In my last post, I showed you some of the samples that George Siciliano brought to our guild meeting. Pretty amazing stuff. In this post, I'll show you the quilts he showed us during his talk/trunk show. This was really fascinating. For the record, just let me say that he is a very entertaining guy. The presentation was both funny and informative. He presents and teaches with his wife, Virginia, who also sews and hand quilts. They have a fun banter between the two of them. I can't speak for the workshop (because I didn't go), but I'll say from the trunk show that these two make for a really good guild meeting. From what I observed, I think they'd be great national teachers to bring in for your guild meeting...if you're looking for someone. And they can take a lot of people into their class, because they teach together. I do not know what they charged my guild to come. The class was very reasonably priced.
As a reminder, everything you see here will be miniature quilts, and they are all made from some variation of a log cabin block!
Here is George and his wife Virginia as they are being introduced. All the little quilts I showed in my previous post are hanging on the wall behind them. That should give you some idea of the scale of those quilts!
This shot gives you some idea of how large this guild is! I think there were 200 chairs or so set up, and you can see they are ALL full! I think we had 20 guests at this meeting and we got something like 8 new members that night (including two very young--say 20-something--gals; always nice to see the young gals joining!).
He started by showing us quilts he made from patterns published in books. After about three of those, he decided to start designing his own quilts.
And the one on the right here was HIS FIRST QUILT DESIGN?! Can you believe that? Look how tiny all those little orange squares are! Here's what's really shocking...the quilt on the left is the SAME BLOCK with just a color change (and perhaps rotating the block a different way?)! I found that amazing! Sometimes I left the person holding the quilts in the photo, or their hands, to give you a sens of how small these quilts are. I think he said these quilts each have over 4,000 pieces in them. (Mom and Aunt Pea, if you're reading this, doesn't the woman in this photo remind you of Great Aunt Marcella? I almost stare at her at every guild meeting, because she reminds me so much of Marcella.) Virginia hand quilted these for him.
This one here is about placemat size. George said he took it into a quilt shop after he made it and the owner said, "You could really sell these, George!" He said he figured he'd never be able to get what he has into them out of them. So, he asked, "So, how much to you think you'd pay for it?" The woman carefully inspected it and said, "Oh! At least $10!" Can you imagine?! He said he's entered it in shows and this quilt has won him over $5,000 in prize money so far! I think Virginia also hand quilted this for him.
Loved both of these, too. I keep trying to decide which I like better, and I can't. I think at this point, Virgina quilt hand quilting for him! LOL. He had to learn to machine quilt on his own.
In this one, the block on the right is the block that makes up the quilt on the left. The block on the right is made up larger to show what the block looks like. I think he said the actual block in the quilt is only 2" square.
This was one of my favorites, too. Doesn't it look like it's 3-dimensional or like it has texture? But it's perfectly flat. Gorgeous. I love the purple and that bright green.
This quilt is interesting. In real life, it is very dull and flat. Geroge said of all his quilts, however, it photographs the best. It does photograph very well. It looks much more dull and flat in person. Very interesting.
He said he's entered this one in shows and on several occasions has been given the feedback that there's too much black. So he has retired it and doesn't enter it any more.
This one was cool. Those little squares in the blocks are about half the size of my pinky fingernail! Maybe smaller....
Looooovvvveee it!
Well? What did you think? Did you enjoy that? I've only shown you some of the quilts he brought. There were many more. And I've only shared a few of his stories. I loved every minute of this guild meeting! I can only imagine how much fun the workshop was the next day. I know one of my readers, Sequoia, went to the workshop. She commented on my post yeasterday. Maybe she'll comment again and tell you all how it was. It sounds like she loves the technique used. (He uses 1/8" seam allowances!) I did speak to someone else who attended the workshop and said it was very good. She said they are excellent teachers...very patient. Though she's not sure the technique is for her....very time consuming, as you might guess.
I still have more to tell you about the meeting, so I'll do a third post with even MORE photos! There was just too much eye candy at this meeting. I was taking photos left and right.
Until next time,
Mama Pea
That is interesting how well the dull one photographed. It looks so much richer. And I don't remember the last one- it's amazing.
I did take the workshop and I LOVED it. George and Ginny have been married for 47 years, and I loved how they interacted! George is quite the joker, and Ginny is his straight man. They are both there to help, so we were well taken care of. George also gave us a lot of tips, to make the process easier.
I have almost finished two blocks. The pieces are sewn on foundation paper (so no removing the tiny pieces of paper later!!). It will take time to make my 16 blocks, but I actually find it extremely meditating. George teaches you how to be well organized, so it is stress free. Seams are finger pressed; I just set up a cutting station next to my machine, so I can just sit and sew away!
I would recommend George for any guild. He and his wife are a delight and you will be amazed with his work.
Posted by: Sequoia | March 20, 2011 at 11:18 AM
Wow! You are wonderful to share with the rest of us. I haven't been apart of a guild for a long while. So this was fun to see! Thanks!
Posted by: Brooke | March 20, 2011 at 12:00 PM
I'm just so impressed with these! Especially that purple and green one, it does look 3-dimensional. Honestly there just aren't enough good words for these quilts!
And yes I was appalled that that woman thought $10 was a good price....EGADS!!!!!
Posted by: Allie | March 20, 2011 at 03:00 PM
Amazing quilts!!! They are just spectacular. It's hard to pick a favorite but I love the purple and green.
That was a great guild meeting. I can't wait to see more!
Hugs,
Donna
Posted by: Donna | March 20, 2011 at 07:19 PM
I am going to check out his website today!
Posted by: Maggie Szafranski | March 21, 2011 at 08:43 AM