Stepping into the Baby Pool: TWINS!

Stepping into the Baby Pool, the little strata quilt to the left, was acquired last year by friends who had commissioned a larger piece and decided to include this in their purchase as they were starting their family.

These things sometimes take time. How happy are they, as we are for them, that they are pregnant with TWINS!

This news certainly called for another quilt. This second, Stepping into the Baby Pool II, is my gift to them. It contains much of the fabric from the first and some distinctly it's own. They are similar, definitely related.

Now I'm wondering if two can be called a series?

A quilt for Jingju

Jingju is a sunny six year old girl who knows exactly what she wants ....and her favorite color is green. I met Jingju this past weekend.

I'd promised myself at our last Chinese New Year's party that when she arrived in the arms of her waiting parents I would make her a quilt. I knew that she would not be an infant, but a child who, I imagined, might like to participate in some choices.

She arrived in April and I hadn't had a chance to meet her until now.
She and I went directly to my studio, with her mother following. When I asked her if she had a favorite color, she immediately burst with GREEN! Dark? NO!

Now I knew which box of fabric to select for her to look through. It didn't take her two minutes to find her favorite. It's the border fabric in this strata quilt (it also appears in some of the large squares). An unusual choice for the six year old I thought...but she was certain. And so it is done.

Her mother is hoping that Jingju will want to hang it in her bedroom. I'm thinking Jingju has already decided exactly what she will do. I can hardly wait to find out. Bed? Play tent? Picnic with teddy bears and dolls?

Support Your Local Art Quilter

The New England Quilt Museum annually sponsors a silent auction fund-raiser at The Lowell Quilt Festival. Every year I bid but this is the first year that I returned on Sunday morning before leaving town and upped the ante on two pieces...and I won one! Here is Martha McCarthy's "Leaves #1", a first of a series of five small quilts using the techniques of fabric painting and dye discharge to create a seasonal wallhanging.

I am a collector. No, this isn't an intro to a 12-step program. I have always been a collector. First it was lady bugs and lightening bugs. Then it was baby birds, frogs, kittens, puppies and, later, boys ;^): creatures that I thought needed caring for. I got over the boy thing (saving them, that is) but I never got over the collecting thing.

Of course, the whole quilt/art quilt world thrives on people like me. And my studio proves my point. But that's another post.

Collecting an artist's work is important. Nothing says "I love you" like reaching into your pocket and buying a piece, and hence, support the art(ist). So when at all possible I try to do more than sign the guest book and leave an encouraging note. Even if it's only a small piece that I can afford, like this by Margo Stage that I also purchased in Lowell.



Or the journal by Maxine Farkas.



I don't know about you, but I'm looking forward to the SAQA Silent Auction in September!

Quiltscapes at The Whistler

Quiltscapes at The Whistler

Lowell MA has really become one of the hot spots for quilts, and, from my view point art quilts in particular. Not only is there a very respectable turn out of antique,traditional and contemporary quilts for the annual Lowell Quilt Festival, many, many venues throughout the town host exhibits and activities for quiltmakers and artists of all ilks. Most notably, The Whistler House Museum of Art and The Brush Gallery jury wonderful art quilt shows every year. Their artists' receptions are "must attends".

I was thrilled to have a piece juried into The Whistler this year! Mine is the upper left piece in the photograph below. I was particularly pleased to be in such good company! It doesn't get much better than this;^)

(psst: that last one on the right is Laura Wasilowski's)

One of my other favorite stops in Lowell, where I manage to spend many hours, is the Western Avenue Studios. The once empty huge factory is now home studio space to 250 (I think) artists of all media, and coming soon, a cafe. Thank goodness, as next time I'll be able to find sustenance so I can stay longer.