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.