Cover girl

I have a quilt in the SAQA-sponsored exhibit, "Seasonal Palette," which is on display this weekend at the International Quilt Festival in Houston.  I wasn't there, but was happy to get a copy of the catalog in the mail yesterday, and surprise -- there was my quilt on the cover!

That's it at the upper left, my depiction of the glaciers and icebergs in Antarctica.














We were asked to submit extensive documentation of our process, both the concept and the execution.  Here's what I wrote about my inspiration:

Imagine winter so profound that the snow never melts from one year to the next.  Instead it grows deeper, deeper, the new snow on top piling so heavily on the old that the bottom layers are compressed into ice.  The ice flows like a river across the land, picking up dirt and stones as it moves.

Eventually it reaches the lake or the sea, and large or small chunks begin to calve away from the huge frozen river.  Some ice stays in small slushy heaps at the foot of the glacier; some floats away as icebergs, perhaps to travel hundreds of miles before they melt, perhaps sinking a ship or two along the way.  

Last year I was privileged to go to Antarctica.  I've always been a lover of cold weather and the big ice we saw, sailed around and walked upon was breathtaking.  I was fascinated by the myriad of colors of blue in the ice, the veins of dirt, the complex fracture patterns as chunks cleave and break away.  I attempted to depict these fascinations in my quilt "Big Ice."

And here's a full view of the quilt:

Update:  I've posted this to Nina-Marie Sayre's weekly blog; click here to see what other fiber artists have been up to recently.