Little Birdies brought to you by Susan Pickrell

I have talked about the talented Susan Pickrell before.  Everytime we have a "Twisted Stitchers" meeting (the subgroup of art quilters with the Batty Binders)  She has a bunch of little fiber things to share.  This time, she was doing birds.  Lots of birds.

These little owlets were done with felting.  But the bigger owl and the little Chickie with two Baguettes below were done from the book below the Chickie, from Little Birds,  by C & T Publisher's Design Collective.  You can get it on Amazon, or your favorite bookstore, or you can get it as an e-book  (or as the real deal) directly from C & T  here.  I have never seen it, but I'm intrigued now that I have seen what Susan has done.

And to show you how modest she is (as well as prolific)  I commented on her gorgeous journal, knowing full well she had done the cover herself.  "Oh, it's just a little ribbon" said Susan.  Right.  Ribbon, machine embroidered peacock feathers on soluble stabilizer, combined with ribbon and other decorations she put together herself...after working...going to a family funeral out-of-state...she's just amazing!

Fiber Artist or not?

As I have noted in earlier posts, I have been struggling lately with my quilting. Often, I question whether or not I can really call myself a fiber artist or art quilter. Laurie Gravley-Novello of Laughing Girl Quilts blog fame says it's a block. If so, this "block" is more like an apartment complex for the length of time my frustration has been going on.

Then, I have to look at this silly piece which is on the wall in the family room. In 2000, I was asked by the Noah Webster House and West Hartford Historical Society to review, research and catalog their collection of quilts. At the end of my work, the Society decided to mount an exhibition and have Ed Johnetta Miller curate it.

Ed Johnetta came in and we pulled the quilts and she looked at my notes then pretty much chose all of them to be on exhibition. I wrote the label copy. At the reception, Ed Johnetta was surprised to find that I quilted as well and encouraged me to come to the workshop she was leading the next day.

You don't say no to Ed Johnetta, even if you wanted to, not that I wanted to. Ed Johnetta's quilts are in the African American tradition and she is as exuberant as her quilts. Take a look at her website if you are unfamiliar with her work : www.edjohnetta.com Her quilts have been exhibited around the world and her list of awards is staggering.

So, I went. Ed Johnetta had brought bags of snippets and sweepings from her workshop. She dumped them out on the tables and provided anyone of any age who came in rectangles of cardboard and glue and encouraged everyone to make a collage.

I seem to recall working with an 8 year old....and Ed Johnetta came around and was sort of...um...stunned at what I had done. I have to say, this piece was made entirely without thinking. Every once in a while instead of making a planned or sketched piece, I work entirely by improvisation. I just put my thinking mind aside and just let my hands go. I suppose you might call it working by intuition.

I like this little piece, paper snippets and all. I love the colors and I have a soft spot for fishy things. I had it mounted on suede mat board and framed in a shadow box as the dimensional items would have been flattened any other way.

So...sometime soon, I hope to put aside all the concerns of the day and just let my hands "do" instead of thinking it all out.