Coal Bucket Adventure Ends

Our coal bucket adventure has come to a close.  We had to say goodbye to our bucket and two quilts that we made to go with it.  The whole family was able to get together labor day weekend for birthdays, Little Balkans Quilt Show, and the Art Fest/ Coal Bucket auction.  Our coal bucket was one of  the first ones  to be auctioned off and it was very exciting to see and hear people bidding on our coal bucket.  It  sold for $900 and Mag Labs of Pittsburg purchased it.  I heard that it is now  at The  Girard Medical Center which is fitting since we are all  orginally from Girard.

We also auctioned two quilts that we made to go along with our coal bucket.  This one was made with leftover blocks that we made to put on  the coal bucket.  Sherry  sewed them together and Lorri quilted it.  The other quilt was made to celebrate our Art Fest / Coal Bucket adventure with farmer's daughters blocks and some abstract Coal Bucket blocks. (Sorry about the picture being in the wrong place.  My computer skills are not  very good.)   We hope they are happy in their new homes!  It was quite the experience and an honor to be involved with The Art Fest in its  first year.  It was hard to say goodbye to our coal bucket after all the work that we did to decorate  it but it  was time for it to go on a new adventure!

Letters,quilts, and coal buckets

Lately I have been making letters for a special project.  Above are some I made recently.  They are fun to make and you can spell all kinds of things with them. 

Here are some words  I made just playing around.  You can spell all kinds of words.  I used the book Word Play Quilts by Tonya Rucci to make these blocks.    I ended it  making a special quilt out of these letters. 

Here is the special project I made out of these letters.   This picture was taken before  it was quilted.  With all the rain I couldn't get a picture taken now that it is finished.  Karen Wegener of Lamar quilted it for me and she did a wonderful job.  I am planning on entering it in The Little Balkans Quilt  Show labor day weekend, so if you want to see it in person - Come to the quilt show!  I made farmer's daughters blocks for two of the corners and coal buckets for the other two.  I know they don't look much like coal buckets but I did the best that I could.  It was fun to make.  The only problem that you have to be careful when you put it together because it is really easy to get the letters switched .    I did that on a different quilt and had to do a lot of ripping out to fix it.  When I showed it to Jeff he told me I spelled Buckets wrong.  I quickly checked because I was paranoid that I would do that.  Thank God he was just joking! 

The Elusive Coal bucket

In the beginning, the coal buckets were to arrive the end of February.  At the reception the end of February, we found out they wouldn't come until the end of March.  There went our plans to work on it over Spring Break!  March came and went, still no coal bucket.  Finally, a letter came from the SEK Artfest committee explaining they have had trouble with the manufacturer of the coal bucket, and they had to change manufacturers.  Apparently not just anyone makes four foot by three foot fiberglass coal buckets.  This was the middle of April and now the estimated arrival date was the first of May.  So we wait and life goes on.  An email came May 1, announcing: They're coming! They're coming!  I had almost stopped believing in huge coal buckets.  I thought maybe they didn't really exist.  And then we got pictures of them from the factory. They're real!!!!!  There was even a picture of the mold they used to make them!  I tried to post those pictures, but they sent them as a pdf file and they wouldn't upload to the blog.  So you'll have to take my word for it.  The committee promised to tell us when they arrived in Pittsburg. One more email and we were a little closer to getting our hands on the bucket.  They were unloaded on May 8 in Pittsburg, ready for pickup on May 9 and 10th.  Kay and her husband Jeff, picked it up on May 10th and delivered it to our Dad's garage, our workshop for the next four weeks. 

It's here!!!

How are we going to quilt this? 

Front View!  the adventure begins! 

 Next, the work begins! 

The Artist's Reception

 Here Kay and I are at the artist's REception held the end of February.  It was quite the party.  We really didn't know what to expect when we went.  There were a lot of people there, all the artists that had been chosen, the SEK Artfest committe, underwriters of the project, and the press. There was wine, cheese, fruit, cookies and cupcakes. We felt a little overwhelmed. 

 There were placards on the table highlighting the artists who have been chosen.  Here is our picture and bio.  We found out that night that the coal buckets would arrive around March 22.  Don't we look excited?  We had to have our picture taken by a professional photographer that night too.  Lorri couldn't make it so it was just Kay and I. 

 We don't have an underwriter yet.  The mystery continues. Below  is a drawing of what the coal buckets will look like. 

 The SEK ARt Fest committe held a short presentation outlining the plans and congratulating the artists.  We were in such talented company.  Did I mention we felt a little overwhelmed?  They also had a slide show introducing all the artists with a sample of their work.  Ours featured one of Kay's quilts.  it was really exciting.  We visited with a couple of the other artists, and went home anxiously awaiting our coal bucket.  The adventure continues! 

Next,  sneak preview of the coal buckets! 

In the beginning, there was a coal bucket........

 

We have embarked upon a new adventure.  The Southeast Kansas Art Fest is sponsoring an art project/contest/adventure.

 I think it is best described below:

Artists throughout the four-state region are invited to participate in a historic public art project. This is a unique opportunity to create an original work of art on one of 24 four-foot fiberglass coal buckets. The coal buckets will be installed and on display in Pittsburg’s downtown from May through September, 2013. At the close of the project, a gala will be held to auction the coal buckets off to raise money for area festivals throughout the year.

For those of you that are not familiar with the Southeast Kansas, coal mining has a significant role in the history of the area.

The coal buckets are four feet wide and three feet tall and made of fiberglass.

Thus, the adventure begins. 

First, my sisters and I formed a team, named The Farmer's Daughters.

The Farmer

The Farmer's Daughters - from left, Lorri, Kay and Sherry

Then, Kay labored over the application process.  This involved an actual drawing/sketch.  Fortunately, Kay can draw.  I don't think my stick people would have been very effective.  I believe that over 60 applicants submitted the paperwork.  We were one of 24 chosen.  Yay Kay!

Kay's vision for our coal bucket. 

If you know anything about these farmer's daughters, you know that our art is mainly quilting.  Fabric is our medium.  We have a long family history of quilting.

As the theme is mining memories, our bucket will be decorated with a crazy quilt that shows different attributes that we feel represent Southeast Kansas.  For the non-quilters out there, a crazy quilt is not a description of the mental status of the quilter.  Rather, it is a technique that uses irregular shaped fabrics pieced together that may be asymmetrical in design.  Embellishments (fancy stitching, beads, lace, buttons) are commonly used.

We don't normally adhere our quilts to any type of fiberglass, so this will be a learning project for us.

Each coal bucket has a benefactor.  This benefactor helps pay for the supplies, etc.  For this we are grateful; our special glue/adhesive/magic potion that we will be using arrived last week.

Our benefactor is Dr. Matt Lowe, a local dentist.  I know what you're thinking; what a lucky, lucky man to have hitched his wagon to the star that is The Farmer's Daughters.

Last week was our first opportunity to start work on our design.  So, we started getting our fabrics together.  

We gathered together some of our orphan blocks to use.

 Orphan blocks are blocks left over from other projects.  I was amazed at how many orphans blocks we had between the three of us.  The photo above is just a small sample of the blocks we have.   Of course, we also had to do some retail therapy, and headed to Joplin to pick up some additional fabrics, embellishments, etc.

Now the fun begins!  We split up the list of different blocks to make.  The coal buckets have been delayed, so this gives us the chance to do some sewing.

Next:

The Artists Reception