Madalene Murphy Co-Founder of the MLQG -Quilt Show Part II

Welcome back!!!  Today is part 2 of the Co-Founders of the Mountain Laurel Quilt Guild.   If by chance you missed Part I, click here to read that post.

After reading about Mary Jane's traditional quilts it is interesting that the other co-founder, Madalene Murphy,  is an Art Quilter.  She has found fascinating ways to translate her thoughts, feelings, and  joys to her quilting.  

This sampler was Madalene's first large quilt.  It was funny to see because this may very well be the only "traditional" quilt Madalene has made. 

Madalene wanted to take a quilting class and the one being offered was a Christmas sampler.  She wasn't interested making a Christmas theme quilt so instead of just waiting for the next class (something I might have done) Madalene contacted the instructor and arranged to make some changes.  She made the class work for her and designed some of the blocks to suit her tastes. 
The quilt is beautiful and I really enjoyed listening to Madalene talk about how much she learned in that class.

"Moment of Clarity" is a quilt Madalene made for her daughter's graduation.  The photo above is a picture of a power point presentation screen...not the real quilt. 

As Madalene was contemplating a theme for the gift quilt she remembered her daughter loved making paper snowflakes.  Then she went into the box of treasures and pulled out the paper snowflakes her daughter made when she was young and turned those patterns into a quilt.  Reverse applique and applique was the method Madalene chose to construct this beautiful treasure. 

Can you imagine how loved her daughter must have felt when she received this quilt?  What a treasure!!!

"Thus Spoke Emily" was made as another graduation for her daughter, this time she earned her MA.  I sware this picture does absolutely no justice to this wonderful quilt. 

Emily had studied and written about wagon makers in north central PA while working on her MA.

Are you picking up an overall theme to Madalene's quilting yet?  Let me clue you into something about her.  Madalene was a professor at a local University and what do you think she taught?  No, not sex education...come on now.  I'll give you just one more guess.  Yes, you got it that time, she taught English.  

Communication, words, feelings, thoughts and metaphors are the prism Madalene is looking through as she approaches a quilt project.  I find her style fascinating, don't you?

The title of this quilt is "Yes!"  Madalene had taken a class from Rosalie Dace, a teacher from South Africa.   There are two meanings behind the title of this quilt.

The first "Yes" came when she learned it would hang on the wall straight.  It was the first quilt Madalene designed without any structure...she sort of designed it "off the wall."

The second "Yes" came on the day she was finishing the quilt, September 11, 2011.  That morning she received a call from one of her daughters living in New York City and she learned her daughter was safe.  Another call came in from her son who lived near the Pentagon - he was also safe.  This was the quilt she hung onto as a symbol that there is something positive left, it was not all horror, devastation and fear everyone was having at that time.

The next quilt is one of my favorites, "Celtic Meditation."

The Celtic Knot work is serves as the metaphor for  interconnectedness.  It is very congruent with Madalene's beliefs that everything is interconnected.

Look how beautiful the center is....I just love it.

Next is, "Celtic Hybrid.  It is an sample for a class Madalene teaches on Celtic Knot work.  I'm thinking I need/want this class!!  How about you?

The smaller blocks are examples of what can be done with Celtic Knot work and she made this quilt as a sample to show her students.

I think this picture really shows the colors a bit more accurately.

(I know this is a crummy photo....but it was a picture of a slide...so use your wonderful imagination...it is really wonderful)

Madalene made "Treetise" a queen size quilt for her her son and daughter-in-law's wedding gift. Both her son and daughter-in-law love nature and the quilt symbolizes the interconnectedness between two separate but equal people. You don't see the roots of the trees very well in this slide, but the roots are done in Celtic Knot work. The traditional elements on this quilt include blocks, triangles and they change size to make more movement in the quilt and to outline the big leaf shape in the middle. She used Electric Quilt Software to design the quilt.

"Canon in Green and Blue" is one of Madalene's commissioned pieces.  It was made for a couple who were building a Bed and Breakfast.   In an effort to get some design ideas, Madalene went to the B&B and spent some time looking at the hillside.  She saw trees, sky, fields, leaves and stars.  As she was looking, she realized it was the whole picture that captured the essence of the place.  She wanted to create-the interconnectedness of the sweeping sky and the beauty of the words and fields that was the strength and inner core of the scene.  She used Electric Quilt Software to design the quilt. 

"Moment"

Madalene made this quilt to represent the one moment that is always slipping out of our grasp as soon as we realize it's there.  I'm in love with this quilt....it is a wonderful physical representation of a mental process.  For me it is a very clear translation...I just get it and can feel it on a visceral level.

 

Madalene used her own hand dyed fabrics to make this quilt :)

A close up of the beautiful quilting.

 

"Mountain Sunset" is an example of a bit of tradition but with a twist.  Madalene made this quilt using a rectangular log cabin and played around with the fabrics to create the look she wanted.

Playing around with the drunkards path pattern, Madalene wondered if she could make a tree.  The fabrics are all hand dyes and she only had a fat quarter for the leaves.  I guess you can do amazing things when you challenge yourself!

Madalene said she was very pleased with the trunk of the tree.  She cut some strips of her dyed fabric and sewed them down and it created a neat texture.  There is a lot of heavy quilting too.  Excellent way to practice while making a lovely wall hanging.

Madalene briefly held up this fun quilt while she was talking about the quilt above.  She clearly loves trees and nature.

Eliot is Madalene's 2 1/2 year old grandson.  She made this wall hanging for him when he was born and it hangs over his crib.  Madalene had a lot of fun designing and making the frog and the turtle.  Ahhh, to be loved by one's grandma...a wonderful joy indeed.

The fabric used in this wall hanging was snow dyed.  The fabric hung on Madalene's working wall (also the title of her blog) for a long time.  She really liked it but didn't know what to do with it, so there it hung.  One day she noticed there was the shape of a butterfly right in the middle of the fabric. If you look closely towards the upper quarter of the quilt, you can see the butterfly that has been quilted. 

A few days later, Madalene looked at the fabric again and wondered why it was that she saw the butterfly and wanted to emphasize that instead of the other areas of the fabric with it's beautiful color and textures. The contest between the abstract vs. the representational got her thinking about why we are drawn to one and not the other.  The quilt is titled, "Dialog: Pattern or Picture" There is movement from the representational to the abstract shapes.  When those shapes are turned upside down your brain reads leaf and before it is flipped it is just an abstract shape.   (Yes, I have the entire evening on video tape and I'm reviewing the tape...my memory is not this good...lol)

The "What If" quilts.....

Madalene wondered to herself, "what if I wanted to add some elements of nature to my quilts, can I even do it, physically?"  The colors from the background came to her while going on a walk in nature.

Madalene had just done a  reverse applique quilt and when she started making "Happenstance." She wondered, "what if the reverse applique doesn't reveal what is underneath...what if it reveals a fabric with texture and not just color."  She chose a snow dye and the only fabric she found to go with it was the purple silk.  She added some texture with the silk and then she saw 3 blobs in front of her.  The piece remained on her working wall for quite some time. 

One day while putting some things away, Madalene discovered some heavy silk threads that had made from Saris (Indian women's dresses).  It felt wonderful so she decided to outline the blobs.  Madalene was ready to give up on this quilt...it had been on the working wall incubating for so long.  Then one day she was playing and made a squiggle with the silk thread and thought it looked like a tree.  There was then three places her eyes could wander to and she liked the meandering sort of serendipity, a wondering...coming upon one place after another.  She wanted to emphasize that movement and she was going to do it with quilting lines and then decided to do it with another shape...she chose triangles.  Then she machine quilted it and added some pearl cotton by hand and finished the quilt.  Talk about a long birthing process!!!

"Text in Context" ....what a fun name!  This quilt came out of a sample piece Madalene was doing with paints.  She had painted some fabrics and the paint bled as it dried.  She looked at it and saw a manuscript (more from her teaching career) and to emphasize that she quilted the lines.  It also looks like a landscape...with the blue sky's and green grasses. 

When Madalene started to make her art quilts she decided she wanted to keep a journal of her process.  Her journal is "Working Wall" her wonderful blog.  I'm a follower....I think you would love reading her posts too...you might just want to be a follower too :)

I know this was another long post.  I hope you find it as fascinating as I found Madalene's presentation.

Smiles,

Kelly

A Quilt Show by the Founders of the Mountain Laural Quilt Guild

Warning: Get a Big Cup of Joe and prepare yourself for this wonderful adventure.  Because there are so many photos...I'm going to do this in a two part blog post.  I'll post about the first presenter and then I'll post about the second presenter.

PART ONE

The main reason I "went fishing" a few weeks ago was to be present of the presentation by the Co-Founders of the Mountain Laural Quilt Guild in Wellsboro, PA.  This was very exciting for me because I'm a member and I'm fortunate enough to have both of these gals as my friends. 

The meeting is held at the Gmeiner Art and Cultural Center.  We arrived very early that night to set up all the quilts.  Oh heck, before I go into that....let me tell you who the co-founders are...good idea ay? 

They were introduced as the "Founding Mothers" and their names are Mary Jane Ehlich and Madalene Murphy.    What I think is really cool about these two ladies is they have very different styles.  Mary Jane is a traditionalist and Madalene is an art quilter. 

Mary Jane presented first:

This is Mary Jane's first quilt, Churn Dash (1984).  It was made from stash fabric and Mary Jane said she didn't know about sashing back then.

Yes, of course it is hand quilted...they all are.  Mary Jane not only is a master hand quilter but also is a master at needle turn applique.  I don't know if you can see the stitches very well...I'm telling you they are beautifully even.

Also in 1984, Mary Jane made this "Ruffled Tulip." She had joined the Charlotte NC, Quilt Guild and took an applique class from Dot Brickman who designed the pattern. She used polyester fabric and poly batting.

This was just her second quilt and she began taking ribbons with it. How exciting is that? Your second quilt and you are getting ribbons. All I have to say is....IMPRESSIVE!

1986 rolled around and Mary Jane made this "Dutch Girl" quilt that she had copied the pattern from a quilt her mother had made for her when she was young
 

It hangs in the hallway upstairs, right next to the room I get to sleep in...and while I'm bragging a little...I sleep with as many quilts as I need to stay warm!  Ok, I'm done now...can you tell I adore Mary Jane?  Yep, I do!

The next one was made in 1988, "Grandma's Bridal Quilt" has a matching long pillow sham.  Mary Jane took a class from Sue Carter who designed this pattern.  The quilt was chosen to represent the state of North Carolina in an exhibit "America Makes Quilts" in the Houston Quilt Festival in 1988.  It was juried into the American Quilter's Society Show in Paducah KY in 1989 and it has received a number of awards throughout North Carolina. 

The second quilt takes a collection of ribbons and her 4th goes to Houston and Paducah....isn't that amazing?  And wonderful?  I sure think so :)

I should tell you, between the lighting and flash...it was difficult to get really good photos of all of the quilts that were shown.  I did my best to fill in a bit of light.  Ya' all know I'm not a professional photographer right? 

 Made in 1988, and titled, "Rings of Joy" also was a big hit.  The center block was from a pattern in Quilter's Newsletter then she choose other patterns that she liked to built this quilt by enlarging patterns the the size she wanted. "Rings of Joy" was juried into the Paducah show in 1989 and chosen to be featured in the 1991 Quilt Art Calendar for December. It received several awards as well.

I took the close up so you could see the beautiful hand quilting.

This "Doll Dresden Plate I" made in 1990, is one of my favorite quilts made by Mary Jane. I see it when I come down the stairs. Mary Jane had made several large Dresden Plate quilts and she used her scraps to make this little one for herself. She gave the larger ones to loved ones.

"President's Wreath" (1991) received the judge's choice award a the North Carolina Quilt Symposium in Raleigh, NC in 1994.  The border was Mary Jane's own design. 
 

This one has an interesting story.  "Needle in a Basket" (1995) was made from Liberty of London fabric while traveling to Australia. 

The day after finishing the quilting, Mary Jane felt pain in her arm.  While at the doctors office she asked him to look at her arm.  Guess what was in her arm?  Yep, you guessed it, a needle...yikes!  Hence the name, "Needle in a Basket."

"Mother's Frustration" was completed in 2001.  Mary Jane's mother had started this quilt over 35 years before and she never finished it.  Apparently it would not lay flat so it just went unfinished.  Mary Jane took it all apart except for the arcs and made a template to re0cut the arcs and replaced the white background fabric.  She hand quilted and finished this heirloom quilt.

It sure lays flat now doesn't it?

This photo does absolutely no justice to this quilt, "Cross Country Plates" (2004).  When it is on Mary Jane's bed it is absolutely breath taking.  She made it for her husband, Bill and collected the fabric while traveling to Oregon.  Bill is very patient when waiting for Mary Jane to stop at quilt shops.

Look at the quilting....the scale...it blows my mind that Mary Jane patiently marks her quilts and proceeds to hand quilt all of her quilts.  I can't even begin to imagine the amount of thread used.

In 2004, Mary Jane made her "Lynchburg Pineapple 3."  This is her own design. 

The light here doesn't show the colors as well as the photo below.  This is "Ponchatoula Oak Leaves" made in 2007.  Mary Jane bought the pattern in Ponchatoula Louiasiana and made some changes to the pattern.  She started the quilt in Jan. 2007 and finished in in Oct. 2007.  She used 790 yards of quilting thread.  So much for quilt in a day ay?

I think this photo shows the colors much better.

While in Texas, Mary Jane slept under a quilt just like this one.  She was so impressed she made one for herself and it was made with 100% hand stitching, including the binding.

Made in 2009, "Christmas Coxcomb & Currants" was a pattern Mary Jane took from Quilters Newsletter Dec. 2004.  She started in it Feb. 2008 and finished in in December 2008.  There is 640 yards of thread used to hand quilt this beauty.

Again, I think the colors are better in this photo.

"Trapunto Red Bird" was made in 2009.  Mary Jane fell in love with the fabric so she fussy cut the birds and trapuntoed behind them.  It is her own design.

I know you are probably tired of all these photos...but once again, the close up is better!

I had the good fortune to watch Mary Jane while she was making parts of this beautiful quilt.  "MJ's Flower Baskets" was made in 2010.  The baskets are hand pieced with needle turn applique.  The pattern is by Lori Smith.  It was a pattern for a wall hanging but Mary Jane had it re-sized for a bed quilt.

"Tuesday's Baltimore" was finished this year.  I remember when our Tuesday group said they wanted to make a Baltimore Album and Mary Jane politely suggested I not participate.  She knows me well!  I would still be working on the first or second block and be frustrated that it wasn't as beautiful as the other gals blocks.

This was the last quilt revealed and you should have heard the gals whispering.  People were saying how different it looked hanging on a quilt hanger.  We had all seen it (long time IHAN blog followers probably remember my posting these blocks in their early stages)....but on a wall it was stunning.

After 6 or 7 hours now...I'm taking a break.  I didn't proof read this post....so if you see anything strange...just pretend it belongs there...I'll be sure to return the favor :)  I'll be back with Madalene's Quilts soon.   If you are still with me, thanks so much for spending your time with me...and my friends too!

Smiles,

Kelly