Gaia Speaks

Late one winter night, I was walking in my neighborhood park, thinking sadly about how wantonly we are treating our beautiful planet. These words then came into my mind:

I have love for you
Love each other
Go slow
Be kind
See the Cycles
Be of the Planet

I knew I needed to make this experience into a quilt. 

Quote of the Day....Quote of the Era, Actually

 I came across this on Instagram (@hayfestival) a couple of weeks ago:

These words were written by author Arundhati Roy.  They are the concluding paragraphs of her article published in Financial Times in April, 2020, called "The Pandemic is a Portal". 

Her words so clearly sum up my dreams and hopes for this difficult time we are traversing.  

I have to follow them with the little quilt I made early in the summer and posted a short while back, expressing my hopes for a new way of living being created from the old.  You can see the new ways and ideas just beginning to pop out from within and behind the old ways. 

World Turned Upside Down
18" x 18"

You can visit a previous post to read about the technicalities of how I created this two-layer quilt, and other stories about the concept that grew as I went along in making it.  

This season, I am most grateful for all the individuals and organizations that are coming up with creative solutions and pathways to not only imagine, but also build, a new lifestyle of respect and understanding for our planet and all the living beings who call her Home.

 

 

My 10-year Project, 2010 - 2020

 

Wow!  This post marks the completion of a 10-year quilt project!

Ten (10!) years ago I started a series of quilts, my own personal challenge project.  I was feeling the need of having some small, relaxing, just for fun projects in the midst of working on quilt repairs for clients.

I had been given a stash of decorator samples by an interior designer who was cleaning out her studio.  I decided to use them for my play space.  I set myself these rules:

The World Turns Upside Down - Part 1

 

This is my newest art quilt - I didn't start out to make a topical quilt.  I was just playing with some gorgeous swatches.

I have mentioned on this blog before how much I love challenge quilts.  This challenge is another one from the Just Wanna Quilt facebook group.  I looked at these luscious colors, and decided I need some of that brightness and beauty in these hard times.  We each got 2 packets of swatches from Free Spirit Fabrics, and the instructions were “make whatever you want”. 

My plan was to make two little quilt tops exactly the same, rotate one, and cut holes in the top one for reverse appliqué to let the other colors show through.

The World Turns Upside Down - Part 2

 

This is a challenge project from the Just Wanna Quilt Facebook group.  We each got 2 packets of swatches from Free Spirit Fabrics, and the instructions were “make whatever you want”.  I looked at these luscious colors, and decided I need some of that brightness and beauty in these hard times.   

Casting around for ideas, I remembered a set of three little pieces I'd made back in the '80s that I'd also made with 2" multicolored squares. 

Eye Contact P.S.

So, having just blogged about my entry in the Eye Contact show yesterday morning, this post about the exhibit showed up in the evening on my instagram!  (It's in two pieces because I couldn't screen shot the whole thing in one go.)

Eye Contact

An exhibit called Eye Contact: Creating A Connection has recently opened at the Virginia Quilt Museum in Harrisonburg, VA.  The exhibit runs through September 15, 2020. 

I love everything about this show.  For one thing, I always love a challenge quilt show.  I find all the different, creative ways the challenge topic is expressed to be endlessly fascinating.  I also love this particular show because I have a quilt in it, and I had such a deep experience in making the quilt. 

The quilts are small - 23" wide x 5" high - and the only instruction to the artists was that the subject be "two human eyes looking at the viewer".

Here's my quilt:

Piece on Earth

Hello, everyone! 

I haven't posted here in well over a month....

All healthy, so no worries there, in case any of you noticed my absence and were worried.  The whole situation in which we find ourselves took over my attention and energy, and certainly my ability to express it all in words.  But I’ve been busy, and here’s what I’ve been doing.  It’s been a while, so this will be long!  Grab an iced tea (in my hemisphere anyway), and settle in.

The Solar System Quilt

 

I am happy to announce that my daughter, aka my darlin' daughter, just finished making a gorgeous quilt.  She's always been an artist and a crafter and now a great DIYer, but as far as fiber goes, she's been much more smitten with crochet and clothing than with quilting.

But quilting made its big debut because a new baby needs a great quilt.  The new baby in question is her boyfriend's brand new nephew.  The boyfriend loves astronomy, and the two of them planned a solar system quilt to introduce the new little one to his new home.

Quiltin' On The Road - Retreat!

How many of you have had this experience - a group of people take a class or workshop together, get along well, trade contact info, vow to get together.....and it never happens?  Well, this is a wonderful group of people who have made it happen!

And we've been having such a good time, we decided to try our first retreat, a week ago.  Here's a view on the road.  It wasn't taken on the retreat property, but is such a perfect symbol of driving to a peaceful, joyful place. 

More Embroidery for the Social Justice Sewing Academy

I wrote about the Social Justice Sewing Academy in a post last fall, and showed these first two blocks I worked on.  You can hear a great interview with SJSA founder Sara Trail at the Just Wanna Quilt podcast.

     

A quick summary:  Blocks are designed and created (pieces glued on) by young people to express their social justice concerns and dreams.  The blocks go to sewists like me who embroider them to attach all the pieces securely and add texture and depth.  Then the blocks are made into quilts by more volunteers and sent to galleries and shows.  The final result is a bunch of young people who learn that art can express who they are and that their concerns can be heard.  It's simply wonderful!

I kinda forgot to keep posting blocks, so here are the next four that I've done.  The project is both fun and extremely fulfilling.  It is a true blessing, tapping into the great emotional depths and wonderful visual expressiveness of teens who need to be heard.

Polka Dots!

I made a small polka dot themed quilt as part of the copyright study at Just Wanna Quilt.   The basic question is to find the line between what's unique enough to be copyrightable and what is considered too common (eg., basic polka dots).  (By the way, any and all are welcome to join the project and make all sorts of things.  Visit the facebook page to sign up.  It's a great group, lots of interesting and fun discussions on all sorts of quilt-y topics.)

That may sound all highfalutin (which I discovered is actually in the dictionary and I spelled it right!), but actually I'm just using it as a reason to play with my stash.  You know, always so fun!

So, the background is white satin from a wedding dress that was too badly damaged to be re-saleable, but good in places for fabric and trim salvage.  And the polka dots are reverse appliqué, with machine zig-zag and invisible thread.

Tree Sisters

 

A Facebook group called Tree Sisters put out a call for 12" blocks to be joined into a quilt to be displayed next year, the "Year of the Tree".  An idea popped into my head, so I went for it.   

(Submission deadline is July 1. And there's room for some more blocks. Here's info on making and submitting a quilt block. )

I remember being fascinated when I first learned that trees and other plants have just as much size and spread under the ground with their roots as above ground with their branches.  Up until then, I guess it was kind of out of sight, out of mind.  So my design represents that.  And by showing a more complete view of a tree, I've also included the earth and all those underground process of growth and nourishment.

I See You

I finished this little quilt a few days ago.  It is now en route to the Sacred Threads exhibit, to be held in Herndon, VA, July 11-28, 2019.  From the website:

"Sacred Threads is an exhibition of quilts exploring themes of joy, inspiration, spirituality, healing, grief and peace/brotherhood. This biennial exhibition was established to provide a safe venue for quilters who see their work as a connection to the sacred and/or as an expression of their spiritual journey."

This year in addition to the main exhibit, there is a special project called Eye Contact: Creating a Connection. 

"There is a famous quote by Cicero (106-43 B.C.). 'Ut imago est animi voltus sic indices oculi' (The face is a picture of the mind as the eyes are its interpreter). 'The eyes are the window of the soul' is a variant form of the proverb..."

The Social Justice Sewing Academy

 

I must admit that the quilt repair process can get kind of boring when it gets down to the actual sewing.  Once I figure out what needs to be done and how to do it, it can be pretty repetitive.  One resource I fall back on a lot is listening to podcasts.  And one interview that really sparked my interest was with Sara Trail, founder of the Social Justice Sewing Academy, on the Just Wanna Quilt podcast.

Looking Back and Looking Forward

I took this photo of my design wall last March, to celebrate being able to walk around enough on my healing foot to get back to pacing around while creating in my sewing room.

Here are the four quilts, from left to right, that were in progress then and are finished now.  They are all new members of my Something From Nothing series. The series is my own challenge project, based on a pile of decorator fabric samples that was given to me years ago.

More Quilts in the "Something From Nothing" Series

Here come the next three Something From Nothing quilts.  The series is all made from unwanted materials, primarily out-of-date decorator sample books.  (To learn more about the whys and wherefores of the series, visit Something From Nothing, and also follow the links at the end that will take you to other posts about quilts in the series.  You can find the whole set on my website.) 

Cathedral - 32" x 44.5"
This was shown in last weekend's annual Fine Art of Fiber exhibit at the Chicago Botanic Garden.  (Photos of all the entries in the show are on the FAOF website.)  All the fabrics in this quilt are different colorways of one print, no other fabrics have been added!  It was one of those quilts that mostly fell right together as I started playing with the fabrics.  Yes, there were a few sticky, problematic places.....but once the work-in-progress had hung on my design wall for long enough, the sticky places seemed to find their way to coming unstuck.

 

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.