Laughing Girl Quilts

I'm a Steamroller, Baby

2011-10-03T20:44:00.002-04:00

Or at least I'll be printing with one on Friday night when Dayton Visual Arts Center has their Flat Out Fun
celebration at the old Greyhound Bus Terminal in downtown Dayton from 5-9 pm on Oct. 7.

I've taken a trip back to my flower period with this print. I've carved lots of Easy Carve before, but I've never done a lino print. Whew. It was hard. I finished it in one very long day, and I was sore afterward. I can't decide if I want to print it before I take it to test it to see if I've carved it deep enough. I've a few more days to decide. I'll repost a print if I decide to cheat.

Otherwise, I'll see you in downtown Dayton on Friday.

Hipstamatic

2011-08-30T17:38:00.001-04:00

I got an I-Phone before Tony headed off to Iraq so that I could be constantly available to him by phone or skype or e-mail or however the heck he wants to reach me. (And it works, we talk twice a day nearly every day. Thank God for my consistent husband ;-).

A few weeks ago I saw an online photo journal of pictures from the war in Afghanistan
taken with an I Phone using an app called Hipstamatic. I bought the app; I bought some lenses and film beyond what were supplied, and I've been having a blast. At first I was worried that I wouldn't be able to download them onto the computer, but no problem.

John S lens, Alfred Infrared film

Libatique 73 lens, Claunch 72 Monochrome film

Matty ALN lens, Ina's 1969 film

Lucifer VI lens, Kodot XGrizzled film

Kaimal Mark II lens, BlacKeys SuperGrain film

John S lens, Alfred Infrared Film

John S lens, Alfred Infrared film

I'm still getting used to it. And obviously the last one was a mistake, but I love the texture of the concrete I was walking on.

You can't really trust that what's showing on your screen is what the lens is seeing, and that can be frustrating. The cool effects without ever stepping into a darkroom make that drawback something I can work with. Now, I always have a fun camera with me, even if I leave my DSLR at home.

I love the Alfred Infrared film and the John S Lens. I also love the Claunch film. I've done some tests with the other lenses, but I haven't quite figured them out yet. Summer's almost over, so it should be cool enough again to head into the studio soon. Can't wait. I have lots of yo-yos waiting for homes.

Good Neighbors

2011-06-28T21:07:00.001-04:00

I had a wonderful birthday. Got to see Cave of Forgotten Dreams, had a wonderful dinner with Connor and Jude at the Winds, delivered my quilt to Dayton Visual Arts Center, and got to see Connor play some great lacrosse, but the day after my birthday was great, too. The Aullwood opening was fun, and some good friends and I had a great dinner at Harrison's in Tipp City (Black and Blue Salmon Salad, yum). Best of all the wonders of the 2nd day of my 47th year were the beautiful flowers that Debra and her daughter Lara, my neighbors, delivered. They have an amazing yard, and the entire bouquet was from their wonderful gardens. I thought I would share.

My 47th year is off to a wonderful start--full of love and beauty. May I find both and love and beauty to appreciate in each day of the coming year. And, dear reader, may you, too.

Water, Water Everywhere at Aullwood in Dayton, Ohio

2011-06-25T17:03:00.014-04:00

Hope you can stop by the Aullwood Audobon Center where three of my quilts from the Wrack Line Series will be on display with 33 other quilts in the theme "Water, Water Everywhere." The show closes on August 21, 2011.

As I say in my artist statement:

The Wrack Line Series is inspired by my childhood. As the daughter of a native Floridian and a Navy pilot, I seemed always to live close to the water. The frigid but beautiful beaches of the Pacific in California; the warm waters and bright sands of Destin, Florida; and the cool and interesting North Atlantic beaches off of Virginia and Maryland were all part of my childhood. But I'm not a sitter, so while my mom and friends sunbathed, I roamed the wrack lines, those lines where the highest daily tide deposits ocean treasures and human trash. Though the quilts are abstract, I hope they evoke curiosity and mystery and the desire to move in closer to see what else there might be to find.

Wrack Line VIII: Tidelines

Wrack Line IX: Moonjellies and Starfish

Wrack Line X: Winter Tides

On show at Aullwood are Wrack Line VIII, IX, and X. Soon XI will be on exhibit at Dayton Visual Arts Center. Since they are meant to be seen up close, the pictures don't really do them justice, but here's a preview of the three quilts at Aullwood. Hope you'll stop by to see them and works by fellow MVAQN members Deb Bentley, Pam Geisel, Fran LaSalle, and Mindy Marik along with quilters from across the US.

Wrack Line XI: Tides in Godlight

2011-06-24T14:28:00.002-04:00

Wrack Line XI: Tides in Godlight 33x26

This quilt began with the shimmery fabric that many of the yo-yos are made of. I started making yo-yos with that fabric, and then I found the lovely silk dupioni on the sale tables at JoAnns. As I worked on the quilt, I remembered a writer, I think it was Wallace Stegner, talking about that golden light that sometimes arrives at nightfall and makes everything seem golden and splendored. He called it godlight.

Godlight also deepens the shadows. The black chiffon ribbons are the deep shadows that seem to always lurk even in the most beautiful light. If I'm in the right frame of mind (and for me that right frame of mind happens when I've been consistent in my yoga and meditation practice), the shadows can make the light more beautiful. They also remind me of the kelp and seaweed that get tied up in the wrack the tides bring in.

I've been sewing yo-yos down now for nearly eleven hours. (I know because I watched the entire season of Drop Dead Diva while I was sewing them--listened really, my head only came up every once in a while. Yeah for Netflix on the Wii.). I'm not sure how long the yo-yos took to make, but on average, I can make fifteen in an hour. I'm not sure how many there are on this quilt, but probably over one hundred. I love how the machine quilting I did on the bottom ripples the fabric a bit and makes it look like the ripples the water makes on the sand as it pulls back into the ocean.

Off to put a label and a hanging sleeve on and then the quilt is headed to the Member Show at Dayton Visual Arts Center.

detail, Wrack Line XI: Tides in Godlight

Recyled Quilts, Wrack Line X: Winter Tides

2011-06-06T22:59:00.001-04:00

Wrack Line X: Winter Tides

I'm expanding the color palette on my Wrack Line series a bit. This quilt began as a Talbot's silk dupioni dress from Value Village in Takoma Park MD (best thrift store ever!) back in August 2010. Where else could I get a yard and a half or so of silk dupioni for $3.98? So I bought it. It was in my size, but the style wasn't quite me. I tried it on first, didn't like it, and then I began to cut it apart.

I knew I wouldn't have enough silk, especially if I saved some for the quilt top, so I decided to make yo-yos out of the lining as well. Since the lining was just a little darker and not as shiny, this added a nice contrast.

I had some cream dupioni sitting around to make other yo-yos with, but I decided to try a double layer back. I can't remember where I saw this technique of framing the quilt, but I thought it might work to make the ice colored yo-yos pop. It was a little bland with just the blue and white, but in a cleaning spree, I found some orange silk to add some contrast.

I pillow-cased the two silk quilt layers and quilted the larger one with a walking foot in a wave pattern (even dupioni is terribly slippery). The cream layer is sewed down only by the stitiching of the yo-yos. I'll add French knots when I find the right color thread.

Even though this photo is awful, this quilt and two others in the series have been juried into the Aullwood Show "Water, Water Everywhere."

Bleeding Hearts

2011-04-15T22:31:00.000-04:00

Bleeding Heart, April 15, 2011, c. Lori Gravley-Novello

My kitchen floor is down and the molding is almost complete. The cabinets are back in, and things are almost back to normal inside, so now I've moved outside to take care of some long delayed chores. I was wondering just the other day whether the bleeding hearts made it through the winter since I hadn't seen them up yet, but when I looked, there they were. The Lilies of the Valley and Hostas shot up this week, and the peonies are looking beautiful. Lots more to do in the garden, but I'm almost done with my latest Wrack Line Quilt, so I should have a quilt to post soon.

Tony is in Iraq and safe, and since he's requested lots of flower pictures on our private blog, I'll likely post some of them here, too.

Happy Spring!!

Wordless Wednesday: Lenten Rose and Snow

2011-03-30T21:14:00.002-04:00

Laughing Girl

2011-03-09T19:34:00.000-05:00

Is it ironic that my blog is called Laughing Girl Quilts and I'm always whining?

Lori, laughing.

This photograph is why I've named my company Laughing Girl Quilts. I love this photograph of me, and about the time I started doing craft shows in Maryland, I unearthed it. Don't you love my little fingers gripping the bowl as if I'm afraid the camera wielder will yank it from me. Maybe my brother was close by.

Self-Portrait

I based one of my self-portrait quilts on this photograph. My therapist might be able to tell you why I included only the laugh. Something about my invisibility in my family unless I was happy and pleasant, I suspect, but I won't go too far into that here, too whiny.

The Officer and the Laughing Girl by Johannes Vermeer from The Essential Vermeer

There is also the Vermeer painting called "The Officer and the Laughing Girl," and since I'm married to an officer, I liked both the personal and the historical reference. I also like that the painting has the same yellows in it as my photograph, which is very yellowed with age.

I really am a cheerful person, but I often share difficulties here because I think we sometimes struggle with our creativity in silence and I want to give voice to it. But even in the struggles, I'm a glass half full kind of girl, and I hope that shows through.

Blessing to everyone who reads this; thanks for stopping by. May your lives be full of laughter.

Tilt a Whirl

2011-03-02T12:41:00.001-05:00

Marshall and Connor on the Tilt-A-Whirl, Clarion County Fair 2005

Okay, my son came home for a short visit, my mom is on her way here, Tony is getting ready to leave for Iraq for a year, the kitchen is torn up waiting for the contractor, and the sump pump dies, the basement floods, we have to wake up every few hours at night to run the pump, but even with that, mold starts to grow. Sometimes life is like a Tilt A Whirl, but if I can just learn to hang on and relax, maybe I won't puke my guts out at the end of the ride.

Any Day is a Good Day to Celebrate Love

2011-02-25T10:27:00.002-05:00

Altered Altoid's Tin

Tony has cleaned out his office, and he has a small bag of stuff I've made for him over the years that he'll be taking to Iraq. Included in the bag was this tin that I made for him years ago. The Cupid was from some battered sheet music. I'm not sure when I made this, but it must have been seven or eight years ago.

Tin with interior altered pages of "Sonnet 43"

On the inside on altered pages is "Sonnet 43: How Do I Love Thee?" by Elizabeth Barrett Browning.

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of being and ideal grace.
I love thee to the level of every day's
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for right.
I love thee purely, as they turn from praise.
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints. I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.

Me Day

2011-02-24T18:04:00.002-05:00

Maggie wants my new purse!!

I rarely sew for myself. I sewed the Zentangle journal for myself because I wanted to give Jude one for Valentine's Day, but I wouldn't have sewn my journal cover if I hadn't been working on the one for Jude. So the other day, I took a me day and finally made myself a purse I've had planned for some time.

I do usually make my own purses, but I don't finish the next one until the previous one has worn out. The two purses on the left have clearly been loved. The brown one is a Lazy Girl Design. I can't remember who made the pattern for the black one, but the fabric is from the wonderful Mekong River Textiles in Silver Spring, Maryland. When I noticed a stain on my last purse, I decided I needed to make the Heather Bailey pattern I've been planning. Okay, I'm not normally a ruffle girl, but this was cute, and it looked to be just the right size, a little bigger than the ones I normally make. Maybe you recognize my Zentangle journal cover fabric. I love it, and I've been saving enough so I could use it in this project.

There weren't any pockets on her design, and I thought about adding one, but I never really use them anyway. I used some Robert Kaufman Virgin of Guadalupe fabric for the lining to remind me every time I open it of the divinity that is around us every day.

Tony says I should make purses to sell, but they take a lot of time to make, and with the cost of fabric, batting or interfacing and my time, I'd have to charge too much for them, I think. I don't want to have to think about the purses I make, so I always by a pattern, but I haven't found one that's perfect yet. Maybe I'll design my perfect purse and then make a few for Studio Tour to see if anyone is willing to pay what I'd need to charge to make it worth my while. I'll post soon about my recycled Jean Bags, but I'm willing to make these because they are using things up that would otherwise go to waste and because I don't have to pay much for the fabric.

I also made a little lunch bag (I don't know if I'll keep it for myself or not) out of a rice bag that I got when we were handing out rice from our food coop. The bag must be durable, but it's woven with this plastic that wiggles and moves a lot, so I'm not sure how well it will wear. It carried rice from Bolivia to the US, so you'd think it would wear well, but I'm not sure. I think it's cute. I thought about adding a big button and an elastic closure, but I decided that simple is probably better for this recycled bag. If anyone has any of these rice bags sitting around, I'd be glad to take them off your hands. I'd like to explore a bit more with them. I have a coffee bag or two that are waiting for my inspiration, but for now, that's two more projects complete. Yeah, me.

The Quilt I Didn't Want to Make

2011-02-21T10:06:00.004-05:00


Deployment Quilt 102 x 80

It hasn't escaped me that I've been working hard on other quilts so that I don't have to think about the quilt I didn't really want to make.

Now that Tony has his itinerary for Combat Training with a quick follow on to Kuwait, it seems as if he really is going, so now, I've had to quickly finish the family album quilt that I designed for him before his last deployment was canceled.

I'll beg Chris to get it quilted before the other two so that he can have it soon after he gets there. I put a surprise for him on the backing fabric, and I'll post that in April after he's seen it. I wouldn't want to spoil the surprise. I hope it will make him feel wrapped in our love and at home even though he is far away.

The quilt design is very loosely based on a design I saw years ago by Bill Kerr and Weeks Ringle of Fun Quilts. I haven't been able to find an image of it, so I'm not sure how close it is to the quilt that inspired it. I tried to make it almost bedspread size for a twin bed, but since the design is simple, it wasn't too frustrating manipulating all that fabric.

I noticed a couple of things as I was making it that I didn't think about before. My element is water, and Tony's is fire, so when we're together, there is a nice balance. Notice the teal of this quilt and the watery look of the marbling (Tony asked for teal). It will be good for him to be submerged in my element each night so that he doesn't get too out of balance. Also, I noticed that all the pictures I've chosen have at least two members of our family in them. I have plenty of lovely individual pictures, but without realizing it, I made sure that each of these pictures showed the importance of the group and not the individual.

Since my quilt that has wool batting is just as comfortable in the summer as it is in the winter, I hope this quilt will be comfortable in Iraq.

I sped through this quilt, so I'm glad the design was simple. I'll be happy to deliver it to Chris. Tony's leaving is painful and scary, but working on the quilt made it even more real to me. Now that it's done, I can settle in to enjoying his company for two more weeks before I have to wave goodbye for a year (he'll come home for two weeks at some point, but we're not sure when).

Now that this is done, I'll get back to work on all the other UFOs awaiting my attention.

Journal Covers, Procrastination, and Perfectionism

2011-02-18T08:50:00.002-05:00

Reusable Journal Covers for Small and Large Composition Books

I'm not sure why it is I think I have to have a million items to finally put up my Etsy store, but I do. And, well, I already have a million items, but still no store. And, part of me feels guilt for spending time making journal covers when there is art to be made.

There is the art vs craft thing. It's a good thing to have small items for studio tours and the like, but those items tend to be crafty. So, part of my desire for an Etsy store is to have some place to sell the things I make for Studio Tour at some time other than the fall.

Also, it's sort of mind releasing (not actually numbing, but the sort of release you get when you're in flow) to just sew straight lines. So, I've been getting ready for my husband's deployment by using up old fabric and creating journal covers which I might, someday, put in my Etsy store.

The using up fabric part has been good. Last year when I folded all my fabric into 6x6 inch squares for storage on my narrow shelves, I set some fabric aside with the caveat that I had to use it within a year or get rid of it. So, I'm using fabric, mostly, that I've had for a long time and whose original purpose has been lost. I'll admit that some of this fabric I bought new from the sale tables at JoAnn's because, well, it was on sale, and, well, it would look nice as a journal cover. My childhood hunger does truly come out in a desire for fabric.

Anyway, I've been working on journal covers as I finish up other projects, and I've finally used up all the notebooks that I buy cheap when school starts. So now maybe it's time to put them up on Etsy.

No, wait. I was going to type up some journal prompts and make really cool labels. Also, I haven't decided what my packaging will look like. So, I guess I'll wait until I get that done. There is truly always something more to do before the stars are perfectly aligned and I'm willing to let go. Perfectionism, anyone?

Zentangle Journals

2011-02-16T08:09:00.000-05:00

My dear friend and writing buddy Judy Whelley (of the fabulous Sensuously Sixty blog) and I took a Zentangle class together in January. I bought the Zentangle box some time ago, and I've been tangling on my own irregularly for a year or so. When we saw a class at Gallery 510, we decided to sign up.

6 x 6 journals for Zentangles and my Zentangle practice

What fun! Our teacher was CZT, Carol Ohl. The class was inspiring, and I've been tangling nearly every day since then. I usually do a tangle with a cup of tea in the morning. I'm more confident in my free motion quilting because of it. Also, it may just be the source of all that finishing energy I've found. It's pretty awesome to finish a lovely little doodle every day. I tangle in a 6x6 journal, and I decided to make a journal cover for it.

6 x 6 Journals for Zentangles

I made one for Judy, too. Next time the 6x6 journals go on sale, I'll buy a bunch of them and make some of these for my Etsy shop, which is still not up yet, but I'll get there.

Celebrate Love

2011-02-14T15:45:00.004-05:00

Taking a Class, Hesitations

2011-02-10T20:40:00.004-05:00

My Blue Garden, begun in a Laura Wasilowski class

I taught myself to sew. My grandmother was a seamstress, and we lived with her for a time. Since there was nothing much to do at her house, I would gather up scraps (often the hems of dresses she'd cut off for short society matrons) and sew hideous but lovingly made clothes for my Barbie dolls. I don't remember anyone teaching me to stitch a seam, to take a backstitch, or any other handsewing techniques. I think my aunt Regina taught me to make a cheater's knot, and my mom taught me how to slipstitch, but that's about it.

So, when it came time to learn to quilt, I had no problem just figuring it out on my own, mostly. A quilter from the base where we were stationed taught me how to baste a quilt, and I hand basted my first quilt (my youngest son's baby quilt) and that was it. I've never hand basted another quilt.

I started making art quilts before I knew that people made art quilts, and it was a revelation to me when I went to Dominie Nash's show at Glenview Mansion in 2001 that what I was doing had a name and scads of devotees.

So a couple of years ago, after teaching myself quilting for over ten years, I took my first quilt class. Laura Wasilowski came to teach a class for a local guild, and since I liked her work, I signed up. I enjoyed the class. I mastered fusing and learned some cool tricks. And I made some very Laura Wasilowski quilts, but I'm not sure I'd sign up for another class about technique or product again.Laura gave us beautiful fabric and her thread, and that was fun, but it did mean that all the quilts had the same look to them.

When I first got the fabric, I started playing, and I began this sort of city scape. But everyone else was making flowers, so I quickly thought, "Beginner's mind, Lori. You're taking her class; you should do what she's teaching." So I put the cityscape aside and did two lovely flower quilts that vaguely resemble quilts that Laura Wasilowski makes. She encouraged us to try our own shapes and to explore, but even with our own shapes, most of our final quilts looked as if we were imitating Laura Wasilowski. I prefer the cityscape that I started in the class to the two floral quilts, and I think it's probably important that I've used my own handdyes in this quilt as well as Wasilowski's Artfabrik.

Windy City Reflections, begun in a Laura Wasilowski class

Imitation isn't bad. You can learn a lot by mimicking someone's style and process and I do think that's how style develops in many artists, but I think maybe I just waited too long to take a class. It was a charming diversion, and it was fun. And the finished quilt tops have given me some good free-motion and hand-stitching practice. Maybe that is a good enough reason to take a class.

Oh, and in case you're keeping track, that's two more unfinished quilts that are now finished. Yeah.

Finishing Energy

2011-02-07T10:32:00.002-05:00

Permanence/Impermanence 58 x 46

I have tons of starting energy. I have three unfinished mid-grade novels (and one that's done but in the process of revision). I have several picture books that are nearly perfect. I have a huge pile of quilt and fiber projects--not to mention jewelery, paper, and other craft projects--that have been started but never finished.

When people say, "I don't know where you get all your ideas from," I can only think, "Oh, and there are plenty more where those come from." I have more ideas in notebooks, on scraps of paper, on napkins, and just wandering around in my head like Terry Pratchett's "inspiration particles" that have gotten trapped there and are just waiting for me to get off my duff and do something about them.

But finishing can be difficult.

First, I think finishing is hard for me because once I'm done, all possibilities are closed down. What was once open to all sorts of shifts and changes has now been fixed in time. It's finished. As a poet, I can overcome this locked finish. Marianne Moore, Robert Frost, and other poets changed their poems between editions, continuing to revise their work until their deaths no matter how many other versions of the poems were out there. Certainly, painters do this, too. But it seems a bit harder with fiber art. I can add something on top, but I can't change things much once the works are finished and bound. I like to "dwell in possibility"; I'm not so fond of feeling stagnated.

Also, finishing brings it's own sadness. My older son is a singer/songwriter and all around amazing young man, and he and I were talking about this the other night because he had just finished two songs he was pleased with and was feeling a bit blue about it. "They're good songs. I like them, but I'm feeling kinda down now," he said. And I knew just what he meant. When I finish something, I often feel a quick burst of elation--"That's it. I'm done. Ta da!!" But that is quickly followed by an emotional downturn. "Well, that's over with, what next? Blah, blah, blah."

Of course, because my head is full of inspiration, I don't stay there too long, but it's a bit disconcerting to have that blue wash of sadness over every sunlit space of completion.

I think because of that, I don't always like to finish things. Even if they are going well. Even if I can see the end, and I know that it will be wonderful when I'm done. Even if I'm just sick of it and want it out of my life. Finishing something takes a courage and energy that we don't often talk about.

But this month, I"m trying to gather that finishing energy around me so that I can clean out my closet of all those nearly done projects.

So far, I'm three big projects down.

I finished this quilt. It isn't a prize winner. It's just to keep a little extra warmth around, but I love the playful sparkles and the spots. It's called "Jack Amish" and it's my design based on a Chinese coin variation with fabric gifted to me from Mindy Marik when I was just beginning my circles exploration. I don't like to work on "big" quilts, so I know that's one reason why I didn't finish this. Also, I wanted the outer border, but I didn't have all the colors from the center, so I'm not thrilled with how cool the outer border reads as opposed to the entire quilt. But now it's done, and I'm sending it to Chris Landis to long arm. Yeah.

I've also finished another big quilt. I think of it as my summer quilt. This is a pattern by Janelle Cedusky of Nellie J Designs from the Dec. 2009 McCall's Quilting. I wanted a summer quilt for my bed, and so I started this a little over a year and a half ago. It wasn't a hard quilt, but it's big and since it's not my design, I didn't feel as invested in it. But now it's off to Chris to be quilted.

The final quilt I've finished is another big one. (Can you see a pattern here.) It's one of my rust dyed quilts, and thankfully MVAQN has a show coming up at the Dayton Library that I wanted to show this quilt in, so I had to get it finished. You can see the entire quilt up top in the opening picture. And I've taken a close up of some hand stitching here. The quilt has been a challenge because it is all Peltex on the inside, so the hand stitching that I wanted to add was challenging (as was the hanging sleeve, ugh). But now it's done, and I love the way it hangs. I'm not sure I'll work this big with Peltex again, but it was a fun experiment.

Permanence/Impermanence, detail

So, I celebrate a new month, a new year, and a new phase in my life by learning to cultivate and honor finishing energy. And, of course, finishing things leaves me lots of energy to start something new!

The Inner Dome of Heaven, Fallen.

2011-02-04T08:04:00.001-05:00

Besides the ominous cracking of some unwieldy trees in our yard and the 18 hour power outage, I enjoyed the ice storm. One of the first things I noticed was the lovely irony of our Florida license plate shrouded by icicles. Since my husband in in the miltary, we maintain our residency in Florida. The ice was so thick, I couldn't open the trunk without a bit of help.

It was fun to have to snuggle in and the freedom from technology creates a beautiful silence. I got out handwork that I had put away long ago and sat in the front window where there was more light to watch our Yellow Springs neighbors pass into town (where, thankfully, Sunrise Cafe was open, yum).

I couldn't help but think again and again of Robert Frost's poem "Birches."

Often you must have seen them
Loaded with ice a sunny winter morning
After a rain. They click upon themselves
As the breeze rises, and turn many-coloured
As the stir cracks and crazes their enamel.
Soon the sun's warmth makes them shed crystal shells
Shattering and avalanching on the snow-crust
Such heaps of broken glass to sweep away
You'd think the inner dome of heaven had fallen.

In my mind again and again, as I stepped on broken icicles or maneuvered around a batch of ice I thought of his "heaps of broken glass."

Now, the ice is melting and it's safe to walk again, but I'm thankful that weather can remind us to slow down: to walk more slowly lest we slip, to do work with our hands because that's all we have, to snuggle with our loved ones because there is no heat and the human furnace burns hot. Perhaps a little bit of heaven did fall.

Artist's Studio Tour This Weekend

2010-10-14T10:12:00.002-04:00

This is the eighth in my series of Wrack Line Quilts. These quilts and others as well as bookmarks, journal covers, needle books, and other work of mine will be for sale at the Yellow Springs Artist's Studio Tour this weekend.

I am fortunate be a guest artist at Miami Valley Pottery. Naysan is sharing his space with me and with Alice Young-Basora, who makes beautiful jewelery.

Of course, fellow Quaker Alice Robrish, fellow quilter Pam Giesel, and many other excellent artists are on the tours, so I hope you'll find some time this weekend to pop in to Yellow Springs and tour the studios of our many talented artists.

If you come in to town, don't miss Corrine Bayraktaroglu's show at Would You Could You in a Frame and Karen Russell's show at the Yellow Spring Arts Council's ArtSpace. And while you're in town, stop by the Glen Helen Building for Miami Valley Art Quilt Network's Show at the Glen. Fiber, fiber everywhere.

I hope you'll come out and join us in Yellow Springs for a wonderful weekend.

Wrack Line VII

2010-09-08T16:10:00.001-04:00

This is the seventh quilt in my Wrack Line Series. I've submitted some of the other quilts for jurying at shows where they prefer you don't publish them anywhere first, but this one was a quilt that I played with to enter into Visceral Gallery's Color Restrained II show. None of the three pieces I entered got in, which is disappointing, but I think that the work I'm doing now is strong and innovative, and I'm not done with yo-yos yet.

I grew up on the panhandle for Florida near Destin. My mom and stepfather's favorite beach was in Destin by the Back Porch restaurant. Back then, the restaurant was a little A frame building, and you did indeed eat your food on the back porch. The beaches were so white. I started this series before the oil spill, but working on this series has made me long for the beautiful pristine beaches that I grew up with.

I could walk down the beach from the Back Porch and not see anything else for the longest time. Now, it's condo after condo. There is a lovely state beach on the other side of the barrier blocking Old 98, and when we go back, that's where we go, but once money found Destin, what made the beaches lovely to me (being an introvert and a bit of a loner) quickly disappeared. Condos do one sort of damage, and oil spills take that damage up several orders of magnitude. So far, Destin's beaches remain white and beautiful. Check out the web cams on the Destin Homepage if you want to see what I mean.

I haven't been back to Destin in years, but the beach was so important to me growing up. It was my wild place. It surrounded me with healing water, and it reminded me that I'm one part of a really big world. The way it made itself new every day also told me that all would be well, that a new day would bring the tide, new treasures, and would clean the footprints, leaving everything wide open again.

In this quilt, I've included yo-yo's in the water wash section of the quilt under the sheer overlay, you can see them on the left hand side in this picture. I also added seed stitching on the left in the water wash, in addition to the French knots on the sand area, the area not covered by a sheer overlay.

Photos by Park Bench Photography, David Lorenz

Dealing with Rejection

2010-06-26T06:57:00.000-04:00

I always thought of myself as a resilient person. Like most of us out there, I've had my share of sorrow, and I've allowed that sorrow to strengthen me.

But I still hate rejection. So, when I wasn't selected for two juried shows I entered over the winter and when an agent who had looked carefully at a couple of the picture books and novels for children that I'm working on decided not to represent me, I shut down. Sort of. I stopped posting. I stopped completing quilts. I stopped working on my novel. This has happened before. I've been rejected before. I've shut down temporarily. I use all the excuses in my arsenal for why I "can't" do the work right now--work, family, technology, etc. Thankfully, so far every time I've felt knocked down by rejection, I've come back from that rejection stronger and with new visions and ideas. (Cue Chumbawumba "Tubthumping" and dance in your seats.)

I hate that what other people think of my work can make me shut down. I want to be one of those people who say, "Oh, well. That's one person's or panel's view, there is someone out there who will see the value in this." But I'm not, yet. I'm working on it.

Now, I'm starting to think that the cocooning I go through after some rejection is the way I work on it. I go inside for a little while. I start to listen to my own voice instead of rehearsing what I imagine other people will think, and I continue to work in small ways. In quilting, it might be creating sweet little yo yos out of a variety of fabrics. In writing, it might be writing a blog post or working on the letter to the next agent or doing research for the next book.

I've been pretty tough on myself over the last few months for not working, but really, I have been working. Not big splashy work, but the little incremental work that can lead to things like a quilt with 150 yo yos or a new idea for a book or a new little poem that sparks many more. I have been working, not in the big, "look at me ways," but in the small ways that build my craft and create the foundation for new growth. Next time I'm rejected, I hope that I'm able to be a little more gentle with myself as I go inside to recollect and renew my vision. Hey, maybe it's time to send that work out to a new agent. And though it isn't juried, I worked up enough courage to take my quilt "Wrack Line III: The Treasures Darkness Brings" to DVAC for the member show. Baby steps.

Also, I realize that somtimes I might finish a quilt and it may look just like I planned it, and it still might not be good enough. That's okay. For your enjoyment, I'm sharing the work that was rejected from the RustTex collection. The four square quilts at the top of this post seem finished to me. The do what I set out to do, but people in my groups have felt that they are somehow not quite right. Since they feel finished to me, I'm having a hard time seeing my way through to work on them further. The larger quilt is based on the serendipitious quilt I made from scraps, but it's much bigger. Indeed, it was too big for Rust-Tex. Next time, I'll read the size limitations before I work on a quilt. Silly me.

Don't worry if I don't post for the next week or so, I haven't gone back into a cave, I'll be cooking at Catoctin Quaker Camp and visiting my Mom. When I get back, I'll share the weekly quilts that I finally started working on.

I'm Back

2010-06-22T12:40:00.000-04:00

Wrack Line III: The Treasures Darkness Brings 21.5" x 30"

I blame Mindy M. for showing me a picture of the quilt with yo-yos that has partially kept me from completing anything but yo-yos for the past six months. Okay, teaching two classes, being a mom to a kid with special needs, managing a store for a friend who escaped to Hawaii, a new computer without Photoshop, and various other commitments and excuses might have had something to do with it. And also fear of rejection, but I'll get to that in a later post. Finally, I completed (well, not totally, but sort of) my first yo-yo quilt last weekend for the DVAC Member Show. The theme is Darkness.

The inspiration for this quilt is that area on the beach called the wrack line. According to the Virginia Marine Resources Commission, the wrack line is "A line of debris, above the mean high tide line, which has been deposited by previous higher than normal tides." It's the place where beachcombers look for cool shells, mermaid's purses, driftwood, fish bones, and the many other treasures that collectors gather from beaches.

After my brother committed suicide when I was 18, I had a hard time sleeping, so instead of sleeping, I would drive to the beach, usually someplace far from the more populous beaches of Okaloosa Island or Destin. I would just walk. The sound of the ocean, and that feeling of being small but not insignificant soothed me during my grief. I couldn't pick out individual shells or beauties during that darkness, but the darkness and solitude became a treasure in themselves. I would walk, sometimes by the water, sometimes up further, sheltered a bit by the shadow of the dunes along the wrack line, and I would feel peace.

As I've been working on the quilt, the broken oil well in the gulf has been pumping gallons of oil into to ocean. Eventually, the tar balls will make their way to my beloved white sands, so the work on this quilt also became a meditation of healing for the ocean, its creatures, and for the beaches. Some of the fabrics I've used for this quilt are actually petroleum products--acrylic, nylon, and polyester are all petroleum based fabrics, so the irony of making my own shiny little tar balls to sew to this celebration of the beach wasn't lost on me.

The title of the quilt, then, has layered meanings. It hints at the beauty of the wrack crashed in by the highest tides that somehow seem to happen at night when no one is there. It reminds me of the solace and comfort that come to us from the strangest places when we most need them. And it symbolizes the hope that out of the darkness that is this terrible and preventable spill will come some treasure and benefit that we can't yet imagine.

The yo-yos for this quilt are a made of a collection of fabrics: recycled and new, cotton and synthetic, shiny and dull. It has cotton base and backing fabric and a cotton/poly blend batting. The binding is satin, and the overlay fabric is a polyester sheer. Cotton and polyester threads were used. The quilt is primarily hand sewn with some machine stitching to hold the layers together and to bind the quilt. There are over 150 yo-yos in the quilt.

Oct Weekly Quilts--done in Oct, really, but just now mounted!!

2009-12-29T17:17:00.002-05:00

October Weekly Quilts 6x6 (individually) 24 x 6 (all together).

So, I totally cheated on these quilts. I had fun back in August, making the weekly quilts connect, but I designed them at the beginning of the month, and then pieced/fused/quilted them each week.

Well, in October, I got a bit behind, so it was the perfect time to cheat. I layered the background on a piece of 25 x 7 batting, and then I stitched the layers down and added a bit more quilting.

Thanks to Ginny Smith for talking about this method oh so long ago and for being so amazing that her quilts were in Quilt National and at the Ohio Crafts Museum in their Conversations in Fabric exhibit. Seeing her quilts this summer reminded me of the technique, and I've been using it for some of my quilts ever since.

I used non-melt plastic to create the circles and then did some needle turn applique to attach them to the background. The starth had turned the lighter circles yellow, so I hand washed the quilt and then put it in the dryer. I love how that made the unfinished fabric edges begin to ravel a bit more. Then, I cut the long piece into smaller sections and attached the binding and backing. Once I'd sewn them to the backgrounds I would use to mount them in their frames, I added seed stitches and French knots.

I did them so long ago, I can't remember which way is up. The seed quilting is in the medium orange section behind the lightest blue circles, so it seems like that should be the front by the more detail in the foreground rule, but I think I like it better with the medium orange and the light circles at the top of the frame. Any comments?

Catch Up Week: Nov Weeklies 3 and 4

2009-12-29T11:57:00.006-05:00

Well, this week is officially catch up week at chez laughing girl. I'm not only finishing partially finished weekly quilts, I'm also catching up on my blogging (who knew teaching one class would get me so behind?).

These are the last two quilts in my November tone on tone yo-yo quilts. With these quilts, I focused on embroidery, and I also added a smaller yo-yo (pain in the fanny with the dupioni). The inspiration for these quilts were beach walks, so in Week 3, I imagined the way the waves pull things up and then down in the surf. The yo-yos are the pulled objects and the embroidered outlines the imprints that are left in the sand when the wave pulls away.

The fourth week my inspiration is my favorite place to walk on the beach--high up, close to the dunes where all the detritus is deposited. I enjoyed making the French knots and I thought the upside down yo-yos made an interesting effect. I used a rayon embroidery floss, very slippery but very shiny.

I'll post picture of my Oct. quilts sometime today or tomorrow, and then I'll only have to finish my heavily embroidered quilts from early in the year and I will have finished my 48 weekly quilts. Yippee.

I thought sure that I would be finished with circles by the time this year was over, but I know I could spend another year on them. So, I'm thinking of making circles the theme for my 12x12 quilts this year and making my weekly quilts based on the fibonacci series--1,1,2,3,5,8,13,21,34,55, 89,144,233.

There are some series I planned this year but never finished. The most notable of these were my poetry postcards which are mostly planed but rarely executed. I hope to finish my 12x12 spiritual quilts on Thursday and Friday, and I've finished all of my montlly circle journal quilts.

Next year, I hope to have a web page with galleries, so that I can have all the monthly and weekly challenge together.

Dec. Weekly Quilts: Frank Sinatra's Philosophy

2009-12-28T21:44:00.001-05:00

When I set out to do this last set of quilts, I returned to some sketches I'd done this summer and to words. These circular letters were inspired by that great t-shirt that reads.

To do is to be. -- Socrates

To be is to do. -- Sartre

do be do be do. -- Sinatra

And though the shirt is a joke, it is a quandry I often face. Am I most myself when I'm working and doing or am I most myself when I am just existing without any production? Surely the world thinks that production is the thing--at least America does, but I can't help but wonder if all this doing keeps me from something essential about myself. I feel guilty if I don't "do" stuff--my art, housework, writing, gardening, reading. Just sitting around is frowned upon, even if I'm sitting on my zafu.

Oh, enough of that. These quilts were also inspired by a postcard Ginny Smith gave me for our Q and A postcard exchange. She had just taken a class with a teacher who used raw edge applique without any fusible and then quilted heavily over it to hold everything in place.

Merry Christmas

2009-12-24T22:42:00.000-05:00

My Little Chickadee
13x10

Well, it's a pretty safe bet that my MIL doesn't read my blog, so I guess it's okay to post her Christmas present here. Germaine Greer's rant about handmade gifts aside and the fact that it probably isn't a great idea to give my art away, often times handmade gifts are the only ones that make sense for the older people in my family.

It seems we all want for nothing. It isn't that we're wealthy, but if we need something or even want something, we just go out and buy it, so what do you get for someone who buys themselves everything they need? Sometimes we donate money to Heifer International or other worthy organizations whose missions they and we can support, but some years, I just feel inspired to do something to show them how much we appreciate their generosity.

All the fabric in this quilt, except the binding, came from my compulsively ironed scrap boxes. They are organized by color, and each piece is pressed before it gets dumped in. This is a much more usable system than when I just threw them in buckets by color. Since the pieces are pressed and ready to go, I'm much more likely to use my scraps.

My MIL loves birds, but I also try to make the gifts I give some type of learning experience. For this quilt, the free motion quilting in the background was more dense than I usually do. Now, I wonder what it would have looked like if I had varied the pattern in some places.

Merry Christmas, happy Hannukah (belatedly), joyous Kwanza, blessed solstice, and may this next year be full of love and inspiration.

Yo, Nov. Weekly Quilts 1 and 2

2009-11-17T15:52:00.002-05:00

Nov. Week 1--6 x 6"

It's been quiet here at Laughing Girl. A broken sewing machine, a new class to teach, and National Novel Writing Month have taken their tool on my quilt output, but I finally finished the handstitching on my October Quilts, and I've finished my Nov. weeklies. Yeah. (I'll post October later this week.)

Liz Schneider presented a great workshop last Monday on textures to the Miami Valley Art Quilt Network study group. She had great slides, amazing examples, and inspiring books to show us. I love the texture hand stitching creates, so I thought I'd explore texture with my November quilts, since I was a week behind anyway.

Now, if you'd said to me even two weeks ago that I'd be making yo-yos, I would have laughed heartily. But one example she showed used large yo-yos across the lower third of the quilt. It used a mix of beige tones on a beige background, and I found it very compelling.

Nov. Week 2-- 6 x 6"

The yo-yos are made out of a silk dupioni tank top that someone gave me years ago. The background is a metallic cotton. I may add some beads, but I like the simplicity. They evoke the foam of the waves on the seashore for me.

The "And More" Part

2009-10-26T16:22:00.005-04:00

Okay, I love fabric and I love thread and scissors and needles and sewing machines (sometimes, except when their circuit boards sizzle and fry and I can't sew on them, like now, but I digress). That's why I decided to blog, to share my quilts and other fibery things. But I have another love (besides Tony, Marshall, Connor, Olive, and Maggie), and that love is children's books.

So. . .as I was closing the covers of my latest beloved friend, I thought, "Well, I said 'Quilts and More.' Couldn't writing about the kid's books I love be part of that more?"

So, here I am telling you that though I had my doubts about Kate DiCamillo's latest book, The Magician's Elephant (after all, who wants to read another boring story about a magician anyway), I finished the book completely enchanted. Whenever I finish Kate's books (I know I'm supposed to say DiCamillo's books, but I know her and I love her, I truly do, though we've never met), I find my eyes again opened again to the wonder and beauty in the world. I open them to the mysteries of stars and snow and love. And I remember again all the things, good and bad, that can happen to one little boy (or little girl) in this world.

The title, The Magician's Elephant, conjured for me (of course it was intended, silly) a story focused either on an animal, like many of her books have been, or on a magician. The cover didn't invite me anymore than the title did. But I love Kate, as I think I may have mentioned, so I had to give it a try. I'm so glad I did.

She breaks rule after rule in this book, as she does in most of her books, but the story is wonderful and transformative, even so. There are too many characters, not all of them children. The point of view shifts with little warning. Many of the POV characters are adults. The character, Peter, has nothing really overly dramatic happen in the parts of his life we see in the present. Indeed, the worst event in the story happens to an old aristocrat.

Peter is a little boy in a terrible situation with no hope and the vague sense that he's missing something important. But in the opening scene of the book, he spends the single florit meant for food on a visit to the fortune teller who gives him an unbelievable fortune that sets into motion a chain of events (would they have happened if he hadn't had the courage or stupidity to waste that florrit?) that leave a woman crippled, a man in prison, and Peter seemingly no closer to the goal of his quest. That goal is a sister who may or may not be alive. Don't doubt, dear reader, that the story comes to a satisfying end. But Kate's stories aren't about the destination, they are about the journey and all the kindness, pettiness, and humanity that her characters meet along the way.

Kate's sentneces are spare and lovely, and the book is rather short, word wise, for a mid-grade novel. But the story is, indeed, magical. As I finished the book, I felt that same feeling that I had at the end of Edmund Tulane, that Kate is telling us stories from a different age. The stories really shouldn't work. They shouldn't be so compelling or believable. But in Kate's magic fingers, the stories come to life. And I feel wiser and calmer and better for having read them.

Like some of Kate's other books, there are more illustrations than you'll usually find in a book of this level, and I found the round faces a bit disturbing, so I can't say I was particularly enthralled with the illustrations, but they enhance the text by giving a sense of space and timelessness to the book.

The movie rights have already been sold to 20th Century Fox and a script is already in the works. I have enjoyed the movies based on Kate's books (Because of Winn Dixie and Tale of Despereaux, but watching even the best made movie can't capture the magic of reading one of Kate's beautifully written books.

Find an excerpt here: http://www.themagicianselephant.com/#excerpt

Find more about Kate here: http://www.katedicamillo.com/

New Google Tool Bar

2009-10-22T10:46:00.001-04:00

Patrik Ervell
http://www.google.com/help/ig/art/artists/ervell.html

How cool is this. A menswear designer named Patrik Ervell is using rust dyes in his clothes, and there's a google toolbar celebrating it. Guess who has it as her new toolbar? Way cool. So I thought I'd share. I know I'm probably breaking some copyright rules here, but maybe Google and Patrik will forgive me if you all go there at look at this awesome link. I tried to find his use of this fabric in the posted collections, but I couldn't.

September Weeklies: Three and Four

2009-10-01T19:00:00.002-04:00

I used Zentangle doodles to create these little embroideries on Radiance Fabric. Not surprisingly, the silk was hard to stretch on the frame, so for these last two, I used a cotton binding and backing. I'm enjoying the doodling, and I like the simple lines. I might use this hand stitched doodling to integrate the rust quilts I'm working on that aren't quite working yet. The top one (blue and orange) is all hand stitched except for the frame, and the bottom one (yellow and red) is machine stitched in the center and then hand stitched outside the circle.

I couldn't get a good shot of the red and yellow quilt. But if you look close, you'll see some bearding. The silk doesn't resist much, so with Size 8 Perle Cotton, I tended to pull too much of the batting through. I'll try Size 5 next time I hand embroider the Radiance.

Top: Zen 3 6x6"
Bottom: Zen 4 6x6"

Sept. Weekly Quilt #2

2009-09-15T08:44:00.000-04:00

Bobbin Doodles #2

6x6"

Well, as promised, this week includes both bobbin drawing and hand stitching. I did cheat a little bit on the hand stitching as I outlined the circles with invisible thread before I started working the hand stitches. I know, I know, it looks like a Christmas wreath.I don’t know why I didn’t think of that when I choose this color way for this design, but it’s too late now.

This week, it’s almost all hand stitching, but I’ll be hanging out with a friend who isn’t feeling well on Tuesday, so I should have plenty of time then.The Radiance is nice to stitch on, even with the interfacing, but it isn’t very forgiving of mistakes.

I’m really having fun with the Zentangles designs.I’ve been making some samples for a youth class that I hope to teach, and it’s hard to mess them up.It is very meditative, especially if I remember to breath.

Seed Stitching

2009-09-11T10:15:00.003-04:00

Queen Anne's Lace

8.5 x 11"

Back in June, I posted this bobbin-sketched journal quilt , but I decided that it needed "a little" something extra to make it really pop. I didn't like the waviness in the background caused by some bad interfacing. So, I started seed stitching it, placing my stitches fairly close together. Well, about seven hours later (for a 8.5 x 11 inch quilt), I finally finished. Who knew that seed stitching took so much time?

When I decided to add the embroidery, I had already "finished" it, so I got a bit of draw in and some warping. I mounted it on my 1x2 stretcher bars (like I do my weekly quilts) and that helped a lot. I like how the dense stitching really makes the flower puff out, giving it a trapunto effect, but I think that next time I decide to seed stitch something, I'll put a bit more space between the stitches.

This quilt is off to Visceral Gallery in Centerville, where I hope it will be juried into the Color Restrained show. And I'm off to Cleveland for the SCBWI (Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators) Ohio North Conference. Yippee!!

Week One, September: Doodles on Radiance

2009-09-11T06:57:00.000-04:00

For September, I've decided to use some Zentangle sketches to machine and hand embroider. Last week, I used bobbin drawing to create this sketch of fern fiddleheads that the Zentangle people call fescu. I had some problems machine quilting on Radiance, so I added some light fusible interfacing to the back of the fabric before I made the quilt sandwich. For this design, I didn't need to do any handwork, but all of the next quilts are either entirely or partially worked by hand.

The Radiance worked nicely with the interfacing to stabilize it; I didn't get the puckers I was getting before. You can see, on the left hand side, where the machine tension changed, so I'll have to be careful to keep consistent tension even as I switch bobbins. Oh, and how is this circles, you might ask? Well, silly, those fiddleheads on the top are circular, aren't they? That's my story, anyway.

Finally

2009-09-08T10:04:00.000-04:00

Silence in Spring
17" x 46"
private collection

One of my first blog posts was about being blocked. Though my life and it's tatters were the cause for the block, this quilt was what precipitated it. Before my life split apart, I had agreed to do this quilt for an auction. The quilt is of the Ashton Meeting House at Sandy Spring Friends School, the place where the upper school students and faculty gathered twice a week in Meeting for Worship. Quaker meeting is a time of silent contemplation and of sharing our truths in that worshipful silence. The Meeting House was an important place in my spiritual, emotional, and intellectual growth while I was teaching at Sandy Spring; it was, as the best worship houses are, a sanctuary.

While I was grieving my old life, I couldn't work on this sacred place. So, I asked the quiltart list for feedback, and from their advice, I made an agreement with myself to work small, to do what I could do, and to heal. For a year now, I haven't finished a quilt that was larger than 12 x 12". Just as I was growing anxious to work on larger projects, I found the strength and inspiration to finish this quilt. It is much better than it would have been if I'd finished it 1 1/2 years ago. It is also in a very different style than I'm currently working in, so it felt strange to work on it. I think the finished quilt captures the essence of this sacred place for me. Thanks to Barb for waiting so patiently while I healed.

Resisting Rust Dyes

2009-08-27T10:44:00.007-04:00

Over the past two days I've been experimenting with rust and tannin dyeing using resists. I choose three types of resists, clamp resist, preprinted white fabric, and Elmer's Glue Gel resist. I also wanted to see what would happen with a piece of brocade table cloth.

This first piece is a clamp resist vintage napkin. I knew that the rust uptake would be difficult because of the way I clamp (accordion fold to about 1 1/2 inch width, then double over, then put clamps at 1/4 inch intervals along the piece), so I sprayed the fabric with vinegar and sprinkled small bits of steel wool over the surface before I folded it. I poured strong tea over it after 24 hours and let it sit for four more hours.

This is the brocade. The color variation is very slight, and probably more about rusty object placement than about the brocade, but the effect is still nice.

I found these rusty looking fetish bears at Marco's in Dayton on the sale table, so I thought I would see if they created a pattern. I'm not sure they were effective, but I think I'll try clamping them and seeing what sort of resist I get.

These are both white on white polka dot fabrics. The photo shows both the front (on bottom) and the back of the fabrics. The one with the smaller dots was rusted with the new fluted cast iron muffin tin that I got from the quilter's garage sale last week. The larger dots were wrapped around the iron rake. I really like the patterns and I can't wait to put some Radiance on it. I put tea on these for four hours.

These last three are glue resists. I had some problems with this. First, on the two outside pieces (far left and far right) I applied the glue freehand and much heavier than the one in the middle with the circle stencils (you can tell by the circular circles as opposed to the ovoid messes that I draw when I'm working freehand). I pole wrapped the one on the left and wrapped it in Saran Wrap. The glued places stuck to each other in some areas, so I got some ripping. Not a bad thing, but I probably won't pole wrap anything glued again. The stenciled circles in the middle I put on the wire basket and then I covered it with steel wool and some other rusty objects to get more even rust. The final piece I folded in a rusty pan with rusty objects between each layer. If folded the fabric over so you can see the difference between the side with the glue (the Radiance side, the one on the bottom). I think I will glue on the cotton side next time, as I like the more subtle pattern on the reverse.

I put tea on these for four hours. My problem was with the ones that had the heavier glue application. Everything I read lead me to believe that the glue would come out easily. But I didn't find that to be the case. I washed and scrubbed the fabric with my hands and with a scrub pad in hot water three different times and it didn't come out. Then I ran it through the washer three times. I think it's finally mostly gone. Where there was glue in some places the fabric is stiffer. I did find the removal process frustrating. Soy wax or beeswax would probably have come out more easily though they would have required more set up. I like the resists, and I think I'll try to do some more clamped and then clamped again and overdyed.

Bonus: For this piece, I put the planting plate on the bottom, then a patterned piece of metal, and then a planting plate on top. Each of these had layers of fabric between them. In this picture, you can see how the pattern is picked up within the planting plate. Yum.

What to try next? I'll go back to Ann Johnston's and other surface application books and see if I'm missing any other possibilities here. I think I'll try more of the shibori resists with steel wool captured between the layers to see if I can duplicate some results that others are getting. I'm also tempted to see how the iron sulfate works. Oh, I did dye a ribbed T-shirt, but I'll post it after I get someone to model it for me.

Rusty Scrap Quilt--50th Post Contest

2009-08-25T11:51:00.004-04:00

As I was cutting off the edges to my weekly quilts, I couldn't bear to throw the beautiful pieces in the trash, so I decided to use Pauline Burbidge's (and others, I'm sure) method for joining quilt sections with a zig-zag stitch, then I edged it with a loose zig zag. I also drew circles in several places with a zig-zag stitch to tie the pieces together. I think this would be nice attached to mat board (turquoise maybe?) and framed. Anyway, it was quick and fun and I like the way it looks. I might add some more zig-zag circles. Let me know what you think.

Oh, and I just realized that this is my fiftieth post. To celebrate, I'm going to give away six fat eighths of my hand-dyed Radiance fabric. You can see the colors in the earlier post. Just post a comment, and I'll draw names on Friday and contact the winner for her/his address and then send them out. Thanks for helping me celebrate.

2009-08-24T18:47:00.004-04:00

August Week 3: Wheels of Time III, 6x6"

I've finished my August quilts using my rust dyed fabrics. Many of the fabrics I used are repurposed--fabric cut off the bottom of curtains, etc. I've also used some vintage textiles that I picked up at Goodwill and garage sales.

I'm enjoying the techniques that I'm using, just layering the fabric and then sewing. I think it fits the more ethereal nature of this fabric. I also really enjoyed using the napkin edges on the vintage linens.

August Week 4: Wheels of Time IV, 6x6"

I've struggled with knowing how to quilt these quilts. Quilting too heavily makes it seem too fussy. I have a 2" steel washer that's been hanging out on my design wall, and as I was working on this quilt today, I looked up and thought, "Ah-ha." I drew around the washer and then quilted those lines. I like the look, and I think that it will translate well into the larger quilt I'll be working on soon (Well, as soon as I start working big again).

July Spiritual Challenge: Trust

2009-08-21T08:50:00.005-04:00

Trust
12 x 12"

Someone sent me the e-mail story that's going around about the wealthy guy who stops to pick up pennies on the street because the statement "In God We Trust" reminds him to pray. I sent the story to my husband, who was moved by it. Sometimes when I call him up, he'll say, "I've found a lot of pennies on the ground today." It's shorthand for the fact that he's having a tough day but that he knows he isn't alone in having to deal with it.

Of course, on all American currency there is the statement, "In God We Trust." Many people who pass the currency to each other don't really have that trust in the God that the founders of the country envisioned, but most of them have faith in something. In money itself, in their families, in work, in play, in the absence of belief, etc. I chose to focus on the word Trust in this quilt to both honor my own spiritual practice and beliefs (I do trust in the God of my understanding), and to honor the spiritual beliefs of everyone who handles money everyday.

I've always picked up pennies when they are on heads, given them an air kiss, and then put them in my shoe (or my purse as I'm often wearing flip flops). Even when my own faith was at a low point, I still trusted in "luck." So this quilt also honors the journey of my spirit. I'm glad that I challenged myself to complete these spiritual quilts each month. It has made me look at my beliefs in new ways.

Just for Fun

2009-08-18T16:20:00.006-04:00

Cupcake
8.5 x 11

This journal quilt was inspired by my friend Pam who suggested that "frosting" was a perfectly fine submission for our Art Quilt Network challenge "frosty." I asked permission before I stole her brilliant interpretative idea, and I had fun putting this together using a modified (in other words taken from a blog and not from her video) version of Elkins' portrait process. And though it isn't quite round here, since we all know that cupcakes are usually round, I decided it fits with my circle theme (not to mention the circles in the background fabric and in the white on white fabric).

I used a Simplicity fabric marker thinking that it was one of those that just disappeared. Nope. Instead I had to hand wash it and scrub like the dickens to get all those little purple lines off. I think I like the texture that it created when the batting shrunk a bit.

I'm almost to my 50th post, and I'm trying to think what type of giveaway I'll have to celebrate. Maybe some rusted Radiance, maybe fat eighths of some of my hand dyes, maybe some embellishments. Hmm, I guess you'll have to wait until I decide to find out.

August Weekly Quilts 1 and 2

2009-08-15T12:17:00.005-04:00

July Week One: 6x6"

Okay, so week one is a bit late, but I wanted to use the rusted fabrics I've been working on, so here it is. In addition to using the rusted fabrics, I'm trying a new applique technique. Instead of fusing or basting or anything really, I just laid down a 7" square piece of batting and layered fabric on top. I like the improvisational nature of this technique, but I think it would be tough on a larger quilt (though I plan to try it).

Every piece of fabric in the quilt is rust dyed, much of it is recycled vintage linen that I picked up at Goodwill and then rusted. I haven't posted my lavender experiments, but you can see two pieces of that fabric in this quilt, the background in the top right hand corner and the circle in the bottom left.

I did have some issues with needles and the fabric, especially since it's layered rust dyes in some places. A jeans needle helped, but part of the problem seems to be that the needle gets tired quickly. I don't have a microscope, but if I did, I'd probably find a lot of burrs on the needle, created by contact with the metal now embedded in the fabric.

July Week Two: 6x6"

Does the fact that week two is early make up for the lateness of week one? Again, you can see the purple fabric in the upper right. I used itajame shibori to make the pattern, clamping two half circles at the edge of the folded fabric. Some of the fabric is Radiance, some is sheer, some is recycled.

I'm trying to make these quilts about the design and not the fabric, and I'd love to hear feedback on how well you think I'm doing. Thanks.

Overdye and Quilt National

2009-08-14T17:42:00.009-04:00

This morning, since I was up at 4:30 am seeing off my husband and son on their grand adventure to Boston, I decided to stay up and overdye some of the rust-dyed cloth that hadn't turned out as intense as I would have liked.

I used a variety of shibori techniques. I clamped several pieces, and I spiraled and scrunched others.

All of the fabrics had been washed in Synthrapol and dried before I set them up to dye again.

I mixed a little bit of cobalt blue in with the turquoise to dampen down the color a bit. The colors in the photos on my computer are fairly true. Who knows what will happen on yours?

For the top piece, I just scrunched the fabric a bit in the bottom of a gallon ice cream jug. I didn't stir it much, but again, the color is a little too even for my tastes. Where are my yogurt containers?

The second piece down is a bit of Radiance that I folded on the diagonal. I used two circles cut out of plastic ice cream lids and clamped them onto the fabric with clothespins.

The third piece is just a bit of 100% cotton that I spiraled the same way I would if I were doing a spiral tie dye design. Again, there is less variation in intensity than I would like. I think I'm probably using a bit too much dye concentrate, so I'll try less concentrate with the purple (4T to a cup for this batch, if you're keeping track).

The fourth fabric down was folded on the diagonal and then clamped with big binder clips. The bottom fabric was folded and then clamped with rectangular shapes cut from plastic and held in place by mini wood clamps.

I love the two colors, and in addition to lavender and rust, turquoise and earth tones were two favorite color schemes at Quilt National in Athens, OH. Once I'm done with this, I'm off to finish some rust I started this morning before heading out to Athens, hoping that some of it will not be very interesting so that I can overdye it lavender.

I put the fabric in the washer just in time to meet Pam out at Macy's car for a trip to Quilt National. The show was beautiful and rich and varied. I think 20% or more of the quilts used silk, and I noticed that whereas many of the quilts I see reproduced in magazines are heavily stitched, most of these quilts were stitched lightly, sometimes even invisibly.

There was a good deal of hand work, but some of it seemed to have been worked on the fabric before it was layered. Macy said that it seemed to her that many of the quilts used hand-dyed or hand-made fabric. I didn't notice it at the time, but I think, in retrospect, that she was right. Even if they weren't hand dyed, I did notice that many of the fabrics seemed to be more solid. I saw very few "quilting cottons" of the type you might get at your local quilt shop or crafts store.

Some of the most interesting quilts, to my mind, were ones that used transparencies in interesting ways. I also noted that a lot of the quilts were quilted and then somehow cut after they were made. Sometimes slashed, sometimes with sections cut away.

It was a beautiful show, very inspiring, and lunch afterwards at The Village Bakery and Cafe at 268 E State Street in Athens was a treat.

Rust Never Sleeps, Especially if it Drinks Too Much Tea

2009-08-13T16:20:00.015-04:00

So the next step on my rust dyeing adventure was to add tannin to the mix.

In much of the tannin/rust cloth I've seen, I didn't like how the rust was overpowered by the blue/grey/black of the tannin stain, but I'm pleased with the results of my experiment.

I let the fabric sit in vinegar and salt with the rusty metal during the heat yesterday afternoon and then overnight (about 18 hours). When it was mostly dry this afternoon, I poured the tannin water over it. In some cases, I poured just enough water to dampen it, and in others I let the cloth and the rusty object sit in the tea. I left things like this for about 4 hours. Then rinsed, washed, dried, and pressed.

To make the tannin, I used eight iced tea sized bags (decaf, Kroger store brand). I let them come to a boil in a large pot of water (about a gallon);then I let them sit for an hour.

For these fabrics, I used just a collection of cottons and white synthetics that I had in my dye bin. Some of the synthetics were just white fabric I'd cut from the bottom of curtains and sheers.

Oh, and I also dyed a bit of embroidery floss with rust so that I can hand stitch. It turned out a nice rusty shade, so I think it will do well with the hand work I'll do on whatever object these fabrics become.

Right now, I have some vintage linen and a tablecloth of undetermined material with cotton embroidery in the rust dyeing pans.

I'm not quite finished playing with rust; after all, I still have some white fabric left. I'll continue to rust dye, and I'll also overdye in turquoise some of the pieces that didn't turn out as deep as I would have liked. I'll also rust/tannin dye some Radiance this weekend to see how the silk takes the tannin. Finally, I found some rusty flashing, so I'm going to get out the drill press and see if I can make a rusty/holey piece of metal to dye with.

Oh, the circular plates that I've been using to rust the circles are called corn planting plates. You can do a search online, but many of them I see there have some heavy coating on them, so I assume you'll want vintage ones if you're looking for them.

The sources of rust from these images (top to bottom) are railroad spikes, planting plates, the tines of an iron rake, a 1.25 inch flat iron plate that's about 1/8 inch thick and 4 feet tall, horseshoes,and a collection of washers and 1/4 inch steel bars and scraps that were left over in the previous owner's shop and garage.

Rust Dyeing

2009-08-11T08:00:00.002-04:00

Here's a side by side picture of Radiance and cotton rust dyed. (Radiance is on the left.) On first glance, the Radiance seemed to be crisper, but you can see here, that the cotton produces a crisper image. The Radiance, however, produces a deeper rust color in a shorter period of time.

Most of the info I've read says that you should use vinegar or salt and water, but I get the best results using both. I spray the vinegar and then I sprinkle a little salt. Heat makes it speed up, and getting things just damp and not saturated seems to make the process go more quickly. So does heat and humidity, so it's fortunate that I started this on the two hottest days we've had in Ohio this year.

Several people have asked about the object I used for the rust. I think it's a threshing plate. Once upon time, my husband made clocks out of these gear looking thingies, and my stepfather Tim, whose family own Hetrick Farm Supply in New Bethlehem, PA passed these on to us. They've been sitting and rusting in the workshop for about eight years, so they are nice and rusty. You can see the gear somewhat clearly in the picture above. This is just after the cotton has been sprayed with vinegar, full strength.

The universe has also gifted me with a hundred year old house whose previous owner had a machine shop in the garage and casual cleaning habits. (His and mine, after all, we've been here a year). In our barn style garage, there are plenty of rusty items as you can see from this shot. What more could a fledgling rust dyer ask for?Here's a collection of some of the cotton I've dyed so far. Some of these, I'll put out in the rust again to deepen the patterns and colors. I have some bar wrapped pieces and the one a little to the left of the center was wrapped around a broken iron rake.

It's raining now, but once the sun comes back out, I plan to see how rust and tannin mix. The tannin I'll use will come from two iced tea size bags in one cup of water, but I'm thinking of trying it in different dilutions to see what kind of variation I get. I'm wondering if the tannins will attach to the rust that I've already stopped with washing soda or if it will just attach to the new rust. Hopefully, it will be hot again today. (And I live in a house without air conditioning, so that tells you how much fun I'm having with this--I don't mind being hot so long as my rust dyes can develop nicely. The sacrifices we make for art ;-).

Radiance and Rusted Radiance

2009-08-10T09:11:00.009-04:00

This weekend, I worked on some more dyeing. I had heard about the fabric Radiance PFD by Robert Kaufman and wanted to see how this 55% cotton/45% silk fabric would take both Procoin dye and rust.

On the left, you can see the results of three buckets that I dyed using my own mix and Ann Johnston's Value Parfait recipe guidelines.

I love the sheen and the colors, but I notice that since the silk has more sheen, and probably since the silk absorbs color differently, there isn't as much variation as there would be in 100% cotton dyed with the same recipes and stirred in the same manner. You can see this most clearly in the mid and deep range values of the green and the red.

Lessons learned:
--Stir less,
--Mix the dyes in more widely varying mixtures,
--Use smaller buckets. Something more along the lines of a large yogurt cartoon would be better than the 1 gallon ice cream buckets I usually use.

On the right are two small pieces of radiance that I rust dyed. I love the way the radiance takes the rust. It lifts the rust more quickly and it takes it more crisply than the other cottons I've tried.

If you've played with Radiance and have any tips to share, I'd love to hear them.

July Weekly Quilts

2009-08-08T17:41:00.008-04:00

After guests, cooking at summer camps, and some travel in July, I'm just now finishing my July weekly quilts. The design called for hand-dyed fabrics (mine) but I had to dye new fabrics as I didn't have quite the colors I wanted. I also tried to make the small quilts connect together across the weeks. So, if you can picture it, the top quilt, if moved to the left of the quilt underneath it, would extend the design of the second quilt and so on. I tried to make this work both if you were viewing them 1-4 horizontally and also if you were seeing the quilts in a square, 1 and 2 on top and 3 and 4 beneath. It sort of works.

I also did some rust dyeing this week, and I really like the results and the spontaneity of the process. I'll be working on my rust dyed cloth this week, and I'll share the results once I have a few samples.

Studio Lori

2009-07-30T13:37:00.014-04:00

Yikes, I can't believe the last time I posted was on my birthday. Now that I'm done with cooking at summer camps and my garden is in full production mode, I can hopefully get a bit more posted here. I had to clean my studio/guest room for some visitors, so I thought I'd take time to post some photos of my studio. It's still a work in progress, but it's a wonderful, pieceful place to work.

The furniture in this room was from my Grandfather. I lived with him during college, and when he died, my aunt saved the beautiful furniture for me (Thanks, PJ). This is one of my favorite vignette's in the room. My collection of buttons (from my maternal grandmother, parents of students I taught, and from thrift shop collecting) is stored here, as are the wooden spools I love and plan to make a shelf out of someday.

Here's my sewing area. My WIPs are covered by a quilt that I'm working on with fabric that Mindy M donated since it went with my 2009 circles theme. It's called "Jack Amish." It's just Chinese coin pattern, but I love the sparkly circles.

I was thrilled to discover that a triangle clip was just the thing to attach my small journal quilts to my magazine storage boxes.

This is the best part of my studio. My mom made this storage cabinet for me when we had no spice storage. Now, I have a built in spice cabinet twice this size, so I can use this to house/display/organize my treasures.

Love those IKEA jars!! And yes, instead of sewing one day I sorted many of my beads into color coordinated groupings so that I could do the monochromatic miniatures that I wrote about in June.

I found this great Lane Chest on the side of the road in YS. It had been painted a hideous mustard color, so don't worry that I destroyed the original finish. It still had it's key in the drawer. The bottom drawer is perfect for my matchbox threads and presser foot storage.

The top has a lot of the fabric I'm currently using or thinking about using in projects.

I love this view of the chest with beautiful Senagalese indigo fabric from a student covering the white of the chest, the quilt I made from a pattern in American Patchwork and Quilting with some of the other indigo shibori fabrics, and a pillow I made out of a lovely pojagi cloth wrapper that a student brought me from Korea.

This is my writing desk. All things writing and drawing are stored over here including my antique typewriter, and a big jar of crayons. Other sketching supplies are in a basket under the table. And on the shelves is a basket full of postcards that I used to inspire my students to write and that I now use for inspiration for my writing and my quilting. I also have a magnetic poetry board that I play with when I need to access that flow state but I'm feeling blocked.

Ah, you wonder where all the clutter is. I'm not going to open this door or you'd see. It's a big closet, so it stores my fabric stash, my cutting table, and recycled fabrics. It also houses winter coats and some other family things, but I'm not going to open the door.

Happy Birthday to Me

2009-06-25T11:17:00.003-04:00

This is the flower image (thanks to my neighbor Debra for her beautiful garden) that I'll by using for my June spiritual quilt "God Sends Me Flowers for My Birthday". The title is from one of those chain e-mails that people send around, but I smiled at the little saying, "God loves you so much he sends you flowers every spring," and I thought it would make a fitting spiritual quilt for this month. I hesitate to do a floral fused applique, because there are so many out there, but the title makes me happy and so do the beautiful flowers. Happy Day.

Week 3 and 4 Journal Quilts for June

2009-06-25T10:59:00.006-04:00

This Week Three Journal quilt is called Aurora B. Week Four (below) is A. Borealis. I've never seen the Aurora Borealis, but these are the colors I always see in pictures and movies. I've done the same things I did with White Stars and White Sky, fusing circles, backing fabric, quilting, binding, then beading, but this time I wanted to see what happened when there was less contrast between the colors.

I love these little guys, and though it takes me about six hours to finish them, at least yesterday I had plenty of time sitting at the Camp Birch boy scout camp for then hours making sure the only kids who started fires were ones who had their fire chips.

I didn't have to worry about whether the beading was heavier in one part because I'll be stretching these quilts like I do all my weekly quilts. That gave me a lot of design freedom. I'm seed stitching the background of my bobbin drawn Queen Anne's Lace and yesterday I wondered if I should have seed stitched the background of these as well, but the month's almost over and the first two are already stretched, so maybe next time.

I've already designed next month's challenge quilts because I want them to be connected across the frames. I'll have to dye some more fabric, so I'll start out the month behind since I'm at Camp Catoctin cooking next week, but at least I'll have the design completed.

May Weekly Journal #2

2009-06-23T15:36:00.003-04:00

I'm alone in the house this week, and I thought it would give me a chance to catch up on the May challenges that I got so behind on. This little 6x6 baby took about eight hours to stitch. It's part of my 'Round the House series for May. I took photographs of household objects (round ones of course) and then printed them on Printed Treasures. Then I fused heavyweight interfacing to the back of them and started stitching, setting my zig-zag stitch almost to 2.

For this one, I left the open areas (my floor in this case) and quilted those areas. The quilting took up the extra fabric that all the heavy stitch work created. I know that the last one was pretty abstract. If you haven't guessed, the first May Weekly Journal quit is from a photograph of tart pans. I love to bake, so I have a great collection of baking stuff. But this journal began as a photograph of something you probably use everyday.

I adapted this technique from an article in the May/June Quilting Arts.

June Weekly Quilt, Week 2

2009-06-18T06:53:00.008-04:00

This quilt is the companion quilt to "White Nights." I've shown the detail first, and it should be obvious how my work for the miniatures show inspired these weekly quilts.

I wasn't able to use interfacing on "White Nights," and that made it more difficult to work with. For this quilt, I fused heavy interfacing to the back of the fabric to create a firmer surface for the beading.

I also completed the entire quilt--fusing, quilting, trimming, and sewing on the binding (but not sewing it down in the back)--before I began beading. I didn't do this with "God Answers to Many Names" and beads and needles broke as I sewed the binding on.

White Stars
6x6 inches

June Weekly Quilt: , Week 1

2009-06-17T21:40:00.005-04:00

White Nights
6x6 inches

I had so much fund beading the miniatures for the miniatures show, I didn't want it to end, so this month, I'm playing with beading on quilts. I have a bit more freedom with how I bead since these quilts will be mounted on wooden frames.

For the first two weeks, I've played with high contrast; the second week is white on black.

I'm using purple and teal in the same tone for the third and fourth weeks, so it will be interesting to see if that makes the beading pop more.

I still haven't been able to take photographs I like of the beading work, but I think that's more a matter of my equipment; I don't have off the post flash, and I think that I need lights from the sides to make the beads really stand out.

I've included a detail. This time I used a bead reamer to put a hole through the middle of the computer key, and it worked just fine and saved me a trip to the wood shop out back.

May Spiritual Quilt

2009-06-17T21:29:00.004-04:00

God Answers to Many Names
12x12 inches

This quilt was inspired by my own spiritual practice and by a conversation one night about the spiritual revelations we've had. One of my friends said that God told her it was okay to call God a female. I thought it was such an interesting revelation. This woman went to a traditional protestant church, but she was looking for a way to make her relationship with God more meaningful and personal.

I attend Quaker meeting and consider myself a Quaker, but I also practice Buddhist meditation at home and at the Dharma Center in Yellow Springs. I have friends who are Wiccans, Moslems, Jews, and Fundamentalist Christians. What we all share is a desire to know God and an awareness that humans are spiritual beings as well as physical and emotional beings.

I bought the shell that serves as the light in the quilt and that's what led to the quilt. Often, for me, a title will come first, and that will help direct how the quilt develops, but this quilt grew from the great light in the void and the title emerged along with the many hours of stitching and beading that it took to complete it.

The quilting exercises by Robbi Joy Eklow in The Quilting Arts Book served as inspiration for some of the machine quilting. The fabric is my own hand-dyed fabric.

Bobbin Sketching

2009-06-16T16:43:00.004-04:00

Okay, I know it's supposed to be called bobbin drawing (as in drawing thread from the bobbin), but the heavy rayon thread made this look so much like a sketch, I couldn't resist.

I traced the original on tracing paper and then just followed the lines from the back. Turning it over was a little bit of magic. I like to be able to see what I'm doing, so this was a great practice in deepening my faith. Okay, so I peeked once or twice to make sure it was working. The sketch was of Queen Anne's Lace seen from below, but a number of people have said it resembles a dandelion.

I used regular cotton thread to make the interior lines a bit softer than the outline. This was so much fun, I'm sketching some larger banners using this same technique. I think I'll also add a layer of organza on top to get more shimmer and dimensionality. News on those later. I'd love to hear what you think.

May Weekly Journal #1

2009-06-15T16:33:00.001-04:00

My weekly challenges in May were titled "Round the House." Yes, I'm still working on circles, but last month, I took photographs of round items from the house (kitchen, mostly), printed them on treated fabric, and then thread painted them heavily. I build up the stitches layer after layer, so they were quite time consuming, and I'm still finishing up (I know it's the middle of June, that's what I get for bragging about being almost caught up).

Meanwhile, I have been doing my June weekly quilts, and I'll post the first two in the next couple of days.

I've missed posting on my blog, but I planted a new, huge bed in our front yard and I had to get the veggies in before it was too late. Now I only have 5 cu.yards of mulch to spread and the big work is done for now. It's good to be back.

More Miniatures

2009-05-15T12:12:00.006-04:00

"Blue on Black" and "Fields of Gold"

2x3 inches

While I was traveling last week, I finished these two miniatures for the Would You Could You in a Frame show that opens on June 19 in Yellow Springs, Ohio.

I had a lot of fun arranging, planning, and stitching these little darlings. They feel so childish and joyful, like a junk drawer where you keep all your
favorite things. Many of the beads and buttons were already in my collection, but I had to buy some of the blue beads as I didn't have quite enough of the dark blue beads and buttons in my stash.

Both of these are named after songs, and it was fun to sing them in my head as I beaded (a three or more hour process). Blue on Black is an awesome Texas Blues song by Kenny Wayne Shepard, and my favorite version of "Fields of Gold" is Eva Cassidy's haunting interpretation.

I used fusible shirt tailor and buckram on the fabric that I backed the beading with, and that made it much more stable. Then I added another layer of shirt tailor to the backing fabric before I sewed it on. Cheryl at Would You Could You said that she has been looking at the first one I brought to her nearly every day and trying to decide how she'll frame it. She said that each time she looks at it, she finds something new. I can't think of a higher compliment for these little pieces.

Hope to see you at the opening in June!! I've seen a few of the other miniatures, and they are amazing. And, since they're small, they're very affordable, averaging about $100 a piece. Debra Wilburn, who told me about the show, says that it's a beautiful show to see, with all the little works of art framed and arranged along the walls like the inside of a treasure room.

Caught Up on My Challenges, Almost

2009-05-01T19:13:00.008-04:00

April Quilts Weeks Three and Four

I've been finished with the Weekly quilts for April since last week (April has five weeks, sort of, but my wall only fits four quilts a month, so that's all I'm doing!) But I finally got them bound and ready to hang.

I'm not sure why I've been so intimidated by reverse applique, but I found it pretty easy in these small quilts.

I continue to enjoy handwork. Tony and I are off to Colorado Springs, and I'm bringing along some beading projects--two more miniatures called "Blue on Black" and "Fields of Gold" and my April Spiritual Challenge called "God Answers to Many Names." I was inspired by Larkin Jean Van Horn and Deanna Hartman for my spiritual challenge this month, so I used a piece of my hand dyed fabric, added a central stone and a human figure and I'll bead it while I'm in Colorado. We'll be back on Friday, so be sure to check back then.

Beading in Miniature

2009-04-30T14:04:00.006-04:00

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

2009-04-29T07:06:00.008-04:00

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

2009-04-21T10:45:00.004-04:00

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

2009-04-21T07:39:00.003-04:00

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

2009-04-20T22:49:00.004-04:00

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

2009-04-17T09:26:00.005-04:00

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

2009-04-17T08:06:00.004-04:00

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

2009-04-16T19:57:00.000-04:00

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.

2009-04-14T13:43:00.003-04:00

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

2009-04-09T20:24:00.005-04:00

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

2009-04-09T20:17:00.003-04:00

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.

2009-04-06T17:16:00.005-04:00

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
.

The Virgin of Guadalupe of Mission San Diego de Alcala

2009-03-21T08:15:00.003-04:00

Soon after the Miami Valley issued the Southwest challenge, I went to San Diego and toured the beautiful mission there. In a small niche towards the front of the sanctuary sits a beautiful carving of the Virgin of Guadalupe. I lived in New Mexico, and the story of this localized icon has always been compelling to me, so I decided to use this image as the source of my January 12x12 spiritual challenge quilt.

I've used many of the common tropes used for the Virgin's presentation. She is often pictured in a way that looks as if she's standing on Juan Diego, but notice that his arms are outstretched as if he's lifting up his cloak with the vision of her on the back. Her gown is cut from a fabric that depicts roses in full bloom, like the flowers he brought to the bishop. The rays of light coming from around her are also traditional, as is the blue robe. Some other visions of Mary have her wearing the celestial robe, and I've duplicated that here.

I've added other images, too. The top quiltlet is of the ocotillo. This thorny native to the Mexican and American Southwest deserts sprout lush red blooms after rainfall. It's one of my favorite desert plants, and it's the most exuberant red bloomer in the desert, a reference to the roses Juan Diego brought to the bishop and to the crown of thorns. The next quiltlet is the bell tower at the Mission San Diego de Alcala. The third quiltlet from the top is the Virgin standing in a field of grain to symbolize how her gift of faith to the indigenous people also provided sustenance for their bodies. The lowest quiltlet is a bit of a reference to the goddess faiths around the world. Many see the Virgin of Guadalupe as a syncretic link between the new religion offered by the Catholic Spaniards and the female deities of the old indigenous religions of Mexico and the Aztecs.

More about the Virgin of Guadalupe

Wikipedia describes the Catholic accounts of the miracles like this: " According to official Catholic accounts of the Guadalupan apparitions, during a walk from his home village to Mexico City early on the morning of December 9, 1531,^[1] Juan Diego saw a vision of a young girl of fifteen to sixteen, surrounded by light. This event occurred on the slopes of the Hill of Tepeyac. Speaking in the local language of Nahuatl, the Lady asked for a church to be built at that site in her honor. From her words, Juan Diego recognised her as the Virgin Mary. When he told his story to the Spanish bishop, Fray Juan de Zumárraga, the bishop asked him to return and ask the lady for a miraculous sign to prove her claim. The Virgin then asked Juan Diego to gather some flowers from the top of Tepeyac Hill, even though it was winter when no flowers bloomed. He found there Castilian roses (which were of the Bishop's native home, but not indigenous to Tepeyac). He gathered them, and the Virgin herself re-arranged them in his tilma, or peasant cloak. When Juan Diego presented the roses to Zumárraga, the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe miraculously appeared imprinted on the cloth of Diego's tilma."

That's the church version, the local version holds that because Juan Diego saw her and because she closely resembled the Mexican goddess Toantzin and/or an Aztec goddess, the new religion was made more palatable to the indigenous population. This similarity drew indigenous people to the church and thus saved their lives, insuring food and medicine from the monks.

No matter the true story, to me the Virgin of Guadalupe represents God making God known to people in a way that they can accept and identify with. It is an image of compassion and love. And it is an image of service. I wonder how many people feel God's hand in their lives or view miracles and never talk about it for fear that they might be called crazy. But Juan Diego, a child, was willing to serve his people by telling the truth of what he saw, and I can't help but think that his courage saved a number of lives.

March Week Three (Week 11) and Weekly Wall

2009-03-20T16:20:00.004-04:00

.For this week's quilt, I decided to simplify the palate to see what happened. It's still busy, but the pattern does pop more in the lower corner. I think it gets lost a bit in the upper right block because both of the fabrics use a swirl pattern. If I had more time, it might be interesting to redo the blocks in different fabrics, but these blocks are time consuming, and I don't want to abandon playing with the designs.

I like the black and white design, and putting it next to all the great colors reminds me that when I see the world in black and white, it isn't nearly as interesting as when I'm able to see the whole spectrum of colors. Sometimes things are still black and white, but often there are a whole host of colors in between the absence and the saturation that white and black represent.

March Weekly Quilts One and Two

2009-03-17T12:52:00.008-04:00

For March, I've challenged myself with paper piecing and using patterns. I'm designing New York Beauty style blocks and paper piecing them. I haven't done a lot of paper piecing, and I've never done a New York Beauty quilt (or many traditional quilts for that matter), so I thought I could learn some new skills and a very interesting traditional pattern if I made this my challenge. They also contain semi-circles, so it fits with my circle theme.

The other challenge is using patterned fabrics in interesting ways. Some of the quilters I most admire really take risks with their fabric choices, so I thought I'd step outside the box and use up the circle fabrics I've been collecting since the beginning of the year.

There isn't enough contrast to my eye in the focal block of this 6x6 block. It draws the viewer in, but I'm not sure it's very effective. I like the V shape I've designed, and I might try this in bigger quilt since I'd like to see more of the right and left blocks.

One thing I didn't take into account with my design was how the 1/4 binding border would alter the final view.

In the second week quilt, I consciously choose to use the intense colors together and the muted colors together, but it gives too much weight and interest in the upper block and the lower one falls away.

Also, though I allowed for the points on the outside of the bottom section, I must not have extended the pattern for the inside, so I don't like how the pink bottom points are cut off.

In general, I think the play with the patterns would work better on a bigger quilt. This week, I'm using a limited color palate in hue, and I'll see if it works better.

I'm really enjoying these weekly exercises. I've learned a lot already, and I am feeling more confident and more able to take risks with other quilts.

Mary from the Book of Kells: February Spiritual Challenge

2009-03-14T11:19:00.005-04:00

I made February's spiritual challenge quilt for a Miami Valley Art Quilt Network exhibit at the Centerville Library (Woodburne branch). The exhibit opens on Sunday, March 15, with an artist's reception from 2-4. The quilts for the show are lovely, many of them focusing on the amazing knot work in many of the illuminated borders of the book. I loved the image of the Virgin Mary and the child Jesus.

My artist's comment in the brochure reads: The baby Jesus in the Book of Kells is more a toddler than a baby. He may be even older, notice how his legs hang down. With two boys of my own, I like this image of Mary staying attached to her growing child instead of sending him into the world without hope of returning to love as soon as he could walk. I like to think that this strong foundation of love that I imagine in this image allowed him to spread the gospel of love throughout his world. The story of Jesus in the temple teaching the elders when he was a bit older lets us know that she also gave him freedom, but this image of Jesus as a loved child is very moving to me. I didn’t reproduce the lovely page on which the image appears, but instead tried to echo motifs from the page and other important Celtic symbols. The triple spiral in the corners is seen by some to symbolize the eternal spirals of life, our connection with nature, or the three ages of woman hood—virgin, mother, crone. I like that in the iconography of Mary she embodies all three of those ages—virgin, Holy Mother, and wise Queen.

I carved the stamp of the triple spirals and used Lumiere paint to stamp it on. The background is pieced and the figures are fused and heavily quilted. Lisa Quintana said that she felt sure the sceptre the angel on the right is holding was to whack Jesus if he got out of line. I'm sure the angel only used a gentle tap. I wish I had some otherworldly help to keep my twelve-year-old in line. Angels may be everywhere, but I don't think I have one with a prodding sceptre hanging around, or my son would surely not talk back quite so much.

When I get it back, I think I'll proabably add some beading to it. I ran out of time and just beat Lisa to the library for the drop off.

One Art: February Poetry Postcard

2009-03-01T11:43:00.001-05:00

This month I honor one of my favorite poets, Elizabeth Bishop. Her poem, "One Art" is a villanelle about loss. She says,

The art of losing isn't hard to master;
so many things seem filled with the intent
to be lost that their loss is no disaster.

Lose something every day. Accept the fluster
of lost door keys, the hour badly spent.
The art of losing isn't hard to master.

Onto the bowl with skeleton keys, I've quilted the first two lines of the second stanza above. "Lose something every day, accept the fluster of lost door keys, the hour badly spent."

Like my Poe postcard, I've edged the card instead of binding it. I've used a twisted cord for this one, but I found it more difficult to splice than the silk rat tail that I used for Poe. If anyone has perfected this technique and wants to share their tips, I'd love to hear them.

Week 8

2009-02-24T06:40:00.006-05:00

Well, I finished this one early so that I can focus on the February challenges I haven't finished and on the meeting house quilt. This is the view from my back porch in Maryland. I miss our old yard and I miss my students, but I don't miss the frenetic pace and the insanity of living so close to the beltway and a big city.

After burning the hole in my weekly quilt on Sunday, I'm glad that I'm through with organza. I did learn a lot about how it can create transparency, and it was fun to use a new material, but I don't like having to be fussy with the heat. It's a good new tool for my toolbox, but I'm not sure how often I'll use it.

In March, my 6x6 challenge is using fabrics with circles in New York Beauty type blocks. I've done paper piecing before, but nothing as fussy as the New York Beauty block. It will also give me a chance to strengthen my curve sewing technique. Oh, and it also gave me a chance to buy some new fabric. I've been picking up every circle fabric I find lately (in 1/4 and fat 1/4 cuts, of course).

It also fits in nicely with our Art Quilt Workbook study group work. In April the group will be working on the innovative piecing chapter.

Week 7--Ooops

2009-02-23T10:47:00.005-05:00

Well, the no-do-over plan for my weekly quilts has finally forced a last minute adjustment. I was putting the binding on this quilt and my iron was hotter than I thought, so it burnt through the organza.

This week's inspiration was leaves under ice, but I guess now there is a partial thaw. I'm not thrilled with this one anyway, so I guess learning about burning organza and having to adjust midstream was a good lesson.

All the quilts so far have been mounted on 6x6 frames and hung on a wall near my studio. It's fun to see them all together; I'll post a photo later this week. I really like this technique for small quilts (stretching over a frame) and I may do this for my 8x10 and 12x12 quilts. The frames are easy to make with 1x2s, a miter saw, and an upholstery stapler.

Working on the small weekly and monthly quilts is rebuilding my confidence, so I finally started on the meeting house quilt. I'm planning on using some of the new techniques I've learned. I may make the first one for me and do another one for Barbara G. after I've perfected the pattern and the techniques.

February Journal Quilt

2009-02-20T08:32:00.003-05:00

This quilt was inspired by a game of croquet. While I was cleaning up our equipment several years ago, I liked the criss-crossed wires that I made as I threw the stakes in a pile. When the Art Quilt Workbook asked us to work from a photo, I scanned my notebook and found the photograph and used it to create this small quilt. I'm still loving hand stitching, so I had to add some in the foreground.

The lines are bias tubes, but though I have a 1/4 bias tape maker, the fusible web I have doesn't fit, so I had to glue it down and it didn't work as well as I would have wanted it to.

I used fusible binding for this quilt, too. I love that technique. I do it a bit differently, using two pieces of 1/4 inch tape, one on the front and one on the back. I iron the front in place first, then fold the back over, remove the tape, and iron that down. I feel like that gives me more control than one larger piece of tape.

I also made my 6x6 frames out of 1x2s this weekend, and hung my weekly journal quilts. I'll post a photo of the quilts on the wall with this week's journal posting. I really like the technique, and I'm exploring some other alternatives to the sewn sleeve on the back. I'm not sure what to do with the monthly quilts, but I think I might use stretcher bars there, too. They're easy to make and they give a polished finish.

Week Six Journal

2009-02-13T21:13:00.005-05:00

For my February journal quilts, I've take the theme of circles in nature. This quilt is inspired by dew drops on a spider's web. I didn't really plan to use organza in all my February quilts, but my design for next week uses organza as well. Since I've never really worked much with organza or with sheers, I'm learning to use new materials as well.

I also haven't really quilted with many small circles like this before. I really admire the small circle stippling that so many award winning art quilts use, but when I've tried to quilt in circles, they've never really kept quite true. Making so many tiny circles, I got better with each row. I'm not sure how that will translate into circle stippling, but we'll see.

January Journal

2009-02-13T20:53:00.006-05:00

My January journal quilt was inspired by two sources. The first are the beautiful hay bales in my new home state, Ohio. I loved driving by the bales in the fall, and I thought they would make an interesting perspective study so took a lot of photographs of the bales in the first snow in November.

The second inspiration is the work of Wolf Kahn. I used one of his paintings as the source for the color scheme. I like how he hints at Fauvism with his color schemes, but you can still sense the reality behind the colors. I also like his use of light. In many of his paintings, the light source isn't behind the artist, but far in front of him, off in the distance, so that they highlights are further away from the viewer. It reminds me of watching the sun and shadows play across the hillsides as I drive through Western Maryland.

I like this quilt, and I think I'll continue to do some hay bale studies in a bit larger size. I've never taken a small quilt as inspiration for a larger quilt, but I guess the inspiration would actually be my photographs, so it won't be that different.

I pieced the background and fused the hay bales. I machine quilted the bales and some trees in the distance; then I hand quilted the hay that's in the foreground fields.

2009-02-08T13:43:00.004-05:00

Week 5

This month, my weekly quilts are circles inspired by nature. My family said, the solar system, cells, an onion, but Connor guessed right, a water droplet hitting the water. Of course, this would have more verisimilitude if I could actually quilt a perfect circle.

I used black organza over hand dyed turquoise fabric.

Since I'm trying to use new techniques in my quilts, this one uses a double thread in the needle for quilting the circles. I used a tracing paper overlay to transfer my design to the quilt top.

I'm finishing up my January journal quilt. My journal quilts are circles from my own photographs--this one is of croquet balls and hoops. I'm also working on my February journal quilt (to make up for being late with all things January), haystacks, a circle/perspective exercise. These quilts are also the exercises for the Miami Valley Art Quilt Network Quilt Study Group, so I'm trying to have them finished by the meeting tomorrow night.

I'm so happy to be able to design and work, and my confidence is growing. I feel like I've made my way up from the bottom of dark lake, so my work is a little frantic right now, like gulping in air once you break the surface after being submerged for too long.

Once I finish those two quilts and the Virgin of Guadeloupe and Mary from the Kells, I'll finish up the Meeting House quilt that Barbara has been patiently waiting for since last years Silent Auction.

Unblocked: January Weekly Quilts

2009-02-02T16:13:00.007-05:00

Week One 2009

This 6x6 inch quilt is the first of my weekly journal quilts for 2009. I'm finally unblocked, and I've been able to work on several new quilts that didn't have squares and rectangles. January's quilts came from drawings I did as I worked on the exercises in Davila and Waterson's Art Quilt Workbook. You'll note I'm using circles!! The fabrics are my hand dyed fabrics. This is a perspective exercise.

Week 2

This is my second week quilt. It came from a balance exercise, but you can see that I broke the rules a bit. I used circle templates for all these designs.

Week 3

This is another perspective exercise, and I really had fun making these worm like bouncing images. I'm trying different quilting techniques on these than I might normally use and I'm also exploring different ways to layer fabric. In the first and third weeks, I'm just pinning the fabric onto the quilt sandwich without using fusible. The first two quilts have traditional binding, but this quilt has silk cord attached with a zig-zag stitch.

Week 4

In addition to using a balance exercise for this last quilt of January, I'm trying the stitch technique that Laura Wasilowski talks about in the current issue of Quilting Arts. I love hand work, so this is an exciting new technique to adapt and think about. I'm using fusible binding here for the very first time.

Poe Challenge

2009-02-01T16:31:00.000-05:00

Edgar Allen Poe's Birthday Post Card: The Voices in His Head

A challenge went out on the Quilt Art list to make a post card to celebrate Poe's Birthday in January. Poe's work is so fraught with his own mental struggles, I wanted to try and capture some sense of the Raven as Poe's dark familiar. I really had fun with Poe's face. I've never stitched faces in quilts before, so finding a technique to try to make it look like Poe was a challenge. In an adaptation of a technique I read about in Quilting Arts magazine a few month ago, I transferred my drawing to tracing paper and laid the tracing paper down and stitched the outlines of his facial features in black. I removed the paper with tweezers and then added detail. I like how this technique worked out. I'm not sure it will work for the other two quilts with faces that I'm working on, but at least it worked on this one. The letters were outlined and filled in with thread painting, and the background quilting is a line from the poem, "And the Raven, never flitting, still is sitting."

Squares and Rectangles

2008-10-28T11:42:00.006-04:00

So, I let the meeting house quilt go for now, and I find that I’m working on squares and rectangles in pretty basic arrangements following patterns (I never follow patterns!) or making my own pattern (sweater quilt tutorial will be added this week).

The first quilt is a story quilt from Fun Quilts studio. It’s a gift for my niece’s third birthday and it has almost 300 3.5 inch squares. It’s busy work, but it is a lovely quilt that will hopefully encourage her creativity. Here’s the quilt so far.

You can find the pattern in Modern Quilts by Bill Kerr and Weeks Ringle.

The other quilt was inspired by a blue and white quilt that I saw in a quilting magazine. Several years ago I taught a student whose father was posted in Senegal with the Foreign Service. She would bring me back beautiful indigo shibori fabrics from holiday and from summers (Thanks, Tessa). Here are some of the fabrics.

Originally, I thought I would make clothes, but they seem so impermanent, so I’ve started a basic blue and white quilt for the twin bed in my studio that the dogs sleep on when I work.

The rectangle sweater quilt is also in squares and rectangles.

Working with these basic shapes feels sort of like working with form in poetry. It’s something to keep my left brain busy while my right brain works through some of the more complex designs and color decisions that I can’t seem to get straight.

No matter why, it’s great to be sitting at the sewing machine for a couple of hours a day. And creating with my hand soothes me. I feel it bringing me back to the place of serenity and contentment that will allow me to pick up the meeting house quilt again.

As I’m sewing, I can feel problems with the meeting house quilt percolating in the back of my head. I feel pretty sure that when I turn to it again, all the things that kept me from working on it will be solved. I’m looking forward to that day.

SHOW AT SUNRISE CAFÉ

2008-10-06T11:47:00.000-04:00

I’m hard at work today getting ready to hang my solo show at the Sunrise Café in Yellow Springs, Ohio. I’m looking forward to seeing my quilts in a new space ,and I’m nervous about whether the people in my new hometown will like my work.

Working with student writers, my goal is always to separate evaluation from feedback. I know first hand how damaging praise and criticism can be. Getting ready to hang this show, I know that people will be sitting eating the wonderful food at Sunrise and evaluating my work.

I create the work for me. I try to get onto cloth the images and emotions that are in my head, but when I put it out there, even if it matches perfectly what I intended to create, it may not be pleasing to other people.

And I want other people to like my work. I also want to be able to feel that it isn’t important whether other people like my work or not. So I feel both things at once, which seems impossible, but isn’t really, when you think about it. We all know that when someone says, “I don’t give a damn what you think,” they are generally expressing a wish and an intention. At the same time, by making the statement, they reveal that they do indeed care what the person they are talking to thinks about them or their work or their ideas. An interesting paradox.

I’m happy that Brian is letting me put my work on the walls of his lovely café. If you’ve been there and seen it and have a question about my work, please drop me a post at laughinglg@gmail.com.

If you don’t get to the café to see it, I should have figured out my web album problems soon and I’ll post photos here when I get the technical issues worked out.

BLOCKED, STILL—A MEDITATION ON THE REASONS

2008-10-03T11:25:00.002-04:00

Okay, so I still can’t work on the quilt that I’m supposed to be working on, and I finally figured out why. The quilt is of one of my favorite places—the Ashton Friends Meeting House on the Sandy Spring Friends School campus. The place symbolizes peace, stillness, and happiness to me.

Right now, I am not peaceful, though I go to meeting and take yoga three times a week. My life is in chaos, so I’m seeking serenity, but I’m not there yet. Neither am I still. I can’t even sit still in meeting anymore, and that’s unusual. I even fudge a little when I’m in relaxation pose in yoga, focusing on my breathing or tensing and releasing my muscles, trying to settle into much needed stillness. As for happiness, I can’t remember ever feeling more sadness and grief than I do right now.

So, how can I make an authentic quilt of this place when I don’t feel any of the emotions it evokes?

I can’t.

So today I started on a felted wool quilt using scraps from my maternal grandmother’s clothing, sweaters my husband shrank in the wash, and sweaters I gathered from dorm students’ leavings at SSFS. This quilt will have a rough felted wool front, with velvet sashing. The back will be soft cotton velvet, and I’ll try to find some fancy, satiny fabric to bind it with.

This quilt feels more like my grief. It has loss—my grandmother, my sweaters, my students--but it also has the soft, quiet side of grief that is the awareness that, as Elizabeth Bishop says, “The art of losing isn’t hard to master.” Okay, so her poem is deeply ironic and sad, but it’s still true that we can learn to lose what we love and still find joy and pleasure on the other side (the v velvet on the back of the felted wool quilt). I hope that working on this quilt will help me remember this.

You can find all of Elizabeth Bishop’s poem—“One Art” here.

BLOCKED

2008-09-29T09:51:00.002-04:00

Well, I don’t really believe in artist’s/writer’s block, but it still happens to me sometimes. I’m working on a quilt that I didn’t finish for an auction last spring, and I’ve told myself I can’t work on anything else until I finish this quilt, so I’m not doing much of anything except cutting out fabrics and then throwing them into the scrap bins because they don’t work.

I don’t like the colors because I can’t decide on a color approach. Do I want them all to be in the same tone or do I want them to be mixed and a bit disorienting? Do I want to try for verisimilitude, or do I want to play with values?

When I know the person I’m making the quilt for I wonder if they’ll like it, so judgment enters the equation too early. Ughh.

Ten Reasons Why I Might Be Blocked

Too much time.
Too many doctors’ appointments.
Too many life changes.
Hate knowing how much somebody paid for my quilt.
Hate making a quilt for someone who has already paid.
Inauthentic life.
Older son home for longer than he was supposed to be.
New town.
Miss my old friends and my old life.
Fear of the future.

Things I Do to Avoid Quilting

Work on my new blog.
Clean the house.
Work on the yard.
Bake bread.
Cook.
Organize the studio.
Write letters to friends.
Stare into space.
Take a nap.
Walk the dogs.
Read.
Look at Craig’s List for garage doors and get distracted by other things.
Go shopping.

Ways I Might Move Beyond the Block

Make a different quilt.
Do some exploratory drawings for the series I’m planning.
Start the journals about the life changes I’m facing.
Make a daily schedule and stick to it.
Organize the studio (see six above).
Just start the quilt. It’s small enough that if I don’t like how it turns out I can make another.