman with his traditional body paint I will never know.

Especially as the first page in my Studio Filofax, which I open almost every day, is, um, a picture of an Omo tribe family.. (Doh!)

And the great irony is that this most hated and loathed quilt is now my favourite of my 20/12 series!

Time will do great things.

Using Sheers in Fabric Collage

I'm thrilled to be offering another webinar through Quilting Daily (the same folks that do Quilting Arts magazine, TV show and dvds). This one is all about using sheer materials in fabric collage.

I just went back and did a count of all my 12x12 quilts --- the Theme Series, the ColorPlay series and the 2012 Series. Guess what... I used sheer fabrics in 18 of my 29 quilts. 

Here is my quilt, Garden Gate, from the Rusty theme of the ColorPlay series. It incorporates a sheer silhouette of a crocus created with tulle. I will be discussing this technique --- and many others -- in the webinar.

The live webinar is TOMORROW May 22 at 11:30 am EST. If that fits your schedule and you're interested in hearing all kinds of things about sheer fabrics and the cool ways you can use them in your artwork, you should register! You'll get an email confirmation right away, then you just log in tomorrow. If you can't attend tomorrow, but are still interested, register anyway and you'll get a code to download the audio and video of the webinar anytime you like.

One of the cool things about webinars is that anyone anywhere can join in. I think it's just amazing that our 12x12 project has fans all over the world and I'm excited that some of you might be able to join me tomorrow.

International Fiber Art Showcase: 14-17 August 2013

Colorplay will be a special exhibit at AQS Quilt Show, Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA 14 – 17 August 2013 along with quilts from the Philippines, Germany and the Tentmakers of Cairo.

Be first in line to reserve your tickets, schedule your classes, and secure your seat for special events - all from the comfort of your computer. Registration opens to the public on May 13, 2013 at 9:00 a.m. central time.

See www.aqsshows.com/AQSGrandRapids/ for more information.