Beading in Miniature

I made this 2x3 inch beaded piece for the miniatures show that Would You Could You in a Frame in Yellow Springs, Ohio hosts every other year.

My SLR is having issues, so this isn't a very good photo, but it was fun playing with shapes and values. The piece is titled "Starting Over from A to Z." The A is hiding. I used Shirt Tailor to stiffen the fabric when I beaded it, but it wasn't stiff enough. Anyone have any ideas about a stiffer interfacing that I'll still be able to hand sew through?

To make the final piece stiffer, I fused fabric onto some buckram and then sewed it onto the back.

Buddha Touching Earth: March Spiritual Challenge

For my March Spiritual Challenge Quilt, I chose the image of Buddha Touching Earth. The image was inspired by a photograph of Wat Yai Chai.

The story is about the Buddha seeking enlightenment under the Bodhi tree and about the demon Mara tempting him again and again. It is very similar in content to the story of Jesus' temptation in the wilderness when the Devil shows up and offers him all kinds of worldly glory, tempts his pride, and urges him to give up his spiritual quest to prove something. Like Jesus, Gutama Buddha resists Mara's temptations, but finally, the demon Mara says that since the Buddha has transcended earthly concerns, he should leave the earth. Instead of giving up or giving in, the Buddha put his right hand to the earth and called the earth to witness his right to be there. The earth replied with a rumble, proving the Buddha's right to stay on earth and defeating the demon Mara.

I first read the story in a book by Pema Chodron, and it struck me both for its similarities to the story of Jesus and for the truth it spoke in my own life. When I'm feeling ungrounded or tempted to give in to despair, taking a walk in the Glen or just lying on the grass in my backyard brings healing. I can't say the earth has ever rumbled, but I still feel the wind and the earth and the birds and worms give witness to my right to be here.

Okay, so it's a bit past my March deadline, but once I'd finished the quilt, it seemed too heavy on the right hand side. So I added the thread-painted tree just before I sewed the binding down on the back of the quilt. The pieced background of the quilt is done in Liberty cottons. A neighbor is from England, and her mum lives close to the Liberty factory where they sell seconds, so I scored some beautiful fabrics from her and couldn't wait to use them.

I bought the Quilting Arts Book when JoAnns had all their books for 40% off, and I did the machine quilting exercises that Robbi Joy Eklow has in the book and learned a lot from them (maybe I'll take pictures and post them later), so this quilt also served as a place to put some of those exercises to use in an actual piece.

April Poetry Challenge: T.S. Eliot

When I was in high school, Julia Polk gave me the poems of T.S. Eliot to read. Now, there isn't much in Eliot for a fourteen year old to understand, but I loved the language and the rhythm of his poetry. Though I didn't know what he meant most of the time, I could connect with the deep sadness and loneliness of his poems.

His poem, "The Wasteland" opens with these words: "April is the cruelest month, breeding/ lilacs out of the dead land, mixing/ memory and desire, stirring/ dull roots with spring rain./ Winter kept us warm. Covering/ earth in forgetful snow."

As spring flowers start to bloom, I long to break into bloom, also. When my life is full of disappointment and grief, spring is like a hair shirt, covering me in an uncomfortable and inconsolable itch for something better--for love, for peace, for growth. I wouldn't have understood all of that intellectually in high school, but I did understand that when winter matches our moods, spring can be an uncomfortable jolt.

As a gardener, I'm not sure I understand his use of lilacs here. Yes, they bloom in April, but they bloom so far from the ground. I know that to use spring bulbs--daffodils, crocus, and the like-- would have been trite. And roses aren't out in April, though they, too, are overdone. But I love Eliot, and I trust his artistry, so maybe the choice of lilacs is a good one here. The lilac may be like our own hearts and souls, sometimes spring has to travel a bit farther in order break into blossom.

April Journal Quilt 2

This journal quilt for April continues my exploration of stamping. I carved the floral stamp in the central panel and used Jacquard Textile paints to stamp it. Sometimes, the fabric soaks up too much paint, so after I stamp, I go over the image with a brush and more paint. I used a commercial stamp to stamp the circles in the top and bottom panels and I used bubble wrap to stamp the darker yellow fabric.

I wanted to work with an analogous color scheme, and my original design used patches of red fabric in the bottom panel, but I didn't like it, so I went back with the stamp I'd used on the top panel of fabric.

I went back in and added beads around the fused binding after I'd finished and then thought, "Heck, why not in the center, too." I'm not sure I like the beads around the flower center. Should I add it around the other centers, leave it as is, or cut them off? I'd love your feedback.

It's gardening time, and back in Maryland, I knew the weather well enough to ignore the don't plant before Mother's Day warnings. Here in Ohio, I'm not sure, so I still have a bunch of plants in pots waiting to go in the ground. Since I can't garden outside yet--except for cleanup,blah--it was fun to plant these flowers in fabric.

My Favorite Quilt: The Way Opens

This small quilt (8.5 x 11) is my favorite quilt because it's about faith but I completed it at a time when my faith was faltering. I do believe as Quakers say, that things happen "as way opens." We can plan and scheme, but life will unfurl as it does, and we don't always get much to say about that unwinding.

It's a self portrait. I'm standing "in the middle of life with my past behind me" as Chrissie Hind says, and I'm greeting what's to come as well as saying goodbye to what's past. The landscape is the desert landscape that is my heart's home. The wings? Well, I don't know why, but in my self portraits, I usually give myself wings. Wishful thinking? Perhaps, but I know that when I let go of my own will and my own ego I really am able to lift off.

Someone bought this quilt last fall as her own life was opening out in a new direction, and I was glad that she was able to look at it and see the faith and promise in it.

Moonflowers: April Journal Quilt

This quilt seems so different for me, and I guess that's good because the entire point of my journal quilts is to push myself artistically. Well, it's working.

The background fabric is a recycled jean skirt. The middle field is a linen look fabric with artichoke stamps. The foreground is silver lame and silver pearl cotton. I've used silver thread to stitch down the lame applique and using a metallic needle makes a huge difference.

I've never tried bobbin drawing before. I hate not being able to see what's happening (can you say [reformed] control freak). I liked being able to use the silver pearl cotton in the bobbing to make "Starry Night" swirls in my denim sky. I used a silver lame binding, and I was afraid it would be hard to work with, but it was easier than I thought. I just had to turn my iron down.

As a learning quilt, I think the journal is a success, but I'm not sure if it works all by itself. As the idea for how to use the artichoke fabric started to develop, I imagined it as a sort of companion to my March journal quilt "Sunspots," hence the title, "Moonflower."

April Week 2

This quilt continues the story I started with the first April Quilt. Again, I've used my own shibori and hand dyed fabric, except for the black. I also hand painted the thread. Yes, you can still see the marks I made to guide my quilting, I haven't sprayed it yet.

Curious about the story? It's about walls and boundaries and families.

The circles are reverse appliqued. I used heavy starch to hold them in place once I'd turned the edges under.

March Journal Quilt #1

This March journal quilt continues my work with circles, and it is also in response to the piecing exercises in Art Quilt Workbook.

The fabric in this exercise is hand painted. So is the thread. I couldn't find the variegated thread that Laura Wasilowski talks about in her Quilting Arts article, so I wondered if I could make my own. I could and did, and I tried it with several different types of Jacquard paints: Dye-na-flow, Lumiere, NeoPaque, and Textile Paints. I actually painted the thread first and then rubbed the fabric around in the paint that was left after I'd set the thread to dry.

The hand quilting on this quilt is inspired by the work of Jeana Eve Clark, again. Not so much in the way I've made the quilting decisions, but in her use of circles and lines made from French knots and a simple running stitch.

I finally finished my March Poetry Postcard. Actually, I finished it in March, then my iron puked on it, and I had to do it again. Fortunately, the hardest work of the postcard was carving the stamp.

Robert Frost was born in March, so this card celebrates one of my favorite poems of all time, "Birches." It begins, "When I see birches bend from left to right/ across the line of straighter darker trees,/ I like to think some boys been swinging them,/ but swinging doesn't bend them down to stay/ as ice storms do."

The image is inspired by that portion of the poem, but I've used another favorite section for the words. Frost says, "I'd like to go by climbing a birch tree./ And climb black branches up a snow-white trunk/ Toward heaven, till the tree could bear no more./But dipped its top and set me down again./ That would be good both going and coming back."

I love Frost's everyday language and his formal structure, and this is the poem I say to myself more often than any other, except perhaps the Prologue to The Canterbury Tales.

"Earth's the right place for love./ I don't know where it's likely to go any better."

Thank you Robert Frost. Happy Belated Birthday.

Sunspots, March Quilt

This quilt is one of my March monthly quilts that I finally got the binding sewn on. I'm working on a frame and lighting system. The shiny spots are somewhat transparent, and they look cool with light behind them.

Maybe I got a little carried away with the French knots, but I love how the tiny circles echo all the rest of the circles in the quilt.
This started as a little wonky piecing exercise, but I layered a metallic cotton and a shiny organize and then reverse appliqued them onto the already quilted background. Then I started adding the knots. There are probably five hundred or so, maybe more. Since I cut away two layers of cloth and one layer of batting, there was a lot of edge to cover between the circles and the quilt, so the knots are pretty heavy there.
I'll post it again once I have the lighting and frame set up. I'd love your comments on whether it's too noisy or busy. Again, this is a lot more pattern than I usually use, and then adding all the surface stuff seemed like a lot to me, so I'd like to know what you think.

April, Week One

This is the first of April's weekly quilt. I'm using reverse applique and hand quilting/embroidery. Unlike the other quilts I've done, these quilts have a sort of story to tell. Of course, it's probably a story that only I'll be able to read, but that's okay.


I like doing the handwork, inspired by my study of Jeana Eve Klein's work at the Dayton Visual Arts Center. I'm working on a short review and will post the review and the photos next week. I've also contacted the artist, and she's agreed to an interview, so I'll try to get that done this week, too. The show is gone, but if you get a chance to see her work, don't miss it.


I'm using similar handwork to finish my March monthly quilts, and I'll post them in the next couple of days.


Of course, the circle study continues. The shibori in the background is my hand dyed fabric. I was afraid I might get tired of the circles, but I see more and more images and get more ideas each month. Since humans have been fascinated with circles for a long time, I don't think I'll wear out my fascination in a year.

March Week 4

This is the last of my New York Beauty/Pattern study weekly quilts, and I think I like it the best. Of course, that has more to do with the beautiful Kaffe Fasset fabric in the center of the quilt than with my design or other choices.

So, what did I learn with this month's exercises.
First, the New York Beauty blocks aren't nearly as intimidating to design or accomplish as I was afraid they would be. (In fact, I've enlarged two of the designs and I'll post those when I finish them.) The scale of the pattern on the fabric really does matter. (I should know that by now, but I just don't do that much traditional piecing, so I'd heard it, but I hadn't experienced it first hand.)

I enjoyed the challenge, and it really made me work outside of my comfort zone.

Forgive the poor hanging job that I've done so far, but I've got the first three months of quilts up on the wall outside my studio. In the next week or so, I'll post a blog about how I frame them.

Next month, I'm working on reverse applique and hand quilting. Now that I'm back online, I'll get last week's quilt posted in the next several days. I'd love to hear your comments on it
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