Cathy Calloway
Intersections
Gelli plate printed cotton, and Naturally dyed cotton with St. Johns Wort. Gelli Plate printing, Machine Pieced, Free Motion Quilted.
I’ve always loved maps. The view from above often shows a clarity and beauty not as readily visible from ground level. Which way to go? Turn Left? Go Straight? Choosing the best or most interesting route is much easier with a good map in hand. If only Life came with a really good map, wouldn’t our choices be clearer?
Cathy Calloway
Twilight Hill
Naturally dyed cottons with birch bark, iron and onion skins. Machine Pieced, Walking foot, Free Motion and Hand Quilted
On of my favorite sights is driving north towards my home in the Flathead and coming over a rise where you look down and see Flathead Lake and the mountains receding in the distance. It’s a feeling of “I am home”. This piece evokes that feeling for me.This project gave me a chance to try out a new technique of using acrylic markers on a Gelli plate, with acrylic paint to pull the marks off the plate on to the fabric.
Amy Carter
Twirling
Batik, silk dupioni, chiffon, silk, acetate, Derwent Inktense Pencils, thread Raw edge appliqué, thread painting, ink painting, free-motion quilting
As a little girl, I loved to twirl in my fancy dresses that my mother made me every Easter & Christmas. Even as an adult I still love to twirl. I love using different kinds of fabrics in my art. Women too. They tell such a story by their faces or even just with body placement. I love how I can show emotion with movement of the fabrics and how I place the hair.
Donna Deaver Harmony
Vintage linens, acrylic and watercolor paint, fabric dyes, polyester thread, methylcellulose paste. Linens torn, and surface treated using layers of acrylic paint for the top layer and liquid dyes for the second layer. Stabilized temporarily with the paste, then free motion machine and hand embroidered. Painted with watercolor for shading and depth.
I walk through the trees on this magnificent summer morning, appreciating the vastness of the lake, the wildflowers, and the earth beneath me. At this moment, in this place, all is right with the world.
Brian Dykhuizen
River Rock Study No. 1
Hand-dyed Cotton fabric, polyester thread, cotton batting, fusible. Fusible applique, machine quilted.
I am fascinated by all the river rock around this area and have been looking for a way to incorporate the variety of colors and shapes, weight and texture of the river rock into my work.
I think about the age of the rocks and how, over time, they have changed and developed into their current shape. Who has walked on these rocks before me and who will walk on them long after I’m gone?
Brian Dykhuizen
River Rock Study No. 2
Hand-dyed Cotton fabric, polyester thread, cotton batting, fusible. Fusible applique, machine quilted.
I am fascinated by all the river rock around this area and have been looking for a way to incorporate the variety of colors and shapes, weight and texture of the river rock into my work.
I think about the age of the rocks and how, over time, they have changed and developed into their current shape. Who has walked on these rocks before me and who will walk on them long after I’m gone?
Joyce King Ferrie
A Summer Memory
Photo printed on cotton, machine stitching, hand embroidery, beading.
One of summer’s pleasures is the abundance and variety of flowers that we see all around us. Whether they are purposefully planted with loving care, or sprout up on their own from seeds of previous years, their beauty is a gift. Re-creating them on fabric gives a lovely reminder throughout the winter of what is to come in the spring.
Lisa Flowers Ross
Found in the Garden
Found fabrics, buttons, embroidery, yarn and embroidery thread. Fused appliqué, hand embroidery.
How can we use the leftover, neglected pieces in our lives to create something beautiful?
I found most of the materials used in this piece. The background consists of scraps of upholstery fabric. There is a bit of linen from a shirt, buttons given to me and the start of a hand embroidered linen (large flower) which I cut out and finished with embroidery thread someone had given me.
Gina Gahagan
Urban Garden
Cotton face and back; Wool batting; Cotton, polyester, nylon & metallic threads. Stone, glass & acrylic beads. Hand Embroidery; Machine quilting; Couching; Beading.
Fall colors, as did the background fabric itself, inspired this piece. I was inspired to hand-stitch the fall flowers, making them bursts of exhuberant colors, thriving in a difficult environment. Beauty can thrive in some surprising places!
Sally K. Glutting
The Aspen in Spring
Hand painted silk, layers of fiber, lutrador and fabric for the tree, beads, embroidery threads, and wire. Techniques include machine stitching and quilting, hand embroidery, beading, and bead crochet.
When I moved out west many years ago, I fell in love with aspen trees – the colors of the leaves that change with each season, and the way the leaves shimmer in the wind. The little groves of white stand out in the woods, lovely and unexpected in our evergreen forests.
Sally K. Glutting
The Little Library of Lost Earrings
Snow dyed cotton and cheesecloth, embroidery threads, thread, beads and earrings. Techniques include machine stitching and quilting, ‘inchies’ with hand embroidery, beading, and bead crochet.
The Little Library Of Lost Earring pays homage to some favorite earrings that I have lost one of the pair over the years. Sometimes I would wear a mismatched pair, but mostly they sadly just sat in an old tea cup patiently waiting for me. One day on a walk in the neighborhood, I noticed the little libraries in front of houses and thought of the earrings. And the little library was built.
Maura Grogan
Bitterroot Fun
Commercial cotton and thread. reverse applique, piecing, machine quilting.
We had a regional SAQA MT/ID gathering in July 2022 in Stevensville, MT. One of the attendees, Katy Nygard, showed me how she did reverse applique. When I got home I decided to try it and really enjoyed the process.
Ellen Herminghaus
Bighorn Canyon Series #
Commerical printed Batiks and hand dyed fabric, threads, shaped shell beads. Machine pieced based on a recent photograph. Machine quilted with hand stitching and a few sewn beads.
The Bighorn Canyon is comprised of many geologic formations. Thousands of feet of sedimentary rocks formed on top of an older complex base of igneous and metamorphic rocks. The canyon developed as layers were faulted, uplifted, weathered, and eroded to create a beautiful display of nature. Powerful forces will continue to shape the canyon just as powerful forces continue to shape us. As in geology, the many layers that form over the basic values we grow up with, create who we are - beautiful and complex beings. Human nature will also continue to be uplifted, faulted, eroded and shaped through the years.
Maggy Rozycki Hiltner
Snakes in the Garden
Found quilt (Grandma’s Flower Garden pattern), found embroidery, linen, cotton. Overdyed, hand-stitched
This quilt reflects my uneasy relationship with nature. I admire the lushness and beauty of my garden, but I am all too aware of the creeping things lurking there.
Audrey Hyvonen
Creativity Emerging from the Belly
Cotton Quilt-as-you-go, machine applique
This piece was made early in my quilting journey after watching a master quilter share this approach. The quilting is completed in small sections “as-you-go” through adding each strip, which are then later merged with seams that are covered in the back. I honestly can’t figure out now how I did it then! It has lived on my wall as a reminder of how art making feels to me- something that comes from within and reaches out. The piece is ready to go on a journey to inspire others for a bit. Hope it speaks to you and challenges you to try something new.
Audrey Hyvonen
Jackalope
Commercial cotton fabric, thread, batting. Fusible applique, machine quilting.
Jackalope, a portmanteau of jackrabbit and antelope, in a classic form sporting the requisite antlers. A representation of an animal in the category of “fearsome critters”.
Audrey Hyvonen
Commercial cotton fabric, thread, batting. Fusible applique, machine quilting.
tree represents a pear tree, with a visiting bird on its bare branch.
Pear Tree
Pear
Carol Kimble
My Home’s in Montana
Artist-dyed and commercial cotton fabrics. Polyester threads. Heavy felt backing and bamboo batting. I pieced log-cabin blocks, “improv style”, in colors to represent sunsets, sunrises, mountains, prairies, and waters in Montana. I filled in the areas with scraps of similar colors as needed. I then hand-stitched a path connecting the sections and completed the work with machine stitching.
I was born and raised in Montana and it has always been my home no matter where my life has taken me. I grew up on a farm in central Montana north of the Missouri River. The log cabin quilt block has always connected my heart to home. We would take a special trip each summer to Glacier Park. Often it was a day trip and we had to leave very, very early in the morning just after my dad milked the cow. We would drive west, across the prairies at sunrise, toward those mountains. We would always go over the “Going to the Sun” road. We would listen to the wonderful stories my dad would tell of his time as a young man working in the park when he was in the CCC’s. I loved seeing the mountains and trees and water and greenery. It would be dark by the time we reached home and my dad would go out to milk the cow again. I would bask in the memory of that amazing day as I drifted off to sleep.
Monique Kleinhans
Candles
Cotton, thread, Soft-body acrylic paint, oil pastel, Artist Transfer Paper, yarn. Painted fabric, Thread painting, couching.
As the seasons shift to autumn and long days of summer become shortened by shadows, the trees take up the mantle of infusing the landscape with their own internal light source. Every year I look forward to seeing them glowing like candles on the hillside in the evening sun.
Linda McLaughlin
Landscape with Hollyhocks
Hand dyed silks and cheese cloth, threads
Layered fabric and hand stitching
I have a large collection of hand dyed silks and cheese cloth that need to be used, so my latest experiment has been to layer them and hand stitch them into small landscapes.
Angela McPherson
Getting Ready
Cotton Fabric, Inktense Pencils, and Caran D’ache Wax Pastels w/Aloe. Thread Sketching, Watercolor Painting (Painted the birds from PDF and stitched them on. I added clouds using the Caran D’ache Wax Pastels .
My three pieces tie together. This second piece represents the mother and child helping gathering and building the nest together.
Angela McPherson
Searching for Materials
Cotton Fabric, Inktense Pencils and Paper Bag. Thread Sketching, Watercolor Painting (Painted the bird from PDF).
My three pieces tie together. The first one can be looked at in two ways... as a mother trying to help her young build a nest... or the mother building a nest only to become an empty nester. I feel like in my life right now I am in both stories. My child going off to college gathering items for her future home and my mother who has cancer and after I left the nest I’m the one who is alone. Piece 1 represents the bird finding fabric to add to the nest.
Angela McPherson
Empty Nester
Cotton Fabric and Inktense Pencils w/Aloe.
Thread Sketching, Watercolor Painting (Painted the bird from PDF and stitched it in the nest. I used a light brown batik fabric for the next and painted it using Inktense Pencils and thread stitched on the nest to make it look like a nest. I added shadow to the tree using Inktense Pencils.)
My three pieces tie together. This third piece represents the mother or child who have a completed nest using the material they found but are now alone... empty nester.
Chris Mullaney
Alaska Glaciers
Scanned and printed map background, thread painting, colored with fabric paint.
Nature inspires me. This piece was inspired by a fall trip to Alaska 2021.
Katy Kellogg Nygard
Emerge
Artist printed silk organza, commercial cotton fabric, felt backing, fabric paint and dye, Gutta, ink, variegated cotton thread. Direct printing, applique, fusing, machine and hand embroidery.
This piece explores the unfolding of life without living parents.
Katy Kellogg Nygard
Late Summer Shadows
Paint rag coton, metallic silk & linen fabrics, felt backing, variegated cotton thread, paint, Gutta, Wonder Under Painting, flower pounding, fusing, direct & reverse applique, hand embroidery, machine quilting
Sunset light, often tinged by wildfire smoke, makes exquisite patterns as it casts long shadows through branches and buildings.
Cathie Osmun
Monet’s Inspiration - Water Lily 1
Commercial fabrics; yarn, various types of embroidery threads. Fused raw-edged applique; hand embroidery; couching, machine stitching.
Our inspirations are as unique as we are. Claude Monet (1840-1926) spent the latter years of his illustrious life exploring the relationships of the light, color, size and shape of his inspiration, the water lily. Through his hundreds of paintings, he lets us see how an ordinary object can become extraordinary through an artist’s eye. Monet’s curiosity inspires me. What inspires you?
Susan Sawatzky
The Last Leaf of Fall
Fabric, thread. Raw edge applique, thread painting.
There is beauty in the bare trees after the leaves have disappeared, especially in the moonlight. This is my interpretation of this beauty. The Last Leaf has fallen.
Susan Sawatzky
Serendipity
Hand dyed fabric, thread painting.
Serendipity happened with this hand dye which separated into sky, landscape and foreground all by itself! I only added some thread painting and it was complete.
Roberta A. Schultz
A Rag Dolly
Upcycled cotton fabric, embroidery thread, vintage buttons, cotton batting, and fusible web Machine and hand sewing/quilting, ragging, and embroidery
This piece is a whimsical story of being an adolescent in 1980’s Missoula, Montana. Dolls and stuffies know the tales of our struggles, and triumph’s.
Sharon E Stoneberger
My Stitchery Tale
Test stitch samples, Crewel piece finished by me in the 70’s, buttons, Timtex, thread.
In collecting all my practice samples decided to make a background of a crewel picture I mde as a teenager. My motto is practice makes perfect. We all have loose stitches, uneven tension, treasures (buttons), and favorites (lace and hand embroidery). These are lessons we can take into real life-tighten the stitches (focus), adjust stress (manage), and hang on to treasures and get rid of the clutter. My most favorite thing to do with my time is sew, hand embroider and knit. I always find if I can be productive in these it helps me to relax and enjoy life.
Naomi Velasquez
Seigaiha
Artist hand dyed indigo shibori cotton fabric, Cyanotype printed cotton fabric, Cotton and polyester thread, Cotton batting.
Hand quilting, Hand dyeing fabric, Machine piecing, Cyanotype, Knife edge binding.
This piece was constructed with indigo hand dyed and over-dyed cotton fabrics. I embroidered and quilted it with commercial thread and hand dyed thread to complete the design. The mending and sashiko stitching layers represent our relationships that include complex, altered versions over time that have more layers, depth, and meaning.
Naomi Velasquez
Mending
Hand dyed linen and cotton fabric, Commercial linen and cotton fabric, Indigo dye, Synthetic dye, Commercial cotton thread, Indigo dyed thread, Cotton batting. Applique, Dyeing, Hand quilting, Sashiko stitching
This piece refers to the history of embroidery, quilts and mending to repair and strengthen objects that have kept us warm and are created for celebrations and losses in our communities. It speaks to relationships affected by world events and hope for peace. It was created using the slow, meditative processes of quilting, dyeing, embroidery and mending and considers how acts like these could be used to heal relationships in our communities.
Peg Ziegler
Finding Center
Cotton Machine quilting. Spiral stitching, raw edge applique
Meditation is part of my story and has been since my teenage years in the 70s. In this mini art quilt, I wanted to capture my process. While closing my eyes I let all the busy-ness and static of life fall to the background (fabric). Then I focus within myself moving from the bigger bubbles to the very small points until I feel things fall into place. Once the pieces come together, I feel a sense of alignment and Peace.T
Heidi Zielinski
Aeronaut
Ice dyed and over-dyed cotton; commercial print cotton; yarn; pearl cotton; beads; steampunk metal dragonfly. Ice dyeing/over-dyeing; couching; hand embroidery; free motion machine quilting; beading; raw edge applique; satin stitching.
This is a collage of iced dyed fabrics combined with raw edge applique in gentle curves. The black and white stripe is a bold addition that adds structure to the piece. I love adding beads to my work and the steampunk style dragonfly adds a touch of whimsy. My recent work has usually involved the combination of free motion machine quilting and hand embroidery and I love the way they play together.
Carolann Zografos
The North Cabin
Cotton fabric, batting, thread
Cut layers, raw edge applique; minor usage of Derwent ink pencils; constructed on home sewing machine; hand stitching on binding.
The North Cabin was located at Cottonwood Ranger Station on the Boise National Forest. My dad worked for the U.S. Forest Service, so we got to live in the mountains every summer. We lived in the two-room North Cabin in the summers of 1961-1962. A portion of the kitchen/dining room is depicted in this art quilt. You had to pump the water and it was nice and cold. If you needed hot water, it had to be heated on the wood stove.