Early Bird...literally

SAQA's Benefit Auction of 12" Square art quilts is the organization's largest fundraiser and biggest income source after membership dues. For the 2011 auction, 309 artworks were donated and it raised $52,925.

 In 2012, a special group of "early birds" will be sold in the SAQA booth at IQF Houston instead of in the online auction. Warren and Nancy Brakensiek will select the works for the SAQA Houston Auction Exhibition. 

This sounds pretty good to me.  So I have just finished, and submitted "Another Collector".  The background fabrics were created by dyeing over soy-wax resists which were applied using assorted kitchen tools.  The Magpie, also a tool user and gatherer of "stuff", was raw edged appliqued. The whole is machine and hand stitched.

It was easy to enter online.  Tomorrow Maggie goes in the mail.  I think this might be the sixth year I've donated.  It is always a thrill to have one's work purchased for such a good cause...whether or not it's selected for Houston.

Tees

I succumbed.  I've made them before...they are not very exciting to make.  HOWEVER, there is excitement.  The excitement comes when the little person receives it.  Big hugs all around.  Definitely worth the effort!

Sisters, Ainsley and Claire, my granddaughters, have been playing soccer for years.  Yep, years, and they are only 12 and 10.

I had enough images to print one for the back of each quilt too.

My daughter was so happy with these little quilts (roughly 4'x5') that she coaxed me into offering to make one for the Silent Auction at the local elementary school's Parent-Teacher Organization's annual fundraiser.  You saw that coming?  I didn't.  So, sometime this spring you will probably "get" to see another proud parent's remembrance of another little person's prowess.  I can hardly wait.  ;^)  Although, I'm pretty sure it will not include hugs.

California Holiday

Knitted in Napa

We have been enjoying the last week visiting friends in the San Francisco Bay Area, taking day trips from our "home" on Mare Island.

Petaluma Shop

Rubbing

Petaluma Manhole cover

 Yesterday we headed to a "destination" quilt shop in Petaluma.  Nearby was one of the most interesting manhole covers I've seen since visiting Japan.

I "needed" to rub it...that sounds creepy..but you know what I mean.  The shopkeepers did fine a basket of old, on sale, Shiva sticks that I put to good use.


We drove backroads over to Point Reyes.  We are trying to enjoy the natural beauty and to do that one must take to the Blue Highways.  The last photo was taken on Point Reyes.  We did take pics of the fantastic breakers rolling in from Japan, like most visitors do...but we also enjoyed all the Happy California cows.

Happy Point Reyes Cow

CT Fiber Arts Collective Newest Installation

The Sum of Everything Challenge

The Rules

The Hanging Crew

Roz Spann (L wearing red, naturally) instigated it all: the venue and the Red Challenge.  She filled brown paper bags with s-t-u-f-f.  As I remember it, Carine Greene (5th in lt blue) came up with the title.  We were to use some of everything in this brown bag..we could add (more red) if needed.

The Red collection is hung in the entry of the Southbury Library's gallery....leading to the Red/Read collection:  Work relating to "red" OR a literary reference.  It is a very diverse, yet cohesive exhibit.

The CT Fiber Arts Collective hanging crew (L to R) Roz, Mary Lachman, Karen Loprete, Toni Torres, Carine Greene, Barbara Khachane, Cher Hurney, me.  Diane Cadrain is sitting center.  Also in the exhibit but unable to attend the installing are Carol Eaton and Carol Vinick.

The exhibit will be up through February.  If you get a chance:  Southbury Public Library, 100 Poverty Road, Southbury, CT.

Uncharacteristically Quiet

Sunburnt Country (26"x46")

 Yes, I have been silent for quite a while now, too caught up in my studio to communicate.

It all started when I tackled the Fiberactions challenge for January:  work in a color set that is outside your comfort zone.  The pink/mauve set was so outside my zone that I was very uncomfortable and immediately dove into "my" colors.  My last post about "They Rode the Sparks to Heaven" was the result.

As I was making it, I naturally created a narrative...as I always do...and it occurred to me that places have particular colors in one's memory.  Think about Ghana, the Caribbean, the Timor Straits.  All relatively close in latitude.  But when one thinks of them, the colors are different.  The color saturation is different.  The angle of light seems different.

That led me to a theme:  The Color of Place.  The next pieces are part of what I can only think of as an Ode to Australia.  I've posted four of the same ilk...two others are slightly different and will follow at another time.

The detail pics show the topographical ridges that I hoped would add to the feeling of land.  Over the course of making these four, I learned how to control the amount of fullness in the piecing, which I stuffed with polyfill for dimension.  It was interesting (and probably pretty useless beyond this application).

Desert Skies (29"x55")

Desert Rains (28"x49")

Sunburnt Country detail

Top End Archipelago detail

Top End Archipelago(26"x57")

This theme has launched me into thinking about so many places.  Where to go next?  Maybe Japan.  Hmmm.

I hope this makes sense to others...I hope it's not so idiosyncratic that no one "gets" it.  Not that everything I do needs to be understood by others....  I'd be interested in your thoughts though.

Now it's REALLY finished

The more I looked at "Seven Sisters" from my previous blog post, the more I thought it was unfinished.  

I recalled part of the Seven Sisters saga told to me by an artist from the Mutitjulu Community at Maruku Art Center on the other side of Uluru many years ago.  The last of her part of the story had the sisters fleeing a man who was lusting after them.  As they ran across the desert to escape from him, he hurled a giant bolder from a hilltop.  As it smashed down to the ground, the sisters rode the sparks to heaven, where they reside today.

"They Rode the Sparks to Heaven"  

34" x 50"

NOW it's done.

2012: First Finished

First off, I know it's not symmetrical.  It's not suppose to be, but next time I'll make it more pronounced so it won't look like an unfortunate accident.

I was in a creative slump after our family Thanksgiving celebrations (cast of thousands for about a month...okay, an exaggeration...but still exhausting).  

I limited my color range and decided to produce something around a theme of "Seven Sisters".  My "Seven Sisters" refers to the Australian Aboriginal creation myth stories of seven sisters who travelled throughout the (mostly) desert areas of Australia, and eventually, took up permanent residence in the sky.  They are the same constellation that the Greeks named Pleiades, also known as "Seven Sisters".  Interesting, no?

 The other interesting thing, for me, is that, as a result of having made this roughly 28"x 48"piece, I'm not in a slump anymore.  I am now working on my third "Seven Sister" themed piece.  These next two...hopefully...three pieces are very different from this one.  Stay tuned.

I guess my point is:  just do the work.  For me, it's getting back in the studio full time and just doing it.