December 26, 2017

2017 in Review - Did I Accomplish Anything?

As 2017 is almost over, I am doing what most people do at years end, contemplating just exactly what did I accomplish this year.  As this was my first full year after retirement, I was hoping that I would get a good start on all the projects that I had been putting off while working a full time job.  My first goal was to enter three quilt contests this year.

I started out with the Kaffe Fassett 'I Am An Artisan' quilt contest.  The fabrics that we had to use were absolutely spectacular.  Such a great color palette to work with.  The added embroidery designs from Mia and Chantell made the quilt.

Blue Plate Special
Not only did this quilt win the Viewer's Choice Award, it also was published in the 2017 Quilt Festival Quilt Scene magazine, and it was hanging in the Houston Quilt Show.  I also just got notice that it will be hanging in the International Quilt Festival in Chicago April 12-14 2018.  A couple of the prizes I won have been either mailed or collected.  I received my prize fabric in the mail and then I picked up my new sewing/embroidery machine at the local Janome dealer Boutique 4 Quilters.  I also took some of the fabric I won and made zipper bags in the embroidery machine for some of my friends.  I am calling this success number one for the year!


Boutique 4 Quilters

Kaffe Fassett Artisan fabrics

Machine Embroidery Zipper Bags
Next up is the Hoffman Challenge that I enter almost every year.  It's a fun contest and the fabrics are usually very interesting and inspiring.  This years was especially fun because it just wanted to be made into a Hawaiian themed quilt.  It won the Hoffman Choice award! That was pretty exciting but then I found out that Mr. Hoffman loved it so much that he bought it and it now hangs in his office in Southern California.  It didn't get to travel with the other quilts this year, but Mr. Hoffman says that he will display it at a few major shows.

Aloha Hoffman 2017
I have received both my prize and the ribbon from Hoffman which are very nice.  This is accomplishment number two!  And yes, I do plan on entering in 2018!  Thank you Chantell and Mia for your embroidery designs!



Next was the Moda Bella Solids challenge.  This was a huge project.  One of the biggest quilts that I have ever completed.  Unfortunately it was not picked as a finalist for the Moda Bella contest.  But the great news is that Bella Windows - Peeks of Nature was a better fit for the 2018 World Quilt Florida competition in Orlando January 18-20, and it is a finalist in their competition!  I am keeping my fingers crossed that it will be my first win in 2018!!  I still can't believe that Mia drew and digitized 80 different designs for this quilt.  And the quilt of course couldn't have been made without Chantell's modified log cabin block!

Bella Windows - Peeks of Nature

Since all three quilts were completed as planned and each one of them has had great success, I am calling my first goal of 2017 complete.

My next goal was to find something 'to do' that would earn a little cash and also share my talent as an embroidery artist.  I feel that I have accomplished that goal by teaching many classes at Quilts and Lace.  I seem to have become the Kimberbell expert.  I have taught many different projects that have required different levels of embroidery skills from beginner to advanced.  But the biggest project that I taught was the 'Jingle All The Way' quilt.  I think it was my favorite Kimberbell project for the year.

Jingle All The Way
I seem to have caught the 'competition' bug because I went ahead and entered a couple more contests.  The first one was a Moda mini quilt competition and the requirements were to use some of the Moda Primitive Gatherings fabrics.  I had a few different categories to chose from and I of course chose applique.  Everyone who entered ended up sending their quilts to Lisa's shop where she displayed them for the holidays.  She just announced the winners about a week ago, and I was very excited to learn that my little Lumberjack quilt won the prize for Applique!  You can see the other winners here on Lisa's blog.  She has a wonderful shop and sells beautiful things.  I just received my very nice prize package and my quilt back.  Since the quilt was being gifted to Jackie as part of her Christmas present, it arrived just in time.

Lumberjacks

Lumberjacks Prizes

The next little mini quilt contest that I entered required a Moda/Aurifil thread combination.  We had to use both a precut Moda fabric package and Aurifil threads.  I didn't realize at the time that it would not be a 'real' competition. What I mean is that they just threw in a hat all of the names of everyone who entered and picked the winner out of the hat.  So it really didn't have anything to do with talent, just perseverance in finishing your mini quilt.  But that was ok because I ended up with a really knock out mini quilt!  I love it and its going up on my wall!  I used Moda Sweetwater Authentic fabric and of course the Aurifil threads.

Authentic Stars

Sweetwater fabric and Aurifil thread
I also completed a few other miscellaneous projects, quilts, and I did a lot of test stitching for Chantell.  I even took a few classes myself, after all, there is always something new to learn.  I think I am going to call the year a major success! Not only did I complete and surpass all of my quilting goals, but I am now an AWARD winning quilter and I have been PUBLISHED in a magazine!  I am thinking that makes for a very successful 2017!

I don't know what my goals are for 2018 yet, but I will really have to work very hard if I plan on accomplishing even half this much next year!  

Here are a couple more finished projects:

Bubby kitty even got his own quilt this year.

Houses made from Log Cabin blocks






December 19, 2017

Bella Windows - Peeks of Nature

I thought I would share some pictures of the quilt that has been accepted into the World Quilt Florida quilt competition in 2018.  It is 72 inches wide by 90 inches high, making it one of the biggest quilts that I have completed.  It proved to be quite a challenge to quilt it on my Babylock.  I actually quilted it on a small fold out table with my machine sitting on top.  Not an ideal set up! But I got the job done and it turned out perfect.

This is the statement that I provided about my quilt.  "I wanted to give the impression that each block was a window and each window would give you a view of a little piece of nature.  I feel that we don't spend enough time outside so I wanted people to have peeks of what they were missing.  The whole completed quilt was pieced, quilted, and embroidered on my Babylock Destiny machine."

First is a picture of the whole quilt:


Bella Windows - Peeks of Nature

Then a close up of a few areas:


Close up of Bella quilt

Close up of 4 blocks

  And then just some close ups of random blocks:







There are a total of 80 blocks, each with a different embroidery design in the middle.  Thank you Mia for all the drawing and digitizing you did.  Everything turned out perfect and just as I had envisioned it.  A big thank you also to Chantell for digitizing the exact block I needed.  Without both of these talented women all of my quilts would still be just thoughts and dreams floating around in my head!

And most important of all, thank you to the judges at the World Quilt Florida quilt competition for choosing my quilt to be shown in Orlando in January!





December 18, 2017

World Quilt Florida Quilt Competition

Today I thought I would share some exciting news with you about my Bella Windows Quilt!


Isn't it exciting!!!  I am thrilled.  This is what they offered as a post to the local newspaper.  I will do a post about the quilt soon.  I just wanted to do a quick share about the news!


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Local Quilter Accepted into Statewide Florida Quilt Competition

NEW HOPE, Pennsylvania – Quilt Artist Cherri Kincaid of Merritt Island, FL has been accepted as a finalist in the 2018 Florida Quilt Competition at the World Quilt Show Florida. Produced by Mancuso Show Management, the World Quilt Show will take place at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, FL from January 18-20, 2018.

Kincaid’s quilt, Bella Windows - Peeks of Nature, will be on display at the show along with many other quilts created by Floridians, all competing for prizes. Winners will be selected at the show and announced on the World Quilt Florida website, www.quiltfest.com, on Thursday, January 18, 2018. Quilt and textile art enthusiasts will have an opportunity to view Kincaid's quilt among all the other magnificent displays of quilts and textile art at the event, January 18-20, 2018.

President of Mancuso Show Management David Mancuso says, “Quilting is truly art. Every quilt that is displayed at the World Quilt Show takes great skill and talent to make it come to life. This quilt competition incorporates pieces from the best quilters in Florida that will be judged, and on display to be enjoyed by quilt enthusiasts and other quilt artists."

Besides the competition quilts on display, the Quilt Festival will feature workshops and lectures taught by a renowned faculty, a Merchant's Mall and a beautiful collection of special exhibits including the international entries of the 2017 World Quilt Competition and exhibits by many Florida quilt guilds.

Mancuso Show Management has several long running shows annually, each with its own quilt competition. Besides World Quilt Florida, MSM hosts, the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival, Hampton, VA; The Quilt & Sewing Fest of New Jersey, Edison, NJ; World Quilt New England, Manchester, NH; the Pennsylvania National Quilt Extravaganza, Oaks (Philadelphia area), PA; and the Pacific International Quilt Festival in Santa Clara (Bay area), CA.  

October 31, 2017

Blue Plate Special - 'I Am An Artisan' Quilt Contest

The day has finally arrived!  I can now share with you what has been happening with my quilt entry in the Kaffe Fassett  'I Am An Artisan' contest.  Here is a picture of the whole quilt that I can now share.

Blue Plate Special
First it was an honor just to have my quilt picked as a finalist.  I found out that they actually had 14 finalists instead of the 12 they originally announced they would select.  I am guessing they had a pretty hard time deciding which ones to select since there were so many awesome quilts to choose from.  Since I was picked as a finalist, I knew that my quilt would be hanging at the Houston Quilt Market in late October, and the Houston Quilt show in early November.  I was beyond excited just with that news.

Then I received an email from the girls organizing the contest and they asked if I would mind shipping my quilt a little early.  They had been approached by the folks at the International Quilt Festival Quilt Scene magazine who wanted to pick one of the quilts from the contest to highlight in an article in the 2017 issue of the magazine.  The article was about some of the special exhibits that would be showing at the festival this year. I am not sure how many of the fourteen quilts were mailed to them.  I was not told who they picked, I think they wanted it to be a surprise.  And what a surprise it was, they picked mine!!!

Blue Plate Special Article
Quilt Festival Magazine
This was all very exciting, but I still had to wait to hear when they were going to award the ribbons.  It had been mentioned that Kaffe Fassett would be picking the first place winner and the Honorable Mention quilt at the show.  I had also been told that they were going to pick the Viewers choice award from votes at the show and votes from a Facebook post where anyone could vote.  All very exciting, and they finally chose all three yesterday.  I was amazed and excited to hear that I had won the Viewers Choice Award!!!!!  How awesome is that?

Quilt with Ribbon
I of course have to thank my friends Chantell and Mia for their wonderful help with the embroidery designs.  Chantell is a genius with digitizing in the hoop quilt blocks and Mia is an amazing artist who drew and digitized the 'Blue Plate' embroidery designs that I used in the blue blocks.  Here is a close-up of some of the different blocks that I stitched with my Babylock Destiny machine.

Close Up of Blue Plate Special
Each and everyone of the designs are an absolutely perfect match at enhancing the amazing fabrics of the 'I Am An Artisan' line that Kaffe Fassett designed for Free Spirit fabrics.  I couldn't be happier with the results.  I think it is one spectacular quilt and I am beyond words to express my happiness at both having a winning quilt and being published in such a great magazine! 

Thank you Free Spirit Fabrics, thank you Kaffe Fassett for your inspirational fabrics, thank you to everyone at the Quilt Festival Quilt Scene magazine for choosing my quilt, thank you Chantell and Mia, and thank you to everyone who supports and encourages me, you keep me enthused and help me keep creating and moving forward.


October 04, 2017

Jingle All the Way Finish

I finally finished the Kimberbell Jingle All the Way Christmas quilt!  Every time I thought I was all done, I would realize that there was just one more thing that needed to be worked on.  But I think the end results are super cute and its going to be very hard to turn it over to Beth at Quilts and Lace to be hung up in the shop.

Here is a picture of the whole quilt:

Jingle All the Way Quilt

Here is a close up of the little houses, and no they are not really lights even though they look like it.  Just the magic of using flash photography!  The pattern had little mylar lights that you could stitch out, but they would have been too fragile to withstand hanging up where they would be touched constantly.

Little Houses

Next I will just show you lots of different parts of the quilt including the packages and tags, the trees, and the snow globes.






I quilted it several different ways.  I used some machine embroidery stipple designs in different sizes that Chantell provided, I also used some machine embroidered Christmas designs from Anita Goodesign, and I also free motioned with my Babylock sewing machine around all of the applique designs. 

It has been a lot of fun stitching and sewing this project!  I was also showing off my progress on a Kimberbell Facebook Group called Kimberbellas and Fellas.  They are giving prizes away each Monday I think through Nov 1.  I won a couple of weeks ago and I got to pick out a prize.  I chose Happy Everything Pocket tags.  I can't wait to get started with them.  I received it in the mail today. Sew much fun!



September 24, 2017

Kimberbell Catch Up

Thanks to Hurricane Irma I had to delay the second Jingle All the Way class until next week.  It is now being held on Wednesday, September 27 at 10 AM.  

I thought you might like to see a couple extra things Kimberbell related that I have stitched in September.  With all of the Hurricane Irma preps completed, I decided to go ahead and do some stitching before I lost power (which I usually do during any hurricane because I live on one of the barrier islands in Brevard county). 

I thought since I was already in the Christmas mode, brought on by the Jingle All the Way quilt, I decided to do a Kimberbell Bench Pillow for Christmas.  There is another Christmas pillow option on the Jingle All the Way CD, but I went with the traditional Kimberbell Deck the Halls bench pillow instead.  I might tackle the other one on the CD if I have time before Christmas.

The camera on my Baby Lock Destiny made this Multi-hooped project much easier.  By using templates and the camera I can line things up perfect without having to 'draw' all over my base fabric.  Kimberbell included a few of the 3D items that she is known for on this pillow.  The bows are made separate and then attached, and I also sewed on buttons for the decorations on the wreaths.

Deck the Halls
After the storm passed I was without power for four days, water for five days, and internet and phone for two weeks.  I have decided that I do NOT like camping! 

The next Kimberbell project that I decided to do was the Halloween Boo Bench Pillow.  This one was a lot of fun.  I got to use a stash of Halloween fabrics that I have been holding on to for several years.  Its called Pumpkins Gone Wild by Sandy Gervais for Moda.  One thing that was different about this pillow was the fact that there were no 3D touches.  I am thinking maybe the cat should have some sparkly eyes??

Halloween Boo Front

  The fabric line had a couple of panels included with it, so I used one of them for the back of the pillow.

Halloween Boo Back

I have enjoyed the 'escape' from the Jingle All the Way quilt, but it's time to get back to work on it.  After the make up class next week, the third class will be held Tuesday October 3 at 10AM.  I will post those blocks next week!


August 30, 2017

Kimberbell "Jingle All the Way" Class Two

The next class I will be teaching at Quilts and Lace is the second Jingle All The Way installment.  It will be on September 12 at 10:00.  The blocks I will be demonstrating will be the snow globes, the Jingle All the Way blocks, and the peppermint blocks.

The snow globes are adorable.  They are done in applique but before the last fabric, which is vinyl, is tacked down, you place a little teaspoon of beads, sequins, or glitter snowflakes on top of the design.  You can see here in my samples what they look like.


Gingerbread Snow Globe

Candy Cane Snow Globe

Tree Snow Globe


Gingerbread Snow Globe 2

I used little round sequins and snowflake shaped sequins that I had bought from Stampin Up inside of them.

I had a little bit of trouble with the Jingle All the Way design.  My thread kept breaking when it was stitching out the decorative tack down stitches around the appliqued letters, but I think that might be resolved with using a different stabilizer.


Jingle all the way

Then last up for this months class will be the peppermints.  We will need a total of five of them.  Here are a few.

Peppermints

I already have the front of the quilt stitched together and it is turning out very cute.

Next month we will work on the little houses, the Dec 25 block, and the holly berries. 








August 17, 2017

Quilt Competition Update

I know that I am a little overdue for an update on the three quilt competitions that I planned to enter this year.  I thought now would be a good time to let you know which two quilts have been completed and entries sent in,  and what progress I have made on the third one.  If you forgot what the three competitions were you can catch up here.  I also did an update here.  Make sure you read all the way through, there is an exciting announcement near the bottom of this post!

The Kaffe Fassett "I am an Artisan" quilt challenge for the International Quilt Festival in Houston was completed and entered first.  I still can't show you a picture of the final quilt because the winners will not be announced until October.  On July 7th I received a letter which stated:


Dear Cherri Kincaid,

Congratulations on your quilt Blue Plate Special being selected for inclusion in the special exhibit I Am an Artisan Challenge.

This was super exciting since it was the first quilt contest I have entered other than the Hoffman Challenge.  I will just have to be patient until October!  I did think maybe another small sneak peek would be ok.


Next I thought I would update you on my progress with the Moda Bella Solids competition.  They asked that we use an original design and that we use all the twelve solid colors of fabrics that they picked, and nothing else.  That by itself was a challenge!  The quilt that I designed has a total of 80 blocks.  All 80 blocks were stitched on my trusty Babylock embroidery machine.  As of today, I have sewn all the blocks together, made and attached a border, made a back with the leftover fabrics, and I have it almost quilted.  Remember this quilt is 72 inches by 90 inches!  It is the largest quilt I have ever made and it weighs a ton.  Quilting it is going to give me great arm and shoulder muscles.  I won't be able to show you this quilt either since it hasn't been submitted to the competition yet, but I do think you should get a little peek of it also! 

Sew Cute!

Last but in no way the least, is the Hoffman Challenge.  I love entering this contest every year.  I am not positive, but I think I have entered it at least six years.  I have been very lucky that every quilt I have entered, except one, has been selected to travel for a year to different quilt shows and locations all over the US. 

This years entry was one of my favorites, I just loved that one whole row of those little shirts.  I think they made the whole quilt, they were just that cute.  I have to thank both Chantell and Mia for their contributions of designs.  They both did an excellent job of digitizing exactly the designs that I needed to accomplish the final design of the quilt.

On July 14th I received this letter:


Dear  Cherri,

Thank you for entering our 2017 Hoffman Fabric Mastery Challenge.
We have completed our initial jury selection and would like to include your piece(s) for the next step of our challenge.  This includes the physical judging to decide if your piece will travel in the Mastery Hoffman Challenge Shows beginning September 2017 and continuing through September 2018
We have determined that we would like to see and consider the following pieces presented by you.

1.         Aloha Hoffman

Exciting right?  So one of the reasons that I waited until today to write this post is because they let us know on Facebook that they would be announcing the winners Aug 16th on their web page.  I thought it would be fun to see if my name showed up as a winner. 

Since the judging is over I believe its ok to show you some pictures of the finished quilt.  First is a picture of the whole quilt.

Aloha Hoffman

Here is a close up of some of the blocks:


See those little shirts?  The collars and pockets are '3-D'.  Sew cute!  As you can tell I was going for a Hawaiian theme for the quilt.  That is why I titled it Aloha Hoffman.  All of the embroidery designs are applique and if you look closely you can see where the 'challenge' fabric has been used.

So?  Did you go look?  Did you see?  I won the Hoffman Choice award!!!!  You have to scroll down just a little, but there it is!  For some reason they moved it from the applique category to the pieced category, but that is ok with me! 

Now for the really exciting news!  I received a letter from the home office of Hoffman fabrics.  Walter Hoffman fell in love with my quilt and when he found out that it was for sale he bought it!  So not only did I finally win a prize, I won an even bigger prize.  Can you imagine?  My quilt is going to have a "forever" home at the Hoffman Fabric Office in Mission Viejo in California!!!!  I have seen some pictures of Mr. Hoffman and he is always wearing a Hawaiian shirt.  I am thinking those little shirts are the reason he loved my quilt!

Now I have known for about a week that I won, but this morning when I went to see it "in print",  I found out that my friend Sally Dorer also won the same prize in a different category!  Super excited for her also.  Here is a picture of her quilt.  It's under the Mixed Technique category.  Yes, I have some really talented friends!


Who Spilled the Paints?