2010 Hoffman Challenge artists announced

As promised, the 2010 Hoffman Challenge artists were announced.    You can see the results on the Hoffman Challenge web site. 

Bonsai on Front Hall Table
KBagioni 2010

Look for my quilt, Bonsai on Front Hall Table, on the list of quilts chosen to tour this year.    I was thrilled with the news.    I haven't been doing much quilting at all in recent years because of my involvement with the Board of the Vermont Quilt Festival.    Unfortunately, being a quilt bureacrat leaves little time to actually do any quilting.   Now that I am a trustee emerita I get to sew again.   

Using felted wool always makes me nervous.   I love the material but judges don't seem to be so inclined.  They either hate it or love it.  For my purposes it works beautifully with thread embellishment.    Since I like to "sketch" with my sewing machine using  felted wool as the applique base helps.   The stitches add texture and color to the thick but stable material.   It's always fun to see the applique, often just a blob, take definition as the threadwork is added.  

Sulky Ultratwist thread
works beautifully for leaf forms
in dappled light.

Tree trunks are favorite
shapes to "sketch".

For this little quilt I actually painted the Hoffman fabric.  First I added white stripes to tone down the gold in this pretty fabric and to give the illusion of old-timey wallpaper.   Then I added grayed areas to suggest shadowing.     The threadwork on the bonsai tree heightened the illusion of light streaming in from the upper left.   

Why is it that my favorite part of the process, the actual threadwork, seems to take the least amount of time during the actual project?