Busy, Busy Month of May

This week takes a prize of some sort for having three newly-finished quilts signed, sealed, and delivered in just one short week.

My hometown of Evanston holds a month-long arts celebration every June called Evanston Made.  There are exhibits and programs all over town.  This year, I'm exhibiting in two events.

This quilt will be in the main show at the Evanston Art Center.  It's a new member of my Something From Nothing series called "Symmetry."  It's 16.5" x 16.5".  The opening is this Friday 6/2 5-8pm, and I'll be there.  The show runs for the entire month. 

Fun With Stripes

If I was writing a catchy newspaper headline it might read something like this:

Local Quilter Inspired by Late Night Stitching Session!

I'm working on another little piece for my Something From Nothing series, this one to be part of a show you'll hear more about soon where the size limit is just 12".  I'm making this piece using just this one really cool striped fabric.  (You can see that I used a little bit of it in a previous quilt in the series.)

Things Are Looking Up

After a long dry spell due to a broken foot, I am finally able to stand and walk long enough to get back into my sewing room and back to playing with fabric!  Phew!!!

It's amazing to feel the creative flow again.  And let me tell ya, it's whoosing after being pent up for so long!

The in-progress quilt in the Something From Nothing series got finished, thanks to my friend Julie who came and helped me with the basting.  It's 10" wide and 8' (yes, feet) long!  It will hang vertically.  The orange polka dot fabric is an old sheet as foundation fabric, and is not part of the finished effect. 

Working title:  Right Side / Wrong Side

Now, three more are now in various stages of planning. 

Working titles:  

left - Faded Photograph

center -Petals

right - Cathedral

I've got about four or five more in my mind's eye.  I am determined to finish the series in not too much longer!  You can read about the process in some previous posts, and see all but the four most recently finished quilts on my blog.

Favorite Quotes #13 - What is Art

Art is not what you see, but what you make others see.

Edgar Degas

I found this quote in just about the most difficult spot ever to photograph!  It's on an overhang, with a brightly lit ceiling just beyond and a dark tall wall above....  But I loved it.  And I love that it's in a high school, seen by budding artists every day.

I do think successful art has two parts:  first, a sharing of what the artist sees (in the broader sense of feels and experiences), and second, what that touches and brings forth in the viewers' sensations and inner knowledge. That's why good art feels timeless and magical.

Here are two favorite stories:

Cycle of the Seasons Quilt

Long, long ago (early 1980s) in a design workshop taught by Nancy Halpern, I designed a pieced tree block that I called "Timberline."  I made a set of 4 small pieces, one for each season. 

A bit later, I redrafted the trees to make an octagonal quilt that can rotate as the seasons cycle through the year.  It's been hanging in my upstairs hallway and turning to mark the seasons for nearly 30 cycles.  In this format, I call it "To Turn, To Turn."

New Quilts

I'm so excited!  Over the last couple of months, I've finished 6 new quilts for my Something From Nothing series.  And I have 4 more in varying stages of design and stitching.  I am bound and determined to get this series to a place that feels like completion.

The series is made mostly with decorator fabric samples, plus other bits and pieces of otherwise unwanted fabrics.  You can see the whole series on my website and the stories of making some of the quilts here on the blog.

Here are the newbies:

4 By 4

14 1/2" x 14 1/2"

Favorite Quotes #12 - Essence and Limitation

 

"Objectivity is of the very essence of photography, its contribution and at the same time its
limitation...."

I found this quote in the description of the current retrospective of photographer Paul Strand's work at the V&A Museum in London, and love the connection he drew between essence and limitation.

I consider this to be a very magical photo.  I took it for the marvelous sunset sky.  Only later did I see that in that little triangle of light between the bushes at the center there is a man sitting on a park bench, also enjoying the view.  The objectivity of the camera lens created its own essence!

For me, I really enjoy the challenge of working within limits.  I know some artists don't do commission work because of the size or design limits that customers can require.  Not me.  And I always love a great collection of challenge quilts or a show requiring a clear theme - the amazing variation within limits is a real testament to creativity.

A Quilt from a Galaxy Far, Far Away

 

For the past few years, I've been creating a quilt series called Something From Nothing.  These are generally just-for-fun, design experiments.  In addition, I've been making a more major piece, like this one, each year as my entry for the Fine Art of Fiber show.  (More info on Something From Nothing: intro to the series and quilts of 2015.  Previous fiber show entries: Cleopatra's Fan 2014 and What the Birds See 2013.)

The title of the quilt is Gas Giant.  No, this is not Saturn.  This is a planet in a solar system or galaxy that we haven't seen yet.  Gas Giant is probably the largest piece so far in the series (78" x 44").  Being about outer space, it needs to be pretty vast, right?

Favorite Quotes # 10 - Simple Things

"Some of the greatest poetry is revealing to the reader the beauty in something that was so simple you had taken it for granted."
- Neil deGrasse Tyson

Nature's Perspective - 1989 - 107" x 81"

I heard this line in the midst of a long, rambling interview I was watching online.  I backed up over the spot and wrote it right down.

I would expand the concept to all art, not just poetry!  Certainly for me, this has been a theme to my art making, though I have never realized it or expressed it so clearly.

I love experiencing art as a way to see more clearly.  I think art is truly art at its best when artist and viewer meet at that place of clarity and inner knowing, a place where they recognize and acknowledge each others' humanity and each others' spirits.  That to me is a great definition of beauty.

And these meetings are not predictable.  I like that I will never really know how and which of my quilts will impact which viewers.  Sending a particular message is not the reason I make quilts, that's for sure.

The image for Nature's Perspective came to me while driving home through Wisconsin farmland at dusk.  I felt like I was almost flying over the landscape, and the land was like a billowy quilt, tacked down at the corners by the farm building and the occasional trees.

But the most meaningful comment I had on this quilt was from our friend Jon.  He said it perfectly represents a vision that had always intrigued him - that the sky is so smooth and uniform while the earth below is so varied and dimensional.  Sure 'nough, he's right!  But that concept had never entered my mind while designing the quilt.  That conversation taught me a lot about art.

Actually, I get a bit perturbed about writers who try to define what "Art" is in discussions about whether art needs to be beautiful, or needs to have social commentary, or needs to be shocking and cutting edge, or needs to be created in a perceptible series that experiments around a theme (as I was told in a quilt design workshop years ago), or needs to be in fine art media, and so on and on and on.

In my world, Art is what someone is drawn to create, and Art is what gives someone else a satisfying experience.

Details about how the quilt was made:
The sky is half a Sunburst pattern.
The farms are Prairie Queen and Corn and Beans blocks.
The farm buildings are black felt.  The glowing windows and the trees are embroidered.

Due to the perspective, there are no two templates exactly alike.  My husband the engineer helped with the drawing and figuring.  Every template was numbered and marked for right side and top.  It was quite a serious undertaking!  I have never made such a large and complex art quilt before, and have no plans to do so again!

A Room of Her Own

"A Room of Her Own"

2015

32"x32"

I just completed this wall quilt!  It was commissioned by a wonderfully thoughtful husband in honor of his wife's milestone birthday.

It is inspired by a quilt I made 1999, called "Memories of Spring" (21"x19").

He liked the airy, dreamy, and old-fashioned homey look of the quilt.  He asked for a larger piece with personalized references to the things his wife loves and to their family.  The idea grew from there, with both of us making additions to the contents of her "room".  Here's the initial sketch.

One of Those Amazing Coincidences

So, the other day, my husband and I were at the bank to sign some papers on a financial thingy.  We were ushered into a conference room and ---

The very first thing I saw was the chairs.  The chairs!  I whipped out my camera and took a couple of pictures.

For the last few years, I've been working on a series of quilts called "Something From Nothing", my own personal challenge project using decorator fabric samples. 

And........  The chairs are upholstered in one of the fabrics I used in one of the quilts!  Such fun!

 

The quilt is called "Something From Nothing -- Off Center".  It's 27" x 35".

In keeping with the challenge I set myself for this series, I used all the colorways of this pattern that I had, and I designed the quilt to relate to the pattern.  The appliqued rings and dots are all made with other circle prints, all from the stash of decorator samples.  The dots and the buttons I added are the same size as the design elements in the print.

Those chairs made my day, for sure!

For more on this series of quilts check out these previous posts:
--  the story of how the series came about
-- photos of some recently completed quilts
-- descriptions of the design process and step-by-step photos for two of the larger and more complex quilts - Something From Nothing -- Cleopatra's Fan and Something From Nothing -- What the Birds See

Fans, Color Blocks, and Bricks

Today I am debuting the three new quilts in my "Something From Nothing" series!  (To read more about how this series works, see this previous post or visit the whole set on my website.)  This is a just-for-fun project, and I am definitely having fun!

Fans

31.5 x 31.5

Inspired by a little roll of four brocade fabric samples found at an estate sale.  The borders are the reverse of each of the fabrics.  I added some other brocade scraps from worn out clothing and a roll of wide purple ribbon.

19 Stars - Indiana Quilt Exhibit

Starry Knight by Ellen Anne Eddy

My quilt friend Ellen Anne Eddy posted an article about a new quilt show at the Indiana State Museum.

It's called "19 Stars: Quilts of Indiana's Past and Present", celebrating the state's upcoming 200th birthday.  Indiana was the 19th state to join the Union, and the Indiana flag features 19 stars.  So the museum is showing 19 antique quilts and 19 contemporary quilts from their collection, all with starry designs.  I love the idea of juxtaposing the old and new quilts to celebrate the history of the state.

Here are two video clips about the show.  The second one features Ellen's quilt, "Starry Knight".
historical quilts
contemporary quilts

I've always found themed exhibits and books the most fun.  They really bring out the variety and excitement of all the approaches to quiltmaking.

I first discovered how cool these shows can be in the 1986 book All Flags Flying.  It includes the 52 prize-winning quits from the Great American Quilt Contest "Expressions of Liberty" celebrating the Statue of Liberty's 100th birthday.  Some are very literal, some are very abstract.  My favorite happens to be the winner from my home state of Illinois, made by Sidney Allee Miller.  It's called "Freedom's Children," and is 72" square. 

(Photo credit, All Flags Flying)

The concept is unique and the execution is both folksy and technically amazing, a great combo! 

Now on Pinterest

Two of my buddies, with whom I share and discuss business plans for our on-line businesses, have been urging me to join the Pinterest world.  I've been resisting having yet another "thing" to keep me at the computer.

At first, I also resisted having this very blog until both my kids told me, in no uncertain terms, "Mom, everyone who has a business has to have a blog." And here I am, so happy to be a blogger.  So I finally succumbed to Pinterest a few months ago.  After all, I already collect photos!

So, I'm introducing you to my boards.

The one I'm most fond of is called "Quilt Repairs: Before and After".  I'm proud of figuring out how to post two photos in one pin, like this:

"Art Quilts" simply has photos of my art pieces.

"My favorite posts from my blog" has basically the same things you'll find here on the blog under the heading "Featured Posts."

"Dated Quilts" is pretty fun, a compilation of quilts I have worked on that have inscribed or documented dates. I love these for the fabric history they illustrate so neatly.  You can read about these quilts by staying right here at the blog and using the label of the same name - Dated Quilts.

"Favorite fabrics and superior needlework" shows off the quilts and vintage clothing that have really added sparkle to the (yes, sometimes tedious) work I do.

"Textiles that tell stories" is collection of both antiques and new art by me, all pieces that are notable for the stories they carry.  That's the other category that makes this job so exciting.

"Looking through things" is a collection of photos I've been taking that may someday, somehow find themselves becoming an art quilt series.  The first one I took was a pair of chain link fences.  I found myself staring at them while I waited to pick my son up from something or other.  I loved the offset rhythm they created.

"Photos I dream on" is a collection of photos by me. I've been taking a photo nearly every day that speaks somehow to what's going on in my life or is just plain lovely, and sometimes both at the same time.  This board contains some of my favorites.  I began this "photo diary" as a mindfulness exercise last summer when I became an empty-nester.

"Artists and inspiration" are photos of works by other people that I have come across online, with links to more of their work.  Making this board turned out to be a really educational process - now I can see a pattern to what draws me in which I have never seen so clearly.

by Jude Hill, at spirit cloth

I can see already that the Pinterest outreach has already begun sending my blog some new visitors.  A shout out and thanks to Julia at Basya Berkman Vintage Fashions and Cheryl at Sk8 Gr8 Designs Custom Figure Skating Dresses for spurring me onward!

Visit Ellen Anne Eddy

My quilting friend Ellen Anne Eddy has graciously posted a most lovely review of my book.

While you are at her website, be sure to take a walk through her colorful world.  Ellen calls what she does "thread magic" and that is such a perfect name!  You will find animals and plants executed in densely stitched, sparkling threads.

This quilt is called "Dancing in the Light."  It is 55" x 69".

The Arts: Visual Meets Verbal

A short while ago, I got a most wonderful email.

A woman wrote that she had seen and enjoyed my quilts at an exhibit a couple of months ago, and shortly thereafter, at her poetry group, had heard a newly written poem that matches one of my quilts.  She shared a photo of my quilt with the poet, who then asked me if she could update the first line of her poem to include the title of my quilt.  I said, "Of course!"

I asked for permission to share both the poem and the story here, and permission was kindly granted.

Blog Celebration

Thanks to everyone out there in internet-land who subscribes to and visits my blog!

Cleopatra's Fan

My entry in this year's Fine Art of Fiber show is another in my series of quilts called Something From Nothing.  This is my own little challenge project, made with decorator fabric samples and other "found object" fabrics and trims.  You can find photos of the whole collection on my website.

What follows are the steps I took to create this quilt.

.... and More Buttons

Yep, another estate sale, another button jar.  I just can't pass 'em up.  All these for one dollar, folks.  Score!  (Thanks to my friend Gloria who spotted these while I was reveling in a box of sewing room odds and ends.)

I have now reached the point of no return.  I must DO something with all these buttons!  Jewelry?  Quilt embellishment?  (I've already done a bit of that, see links below.)  A quilt design executed entirely in buttons?

What the Birds See

"What the Birds See"

This is my latest quilt in the Something from Nothing series.  The series is based on a pile of decorator fabric samples.  Part of the challenge I have given myself is to make the design of the quilt related in some way to the design on the fabrics.  You can read more about the series here.

For this quilt, my goal was to use lots of the large floral prints and make a happy garden quilt.  I was wondering about what to use or make up for a garden design, and my friend Julie suggested that I reproduce a part of the Chicago Botanic Garden, and have the quilt ready to display at the big Fine Art of Fiber show that is held there every fall.  Perfect!  Thanks, Julie!