The second discovery at today’s quilt show was Artist Trading Cards. There were a couple of women sitting in a corner with a display of the most interesting tiny “quilts”–a mere 2 1/2 ‘ x 3 1/2″. I stopped to talk to them to find out why you would make such tiny quilts. They told me that they were Artist Trading Cards or ATCs. They are the size of a baseball or hockey card and fit into the plastic sleeves that hold sports trading cards.

One of the women talked about the small size of the canvas being ideal to try a new technique. She also told me that once you make one of these cards, you are an artist. You don’t have to be a famous artist to make and trade these pieces of art. The thing that sold me was that because of the size, there usually aren’t any UFOs! This is a photo of one of the cards; a little blurry, but you get the idea.
I copied the following information from the poster that was on display next to the ATCs.

“Swiss performance artist M. Vanci Stirnemann was the originator of the Artist Trading Card (ATC) phenomenon. On a visit to Canada for the Calgary Olympic Arts Festival in 1988 he noticed people swapping hockey cards. Nearly a decade later he made 1000 miniature works of art the same size as hockey cards and in April 1997 he displayed them in a Swiss book shop. Visitors asked if they could buy them but instead Stirnemann asked them to make their own cards and bring them in to swap”.

Searching the internet, I found the following links about ATCs:

http://www.joycehartley.com/atcs.htm – Pictures of Joyce Hartley’s Artist Trading Cards

http://www.artchixstudio.com/create/classroom/class_fabricatc.htm – Instructions on how to make your own Artist Trading Cards

http://cqmagonline.com/vol03iss02/articles/art258/index.shtml – An interesting article on ATCs

http://prettyimpressivestuff.com/blog/2006/04/fiber-artist-trading-cards.html – Blog reference to ATCs

I can hardly wait to try making some myself.

Today I attended the Ridge Meadows Quilters’ Show in Pitt Meadows, BC. This guild hosts a small show every other year. It is nice to visit other gilds and see what they are doing differently than my own guild.

This year, I saw quilts with hand Applique borders that were appliqued after the long arm quilter had completed the edge to edge pantograph. This is a perfect technique for those who like to applique and don’t want to pay for custom quilting. Excellent idea!

The pictures below are of two quilts that this technique was used on.

I have been working on the T-Shirt quilt. The quilt top is currently on the long arm and quilting is in progress. It is slow going. Although the t-shirts were stabilized with fusible interfacing, quilting across them is challenging. When quilting over the logos, you have to slow right down or you end up with skipped stitches. This is a picture of one of the blocks.

I see that I have been tagged by Mary.

Mary mentioned that she wasn’t very good at these things – I am not so sure I am very good at this either. I have picked dates that are significant to me and have not necessarily stuck to the 20-15-10-5 “rule”. Here goes…………

All That History

25 years ago (1981) – I married the love of my life. We celebrate 25 years of marriage this May.

20 years ago (1986) – My son was born. Matt is the computer “techie” of the family and the one who repairs his Mother’s computer when it collides with a nasty virus in cyber space.

18 years ago (1988) – My daughter was born. Dana graduates from High School this year. There is a lot of excitement in the house these days as we get closer to that event.

17 years ago (1989) – I started working on my professional accounting designation.

9 years ago (1997) – I started quilting. I needed something to balance my life. All that studying and learning about accounting and finance was suppressing my creative spirit. Let’s face it – the world is not too tolerant of a “creative” accountant.

7 years ago (1999) – I graduated from the Certified General Accountants Association. What a long haul – 10 years of study, work experience while simultaneously raising a family. It was worth it though. I had a friend many years ago who was pregnant with her first child when her partner died suddenly. He had not divorced his wife and so the wife received the benefits of the estate and my friend and her new baby were left with nothing. She ended up moving back with her parents and taking a job washing dishes in a restaurant. She had never worked and had no education past Grade 12. What an eye opener! I vowed that I would never allow myself to end up in such a state. That year I set about getting an education and a career. I am now in a profession that is in great demand.

6 years ago (2000) – I started working for the Federal Government. I work in a correctional facility as the Chief of Finance.

1 year ago (2005) – I moved to the next “level” of quilting with the purchase of my long arm quilting machine.

Yesterday – It was a beautiful spring day here and I was able to devote the entire day to quilting as the sun streamed in the window of my studio. It doesn’t get much better than that.

Today – After work today, my daughter and I went for a walk with the dog to my parents’ house and back. The total walking time was just under an hour. This is the start of our commitment to regular exercise and a healthier lifestyle–for my daughter, myself, and the dog.

Tagging: I am tagging Hanne. I am of Norwegian descent and would love to hear about Hanne’s life in Norway.

I have been working off and on on a T-Shirt Quilt for a customer. It is now a completed top and I will be loading it on the long arm this afternoon.

There have been many interruptions in my quilting related to a heavy workload in my day job so I haven’t been doing much quilting lately. (Sometimes work gets in the way of quilting.) Hopefully, the worst is over and I can get back to doing what I love!