1st Place, Professional Mixed Media; Best of Show – The Jean Taggart Award

My intention was create something that looked like a 9-patch quilt and be used to create and display a series of small pieces that would represent my journey into handmade paper. And, it was a great opportunity to try some of the new ideas I came up with along the way.
This piece was a challenge and the construction of the quilt changed a few times. But, it was inspiring, which is why each square contains an encouraging word.
Working from left to right in each row:
Square 1 – Handmade paper using a mold & deckle. Colored with non-bleeding tissue paper in the mixer. Cut into pieces, then weaved back together. Backed with stabilizer. Sewn together using a sewing machine; running stitches in circles.
Square 2 – Handmade paper using mold & deckle. Colored using bleeding tissue paper. Flowers cut from paper made in classes using a Big Shot. Attached using beads. Stems are pieces of mono canvas.
Square 3 – 14 count mono canvas, colored using bleeding tissue paper. Edge is Satin Stitched. All the vertical and some of the horizontal canvas threads were removed. Then yarn, canvas, dry paper, wet paper and threads were weaved throughout the piece.
Square 4 – 14 count mono canvas, colored using bleeding tissue paper. The edge was worked in a pulled Backstitch. Faggot Stitch and Diagonal Backstitch were used to distort the canvas. The finished item was cut from the canvas and mounted on handmade paper.
Square 5 – Handmade paper using a mold & deckle. Colored with non-bleeding tissue paper in the mixer. 14 count mono canvas, colored using bleeding tissue paper. Wet paper, rolled and dried, was couched along with other strips of dry and wet paper.
Square 6 – Crazy quilt square using a variety of papers from classes and mounted on another piece of paper from class. Flower was created using a cast mold and colored using chalk.
Square 7 – Handmade paper using a mold & deckle; colored using paint. Flower was created using a cast mold and colored using chalk.
Square 8 – Handmade paper using a mold & deckle; colored using paint. Worked Running Stitches using a variety of threads. Flower: handmade paper cut to shape. Top flower edged in a Buttonhole Stitch. The center is a Fake Bullion. The thread on the flower was colored with markers.
Square 9 – Handmade paper using a mold & deckle. Colored with non-bleeding tissue paper in the mixer. 18 count mono canvas stitched with Squared Filling. Heart cut from handmade paper with a lace pattern imprinted on it. Mounted on the stitching using a few stitches and then mounted on the handmade paper.