Heading West

Heading West (24" x 40") is a result of having been reminded by my Fiberaction's challenge piece, Prickly Secrets, that I really enjoy piecing and combining machine with hand stitching.

Both were created in response to a conversation I had with my friend Kate Themel a couple weeks ago.  We were commiserating with each other about our disappointment with what we had produced for challenges in general.  She said that from now on she was treating them all as just a theme...not doing the dutiful check list from her school homework days...but generalizing, making sure her response was really part of her own body of work.

Like most really good ideas, this is really simple.  I felt I should have thought of it myself...it was that good an idea.

Prickly Secrets (posted yesterday) allowed me to piece... to use colors that I related to personally...and to incorporate zippers.  ( Aside:  I have been thinking about a series using zippers and pockets as symbols for secrets and secret keeping.  Except for, oh, say, birthday gifts or surprise parties, I think secrets are destructive and should be avoided.)

This piece does not have zippers...the zipper piece is still on the design wall...but Heading West does include fabric from Mickey Lawler.  I love her stuff...buy it and hoard it.  So, it's a thrill to have actually used parts of two or three yard-sized pieces.  I cut enough to enjoy seeing it included...AND...I still have plenty to contemplate for future use.  Win/Win

Fiberactions Reveal Day: Dun and Watermelon

The challenge this time was to pick two colors and add black as the third.  Picking the two colors was the tricky bit.  We were to choose two colors that were the letters of our first and last names.  D and W for me.

In the beginning of this Fiberactions Challenge, I was unenthusiastic.  I wasn't feeling Daisy, Daffodil or Daylight.  These colors were WAY too sunny for me...then there was Wisteria....not me.


It wasn't until I googled colors beginning with the letter D and W, that it happened!  Dirty Brown is an actual color! and Dun!  I have (until fairly recently when I went red) been described as having "dirty blond hair".  So, Dirty Brown felt very comfy for me.  I was on a color high when I continued with my search into the W's.  Where I found Watermelon!!!  I was done.

This challenge gave me an opportunity to explore using zippers.  I have amassed two big boxes of new and vintage zippers of all sizes that I had been wanting to incorporate in one of my pieces.  

Titled Prickly Secrets, this piece is about those little pesky secrets...not big, life altering, guilty secrets...just those little ones that you really wish you didn't know.

Viewpoints9 Reveal Day

This newest Viewpoint 9 challenge came from the fertile mind of member Betty Busby:

So, my challenge to you is to think of a situation that needs to have a symbol to represent it-

and invent that symbol!

I auditioned several ideas...hygiene (discarded before it got 'icky'), road signage (been there, done that)...then several periodicals, along with their ubiquitous talking heads, arrived in the news within a very short interval.  Re-igniting an old problem of mine.  

     ARE YOU MOM ENOUGH!!???  REALLY¿??




Just when did being a mom become a competitive sport?  This magazine cover followed on the heels of Amy Chua's book...which was followed by a New York Times article about Wendy Murdoch (yep, Rupert's wife) consulting Chua on childrearing.  It was several columns in length with photos...Really, like this is news.  This simply feed the insecurity of mothers.

Granted I'm an old mom...and grand mom, for that matter, and this is probably another of those instances where my "generational" age shows.  But I think an informed mom can make her own decisions without being challenged into competition.

I have met mothers on five of seven continents, and I can say with some confidence that they all want to be the best moms they can be...even those who are poorly prepared and poorly supported.  We all want the best for our babies and do the very best we can.  

Now everyone ELSE (not experts by any means) has an opinion that they feel obliged to put forth.  It is one thing when your mother or your great-aunt feels entitled to give her advice...now it's everyone. 

Breastfeed.  Breastfeed for three months.  Don't breastfeed.  Solid food.  No solid food.  Circumcise.  Do not circumcise.  Juice.  No Juice.  Sleep in your bed.  Do not sleep in your bed.  Inoculate.  Do not inoculate.  Spank.  Don't you dare spank.  Get a job.  Stay at home.  Daycare.  No daycare.  Sports.  No contact sports.  And on and on.....   

It's time to step back.  Support, inform mothers....don't harass them.  This is NOT a competition.

I designed this simple symbol to indicate a safe zone.  "It's okay to nurse your baby here.  Or not.  We respect your desire to nurture your baby. You are the MOM!"

Summer-Scapes in New Haven

The Color of Place:  Coral Reef

Summer-Scapes, a collection of my work, will be on display through July until August 2 in Art in the Hallway, the gallery space adjacent to Cafe George at 300 George Street, New Haven.  It is an office space with weekday hours exclusively (7am-6pm).  So...if your travels take you to New Haven during the week...stop in.  There is often street side parking, but, if not, there is a parking lot across the street.

I have to say it was very affirming listening to the comments as I installed the show this morning.  I got there right at 7am, to insure a nearby parking spot, and listened to the people as they were getting their breakfast and coffees.  They were very complimentary...they liked to color...and the fact that the pieces are an interesting take on a familiar form.  I am very happy to have the opportunity to show my in a more urban environment.

Art Quilts Lowell 2012: Music

I am so happy to report that I received the fat email over this weekend informing me that my The End of Summer, inspired by Vivaldi's Four Seasons: Summer was accepted to the Brush Gallery...one of my favorite venues.

  

More information about End of Summer can be found on my April 26 post.

Karen Loprete visits the Shoreline

The Shoreline Quilters Guild of CT invited my friend Karen Loprete last January to give a trunk show of her wonderfully creative and lively work.  Of course, they needed to follow up with a class....that was today.  As I had a bit of the morning available, AND, I love to watch Karen in action, I horned in on the workshop.  What fun!  

Karen Loprete

I'm hoping this is just the kick in the behind that I need to get me back to the studio in earnest....not just rearranging and fondly fabric.  I don't know about you...but long absences make it very difficult to keep engaged.  Thank you, Karen!  It was a blast!   

My jumping off point...really.

Notes from the Pacific.....maybe

It's not over 'til the fat lady sings....

First, I must thank all my well-wishers for my birthday posting last week.  As we used to say in the 60's "It was a trip."  

Now, I'm trying to reacquaint myself with my studio after my six week hiatus.  

I think I should not put any of my work away.  Not, that I'm all that tidy, but when I have a chance to re-visit work, sometimes I'm inspired to add, subtract...cut it up...Case in point:  Fibonacci's Garden (click for the earlier photo) from Fiberactions second Challenge using split complimentary colors.  It ALMOST worked.  Yesterday I had an epiphany....that "aha" moment when I KNEW what needed to be done.  Unfortunate that I didn't have this moment earlier in May when it would have been a better addition to the Challenge.  Except, of course, the obvious....it is no longer the strict split complimentary required with the addition of the green.  It is now titled "Fibinocci's Spiral Garden" and will be added to the mostly flora exhibit I'm putting together for a solo exhibit in a very small space in one of Yale's properties in New Haven for late June.  (more later)

Fibonacci's Spiral Garden

Fibonacci's Spiral Garden detail

Tomorrow I am flying to Dallas for a few days to visit my sister Masako who is coping with the side effects of her chemo-therapy.  My job will be to cheer and divert.  I'm thinking pedicures and massages will help.  And, I'm hoping this wallhanging that I made for her will help too.  The central panel is a beautiful woman writing a letter.....one of Masako's fondest occupations.

(This is not an original design...I saw a similar piece that I liked and I tweeked it a bit...downsized it somewhat...simplified so that I could get it completed quickly.)