Date: Fri 27-Aug-1999

Publication: Bee

Author: SHANNO

Quick Words:

Fraser-quilt-Slim*Fast

Full Text:

Fraser's Latest Success Continues A Three-Year Winning Streak

(with photos)

BY SHANNON HICKS

For the third straight year, Connie Harris Fraser earned the Most Humorous

Quilt Award during the awards ceremony of this year's Vermont Quilt Festival.

The three-day event, July 16-18, was held at Norwich University in Northfield,

Vt. The award-winning Newtown quilter also received a red ribbon for her

quirky wall hanging, "How Big Is Your Can."

Mrs Fraser's quilt depicts an oversized Slim Fast can filled with a flavor she

created: chopped liver. The quilter's inspiration for the quilt came from her

own efforts at dieting.

"I have lost 37 pounds while using Slim Fast," Mrs Fraser said this week,

looking indeed very svelte in a knee length, short-sleeved black dress, "so I

was feeling like having fun."

After writing to Slim Fast Foods, the makers of a line of dietary supplements,

Mrs Fraser was given permission to use the registered name Slim Fast’ in her

quilt. The wall hanging, which measures 39 inches long by 28 inches wide, has

as its central feature a large silver can of pre-mixed Chopped Liver flavor

Slim Fast. The dietary drink usually comes in chocolate, vanilla, strawberry

or mixed fruit blends.

"This is a tribute to those of us who go the second mile," Mrs Fraser

explained. "I thought it would be funny to come up with a flavor that was so

different from the regulars, something that extreme dieters might actually go

for."

Surrounding the can are smaller panels with women, some skinny and others

"lumpy - because not everyone gets it right," she said. The skinnier women are

doing different exercises.

The figures' hair offers a look at the creative and comic imagination of Mrs

Fraser. Each figure is topped with a cluster of left-over loose threads and

rickrack, which gives the work a third dimension.

In fact it is not only her creative use of fabrics and thread but also the use

of a variety of fabrics, both average and unusual, that quickly catches the

eye. In addition to exemplary workmanship, Mrs Fraser's quilts use everything

from cotton to upholstery fabric, and in the case of the letters on "How Big

Is Your Can," ultrasuede. She has also been experimenting recently with

hand-dyed fabrics, which were successfully incorporated into the winning

quilt.

"I just don't feel limited to what traditional quilters are using," she said.

Mrs Fraser's sewing techniques are not strictly within the traditional line of

thinking, either. She prefers to sometimes use stitches as part of a quilt's

pattern or design. Rather than use thread that matches a fabric, or putting in

14 to 16 stitches per inch, Mrs Fraser will use contrasting thread and large

stitches to purposely create another pattern.

"I think contemporary quilts deserve something that sets them apart from their

traditional counterparts," she said.

It is this kind of creativity, coupled with a good sense of humor, that judges

at the Vermont show have picked up on for three years running. Since the

inception of the show's Most Humorous Quilt Award category in 1997, Connie has

consistently won the title. In 1997, she was honored with the inaugural award

for a quilt that presented viewers with funny quotes written about or said by

women. Last year's quilt presented panels filled with faces of women, bordered

by words that describe women.

"The quilts have all purposely had to do with women," she admitted. Next

year's quilt, which is already in the works, will have the "Old Maid's Puzzle"

pattern worked into it.

The response to "How Big Is Your Can" in Vermont was positive from the crowds

visiting the show as well as the judges. Displayed so that visitors could view

both sides of the piece (the back features fabric with a predominately pink

background pattern with happy-looking pigs, while the quilt center features

one of Connie's figures on a much larger scale than the front of the quilt has

room for), the quilt was admired by groups of visitors all weekend.

"People were laughing and calling their friends over to see it," Connie said.

"After the awards ceremony this year, one judge come up to me and asked me

what I'm working on for next year. I'm not sure yet if the next quilt will win

the humorous category again... but I do enjoy the quilting process as much as

the piecing together of everything. It's all fun."

Other winners from Connecticut included Alice Garrand of West Redding, who

received the Most Innovative Piecing Award and a red ribbon for her quilt,

"Rally Round the Raspberry Ruff." Irene Pierce of Ridgefield received a yellow

ribbon for her quilt, "Good Night Irene."

Billed as New England's largest quilt event, the Vermont festival this year

received entries by quilters from 18 states, three Canadian provinces, and

four districts in Japan. In addition to showcasing 148 contest quilts, the

festival included numerous special displays, 75 workshops and lectures, a

Merchants' Mall in two locations with 65 vendors, and appraisals of both new

and old quilts.