Michigoose's gander at quilts & life

Seductive Flowers

2012-01-30T20:55:00.000-08:00

OK...a little break from the quilts...I've been working hard all day on straightening out insurance issues and listing things on eBay as well as getting tax information together and sorted out so I can do the FAFSA (Free Application for Student Aid) done before my daughter has my head...the suggested deadline is Feb. 14...not that it matters much as we don't qualify, but every year until she graduates, I have to do this....which means that I do a preliminary tax prep before our tax guy finishes...or actually starts. I also managed to finish quilting one of my quilts for the SAQA exhibition.

So...when my "in-box" included a rose catalog from Spring Hill Nurseries in Tipp City, Ohio (the next town south of me), my finger hovered over the "delete" button....Roses are so seductive....and my garden is home to several, although last winter killed "Hot Chocolate" and a couple of others....and I admit I may "shovel prune" a couple which haven't lived up to the hype....Roses are...well....seductive. That wonderful scent...those soft, velvety flowers (no matter how trite, velvety is the best descriptor).

They're also damnable flowers...favored food for Japanese beetles, they are also water hogs and prone to black spot in our weather which often includes damp nights. They cry out for fertilizer, and must be deadheaded to provide the best bloom.

But how I lust after the likes of "Twilight" (offered by Spring Hill). I favor yellowy-orangey tones...and especially those which have scent...like "About Face" as seen here.

I am happiest, though, with my David Austins. They tend to be really hardy, and I buy ones which are multiple bloomers...Munstead Wood seen here really wants to find a spot in my garden....

But....I'm trying to cut back on my gardening as I don't know what treatment I will have this summer and my body is just failing me...I must not succumb, but fight off the urge to order this one....

Simplify! No more Japanese Beetles! No more getting shredded by thorns! No more black spot...but....ohhhhh the scent!

Yes, I have swiped the photographs from the catalogs..so I hope you will go visit the sites....

This one, however, is my own. :)

Enjoy the interlude...

Art Quilt Trees: Becky Goodwin

2012-01-29T20:57:00.000-08:00

Here's Becky Goodwin and her tree "blank" for the Round Robin. Becky's was really neat because everyone reacted to it in the same way.....We saw an acacia tree in Africa....

The background is a brown batik ....

When we were passing these around, the person who started the piece had to leave the room....they were kept in boxes , and we discovered we had to add paper to some of the boxes so you couldn't peep in and see your piece before "the reveal."

Here's Becky and her sister Jo Heffner as Becky looks at her piece for the first time in a year.

This turned out to be one of the best ones. Linnette Vagedes added the eagle---and her husband and she kept on moving the eagle around the piece before it was positioned here. She made it so that the wing would flip out and be dimensional.

Loraine Smith added the hut, which also had dimensions....I think...I don't remember who added the one lady with the burden...I think it was Ruth Treon who added the path as well. Then the second lady was added by someone else...

The stamped giraffe in the background was really neat...as was the dimensional "bush" at the far right (Gwen Brown's addition?)....Jo Heffner made the really cool mask....in a really creative way. She took a plastic baby spoon and cut the handle off..her husband smoothed it out for her. She then made paper mache out of shredded paper to make the dimension of the mask. covering it with fabric. She then painted the face marks on with paint pens as the fine elements of the mask were not noticeable unless you increased the contrast.

I'm really glad that they had the journals which accompanied this because I sure as heck can't remember who did what!
Well done!

A Tree in the Batty Binder's Art Quilt Forest: Jo Heffner

2012-01-28T20:21:00.000-08:00

As I mentioned in my post from earlier this week, the art quilt subgroup (Twisted Stitchers) of the Batty Binder's Quilt Guild in Troy did an exchange this last year. The process is commonly called a "Round Robin". Each person in the group made a basic quilt (usually in a traditional guild it is a block), then, they pass off the quilt to the next person who adds something. After passing through the entire group, the piece returns to the originator to finish it.

In the case of the Batty Binders, each "turn" of the round robin was to be drawn from the theme of the chapters in Jane D'Avila and Elin Waterston's Art Quilt Workbook.

Here, you see Jo Heffner's "blank." All of the quilts were to have a tree motif. Jo was quite clever and shows her traditional roots by piecing the sky. You can see what a great job she did at shifting the colors and texture to give it more interest. Oh...and all of the quilts were supposed to be around 11" x 14".

Here's what Jo got back. The first person to add something was Becky Goodwin who added the paper pieced flying geese swath which is just gorgeous in real life. She used iridescent fabric and I think (if I remember correctly) batik for the points. Susan Pickrell added felted leaves embellished with beads....she got carried away with the felting and I love the whimsical feel the addition gives the piece. Gwen added the "creative piecing" element with the kite....and I can't remember if she also added the girl or if Ruth Treon added that. I think...but I can't swear to it, that Linnette Vagedes added the squirrel and the dragonfly....

I'm going to have to rely on the group to chime in and straighten me out....The owner's are lucky as they sent a blank notebook around with their work and as each person worked on it, they added their thoughts and reasons for adding what they did....in addition to exactly what they added and the date. They also took a picture of what it looked like when they were done with it so that the originator could see it "grow."

I didn't participate, largely because I had only had two courses of chemo therapy under my belt at the time and I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to complete it even in the 2 months that everyone had to work on them...I think I made a wise choice because my hands just don't work like they once did and I find it interesting to say the least as I re-learn how to quilt with my hands just not going like they once did. Practice will make perfect. In addition, in about June of this year, I began to have vision problems which progressed...

More than enough on my plate....

2012-01-27T21:06:00.000-08:00

I have been quilting my little fingers off...well, not really...as I have been machine quilting, and I do remember when I hand quilted most of my quilts when I was trying to meet a deadline, my fingers would be so sore...and cramped...this doesn't happen as much with machine quilting...

I've been trying to get some work done to submit for the Studio Art Quilt Associates Ohio Regional show. I have to have them done and photographed for submittal by Feb. 6...

I'm still having trouble with my hands...not controlling the work quite as well, but it is getting better.....too bad I'm thread painting these and doing a lot of heavy quilting. I've done a lot better in my life, but at least I'm doing two and if one isn't good enough, then I won't submit it. Kind of a pain because both were painted well...I might just have to do some "unsewing".

I've also been trying to list stuff on eBay to get it out of the house as I'm having one of my "I'm overstuffed" times, and of course, the wage statements came in so now I HAVE to do the taxes so I can submit the FAFSA applications...which is silly because I know that we won't get anything, but it must be done.

Half of my sewing room is in the living room, my office looks like ebay is happening in it...and I'm not liking it....And yes...in my typical fashion I also am doing (or attempting to do) Elizabeth Barton's class on quiltuniversity.... Sometimes, I'm a real dope and I usually think I can handle it....silly me....

And the Winner is.......

2012-01-25T20:45:00.000-08:00

Roof and cupola at the Dairy Barn, Athens, OH

I couldn't find a picture in my files which showed the proper amount of blues....so instead, I decided I'd put up a shot I took of the cupola on the Dairy Barn in Athens, Ohio, home to Quilt National. I thought this was somewhat appropriate since many of the artists illustrated in Art Quilt Masters volume 2 have exhibited there.

So...I thought it was particularly amusing....the winner had this to say:

Not being a person who wins contests, I don't expect anything this time but I am sure it is a book well worth having.

Well, Madeline, your winning streak has started...you just won this contest! Just email me through the blog with your mailing address and I'll get the copy in the mail to you.

And the blues? Well, they are sort of still there....you see, it wasn't the weather, it was that my husband lost his job unexpectedly last Monday....and since I'm still in treatment for active Stage IV cancer, this was NOT something which we needed....

However, I guess karma does work to some extent....he has a telephone interview tomorrow. Wish him luck!

Now...off to bed to get some sleep before going back to doing threadwork on a piece I hope to enter in the SAQA regional show...but I have to get it done and soon!

A Forest of Art Quilt Trees

2012-01-24T22:05:00.000-08:00

My local quilt guild, the Batty Binders, has a small subgroup of women interested in art quilting. Since we had a group of machine quilters called "Stitching Sisters", I dubbed our merry little group of artists the "Twisted Stitchers." Not terribly original, but the really fun ones had been taken by other groups.

The group tends to be interested in trying new techniques. Together, they worked through Jane D'Avila and Elin Waterston's "Art Quilt Workbook." Then, they decided to do an art quilt "round robin." A round robin is where one person starts a quilt, then passes it on to another who adds something and passes it on to the next person until the entire group has had an opportunity to add something.

In our case, each of the participants made a small quilt, roughly 9 x 14 which had a tree on it. I didn't participate because I had enough unfinished things on my plate and I didn't want to commit to this not knowing how I would be feeling since I was just beginning chemotherapy.

So....I was the only one in the group who had seen them all through all stages of the process.

They're pretty fun, and over the next while I'll be interspersing these and talking about them. I'm fighting the computer tonight and it's a little late....I want to pull up the beginning piece and then show you the end piece. Each of the quilters put their pieces in a box along with a journal for everyone to write down what they were thinking while they made the piece and why they added what they did. They also included a camera to take a picture of the quilt as it went through it's various transformations.

Have you Ever Had a Benign Breast Biopsy?

2012-01-24T21:26:00.000-08:00

Ok..so this is my blog and usually I talk about other things....but a many of you may know, I was diagnosed with Stage IV breast cancer in Dec. 1997, when I was 37 years old...my second bout of cancer. I was living with No Evidence of Disease until 2010 when I discovered it was in LOTS of places and I'm still fighting it. Try to promote studies which might provide a cure or methodology to prevent breast cancer....because as a stage IV Metavivor, I will have a shortened life....I don't want any more people to die from this. I don't want any more people to have to struggle with it. Stage V? There is no stage V unless, I suppose, you call it death.

So.... The Army of Women is doing another study, this time for women who have had a benign breast biopsy. (Why not men too, I don't know ....men get breast cancer too!) Here's the scoop:

Alongside the research team at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, the Army of Women has just launched Phase 2 of the Discovery of Early Markers of Breast Cancer Study to investigate whether the amount of DNA damage seen in the cells of normal breast tissue might indicate future breast cancer risk. They’ve already collected data and tissue samples from women who had a benign biopsy but then went on to develop breast cancer.

NOW, they need women who had a benign breast biopsy but did NOT go on to develop breast cancer!

For more information on this new study, please visit: http://blog.armyofwomen.org/2012/01/ever-have-a-breast-biopsy/.

So, if you fall into this category, please check it out and consider participating.

Winter Gift Exchange from Miami Valley Art Quilt Network

2012-01-22T20:34:00.000-08:00

It's been kind of a busy weekend....although I don't think my husband quite understands what I do all day even though he's been home with me for the week.

Yesterday was the Miami Valley Art Quilt Network's winter gathering. We used to hold a holiday party in December until we realized that life was just too busy then and we decided to hold it on our regular meeting day in January.

As part of our tradition, we make small quilts to exchange. They can be post card sized, like Ann Diller's snowflake card here, or much larger, but most are usually no bigger than about 10" x 15".

I really think that Ann did a cute thing with her "Stamp" and signature. We never know who is going to end up with our handiwork as we usually use some distribution game. I didn't make one this year because I have been working on some pieces for the Studio Art Quilt Associates OH Regional show, plus spending A WHALE OF A LOT of time working on the exercises for Elizabeth Barton's "Inspired to Design" class on Quilt University. Once again, I'm frustrated as I am not able to draw as I once did...maddening.

I've also been freezing to death....even though our winter has been warmer than usual and today was in the lower 40s. I think that the numbness in my feet makes them feel really cold.

At any rate, that's why I decided to share the two "cold pieces" with you today. This one is Sue DeSantis' Snowflake. I'm sorry these are a little blurry...something seems ot be happening to my little Sony Cyber-shot....but it is odd that the quilt is a little blurry, but on both of them, the piano bench is in great focus.

Don't forget, if you want a chance to win the copy of Art Quilt Master's Volume 2, go to my blog post for Jan. 18 and leave a comment before 11:00 pm EST Wednesday, Jan. 25th. One comment to a person please....

Doing the Work

2012-01-19T20:30:00.000-08:00

Because I admire Elizabeth Barton's work and her blog, I decided to take her class "Inspired to Design" on Quilt University (an online resource).

The most important thing, to my mind, is to do the work. She was having us take photographs that we liked, and trace the images (rather than draw them free hand) and crop them....I've been doing this. Lots.

I'm not happy with any of them. I keep on reminding myself something that the wise Vivien Zepf said to me....when a child is drawing, he makes picture after picture after picture...some of them are good, most of them aren't...but it doesn't matter.

I have to admit....my enjoyment level is way down...as in non-existant...I'm working, but so far I don't see anything I like....even the photographs I DO like....I don't like what they're turning into....

She had us crop pieces and then put them together as a 4-patch.....here is the detail I took out of this one....this is an elevator at a quarry nearby.....similar to the grain elevators, but not. One of the odd things is that there is a tree growing in the roof on the opposite side! I don't know if it is still in use....the quarry, however, is going great guns.

The drawings? BLECH.

Don't forget, you have until Jan. 25th at 11:00 EST to leave a comment on my Master's Art Quilts post in order to be included in the drawing for the book....one comment per person please....I actually have deleted some which were dups. The post is yesterday's post...Jan. 18.

Blog Giveaway! Masters Art Quilts Vol. 2

2012-01-18T12:31:00.000-08:00

This whole week, I've been hit by a bad case of the blues....being sideswiped by something which I never thought would happen ....I've been feeling so "yuck" about it (and scared and worried--and no, it doesn't directly relate to my health), I decided it was time to do something good for someone else.

You see, I often find that the best pick me up is to do something for someone else....maybe that's the real reason for Karma....but I find that it is pretty much instantaneous, not something I'm going to find out in a future life...or maybe I will...

Back in December, I got a copy of Master's Art Quilts Vol 2 sent to me to review by Lark Books.....but I had already enthusiastically reviewed it on Sept. 7, 2011 soon after it was released. I enjoyed it then....so much so that I ordered a copy to be sent to a friend of mine in Connecticut. I really enjoyed this copy and was happy to add it to my collection of art books. I also find it useful to show friends when I want to make a point about art quilting. It's especially wonderful because it has quilts from people you haven't necessarily heard of as many of the artists are from overseas.

While I wrote a review, I think Elizabeth Barton wrote the best review of this particular volume. You can read it here. Of course, I think very highly of Elizabeth Barton anyway, but this is truly insightful and well written. I have to say, Elizabeth Barton intimidates me in every possible way! She's just that good.

But (not surprisingly) I digress. So....if you leave a comment here, I will have random number generator pick a number on January 25th and will contact the person through my blog to get the shipping information. Yes, this is a brand new book...never read...just supplied by Lark Books. :) One comment per customer please.

So, good luck!

P.S. Since someone here put a comment linked to an "album" which was actually a website selling stuff....heres fair warning: If you use a comment to redirect or sell something to one of my readers without MY permission or a resource that I have reviewed ON MY BLOG , your comment will be deleted. If you have an online-store, leave a comment with your PERSONAL link, NOT your website as I consider this a Hijacking. lbq 1/23/2012

Maude Haeger's Quilted Sarcophagi

2012-01-08T20:42:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, I hosted a SAQA OH regional parlor meeting in Piqua, Ohio at Hartzell Propeller. Hartzell graciously allows employees to reserve space for free for various activities and their "All Hands Room" is a wonderful space.

It was a busy day, with a panel discussion on quilting with Longarm, Mid-arm, and domestic sewing machines on movable platforms (thanks to Sue DeSantis, Chris Landis, Mindy Marik, Loraine Smith, Beth Schillig, and Deb Bentley who shared their observations and experiences) as well as writing artist statements (Maxine Thomas, presenter), filling out on-line exhibition applications, and of course lunch (pot luck) and show and tell. Members of the Batty Binders art quilt group and Miami Valley Art Quilt Network attended, and I asked Maude Haeger to come as well.

You may recall Maude's work from my discussion on the Aullwood Show. I met Maude through this and was very impressed with her work. At left is Maude (Kathryn) and her beautiful quilted containers.

Maude has made several of these. One of the first ones she made she made as a receptical for a friend's ashes. The friend lived with Maude for a while and when it was obvious she was dying, Maude made this container. She included her friend's favorite colors, and took an outline of her son's hand and appliqued it into the top of the box so that the child's hand would always be in contact with his mother. Here, you can see the underside of one of the lids.

Maude finishes the pieces exquisitely. Here, she's turned one inside out and you can see one of her signature "crowns" (New York Beauty).

It's not easy to make a three dimensional quilted piece, and certainly not one which is finished on all surfaces like Maude's work is....really cool!

Three Kings Day

2012-01-06T19:56:00.000-08:00

Today is the Feast of the Epiphany, also known as twelfth night, or three kings day. Traditionally, it ends the Christmas season and recognizes the day that the Three Wisemen, or the Magi or the Three Kings, reached the manger to worship the Christ Child.

As a child in Cuba, my husband didn't receive gifts on Christmas, instead, they appeared on Three Kings Day. When he came to the United States in the late 1960s, his family switched over to the American traditions.

In recognition of his Cuban Heritage, I always tried to serve Cuban foods on Three Kings Day and I saved out a couple of gifts for my daughter to open then as well. In our house, Christmas decorations and lights stay up until the 6th and then they are taken down as I am able to get to them soon after.

I was amused a little while ago when I looked at the nativity set. I don't know who is responsible, my daughter or my husband....but I suspect my daughter. Here, you see a ceramic Santa from the early 1960s which was part of my childhood Christmas decorations also worshiping Jesus....just to his right (the left of the picture) are the Three Kings. Somehow it looks like Joseph is talking to Old St. Nick.....

Del Thomas: The Art Quilter's Friend

2012-01-05T19:24:00.000-08:00

I have wanted to put this post up for a while....but, life around here has been really nutty....something like this little quilted postcard, whose title is "Which Ball????"

Del Thomas made and donated this little piece to the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative this last summer. In response to her mother's battle with Alzheimer's, Ami Simms hosts a benefit auction of quilts the first 10 days of each month. You can learn more about this here.

In late June, I happened to see this and decided that I would buy it for a variety of reasons: Del uses mostly printed fabrics, and I have a fat quarter of the background fabric which is actually a line developed for Halloween...and I think it is yummy. I loved the movement and exuberance this little piece portrayed as well as the fact that I am often faced with the same problem...so many opportunities! Which ball should I chase? I also thought that as I would be finishing my (what I then thought would be) last chemotherapy treatment I deserved a little gift to myself. The fact that it benefited Alzheimer's, which claimed my grandfather's wonderful intellect and makes my mother afraid that she too will go down that path, made it special as well....but most special of all, Del Thomas made it.

Del is a remarkable woman and it comes through in all that she does. Mind you, I've never met Del in person, but the wonders of the internet have blessed me with connecting us. I have followed her blog, and she mine. We have corresponded, and I am grateful for all that she has done for the art quilt (and quilt world in general).

Del has lived in California for slightly longer than I have been alive, and she's been quilting for over 60 years since she was very young....something we both have in common as I started quilting when I was 12. However, succumbed to the illness at about the same time...in the late 1970s for Del, in the early 1980s for me.

Del, however, has done far more with her quilting than I ever hope to. She has had her pieces appear in books, magazines, calendars, and many big shows. She donates pieces like this postcard to a variety of fundraising events, including Virginia Spiegal's sales for fighting cancer., which bears witness to Del's generous spirit.

Her generosity doesn't stop there. Del supports quilting by collecting art quilts. The Thomas Collection of Contemporary Quilts supports art quilters through her purchase of works as well as the fact that she generously shares them in shows and on her blog, and through taking them around and lecturing about them.

Del's eye is discerning and her collection fabulous. As an example, just take a look at this piece. Her collection includes pieces from many of my favorite quilters.

I have been following the work of a group of twelve quilt artists "The Twelve". I loved their book, "Twelve by Twelve" and I admit, I am a little jealous at the connections and mutual inspiration and "pushes" that the artists had. I looked at the pieces in the book and though, "OH, How I'd love to see these pieces in person." Then, I had great news. Del Thomas has underwritten the cost of the exhibition of works by the "Twelves" at Houston, and they will also be coming to Cincinnati at the International Quilt Festival there in April (which I plan on attending) . I gasped as I knew how much this would cost....sponsorships of exhibitions at I.Q.F. do not come cheaply. I had contacted them about the possibility of the Miami Valley Art Quilt Network showing our Dayton Landmark quilts there and was stunned....

So, Del, thanks so much. I am grateful for so many things you do and who you are. I will cherish my little postcard, and although the dog is red, and not white, I'll think of Corky every time I look at it.

Please join me in giving Del the kudos she so richly deserves.

The New Year

2012-01-01T20:38:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I find myself in the thick of family things....especially between Christmas and New Years. Daughter being home from her first quarter at college was a new experience and one which surprised me. My husband is always home between Christmas and New Years, and this year he started to paint the master bedroom. I've had the paint since we bought the house in 2005.

My priority was to get the sewing room emptied so that it could be painted and new flooring put down. Presently, it is carpet....and twice someone shut Luna the wonder husky in there and she dug at the carpet to get out....so several times I have tripped going into the room over the ripped up carpet. We've had the laminate purchased and waiting to go in for 2 years.

Emptying the sewing room is a major undertaking....I haven't been able to work in there because it is such a mess and now, I'm spending the time emptying it when I should be happily SEWING in it....I need to get some pieces done to submit for the SAQA show...

I've also been working on decluttering....the piece you see above is a Valley Vista hostess set...for relishes, etc. I'm putting it up on eBay tomorrow....But, true to form, I'm doing many things at once...and going to doctors and stressing over the pains I have been having isn't good.

Some things are just going to be put by the wayside. For instance, I'm dropping out of the Sketchbook project. I joined it last year and tried (unsuccessfully) to do a drawing a day. I wanted to improve my sketching abilities and I thought this was just the thing . The problem was, it became a chore....in addition, I don't usually sketch out my quilts. I make a drawing and I dive in...there's not a lot of thumbnails, or elements. I dive in, do the drawing, ,tweak when necessary as I go along. The Sketchbook Project just began to make me feel like I wasn't productive, disciplined, and it wasn't helpful to my psyche or my artistic ability. Maybe another time....but not now. I really laughed when I read Vivien Zepf's article in the SAQA journal about this...once again, it looks like we are twins separated at birth.

Last year, I selected the word "be" for my word of the year. That was a good one. I managed to survive....through a lot....and hopefully I will continue to "be" for many years to come....although the fact that the cancer is spreading isn't a good omen. Hopefully, I'll have some good news soon, or at least be put on another drug which will nail this sucker again for some more time. I figure heck, if my dad can survive 3 heart attacks, the first one at age 50, and still be around at 89 (he'll be 90 in February)...just maybe I can hang in there as well.....

So...a word for this year. Maybe it is Live...maybe it is Persevere....hmmm. Suggestions?

May your new year be full of good things....

Fortunate Food

2011-12-31T19:55:00.000-08:00

An odd title, don't you think? Perhaps a better one would be "Food for the New Year." Every year's end, I start thinking about various cultures traditions for ensuring good luck in the new year. Of course the first one which pops into my head is the southern tradition of eating collards and hoppin john. I don't know why...perhaps it is because although I love most legumes...about the only one I can't abide is....black eyed peas. Their earthy taste puts me off, which always amuses me because I love beets, which also have an earthy taste. In addition, of all the various greens, collards are my second to least favorite, kale being the other....for the same reason, unless you cook them to death, they tend to be a bit tough.

You might also be wondering why I don't have a photo to start this off....well...its because the photo I took wasn't very appealing. You see, my husband, who at one point was a vegetarian, adores sausage. Sausage of all sorts....and that was the one thing which could sway him to eat animal protein when I was dating him. That was when we lived in Connecticut...now, we live in western Ohio....and it is debatable as to whether or not we are southern Ohio or not... This particular part of terra firma has its roots planted deeply in Germany....which is why names like Huels, Schellenbarger, Miller, Schmiedebusch, and others are common. Thus, my dear husband is in brat and wurst heaven. The next town over has a pretty good little grocery store which has great meats....and Carlos discovered their home-made sausages...and brought home brats.

These are mild pork sausages. Today he was getting ready to go to the store and he asked if I wanted anything....I told him to pick up some cabbage or short of that, sauerkraut. He had a strange look on his face and he said "the butcher asked if I needed sauerkraut with it and told me where it was, just below the meat case." I laughed, you see the German tradition is to eat pork and kraut, or pork and cabbage...hence the brats. I would have preferred to braise the brats in beer and cook it with red cabbage.

Since Carlos has been doing a lot of the grocery shopping as I often hurt too badly when walking on hard surfaces for any length of time, he made the choice. He came in and looked at me and said "You wouldn't believe it! There was a lady who was filling a huge tub with packages of sauerkraut and people were emptying it as fast as she could fill it up." Evidently, he didn't pay any attention to the cultural lecture I gave him before shipping him out the door.

I cooked them with caramelized onions, apple, and the kraut...I didn't want to waste a beer on it...all we had was the really good stuff, and if I'm cooking, well, usually a commercial beer will do. This meal, however, is classified as what I call a "white meal," one without greens and one which well, isn't very appetizing to look at, at least not in my book. I think of all of my northern European ancestors who ate "white meals" as potatoes, sauerkraut and other pickled vegetables were what helped get them through the long winters.

One of the other memories I have is of the Cubans at the Cuban club devouring 12 seeded red grapes as fast as they could before the clock finished striking midnight, the Hispanic method of ensuring prosperity in the new year. It stayed with me because of the contrast of the elegantly dressed ladies cramming the grapes in their mouths and gobbling them as fast as they could...

Of course, I had to laugh...Carlos bought shrimp and champagne, and a cherry pie for me.....but, he has sat down in the magic chair...a leather arm chair...and promptly fell asleep. So, I'm here with you while he sleeps, and I'll shortly retire, long before the stroke of midnight. I'll worry a bit about my daughter who is out with friends, and then fall asleep...hoping that this coming year will bring health, prosperity, and peace for all.

Comfort and Joy

2011-12-24T20:26:00.000-08:00

I come from a singing family. My father, mother, brother and sister all sang. I remember nights of singing together, and of course filling the pews at the 11:00 pm Christmas Eve service. On year, when I was visiting my sister who was then married and living in the upper peninsula of Michigan, all of us were together and of course sat in two pews all together. We all read music and sang in parts. When we were getting ready to leave, a man in front of us turned and told us we had beautiful voices and it was a pleasure to sit near us.

Christmas eve always meant going to church. For our evening meal, we would eat potato soup, which was as close as my father would come to the traditional oyster stew my mother grew up with. Then, there was the waiting until we would all pack up and go to the church service. Sometimes afterward we would drive around looking at the Christmas lights.

When I was single and was in Middletown, Connecticut, if I was home, I would join my fellow choristers and sing the services there. Later, when I was a member of the St. Andrew's Episcopal Church choir in Meriden, it was a rigorous set of services with rather demanding music. As one of 3 or 4 altos, depending on who was there, it was pretty important to be there. Of course my penchant for getting strep throat annoyed our choir director to no end. I can't think of any of the services I have attended through the years which didn't end the same way...the lighting of candles while we all sang "Silent Night."

Truth be told....my family isn't too thrilled with potato soup...but they humored me tonight, largely because there wasn't much in the larder. Since we've been living in Troy, we have been going to the 9:00 service. It was as good as usual...and I must admit, it left me missing my brother, sister, and parents. I'm lucky that all are still living....as well as being lucky I am still alive myself.

Memories are funny things. While they bring us comfort, there's also an element of sadness that these times have gone and only exist in our own heads. For some memories it would be best to banish them far away, but our brains don't seem to let us do that easily. It takes a lot of work.

So, since we've been covering joy....I thought it would be nice to consider what brings us comfort. Needless to say, many of those things that bring us joy, comfort us as well. The love of our pets, our families, and our friends. Some comforts are physical, such as Sue's warm bath and warm blankets and I dare say a number of my friends said chocolate.

Ian surprised me and said that people who keep smiling through adversity comfort him, and Chris said people who have open souls. Those ARE a rarity and a joy as well when you find them.

I know that people all over the world do not have warm blankets, loving families, or many good memories. I know that many do not have full bellies. I do what I can, which seems dismally inadequate, but if we all did the same, then it would make a huge difference.

And so, my dear readers, I pray that this year will bring you comfort and joy in abundance. May a light shine in your soul and bring you peace every day...not just during whatever holiday you observe at this time of year. Merry Christmas.

P.S. The Christmas ornament you see above presently hangs on my tree....and is one which we used when I was growing up probably from about 1963 on...at least that's the earliest I remember it.

An Abundance of Joy!

2011-12-23T21:21:00.000-08:00

So, tonight I'm bringing you more thoughts on joy....maybe just for a moment, you can take a breath and enjoy these things.

Several of my friends said that their pets bring them joy....(of course, they can also bring consternation!).

One thing which brings me joy is home-made items...I love them. This year, I was fortunate to receive two home-made Christmas cards. I really appreciate the time that each of my friends put into making these. The top one is from Joan Sterr, a member of the Miami Valley Art Quilt Network.

This one is one Carol Magato, a gardening friend who lives across the way and has her own business making memory bears.

If you have been a reader for a while, you might recognize Joan's name as she makes delightful quilts and last year made me a clever Christmas card as well. I wrote about it here.

For me, lots of things bring me joy. Sometimes I think I'm a tad simple because I laugh at so many things, and get pleasure from such small things. Laughing is one of my favorite things to do...

Joy can come in the light in a barn, shining golden with fairy dust flitting through in the cracks. The long light in the morning and just before sunset...sunlight breaking through dark, heavy clouds...making long beams that I used to think of as angel slides.

I find joy in learning, and in lecturing. I find joy in my family...yes, even my family of origin....or perhaps especially my family of origin. Being with friends....quilting (especially hand piecing). Sun on water, the sweetness of the Great Lakes. Hoar frost. Sandhill cranes flying south. A warm bed. Sugar cookies. A dog's adoring eyes, and even better....training a dog so that it obeys with hand signals. The smell of leaves. A baby's skin. An old lady's wrinkled cheek. A cat who loves you. A pastellito and a cup of coffee while sitting near the ocean. Praying mantis in my garden. A lily freshly opened. Singing. A warm breeze. Warm rain. A huge moon. The Milky Way as seen from the Upper Peninsula in Michigan or another place where light pollution isn't evident'. Moonlight on the snow. . Cut Bank Creek. The colors turquoise, cobalt blue and scarlet. When my daughter says I've made an awesome meal

I have always loved the surge of power when I ride my road bike, and the rush when you're flying down a trail side on a mountain bike making decisions quickly. At one time, I was indeed a bicycling speed merchant.

There's a lot that brings me joy. For now, I'll leave you with what Joan wrote on the inside of her card.....and consider it applying to you as you read it.

A Christmas Blessing

May your presents be tall,

And your troubles be small.

May you get all the blessings you need.

May your art fill your soul,

And fun play a role.

May you have everything you need to succeed.

Brooke Atherton: Controlled Burns and Winter Solstice

2011-12-22T21:22:00.000-08:00

Tonight, Brooke Atherton hosted a winter solstice program at the Yellowstone Art Museum (YAM) in Billings, Montana. I wrote about the event earlier this week.

Brooke has been an artist in residence at YAM for the last year. As an artist in residence, she works in a studio and talks with visitors, often art groups and college art students. Brooke uses all sorts of fabrics and found objects in her fiber art, heavily stitching and trapping objects and bits of fabric which in some cases she's altered by controlled burns and distortions. She gathers a lot of her fabrics from various places, a lot of it salvaged. She is prone to layering and burning or melting pieces away.

She has also been burning fibers by using a Japanese Shibori dying technique called "arashi", or pole wrapping. In arashi shibori, fabric is wrapped diagonally around a pole, traditionally a polished wooden one, then bound with string and ultimately scrunched down once the string has been tightly wrapped around it.

Here you can see how Brooke has applied this to her burning. The fabric is bound as for traditional Shibori dyeing, but instead, she uses a gas or natural wood flame to scorch and burn the fibers.

The next photo shows what some of the pieces look like once the string has been cut and the lines are revealed.

Brooke had this to say of her methods: " I love the way the fabrics capture directly the marks of a natural force, and it is, of course, insanely fun to do. I use this a lot for borders—the strips of burned fabric are Misty Fused and stitched onto the edges of my canvases. I put a lot of thought into how to end my work, how to transition from the work to a wall or floor, and this gives an interesting, soft line between one and the other (meaning the work and the wall). "

Many of Brooke's pieces are large installations which cascade down a wall, onto pillars before ultimately spilling onto the floor.

It was from describing her technique to these visitors that Brooke got the idea for having the winter solstice observance called "Ignite!" Which was held tonight at 6:00 mountain time. In many cultures, the longest night of the year is observed with bonfires. Not only is the and warmth of the fires seen to drive evil and negative forces away, but also as a symbol of hope and the potential for rebirth. It is, in the winter, an affirmation that the days will grow longer, spring will come, and the cycle will start all over again.

Fire is also seen as a cleansing agent, and Brooke asked participants to write things that they wanted to put behind them, or bring things which were emblematic of things they wanted to end with them and to put them into the flames. I sent her a small quilt with a crab...(indicating how much I want to get rid of the cancer in my body).

"Like a lot of fiber artists, I use candles and a soldering iron for other effects. My doctor always asks me what I’ve been burning recently, and one time he disappeared for a few minutes. He came back handed me something, and said he’d like to see what I did with it. And in demos, you can always tell who the guys in the room are who have had vasectomies, because they start laughing when they see the cauterizing tool he gave me. The materials I burn are mostly natural fibers—cotton, linen, silk, paper, but I’ve also had good results with Tyvek and polyesters. The manufactured materials are dangerous to work with, though, and if I work with them I do it carefully, outside, and not over a full flame—just enough warmth to shape them, not burn them. I cannot stress enough how dangerous these things are; our burn permit is for natural fibers only. I am looking forward, if there is no wind, to using gunpowder."

Gunpowder....I would have liked to have seen that!

The various layers, combined with hand and machine stitches and bits of this and that give her pieces incredible complexity but is based on the simplest of elements. To me, her pieces have a luminous quality and a voice which just sings....They are evocative of decay and yet have elements of growth and rebirth.

Brooke also has an amazing way with color. Yes, I'm a Brooke Atherton groupie. One of these days I hope to get back to Montana and maybe swing down and visit her, but Billings is a long way from Cut Bank.

I had hoped to participate in the event here in Ohio at the same time they were burning the things in Billings...to that end, I prepared my own arashi pole....only to have it pouring down rain when I went to go outside and burn it.....So, mine will have to wait until tomorrow when the deluge stops....as I hope it will.

Brooke is the Studio Art Quilt Associate (SAQA) regional representative for Montana and Idaho.

Yet more Joy!

2011-12-20T21:48:00.000-08:00

When queried about what brought them joy, many, if not most, of my friends responded that their husbands or family brought them joy....one of my husband's relatives said this picture of the two of us....although, if it hadn't been for my recent battles with cancer (and my not so recent battles....) maybe he wouldn't have said this....never the less, it is an illustration for the point.

However, not everyone is lucky enough to have families which bring them joy....even so, we can certainly find joy in having friends.

My friend Chris had some very wise words to share..."waking up in the morning. Every day has the potential to bring Joy in the most unexpected way. Today, seeing my grandson's smiling face in the video chat on Facebook. Yesterday: laughing with the women so important to my life."

Those women that Chris referenced is a group of us brought together by change, through a common love of quilting. We get together weekly to sew, and gab...and share lunch together. We meet at the business office of one of our members, and we always have a good time. Sometimes we even get some sewing done.

So, here's hoping you find some joy in waking up tomorrow....you never know what wonders will unfold if you look for them.

Even More Joy!

2011-12-18T19:41:00.000-08:00

So, I'm continuing with things that bring joy. In my Facebook query, as you may have gathered from my two previous joy posts.

Iris Karp who is a delightful person as well as being the Queen of Mistyfuse named several of my favorites. Iris wrote: I don't always know. But it is usually something simple, something small. Maybe meeting a challenge or a problem solving, learning something, following through on almost anything; helping something to make something happen for someone else. Many of my joyful moments center around cooking---it might be coming up with a new recipe or pulling together dinner from scratch and almost out of the air in under 20 minutes that['s good enough to be a "company" dinner. Learning something that challenges me--could be anything from a new-to-me technique in an Adobe Creative Suite all the way to reading legal cases and learning how it all works. Oh. . . and putting together perfectly...furniture from Ikea."

For those of you who know me "for real" will also know how much I love to laugh. So, in the spirit of sharing, here's a rendition of Jingle Bells which made me laugh out loud as well as several of my FB friends. This is my ex-next door neighbor and a friend with thanks to Michael Buble.

Ignite! Winter Solstice Program

2011-12-17T19:23:00.000-08:00

Last weekend, I got an email from Brooke Atherton telling me about a program she is doing and asking if I wanted to participate "from afar."

Brooke is a quilter I've "met" by chance...I saw one of her pieces at the NQA quilt show in Columbus and contacted her to review it here. I love Brooke's work because it is very textural...in some ways its simple....but at the same time complex. Here are a couple of pieces she has on line, completed for the Salvaged Threads show in 2009. Brooke is also the Yellowstone Art Museum artist-in-residence.

Brooke is hosting a special winter solstice program she's calling "Ignite!" Using an outdoor firepit in the Visible Vault parking lot in Billings, Montana, Brooke is going to demonstrate the controlled charring of fabrics such as she uses in her own pieces... Participants are also invited to bring a small symbol of an event in their lives that they wish to put behind them, and those pieces will be consigned to the flames.

Winter solstice festivals marking the turning point between the decline into darkness and the return of the light have been part of human history for thousands of years. The paradox between fire's beneficial and destructive properties have also marked human culture.

This misshapen piece is one I whipped up and sent out to Brooke today...for some reason, I was bound and determined to make a little quilt (this one is about 8" x 10"). I free cut the crab...but I was watching just the little piece I was working on while the remainder of it dangled in the air and I laughed to see that I really got off track...it's warped, just like bones eaten by cancer get warped. I quilted it with the words "cancer" in several places and then just quilted it over all...I was having fun with it, even though it isn't a piece of art...Obviously, I really want to put cancer behind me....if I can beat it back one more time...I'll be really happy.

The program is free to the public and will begin at 6 p.m. on Thursday, December 22, in the Visible Vault parking lot at 505 North 26th Street in Billings. The program will take place whether it's snowing or not. Wine and beer will be available for purchase. The program will also take place in the Visible Vault Studio, but dress warmly for the outdoors. Participants wishing to work with Brooke to make a symbolic item for the fire should plan to come to the Studio in advance, at 5 p.m.

I'm thinking that if you can't be there...maybe it would be fun to get some of your friends together and do the same....or even just write them on paper and let the new year be clean of regrets, pain, and other things which need to be put aside for happier living.

More Joy.....

2011-12-17T18:53:00.000-08:00

More posts on things to bring you joy....This season can be so fraught with landmines....stresses from work, money (or lack of it), expectations which fall far shorter than what we had envisioned....family which can stress you or family which is far away...funny, it can be that they are either too close or too far...

However, I do think that there are a lot of things to focus on and be grateful for....sometimes if we focus on the little things, the things that bring us joy can help alleviate the stress and even if we aren't stressed or sad, they can bring a smile to your face. So...my gift brought to you with the help of my friends started yesterday....and I'll continue to put in some until I run out or the year does.....Katie, my niece, listed Christmas lights on houses as bringing her joy, so I thought that this was a good image for this post...lights in darkness....

I'm blessed to have many friends who are able to say that their families bring them joy, as well as their husbands. Sometimes, these were relationships which didn't work out so well the first time around....

Mollie wrote: Singing and playing the flute at an orphanage, seeing a Japanese tsunami survivor smile after 8 months, simple things like sitting with my cats early in the morning when no one else is awake..feeling a cool breeze brush my face, the warm sun,breathing, just realizing what a gift every day is and treating it that way friends--real ones, and most importantly the sweetness of knowing I'm loved by God. Whew. . . joy is the life experience beyond myself!

Well said.....

Barb noted some sweet ones: snow on Christmas eve, children's laughter, a Christmas pagent presented by children....

Bringing you Joy

2011-12-16T21:08:00.000-08:00

A while ago, my niece put up a query on Facebook. "Tell me what you love." She got 52 responses, most of which made me smile.

The end of the year is always busy. All of the various holidays to be celebrated as well as the panic when you realize that the end of the year is nigh and there all these things you meant to do and never did. I've been trying to weed out things....and frankly, after listing tons on eBay, etc., I'm just not in the mood to type.

So, I thought I would share with you things which bring Joy, and you can comment and tell me what brings you joy. In the hustle bustle of the season, the bleakness of this time for many, I think we need to focus on joy, if only for just a few moments. So, while I intend to get to that review I've been planning of Lesley Riley's Fabulous Fabric Art with Lutradur and Wendy Cotterilll's Lutradur and the New Fibers: Creating Mixed-Media Art with the New Spunbonded Materials (which I have been thinking about since I purchased the book in January), I'm going to take a break and over the next couple of days, interspersed with the usual things I put here, I'm going to share some of these joyful things.

To start with, Janean, one of my wonderful friends I have had since junior high said her joys are helping others and realizing what amazing friends, family and students she has. She's right. While as we go through life, those friends may change, as we ourselves change, there are always those who are truly remarkable and even if that person has touch you for only a little while, thinking back can always bring you joy....and then there's the joy of reconnecting, which the internet is making all the more possible.

Katie, my neice, shared this: Common grace, a perfectly-turned phrase. The way my bunny tips his head up for a scratch on the nose. When my friends get tood news. Cooking dinner with people I love. Travel plans. Maps. The scent of a house with the windows open. Good conversation. Dogfish 90 Minute IPA. Christmas lights. Winter light. That there is something worth being joyful about every single day.

So, leave a comment with your own joys...and I'll bring you more for tomorrow.

Move over Fairfield, Here Come the Batty Binders

2011-12-12T20:15:00.000-08:00

I am fortunate to be able to quilt with several quilt guilds, but the local one in Troy is called the Batty Binders. Last week was our Christmas gathering. This year, which started in September, they have deemed "the year of giving."

These two tables, and the packages on the floor is what was brought to donate to the Battered Women's Shelter, the Homeless Shelter, the local Food Pantry, and the Animal Shelter.

While it may not look like much, you have to understand that only about 35 women brought all these items, and much of the items for the food pantry were personal hygiene products which don't come cheap.

In addition, there are more blankets for the homeless shelter and Project Linus which are not seen here, nor the 15 dog pillows which Gwen delivered to the animal shelter last week. Several of these piles are actually pajamas...some of which were home made. I'm working on finishing mine. I was really pleased when they announced this as I had cut out three pairs of high quality flannel PJ bottoms for Meg last year before I realized that I had cut them too small. The waste of all that fabric made me sick, but I didn't know what to do with it...so I set them aside. Now, I can finish them and get some t-shirts to go with them and someone will have some nice pjs from my error.

We always have show and tell....and this is a Christmas Tree skirt one of our members made...Gwen, in typical silliness, decided to model it for us....I think our Batty Binder's runway is certainly a challenge to the Fairfield Fashion Show....or maybe not....

Cool Recycled fiber piece

2011-12-10T20:46:00.000-08:00

My quilty friend and former neighbor in Meriden, Connecticut just sent me this really cute fiber pin. The pink backing is just a piece of paper the pin was mounted on...the bird itself is made out of felted sweater wool and the zippers were recycled out of old stuff as well.

I look at designs like this and think "Wow...how did they come up with it?" I don't think I'd ever think of something as clever as this.

And I thought this was Supposed to be Easy.....

2011-12-09T22:07:00.000-08:00

Carillon, left side by Lisa Broberg Quintana, right side by Sue DeSantis

Last week Thursday, Sue DeSantis, Carroll Schleppi and I went to David Lorenz' studio to take the photographs of the "slice" quilts we did for the Dayton Landmarks Project with the Miami Valley Art Quilt Network. Ronnie Doyal took photographs of places in and around Dayton which are familiar landmarks. We divided the photographs giving each quilter a portion of the photograph to interpret in cloth.

Most of them are finished. Since we are waiting for three segments to be done, we decided that we would shoot them as individual slices and then Ronnie showed me how to merge them using Photoshop. I have Photoshop Elements(PSE) 7 loaded on my computer, and had purchased PSE 9 in June but hadn't loaded it because I thought that this computer (c. 2003) was going to die at any minute.....it still might... I had Barbara Brundage's "Missing Manual" for PSE9 so I thought I was in pretty good shape.

Not.

For one thing, I spent hours trying to get PSE9 to load, chatted on line with Adobe techs, and finally called to find out why it wouldn't load. According to the telephone guy, PSE9 has some incompatibility issues with PSE9. So....back to figuring out layers, magic extraction tools, making a blank document and joining the segments.... I decided that I would do Sue DeSantis and my piece on the Carillon in Dayton as it only had 2 segments. Sue had completed hers first, and I did mine second.

Well....I don't like the job I did with PSE7....and I certainly don't like the 18 hours of time it took me to make the join...but I'm hoping that the next segment might work better...You'll notice that I matched the tops OK, but the bottom overlaps and I can't seem the grab that part and move it over..there's only so much that that little hand tool will do for me!

There's nothing so painful as banging ones head up against a desk trying to figure out the method while hearing all the other things I need to do snickering in the background. Harumph.

Carillon, photograph which the above was based on, by Ronnie Doyal

You can find information on Carillon Park in Dayton here.http://www.daytonhistory.org/

Juxtapostion

2011-12-05T20:33:00.000-08:00

I took this picture on October 21, 2011. On the one hand, I was disgusted by the fact that the Christmas trees were up and available to purchase that early. On the other hand, I was amused by the sign which hung merrily over them.

I wonder when they will grow up....

2011-12-04T19:52:00.000-08:00

My daughter is home from college. While she has picked up a part time job, she's bored. So bored, she decorated the Christmas tree the weekend after Thanksgiving.

We were wondering when we set the tree up (an artificial one--a long story behind that as we always cut our own until 2007) if Lemmie at age 3 would have grown out of his habit of climbing up through the middle of the Christmas tree.

The answer is a resounding no. Sometimes you're surprised as you walk by the tree and discover a grey head sticking out among the ornaments. He's also managed to bend some of the branches as he weighs 12 pounds.

I'm also wondering if they have a special class in college which teaches freshmen to act as if their parents have no brains....and all of a sudden, she has become hyper critical of my housekeeping. Although I dusted yesterday, she decided it wasn't good enough and plans to dust again tomorrow. Sigh. If only it weren't accompanied by attitude. I think she's too old for coal and sticks in her stocking.

On Line Quilting Courses and my experience with Pamela Allen

2011-12-03T18:59:00.000-08:00

Back in July, I saw that Pamela Allen was offering an online quilting class. Part of me wondered how in the world one could take an online quilting class, but then, since Pamela titled her class "Think Like an Artist" and said that it would be focusing on design, I thought that it should be fine.

I admire Pamela's work. Go to her website and look at some of her pieces. I love the spontaneity, her use of color and texture. I laugh at the almost cartoon-like abstraction that she uses. Since Pamela doesn't teach in the United States and since I don't think I'm going to be making any trips to Canada soon, I decided I'd sign up.

After all....I was thinking we'd handle a lesson a week. How hard could that be? I was getting my daughter ready to take to her freshman year at college, had to take her to orientation, and was still fatigued from chemo. But hey, it's quilting. How hard could that be?

Ahem. Well....I once again thought I was superwoman, only I seem to have misplaced my cape some where.

It was really hard. In fact, it was so hard that I'm still behind one project, and haven't sewn down and quilted the others.

Pamela does a huge amount of work with her students. We had a good group and several had had classes with Pamela before and so knew what to expect. She showed us examples of what she's talking about, using her own work as examples as well as fine art pieces. We critiqued. Pamela critiqued and used photo editing to show us what she meant....and it was brilliant.

We were not to draw anything. We were to free-cut our fabric and create our pieces. The first work you see here is my self-portrait with our personal symbolism. One of the things that Pamela reminded us about is not to make our pieces trite and cliche...so, instead of holding a cat (I have three...as I am an animal lover, not just cats), I'm holding a Dutch rabbit.....sort of a reference to cousin Maggie's dutch house bunny. The swirl represents my mastectomy....and look at the plant at the side of the composition....can you tell what kind of houseplant it is?

The piece above is another lesson involving personal symbolism. This is my first attempt, what Pamela recieved. I was amused, and sort of surprised, when one of the class members thought it was a salmon run (it's koi or goldfish pond).

This is the first bit that Pamela did to improve the composition....why I didn't think of using it as a landscape orientation which seems so obvious, I don't know. I think it is because the brocade I used had the large gold strip along the side so when I was looking at the yardage I got mentally stuck in how it was "supposed". to go.

This is far preferable to my original work....but Pamela had no idea about the symbolism, and took out the small goose at the foot of the iris.

Obviously, a goose is part of my identity....I've been Michigoose a very long time on the web and of course my blog name and my Amazon store name both bear witness to this.

When I explained this, Pamela lifted a goose from one of her own works which was more monumental and dropped it into my scene. Pretty cool, eh?

I hope to get back and finish these. Was it worth it? In true Michiganese, "You betcha!" In fact, I enjoyed it so much and felt that I learned a lot from it that I have signed up for another course, this time through Quilters University, this time with Elizabeth Barton whose work I also admire....However, I have all intentions of clearing my calendar and concentrating solely upon the class. At least that's the goal.

I think I'll do some more work with Pamela's style...but I don't think I'll stick with it. As much fun as it is, it is Pamela's style, and I have my own style.

Spider....

2011-12-01T20:39:00.000-08:00

Saturday, my neighbor came running over to the house to get me. "Lisa! There's the great spider, and you've got to see it! Dave says you LOVE spiders."

Uh...no. Actually, I don't like them. At all. However, I'm tolerant of them because of the important job they do. They do, however, make my skin crawl. Too many eyes, too many teeth, too many legs...and HAIRY. However, I do appreciate their fantastic colors and the wonderful webs.

This was the specimen that I was told I HAD to see. It's an orb weaver, the ones which make the really cool, very large webs. She is a common yellow garden spider, Argiope aurantia. One of the characteristics of orb weavers is that they tend to hang in their webs head down.

I was a little surprised to see this one this late in the year....Cool colors, cool spider....as long as it stays outside.

For Heaven's Sake...STOP THE CAR!!!!

2011-11-29T18:57:00.000-08:00

One late September day, I drove past a pasture nearby and saw a glorious scene...this red Highland Cow laying in this pasture with the gorgeous periwinkle blooms of chickory and white daisies. I thought to myself, " what a gorgeous shot! I'll get him on my way back."

Only, on the way back, he had moved inside the barn. So, this time, when I saw the light striking off his wonderfully red, shaggy coat, I turned around and came back, parking on the side of the road to take the shot with my little point and shoot. Since there were people in the house yard next to the field, I was hesitant to get too close to the fence or the beastie...and I haven't conquered Photoshop Elements yet so you see the line of the fencing through the shot.

I love to watch the light on things....especially the slanting rays of the early morning or late afternoon sun. The white on these horses seemed to make them glow bluish. The stuff in the front is teasle which long ago escaped from Colonist's gardens who raised it to raise the nap on woolen items. Unfortunately, it is rather invaisive now.

So at any rate...please learn from my first error...stop...turn around...take the shot. While the memory is gorgeous, it is easier to share with a photograph.

The Artomat! A Novel Idea to Sell your Art

2011-11-26T20:25:00.000-08:00

Sara Lynn Walsh's Artomat work

What would you do with an old cigarette vending machine? At our last Miami Valley Art Quilt Network meeting, member Sara Lynn told of a surprising use. Clark Whittington, an installation artist, took a defunct cigarette vending machine and fitted it with boxes to sell his artwork. Originally intended as a temporary exhibition in a local cafe, the idea took off and Whittington started the Artomat organization.

Whittington gets artists to do small pieces of work which fit into a cardboard box he supplies.....the artist decorates the box and returns about 20 boxes with pieces of similar, but not identical work. Whittington loads the vending machines, over 90 active machines, with the artwork. Purchasers pay $5 and pull the knob to drop down their investment in a mini piece of art. The artist receives half of the purchase price. He calls his group "Artists in Cellophane." Please go to the website to see examples of the vending machines and the types of things he does as well as the entire history.

Sara Lynn and the box provided to fill for the Art-o-mat

What a cool idea. The machines are very retro looking and who doesn't like a grab bag? There's something that just makes you want to whip out your money and feed the machine so it can feed your soul.

On the other hand, one wishes that the price could be a tad bit higher...The pieces of art are about the size of an artist trading card. They must be 2 1/8" x 3 1/4" x 7/8" (54mm x 82mm x 21mm) in order to fit into the machine. I don't want to downgrade the art.

It is, a way to get your name out there...and it is a way to get people to take notice. But, does it demean the art? Does it give the concept that the pieces are just throw away?

On the other hand, it is just downright fun. I think, if I can get my head above water, I'll submit some just because I love the concept, and I love the old vending machines.

Sara Lynn is leaving our group and will be going to Winston-Salem to work for Artists-in-Cellophane. She's only been a member of MVAQN for about 2 years, maybe pushing three, but she's really fun and I love her funky ideas. Winston-Salem is such an artistically rich place, I'm sure she'll have a great time. I wish her well. Sara Lynn has an Etsy shop, but at the moment she has had to close it while moving. You can find it here, just check back occasionally to
find out when she's open again.

What I would have missed.....

2011-11-25T20:05:00.000-08:00

Breast cancer awareness month is over. Pink items are now on clearance, Dannon yogurt lids have either been turned in or thrown away. Still...for those of us who live it either as patients or as friends, family and caregivers, it is with us.

As part of their effort to get the word out, promote breast cancer awareness in October and to convince the Super Committee to leave the funds intact for research in cancer, the American Cancer Society was asking people to tell what they would have missed had drugs and treatment not been available.

If I hadn't had the care I had when I was diagnosed in 1994, I would have missed:
My daughter's first steps; and her first day at pre-school. I would have missed teaching her in Baby-swim at the YMCA.

If I hadn't had 9 24-hour infusions of Taxol in 1998 after the stage IV diagnosis in Dec.1997, I would have missed my daughter's first day of kindergarten, Brownies, girl scouts, and working as a substitute teacher and with the PTO. I wouldn't have been able to move back to the midwest, make quilts, give lectures, help out at my church and sing in the choir and watch my daughter run in cross country from grade 7 through her senior year.

If I didn't have the new drugs available as of May, 2010, I would have missed my daughter's senior year, graduation from high school and her first year of college, my niece's wedding, my other niece's getting her doctorate.

Oh...there's lot of stuff in between...sunlight on the water, walks with the Siberian husky who adopted us, lots of laughs and projects with my various quilting guilds....warm chocolate chip cookies, the women of the Noble Circle project.....

The danger remains. The U. S. Government funds research, often in areas that pharmaceutical companies won't because there are too few people who get a particular illness, or that perhaps it won't be profitable. This isn't just for cancer, but many other illnesses and problems which assail us. About 2% of the Federal budget goes for this. How much are you willing to cut here? Who do you want to tell that there's no more funds to try to find a cure or preventative for whatever illness? Take a look at the whole pie of the spending here.

Again...I don't know what the answer is in this prickly problem...but I certainly hope that someone comes up with something for me fast that works....At 51, I've lived 17 years with cancer being part of my life....I'd like to be able to add "watching my daughter graduate from college, seeing her married (if that happens), and maybe grandchildren (long way down the road and certainly not a given)....not to mention I'd like to go to Spain, and to Ireland and Sweden....and see many more sunrises and sunsets, and stars twinkling in the heavens.

Garden surprises, Garden regrets

2011-11-23T20:03:00.000-08:00

I have been a grumpy gardener lately. Partly because I have had this pile of mulched leaves sitting across the street thumbing its nose at me. You see, I have really heavy soil and my neighbors have silver maple trees which shed a lot of leaves. They have a yard service which mows the leaves up, chopping them, and then they drop it out on the street curb to wait for the township to come and vacuum them up and take them away.

When they mow, they get little pieces of grass in it, and this combination of finely chopped leaves, with some green grass makes perfect compost. This perfect compost, when dug into my heavy clay soil, lightens the soil as well as provides me with mulch to keep down weeds. In previous years, when I didn't have trouble with my hip or was in chemotherapy, I would take my trusty lawn tractor with my wagon and scoop it all up...dumping it on my vegetable garden. This year, I've had to sit and look at it and snarl....my desire is great, but my pain is greater.

My garden always has a few surprises. This one is pretty amusing. I took this shot just the other day. We've had some substantial freezes, more than just a killing frost. However, this petunia plant has managed to survive. Look on the bottom right. See that thing which looks like a shard of glass? It's a piece of ice I dumped out of a bucket.

This is my little patch of black mondo grass (Ohiopogon planiscapus...which I usually just call Ohiopogon (O-hi-op-o-gone). My neighbors, both pretty good gardeners, always comment on how good mine look (when it has been weeded) and how it mystifies them that mine is able to survive. You see, it is hardy only to zone 6a, and for the most part, I'm on the very edge, more like 5b. However, I hold a secret. The secret is in microclimates.

Near the black mondo grass and the petunia (which is across from the mondo grass) is my fish pond. You see it stripped for the winter here. While not terribly large, it is pretty deep and holds I think about 2,000 gallons. Water, particularly running water, maintains heat. The stones around the pond also retain heat. The direction here is south.

In addition to the pond and the retaining wall, you can see the concrete paver walkway...which also absorbs and retains the southern sun's heat.

And finally, the 6' high fence keeps the drying and cold western winds slightly at bay. To the right of all of this is the house, which also retains heat.

Part of the trick to gardening is knowing what zone you're in and knowing what parts of your garden has little micro-climates which are warmer, or colder than the surrounding area. This knowledge allows you to grow things which others can't....and it makes you look like a green thumbed wizard when in reality you're just observant.

Realism, abstraction and blessings on Hollis Chatelain

2011-11-17T21:28:00.000-08:00

A while ago, the SAQA and Quiltart message boards were buzzing with the discussion of what is art and if abstract was better than realism. I always cringe at this...especially when some people take the stance that the only "REAL ART" is ABSTRACT. (usually being touted by someone with a bullhorn standing on a soapbox).

I do a lot of realistic quilts. I like realism but I also appreciate abstract and do work in abstract from time to time (viz the piece at left...which is actually abstracted realism and something which I am basing a more abstracted piece upon). Not all realistic pieces speak to me, but then not all abstract pieces speak to me either.

Sherrie Spangler recently did a couple of blog posts about abstract work and tried to answer those who say they "just don't get abstract." You can see it here.

I must say...I'm a little flummoxed. If abstraction is appealing to people because of the pretty colors, nice texture, etc., such as what Sherrie shows, then why can't a pretty picture, be it a landscape, or a portrait or a still life be considered in the same vein? Why do people have to throw clods of dirt at the opposite camp?

Perhaps part of it is that often the imagery used can be overused...to the point of being trite. Maybe it is that there's a lot of mediocre art which tends to make us feel that the pieces are vapid. I liked Kathy Loomis's comment on my other blog post on the subject. "I wish we would spend less time arguing about "is this art?" and more time arguing about "is this any good?"

I have to admit, something which makes a piece stand out, whether it is representational or not is what the artwork SAYS. Recently, at the SAQA parlor meeting in Columbus, one of the members showed a piece which was pretty, looked traditional, and was made out of untraditional materials. When you first looked at it you thought "Oh, pretty." Then when she said what she used, my initial response was "What a curator's nightmare! How will this hold up?" Then, she told us why she used what she did....and it made a moving piece which had so much more depth than being just the pretty, traditional looking quilt that it first appeared.

Hollis Chatelain, World of the Taureg

When I first started thinking about writing something on this, I contacted several well known art quilters and asked them if I could have permission to talk about their work on my blog. Hollis Chatelain was the only one to respond.

Hollis' work represents what I'm thinking about here on many levels. Her images are beautiful and particularly well crafted. On the surface, you appreciate them, but then when you look at them more closely, you are drawn in and you realize that there is so much more to them than what you first saw.

Hollis often works from images she dreams. Then sketches them and does the painting with thickened dyes on whole cloth before quilting them. Her images bring forth a world consciousness and speaks to us all if we would have the ears and eyes to take it in. Hopefully, we do and take away something which makes us think, and better yet, act.

Hollis Chatelain "Blue Men."

"Blue Men" and "The World of the Taureg" pay homage to the Taureg whose lifestyle is rapidly changing in response to the African droughts which are killing their herds. These nomads are being forced by the climactic issues to give up their traditional lives.

Hollis often works in a limited palette. I didn't ask to use her more famous pieces (although her Taureg series is very recognizable) . The Ecuadorian Girls is quite different in the exuberant colors and because she based it on photographs. Here is her artist statement as taken from her gallery on this piece: Our daughter studied in Ecuador for five months last year. She volunteered to teach English in a small village in the Andes mountains. We visited her and went to that village where I photographed the children. I was so struck by how old the girls looked and the responsibility that is put upon them at such a young age that I created this piece in their honor. These girls are all under fifteen years of age. This piece is composed of four photographs I combined."

While she based it on photographs she took, and she does use a lot of thread work, this piece is far from "paint by numbers" quilting and gives us all something to aspire to.

Hollis Chatelain, "Ecuadorian Girls."

Hollis' work "Innocence" which won the Viewer's Choice award at Houston in 2010 is one which from a distance is an attractive portrait quilt. When you view it closely, you realize all the statement is in the quilting.

While working in series and "finding your voice" is important to art quilters, sometimes I think that these same characteristics can easily become a rut. Given that Hollis does abstract works in addition to nature based pieces, I think she'll continue to inspire us and make us think.

I believe that the world is a better place for having Hollis Chatelain in it. Certainly, the art and quilt world is far richer because of her.

Wordless Wednesday

2011-11-16T20:52:00.000-08:00

Autumns Last Glory

2011-11-14T19:44:00.000-08:00

Parrotia persica (Persian Ironwood)

Today was a windy, but Indian summery day. It is probably the last as 70 degrees isn't normal here at this time of year. In fact, there were tornado warnings. This wonderful blue sky shortly later gave way to glowering clouds.

Being that it was such a nice day, I took a quick stroll around the garden to see what colors were left. Parrotia persica, or commonly called the Persian Ironwood is a really great tree with wonderfully colored leaves. The dull brown leaves in the back are the same tree as the yellow and red here, but they were older and suffered from the drought we had in the summer.

This tree has grown well in the 6 years I've had it in, although it is still not old enough to show the wonderful exfoliating bark. Some day.....

Until then, I'll be happy with this. One caveat though, some green caterpillar thought they'd munch down on this tree this summer...quite a nuisance, although some sort of parasite managed to kill off most of the munchers.

Parrotia, another view.

The other day, I showed you a shot of my winterberry (Ilex vertilcillata) with the gold leaves on it. They blew off, and you can see the wonderful red berries...at least until the birds decide that they are ready for eating.

Ilex verticillata "sparkleberry"

Ilex verticillata sparkleberry overall.

I think in the spring, this will have to be moved. I planted a peach tree whip next to it which has taken off.

Spirea "Mellow yellow" also called "Ogon" I think

Some other great color remains on my spirea. Once this gets big, it has arching branches with small white flowers. The leaves in the spring and summer are a yellow green.

Itea "Little Henry"

A Glorious Day

2011-11-12T19:16:00.000-08:00

Today I went to the Studio Art Quilt Associates (SAQA) Ohio regional meeting in Columbus at Beth Schillig's house. Everytime I go it is a shot in the arm. I love seeing such wonderfully funny and talented people as Shelley Brenner Baird, Teri Ann Hartzell and Jen Siegrist. Sharing and seeing the great things....and as usual, I saw some very moving quilts during show and tell. Dee Dadik and Molly Butler gave a great presentation on how they arrive at appraisal values.

I think between riding over with Mindy Marik and talking to Shelley, I have gotten the swift kick in the pants (or is it paints?) to get on with my work. In other words, the light is shining through the tree branches.

Hopefully, tomorrow will be as glorious a fall day as today was and my hip won't hurt so much. I have talked to a guy to hire him to come help me cut back the garden. It still looks pretty good, even though I have been neglecting it.

The birds and other critters (unfortunately a healthy collection of mice....but at least they were providing hawk food the other day) are enjoying my grasses and various fruiting shrubs. Ilex verticilata, or winterberry , provides food for the birds but a wonderful red berry until they are devoured.

In theory, I shouldn't be growing them here as they are acid lovers....however they seem to be doing fine, with some leaf yellowing. Like other hollies, the winterberry must be matched with the appropriate male pollinator. I usually use one male plant for three to four female plants.

I meant to talk to you about my Heptocodon miconoides, or Seven Suns Flower, or Seven Suns tree or shrub. It's a native of China, but has wonderfully sweet, lemony scented flowers in the late summer. Bees and butterflies adore it. After the small white flowers drop, they leave beautiful red calyxes which stay on for a while...but the winds and the rains I have been having have left me with only a few. Take a look here to see what they look like. I don't have any fruit, so I suppose that I would have to have more than one for cross pollination.

It grows about 8 - 10 feet wide to a height of about 20 feet. I planted it in front of my bay window in the hopes that someday it might give me a little shade on my deck. At present, mine is only about 10 feet tall. One of the other attractive attributes is that the bark exfoliates, so even in the dead of winter there is something interesting to look at. The birds find its branching habit good for getting shelter from hawks and Lemmie the Magnificent when he's on one of his hunting forays.

One sad thing, I emptied my pots out this week....and because the roots were so severely filling this lovely blue pot....I accidentaly broke it when I was trying to get the roots and soil out with my little spade. Oh well...one less thing to worry about putting away!

Dry Spells

2011-11-11T19:55:00.000-08:00

I've been having a dry spell lately. I guess part of it may be that I'm up to my eyeballs in trying to get things done with the garden (fall clean up, pots taken in, plants brought in and things set to be held over winter) and the house that I'm just too much in that than I am in the art world. I also have been having some scares....and problems. I pulled something in my chest while trying to pick up a 15 - 20 pound stone to replace on my pond's waterfall, then this week I managed to trip over a rolling step stool in the library and now my hip has been hurting terrifically.

Today and yesterday, I've been trying to work with notan elements as well as trying to get my last Dayton Landmarks slice quilted. I've ripped it out three times. I'm finding that I'm having a hard time controlling my quilting and I am guessing that it is still the nerve damage. So, I hauled out a printed panel and started practicing, just outlining it and trying to make sure that I stayed cleanly on the lines as well as making sure the stitches are good. I hate the concept of messing up a quilt just because I don't have the quilting down well.

Sometimes taking a step back and focusing on the mechanics is a good idea. At least that's what I'm telling myself.

I've also been trying to do some sketches for some pieces I want to do....but they aren't coming well. So, I might just pull a "Pamela Allen" and do it free form/free cutting , no drawing and more abstract. I WANT to do it in my usual style, but it isn't working for me right now so I have to accept this is where I am at present and give it a shot. Who knows? It might come out well....but I hate the idea that I'm working in Pamela's style, not my own. . . . Not to say that my pieces will ever be like Pamela's, but still...

I'd be remiss if I didn't thank all veteran's. We just added a new Vet to our family in Andrew Cole who served in Iraq with the USMC. At left is my dad and my grandmother in the 1940s.

Getting Out to Vote

2011-11-08T11:06:00.000-08:00

I just got back from voting....which wasn't without some consternation. We have two polling places. In presidential years or years when there is expected to be heavy voter turn out, we vote in one location which is actually closer to my house. I have to go further down the road to vote at the second station.

The first spot is at a church on a corner, but set back about 50 yards from the street. The second place is in the township garage and it is at the back of an industrial complex off a state road. The church's only designation as a polling place today was a small yard sign placed in front of the church's door and a 8 x 10 flag stuck in the ground, neither of which was very visible from the street, but there was a plethora of political signs for and against issue 2 and with the Troy Legal council candidates. The second location was blocked by a semi-tractor trailer turning around the first time I went, and again, no signs except right in front of the building back beyond sight from the road. I had to stop at the church to figure out WHERE I was supposed to go....I guess you're just supposed to intuit these things as they weren't published in the paper....however there was 59 pages of the full text of Issue 2 which was the proposal to limit Government union contracts as well as other Government employment contracts.

I always try to vote. I have been unsuccessful twice, and it wasn't because I didn't try. I feel that it is important to vote because of how much so many people have given to give me the right to vote, from the service men and women who have fought in various wars to the Suffragettes.

The quilt above is Judy V. Gula's, of Artistic Artifacts fame. Called "Suffragettes Picketing in Washington, D.C." The right for women to vote took a long time....100 years in America from the first part of the movement in the 1820s until the 19th amendment was passed in August of 1920. African American men (but not women) obtained the right to vote in February, 1870. Interestingly, section 1 of the 15th amendment reads: "The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude." You'd think that included women...but evidently we weren't citizens.

Women campaigned to obtain the right to vote and many were beaten and imprisoned for it (Lorton Prison, later called Lorton Correctional institution in Lorton, Virginia, near Artistic Artifacts, was where many of the Suffragettes who marched on Washington, D.C. were incarcerated. In 2008, a portion of the Lorton Prison was opened as the Workhouse Arts Center. Some interesting articles on Women's suffrage in the U.S. can be found here. While the term "Progressive" has come to be something to be spat from the mouth by some people today, it is important to remember if it weren't for the work of the Progressives and the Progressive party, women and persons of color would probably not have the right to vote today. The Night of Terror is outlined here, and if that isn't a reason to vote, I don't know what is.

Judy's lovely quilt shows some photographs of the Suffragettes, as well as ribbons similar to ones which would have decorated the signs, placards, buttons and chests of the Suffragettes. The backing of the quilt is composed of the shirt samples, and the lovely buttons are period mother of pearl buttons which would have graced the dresses of the women at the time. The square and round objects through which the ribbons pass are vintage mother of pearl belt buckles.

I think that she captured the feeling of the period quite well, in addition to answering her own challenge nicely.

Her second piece is Suffragettes Suits of Power.

I think she sums it up nicely in her artist's statement for this piece: "Are we woman of today taking our responsibilities seriously? My Mother told me that I had opportunities in the world that she did not. What did she mean? She was young. To the generations of woman before me who carved our rights, opportunities, and power from the stone of male politics, thank you!"

Being Cuban in D.C.

2011-11-07T17:32:00.000-08:00

While I was in D.C., Lourdes took us to a Cuban Restaurant which pretended to look on the inside as if it were a Disneyized version of Havana. Mark, Lourdes' husband, had to ask for a flashlight to read the menu. For dessert, I opted for Tocino de cielo...Bacon from Heaven which was served with some fresh fruit and a wafer cookie. Tocino de Cielo is very similar to flan.....which prompted a discussion at the dinner table.

Since I'm just married to a Cuban, I learned how to cook Cuban specialties from cookbooks and from talking to Carlos' two aunts, Haidee and Gloria who are very good cooks. From them, I learned that the difference between the two is that Tocino is made with the yolks of 10 eggs, whereas flan is made with the whole egg.

However, Maggie and Lourdes' grandmother made her flan only with the egg yolks....so this caused some confusion over the dark dinner table. I've done a little more research and that does seem to be the distinction. Although the Couciero grandmother called it flan, it seems that it is indeed Tocino de Cielo.

Another Cuban past time is playing dominos. Whenever we get together, the three of us (and usually my daughter Meg and Mark if they are around) play Mexican Train dominos. We play with double twelves, and I admit sometimes my scores are so astronomical that I have a hard time adding all those little dots in my head...high scores are NOT something you want. Mark, who is also a gringo, is here at left holding Sydney a very spoiled Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, and a rare picture of Lourdes with her glasses on. Carlos doesn't much like playing dominos....he calls them "Dominos lentos." Slow dominos.

Hopefully, I'll be back to posting more regularly. I've been trying to catch up on stuff around the house and last week I did something to my rib which has caused a great deal of pain and some fear...and I'm afraid that I'm too tired to post sometimes!

Some things Stay the Same

2011-11-04T19:22:00.000-07:00

It's November....and political feelings are flying high in Ohio. Around the country for that matter with the Occupy Wall Street and you name the other locales.

In August, I stayed at the Youth Hostel at Malabar Farm. I had heard of it, but had never read any of the books by Louis Bromfield, the highly touted early 20th century writer who lived there. After talking with the hostel director, I decided to read "The Farm", which was first published in 1933.

It was a little slow to pull me in. A lot slow...I have persevered in continuing to read, admitedly much more slowly than I usually tear through books. I'm reaching the end, and it is getting more interesting. I was taken by the following observations, and thought you'd be interested in it as well.:

"James Willingdon left the bank for politic when two of the political bosses in the northern part of the State persuaded him that in politics there was a great future for him. Three things, I think, led them to believe that he was the material they sought--his charm, his easy-going ways, and his wide acquaintance among the farmer. The Republicans already had such a man--handsome, simple and willing to compromise. He came from the next county and already he had done much to help the "party," which mean that he voted as he was told by men who seldom held any office but stood in the wings, prompting and directing the performers. His name was Warren Gamaliel Harding. The Democratic Party no longer held to its old-fashioned principles. In it too there were men who believed in tariffs and believed that "business" should be helped now and then discreetly and judiciously.
But the men who sought out James Willingdon failed to count upon his what they later called eccentricity and pigheadedness. They did not understand that "honesty" meant one thing to him and another to themselves, nor that he was a man so fantastic that he could not be tempted either by money or by the political honors which could be bestowed through the mechanical operation of a political machine which was not above making bargains with the opposite party. Nor did they comprehend a man who never allowed ambition to become an obsession, and saw success and money not as the whole of life, but only as a part of it. It was, in their opinion, simply mad for a man to prefer respect for himself to money and renown.
He was elected at once, and no sooner was he seated in his office in the big Court House than certain rich men came to him separately and in groups to demand reductions upon the valuations of the mills and factories and houses which they owned. It was scarcely a shameless procedure because the question of shame was not involved. They had supported him and given money toward the expenses of his election, and now that he had won they were entitled to their rewards. It was all a part of the game of politics and not very many citizens troubled to consider the ethics of what they were asking. Not many of the citizens who elected Johnny's father could even have defined the word "ethics." The Republicans had had their innings and had their properties undertaxed, and now it was the turn of the men who had succeeded in driving them from influence. A poor man had no chance of having his taxes reduced, but the rich man who contributed to the party fund could have what he wanted. It was simply a question of "business" Why should anyone drag in a question of honesty in government? The contributions were investments and now the men who made them had a right to a return. Subtly, the government itself was being taken over by business men. Subtly the government was being put on the level of shopkeeping. It was a rule which worked in Washington as well as in a moderate-sized town in the Middle West. They had plenty of Senators like Aldrich and Hale and Payne and Foracker and Hanna who saw the point clearly and made no trouble. Often enough because they too were business men they were helping themselves as well." (pages 224-225, The Farm by Louis Bromfield. Harper & Brothers Publishers, New York and London, 1933, 1935,1946).

I realize that this quotation is far longer than it should be, but I also know that this volume is probably not widely known or widely available anymore, despite how popular it was when it was first printed. Bromfield usually draws his characters from a composite of people he knew and "The Farm" is considered to be autobiographical in nature. Certainly the parallels with the current economic crisis and the Great Depression are interesting, however, I would hazzard to say that there has been little change in the political climate.

Power Suit Challenge Part 4: Cards and My entry

2011-11-03T20:16:00.000-07:00

Not surprisingly, several of the entries in the Power Suit Challenge included cards. I was somewhat amused to hear artist Linda Cooper explaining the hand to another visitor. It was all I could do not to eves drop as I was standing on the opposite side of the panel. I don't play bridge, so I was very interested to try to understand this game....

Power Suit – The James Bond Way
"In Ian Fleming‘s Moonraker novel, there‘s a scene where James Bond stacks the deck and deals this hand devised by the Duke of Cumberland, son of George III. Bond is playing with M against the villain, Hugo Drax. And although Drax‘s hand looks magnificent, there‘s no way he and his partner can take a trick. I made this quilt with fond memories of many years of card games played with family and friends. I thank Conner Gillette and my brother, Joe Thoma, for posing for the head and torso (Conner) and hand (Joe) of Bond."

I was intrigued by Marilyn Welling's Poker Power Suit because she used the shirting fabrics as the back side of the poker hand and turned them back so you could see the card values. This added dimension to her quilt. Of course the power suit in poker is a Royal Flush which is seen here in the upper left corner. Marilyn noted that she likes playing poker in her artist statement.

Lastly, here's my entry. If you look back through the other photos of the exhibition you can see a corner of it hanging. This is the shot I took just before sending it off in the mail. Mine is called "Run for the Money". The background is made from the shirting swatches cut and randomly pieced. The men are cut from the black suiting swatches and fused with Misty-fuse. The monopoly money was fussy cut from a fabric printed with Monopoly money, and I carefully cut out the pieces which you could see most of the bills from and also fused them with Mistyfuse. I free-motion quilted it with dollar signs. The binding is the rather dull grey silk tie which was in my packet.

Halloween Power Suits

2011-10-31T16:53:00.000-07:00

Sharon McDonagh The Power of Halloween

Just for Halloween, some more power suits for you...I really liked Sharon McDonagh's "The Power of Halloween," partly because it mirrored a comment made by my sister-in-law a couple of years ago. As a Cuban immigrant in the late 1960s, she marveled that here in her new home you would dress up, go to a strangers house, knock on their door and they'd give you CANDY! This was a novelty as they didn't celebrate Halloween in Cuba.

Sharon's Statement:
"My mixed-media work honors the power and magic of Halloween: I selected my packet because of the orange/black tie (all the while berating myself for being so literal). But I soon realized it was actually perfect, remembering how donning those carefully planned costumes instantly gave a small girl her first taste of power: to scare, to attract, to mystify, to amuse... Put on a costume and mask, and you suddenly possess the courage to walk out into the night, to approach even the scary neighbor‘s door, and request—no, demand—candy from grown-ups… Power suits indeed! Sharon McDonagh Alexandria, Virginia

Linda Morgan Victoran Power Suit

While not really Halloween, at least this Victorian Power Suit is wearing a mask.

"Power Suit - my first thoughts were of Queen Victoria and her spectacular dresses and jewels, and then I saw this amazing portrait of a Victorian woman with a stunning butterfly mask. I love the chaos of collage, the freedom to create layers of paper, cloth and found objects - every element chosen has a story to tell. After her morning French lesson Edwina known to friends and family as 'Birdie' put on her best butterfly mask and leisurely strolled through town to the portrait studio showing everyone what a beautiful, vibrant, charming, powerful woman she is"
. Linda Morgan, Falls Church, Virginia

Dolores Fegan Power Tie Suit

This one, the Power Tie Suit, really should have been in last night's grouping, but frankly, it was getting long and late! I marvel at the wonderful ties others had in the packages as mine was a tone on tone grey.

Power Tie Suit "This quilt was inspired by the idea of a power tie and superhero suits. The body is cut from the tie I received. It is to express boldness and strength. Raw edge applique with a zigzag stitch. The quilting is freemotion work. I limited my quilts to the given materials. Repurposed suit fabric for the backing, batting retrieved from recent packaging. "

Dolores Fegan Stanford, Kentucky

Power Suit Challenge part 3: The Comic Book and traditional quilting influences

2011-10-30T16:57:00.000-07:00

Deo

The theme "Power Suit " bought comic book heros to mind. Here on the upper left you can see Superman's bright "S" is Diane Murtha's (Springfield, VA) "The Power from Within". Here's her take:
When I asked my husband, what "power suit" meant to him. He said, "that‘s easy, the ultimate power suit is Superman‘s suit." I then realized it wasn‘t what Clark Kent wore on the outside that made him who he was – it was what was inside and hidden from everyone that made him a great man. Real power comes from within and I am blessed to have grown up with three Supermen in my life: My Gandpa, a simple farmer from Iowa wore a suit for church on Sundays. My Dad, a loving father, wore a suit for work every day. And my husband, who wears the suit of a soldier.

Something which intrigued me about this show is that several of the artists used traditional quiltwork in addition to their arty quilty side. Notice three of the four quilts shown here, the background of Diane's piece, Victoria Sheskey's "Fashion Wizard Twists Out Fashions from the Past" , and even the streak of lightening in Marilyn Knepp's "Power Clashing" inspired by an episode of 30 Rock.

On the upper left is SallyAnn Morrison's (Springfield, VA) "Catwoman in a Grey Flannel Suit."

"The words ―Power Suit leads me to our Nation‘s Capital which is full of Power Suits. For example, Congress, business, and lobbyists who exercise or influence the legislative power granted by the Constitution. I thought it might be fun to have an iconic image like cat woman (a powerful figure) come to Washington, DC in a grey flannel suit, with her cat of nine tails in hand, to bring some order and sanity to the process of government. I am sure the outcome would be positive."

Here's another traditional pattern, the hexagon used in Lita Haven's "Power Suit a Global Outfit."

Cheryl Sleboda (Plainfield, IL) actually works in the comic book industry and likes things Japanese.

Cheryl chose a girl animae figure (Japanese superhero comics) in her power suit. Cheryl used her power suit sample swatches on the back ground. "These 'power suits' usually house a tough, pretty girl with rockets at the ready. My Power Suit girl is 'Armored and Ready' for any adventure!"

Cheryl is well known for "powering up" her quilts with lights. You can see more of Cheryl's work here.

Delores Hamilton of Cary, NC did a wonderfully shaded version of Wonder Woman for her "Glass Ceiling? What Glass Ceiling?" She wrote: " In the mid-80s, the Wall Street Journal ran an article in which the term "glass ceiling" first appeared, referring to the invisible barriers that impeded the career advancement of women in the American workforce. Despite our adopting men's power suits, we made little progress. In thinking about who could have smashed through that glass, I thought immediately of the iconic Wonder Woman. KA-POW!"

Several others, including Patrice Smith's also took on the superhero theme.

Another note: Go back up to the shot of Cheryl's piece with her exhibition neighbors. The bottom right is Marilyn Owendorf's "Power in Any Suit." It won the "It makes me Laugh" award....for details, go to Cyndi Souder's reveal of the winners and the show on her blog here.

Power Suit Challenge part 2

2011-10-28T10:34:00.000-07:00

A quick shot when no one was standing there....amazing! Today, I'm going to share a few of my favorite quilts...and trust me, it is hard to pick favorites!

Because I know a lot of people don't like wordiness (but then, I suppose they aren't the ones following MY blog), I'm breaking this up.

One thing which amused me at this show was that one of the cousins said "I noticed that a lot of the ladies here were wearing quilted jackets. Why don't you have one?"

Umm...because unlike this woman, I never have gotten around to making one. I have patterns...I have ideas...but. . . .

A number of the quilts not surprisingly had comic book character themes, particularly ones showing women. The one on the upper right here is Patrice Smith's "The Ultimate Power Suit". Patrice is from Livonia, Michigan and had this to say about her quilt:
"Having just spent 40 years on the corporate world I struggled with the concept of power suits!At work, when I needed to solve a problem, I donned my Nancy Drew persona, but when the problem was solved I often hummed the Wonder Woman theme song! So, the 1940s Wonder Woman image with her muscles and great outfit seemed to me to represent the ultimate power suit! Now if only I had one when I was working...hmmm....."

The little penguin quilt on the lower right is Alison Lang's "Pictures of Penguins in their Power Suits." Alison is from Muskegon, Michigan and pointed out "If you want to see a being in a power suit, look to the birds. No other creature I know uses its suit (constructed of plumage) as much to impress, acquire, protect, and procreate than the birds. I chose penguins that wear suits that resemble human tuxedos. Humans wear tuxedos at gatherings of power such as displays of wealth, stance in society, political power, respect for accomplishment, ritual, and to honor passages (marriage.)"

As I mentioned earlier, a number of these quilts were done with memories of particular individuals. This one is Lesly-Claire Greenberg's "Black Tie."

I like this one for the starkness and graphic quality. While it is a very stable piece, your eye does continue to move around the piece. It was extremely well made as well.

I also liked what Lesly-Claire had to say: "When Dad wasn‘t on the road he went into the City, New York City, along with thousands of other men. Every morning freshly shaved and crisply pressed they lined the platform of the LIRR. Each night they returned a bit more rumpled. Dad sold Formal Wear. Those Tuxedos fed, clothed, sheltered us and sent us to college. That‘s a lot of power in a suit."

Lesly-Claire Greenberg's work may be seen here

Similar to Lesly Claires in commemorating an individual, this is Mary Ellen Simmons "Make Way for the Great." I admire anyone who can use Ruth Power's method of drafting images into pieced works..I don't think I have it in me.

Mary Ellen is from Fairfax, Virginia and here's here statement about this piece: "
This quilt, a portrait of a young man on the brink of his future in a new suit with his new car, is in memory of my father, a man who during his 95 years lived up to the caption under his senior picture in the high school year book, "Make way for the great!" When I heard of the power suit challenge, I immediately thought of the caption, the picture of him as a young man, and of his long life lived in kindness, love and devotion, service, with great generosity, patience, humor, and dignity. Hey Dad, 'you were the greatest!'"

Not surprisingly, many quilts had a political side. I loved this one. Like my quilt, Sherry Boram (Pendleton, Indiana) used mostly the fabrics from her packet, piecing the sky. Her little men with their button heads are extremely well done and their fiery pants are exquisite!

Here's her statement: "The days of skepticism about the powerful are upon us. Too bad we continue to trust appearance as a mark of character when many in positions of power are dishonest -- why else would their pants be on fire? Money in some questionable form seems to be related to the powerful, though you have to look hard to find it. It‘s a part of this piece (completely respectable!) but can you spot it?"

Other than her men are standing on the green....no, I couldn't. But then, I may have just been obtuse that day.

Since it is getting close to the Day of the dead, I had to include Julie Schlueter's "Working Stiffs." Her little working "stiffs" are all attired in their own little power suits...whether a power necklace or power tie. Julie is from Orange, California and here's her statement:

"What fun to use suiting, shirting and silk tie fabric to make a quilt. I wanted to make my Power Suit entry a tribute to Dia de los Muertos. I enjoyed sewing pieces of suiting fabric randomly to make the background and used the shirting fabric and tie silk to "dress" the calacas. I have plenty of rusted fabric, so I used that to make the bones and finally used, for the hat, some fabric I bought years ago to someday make a Dia de los Muertos quilt. That someday is here and the quilt is made."

You can find more of Julie's work here. You may also recognize her as a Dinner at Eight artist.

If you are interested in seeing the whole collection of 108 quilts (I thought there were 107, but one more was added), you can order a $10 CD from Artistic Artifacts. This CD will help cover the cost of shipping these pieces to the venues as well as back to their owners as there wasn't an entry fee for this challenge.

Power Suit Challenge Opening

2011-10-27T19:54:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe that almost a week ago was the opening for the Power Suit Challenge sponsored by Artistic Artifacts in Alexandria, Virginia. I flew up to go to the opening with my husband's cousin from Dayton and stayed with her sister in Alexandria.

The Power Suit Challenge was hosted by Judy Gula and Cyndi Souder. They were given many swatch books of high end suiting fabrics--wools, cashmere, shirtings. They combined several swatch books with a tie and some buttons and challenged artists to take their fabrics and interpret the theme "Power Suit."

104 artists delivered 107 quilts which all fit the required 18" square format.

I wanted to show you the show...but it was PACKED! As well it should be. Most of the quilters were from the DC area, although several were from points as far away as California and Canada (Nova Scotia and Alberta).

I was pleased to get to meet (albeit briefly) Lisa Ellis, Cyndi and Judy (of course), LeeAnna Paylor, and Delores Hamilton.

The quilts are all quite fantastic and some were quite moving. A number commemorated family members (fathers and grandfathers) who worked in the garment industry, or were businessmen or military people. Others looked back on their own business careers as women, others took a spiritual bend, and others were looking at the political end.

All 107 quilts are on view in Judy's shop, Artistic Artifacts, 4750 Eisenhower Ave., Alexandria, Virginia now until November 23. In addition, you can see the luscious things to add to your quilts and scrap booking or art assemblage projects.

See? I did leave you some things to look at and buy.

Here are some more quick grabs so you can get an idea. I will be showing more over the next couple of days. To see what inspired this grand concept, you can look at Cyndi's Blog.

Metastatic Cancer and Breast Cancer Awareness Month

2011-10-21T19:36:00.000-07:00

I've been meaning to write about this for some time. You see, October 13 was Metastatic Breast Cancer Awareness day. I wanted to digitize my wedding picture to start it...You see, October 13 is also my wedding anniversary. We were married in 1990, and in February 1993 I had my daughter...then in November of 1993, I thought I felt a lump but didn't go to the doctor about it...because no on in my family had ever had breast cancer, and why should I? I was only 33. In April, 1994, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. It was a 3 cm tumor with one lymph node involved..which I think made it stage 2B. It was much bigger than they thought.

Then in December 1997, they found micro-calcifications on the same breast which had the tumor. I had a mastectomy and discovered in January 1998 that there was a metastases to my bones.

I often say that I had the word "remission" because that gives the uninitiated the concept that maybe you're cured. It just means that there is no discernible disease. Once you are diagnosed with mets, you're stage IV and no matter how "good" you look and how your blood tests come back...it is considered a chronic disease and it can re-appear quite some time later.

Like 14 years later. Like me. My numbers are up and I'm hoping that the current Tamoxifen treatment will work. I really have trouble thinking about going back on chemo...I'm still struggling with the nerve damage I got from this last course of treatment which lasted 9 months. I'll probably never run again. Heck, I'd take that if I could have more time. I'd like to see Meg graduate...I'd love the thought of seeing her married....or started on her adult life. While others are looking forward to playing with grandchildren, I'm just hoping to make it that far.

Its an odd thing. Currently, there's a trial being offered for people who have metatastic breast cancer at the Roger Williams Medical Center in Providence, Rhode Island. They are testing to see if modifying T-cells (the cells in your immune system which fight the baddies like cancer) and modifying T-Cells and using Interleuken-2 with it will work. I'm tempted. I'm really tempted. But I'm also afraid. I don't know if trying to pursue other treatments would work. I'm not sure about traveling from Ohio to Providence, even though it is within 2 hours from where I used to live and I'm sure I could do it. What if it didn't work???? They talk about biopsying your tumor...well...it's in my bones...I suppose they could go after a biopsy on my shoulder, and maybe the sternum...but the others, the ribs and the vertebrae, well, they're a little tricky...and I'm not really sure how easy it will be to get to the spot on my pelvis...

Sitting and waiting in never-never-land....the word "remission" and "chronic" is beginning to sound better...at least you're still alive.

I regret that most of my married life, my poor husband has had to live with someone fighting cancer. I am saddened by the fact that my daughter doesn't remember a healthy mother...one who ran...and hiked and did a lot of really physical things. I'm even more saddened by the fact that she has to be afraid that she's going to get cancer...or that I'm going to die while she's in college.

But I'm alive. I will continue to fight. I hope you will too.

What is the Army of Women?

A program of the Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation, the Army of Women initiative is dedicated to recruiting one million women of all ages, ethnicities, with or without breast cancer, to sign up and participate in innovative breast cancer research studies. After signing up at www.armyofwomen.org, members are then contacted via email blast about new studies seeking volunteers. They can either sign-up for the studies online, or if they do not qualify, they are encouraged to forward the information to a friend or family member. Every woman over 18 is welcome to participate, whether a breast cancer survivor or someone never affected. There are currently more than 20 breast cancer studies seeking volunteers through the Army of Women. The full list of open studies seeking volunteers like you are listed at:www.armyofwomen.org/current.

For more information, visit www.armyofwomen.org.

Another On the Road view

2011-10-19T18:07:00.000-07:00

Ok..more like in the parking lot of the local hardware store....Sometimes I wonder what the vanity plates mean. At first I thought perhaps this was a cinematic reference....but I remembered that it was "Rose Bud" in Citizen Kane, not "Red Bud."

Hmmm.

Pasties for 250

2011-10-15T19:26:00.000-07:00

My niece's wedding last week was a self catered affair. She decided on serving pasties (paastees, not Paste-ees please), a meat "pie" common to areas which had mining, such as Montana and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, where Beth was born. The story goes that the "cousin Jacks", miners from Cornwall, introduced them to the other mine workers. Pastry crusts were filled with ground meat, onions, rutabagas (or turnips) carrots and potatos. The mixture was baked then placed in the miner's tin lunch buckets. They held the warmth well and were good to eat on lunch breaks down in the depths of the mines. They are related to meat empanadas, but larger, if you're familiar with the Hispanic version.

Beth wasn't quite sure how many people would be coming, so what few family and friends of the bride were in North Carolina last week went to work in a commercial kitchen rented by the hour to assemble and bake them. The two characters in the first picture are Beth's father on the right, and a very close family friend on the left. Here, in this picture (from the left) you see Wendy (another family friend), my sister Mary (the bride's mom), my sister-in-law Barb, and Tammara, the groom's sister. Of course, I was working as well, but as I was directed to take the "behind the scenes shots" I was the one behind the camera. Here, we are making the dough.

Beth and Mary are rolling crusts and filling them. In the background is the groom's mom who arranged the use of the kitchen. They sell specialty organic items from their farm and orchard and also home-churned ice cream at local festivals. If you've been to the Asheville NC apple festival you may have had some of their wares...or currently at Georgia Mountain...they sell under "Old Ken Cole" and work very hard at what they do.

Beth is taking the new batch off the pans from the oven while Wendy and Tam prepare to put new ones in. We froze them, and warmed them on Saturday before the wedding. Tam's long suffering husband was the one in charge of warming and bringing them back to the wedding site in insulated containers. He also made a wonderful bourbon mushroom gravy for them---much fancier than the usual gravy I've had on them in the U.P of Michigan. They are usually served either plain, with gravy or ketchup.

I must admit, I kept on thinking of Emerson, Lake and Palmer's "Benny the Bouncer"....I am afraid that most of the people here didn't get my reference...lets see if you can figure it out. While we prepared for 250 people (even making 6 vegetarian versions), we only served about 100. LOTS were left over and sadly...I didn't bring any back to Ohio with me.

Do you wonder why I'm still tired yet?

Oh yeah..I saved all the beard and hair nets so I could quilt with them....never miss an opportunity to gather unusual materials.

Photos, Quilting, and Art

2011-10-14T18:02:00.000-07:00

Recently, there's been quite a bit of talk on the Art Quilt list about art and quilting. Several of the people talking about it were commenting that they didn't like "photo realism" in quilts. They weren't talking about quilts done in the manner of artist Chuck Close who does what is sometimes called "hyper realism) but they were talking about people who used photographs in their quilts.

Gloria Hansen and Wen Redmond, two artists who use photographs in their quilts, were accepted as artists and their quilts as art. Others, no names named, were dismissed as making works which were merely "paint by number," People who took photographs and then did thread work and quilting with them turning them into art quilts.

The first person who came to mind was Barbara Barrick McKie. Barbara lives in Lyme, Connecticut and it was her work which I first saw that included photographic images in her quilting...ages ago...in the early 1990s I think. At the time, digital photography was in its babyhood and Barbara used photo transfers. She now manipulates photographs through Photoshop and creates works....which are then quilted.

Pamela Allen is quick to point out that she wants to see the "hand of the artist." To that end, she has her students freely cut out shapes in her classes to make the quilts...with scissors...not rotary cutters. She feels that the scissors give the artist's imprint in much the same way as an artist's brush strokes are indiviualized.

To take a photograph, perhaps manipulate it in Photoshop and use it in a quilt, adding threads and dimension through quilting seems to me to still be art. The photograph is the work of the quilter, only unlike Alfred Stieglitz, we don't stop with the photograph. The motion of the quilting adds texture, and just as the scissors or paintbrush are unique to each individual, I offer that the quilting is unique to the individual as well.

I think part of the problem may stem from the fact that just as in the world of fine art (paintings) there is good and bad art and even more mediocre art, there are pieces which are produced in this manner which are mediocre as well. The tenents of design apply here just as much as in painting or in photography and the importance of taking care in our creating....meaning workmanship must be high as well.

I admit, I'm not fond of Chuck Close's early work, and other than using a photograph printed on fabric to practice quilting on before I go to my own piece, I am unlikely to quilt a piece which is a straight photographic print...in the style of Barbara McKie. I can tell you what I like and WHY I like it or don't like it. However, I accept that Chuck Close's early work IS art even if it isn't a style I would use or would purchase.

I do find the subject bittersweet....I feel that fiber artists/quilt artists should spend more time honing our work and accepting the work of people who work in a style unlike our own but in the same medium rather than fighting among ourselves saying what is and what isn't art. I would suggest that perhaps we should spend more time promoting art quilts rather than making and exclusive type of artwork more exclusive (meaning it's hard enough to be accepted in the art world without excluding people who work with fabric/fiber/textiles).

Wordless Wednesday

2011-10-12T20:14:00.000-07:00

Did you Miss Me?

2011-10-10T17:55:00.000-07:00

Did you miss me? I've been gone for a week to Arden, North Carolina where my youngest niece got married...She lives in Cut Bank, Montana as does her now-husband. My sister lives in Washington state ane as his family is HUGE (ours is not) and her older sister is doing a post-doc at Chapel Hill, the wedding was on his family's orchard/organic truck farm.

Just prior to my driving down, I made the quilt top which is on the altar, a faithful rendition of their wedding announcement and something which turned out to be a recurring theme. This was brought down just to have the family sign as a wall hanging, but she needed something to cover the "altar' so I brought it out for that.

I worked hard....we prepared for 250, but only about 125 came. We did the food ourselves which was quite interesting--making pasties for 250 people in a commercial kitchen....and dealing with all the hiccups which not having a caterer causes.....and just getting the grounds ready....oh yes, and my sister did the flowers as well...and I helped with logistics, bringing down tons of fabrics to use on the tables...Her wedding was at 5:00 pm, outside, down on the banks of the French Broad River. They left in a canoe...wedding dress and all.

Beth is a published poet and lover of words. Katie, the 19th century British Lit. prof read Litany by Billy Collins for her "Toast." You can find it on line, here
but here it is only to make it easier for you.

You are the bread and the knife,
The crystal goblet and the wine...
-Jacques Crickillon

You are the bread and the knife,
the crystal goblet and the wine.
You are the dew on the morning grass
and the burning wheel of the sun.
You are the white apron of the baker,
and the marsh birds suddenly in flight.

However, you are not the wind in the orchard,
the plums on the counter,
or the house of cards.
And you are certainly not the pine-scented air.
There is just no way that you are the pine-scented air.

It is possible that you are the fish under the bridge,
maybe even the pigeon on the general's head,
but you are not even close
to being the field of cornflowers at dusk.

And a quick look in the mirror will show
that you are neither the boots in the corner
nor the boat asleep in its boathouse.

It might interest you to know,
speaking of the plentiful imagery of the world,
that I am the sound of rain on the roof.

I also happen to be the shooting star,
the evening paper blowing down an alley
and the basket of chestnuts on the kitchen table.

I am also the moon in the trees
and the blind woman's tea cup.
But don't worry, I'm not the bread and the knife.
You are still the bread and the knife.
You will always be the bread and the knife,
not to mention the crystal goblet and--somehow--the wine.

Katie read it to bring in some humor. Afterwards, she mentioned to me that she didn't think that anyone "got it."

I have read this before....I think either Katie or another friend, Lori Gravely, introduced me to it. I love the language...and I m always given pause. What did Collins really mean? Was it as one of the commentators on the Poem Hunter site says "This poem isn't about love at all - he's making fun of the overuse of objects as symbols. It's basically showing how symbolism isn't symbolic when over done, not how he loves someone." (Shannon Swanson) a "litany of metaphors?

I wonder...perhaps it is as the reader is to interpret it. Perhaps it is merely something to make us think. Perhaps it is just as he describes it...in this case, a cigar is sometimes just a cigar.
Probably I'm just being to direct, and too representational again...

Yes, that's me on the right, my sister Mary in the center, and the blushing bride on the left...So...did you miss me?

Challenges

2011-09-28T17:55:00.000-07:00

My entry in the Keep It Simple Challenge

Recently, one of the on-line groups I belong to has been discussing challenges and whether or not they are a good thing, or a bad thing. My response is: it depends.

I actually tend to do quite a few challenges. I joined the Fast Friday Fabric Challenge in order to try to force me to work smaller (that's been successful) and to try to work more quickly and without as much thinking (this has not been successful....I still take a long time and tend to over-think things).

The major problem with challenges is that if you participate in too many of them, especially ones with lots of restrictions on materials, methods, or subject matter, then you might be working at the expense of your own "authentic" personal voice...in other words, doing what others say you should rather than working on your own art. You can get caught up in the "busy-ness" and not develop your own style and body of work.

They can also cause you to mess around with materials or techniques which may or may not be yours...but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Exposure to new stuff helps you determine what is your "voice". It also brings you a healthy appreciation for those people who do the technique and do it well.

However, I find that usually, I only enter challenges which fit in with an idea I have been banging around in my head. Thus, the challenge gives me an opportunity to work and develop them, often on a smaller, prototype which can later be developed into a larger work....or thrown out. AND (most importantly) it has a deadline. I need deadlines.

I'd prefer to enter challenges which have the end result of having an actual show....but those seem to be few and far between.

However, I'm not above falling into a particular trap....well..hmm...situation? For instance, in April, when I was at the IQF show in Cincinnati, Liz Kettle buzzed by me and said "here, you need to do this," as she shoved a package into my hands...well...she said something like that, I don't remember what. Did she probably mean it? Probably not...she was probably just desperate to off-load the package and I was the lucky one standing there....

The package was composed of three sets of fine suiting and shirting swatches from high end designers, a single grey necktie, and some buttons. A little card said it was the Power Suit Challenge and was being put on by Artistic Artifacts. We were to make an 18" square quilt using the materials and interpret the theme "Power Suit." Hmmm..... I came up with several ideas, and while I was working on one of them, I decided to scrap it and do something entirely different.

Little did I know that since Liz had handed it to me, I was sort of off their radar. I had the little tag and I finished mine and sent it in so it would supposedly get to Alexandria, VA on Aug. 31. They had set up a yahoo group...and had other things to fill out which I didn't have. So...I merely sent it in. That show will open on Oct. 23 at the Artistic Artifacts Gallery. I'm contemplating going.....after all, it's only 8 hours away and I have family there.

The other ideas I had actually fit into another challenge which is now going on with the Quiltart message list...the Unusual Materials Challenge....so...I signed up for that because I had already gathered the stuff to make the quilt and it fit the challenge. Otherwise, I think the little bag of goodies would probably sit in my sewing room gathering threads.

Does it take away time from doing other "important work"? Probably...especially dusting. But on the other hand it fits in with the ideas I have and I am learning while I'm working on it...plus, challenges tend to be smaller.

So, rather than taking away from what I am doing, I see it as a great shove in the right direction....but you do have to be aware of what you're doing...which is why I am not going to participate in the crazy quilt challenge....I'm quite crazy enough already, thank you.

Dabblers

2011-09-25T20:30:00.000-07:00

Someone over on the SAQA yahoo group made a comment about some people who were in the group were "dabblers" who were quick to try any technique which came down the pike and intimated that challenges were not for "serious" artists. She also went on to disparage quilters who worked in "photo realism."

I hope what she really meant was that SAQA is composed of two levels, Professional Artist Members and the regular crew. Needless to say, I'm part of the regular crew and joined in part because I aspire to become better. While I don't think there are enough days left for me to be a professional artist, in my heart of hearts, that's what I'd like. However, I don't like being called a "dabbler."

These ducks, Mallards, are of a variety which are called "dabblers" as they float on the surface eating weeds and bugs and what they can get shallowly rather than being one of the diving ducks who dive with the purpose to grab a fish on the fly. You can see, when you're a dabbler, you expose your backside.

I also don't think that participating in challenges which use a particular technique or material makes you a dabbler...someone not serious and driven to dive deep after that fish. I usually participate in those types of challenges because I had been mulling over an idea which used either that technique or that material....and I think challenges drive you to produce...there's a deadline...which for me is always a good thing.

I don't think that there is anything wrong in experimentation with materials which may not be our norm. We might indeed find that there is something which can really fit our vision or skills and they become incorporated into our tool box. Or we may find that it just isn't for us. Sometimes I think intellectually that I don't like something and by trying it out...I find I'm wrong...often just as much as I find I'm right.

I don't see, however, where it is right to disparage either group...the divers or the dabblers. Sometimes I get a bit grumpy about how people are reluctant to have their work critiqued, but that's because I see it as a vehicle to becoming better at what I do. I do recognize that it is MY prejudice, and MY disappointment that I can't readily find a local group who is interested in critique. But these are my issues and they shouldn't be projected on anyone else.

The "realism" viewpoint is a horse I'm going to flog in another blog post. Stay tuned. Or not. :)

A Little Bit of Silliness

2011-09-23T22:03:00.000-07:00

Self portrait: A night on Bald Mountain

I have been taking an on line class with Pamela Allen. One of her exercises has us drawing inspiration from another artist's work or from another piece of art.

One of the class members, Holly I think, chose Mussorgsky's "Night on Bald Mountain" as her inspiration. I happen to love Mussorgsky and enjoyed her rendition of the witches dancing on a mountain top.

Now, I know that a "bald mountain" is really one which has no trees....but I got the giggles as I thought about doing a self-portrait with me bald and a bed on my head (how else can bald people have bed heads????) as a Night on Bald Mountain. So...here it is.

Yes...very silly....and it only took me an hour to put together. Do you think it looks like me? Well....me as if I had rosacea???

Wordless Wednesday: One Reason why I quilt slowly at times

2011-09-21T19:37:00.000-07:00

Buckeyes in the Garden

2011-09-20T20:17:00.000-07:00

Today I took a little break and went out into the garden. We've finally begun to get some rain. It's been a very dry summer after a very wet spring and the result has been a lot of stress on the garden.

I usually have a lot of butterflies, hummingbirds and other wildlife in my garden. Now, the majority of the butterflies are Buckeyes (Junonia coenia), monarchs and the little drab butterfly you see on the upper left edge of this sedum. I often look at my garden and sigh. I think of Sunita and her wonderful exotic flowers and plants in her garden in India and wonder....do our common butterflies instill her with the awe that hers instill in us? You can see her blog here.

In case you're wondering...the name "buckeye" has nothing to do with Ohio. These butterfliesa are common in all parts of the US, except for the Northwest, and in southern Manitoba, Ontario, Nova Scotia and Quebec, as well as in Central America and Columbia. The name comes instead from the dots on the wings which resemble deer eyes. The "eye spots" are thought to confuse birds. They are kind of hard to photograph as they are constantly fanning their wings.

A Slice of Dayton

2011-09-16T21:23:00.000-07:00

Dayton Art Institute photographed by Ronnie Doyal


Dayton Art Institute in fabric. My slice.

On of the several projects I've been working on in the last few weeks has been a "slice" of the Dayton Art Institute.

Last year, the Miami Valley Art Quilt Network decided to do a series of quilts based on familiar Dayton landmarks. Ronnie Doyal, one of our members who is a professional photographer in addition to being a quilter, took photographs and Lori Gravley, Mindy Marik and I chose the shots. We then sliced them up and handed the slices out to our members to interpret in fabric. Mindy, Lori and I did the Dayton Art Institute to show as an example. Lori got the left portion, I got the middle, and Mindy got the right portion.

While I had a good start on mine and had the majority of mine completed (or so I thought) by November of last year, my chemo and Meg's graduation got in the way. At the July meeting, we had set the final date for getting them in as October, but at the August meeting it was changed to September. Gulp. I was taking Pamela Allen's online class "Think Like an Artist," had to finish quilting the borders and bind my daughter's quilt as well as get her ready to start college on Aug. 31, as well as have the Power Suit challenge done and sent.

I madly went to work on the slice...and I'm amazed at how much time I put into it in even though I thought I was well on my way. I finally finished quilting it tonight (although I am not terribly happy with the job...my numbness in my hands means I don't have the fine control I usually do...and my upper tension disks were catching the thread and causing it to break at the needle...something I've had trouble with before, even though this time I cleaned the disks twice....

The part of the reflective stainless steel sculpture in my section IS reflective fabric...while it looks yellow in my shot, it is actually reflecting the ceiling light. I used a metallic jersey fabric for it. The body of the building is rust dyed fabric. I can see that I need to work on the lettering some more as the photo of the slice shows how faint it is....when you see it in real life and up close I thought it looked stronger. This is a prime example of how the camera is your friend in seeing flaws in your art.

"I may be crazy, but I might just be the Lunatic You're looking for....."

2011-09-14T20:17:00.000-07:00

Susasn Pickerell and Maria Elkins

Well...sort of...I sometimes think I am ADD when it comes to quilting and fun things....I'm madly trying to finish the Dayton Landmarks slice so I can hand it in on Saturday as well as catch up with the on-line class with Pamela Allen ("Think Like and Artist.").

I suppose thinking like an artist might include attention deficit disorder, but I don't think REAL artists suffer from this...I imagine they are more disciplined.

You see, I've been wondering about some of the new stuff out there..and when Maria Elkins contacted me about working with her on a new series she's hoping to do for Quilting Arts, I jumped at it.

Maria plans on a series of working with new materials...in this case, DeColorant. I purchased some in Cincinnati but haven't had a chance to use it yet and I thought it might work well for what I had in mind for a fabric for the next part of Pamela's lessons...of which I am woefully behind...and while I was at it, I thought I'd make it work with the Fast Friday Challenge too....and I'm late on that one as well. So...today, Debra Bentley, Susan Pickrell, Maria Elkins and I did all sorts of stuff with DeColorant...testing, messing up, seeing what happens if you do this or that....and we'll do some more on Friday.....so ....now I have to get back to the salt mines...but I thought you'd like to know what I'm up to ...before I end up strapped to an....oh, wait...that's in Billy Joel's song...not my life. :)

P.S. Apologies to Deb...she was working back at the ironing board when I took these....


Susan Pickerel and Maria Elkins (background) working hard.

Can't See the Forest for the Trees

2011-09-09T20:52:00.000-07:00

Wow. I've been up to my eyeballs...and still am with very little hope to get out for a while. I finished my Power Suit quilt and sent it off at the end of August and deposited daughter at school on Aug. 31. I've put it into high gear to try to get my Dayton Landmarks quilts done for next Sat., when I originally thought we were going to turn them in for October...and I'm still trying to finish up Pamela Allen's online class...which really ended last week...but I still have lessons 3 and 4 to do....Lesson 3 part 1 is sitting on my sewing table..I've been working on it a lot...cutting cutting cutting....being helped by Angel cat who insists on sitting on the part I'm working on and messing it up..

I hope to finish both Pamela's class and the Dayton Landmarks quilt and blog about both...but until then...stay posted....and if you find my superwoman cape...just FED-Ex or Priority Mail it to me....you needed even use the USPS overnight mail...priority will do. :)

Masters: Art Quilts vol. 2

2011-09-06T21:05:00.000-07:00

This summer, I indulged myself once again by purchasing Masters: Art Quilts vol. 2. I enjoyed the first volume in the series, but I think I like this one even more. Lark Books wisely had Studio Art Quilt Associate's executive director Martha Sielman return to curate the second volume after her monumental work in 2008 with volume 1.

I will have to go back and do a spot on comparison, but my initial response is that I enjoyed this one even more than the first volume. I think one of the things which I enjoy the most is that these books bring quilt artists who I have never heard of into focus, partly because the book showcases international quilt artists.

The well done photos and interesting narrative about the artists would make this worthwhile, but the inspiration the book provides alone is worth the modest purchase price.

I remember thinking when I read the first volume that I was surprised at some of the artists who were omitted. I suspended that sort of value judgement this time around and just let myself enjoy. However, I did wonder why the artists weren't arranged alphabetically as that would make it much easier to locate works by a particular artist. I took another look at the book and thought to myself that it was arranged by what looked good next to each other, as if it were a show. However, I contacted Martha to ask about this very thing.

Here's what Martha had to say in an email response to me dated August 1:

"Choosing the artists for the Masters books involves a lot of research into who is doing what kinds of work and where they've been exhibited. I need to balance several different factors: Lark wants only half of the artists to be American, and we try to have a diversity of people and a balance of different types of styles. My aim is to have at least one artist that is a new discovery for every reader, but they all need to be artists with an established body of work.

The artists are arranged visually, like curating an exhibit. We talked about alphabetical placement, but since it's not intended to be a research volume but to be an art volume, we arranged them so that they provide visual excitement moving from one artist to the next."

So, this isn't to say that the artist you who think HAS to be included in this volume will be there. However, here's the list of artists featured in volume 2: Carolyn Crump, Jan Myers Newbury, Karin Franzen, Emily Richardson, Anna Torma, Chunghie Lee, Genevieve Attinger, Mirjam Pet-Jacobs, Pamela Fitzsimons, Paula Nadelstern, Dirkje van der Horst-Beetsma, Rosalie Dace, Leslie Gabrielse, Nelda Warkentin, Gayle Fraas and Duncan Slade, Dianne Firth, Reiko Nganuma, Shulamit Liss, Alice Beaseley, Beatrice Lanter, Tafi Brown, Rise Nagin, Bente Vold Klausen, Jane Dunnewold, Laura Wasilowski, Arturo Alonzo Sandoval, Izabella Baykova, Daniela Dancelli, Margery Goodall, Linda MacDonald, Fenella Davies, Rachel Brumer, Maryline Collioud-Robert, Jim Smoote, Eleanor McCain, Patricia Malarcher, Misik Kim, Elizabeth Busch, Dorothy Caldwell and Tim Harding.

I'm looking forward to being able to see the accompanying exhibition. It will debut at the International Quilt Festival in Houston and I'll be able to see it when it travels to Cincinnati in April 2012. One work from each artist will be on view. Talk about inspirational! I can't wait.

In the meantime, I'll go back to struggling over the fabric choices for my "homework" for Pamela Allen's online class. Lest you think I am benefiting in anyway from reviewing this...trust me...I'm not. I am not anyone's official reviewer and if I thought it belonged cut up and used as ATCs, I'd be the first to tell you.

Quilt National 2011 Review

2011-09-03T18:59:00.000-07:00

In the last post, I commented on a few things as to why I really liked this year's Quilt National Catalog. I'll hit on a few more tonight.

I have many of the previous catalogs....some exhibitions I've attended, others not. To my mind, this edition is the best yet and one which is useful BEYOND being eye candy or a a souvenir of the show. Why? It outlines exactly what they are looking for and considerations that anyone who is entering some of the more prestigious shows should think about.

After having watched "Stitched: The Documentary" and reading this edition, I understand far more about how pieces are considered and selected. The importants of something which seems extremely fundamental, obtaining the best possible photographs of your piece, is driven home.

I love the discussion about what each of the jurors brought to the process, what they were thinking and what they were looking for. While we as individuals might not agree with them, I think that this is important in understanding the process and this show.

Kathleen Dawson, the executive director of the Dairy Barn Art Center, wrote an impressive and thoughtful introduction. It was a pleasure to see that ALL of the components had something to say and were not just fluff.

Yes, I'd like more photos with more details so we can see the texture of the stitches and understand that pieces often have a dimensional quality which doesn't show up easily....but I have to say, I keep on going back to it.

No, Lark Books didn't give me a free copy. Nor do they know that I'm plugging their book. Nor does Quilt National or the Dairy Barn Arts Center...Heck, they didn't select me for a potential reviewer for Masters: Art Quilts vol. 2, probably because I don't have enough followers or don't have enough "hits" to qualify...or maybe I just don't write well enough for them...but I have to say, you need to get a copy. You can get it from your favorite bookstore, or from the Dairy Barn Art Center, or online...and yes, I sell used books on Amazon...so I'll give them a plug by sharing this link. And no....I don't get anything from them either...in fact, I'm going to have to close up my Amazon shop soon as I'm losing my shirt lately. Or...you can patronize your favorite library.....but please, please do take a look at this book.

Run, Don't Walk to Quilt National 2011

2011-09-01T21:05:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, I dropped my daughter off for her freshman year at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio. I had hoped to get over to the Dairy Barn to see Quilt National one more time...but it was just too hectic with all the programs we had to attend (really) and moving too much stuff into a 10' x 12' room shared with another young woman....

Quilt National is a biennial exhibition of contemporary quilts exhibited at The Dairy Barn Arts Center, a converted dairy barn which once served the psychiatric hospital just up the ridge. The show is always interesting and it will close on Monday, September 5th. So, you really do have to run and see it.

Of course, you should run and see it just because it is a fantastic show. Every two years, three jurors, two quilt (fiber) artists currently working in the field and who have name recognition and a third juror --usually from a related but outside field to bring a different perspective review quilts and pick approximately 85 quilts from the submitted entries which meet the entry rules/guidelines and represent the best of what was offered.

The rules state that the purpose of the show is: "To promote the contemporary quilt by serving as a showcase for new work that provides the viewer with appreciation of the variety of techniques and innovative trends in the medium of layered and stitched fabric. The jurors will select works that represent unique approaches to the medium and demonstrate the breadth and diversity of contemporary expressions. Visitors to Quilt National 2011 will see that the time-honored traditions are thriving and are being expressed in new forms as today's artists rise to meet the challenges of new techniques and materials." This year, Pauline Verbeek-Cowart, Eleanor McCain, and Nelda Warkentin served as jurors. This year, over 1,000 quilts were submitted....and only 85 were chosen.

Since coming to Ohio in 2005, I have been privileged to be able to attend three of the shows. Each year, I think that the show is more exciting and interesting than the show previous. Even so, it is difficult for me to pick what pieces are my favorites.

This year's show I thought was interesting on several levels. I found that there was a theme, in a way, for the pieces which were submitted. Many used subdued palettes, often using greys and neutrals. Don't get me wrong, there were plenty of eye catching and bright quilts, but my overall feeling was far more subdued. I also felt that the quilts shown were pieces which when using an innovative technique or material, it made sense. That is, it wasn't using a different technique or material just for the sake of being different or cutting edge or just to use it, the selection of that particular material and technique added to the piece; the piece would have been diminished if it hadn't used the material. In addition, the pieces were masterful in their use of material AND technique. For instance, using found materials or "green" materials might be just a trend, or stuck in, but when Paula Kovarik used plastic grocery bags in her "Global Warming, The Great Unraveling", the bags not only fit her topic and what she was trying to say but were gorgeous...I wouldn't have thought of using them like she did and it really added to the quilt. Kim Shearrow used all manner of recycled and unusual materials in her "Sunrise at Age 45" which created an absolute masterpiece of color and texture worked into her large and wonderfully designed (and sparkly) piece (which by the way, the catalog doesn't do justice to).

One of the things which pleases me the most about this show is the response and discussions which it engenders. I was very happy to have bumped into Beth Schillig, a fellow SAQA member and Ohioan at the show in the beginning of August. Beth and I immediately started to talk animatedly about what we were seeing....and I was sad that my time was so limited that I had to buzz through the show and not talk with her more fully about her impressions. When I have gotten together with others who have seen the show at different times, people have almost tittered with "I don't think that was a quilt" or "what did you think of ....." or "What was your favorite???" I love this because when statements are made, then it gives a starting point for a full discussion. Why DO you like that one? What makes it more successful? Is it more successful than another piece, and if you think so, why? Why do you think that this particular piece shouldn't be here, or isn't really a quilt????

Certainly, the catalog also has created quite a buzz on the Quiltart message list as well as on the SAQA (Studio Art Quilt Associates) Yahoo group. In fact, some of the discussion, particularly Eleanor McCain's comment "What about these works of art demands that they be formed from cloth and thread? Is there a message and meaning that can only be revealed through this medium? What in the quilt form is important to the art? As a fiber art professor once asked 'If it's not about the fiber, why work in that medium (Eleanor McCain, Quilt National 2011: The Best of Contemporary Quilts, Lark Crafts & the Dairy Barn Arts Center, p. 12.).

The discussions which arose from this in some ways depressed me about what I was doing (the assertion that if a piece is representational --which most of mine are-- rather than abstract then it wasn't really an art quilt and wasn't worth thinking about). It took a quick kick in the pants by Vivien Zepf to move me out of that bad train of thought. I usually wait and buy the catalog at the Dairy Barn's gift shop as that way the Dairy Barn can benefit more from the proceeds. Such heated discussions were arising out of the book, particularly from Eleanor McCain's comments and Pauline Verbeek-Cowart's comments (out of context, but generally her reaction that the first viewing she made of the entries she was looking for innovation and "was initially disappointed. Not a single entry in my opinion represented that leap into new territory, or challenged conventional notions of the medium and stood as a radical new approach." (Ibid, p. 14), that I bought the book on Amazon so I could more fully understand the discussion and be able to look at the exhibition with a more critical eye developed from the discussions and reactions I was reading about. Take a look here.

I'm really glad I did. Although Andrea Lewis points out a problem in her foreword: "Works in fiber were not meant to be experienced in two-dimensions. Works in fiber are intended to be experienced firsthand, to allow the viewer to discover the nuances in surface texture and variations in color, and to appreciate the details articulated in stitches." (Ibid., p. 6). I agree....I must admit, even though I noted the size on the label in the book, when I saw Eleanor McCain's "9 Patch Color Study 7" at the show, I was blown away. The illustration in the book is 3 1/2" square...the quilt measures 110" High by 109" wide...you're just not prepared for this.

A terrific problem with the catalog is that there are no close ups so that you can see the texture and the stitching. Everything is absolutely flat...Each quilt, for the most part, is represented by one photograph. In the case of Jayne Bentley Gaskin's Solitude this is a grave disservice. Nothing in the catalog nor the description prepares you for the fact that this quilt is three dimensional. The person and the backpack are dimensional...stuffed with fiberfill so that the backpack stands out from the surface of the quilt as a real backpack does. My memory says that it is, or is almost, life sized. It is an amazing concoction of thread and fiber to render this piece. I do think that the color on this edition is better than it has been in the past.

If you are able...please see the show. While the entire show's last date in Athens is this coming Monday, Sept. 5, it will be divided into three traveling shows. From October 2, 2011 - November 4, 2011, it will be in St. Charles, Missouri at the Foundry Art Center (all three parts); and Feb. 14, 2012 - April 29, 2012 San Jose, California: The San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles (parts A and B only). For additional locations/dates please contact the Dairy Barn Arts Center. At the very least, get a copy of the catalog...I think you'll be glad you did. And if you do...please put your thoughts on the show here...I'd love to hear your reactions and discuss the pieces as well.

I really wish that photos of the quilts were allowed....but they aren't and so you're stuck with the shots I have here. :)

Through the Mill

2011-08-30T21:23:00.000-07:00

It's been a really hectic week....and I'm not even to Wednesday! Or I guess I am...if you check the clock. Getting daughter ready for college, finishing up and shipping my submission for "Power Suit" for Artistic Artifact's challenge, getting physical therapy for my hand....just sort of crazy.

I had hoped to get two pieces done for Power Suit...but I think I'll continue working on this series. I found that I balked at doing it, but once I really got into it, I was sort of enjoying it. I had several ideas to work with and the odd thing is that what I ended up doing wasn't really what I intended....

The premise of this challenge was to take a packet of fine suit samples and turn it into an 18" square quilt. The actual challenge wording was this: "What does "Power Suit" mean to you? Does it conjure images of smokie-filled rooms where deals are made: Is a Power Suit a garment or a perons: Do you plug in a Power Suit: Waht if a Power Suit gave ou Super Powers?

Using Power Suit as your inspiration, create an art quilt that expresses your point of view." Liz Kettle had an extra packet (which included three buttons, a tie and the samples) which she gave to me at the Cincinnati show. If Liz hadn't given it to me, I wouldn't have done it. In fact, as much problems as the binding was giving me (numb fingers do not make for good corner turns...sheesh!) I was having second and third thoughts.... I also tried something new and quilted the background with $ signs...not that it really came out well...but it was OK. At least I got it done and got it out. :) Somesitmes I need a good swift kick to get things done...now, after depositing daughter at college, I'll turn my attention to finishing my Dayton Landmarks quilts, finishing the "Think Like an Artist" class I'm taking on-line with Pamela Allen, see if I can't whip out my Fast Friday Fabric challenge piece (likely not to be done by Sat..., but maybe I can try....), in addition to cleaning the house, cooking meals, and maybe trying to restore some order to areas which I had to let slide while undergoing chemo...Now, just where is MY power suit?????

Lost --Shelburne Falls, etc.

2011-08-29T21:14:00.000-07:00

I've been struggling today working on a couple of small art quilts which while I like the concept...I don't much care for the execution. It is filling out an idea.

So..when taking a break from the drudgery, I checked the Quiltart list...and discovered that Ann Brauer's quilt studio in Shelburne, Falls, Massachusetts has washed away.

I wrote about Shelburne Fall's Floral bridge (Bridge of Flowers) in December of 2010. I visited there last year and took a bunch of pictures.

I enjoy going to Shelburne Falls with my friends Martha and Bob because there's so many artist studios as well as the gorgeous gardens. Not only was the old bridge convered to a walking garden, but tons of people have wonderful private gardens which are easily seen from the road or sidewalk. This is a shot of the Bridge of Flowers last year.

Here is a shot looking back down the bridge. I must admit, when I saw some photos on the news last night of Brattleboro, I became alarmed. Many of these towns were mill towns and grew up around the rivers which were sources of power.

While the 19th century building (and in some cases earlier) have withstood other floods, you wonder when it will be just too much for them.

So, keep in mind that these people's livlihoods are here...their art, their shops, their homes, their roads....and our history.

You can see that this bridge isn't really down ON the water.

Now, take a good look at this truss bridge in Shelburne. See the pink building on the right of the shot? That's Ann Brauer's quilt studio. She had an industrial singer sewing machine which had a fairly long harp which she used in her quilting. She was always gracious and welcoming when people came to her studio. You can see her wonderful quilts and her studio here... She was away at a show and had some of her stock with her..but we all have stashes and for her, it is her living, not a hobby.

Now, watch this video...and you'll see what Hurricane Irene did. I know that Ann was only one person out of many..one of the videos I watched showed a bureau floating down the river...someone's house was swept away and the bureau ripped out of it. Makes my paltry struggle with a little art quilt sort of nothing.

Please consider donating to the Red Cross or what other relief fund you might consider.

A Fiberful weekend

2011-08-25T21:20:00.000-07:00

Recently, one of my quilty friends and I went to the Akron area for a number of reasons. The main reason for traveling three hours northeast was to go to the Akron Art Museum to see the Kaleidoscopes Quilts: The Art of Paula Nadelstern. This is the show which originated at the American Folk Art Museum in New York in 2009. I remember being sad that I was missing the opportunity to see this show when it was in New York, imagine my happiness to know that it traveled to Ohio.

When I lived in Connecticut, I had the pleasure of meeting Paula at my Guild where she was giving a lecture and a class. Paula is a charming, amusing and excellent speaker. I enjoyed seeing the retrospective show but it was made far richer knowing that she constructs these quilts in her tiny Bronx apartment and her struggles to make points meet in traditional quilting. I was pleased that the exhibition included modern Kaleidoscopes as well as very early ones. The show was well grounded in history with the inclusion of the vintage sunburst quilt attributed to Rebecca Scattergood Savery.

As is often the case, I couldn't take pictures of the pieces, but I did buy the catalog. My favorite piece in the show is one of her more recent works, "Kaliedoscope XXXII: My Brooklyn Bridge" I felt that it was great for the restricted palette, the rendition of the Brooklyn Bridge into her method and what to me feels like a maturation of her style...or rather further development of her style. You can see many of the pieces included in this show here.

I especially liked the fact that the gallery adjacent to the Nadelstern exhibition was a show of the 50 pieces of art donated to Ohio by Dorothy and Herbert Vogel. The Vogels were people of relatively modest means and a small New York apartment. They collected an impressive collection of artwork and decided to share it with all the states in the nation. Their collection was divided up and a grouping representative of the collection was sent to each state so that all could appreciate the examples of modern art. It was an neat pairing with Paula's work since they both were working with limited space.

If you are in the vicinity, I would encourage you to visit the Akron Art Museum...which is across the street from the building I shot here...why? Well, I wasn't in a position to shoot the building without crossing the street and I didn't feel inclined to do so. I will say that we did have some difficulty finding the front of the building...and a warning...the streets have a tendency to be one way around here....

Another reason we went up this way was for Deb to pick up a loom she was buying. In addition to the loom and weaver's bench, we stuffed her Suburban full of stripped and balled fabric which is ready to be woven into rag rugs. Here's Deb and the pile of stuff we jammed into the black Suburban. I admit, several times when I went to get out, a ball of fabric jumped out with me.

From there, we went to Wellington, Ohio to the Bonnie Brae Elk Farm. In a lovely rural setting, the Elk Farm hosts a rather large outside quilt show, something along the lines of a mini-Sister's Oregon show. Here's a description of what they have to offer.

Everywhere you looked, there were quilts, inside and out (here you see the stables (the farm once raised trotting horses). Several barns were decked out in quilts, both inside and out.

Vintage and antique quilts hung next to contemporary pieces. It was quite fun...and the luncheon was superb. The farm is a family farm and I suspect that the show is another effort by small farmers to make their enterprise profitable as it is extremely difficult to compete in today's markets especially with the big Agri-Businesses specializing in mono-cropping.

There was an admission charge and if you wanted a photocopied "catalog" with the descriptions and ownership of the quilts, you could buy one. I admit I intended to buy one, until I saw that it was only a partial listing. I suspect it depends on who actually brings the quilts and what they have space to hang. The ladies who were collecting the fees told me that they were there at 4:00 AM hanging the show. It was worthwhile and I managed to buy some Christmas presents...and some fat quarters...although one of the "bottles" of fat quarters has disappeared...I hope it is buried somewhere in the Suburban with the rolls of stripped fabric.

Jim Bowsher's Temple of Tolerance

2011-08-24T17:25:00.000-07:00

The first weekend in August, I spend a fiberlicious couple of days with a friend. We drove up to the Akron area and picked up a loom, then spent the night at the Youth Hostel at Malabar Farms. The next day we did two quilty things (more on those later) and returned to Piqua/Troy going through Wapakoneta, Ohio.

Deb Neff, who is an Ohio native and intrepid explorer as well as my ride for the trip asked me if I had ever seen Jim Bowsher's Temple of Tolerance. I hadn't. In fact, prior to this weekend, I had never heard of it.

So, this entailed a stop which was quite worthwhile and amazing. Jim Bowsher had collected rocks, carved and natural and bits of this and that to build a "Temple of Tolerance." He has taken architectural elements, discarded gravestones, blocks which appear to have been practice pieces for stone carvers and assembled them on his house lot in Wapakoneta.

Bowsher makes this remarkable place open to the public free of charge. You go and you wanter in absolute amazement. It is tucked behind his house and next to his garage, both of which appear about ready to be eaten by Virginia Creeper and Boston Ivy.

The grounds are not without peril...I saw tons of healthy poison ivy, but it is really really amazing. My friend told me that Bowsher works with at risk teens and often has them work with him on the Temple.

I didn't dare climp up the steps to the top of the temple mound...I didn't think my pelvis and feet would allow, but I looked up in awe.

There are many little altars, this one seems to have been created for or appropriated by Vietnam Vets.

This has sort of a Mayan figure on top...Throughout the grounds you see bits and pieces of ironwork, as well as the magnificent stones.

It's well worth a stop and very easy to find. It's located at 203 South Wood Street.

I'd love to meet Jim some day...He seems like a really neat person. I'll end with a clip with him from Youtube.

Aullwood 2011: Susan Nash

2011-08-22T19:29:00.000-07:00

Susan Nash, Primordial Sea, 19" x 24" $350.


Susan Nash, Primordial Sea, detail.

Susan Nash, Main Street Mandala #3. 35" x 43.5" $500.


Susan Nash, Main Street Mandala #3 detail.

Susan Nash, Koi Pond. 30" diameter. $450.00

Susan Nash, "Koi Pond," detail.

Yesterday, the Aullwood art quilt show closed, and today is my last post about the quilts there this year. At left, is Susan Nash's "Primordial Sea." Susan had three quilts accepted this year and of the three, this is my favorite. I love the action of the swirl in the primordial soup...the textures she's used, and the color..but most of all I love the fact that use used an ammonite, a fosillized shell of a close relative of the chambered nautilus. This is Susan's rendition of the early "waters" from which all live came back a gazillion years ago (a technical term ;) ).

Susan used commercial cottons, hand dyed wool, acrylic yarn and beading, She hand embroidered it and used machine quilting and applique. It's really hard to catch the sparkle on this one, but I think it is a very successful piece.

At left, the circular piece with the gridding is "Main Street Mandala #3." Susan has constructed a series of works based on man-hole covers in and around her home in Zanesville, OH. You can see others on her website.

Susan did a reverse sun print of the manhole cover using Setacolor paints. She embellished it with acrylic yarns and buttons.

This particular part of the series represents a rainy day along the street. I think it evokes more of a marine or lake image, which is highly appropriate because what we put down our storm sewers ultimately ends up in a lake or ocean.

The last piece is "Koi Pond." I admit, I love goldfish and have my own pond. Of her three pieces, however, I like this one the least. I think because of the way she handled the fins and the eyes on the fish. It's difficult as the fish eyes are on the side of the head of the fish and while you see them when looking down from above, it is hard to represent them when working in fabric. The pectoral fins bother me a little too as they don't really stand out from the sides of the fish as they do in real life, but they make instead (especially when combined with the eyes) something reminiscent to me of a frill necked lizard.

I realize that this sounds harsh and I don't mean it to be so, but these are just elements which bother me. They probably didn't occur to you. It is also probable that I am being to literal and realistic and what Susan was doing was conveying an abstracted vision. I often find it interesting to see pieces with someone else because what they see and what I see are often interpreted differently.

Her lily pads and water lilies are very realistic and are dimensional. I also really like the netted effect of the lace. The waterlilies are made of silk, the body of the quilt from commercial cottons. She used acrylic lace and yarn as well as buttons to embellish her work. It is hand embroidered and machine stitched, appliqued and quilted.

Aullwood 2011: Melody Randol, Marla Morris-Kennedy and Liese Bronfenbrenner

2011-08-20T18:51:00.000-07:00

Nothing like struggling with Blogger's photo uploads to keep you from blogging for a couple of days. Tomorrow marks the end of the 2011 Aullwood show in the flesh. I'm going to have to go over one more time and take a look at this piece.

Melody Randol, "Birding in the Everglades", 51" x 54" $3,200.00

Melody Randol has once again managed to take my breathe away with her intricate, layered work. You are drawn to this piece to look more closely and try to figure out how she achieved the richness of texture and color. Melody is from Loveland, Colorado and her training as a biologist often comes out in nature themed work. Melody wrote this about "Birding in the Everglades": "Water is everywhere in the Everglades and untold numbers of birds find it irresistible. Fowl, foliage, water, and light entwine to form a rich scene.

I paint with small bits of fabric --fabric I have created using dyes, paints, inks and discharge agents. I use thread as one might use a brush, melding the bits of cloth and adding another layer of interest. Using cloth and thread, I strive to captures the myriad of colors and reflections which are everpresent in the Everglades."


Melody Randol, "Birding in the Everglades" detail.

Marla Morris-Kennedy, "Dawn on Bird Island." 42" x 38" $850.00

This detail doesn't really show how she does it...but that doesn't matter. Two of my art quilting friends and I studied this closely in the flesh and we still weren't really sure where one technique stopped and the other began. From a distance, it is a rich image --a painterly piece rendered in fabric. Up close, it is texturally rich as well.

You can see her other work and learn more about Melody by going to her website: http://www.melodyquilts.com

This last week, I have been taking an online class with Pamela Allen. Pamela's work is exuberant and often primitive...or childlike in its blocked pieces...I guess more like Picasso than anything else. Marla Morris-Kennedy's piece reminds me of her work in the rendition of the pelicans. It's easy to say "Oh, I could do that." Its another thing to actually be able to do it. I suppose it is because both Pamela and Marla work spontaneously, not making drawings, but just cutting the fabric and going.

Marla was inspired to do this piece when viewing Bird Island in the Florida Keys. Sitting in a boat and looking toward the island with binoculars. "Many varieties of water birds nest on the island, including several kinds of pelicans. I love the flight patterns of pelicans and how majestic they appear against the sky and water. This quilt personifies the beauty of these birds in their natural environment."

I love how she's outlined these birds. Marla envisioned them as outlined against the sky at dawn, so that you don't see their real colors. ..

Marla shared with me her artist statement: "I have entered the art world by way of the back door. I have 25+ years experience as a physical therapist and currently own and manage two commercial real estate properties. Throughout my professional life, my love of fabric, color, visual texture, and design has remained an important part of my life.

I like to work spontaneously, generally without a predetermined design or pattern. This allows a
piece of fiber art to grow from “my gut” rather than from a mathematical sketch. I love to put together
seemingly disparate elements into a cohesive piece that is enhanced with the excitement of beads and
decorative threads.

Many of my art quilts have a more cerebral basis, growing from an emotional response to an event
or based upon the written word. I have been doing a lot of photography over the past three years of a
variety of natural and man-made objects. I use these photographs as inspiration for many of my designs.

The tactile nature of fabric draws me to interesting compositions that juxtapose a variety of textures. No matter what the basis of the art piece may be, I am continuously working to keep the process fresh and stimulating to me as an artist by reinventing myself and the methods I use in construction.
Marla lives in Mequon, Wisconsin.

Marla Morris-Kennedy, "Dawn on Bird Island" detail.

Liese Bronfenbrenner (Ithaca, New York) is another artist returning to Aullwood. I discussed her piece "Heron" which was in the 2009 show here. Liese exhibits a lot and often uses driftwood and other unusual bits in her pieces. She also does dolls.... Here's her description of her piece: "The small wall quilt, Forest Spring, combines two fabric dying techniques, both usually resulting in unexpected designs. The green background and the plant shapes were made from sun-prints on silk, the blue and white spring water designs were made with Suminagachi marbling, also on silk. The piece was finished with embroidery and machine quilting.

I draw from a variety of sources for inspiration, including folk tales, legends, nature and places I have visited as well as current events and issues."

Suminagashi (or Suminagachi) marbling is a an ancient method of Asian marbling. Thought to have originated in China over 2,000 years ago, it was practiced by Japanese Shinto priests . The term means "floating ink." Originally, Sumi-e inks were dropped carefully on a container of still water and then carefully blown into swirling shapes. The inks were then picked up by papers gently places on the surface of the water. Usually today artists use acrylic inks to float on top of the water.

Liese Bronfenbrenner, "Forest Spring" 10" x 13.25" $175.00

Aullwood 2011: Nancy Bales

2011-08-17T07:19:00.000-07:00

Nancy M. Bales, "The Waterfall" 45.25" x 44" NFS.

Nancy M. Bales hails from Skaneateles, New York and pulls her imagery from the up-state New York's landscapes. She uses hand-dyed and commercial cottons as well as pieces which have been hand-painted which are collaged together using raw-edge applique. She makes her frothy water and other elements by making "thread-painted lace." in other words, loosely stitched...or rather less densely stitched areas.

Nancy Bales, "Autumn Splendor," 46" x 41". NFS.

Nasncy Bales, "Down by the Riverside" 30.75" x 42" . NFS

Aullwood 2011 Marilyn Hamaker

2011-08-15T19:48:00.000-07:00

Marilyn Hamaker "The Octopus' Garden" 46" x 55" NFS

Marilyn Hamaker's quilt, "The Octopus' Garden" has been a crowd pleaser at the Aullwood Nature Center. Every time I visit, and I've been there five times now, someone is studying the quilt in detail. The colors are pleasing, the composition is pleasing, it is well executed....but the real reason I think everyone likes to look is in the details.

Marilyn Hamaker "Octopus' Garden" detail

Marilyn Hamaker "The Octopus' Garden" detail

Marilyn Hamaker "The Octopus' Garden" Detail.

In the detail shot below you can see the tail of the mermaid, and some of the starfish. The more you look at the quilt, the more little surprises such as anemones and clams stick out.

I have to say, however, I was confused by this piece for a while.

I kept on looking at this section and wondering why this fish had a hole in it. It took me about five minutes of staring at it before I realized that what I saw as a fish with and eye looking at me...sort of like an eel....

was actually a section of coral reef. The unfortunate placement of the single eyelet stitched piece to make a bumpy spot made my poor little head read it as an eye.

It wasn't until I started looking at the hair as a whole that I realized that it wasn't a fish at all. When I first saw it with two of my friends, two of us saw the fish first and were confused...only one of us knew that it was the reef right off the bat.

Marilyn is from Indianapolis, Indiana and had this to say about her piece: "The title , "The Octopus' Garden" is taken from the Beatles song of the same name, specifically the lines "I want to be --under the sea." This quilt represents my fantasy of being under the sea with all the corals, polyps, anemones etc. that really do resemble a beautiful garden. In this fantasy, I am thin and blonde." Marilyn used hand-dyed and commercial cottons, silk, lame, organdy; hand embroidery; off-loom weaving; beading; hand applique. Hand quilted.

Aullwood 2011: Pat Kroth and Anne Garretson

2011-08-14T09:39:00.000-07:00

I often go to art quilt exhibitions with a friend who plays devil's advocate. This is partly brought up by Quilt National's rules for submitting quilts....and the technical description of a quilt. Quilt National says submitted pieces must be of at least two fabric or fabric like layers held together by stitches (machine or hand) or other elements which are distributed throughout the quilt. The technical description of a quilt is three layers held together by stitches. A comforter is three layers held with tacks or "ties" and a "summer spread " is two layers held together in some way. The last set of definitions come from the traditional background and how we described them when I was in the curatorial end of things.

Pat Kroth, "Cool Waters" 55" x 21" $800

So, when we came to Pat Kroth's "Cool Waters" it immediately allowed her to needle me. "Is this a quilt?" Well, it isn't in the traditional sense, but it does meet Quilt Nationals two layer...in fact in many areas it is more than two layers. Pat's piece of fiber art is composed of bits of sheer fabrics, ribbons, specialty yarns and threads trapped between layers of netting. Pat also used vegetable bags, although I think you'd be hard pressed to find them...ooh....a good seek and find if you're able to get to Aullwood Nature Center before the show closes Aug. 21.

Pat is from Verona, Wisconsin and has a website..of sorts. I can't seem to go places within it to see galleries, but here you are: www.krothfiberart.com.
Pat was included in Quilt National and in Lark Books Quilt Masterpieces vol. 1. She's also a fellow SAQA member. I started to laugh when I read her label as she said "I trained and competed in the 2004, 2006 and 2009 Wisconsin Ironman Triathlon. I had to learn to swim going from 2 lengths to 2 1/2 miles.. . I now relax, embrace and enjoy the water. " As someone who ran, biked and swam, and volunteered at many triathlons, and "crewed" for my husband who competed in triathlons for many years, I could relate.


Pat Kroth, "Cool Waters" detail

One of the most unfortunate things about the Aullwood show this year is how this quilt was hung. While there are several areas where there are light colored walls, "Cool Waters" was hung on the "barn siding" side. The darker color and texture of the wood does not show this piece to best advantage. I understand that it worked size wise and color-wise with other quilts hung on this wall, but I'd rather have seen it on the opposite side of the hall against the lighter colored background.

Anne Garretson, "Northern Hardwood Forest", 33.5" x 32.5" NFS

Garretson, "Northern Hardwood Forest" detail.

Garretson, Northern Hardwood Forest detail of binding

Anne Garretson of Spencer, New York made this great piece entitled "Northern Hardwood Forest." At first, you may wonder why this pieces was included in a show called "Water, Water Everywhere", until you read her label.

"The Northern Hardwood Forest at the head of the Susquehanna Riber, is home to jays, salamanders, beech trees, mushrooms and wood sorrel. This is one of a series of ecosystem mandela quilts representing the Susquahanna Watershed. Surface design for this piece consists of plant and animal motifs reproduced from woodcut engravings transferred to fabric one image at a time creating the mandala. Hand-quilting to form a sunburst pattern symbolizes the unifying, cyclic nature of watersheds. Quilting allows me to share my love of the watershed with others. My studio is in my home in the New York's Finger Lakes region. Dry Run Creek flows by on its way to the Susquahanna River. The river meanders into Chesapeake Bay. The Bay opens onto the Ocean and on it goes. . . Wherever we live, we effect the environment around the globe. All our efforts of care, big and small are worthwhile."

If you take a look at Anne's website you can see she practices what she preaches in her work on her own property. You can also see some of her other fiber art,

I enjoy the simplicity of this piece. I think I would have outline quilted the salamanders and the beech leaves right up next to their bodies to make them pop from the background, but this is a minor thought.

I do wonder, however, how a different colored binding would work. Not all pieces need bindings or borders, but this piece does in order to stop the eye. I think Anne chose the light peachy brown binding color so that it wouldn't assault the eye like a black binding would, but would be a mid-range color which wouldn't be so in yoru face. However, since the quilt is done in black and quite....the binding sticks out for me.

Just to give you another thought....I am showing you the quilt without the brown binding, but with a (poorly) photoshopped in grey binding. I think it does what I'm supposing Anne intended while being in the same color family and therefore being unobtrusive.

Garretson, Northern Hardwood Forest" photoshopped with a grey border by Lisa Quintana

Aullwood 2011: Anne Theobald

2011-08-10T22:30:00.000-07:00

Anne Theobald "Impression: Sunset on the Lake" 15" x 20" $400

Two weeks ago, I stopped in for the third time at Aullwood to re-shoot some details which I had missed the first time around. One of the Aullwood staff asked me what my favorite piece was. I hate having to choose favorite pieces, so I quickly showed her pieces I really liked and why I liked them. It was amusing as when I got to Anne Theobald's work and pointed out that in this particular case the emphasis of the work was on texture, which is what draws me to working in fiber. I told her that all of Anne's pieces in this exhibition were worked by hand. The staff person was stunned. "It must have taken her AGES, " she gasped.

Anne Theobald "Impression: Sunset on the Lake" detail

Indeed, I know it "took her ages." Anne has made these three pieces based on a hand-sewing technique she saw at a workshop with Barbara Lee Smith several years ago. She adapted Smith's technique to her own work resulting in these texturally rich pieces although her work looks nothing like Smith's pieces. Take a look at Smith's website to see what I mean. She has framed and matted two of her works in order to show them off more. Many fiber artists have taken to framing works in order to show them off to their best advantage. In some cases, it is an attempt to have our work accepted as legitimate pieces of art, rather than a "craft."


Anne Theobald "Impression: Lake Powell" 24" x 24" $350.00


Anne Theobald "Impression: Lake Powell" detail

Anne Theobald "Impression: Oil Spill" 15" x 20" $400.00

While all of Anne's pieces at the Aullwood show all utilized the same distinctive stitching, this one is the most "quilt-like." Entitled "Impression: Lake Powell" this work show's her impressions of the Colorado River and the Red Rocks at Lake Powell.

I love Anne's comment on her label: "For forty years I have been exploring what can be done with fabric and threads. Embroidery and quilt making techniques have been especially intriguing connecting me to both contemporary women and women of different cultures and other times. " This is just one of the reasons that I have chosen fiber as my medium.

Anne has said to me that her pieces in the show are "a departure from the more quilt-like work" she usually does.

Anne is from Greenwood Village, Colorado and is a member of SAQA (Studio Art Quilt Associates) and the Front Range Contemporary Quilters in the greater Denver Area.

"Impression: Oil Spill" is one of several pieces at the Aullwood show which reference last year's Gulf Oil Spill. I love the richness of these pieces. The unfortunate thing is that you have the impulse to run your hand over them to luxuriate in the texture. However, the curator in me squelches that urge. :)

Aullwood 2011: Fairies and Ruth Powers

2011-08-08T18:56:00.000-07:00

Ruth Powers "Foxglove Fairy" 41" x 42" price negotiable

Ruth Powers almost always submits a quilt or two to the Aullwood show and I have to say I really admire her technique. For those of you who are not familiar with Ruth's work, she almost always does nature scenes and her quilts are machine pieced bits of commercially printed fabrics. I am in awe.

Here we have "Foxglove Fairy." Ruth has been working on a series of fairies and this particular one was constructed to explore working with water reflections. Ruth felt that the quilt didn't have enough "oomph" and so added the foxglove fabric. I love how the water looks. Take a look on her blog and follow the construction of this piece....just start with Friday, February 11, 2011 Another Fairy"


Foxglove fairy detail

You can see here, I hope, a little of how she does this and the water reflection. Ruth is from Carbondale, Kansas and exhibits a lot. I think my most favorite fairy piece Ruth has done is "Don't Piss Off the Fairies". Ruth did this for one of the SAQA 12" x 12" auctions, and Del Thomas snagged it for her collection in 2009. Take a look at it at Del's blog. It just tickles me because we don't usually think about things like this.

If you're not interested in negotiating with Ruth in order to buy this quilt, you can make one from one of her patterns in a more traditional ...or rather restrained view with her Fairies in My Garden pattern.

I don't have fairies in my garden...but I have lots of the next best thing...ruby throated hummingbirds.

Aullwood 2011: Sandra Palmer Ciolino

2011-08-07T09:26:00.000-07:00

Sandra Palmer Ciolino Crevasse 24" x 16" $485

Sandra Palmer Ciolino is another art quilter from Cincinnati. Sandra's work is primarily geometrically based, although some of her other pieces are more organic. I know this sounds contradictory, but if you look at her galleries on her website, you'll see more geometric pieces than you do the others...but she does both and she has a link to a you-tube retrospective as well as galleries of her work.

Sandra has two pieces in the show both from a series based on photographs of the Herbert Glacier in Alaska. This one entitled "Crevasse" and the other called "Glacial Runnoff".


Sandra Palmer Ciolino Crevasse Detail

Here's her artist statement: "Crevasse is based on an aerial view of glacier fields in Alaska.
Fabric is my medium. My ongoing connection to the tactile quality of fabric and its potential to be transformed into objects both utilitarian and beautiful is undeniable. My quilts express the relationship between my intuitive sense of line, shape, color, value and texture. I am passionate about meticulous craftsmanship and am obsessed with machine quilting for it is this phase of the creative process that presents opportunities to add additional layers of character, texture and structure to the composition. As my eyes focus less on actual images and more on the infrastructure of my surroundings, my body of work has naturally evolved from a representational to an abstract viewpoint. Materials: hand dyed cottons by Virginia Keiser, wool batting, cotton threads, rayon, metal and glass embellishments."

Sandra Palmer Ciolino, "Glacial Run-off" 20" x 28.5" $700.

Sandra Palmer Ciolino, Glacial Run-off detail

Her second piece is entitled "Glacial Run-off." I was a little puzzled by her color choice as the glacial run-off I'm used to seeing in Montana and in the Olympics in Washington state are turquoise, not the blues that she uses in this piece. But, that's just my observation as her chocolates and true blues and blues with a violet cast certainly work.