John Flynn tells a good story! Here he is:

"I would like to use this opportunity to announce the very first World Quilt Federation, AKA WQF, “Smackdown”. This will be the quilting equivalent of a no holds barred cage fight refereed and administered by Ami Simms to benefit the Alzheimer’s research project.

The participants will be; Hollis Chatalain, Becky Goldsmith, Sue Nickels, and myself.  We were not chosen by anyone to stage this ultimate contest, it developed at a dinner party that spun out of control. First there was a fairly civil discussion about whose quilt donated to The Alzheimer’s priority project had brought the highest price. We were unable to figure this out among ourselves so we went to the source, Ami Simms. Ami did not answer any of the four of our phone messages about this critical issue. She had the lame excuse of being at the Penguin’s- Red Wing’s Stanley cup playoff game. With no help from Ami we decided that the only fair way to settle the discussion was to have a head-to-head no rules contest the winner to be determined by the highest auction price.

This contest will be unlike any other contest in quilt history in that there will be no rules. We all agreed on a size limitation but I do not exactly trust anyone to adhere strictly to or even remember accurately the guidelines set forth late on the evening of the dinner party that started all of this. What I do expect is that you will see and have the opportunity to vote on with your pocket-book the best work each of us is able to produce in our own style in the allotted time.

The four Smackdown quilts will be revealed for the first time at the Alzheimer’s booth during the Houston Quilt festival.  The auction will take place on the Alzheimer’s website in mid-November and ending when the ultimate Smackdown winner is declared."

John has started his quilt. Y ou can see the beginnings of it on John's blog. It's very good. You can scroll down this blog to see photos of my quilt in progress. I have a great deal of respect for my fellow participants and I know that each quilt will be marvelous – I just want mine to be the most marvelous!

Please do tell your friends about this auction. The more money that is raised for Alzheimer's research, the better.

Sarah Fielke has posted an interview with me @ SEWN.com. It's a good interview and I hope you enjoy it! Sarah lives in Australia and here is what she says about herself:

I'm a quilter,
a teacher, a designer and an author, but most of all I'm mum to my two
boys.
Most recently I was co-owner of Material Obsession in Sydney, Australia
– right now though, I'm doing my own thing as well as being the
creative director of SEWN. Here's where I'm going to tell you all about
it. 

Some of you know Sarah from her wonderful books, Material Obsession and Material Obsession 2. I love these books! Sarah's blog, The Last Piece, is happy and colorful and fun to follow.

In college, I used sticky blue putty to stick posters to the dorm room walls. It worked great! I got older and forgot all about the blue stuff until my class on Friday when Pam (a very smart student!) showed me how she used the blue stuff to stick upholstery vinyl to her pattern. The small blue dots held the vinyl firmly in place while she traced her overlay.

It comes off without harming either the paper or the vinyl. You can save it and use it over and over. Thanks for the tip, Pam!

OK, I know that this may not interest everyone but I have to share. When Steve and I were in NYC we wandered into a Sephora (well, I wandered, Steve followed). A wand-wielding Sephora staffer offered to make my lashes lovely. She then came at me with the most wicked mascara applicator I have ever seen. It's like a mace.

You sort of poke it at your eye head-on, stroking the mascara up the lash from the base to the tip. It's made by Givenchy and called Phenomen'eyes and I love it! I took this photo of it on me – best looking lashes I've had in a long time! (I hope the photo of my eye isn't too creepy. If it is, let me know and I'll take it down.)

The city of Knoxville budgeted in art purchases for their new convention center. They did a good job! Here are two of my favorite pieces:

From Above
Joyce Crain is known for her collate-like constructions that include fiber, wire, iridescent film, metallic braids, gel filters and other high-tech materials. Her patterned grids were originally inspired by microchips, and have been compared to ancient textiles, Byzantine murals, and other ornamental decoration. From Above is inspired by aerial views of Knoxville, an abstract interpretation of the city as seen from above. Images for the work came from the National Aerial Photography Program, coordinated by the US Geological Society. Materials and colors shift and flicker as the light changes, patterns appear to rise and fall, advance and recede. Colors change tone as they grow luminous and radiate. Crain has used industrial materials in her work since 1976, and utilizes the latest technological innovations. A cross between sculpture and fiber art, the works emphasize interaction with light, movement and change.

Detail of From Above

This shot shows the 3 layers.

To Everything There Is A Season

David Arms is a self-taught artist whose interest is in taking the quilt out of its domestic context. Arms uses metal, screws and wood to create an industrial version of Southern quilting. He spent many hours watching his grandmother recycle old clothes to make her quilts, and as an adult, decided to create a new twist on a traditional form. The use of scrap metal and other discarded items in his work is reminiscent of the old fabric and sacks used in traditional quilts, adding a layer of history to his work. His interpretation of the four season in this work includes such disparate materials as rusted and galvanized metals, screws, bolts, paint, antique papers, cards, books and photographs. His aim is to take remnants of everyday life, and create art suing the same quilting patterns that originated years ago.

There were four seasons. I'm only showing Spring and Summer.

These are lovely up close.

Bliss Home in Knoxville
was a shop on the walk between the Knoxville Convention Center (where
the show was) and my hotel. This curtain/screen called out to me as I
walked by. Each "string" is made from colorful hand-cut rectangles that
were sewn together with heavy black thread. The strings were long,
ceiling to floor length. At the top the strings were tied to metal rods
that were suspended from the ceiling.

On
closer inspection, the colored rectangles were paint chips! The maker
must have placed two paint chip strips back to back and cut rectangles
from the colored parts.

Isn't this a great idea!