African Quilt

I'm squeaking this post in before the end of the month....keeping my goal of posting once per month. I bought the elephant batik piece in a park in South Africa two years ago. I finally figured out what to do with it! The fabrics in the quilt are about half African and half American. I've machine quilted it a bit, to stabilize it. I plan to quilt it with pearl cotton to add texture. (you can click on any of my pictures to enlarge them)

Color with Confidence Class

I did it! I taught my first class on color for quilters on Valentine's Day at Fabric Etc. (fabric shop in Bellingham). Five women signed up which was just right for the intimate space. We made color wheels in paint and fabric and analyzed pictures for their particular colors and the proportion of each color. We didn't have time to make up sample blocks on paper, but they took supplies home with them. Next time I'll add more time to the class. They want more....so I'll have to get more sophisticated....this was definitely a beginning class. One of the books I recommended was Color and Composition for the Creative Quilter by Katie Pasquini Masopust and Brett Barker. I think it's terrific.

New Year

One of my goals this coming year is to post at least once a month. I've had such mixed feelings about blogging in the past, but now I want to maintain some connections to others and also show what I'm working on. This ties into one of my other goals which is to do more fiber work. I'm very busy with my jobs as a parenting instructor (which I love), but I also want to become a better artist and I finally understand that the only way to become better is to DO THE WORK. So, with the intention of posting about fiber art I will need to make more of it. I think these goals will support each other.

I have many many books on color and another goal is to create and teach a class on color for quilters. I thoroughly enjoy teaching and have taught a journal quilt class (and many parenting classes). I plan to talk to a local quilt shop about teaching, set a date and then work like heck to prepare!

My last two goals are to hang my art quilts in a small venue such as a coffee shop. I have an in at one, so I just need to set a date. And finally, I would like to explore weaving. I've been interested in weaving for quite some time and recently took a backstrap weaving class at the Coupeville Arts Center from a Peruvian woman who started a textile center in Cusco.

I took a wonderful "mudpies for adults" class from Anita Mayer in Sept. in LaConner. She is so dynamic and ageless!! As it turns out, I know her niece, Mary Ennes Davis, a collage artist who was featured in an art show in LaConner in October! They are both such talented artists and nice people.

My next post will have some pictures. Here's to hope in 2009!

APNQ show

I've just come back from the Assoc. of Pacific Northwest Quilters show in Seattle. It was held at the Convention Center this year which was a wonderful venue because it wasn't crowded or noisy! This small quilt, "Danish Houses" was accepted. The quilt above it "Breaking out of the box" was NOT accepted. The consensus of my friends is that I need to make the "breaks" larger for the composition.

April Snow

We had snow on March 29 this year, but April 20 is amazing! Bellingham didn't get much accumulation as you can see, but areas closer to Seattle got several inches. The flowers are lasting a long time....just hope the lettuce I planted didn't freeze!

My favorite thing

I've joined an online group called the Bakersdozen. We are members of the quiltart list who want to challenge ourselves on a regular basis. It was supposed to be for 13 (baker's dozen) people but about 30 of us really wanted to participate, so we have limited each challenge to 13 (though even that isn't hard and fast). The first challenge was to make a 13"x 13" quilt about your "favorite thing". My favorite thing is sailing. I spent many many summers sailing in a small bathtub of a boat called a turnabout on the coast of Maine. I wanted the viewer to get a Sense of sailing, rather than just a view of a sailboat. I agonized over this perspective. I think it works, but after getting the boat "right", I probably could have paid more attention to the rest of the scene....anyway, hope you can feel the salty wind and sun on your face!

Some of my recent works

I made this piece "All Boxed In" specifically for a fiber arts show in Sequim, WA. The theme was domestic art, with political overtones. My idea was that these loop potholders from my childhoood days brought back sweet memories but also all the restrictions of that time. The potholders are attached to wire mesh which is stapled to the wood frame and the mesh has small squares cut out at the corners of the center potholder. It looks simple, but it took me a lot of time. It gave me a new appreciation for weaving! The center black square in the potholder took me several tries to get just right. Anyway, it was fun for me to break out of strictly quilting and broaden into fiber art.

This is one of three pieces using iris stalks and framing. I like 3D pieces and simplicity. This piece is called Iris Shadows and needs to be lit correctly to get the effect I wanted. The iris stalks are handtied to a piece of tulle which is hung on rods about an inch away from the quilted back.

So for a brief view of my recent works here are a variety of pieces from the last two years. "Good Girl" was a very important piece for me to make. I needed to put "that dress" in it's place on the wall - never to be worn by another child. The dress has embroidered on it "I am a good girl". Nice labels can be burdens also. The red hand at the bottom of the quilt is me putting a stop to the innocent passing down of labels.