Colorplay comes home

 

 
My Twelve by Twelve Colorplay quilts arrived home this week, after a long period of traveling the world without me.  Do they have stories to tell! Gemma, the "Labikeet" quilt made for the "lorikeet color" challenge chosen by Brenda Smith, loved being on display in Belgium this past October.  Apparently the quilters in Belgium are not used to seeing such vividly colored dogs and were highly amused. 
 

My "Wisteria" quilt (made when Gerrie Congdon chose chartreuse as her color challenge)  had tales of the oohs and ahs it overheard while on display in Alsace, France this past September.  I also got a long, involved story Kiluea overheard about a scandal involving a french quilter, her new sewing machine, and the rabidly jealous old machine who was intent on sabotaging things in the studio. Those French sewing machines are hot-blooded, I guess.

The "Kiluea" quilt (made for the Kiluea-inspired challenge that Kristin LaFlamme chose when she was living in Hawaii) enjoyed seeing Michigan, Portland, Oregon, and Iowa back in the summer and fall of 2013.  Kiluea claims that she didn't find many volcanic friends in those areas but was surprised that Michigan in August was hotter than she expected.

 

The "Birds Flying High" (made in response to Francoise Jamart's blue and white challenge) quilt loved seeing Australia and New Zealand in early 2013 and truly felt that they'd flown far, far from home.  They continue to chatter among themselves in their newly-adopted Australian accents.  You'd think they'd have brought me a souvenir or two, wouldn't you?  But no.

 

 

My #2 Pencils (made in response to the "purple and yellow" challenge chosen by Karen Rips) are still blushing and swooning about meeting Chris Howell of Midsomer Quilting in Chilcompton, England. Chris is quite the charmer and his enthusiastic love of the 12x12 quilts has made him a favorite among my quilts.  I think a few of them wanted to stay there with him and his many quilting fans.  I expect they'll be sending off pining love letters now.

The "Imagine" quilt (made for the "orange" challenge selected by Terry Grant), is most sentimental about its time touring the International Quilt Festival shows in Houston, TX, Cincinnati, OH, and Long Beach, CA.  It reports that it felt like a real star with the flocks of admiring quilters touring the full 12x12 exhibit of all 288 quilts, and was glad to have sunglasses with all of the paparazzi taking photos.  I think returning to my quiet house is going to be quite the let-down for this spoiled celebrity quilt.

And the others? They're not talking.

Maybe they're tired and jetlagged.

Or they're sulking about having to leave their Colorplay friends.

The "Spices" quilt seems to be in a particularly dark mood.

Perhaps it's depression, given that the bright lights of their glory days have come to an end.

You never know, I tell them.  And besides, I remind them of what amazing doors they opened for me and my dear 12x12 compatriots.  What a wonderful, wonderful life they've had.  Now, I think I need to find a place in my home where we can get reacquainted, just me and them.

Fiber Art for a Cause

I am so happy to pass along information about an exciting new initiative raising money for the American Cancer Society. It's Virginia Spiegel's Fiberart For A Cause. This year her project is called "The 100." 

100 Artists - 100 Patrons - One Day
$10,000 To Fight Cancer
February 4, 2015
http://www.virginiaspiegel.com/FFACThe100Fundraiser.html

Six of the "twelves" are included in "The 100" along with many, many other amazing artists.

Deborah Boschert

Gerrie Congdon

Terry Grant

Kristin LaFlamme
Karen Rips

Terri Stegmiller

Want to make a donation and receive a piece of art? Mark your calendar for February 4 and check out the details are here.

Fiberart For A Cause has already raised $240,000 through the generosity of fiber artists and patrons.

Lorikeet at the château

Especially for our princess lorikeet, here's a picture taken this morning a bit before the opening. :-)

We had about 500 visitors today, which is rather good for a Thursday, I think.
Some people knew already about the group and the Colorplay series, and there were a few real Twelve by Twelve fans among them! Most visitors were interested to hear about our story and had lots of interesting questions to ask. I think I talked almost non-stop from 10am to 5pm. Now I need a little rest.
More pictures tomorrow.

La vie de château

Our Colorplay quilts are all set for their final exhibition together!

At the National Show of the Belgian Patchwork Association, 2-5 October, in Enghien.

Report from the European Patchwork Meeting

There was a lot of buzz around the Colourplay exhibition at Carrefour Européen du Patchwork 2014.   Here are extracts from the official program and the Catalogue Prestige 2014: 

And our exhibition formed the backdrop for a news item on Alsace Matin television:

We were fortunate that Colourplay was displayed at Espace des Tisserands, the premier exhibition space in the village of Sainte Marie aux Mines with gallery-style white walls, high ceilings and excellent lighting:  

This is the view from outside.  Doesn't even quilt show have a saucisson stand near by?!
 
And here are some overall shots of the valley:

Inside our exhibit formed a colourful display:

On Thursday and Friday, school groups visited Espace des Tisserands and completed detailed assignments on their favourite quilts.  Several student chose pieces from the Colourplay exhibit:

THANK YOU to the many people who let us know how much they enjoyed our book and how our collaborative project had inspired them to start their own group challenge.  This is a selfie of Brenda with Anita Fors (left) and Gunnel Wright from Göteborg, Sweden who are part of  the Fria Tyglar/ Free Reins challenge group:

If you missed the European Patchwork Meeting and live near Belgium, you can catch the final Colourplay exhibition at Association Belge du Patchwork, Enghien, Belgium: 2-5 October 2014.

Bonjour!

La Cerise Sur Le Gâteau

It is wonderful to be here in France for the Twelve by Twelve Colourplay exhibition and Australia Quilts. However, "la cerise sur le gâteau" is to finally meet Françoise after 8 years of internet exchanges and seven years of collaboration with Twelve by Twelve projects.  Here we are together at a SAQA function.

For me, I have now met all the other Twelves.  And Françoise has met six.  Each time is a complete confirmation of the special bond of being a "Twelve" and I am turely grateful

Colourplay Installation at European Patchwork Meeting

Today was installation day at the European Patchwork Meeting.  Here is our blank canvas:

Here is hanging in progress:

The installation technicians were superb.  Very thoughtful and seeking to show our work to its best advantage;

The black background panels were designed to be placed on black drapes and carpet walls but they also work satisfactorily on the white walls.  These photos are from before final adjustments:

And in this photo, you get a glimpse of Helen's work in the adjoining SAQA exhibition - Wide Horizons:

I (Brenda) will be at the exhibition all of Thursday, Saturday and Sunday and Françoise will be around on Friday and other times.  Please stop by and say Bonjour!

Colourplay Countdown: Orange

LLI wrap up this Colourplay Countdown with a few glimpses of orange that I have spotted in my travels en route the the European Patchwork Meeting and the Twelve by Twelve Colourplay exhibition.  It's been fun to revisit the Colourplay challenge palettes (even my husband has secretly enjoyed it, pointing out photo opportunities along the way ). If you are at the European Patchwork Meeting, please do say hello!