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Welcome to the Blue Bar Quilts Online Hallway Gallery


On this page, we highlight current and past gallery shows featured in the shop's Hallway Gallery.

A Needle in Her Hand - Karin Hanson, June 2023

A Needle in Her Hand - Karin Hanson Hallway Gallery Show, June 2023

"A Needle in Her Hand" - A New Blue Bar Quilts Hallway Gallery Show featuring art by Karin Hanson was on display through June, 2023.

Karin Hanson has had some sort of needle in her hand since she was 10 years old... and that was over 66 years ago. She's always been a maker and dabbled in many artforms, but textiles are her favorite, whether they are quilts, art quilts, felted objects or hand stitching.

In her "previous" career before retirement, she was a middle school math teacher in the Milwaukee area. Karin developed geometry curriculum for her 6th-8th graders and always included artwork as its application.

In 2016 she moved to Madison. In her words, "It's such a welcoming artistic community!"

The Madison Contemporary Fiber Artists and Memory Cloth Circle have provided stitching companionship, inspiration, and opportunities to take part in group exhibits.

She has also exhibited pieces in Overture's "Remembering the 60's" and "Democracy" exhibits as an individual applicant. Her "TRIPTYCH" was part of Sacred Threads, Virginia, show in 2022.

Karin enjoys expressing herself with her own studio work and charity quilting for Madison's Healing House, or more recently, the Stoughton Ukrainian Refugee Resettlement Program.

If you are interested in purchasing a piece, please email karinleeh@yahoo.com.

 

The Cherrywood & Friends Challenge 2023

The Cherrywood & Friends Shop Challenge 2023

For the 6 year anniversary of Blue Bar Quilts, the Cherrywood & Friends Shop Challenge generated 22 beautiful submissions that were on display in the Hallway Gallery in April, 2023. Creators needed to purchase a Cherrywood Fabrics fat quarter at Blue Bar Quilts and use it with at least two other non-Cherrywood fabrics of their choice to make a 24” square mini quilt. Anything went for additional fabrics and there was no limit to the number. Any type, fiber, print, designer, etc., and any quilting technique, surface design, embellishment, embroidery, machine or hand work was fair game. There were 2 prizes for Viewer’s Choice & Staff Pick. Winners received an 8-step Fat Quarter Bundle or 4-step Half Yard Bundle of Cherrywood Fabrics in the colorway of their choice.

 

The Great Craftacular Challenge of 2022

Vote Viewer's Choice in The Great Craftacular Challenge 2022

For this challenge, creators were tasked with turning a Blue Bar Quilts logo panel into a craft using any medium, be it sewing, quilting, embroidery, collage, decoupage, or surface design, the sky was the limit. Multiple panels and any craft supplies could be used, with one entry per person. Blue Bar received 13 fantastic entries! Come in to the shop to see them for yourself until the end of September, and vote for your favorite in the Viewer's Choice category through September 18. Winners will be announced September 19, and judged categories include: Most Practical, Most Wild & Wacky, Viewer’s Choice, and Staff Pick.

 

Madison Contemporary Fiber Artists "My Favorite Piece" Exhibit

My Favorite Piece Exhibit - Madison Contemporary Fiber Artists

Pieces were made by Madison Contemporary Fiber Artists and were on display June 2022 at Blue Bar Quilts. View the entire collection online at madisonfiberartists.com.

 

Graphic Jam Quilts Block of the Month 2021


Graphic Jam Quilts Block of the Month 2021

The sampling of quilts on display were made using the Graphic Jam quilt pattern booklet which was written by Sassafras Lane Designs and features 12 unique and modern plus-shaped quilt blocks that are entirely foundation paper-pieced.

The class was instructed and moderated by Trisha Urben and took place mostly virtually via ZOOM with several optional in person meetings in our shop classroom for those who wanted to gather in "real life".

Some participants chose their own fabrics to complete the project. Others used the kit with the choice of either a dark or light background, which was made from Favorite Things collection of fabrics designed by Shayla Wolf of Sassafras Lane Designs for Windham Fabrics.

Memory Cloth Circle Gallery "Bits & Pieces"


Memory Cloth Circle Show

It's our annual October show from Memory Cloth Circle, a hand-stitching group here in Madison. The show's titled "Bits & Pieces" and it is dedicated to recently passed away member Terry Lichtenfelt. It's a very bright, colorful and cheerful celebration of their relationship with Terry and her life.

Stop by the shop and see it if you can, it'll be here the whole month of October.

Fiber Art Fundraiser Gallery



Fiber Art Fundraiser Gallery show at Blue Bar QuiltsThe Fiber Art Fundraiser Gallery was created and curated by Christine Harlan, a local Madison area fiber artist - in support of Black Lives Matter and LGBTQ+ social and philanthropic causes.

Stop in to appreciate the art and if you choose to donate to any established organization that supports Black Lives, LGBTQ Lives, or a Victim’s Family, you will be entered to win one of these pieces.

Full details on the steps to enter the Fiber Art Fundraiser are located below the art on this gallery's page.

Mend Challenge Quilts Gallery



Jacquie Gering's original Mend quilt inspired her “Mend” fabric collection from Michael Miller Fabrics. The quilt design is featured as the foundation of the collection with supplementary prints derived from the design of the flag’s starfield and its red and white stripes.

Jacquie’s quilt speaks to the impact that citizens have on the direction of our country, the responsibilities and obligations of citizenship, and the ability of our country to grow and change for the better. Jacquie added the word MEND to the original design of the veering stripe to encourage all of us to work together to foster the values of compromise, collaboration, and problem-solving. We are sewists and quilters and mending is our superpower. Jacquie wants the collection to provide an opportunity for our community to show the pride we have in our country and the power of its citizenry to work together.

Blue Bar Quilts offered a challenge to our quilting friends to create in the spirit of the Mend message. We were excited to receive 7 challenge entries!

The Mend Challenge Winners

  • First Prize - Kristine Moser
  • Viewer’s Choice - Melissa Murray
  • Staff Pick - Arielle Martin
/mend-quilt-challenge.htm

Memory Cloth Circle Gallery "Treasured Memories"


Memory Cloth Circle Show Treasured Memories - Oct 2020

"The Memory Cloth Circle began at Lakeside Coffee House during the 2013 MMOCA Triennial. Each week people signed up to tell stories and embroider memories. The group was inspired by Amazwi Abesifazane, Voices of Women, in South Africa. Those courageous women began making Memory Cloths to tell their stories of Apartheid; they asked us to share their process in the U.S. We honor them in our work choosing our own stories and messages.

When the 2013 MMOCA exhibition ended many of the Circle participants, buoyed by the group’s energy and creativity, decided to continue gathering; we meet weekly to this day. Today the Memory Cloth Circle brings together 20+ professional and non-professional women artists from various backgrounds. All enjoy sharing ideas, narratives, and stories in stitches using vintage and repurposed fabrics through embroidery, applique, collage, and mixed media.

Since the pandemic halted in-person gatherings we have met weekly through Zoom, and we are delighted that this has allowed participation to include members in Oregon, Texas, Florida, Nova Scotia, and Tanzania.

Circle member Lisa Binkley has repurposed wooden cigar boxes in her mixed-media fiber art for years. Her father used to enjoy smoking cigars, and when she saw the beautiful boxes, he began saving them for her. He is delighted that they have been incorporated into her art as well as others’.

Many of us had a special box as a child that we used to hold treasured objects—found feathers and bones, shells and special beach pebbles, poems, old jewelry from a grandmother, and other gems. As our group considered possibilities for our 2020 exhibition at Blue Bar Quilts, we decided to tap into treasured memories and the idea of boxes to contain them. The boxes that are the foundation of works in this exhibition are cigar boxes from Lisa’s dad and a few other sources, wine boxes from his wine cellar, and a world of fabrics, threads, beads, photographs, jewelry, lots of hand stitches, and messages and memories. Enjoy."

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