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modern quilting

creativity The Creativity Project

The Creativity Project Week #32: Gina Adams

Gina Adams The Creativity Project Week #32 Leland Ave Studios:Kim Smith Soper

Gina Adams is an artist of Native American descent who uses quilts to tell the story of her heritage and its complicated history with the United States. Her “Broken Treaty” project includes the reuse of antique quilts, to which she appliqués hand-cut letters depicting the language of broken treaties between the United States government and Native American tribes. Gina’s work is exhibited extensively throughout the US and resides in many public and private collections. The noted international art critic Lucy Lippard wrote the introduction on her artwork for her Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art Exhibition “Its Honor Is Here Pledged”, which introduced her Broken Treaty Quilts to a new contemporary-art arena in 2015, and helped to launch her career as an artist. In 2016, Gina was a Smithsonian Artist Research Fellow (SARF), and had “Its Honor Is Hereby Pledged” exhibitions in Boulder, Colorado at Naropa University’s White Cube Gallery, where she is a Faculty in Visual Arts. In the summer of 2017, Gina presented and exhibited at the American Indian Workshop (AIW) Conference at Goldsmiths College, University of London, England. Gina’s work is currently exhibiting at the Bemis Center of Contemporary Art and The Museum of Design in Atlanta. At the same time, she is finishing an  Artist-in-Residence at Dartmouth College (which includes a Solo exhibition), and this summer she was a visiting artist in residence at the  Kohler Arts Center.  Among other exciting events, Gina has an upcoming exhibit at the Minus Space Gallery in Brooklyn, NY. Welcome, Gina!

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creativity The Creativity Project

The Creativity Project Week #30: Sujata Shah

Sujata Shah Week 30 The Creativity Project Leland Ave Studios Kim Smith Soper

Sujata Shah is a graphic designer, textile artist, author and teacher. Originally from Mumbai, India, Sujata now lives with her family in the US. Sujata has won numerous awards for her quilts in local and national quilt shows, and her quilt designs have been taught and replicated all over the world. In 2003, Sujata discovered an instant connection between the abstract utilitarian quilts of Gee’s Bend and Godharis from her native India. Her instinctive ability to work with colors and textures, combined with an education in graphic design, has helped her develop a unique style as a designer.  She draws her inspirations from imperfections and irregularities of free-spirited folk art and crafts from around the world. In 2014, she wrote the book, Cultural Fusion Quilts: A Melting Pot of Piecing Traditions, in which she introduced free-form blocks and abstract interpretations of traditional quilt blocks.  In addition to teaching worldwide, Sujata is the host of the Handmade India tour with designer Amy Butler. The tour offers an intimate cultural immersion experience in India that combines creative workshops led by local artisans with the exploration of historic temples, palaces and markets in Jaipur, India. Welcome, Sujata! Continue Reading

creativity The Creativity Project

The Creativity Project Week #27: Sheri Cifaldi-Morrill

Sheri Cifaldi-Morrill Week 27 The Creativity Project Leland Ave Studios:Kim Soper

Sheri Cifaldi-Morrill has been a graphic designer for over twenty years. More recently, she turned to quilting as a creative outlet for stress relief from her daily life. She soon realized that her training as a graphic designer was well suited to pattern design and she founded her pattern design business, Whole Circle Studios in 2015. In just a short time, Sheri’s quilts have gained international recognition, including awards from QuiltCon, International Quilt Festival, Quilt Week/Paducah, the Quilt Alliance and the Modern Quilt Guild. In addition, Sheri’s quilts have been featured at art centers and galleries around the country and are held in private and corporate collections. In 2016, Sheri was the recipient of the first annual Craftsy Quilt Designer Fellowship. This fellowship enabled Sheri to debut Whole Circle Studio’s first business-to-business trade show booth at International Quilt Market in Houston in fall of 2016. Sheri’s quilts have been featured in Modern Quilts: Designs of the New Century, Modern Patchwork magazine, and International Quilt Festival Quilt Scene. Sheri has partnered with numerous fabric designers, manufacturers and thread companies, including her role as an Aurifil Artisan and a Craftsy contributor. Welcome, Sheri! Continue Reading

creativity The Creativity Project

The Creativity Project Week #26: Diana Vandeyar

Diana Vandeyar The Creativity Project Week #26 Leland Ave Studios: Kim Smith Soper

Diana Vandeyar is an Australian-born artist who relocated to Virginia from South Africa. She uses quilts to raise awareness of social injustices, stir emotion, and explore new techniques. In fact, two of Diana’s quilts have been purchased by the Michigan State University Museum as part of their permanent collection. Diana is a frequent contributor to the Modern Quilt Guild, with her patterns being featured as block and quilts of the month. Diana’s quilts and designs have been published in numerous places, among them, Modern Quilts: Deisgns of the New Century; Simply Moderne Magazine; 50 Little Gifts: Easy Patchwork Projects to Give or Swap; Curated Quilts; and QuiltCon Magazine. Diana won both second and third place in the Modern Traditionalism category at QuiltCon 2018, and her quilt Log Cabin Quilter Unknown was month the MQG’s showcase at the International Quilt Festival 2017. Welcome, Diana! Continue Reading

creativity The Creativity Project

The Creativity Project Week #20: Kathryn Upitis

Kathryn Upitis The Creativity Project Week 20 Kim Soper/Leland Ave Studios

By day, Kathryn Upitis (aka Dr. Kathryn Dundas) uses integrative medicine to heal people as a whole: body, mind and spirit. When quilting, Kathryn applies this same approach to the quilts that she makes. She infuses everything she touches with intention, positive energy and the desire for her art to heal. Kathryn has not been quilting for very long, but what she has made in that short time has been impactful. Her quilts have shown at QuiltCons in 2105, 2017, and 2018; and her quilt, Silver Lining, is featured in the Modern Quilt Guild’s book Modern Quilts: Designs of the New Century. In addition, Kathryn’s quilt, Rocky Mountain High, is currently touring with the Best of Quilt Con Traveling Exhibit 2018. Kathryn’s designs have been featured in Modern Quilts Unlimited magazine and have won awards in Sewtopia challenges. In addition to making award-wining quilts, Kathryn’s wellness spa was recently recognized as one of the Top 25 Spas of Canada and was the recipient of the Education Award in the 2017 Canadian Spa & Wellness Awards, presented by Spa Inc. magazine, the Spa Industry Association of Canada (SIAC) and its consumer arm Leading Spas of Canada. Welcome, Kathryn!

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finishes

improv-pieced feather mini quilt.

improv feather by kim soper/leland ave studios

feather mini quilt by Kim Soper/Leland Ave Studios

“Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” — Mary Oliver, The Summer Day

Summer. I wait for it all year long. I adore it so much that I awake early to watch its sunrise and will get out of bed in the middle of the night to see its perseids. I live it so thoroughly that two months can go by and I won’t even notice that time is marching forward. I’m in Summer-Mom mode. I’m zen, baby! I’m in the summer-moment! But as I purchased the kids’ school supplies yesterday, the realization sank in that we will be back to the routine of school and sports before we know it.

Which, then reminded me, that I need to fill you in on some of the things that have been going on around here. . . Because, while I haven’t been in this space documenting my happenings, things have been happening, nonetheless!

The first bit of news is that I am now the president of the Long Island Modern Quilt Guild. We’re looking to grow the guild and to join as an official chapter of the National MQG. We’re moving to a new location, meeting on a new day of the week, we have a new logo, and have hosted some charity events and fundraisers. It’s been exciting — and a lot of work! One of the fundraisers that we will be holding this week, is a raffle for mini-quilts that were made by our board members. The feather (above) is my contribution.

This mini quilt measures approx. 12″ x 20″ and was entirely improv-pieced based on a feather from the Painted Dreamcatcher pattern by Sarah Elizabeth of {no} hats in the house. Her pattern is paper pieced, which is not really my jam. So I improvised and came up with this.

All of the board members made their minis from the same group of fabrics so that when they hang together, they will look like a cohesive collection. I think it’s going to be great, and fingers crossed, it will be a successful fundraiser for the guild!

Other than the feather, I’ve been continuing to plug away at Lincoln, as well as working on some other charity projects, like this and this. I’ll also be participating in the Cloud 9 New Block Blog Hop, so look for that post on Monday, September 12th. And be sure to check out all of the amazing blocks created by all of the participants in this event! The fabric is seriously gorgeous, so I think it’s going to be an exceptional hop!

2016 New Quilt Bloggers

Hope you are having an amazing summer. What have you been up to? What are you doing to savor these last days of summery goodness? I’d love to hear!

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happy panic: mqg riley blake fabric challenge.

Leland Ave Studios Submission MQG Fabric ChallengeBy the hair of my chinny chin chin, I submitted an entry to the Modern Quilt Guild’s Riley Blake Fabric Challenge.  If you’re not familiar, MQG provided a 3/4 yard cut of Riley Blake’s Sashing Stash fabric and we had to make something quilted using that print mixed with Riley Blake solids. I chose to work with the HST sashing print as well as the checkerboard pattern, which I incorporated into my binding.

Happy Panic by Kim Soper/Leland Ave StudiosHappy Panic is the ultimate quilt resulting from one “happy accident” after another. My initial design for the quilt would have taken me far past the deadline, so, while I may still make that quilt some day, I had to change my thinking if I was going to get this one done in time.

Happy Panic by Kim Soper/Leland Ave Studios

As I worked, I realized I was dangerously close to running out of white fabric. I officially ran out of white thread (yup, it’s actually quilted with cream–and it totally works!!). At one point, I was afraid that the spool of cream would run out, too,  so I added some quilting in blue, to save the cream if I needed it at a later point!  I decided to use the checkered print from the Sashing Stash collection as my binding — but guess what? There was not enough of that either! So again, I added some blue to pick up the blue in the quilting and get the job done.

Happy Panic by Kim Soper/Leland Ave Studios

In the end, I am happy with the result! But the process was not without anxiety. Hence the name, Happy Panic!

I must admit I was hesitant to participate, but I really feel like working within the parameters of the challenge forced me to come up with solutions I would otherwise not have settled for. And in the end, I think it made the quilt more interesting!

So now, tell me: did you submit something for the challenge? I’d love to hear about your process and how you thought about using the prints in the collection if you did!