Finding inspiration

"Windfall"
19" x 19"

What is it about something that makes it inspiring to me? I often wonder about what inspires fiber artists. I've always contended that a big part of it is texture...we all like to touch fabrics. It is a very tactile relationship. And, then there's color! Where do you start in it's exploration?!











I'm an autumn person, in my own coloring and in
my personal pallet. I'm happy with this piece: both the color and the texture.



"Windfall" detail
Hand dyed fabrics, stitched, crayons and paint sticks.

One Small Step for Art Quilts

The Small Step taken....

Notice the last line: "View exciting new arrangements of pictures in fabric." It can be difficult to explain art quilts, especially to an audience that overwhelmingly focuses on the word "quilt".

How many times have you heard "My grandmother used to quilt" ?

Our art quilt group was invited to display a collection over the summer at Evergreen Woods, an upscale, vibrant residential community for folk 62+. We'd been there before with high praise and some sales so we jumped at the opportunity again.

As our "Green Challenge" (June 18 post) isn't actually due in NC anytime soon, we opted to include it in our "Contemporary Art Quilts" exhibit. There are 28 pieces, well lighted and thoroughly enjoyed and, after our gallery talk, better appreciated as an art form.


"Yukata Blues"
60" x 58"

This piece was originally created for The Garde Theater, New London, 2008, exhibit of Connecticut Contemporary Art Quilts. It's big enough that it doesn't get out much so I took this opportunity to offer it for inclusion in our Evergreen Woods exhibit.

It was inspired by the thistle on white background, a piece of cotton yukata that was given to me by an old friend who had also lived in Japan. Her husband was a Naval Attache just after WWII. I combined it with some of my own vintage pieces. I painted the green and fuchsia fabric and appliqued it in a mirror of the original inspiration. The whole is stitched with white sashiko thread. It is one of my favorites and it's great to see it displayed under good light.

IKEA and A Son's Adventures in Japan

IKEA and A (my) Son's Adventures in Japan

When I began this blog I promised myself that it would be about my work. My family was private. Sometimes (actually more often than not) work and private life intertwine and, perhaps, for an artist it's inevitable and beneficial.

Alan, my youngest child, has lived in Japan since he graduated from university during another recession (early 1990's) and, unable to find a job in the U.S., went to Japan to teach English. The "net/net" story is that he never returned except for visits.

Fast forward, skipping over MANY adventures, he is now an enthusiastic employee for IKEA in Kobe. Pictured here is a current Home Furnishing brochure and the bedroom photograph is actually Alan's own bedroom that is all IKEA, except for the quilt on the wall. I love this unexpected display of one of my gifts to him.

"Sister Sister"/Machine Quilting Unlimited article

"Sister Sister"
41" x 50"

Months ago, I offered this quilt and it's story (as far as it went at that moment) to Eileen Doughty who was writing an article about group quilts.

Her article is in the most recent addition of "Machine Quilting Unlimited"!

Thank you, Eileen, for including us!

This quilt is a progressive quilt created by five members of my quilt group Gone to Pieces. On an irregular basis we have 2-3 progressive quilts in rotation at any one time.

I offered the central panel by Java batik artist Suryanto that I didn't want cut. Otherwise, whatever the person who wanted to tackle it next thought it needed was fine with me.

During the time it took to complete "Sisters", our group had come to the realization that we (as Vivika Denegre said) hadn't "gone to pieces"...that we were a very together group and we needed a new name.

Indeed we had morphed into a primarily art quilt group. We voted on several suggestions for our new name. Sisters in Cloth won. Even though it wasn't unanimous, the new name was accepted. The "Sister Sister" quilt worked as a symbol of the group and, for many of our early group exhibits, was displayed along with our other work.

When we started sending postcards and making posters announcing our work, the symbol became refined down to just the strip of "sisters" holding hands. We thought of it as our logo.

Until we started a blog! (http://sistersincloth.blogspot.com)

Now we are anxious about it. The strip of paper-pieced women was adapted from the work of others...some anonymous...quilters. We didn't want work that looked derivative.

We are at this moment creating a new, original to us, logo. I have to say, however, I will be sad to see that line of sisters disappear from our identity.

Sisters in Cloth dye workshop

Today we met at the Guilford Art Center for half a day of dyeing (Rit and a microwave) and a little resist (candle). It was my chance to share some of the information that I had learned in the workshop I took with Beryl Maddalena (see June 7 post).

I'm thinking that not being the winner of that workshop's collaborative rubbing must have weighed not very deeply in my psyche. Because this is the piece I created today: I had previously rubbed a piece of neutral batik with fabric crayon over the bark of a giant beech in our backyard. I "happened" to have it with me for today's meeting. I took this opportunity to do more rubbings on the cracks in the classroom floor...and as the class was cleaning up I painted it with some of the leftover dyes. I like it;-)

The class was a huge success and the firemen seemed to be okay with the cookies we plied on them to thank them (and assuage our guilt?) for coming so promptly when we set off the fire alarm(that only they can shut off). Apparently one of us mistakenly pushed too many minutes on her fat quarter being "shiboried" in the microwave. We have a pic of the residue that one of the members plans to post. Never a dull moment.

Today's New Work

"Salt Marsh"
11" x 37"

This does not happen very often. I had an idea of what I wanted and, from selecting the fabric to sewing down the binding, it was done in a day. The interesting bit was...it's just as I imagined it. Usually there are fits and starts, "design opportunities", changes along the way...but not today.

While I had the camera out I photographed two other pieces that I have recently finished.

"Fault Lines II"
13" x 14"

"Fault Lines" was my donation to SAQA's Twentieth Anniversary Auction. I posted its image a couple of entries ago (June 3). I so enjoyed working with the hand dyed silk noir that I made this second one. In fact, I think there might be a small series in the works.










"Green! Recycled & Repurposed"
15 1/2" x 17"

Also posted previously (May 21)...but now I've tarted it up a bit with more dyes, inks and markers.... and I much prefer it.

This will be my contribution to Evelyn Judson, our former member, who challenged us to a "green" challenge...whatever green means to you within 30" on a side. We are shipping our work to her group in the Durham, NC area for exhibit with their contributions to the challenge.

Sold from my blog OR Teddy finds home

Teddy finds home

The official title of this piece is "Still Life: Night-night, Teddy". It all started with the bit of shibori...the light green fabric. It looked like a wonderful light source to me. The framing is composed of two pieces of hand-dyed cotton. The whole, while what I had planned, looked like a background for something.

Don't ask why "a chair, of course" came to mind. I inherited three small children's chairs when my own three children were under five...and I still have them. I chose one of those to sketch and applique from a piece of batik.

I guess it's because it was a child's chair that the piece looked empty, expectant. I dyed various textiles: a flannel sheet, a piece of cotton sateen and a damask tablecloth and constructed the bear. The eyes are vintage covered buttons from my collection. The piece still looked "expectant" to me. Teddy was waiting for .... someone ...perhaps a girl.

At my crit group there were many suggestions in answer to what does it need? I had toyed with another stuffed animal, a ball, a giant jack. The consensus was that it needed something. The top seemed to work. Now Teddy was still waiting...for either a girl or a boy.

A couple of weeks ago a woman contacted me after discovering my blog and inquired about buying an art quilt for her daughter's room. She liked Teddy's story of creation and today Teddy took a trip to his new home. There's a little girl waiting for him.