Support for Studio Art Quilt Associates

SAQA is such an important part of my personal artful journey. I have gained so much: from exhibitions, to challenges, to webinars, to networking with local and regional artists, to SAQA University and the unwavering support of an international organization.

The biggest fundraiser of the year is the annual Benefit Auction of One Foot Square art quilts. This year's begins on September 20. Some time from today. However, if one delivers their donation by April 1, it may be eligible for inclusion in Auction advertising, postcards and display at IQT/Chicago. Really good incentives, I say!

Pictured here is "Summer Leaves" which I Fedexed today to arrive April 1. Fingers crossed.

Art quilts mounted on foam core

I have been mounting some of my art work on foam core for sometime now.


This is the after and before of a piece that is now in the collection of Vivika DeNegre: vdenegrequilts.blogspot.com. We traded...a great subject for another post. Trading: It's a good thing.

I sent the process into an art quilt mag once but no bites. But maybe there is a reader here for whom it would be interesting.

First: I interview bordering background fabrics for the covering for the foam core. After deciding just how big the exposure should be, I cut a piece of archival foam core.

Note: Choose the more expensive archival. This process is best for pieces that are less than 36" (or so) in either direction because over time (and I suspect humidity) the larger foam core bows. Now, this can be overcome by framing the whole thing with a traditional frame that will keep the foam core in position.

Second: I cut the background fabric with plenty of room for the exposure and an overlap on the back. I carefully measure the centers and hand baste the art work to the background fabric.

Third: I (carefully measuring again) pin the art work to the foam core. This is the tricky bit. Measure. Measure. Measure. Then pin. If you slant the pins you will be able to flip the whole over to see how the overlap is going.

Fourth: Once you are happy with the centering, flip the whole over and pin the overlaps. When you are happy with this you may remove the front pins to help in the stability of the next steps.

Fifth: Using acid free glues and beginning with the center glueing the background fabric to the foam core. (just like stretching a canvas...in fact...sometimes it's easier to use

stretcher bars here. Then you just staple instead of glue/tape) I pin/glue the corners, mitering the fabric. When all is stable, I tape the raw edges. It looks better and will keep a smooth backing.

Note: Even though I will have already labeled the art work before I mounted it, I ink a label on the back of the foam core too.

Pictured below is me gluing, having already pinned, the background

fabric to the back of the foam core...in that embarrassing, and yet comforting, wealth of stash.

After this you will affix eyelets to run the picture hanging wire through. Again, there's the measuring. A few inches down, equidistance from the side edges they are affixed so that wire can be strung between. I buy Adhesive Hangers and Eyelet Sets (if I'm unable to find just the plain Eyelets). You must use an adhesive AND packing tape on these if they are to handle the weight of the art work over time. Another tricky bit.

This foam core option is good for me for some installations. The pieces pack well back to back or face to face (no wire touching the front of the art work). They are very light for shipping (as opposed to stretcher bars) and anyone can hang them. Have you ever noticed how some people can be so flummoxed by fiber that they are paralyzed with indecision? How do I hang it? Oh, my!

Pictured are another after and before: Koi Pond

Home again, home again

After two years on exhibit at the Art Place XV, Yale Medical Group in New Haven CT ten pieces are home again. It's good to see them. I can only say how happy I was that they enjoyed the work and asked to have the contract extended for so many months.

Pictured here are two that I had mounted on foam core. They only require a simple picture hook to hang.

Tagged by Vivika whilst working

I got tagged by my buddy Vivika! Thanks. No, really, thanks. It's a great break from my totally focused full day of piecing. First of all, I am tagging the following bloggers who need to follow up with their own posts.
*Sue
*Loreen
*Constance

*Diane

*Linda

Here are the rules:
1. Thank the person who gave you this award.
2. Share 7 things about yourself.
3. Pass the award along to 5 bloggers who you have recently discovered and you think are fantastic!
4. Contact the bloggers you've picked and let them know about the award.
Those seven things...
Seven things about me:
1. I am a very impatient person and I thought learning to quilt years ago would help me overcome it.
2. My favortite color is red/orange. 3. I live in a three generation house and love watching my granddaughters grow up close and personal.
4. I enjoy finding patterns in working sudoku.
5. My stash embarrasses me with it's size. I should be producing a lot more.

6. I collect Australian Aboriginal art and mid-twentieth

century design "stuff".
7. I am practically tone deaf.

This is my Florida granddaughter's new quilt for her newly painted room. It's a design and color palette that she chose. The flowers are just pinned on at this point. Tomorrow I will applique them down, piece the backing and get the whole lot to Susan Wood, our local long-arm quilter. It's 80" x 85" and I'm no fool.

A Quilt for Masako

On my October 9, 2009 post I introduced my "Masako Goes to Africa" piece. It is the first of my kimono shaped series...and the first of my sister Masako's virtual travels. She still lives within 50 miles of her first home in the United States, a small town in Texas, where she married, raised her girls and continues to work.

Masako is very ill. We are going to see her and I've made this little quilt for her. I hope it will comfort and warm her through her chemo and radiation treatments.

She continues to inspire me. Almost fifty years now.

Fiberactions Post

Fiberactions is a collection of thirteen fiber artists from around the globe who explore the challenge of creating pieces based on a theme suggested in turn by members. Each is to be 16"x20" and posted on the 15th of alternating months.

My submission for this most recent challenge is Signs and Symbols. I've posted here a detail.

Check out fiberactions.blogspot.com for my rational.

Yes, those are five yen pieces referencing the not too subtle "money talks".

Rainy Day Drawing

It has been an indoor kind of day all day today. A fellow member of Shoreline Arts Trail (www.shorelineartstrail.com) Molly McDonald hosted a drawing class at a local gallery (www.stonycreekgallery.com). It was a great day to stay in the cozy, art-filled space and draw.

It was particularly restful. Just what I needed after a week of hanging the Faculty Exhibit at the Guilford Art Center (www.guilfordartcenter.org). The opening was last night 5-7, just an hour after the last piece was delivered. The remarks overheard whilst I was being a "fly on the wall" were very satisfying. I wanted to hear that the artists were happy with how their work was presented. The faculty is a wonderful collection of artists: potters, weavers, painters, metalsmiths, jewelry makers, calligraphers, art quilters, collage makers, felters...the list is only limited by ones imagination.

Today I photographed some of my favorite bits and will post them tomorrow.

Cosmic Dragons

Who doesn't love a kid who knows exactly what he wants? Maybe it's me. (See August 27 post: A quilt for Jinju) Okay, it's me. I just can't resist them even though raising them can be a challenge, grandparenting them is a hoot.

Last month my stepdaughter relayed to me that 8 year old grandson Steven went on a rare shopping excursion with her to a "big-box" store (rare for him not her). Whilst cutting through the fabric aisles he spied a bolt that he grabbed, exclaiming "Do you think Cookie Grammy would make me a quilt out of THIS"? Now, you gotta love a kid who can look at a bolt of fabric...granted it does have dragons and it IS blue...and can see it as a quilt.

Of course it had to happen. Pictured here is "Cosmic Dragons", adapted from Maxine Rosenthal and Joy Pelzmann's book "One Block Wonder encore!"

So that Steven could have some of the fabric in its original incarnation I used a piece for the center of the pieced backing.

Now for quilting, packing and sending off because right behind it waiting is the fabric that his older sister selected for her new "tween room". You're probably not surprised that she knew exactly what she wanted too!