And the "Separated at Birth Award"...

...goes to...

*dah dah da da daaaah*

"I Am More" by Terry and "Latent Colour" by Diane.

 

 

 

It's hard to imagine two more similar quilts being made in these circumstances. Whilst a large view shows just how very different each quilt is from the other, at thumbnail size they are most definitely twins. Amusingly, they also have a younger set of quad siblings - "Pop Art Identity" by Gerrie.



It was a close run competition, this one, but Terry and Diane were clearly the winners because they actually did it twice. Look at their Illumination quilts (Terry's Japanese Lanterns on the left, Diane's Happy Lanterns on the right)...

 

 

 

 

I have to add another award here (and then very tastelessly award it to myself) because it has been mentioned by more than one Twelve that the following two quilts are also rather closely related. So the Before and After Award goes to Nikki's Twelve quilt "The Kissing Number" and my Passion quilt "Oh". I leave it to you to draw the parallels...

New Blog Button & Celebratory Giveaway

With the completion of our first series of challenges and 144 wonderful art quilts, it's time for a new blog button that features the work of the challenge host for each theme:

You are welcome to add the button to your website or blog sidebar. Here is the code that you can cut and paste:

<a href="http://twelveby12.blogspot.com/">
<img src="http://serendipitypatchwork.wordpress.com/files/2009/10/12blogbutton2009.jpg" alt="Twelve by Twelve group blog" title="Twelve by Twelve group blog" border="0"/></a>

And, in case you are just joining the party, we are celebrating the completion of our first series of Theme works by sharing some light-hearted awards. Starting on October 12th, we will each post highlighting some of our favorite surprising and silly quilts. We invite our readers to think about what quilts you'd give these awards to and come back to let us know in the comments on those days. Everyone that leaves a comment on these posts goes into a draw to win some freshly minted postcards featuring the theme mosaic shown on our new blog button.

So far Gerrie has presented the "Also Ran" award and Helen has shared "The One I Wish I Had Made...". Coming up are:

• October 14th: Kirsten: Separated at Birth
• October 15th: Terry: Most Creative Use of Materials
• October 16th: Diane: Most Likely to Get Pulled Over By The Quilt Police
• October 17th: Françoise: Biggest Stretch of the Theme
• October 18th: Kristin: How DID She Do That?
• October 19th: Karen: Most Colorful
• October 20th: Brenda: I Would Never Have Guessed (Biggest Departure of Style)
• October 21st: Terri: Most Humorous
• October 22nd: Nikki: Most Bling
• October 23rd: Deborah: Most Unexpected

Welcome to the festivities - do leave a comment!

The one I wish I had made...

As soon as I was allocated this award to write about, two quilts popped into my head, one quickly after the other. Of course I have gone back to look at all our galleries again to refresh my memory but the same ones made my short list and I am voting for the one which I recalled first. However, by co-incidence when my husband Dennis was asked his view of the one he thought I wished I made ( yes, we do tend to over complicate things in our house!) he picked the second one.

So, the winner is... Chairs by Gerrie Congdon.

For me it is a wonderfully evocative piece which conjours up all kinds of untold stories which is maybe why it sticks in my mind. Plus, it is made with all kinds of techniques I don't yet know how to do but which clearly are capable of creating the kinds of quilts I often have in my mind. Last week I visited Camden Stables Markets in London and was berating myself for forgetting my camera. The place was full of quirky signs and items that would have made a wonderful quilt, and, as I was trying hard to memorise it all, it was the style of this quilt I was thinking about - even before I was allocated this award. So it wins for being both memorable and inspiring.

The close runner up is Marquise de Coëtlogon by Kristen La Flamme. This was made for one of our earlier challenges and when I saw it I realised the game had just been upped. I was amazed that one small quilt could have such detail, that the back story was in itself so ornate and that so much effort had been put into the beaded borders.

Of course, like any quilt show you are free to disagree with the Judge and we suggest you comment below with your vote. All the quilts can easily be viewed either by theme or by artist at our website.

For Some, One is Never Enough

Some of the Twelves often made more than one piece for each theme. To Brenda goes the award for producing the most work in search of the perfect interpretation of each theme. I think that she made more than one piece for at least 7 of the themes. And sometimes, Brenda made more than one extra for a theme. Kristin comes in second, making more than one piece for about 5 of the challenges.

Diane, Terry and I made an extra piece for only one of the themes — Diane and I for chocolate and Terry for Shelter.

The others may have had other great ideas, but only completed the pieces that were shown on the blog.

I have been asked to select my favorite Also Ran. That was easy and probably because I had seen it in person. That would be one of the pieces that Terry made for Shelter. You see it at the beginning of this post. It was a pictorial representation of her, then, new home. The colors make the home look warm and welcoming. I also like the way Terry stylized the tree, shrubs and plants. She ended up doing a piece with strong, simple graphic elements, a quite different interpretation of shelter. And because Terry is so talented, they are both terrific.

Twelve by Gerrie

In Portland today, Gerrie is waking up to her birthday so, on this 12th day of the month, we present Twelve by Gerrie:

Despite a long affiliation with clothing and textiles, Gerrie has been quilting less than 10 years and demonstrates an endless facsination with surface design techniques. Visit her website galleries to see (and buy!) a selection of her dynamic work. And don't miss her blog with tales of Mr C, her talented family and hyperactive poodle Scooter. Happy birthday Gerrie!

Twelve by Deborah

Deborah lives in Lewisville, Texas and celebrates the creative spirit on her blog and website. She loves making art and encouraging others to create. You will find lots of crafty goodness in Deborah's Etsy store and she offers workshops where you can explore the creative spirit too. Here is Deborah's collection of Twelve by Twelve art quilts:

Pondering Pink

As I have often stated, I am not a pink person. Ugh. Yuck. Pink. But when we decided on color as a general theme for our next round of twelve, I just knew I was going to have to confront pink at some point, though I didn't expect it to be the first thing! So I have been looking for pink that I like and trying to analyze it.


We were recently in Washington D.C. and this Gauguin caught my eye, especially for the way he used pink in it.

Pink, purple, orange. Hmm. This is appealing.

Pink—pale and misty in an earthy palette. This is nice.

Maybe I can get into pink. I tried using pink to recolor a recent airplane window photo I took.

The wheels are turning . . .

Twelve by Nikki

Nikki lives in Washington State and leads a busy life as Mom to four lively children. She revels in art-making when she gets a chance and shares her joy in mixed-media and fiber art through her blog and her Etsy store. This joy is reflected in her contribution to the Twelve by Twelve Collaborative Art Quilt Project:

Twelve by Terri

Terri is a multi-talented, multi-media textile artist living in North Dakota. Her beloved cats often feature in her work and her Twelve by Twelve art quilts are no exception:

Terri updates her blog regularly (don't miss out on her studio tour) along with her extensive Etsy store. You can also purchase Terri's books from her website and sign up for online classes through Two Creative Studios.

Twelve by Karen

Karen is a native California girl. Karen's website contains a portfolio of fiber art while her blog Fiberart Musings tracks her exploration of different surface design techniques. Many of these techniques are showcased in her contribution to the Twelve by Twelve Collaborative Art Quilt Project:

Karen's work is also featured in the Edges special exhibit at the International Quilt Festival in Houston, October 15 - 18 2009.

The 12 Days of...

It's been a fun-filled two years completing 12 challenges together. We're about half way through viewing each artist's collection of quilts. I don't know about you, but I'm really enjoying seeing how all the pieces work together -- the preferred styles and color palettes, the compositions and themes. To keep the party going, we've got another fun series starting on the 12th.



In true graduate yearbook style, we're celebrating by giving out goofy awards. Starting on October 12th we will each post highlighting some of our favorite surprising and silly quilts. We invite our readers to think about what quilts you'd give these awards to and come back to let us know in the comments on those days.

October 12th: Gerrie: Favorite "Also Ran"

October 13th: Helen: The One I Wished I Had Made

October 14th: Kirsten: Separated at Birth

October 15th: Terry: Most Creative Use of Materials

October 16th: Diane: Most Likely to Get Pulled Over By The Quilt Police

October 17th: Françoise: Biggest Stretch of the Theme

October 18th: Kristin: How DID She Do That?

October 19th: Karen: Most Colorful

October 20th: Brenda: I Would Never Have Guessed (Biggest Departure of Style)

October 21st: Terri: Most Humorous

October 22nd: Nikki: Most Bling

October 23rd: Deborah: Most Unexpected

Twelve by Kristin

In the course of the Twelve by Twelve project, Kristin has relocated from Germany to Hawaii and her experiences as an army wife are reflected in some of her contributions:

Kristin's eponymous website Kristin La Flamme is home to her blog and a gallery of her textile works including "Rooted VII, Aquifer" which has been juried into IQF's Tactile Architecture 2009 exhibiting at IQF Houston, Oct 15-18 2009, IQF Chicago, April 2010 and IQF Long Beach, July 2010.

2/12's

Bonjour! Francoise and I and our DH's met up for Japanese food tonight in Paris. Tomorrow we are going to the Musee Du Quai Branly together. We had lots to catch up on with our recent completion of the twelve twelves and what the future brings.

Twelve by Françoise

Françoise lives in Belgium and writes a chocolate-fueled blog Creatilfun. Her hand dyed fabrics and exquisite workmanship are hallmarks of her distinctive works:

Twelve by Diane

You probably know Diane from her wide-ranging blog Going to Pieces. Diane set the spark for the Twelve by Twelve Collaborative Art Quilt Project and we are indebted to her initiative, insight and contribution: