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This quilt, Sparkling Vases, by Tom Russell was awarded Best Quilt from First Time Entrant at Road to California 2004.  The original design was created as a six-month BOM pattern for hgtv.com.  He wanted to create an art quilt that might seem complicated at first glance but was really quite simple to create.  It is made in six simple sections which are joined together to create the quilt.

Sparkling Vases - 35 pieces non-rotating

Sparkling Vases - 96 pieces non-rotating

Sparkling Vases - 96 pieces rotating

Sparkling Vases - 300 pieces non-rotating

Sparkling Vases - 300 pieces rotating

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In Episode 1101, debuting July 2, Tom Russell will be discussing and demonstrating the art of embellishment as he shows Alex and Ricky how to use beads and buttons on their quilts. This quilt, Scrapbag Bouquet was created for the Simply Quilts Scrapbag Challenge and has beads galore. For the challenge, Tom was given 103, 5" squares and one month to create the quilt.  

Tom talks about the quilt and why he loves challenges on his blog, read the story here.

Scrapbag Bouquet - 36 pieces non-rotating

Scrapbag Bouquet - 100 pieces non-rotating

Scrapbag Bouquet - 100 pieces rotating

Scrapbag Bouquet - 289 pieces non-rotating

Scrapbag Bouquet - 289 pieces non-rotating

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Here is one of Susan Shie's older pieces from 2006, Greetings from Wooster.   It is 50" x 75" and is a a whole cloth painting on fabric. The colors were airbrushed on and then she used airpen drawing and writing on fabric.  It is machine crazy grid quilted with one row of hand sewing on the inside edge of the border.  There is ons Gree Temple Buddha Boy bead and one Peacy Cozy applique.

Of course, there is a story to the quilt.  See the the story below from Susan's website.

Greetings from Wooster - 35 pieces non-rotating

Greetings from Wooster - 35 pieces rotating

Greetings from Wooster - 96 pieces non-rotating

Greetings from Wooster - 96 pieces rotating

Greetings from Wooster - 300 pieces non-rotating

Greetings from Wooster - 300 pieces rotating

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I made this piece for the Quilt Art email listserv's challenge about our hometowns - The Travel Challenge. There will soon be a page of all the art quilts made for this show online. Stay tuned.

Wooster, Ohio is one of those energy meridian intersections. The three main Native American trails in Ohio cross here, and Wooster was selected by the men who surveyed Ohio in the early 1800s, as the place they would live out their lives. We have the largest Amish population in the world in our county and the next one south of us (Wayne and Holmes Counties), and we're a Nuclear Free Zone. Less than 30,000 people live in Wooster, in the gently rolling farmland in the bottom left corner of Northeast Ohio. It's a really friendly and peaceful place to live and make ar!

Wooster was chosen as an All American City in 1975, and the first Christmas Tree in the Midwest was in Wooster. We were the world headquarters for Rubbermaid for over 50 years, and we still have many really cool industries. My favorite places in Wooster are shown in this piece, along with a map of downtown Wooster. My friend Early's antique mall, Uptown/Downtown; The Parlor; The Food Co-op; The Big Picture; The Art Center; our house; Laura's Shoe Store; Matsos' Greek Restaurant; The Courthouse; The College of Wooster; and former Rubbermaid. I wrote stories off the top of my head, about each place, and also about some of the adventures my family and I have had there. I threw in some Wooster history, too.

I guess of all of these, I'd always pick Wooster Natural Foods, which used to be called The Wooster Food Co-op, as my total favorite. I've been involved with it since its start in the late 60s, and have been on the council most of the time. Am now the council president, and my brother Jimmy has been the assistant manager since 1987. Over half of the food co-ops have faded away, but ours is going strong! You can get really good organic eggs, organic milk, local honey, and so many other good things there. I love the co-op!

I think my second favorite place is a tie between Matsos, The Parlor, Early's store, and the Art Center. I graduated from The College of Wooster in 1981, so that's right up there, too, and there are lots of places I love which didn't make it onto this piece, though some are on the map.

The OARDC ­ Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center ­ is here, along with The ATI ­ Agricultural and Technical Institute, a part of The Ohio State University. Wayne County is called "Ohio's Foremost Agricultural Area," and everyone goes to the County Fair. Everyone! But I am so glad The College of Wooster is here, too, along with a nice mix of Unitarians and Quakers, to keep the liberal side of things alive.

I wrote a little book called My Own Private Wooster a few years ago, and made a quilt to go with it. It's a tour guide of Wooster, and I think this new quilt is another aspect of that book. I could make a big quilt about each one of so many places. There are tons of good stories about this town. Jimmy and I both grew up around here and know lots of wonderful folks. It's a place you don't get tired of.

 

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Susan became very interested in a band that she discovered through NPR known as The David Wax Museum. The band combines American folk, Mexican son, and bits of bluegrass and the blues. After watching one of the band's videos she decided to create a work that illustrated the band.  There is, of course, quite a bit more to the story of David Wax Museum: 3 of potholders (Coins) in the Kitchen Tarot.

The quilt was begun 4-29-12 and finished on 6-9-12 and is 60.25" x 76.25" It is a whole cloth, painted quilt. To learn the whole story behind the quilt, click here.

Click here to visit Susan's website.

David Wax Museum - 35 pieces non-rotating

David Wax Museum - 100 pieces non-rotating

David Wax Museum - 100 pieces rotating

David Wax Museum - 300 pieces non-rotating

David Wax Museum - 300 pieces rotating

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Hearts Alive #2 is one of Sonya Lee Barrington's latest pieces of silk work.  It is a small piece measuring only 12" x 12."  It is made of dupioni silk, machine pieced, and hand appliqued.  Sonya hand quilted it with copper metallic thread and embellished it with Mother of Pearl vintage buttons, glass beads and other objects.  It hangs freely from a stand created from copper tubing.

To see more of Sonya's work, please visit her website or watch her in Episode 1012: Beyond Cotton: Working with Wool and Silk.

Hearts Alive #2 - 36 pieces non-rotating

Hearts Alive #2 - 100 pieces non-rotating

Hearts Alive #2 - 100 pieces rotating

Hearts Alive #2 - 289 pieces non-rotating

Hearts Alive #2 - 289 pieces rotating

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In Episode 1012 - Beyond Cotton: Working with Wool and Silk with Sonya Lee Barrington, Sonya demonstrates how to work with wool while showing Ricky how to make a purse out of a jacket.  This quilt is also a "re-cycled" piece.  The quilt top is 100% recycled wool and the buttons are recycled as well. It is machine pieced; hand embroidered and hand quilted. The back is new Pendelton® wool and the batting is wool as well.  The quilt measures 48" x 72".

The Jigsaw site changed the look.  You can increase the puzzle to full screen by clicking the little box and arrow icon in the lower right corner.  You can see it in the picture below.

After you make it full screen use the gear icon to rescatter the pieces.

 

You can see more of Sonya's work at www.sonyaleebarrington.com.

Wool Work - 35 pieces non-rotating

Wool Work - 96 pieces non-rotating

Wool Work - 96 pieces rotating

Wool Work - 300 pieces non-rotating

Wool Work - 300 pieces rotating

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