New Quilt: Self-Portrait

 Well, this isn't isn't a new quilt at all.  I'm sorry to say that I'm so far behind in blogging that this was a quilt I started in a Katie Pasquini Masopust workshop in spring 2023 and finished shortly thereafter.  It's already been off to a touring around SAQA NM show and will be coming home soon.  Craziness.  I really do like to have a record of things on the blog though so I'm going to try to get caught up.  

The workshop was do do a grid style abstracted piece from a photo.  Most folks in the class were doing flowers or still lifes or something and while I took several pictures to start from, I really wanted to try to do a self-portrait.   

This was my starting picture, and the grid and pattern I drew are right below it.

The blocks are foundation pieced and all the fabric came from my shiny/textury stash.  It's a blend of silks, velvets, shiny polyesters, microsuedes, and maybe even some brocades.  I finished piecing and quilting all the blocks while I was at the workshop-- it was an Empty Spools session at Asilomar so I had several days to just put my head down and focus.  It was kind of hard to see in the beginning, especially with all the raggedy blocks, but after quilting them all and squaring up I was thrilled that the portrait part was starting to emerge.  The face and the hands were most challenging and was so excited with how they turned out.

After I got home I struggled to figure out how I wanted to finish it.  I was originally thinking of some 3D approach, but in the end decided on just an openwork treatment with about 1/2" of space between each block.  It's finished sort of like my Prayer of St. Chrysostom quilt.

Self Portrait, c. 2023 Shannon Conley

I'm so so thrilled with how it came out, so much better than I expected.  I sent it off to the Personality Plus SAQA regional show pretty much as soon as I finished it and am kind of looking forwad to having it back soon to hang in the house.  The Empty Spools workshops really are an amazing opportunity to just really put your brain to the work and get stuff done.

New Quilt: Self Portrait

Last year I made a quilt for the SAQA call for entry called Guns: Loaded Conversations.  The call for entry solicited quilts on all sides of the issue, and I decided to make a quilt about the role shooting and firearms has played in my life.  The quilt didn't get into the show, and I more or less forgot about it.  Periodically I've remembered I still need to write a post about it, and have finally gotten around to it!

This is an issue of particular importance to me.  In spite of being a blue voter who finds myself frequently at odds with our state and federal government, I'm nonetheless an avid sport shooter.  I don't talk about it much here since this is a quilting blog, but my primary hobby outside quilting is action pistol shooting.  My dad first taught me to shoot as a kid, and I've enjoyed it for many years as an adult.  I even teach women's firearms safety courses and spent several years running action pistol competitions.

Guns are such a divisive issue, and I object to the routinely presented stereotype of all firearms owners as uneducated rednecks.  I'm saddened by the polarization of this issue in our country, it mimics so many other topics where the loudest people/groups on both sides have such extreme positions that there seems little room for conversation.  I'm saddened by the perception that firearms owners aren't just as enraged or appalled by tragic gun violence as others.   I have extremely strong feelings on the essential need for firearms safety education, and above all, responsible gun ownership, as well as the need for stronger penalties for irresponsible firearms owners.  

However, I love shooting.  It gives me a chance to move around and to get outside. Competitions satisfy my competitive urges, they give me a chance to improve my performance over time and provide an unparalleled opportunity for mental focus, and I've made many many friends while shooting.  It's also something I value as a family tradition, a strong connection I have with my father, grandfather, and even my uncles and my sister.  It's that family tradition aspect that I chose to depict in my quilt.  A couple of years back I came across this photo my mom must have snapped of me and my dad shooting around 1987 or 1988.   Of course my perm and rainbow jacket should be a dead giveaway for the time period.  I remember really loving that jacket and would wear it today in a heartbeat.  Less so the perm.  It's really fun to have a picture of me and my dad doing something like this together.

I blew up the picture and used the same approach to paint the figures as I did for the portrait I made of Becky's kids.  Unfortunately, I evidently didn't take any in process pictures at all, skipping from the snaps of the painted background to the final quilt, but the process for painting the figures is clearly described here.

For anyone who cares, yes my stance in that picture is terrible, one reason I'm still not really a rifle shooter....

Self-Portrait of the Artist and her Father c. 1988, 41" x 32" c. Shannon Conley, 2017 

In retrospect I think the background could have used some more work, it feels a bit flat and plain in spite of some effort on my part to add depth and shadow, but I really love the way the figures turned out and am overall happy with it.  It's going to the Dallas Quilt Show in just a couple of weeks so other people will finally get to see it.

I love you Dad!!