A Houston winner

On the list of winners at Houston, one quilt leaped out and came to sit on my lap -- Diana Sharkey's honorable mention winner in the Art -- Abstract, Small category.  It's called That's Graphic! and is made entirely out of selvages, which are very dear to my heart. 

Diana tells me that she has used selvages many times to make tote bags, and one day last January while she was snowbound the selvages called out to her and wanted to become a quilt.  Here's what they turned into:

Diana Sharkey, That's Graphic!, 36 x 36", 2010

I've used selvages many times in the past myself, enjoying, as Diana does, the text and register marks in the margins that usually get cut off and thrown away.  But while my quilts have always reveled in the raw edges (after all, what is a selvage but an edge?), Diana made hers behave by using 1/8-inch seam allowances and turning all those raw edges inside. 

By contrast, here's what my selvage quilts look like in close-up.  I make a quilt sandwich with a white top, then stitch down the center of the raw-edged selvage through all layers of the sandwich, attaching the selvages and quilting the sandwich at the same time.  And I leave my thread ends hanging.

I think it's always fun to see how two people, inspired by the same concept, can come up with different results.

Congratulations, Diana, and happy Thanksgiving to everybody!